35 replies to this topic

[Shiney]

This is really funny, I run an A1, but don't 'streakcat' it and do much better than if I did. The 'only' issue with streakscats is the streaks cause WAY too much smoke to which it's really hard to aim and perhaps the shake needs to go down a little. Guess what both are being taken care of soon. Had 3 streakcats a couple of games ago, we had none, and we won 8:1, it's not really a big deal, just get your team mates to focus on them and don't let them sneak up on you, job's done.

[Elizander]

I put 6 SRM6s in my A1. Much more fun than bunny hopping with streaks. Then again, I'm an alpha-strike kinda guy.

[Captain Midnight]

dal10, on 01 December 2012 - 09:21 PM, said:

how many people complaining about the a1 are light pilots? for example I know midnight likes lights.

I hate lights for the record, dunno why you think I like them...

[An Individual]

Screen shake and smoke reduction alone will already greatly reduce the streak cat effectiveness (it's their shield against some one just killing them with focused torso shots). On top of that we have streaks spreading out even more and the introduction of ECM which will render their entire arsenal completely useless. Let's wait and see how those work out before we worry about nerfing an entire variant that has other interesting and balanced builds that require movement speed and armor.

[Elizander]

An Individual, on 01 December 2012 - 10:55 PM, said:

Screen shake and smoke reduction alone will already greatly reduce the streak cat effectiveness (it's their shield against some one just killing them with focused torso shots). On top of that we have streaks spreading out even more and the introduction of ECM which will render their entire arsenal completely useless. Let's wait and see how those work out before we worry about nerfing an entire variant that has other interesting and balanced builds that require movement speed and armor.

Your crosshairs actually don't move when your screen shakes so it doesn't throw off your aim. It's mostly the smoke for me really because I can ignore the shaking. It's a bit overkill. I'm rounding off my Catapult to elite so I bought an A1, but I don't chain fire my streaks cause I know it's a ***** for the other guy to deal with and it's gonna get fixed anyway.

[MWHawke]

All your suggestions do not affect your build. And you already said that you don't die even with 1 tonne of armor. How is it that you want the Streaks nerfed but your own LRM (uber) build not nerfed? That is just hypocritical.

Apart from that, seriously, you all realise you are talking about a 65 ton mech? The weight class between 65-75 tons are the most dangerous due to their ability to move faster than assaults, have heavy armor and have the ability to put in almost assault weaponry.

Light mechs are made for their speed to scout, not kill all other mechs.

Medium mechs are made to battle lights (due to netcode, this is quite challenging) and challenge heavies (note I said CHALLENGE). If it's a good pilot, to kill the heavy.

Heavy mechs are the in-between of mediums and assaults and thus, should be considered most dangerous.

Assaults are made to mount heavy armor and weaponry but have low agility/mobility.

[Roland]

Vermaxx, on 01 December 2012 - 09:27 PM, said:

The SSRM isn't any less skilled than anything else.

No dude, it really is. Using streaks doesn't require much skill.

[MWHawke]

Roland, on 01 December 2012 - 11:26 PM, said:

No dude, it really is. Using streaks doesn't require much skill.

It requires skill to sneak up on mechs. Otherwise, seriously, the Streak Cat is worthless. They just wait around for the chance to be unleashed. If you see a streak making a run for it, shoot it. Good as dead Cat..

[Sifright]

MWHawke, on 02 December 2012 - 12:22 AM, said:

It requires skill to sneak up on mechs. Otherwise, seriously, the Streak Cat is worthless. They just wait around for the chance to be unleashed. If you see a streak making a run for it, shoot it. Good as dead Cat..

Ambushing is not a streak cat only thing.

The same problem exists for every other mech in the game if they want to advance into brawl range.

Please don't try to act like thats a special secret skill snowflake for cats :\

[MWHawke]

Sifright, on 02 December 2012 - 02:41 AM, said:

Ambushing is not a streak cat only thing.

The same problem exists for every other mech in the game if they want to advance into brawl range.

Please don't try to act like thats a special secret skill snowflake for cats :\

Please read properly. I did not say it is a special secret skilil. What's wrong with you? Want to troll? Go find another forum. When you talk about other mechs, you mean to say it is a skill when they are able to sneak up on another mech and it is not a skill when it comes to the StreakCat? Go troll somewhere else.

