36 replies to this topic

[Critical Fumble]

Vapor Trail, on 06 December 2012 - 01:34 PM, said:

TruePoindexter, on 06 December 2012 - 01:39 PM, said:

Seeing that made me die on the inside.

OP - you need to say more than discuss to get a discussion.

ZOMG - Metamorphosis is OP! Nerf it NOW!

Anyone else had moments where you roll to the front lines in a Cicada, and the entire other team ignores your allies in favor of trying to kill you?

[Cabanaboy]

So, having an issue. I built what I thought was a sweet ranged Cicada build and I am getting cored in like 3 shots. 176 armor, 3 ER Large Lasers, 2 mediums. 150 engine (no brawler here for sure) and I'm taking my 3 frontal hits from anything and coring out. 29 armor center torso, 18 armor head, but its the torso each time. 4 matches in a row, ever since I made the build. Is there a dynamic I am missing? getting frustrating because I so am not a brawler and trying to build something with damage at range.

[Utilyan]

Messing around to get a good idea of what you got....... I had that 150 engine, put the 4 heat sinks and 4 large lasers, and this mech had armor 268.

Maybe your sacrificing armor for more heat sinks?

You ought to be a glass cannon.

Keep in mind the you can take a trial mech awsome he gots 3 er ppcs, 494 maxed out armor, 20 heatsinks....... and still has left over toys.

I'd try your setup.......with the 3 large.....maybe get rid of the mediums......ya know might aswell commit to the long range, will help with the heat efficiency. I gotta assume you all the tonage that didnt go to armor went to heat sinks.

save up for xl engine.


If I was forced to fight in your machine...... I would not be trading shots at long range.......but more or less I would babysit an atlas or another assult I could keep up with. Cuz im too slow to hide.....too weak armored to be static. But if I start shooting someone who is preocupied with killing the tank it might be too late to realize this mech was packin'.

For a cicada 3 large lasers and 2 mediums......thats alot of gun.

[Stingz]

Cabanaboy, on 11 December 2012 - 06:24 PM, said:

So, having an issue. I built what I thought was a sweet ranged Cicada build and I am getting cored in like 3 shots. 176 armor, 3 ER Large Lasers, 2 mediums. 150 engine (no brawler here for sure) and I'm taking my 3 frontal hits from anything and coring out. 29 armor center torso, 18 armor head, but its the torso each time. 4 matches in a row, ever since I made the build. Is there a dynamic I am missing? getting frustrating because I so am not a brawler and trying to build something with damage at range.

ER Lasers make little difference, swap back to regular. 2 L.Las is probably enough for weapons, get more engine/armour/heatsinks. Investing into speed forces the opponent to stay at range, also gives room to cool down.

[Keijo]

CDA-3M with the stock engine (320 XL), 4 medium lasers, max armor and ECM is a fun ride. A streak-fitted ECM Commando or Raven is your bane, but other than that, you can take on just about anything and and stand a decent chance of winning. An AC-20 can kill you in one hit with a lucky shot, but the Cicada moves so fast that happens rarely.

If ECM weren't mandatory, the 2A and 2B would be even better. The 2B has fewer hardpoints, but I find that the 2A with 6 medium lasers generates too much heat; I scaled back to 5 just so I could keep shooting. Plus being able to aim up or down with the arms can get you kills that you otherwise wouldn't get; advantage 2B. Then again, on the 2A you can skimp a bit on the arm armor since it doesn't hurt you if they get blown off.

BTW, you MUST get DHS on the 2A or 2B (the 3M comes with it and still feels like an oven at first). When I first got my 2A I had to run 6 small lasers on it until I could afford DHS, and even then it would overheat quickly. Though it's easy to get into range for smalls, I find it's better to pop out of cover, shoot, and duck back in sometimes, and for that you need better range than the smalls give you.

All in all though, if I could go back in time, I'd get a Raven instead. Streaks + ECM is just too good to pass up.

[Sovery_Simple]

Cabanaboy, on 07 December 2012 - 02:05 PM, said:

First Cicada here with the -3C variant. I can't figure out how to build it and be effective. I'm running an AC2 and AC5 right now, but I'm not doing much damage...

PS - Do machine guns actually do ANY damage?

