10 replies to this topic

[Tremendous Upside]

OK, so I'm thinking of stepping outside my comfort zone a bit... I have tons of mechs optimized for pinpoint builds, and they are all very effective if you pile the damage where it needs to go (usually the CT or rear torsos). With that said, on most mechs, those areas are at least "somewhat" defendable through use of cover and torso twisting - but legs aren't.

Has anyone had a lot of experience/success just building for pure shotgun builds and "legging" opponents? Not sure which mechs would make the best platforms, but theoretically if you had a platform with a couple of ballistic and missile hardpoints, you'd be able to shred through most targets in just a few volleys (since legs don't have front or rear armor, and they're hittable from virtually any angle... LBX-10s + SRM4/6s heavy builds are what I'm thinking?

[_Rorschach_]

SRM6 is my favorite weapon along with MPL but has too much of a spread for leg shots even with Artemis at short range in my experience. Maybe SRM4 is better, but probably not by much.
With the LBX I didn't get warm at all. Someone with more experience with the weapon might find it useful for legging though. At short range it should have just the right amount of spread I imagine.
Pulse or Small lasers should be pretty good at this too due to short beam durations.

What you shouldn't forget is that if the target is using cover the legs are probably the part you'll see the least of. So 'go for the legs' isn't likely going to be the über tactic to end all others. Imo outmaneuvering your opponents to attack their weakened parts is still the most viable way to win a fight you can't win head to head.

[Tremendous Upside]

Yeah good point on the legs... But if you're CT hunting its really no different. You may not be able to use cover, but the shark move is to change elevations on a gauss/pinpointer - so both have their weaknesses against good pilots. I'm not expecting to be blown away or anything - just kinda curious.

It'll be my little MWO experiment. The hate-thread on the LBX10 over the past couple days kinda got me thinking. I've used the LBX before and hated it. The last outing I had stood out to me so clearly I still remember it. I'd packed one onto my DRG-1C and caught a solo CAT hiding in River City, jumped him, and must've emptied 15 clean shots at his CT - and he still was standing when the rest of his team came to save him. It drove me nuts to the point I swore the weapon off - but then I got to thinking - maybe I was just doing it all wrong? If you balance any build and try to solo a specialist build at its strength, you're going to lose more often than not...

So in any case, I've got a spare CTF-4X that I don't use and it could pack a pair of LBXs and some SRMs (w/LL) pretty easily. Guess I'll give it a try and see how it works as a straight grinder.

[Bounty Dogg]

Shotgun Angel
Atlas AS7-D-DC
Stnd. 310
11 DHs
2x ML
2x LB10x
(5 tns. ammo)
3x SRM 6
(5 tns. ammo)
1x AMS
(1 Tn. ammo)
CASE (RT)

I forget the forumite that posted this build, but it can be surprisingly effective. Close range brawler, with no reach outside of the 2x MLs range, but up close and personal, it can be a juggernaut.

[I WildCard I]

I used to use a K2 Catapult like this to great effectiveness... involves being able to lead your shots and hit consistently.


XL 300 engine

DHS

NO ENDO/ Ferro Fibrous

3 medium lasers

Dual LBX/10 AC

70 Rounds of ammo

With speed tweak pretty sure it was at 80KPH (At work at the moment.)
Grouped each laser to 1 / 2 / 3 firegroups
Then chained the LBX's to the 4 key


By far the most fun ive had so far with the shotguns. Hope that helps.

[Kasiagora]

I made a shotgun Atlas and K2 for fun and they were almost exactly as the builds mentioned here. The problem that I've had with them is that although you'll do a LOT of damage, you won't actually destroy very much because of how spread out that damage is. I feel like the spread damage is best against lights but Atlases have a hard time twisting fast enough to keep up with them. One of my preferred builds was a Dragon with a PPC for taking out the torso armor while I closed in and an SRM6 and LB-X for "crit-seeking" or scaring off lights, or similarly my K2 with one AC-10 and one LB-X. (I was a happy camper when I heard about them tightening the group on the LB-X, but I haven't made one of these builds since that happened because I've been distracted with other mechs.) Now, if you're in a premade with a friend running something with Gauss or multiple large lasers then the problems I've had would go right out the window. If your friend has an Awesome with lasers he can punch the holes and you can exploit them and have all the fun.

[ElcomeSoft]

My latest Dragon build has me rocking a 360XL engine, several pulse lasers and an LB-X/10. It's an odd beast to take around but I found if I play safe very early on, try to be the Anti-Scout mech in my team, I can do an effective job at chasing lights in my 104.5kph Heavy Mech and simply hitting them with an LB-X/10 is often enough to shake them up a bit.

As the match wears on, I can use the mobility to my advantage and use lasers to strip any remaining armour or use the LB-X/10 as intended and spray the weaker sections with pellets in the hope I do something nasty

But I digress... I used a double LB-X/10 build on my CTF-3D. 280 XL or 320 XL engine coupled with a few pulse lasers and a copious amount of armour/ammo/double heatsinks was very fun. I'd group fire the LB-X/10's and see an Atlas completely engulfed with mini-impacts from 20 pellets simultaneously crashing into it... but as far as actually cracking anyone open to do much damage is concerned, I was personally quite ineffective at this task.

I really need to revisit the 320XL + JJ + Dual LB-X/10 CTF-3D build and try to play it a bit smarter. Aim at Light/Medium targets instead of aiming for the tougher nuts to crack. Just thinking here, an LB-X is quite like an LRM, it spreads the damage over the area of the mech it hits and it's reasonably 'easy' to achieve some results with... just an unformed musing.

[Puppeteerxerxes]

I've had a lot of success with my C9A Centurion, 2ML and 3 SRM 6. I have 320/336 armor ams, 14 DHS, and endo steel, and whatever engine I fit in there gets me to 73kph without speed tweak (yet).

You have to play smart, getting caught in the open sucks. The SRM cycle is LOOONG when you have a bunch of guys around you. If you let your heavies/assaults engage then position to side or behind and can get close - 50-100 M I frequently hit almost all missiles in 1-2 locations. If a light isn't moving it's usually dead.

I call it Vivisector, with a point blank blast usually rip all the limbs off of a Commando, or any softened up mech and blow it up. If the other guy isn't optimized for close I can frequently kill up to Atlases by walking right up to their faces. Most people ignore Cents, thinking they suck. At longer ranges I like the spread - lets me hit the lights a bit.

The only thing I really fear in this is getting caught out, or the Catapult A1 with 6 SRM6. Those really put a hurt on you.

[KeefCheef]

Here's my "shotgun" Cataphract 2X build, I've been getting some really good results with this one. Runs fast and hits hard.

Variant: CTF-2X
Std 300 Engine
DHS
Endo

1x Large Laser
2x Med Laser
2x SRM4
1x LB-10 X AC
AMS

I have the large laser on for some mid-range capability, but you could reasonably drop it to get SRM6's or Md pulse lasers for a fully close range setup.

[AllOuttaBubbleGum]

I used to run an Atlas DC build with 2xLBX10 and srm4. Now I'm trying this build with much more success.

2xLBX10
3xSRM6+Artemis
2xMed Lasers
300 Engine
ECM
15 DHS

Grouping.
all lbx and srm6 in group 2
med lasers in group 1
all srm6 in group 3
both LBX in group 4

[Tremendous Upside]

Ok, that just looks gnarly! Been holding out on jumping into the assault market, but with ECM-wars and everyone crating Atlai in 8-mans.... Why not . I'm tired of being the "squishy" guy in the XL heavy.