[Sifright]

MWHawke, on 02 December 2012 - 03:03 AM, said:

Please read properly. I did not say it is a special secret skilil. What's wrong with you? Want to troll? Go find another forum. When you talk about other mechs, you mean to say it is a skill when they are able to sneak up on another mech and it is not a skill when it comes to the StreakCat? Go troll somewhere else.

You are attempting to say streak cats are worthless unless they sneak. most brawling mechs are worthless when they aren't sneaking.

Once you are in range the streak requires much less skill.

If any one isn't reading posts it is clearly you.

Your lack of reading comprehension coupled with your sore lack of ability to recursively apply your own logic to arguments you make is astounding please continue to post it gives me a jolly laugh.

Edited by Sifright, 02 December 2012 - 05:04 AM.

[Captain Midnight]

SSRM/LRM take no skill, only exclusive "specialist" LRM/SSRM users think they do.

[MWHawke]

Sifright, on 02 December 2012 - 03:55 AM, said:

You are attempting to say streak cats are worthless unless they sneak. most brawling mechs are worthless when they aren't sneaking.

Once you are in range the streak requires much less skill.

If any one isn't reading posts it is clearly you.

Your lack of reading comprehension coupled with your sore lack of ability to recursively apply your own logic to arguments you make is astounding please continue to post it gives me a jolly laugh.

If you could understand English, you would see what I posted clearly. You should go back to kindergarten and learn grammar and how they form a sentence. If you understand English, then you must be a braindead ID10T who just wants to troll posts. Read my post carefully before you say anything more STUP1D!!!

Roland, on 01 December 2012 - 11:26 PM, said:

No dude, it really is. Using streaks doesn't require much skill.


It requires skill to sneak up on mechs. Otherwise, seriously, the Streak Cat is worthless. They just wait around for the chance to be unleashed. If you see a streak making a run for it, shoot it. Good as dead Cat..

[Zero Neutral]

TheMightyWashburn, on 01 December 2012 - 08:31 PM, said:

TL;DR: Decrease A1 armor and speed to make streakcats manageable.
First off. The devs intend to reduce smoke and shake from all missiles and ballistics.
(somewhere in command chair)

Second. The streak can not be nerfed as you would if it were over powered as a single weapon. Obviously it is important for it to be a viable option to pop in for a little damage boost if you have one or two missile hardpoints but dont want to pack on the LRMs and SRMs are impractical, say, for reasons of speed and maneuvering.

Many of you have realized these two things and if you think that the streak shouldnt exist at all this thread isnt for you so dont bother commenting.

If you recognize the first and second premise then I would like to suggest that we do not fix the SSRMs (save for the shake and smoke already slated to be dealt with) but instead fix the A1 cat.

For those of you who dont know the A1 cat has 6 missile hardpoints making it ideal for a number of builds, be it a streak cat, a srm boat or several variations on the LRM boat (my own having 2XLRM20+2XLRM15 [I have no armor and only go 37 kph])

I suggest that the devs alter the A1 cat variant by substantially* decreasing the cat's maximum armor and maybe moderately decreasing it maximum engine size.

How this would affect gameplay for the 3 builds on this variant.
LRM boats would not be seriously effected as they dont need a whole lot of speed and if they are doing it right dont need much armor either. In my own LRM boat I rarely die even though I have only 1 ton of armor on my whole mech.
SRM and SSRM boats would both become a more manageable threat on the battlefield. The reduced armor would force them to route more easily and make the tactic I have seen several premades use, where they simply rush our well entrenched lines so quickly that even concentrated fire can only take down one or two before the other 3-5 mechs overun our position and there can be no doubt that the streakapult is superior to any other mech at close range combat.

The streakapult should not reign supreme over CQC, however, I do think they should be a formidible foe. But they simply should not be able to run across 300-400m of open space while under heavy directed fire without being nearly if not totally demolished upon arrival.

What do you think of this solution?

*by substantial I mean a degree that allows them to be effective up close but by no means able to run at nigh 70 kph under heavy LRM and ballistic fire and still be so dangerous.

Um, no, they are already rebalancing cockpit shake and smoke blind from all weapons... That's all streaks need. If you are a light and getting killed by streaks, then don't go near Catapults.