4 MG's usually did about 80 dmg a round for me, firing them non-stop. Though I have fps issues a bit and that makes it harder to keep them on target. If you take someone who isn't moving at all, like a HBK, you can core him in about 50s or so, at the latest. 4 Mg's can actually really hurt something as long as you keep it on a single part. I suggest pairing it with a single large laser, sincer you have the heat to spare due to the MG's taking none. That bumped me up to 150ish dmg usually, and gives you a hitscan weapon with respectable damage (no one likes getting hit for 9 dmg somewhere, especially if you have MG's doing 1.6 dmg a second to that area also.) For enemy lights just keep behind them if they try to run, with MG's blazing, and fire the LL only when you think you can make it land most of the duration. Basically the MG's will soften a lights low rear armor really fast, and the LL has the burst to actually kill a weakened part. This is while running a 320 xl iirc, or whatever the highest is, been a few weeks since I played. xD

[knight-of-ni]

I've mastered my Jenners and am sitting on 17.5 mil cbills.

Because I am not into big and slow, my next purchase may be a Cicada.

I'll likely start with the -3M variant so I can run ECM. I'm used to running around with six ML's on my Jenner-F so I'll probably stick with energy weapons on the Cicada as that is what I'm used to.

If it will fit, I'm thinking something along the lines of two large lasers and two medium pulse lasers. Anyone run with a similar loadout?

Edited by knnniggett, 12 December 2012 - 08:38 AM.

[Stingz]

knnniggett, on 12 December 2012 - 08:38 AM, said:

If it will fit, I'm thinking something along the lines of two large lasers and two medium pulse lasers. Anyone run with a similar loadout?

2 Larges is already hot by themselves, 2 M.Pulse is only going to make it worse. You need to lower the engine rating to fit it, since it has an XL, and no armor stock.

Edited by Stingz, 13 December 2012 - 04:49 AM.

[Greers]

I'm only driving the 3M. Planned it as a Mobile-ECM-Carrier: Max Armor, 2 MLaser, 2 MPulseLaser, 113 kp/h. Astounded by getting lots of kills by removing legs. Fun build! 'Nuff said

[Crashingmail]

I really loved my 4MG + LPLAS.
Whit this configuration everyone gets angry when u are in his back (like Awesome). Its not more like scratching paint from a wall with only the MGs, but the guy in the cockpit seems to get very angry with u, because of the never ending noise u produce

I really hope they increase the damage a bit, but right now i'm driving only the EMC version with TAG, 3MLAS, 1LLAS, MG + 15 DHS and 130 kph max with speed tweak. I love hunting Jenner all over the map

[TitanSeraph]

Pros:
>Fast
>35 tons
>Decent armor
>Ability to do fairly well in almost all tasks
>Excellent scout/support
>All variants are excellent

Cons:
Heat management issue almost always there
Good variant costs twice as much as regular variant
Decent armor is not by any mean excellent

Argument:
It's a heavy scout. What the ~@#* would you not want beside a Cicada? You easily get kill assists, kills and spottings, and are excellent at capping. The Cicada's an excellent money grinder.

Doesn't top my centurion thought. And a well piloted dragon can do far more better.

[Cerlin]

Ok so I dont pilot these but I have fought a lot of them. They are quick and have some armor but other mediums seem to be able to do better. So with matchmaking working, does it offer enough advantage to counterbalance the fact the other team gets a Centurion or hunchback? I want to try these but I am still curious about this.

[Garth Erlam]

It's my favourite medium by far, and you can really wreck house with it. My 2A has 6 ML's, 18/19 heatsinks, and full/mostly full armour - and goes 121 km/h without any XP boosts. Sure, a Hunch or Centurion might have a bigger damage potential, but my ML's are doing 30 damage an alpha, and you can get a fair amount out before you overheat.

I also really like the 2B. Only 5 ML's, but 4 are on arms, which can really help.

Either way, as said earlier, you're basically light cavalry. Hit them in the sides/back, and move to help people getting outnumbered. You're an EXTREMELY mobile force multiplier, ECM or not.

[LionZoo]

Garth Erlam, on 13 December 2012 - 10:24 AM, said:

It's my favourite medium by far, and you can really wreck house with it. My 2A has 6 ML's, 18/19 heatsinks, and full/mostly full armour - and goes 121 km/h without any XP boosts. Sure, a Hunch or Centurion might have a bigger damage potential, but my ML's are doing 30 damage an alpha, and you can get a fair amount out before you overheat.

I also really like the 2B. Only 5 ML's, but 4 are on arms, which can really help.

Either way, as said earlier, you're basically light cavalry. Hit them in the sides/back, and move to help people getting outnumbered. You're an EXTREMELY mobile force multiplier, ECM or not.

Are those 18/19 heat sinks DHS or SHS? If they are SHS, if engine DHS are true 2.0 DHS, why would you mount 18/19 SHS instead of even just 10 DHS (since that would equal 20 SHS).

[Keijo]

Has to be DHS. You'd overheat in no time firing 6 MLs with SHS.