13 replies to this topic

[verybad]

When the Stalker comes out, it will have a very heavy payload (not many arm actuators there btw)

Most of it's traditional loadouts are missile and energy based, with almost no ballistics in the design till later (ie not in the timeframe were running in currently).

This makes the mech likely to be capable at fire support, not so good at brawling (lack of arm actuators means it should be possible to get out of it's cone of fire in agile mechs), but potentially the most heat sink carrying mech in the game due to it's large spaces in the arms.

Organized teams will likely want to have one or more of these in back laying down lrm and long range laser support. It will be horrible at self defence versus lgihts however, so it would be good to keep a medium like a Hunchback or Centurion nearby (and also give it good tag support, because most versions of this mech varry a lot of LRMs)

Pilots that currently are using the Atlas for long range support will probably do well to switch to this ride. It may not have the tonnage of an Atlas, but it's got a lot of space inside the design for doing what you want, and it's got lots of missile and laser hardpoints by it's nature.

It won't be very good at SSRM boating, because it can't move fast, and the lack of arms means those SSRMs won't be firing as often as those on an A1 even if it has MORE missile hardpoints.

So I expect the Stalker to be better at LR support than the Awesome, effectively a jumbo'd Catapult without jets. It should take hits similiar to Catapults, and it will take more armor than anything in the game except Atlases.

With the six extra spaces it gets compared to the Atlas (only has upper arm actuators I believe) the mech should be very competitive, and a welcome addition to any team, but it won't be able to play the game without the support of it's own team. The design is definately a fatty, it'll be arround the agility of the Atlas, but with less close in capability because of those aforementioned arm actuators..

(Yes people, I know it's not coming out this patch, but I'm excited about it, it's one of my favorite mechs. It's not a perfect mech, it's certainly got flaws (and we get to test them in two weeks )

So what do you think?

[CodeNameValtus]

You seem to think the Catapult A1 has technical arms... Therefore Streaks will work just as well, however, you won't move as fast.

[Joseph Mallan]

i have been waiting for the Stalker to hit the battlefield. I can make me a Battlemaster build, a laser boat, and an Energy boat and just have a swanky good time killing all of you in style!!!!

[MrPenguin]

Its essentially a massive mobile turret. It could be used at close range and long range and its meant to tear apart anything its pointing at. Its biggest disadvantage is obvious. Every weapon it has is fixed to its body. So its limited to shooting anything that its directly pointing at. (Well, theirs lasers to a certain extent but still) Of course, this doesn't mean much until you factor in mechs with arms or simply just faster. Of course, this is a common weakness to all assaults (In some sense or another) but to the stalker its even more evident. There really should be at least one mech guarding it at all times. Less it die from something as small as a flea.

If anything, its the best mech for line breaking. As long it has back up anyway. Not even another assault would want that much direct fire pointed at it. As for brawling, I wouldn't use it for that. Of course, people will make effective brawling builds. But theirs so many brawlers that can just flat out exploit the stalkers evident weakness and just tear it apart easily. My hunchback 4SP would literally tear a part the stalker like its a joke, and I already built it to kill assaults to begin with.

Of course, this is all observation based on how this game works and from what we know about the stalkers they're adding. I'm not to sure what the turning radius of the body actually is. Also, I'm not factoring in what its used in the lore or the TT because I know nothing about the TT and I'm to lazy to check what its used in the lore and, lets be honest, i doubt it would do everything as described. Like, do you see the highlander 1 shotting mechs by landing on them in this game?

[Lord Ikka]

Remember that the Stalker is also insanely slow, at least with its default engine. Like the Catapult though, its side torsos should be small enough to fit in XL engines without a huge chance of side-coring. It is designed as a walking turret, slow and with massive firepower.

[Foksuh]

Stalker is basically the mech I've been looking for ever since I joined the CB. It might not be pretty but it seems to have the potential to run as a really, really hard hitting assault.

[Redshift2k5]

In canon it was used for breaking lines and forward assaults- it has poor ability to aim laterally but brings a huge amount fo forward firepower at all ranges.

For MWO's customization system, it offers a large nmber of missile and energy hardpoints for truly withering firepower and a variety of weapon optrions- 6x mlas and missiles, 4x (or more?) SSRMs and lasers, large laser boating, enough crit slots to fit a whopping 4x LRM20s, lots of things you can do.

[Darkmoose]

The stalker also suffered from extreme overheating, IS DHS are not a good choice for Assault mechs with small engines, stalker mounts a 255, and a lot of crit heavy equipment, LRMs, SRMs, LLaser, and Ammo lots of Ammo. Short of a munch design with 6 large lasers, everything else would take up too much space for DHS, at least for the 1.4HS in this game.

[MrPenguin]

Redshift2k5, on 04 December 2012 - 11:19 AM, said:

In canon it was used for breaking lines and forward assaults- it has poor ability to aim laterally but brings a huge amount fo forward firepower at all ranges.

For MWO's customization system, it offers a large nmber of missile and energy hardpoints for truly withering firepower and a variety of weapon optrions- 6x mlas and missiles, 4x (or more?) SSRMs and lasers, large laser boating, enough crit slots to fit a whopping 4x LRM20s, lots of things you can do.

Ah, so I essentially guessed right.

[Raalic]

Do we know what variants we're getting or hardpoint configurations, yet? The STK-3F has, at a minimum, 6 energy and 4 missile hardpoints, which is already incredible. I see it being the hardest-hitting 'mech in the game for a while to come.

[shabowie]

It's more like a Fatapult without jumpjets.



From concept art looks like 1 missile point 2 energy in each arm, 1 missile 1 energy in each side torso.

Stock weapons load is pretty flexible. 2 LL and 2 LRM10s for long range, 4 mlas and 2 SRM6s for short range.

Edited by shabowie, 04 December 2012 - 11:37 AM.

[Joseph Mallan]

I kinda wish it had the arms the Japanese Stalker has!

[RogueJello]

MrPenguin, on 04 December 2012 - 11:09 AM, said:

Like, do you see the highlander 1 shotting mechs by landing on them in this game?

Like a lot of stuff in the lore this was more about sound cool than something that really happened all that much in game. 9/10 it was easier just to shoot people than attempt DFA.

Looking forward to the stalker, definitely one of my favorite mechs as well, and it should be an interesting change from the other heavies. PGI certainly seems to be doing a good job of picking interesting mechs that mesh with the rest of the game.

[Solis Obscuri]

Yeah, I predict the Stalker will be able to mount some very nasty close/mid-range laser/SRM builds and strong indirect-fire capabilities (better than the AS7-D-DC, but worse than the AWS-8R). Overall, I think it will be Awesome-like, since it's going to be a fairly big target without the level of armor available as the Atlas has. It will also have some trouble dealing with faster flankers at very close ranges, due to lack of arm movement. However, up to that point it will be a destructive powerhouse - it will just need medium/heavy support more than an Atlas or Awesome.