[valrond]

Catapult A1 is just fine. Mechs don't need to be nerfed, just the OP weapons. There are two problem with the streaks: they always hit, with a fast recycle, without losing lock, and the other one is the rock and smoke they produce, so returning fire is really difficult.

If you can manage to catch it in open field with some distance and long range weapons, they're not a problem, but inside 270m they're deadly.

Unless the user is a complete noob, streakcats are almost always leading the standings.

There are two things that should be done:

1-Increase recycle time at least 50%, so the DPS is not that good
2-Reduce or completely remove screen shake and specially smoke.

I have a A1. I tried the streakcat once. It was way too easy. Didn't like it. So now I run it with 4 streaks for self defense and 2 LRM15.

[Lykaon]

Vermaxx, on 01 December 2012 - 09:27 PM, said:

I love people who quote "skill" with SSRM, as if it takes a huge amount of "skill" to hit mechs.

Hit them well, yes. Hit them at all (especially with anything spreadfire or rapid fire), no.

The SSRM isn't any less "skilled" than anything else. You need to play smart. The missiles don't drive the mech, pick targets, move around the map carefully, turn the torso to spread damage, jump jet as necessary, or time fire to really fork people. The missiles don't even fire themselves.

I HAVE TO DO ALL THAT. And I can tell you, having used a streak cat, I am not impressed. I've had a few perfect storm runs where I get four kills. I've done that in several other mechs, none of which carry streaks.

I did it tonight in a Hunch 4-H carrying 5 medium lasers and no DHS. 3 kills before the AFK guy at the base.

Streaks are only effective when you are probably already fked anyway - like when you get teamrolled. One on one, a heavy versus a heavy or assault, streak cats do not win reliably. They do not, contrary to popular belief, solo teams. They kill damaged mechs, or people not paying attention, or speed up wolfpacking. In other words, they kill you when you were already fk d anyway.

Ok so let's compare shall we...

Streakcat requires a pilot to point at a target for about 1.5 seconds and then keep the target centered about 25% of the time with about 30 degrees of wiggle room.

This means...

The streakcat pilot uses minimal effort to deliver 100% of thier damage on target .75% of the time they need not even have the target in the actual crosshairs just in the "neighborhood" this allows all the attention they would have used on actually aiming to be used on not dying.They are then rewarded with the majority of the damage they deal homming in on the CT of the target (yes this still happens anyone claiming otherwise is ill informed or innacurate)

Meanwhile...

Someone fighting a streakcat with a more conventional build let's say a Dragon 5N custom job with a gauss and an SRM 6 a couple of med lasers and some speed.

Well lthe dragon needs to actually aim at the Cat and also needs to deal with any netcode or ping issues that the cat gets to ignore.Let's say the Dragon pilot foolishly believes the pro Streakcat crowd and tries to "shoot the ears off" to disarm the Cat.

Cat shoots the dragon dealing around 20 points out of 30 to CT the dragon has 60 CT armor in the front now 40 left.

Dragon shoots the cat with the gauss hits the left ear doing 15 out of 40 damage to the "ear" shoots the SRM6 landing most of the shot to the cat's CT and the lasers rake across the the left torso and left arm.The left ear is now at let's say 20 armor remaining.

Cat jumps over the Dragon and pours in 20 more damage to CT leaving the dragon with 20 left.

Dragon fires back but now only the gauss and 1 laser can hit the second laser and SRM are in the torso and can't hit the cat arching above.The gauss hits but the cat's leg the laser hits the left arm miraculously dealing all 5 damage to the "ear.The Cat has 15 armor left on the ear.

Catapult lands and fires off another salvo dealing 20 of the 30 damage to the CT leaving the dragon with no CT armor and probably red/orange arms/side torsos.

The Dragon turns trying to keep the leaping Cat in arc and fires off another alpha strike the heat level is climbing but still combat effective.The Srms rake along the side of the Catapult with 2 actually hitting the left arm for 5 damage the gauss however misses entirely because of the well documented convergence problems experience with rapid movements at close rangres.Fortunatley one of the lasers hits home and deals another 5 damage.10 more damage done to the Cat's left missile pod leaving 5 armor left.

The Cat takes to the air again and fires off another alpha strike running cool as ice and vollies in more streak missiles coring the dragon completely.

Edited by Lykaon, 02 December 2012 - 05:37 AM.