49 replies to this topic

[Elizander]

Quite a lot of useful information was taken from this thread. Please go have a look at it! Hunchback 4SP "The Bulldozer"

While similar to the Bulldozer thread, I do believe in maximizing the weapon slots (whenever practical) in order to get the most out of each mech that I have. To this end, I have decided to add a Medium Laser to the head slot to round it off to 5.

Most of the brawling will be done with the 4 arm mounted Medium Lasers, but Alpha Strikes will usually include the fifth as well as using it regularly when one or both side torsos are blown off to supplement your damage.

Weapon groups are simplified to the following:

1 - Arm-mounted Medium Lasers (x4)
2 - Head-mounted Medium Laser
3 - Torso-mounted SRM6 (x2)

You can have your own weapon groups to separate the left arm lasers from the right ones or what not, but I prefer to keep things simple so as not to over-complicate things and get myself all confused. If you can handle 8 different fire options, then more power to you.

Now, here is the build I've been using in detail:



Your standard attacks will involve using the 4 arm-mounted lasers most of the time while trying to line up SRM6 shots. It's best to hit the SRM6s under 50 meters, the closer the better, but you have enough ammo to chuck them at your opponents even from further ranges.

You can use partial cover and slopes to hit with your head-mounted laser and the SRMs while protecting most of your mech's body. If there is a low building between you and your enemy, both your arm lasers will hit the building, but your head laser or the SRMs might be able to fly over it. Keep this in mind. It is one of the advantages of the HBK design.

You can use your speed to get behind enemy lines and get a valuable alpha strike off before they can react (into nummy back armor). You can decide to take out a weapon from the side torsos or weaken them with a center torso hit. I noticed that K2 Gauss Cats often lose their side torsos if you Alpha them from behind. I've even 1 shot a K2 when its Gauss killed the CT as well (didn't record that one tho, pity).

We all have our different play styles but this might give you an idea on how this mech is played. I am sure there are others who are more effective with it, but I guess this is what I consider fun and slightly effective for now. All matches are pure 100% pugs. Latency is around 270-350 and all clips were gathered in one sitting from several matches. Some clips were sped up for the sake of not putting you to sleep. 600-900+ damage and 4+ kills are very possible if you play carefully... which I didn't do much of in this video.



As usual, comments, suggestions, criticisms are all welcome.

Other References:

MECHWARRIOR ONLINE BUDGET SAVING TIPS / GUIDE (AS OF NOV 14)
Catapult CPLT-K2 Dual AC20 Quad Medium Laser
Atlas AS7-D-DC Budget ECM Assault
Atlas AS7-D-DC Alpha 85
Mechwarrior Meme Thread!

Edited by Elizander, 14 December 2012 - 10:38 PM.

[Stingz]

About 90-95% of all effective HBK-4SP players use this loadout, since it maximizes the abilities of this mech. It's not very easy to find a better build for this, other than small changes for preference.

You know a stock mech was built well when customs rides only make small changes.

Edited by Stingz, 09 December 2012 - 11:54 AM.

[Wrenchfarm]

I run the same beast but with one less ton of SRM ammo and DHS, swapping in a AMS in their place. First real big boy mech I built and still one of the best. The 4SP is a workhorse that won't let you down.

It bums me out when I see people stick dinky little LRM5s in those beautiful shoulder mounts.

[Fred013]

I piloted this mech for a while before I sold it (why?) and I took out 2 MLAS and ran with 3 because I overheated too much. And I couldn't fit in DHS!

[Cferre]

Use the exact same build except I got 1 ton more ammo and the 240 engine.

Edited by Cferre, 09 December 2012 - 05:37 PM.

[MavRCK]

Should really get the 250 engine.

[Cferre]

MavRCK, on 09 December 2012 - 05:41 PM, said:

Should really get the 250 engine.

Speed is not an issue with the 240 and your ammo will suffer if you get the 250. With 4 tons you got enough to last the match,and you even got enough when you use the 75% rearm. So you would save some $$$ on rearm.

Edited by Cferre, 09 December 2012 - 05:58 PM.

[Lavrenti]

Cferre, on 09 December 2012 - 05:49 PM, said:

Speed is not an issue with the 240 and your ammo will suffer if you get the 250. With 4 tons you got enough to last the match,and you even got enough when you use the 75% rearm. So you would save some $$$ on rearm.

Yes, but with a 250 you benefit from an additional engine heat sink functioning at 2.0 (assuming you're using DHS). You also are not forced to have an external HS, although you'll probably want it anyway - with 2x SRM6, this thing runs pretty hot in a brawl..

[Wrenchfarm]

TBH, I never had any issues just packing 2 tons of SRM ammo. I frequently just used the 75% rearm too. I would occasionally run out, but at that point I'd have done so much damage that I didn't care.

Also, I agree with Lavrenti! I ran with a 245 engine for a long time only to learn of the additional benefits of the 250 later. So close, but so far.

[Cferre]

Quote

this thing runs pretty hot in a brawl..

Heat is quite manageable with my build (eff 1.1). It just requires some discipline.

Quote

I never had any issues just packing 2 tons of SRM ammo.

I assume you rely mostly on the med lasers. I still want to pack a punch and have the ammo for it when my arms are blown off so I rely on both.

Edited by Cferre, 09 December 2012 - 06:57 PM.

[Hotthedd]

I run a similar build in mine, but use the AMS and drop endo in favor of more DHSs.

I love my Hunchie.

[Elizander]

Wrenchfarm, on 09 December 2012 - 03:36 PM, said:

I run the same beast but with one less ton of SRM ammo and DHS, swapping in a AMS in their place. First real big boy mech I built and still one of the best. The 4SP is a workhorse that won't let you down.

It bums me out when I see people stick dinky little LRM5s in those beautiful shoulder mounts.

Cferre, on 09 December 2012 - 05:36 PM, said:

Use the exact same build except I got 1 ton more ammo and the 240 engine.

Wrenchfarm, on 09 December 2012 - 06:30 PM, said:

TBH, I never had any issues just packing 2 tons of SRM ammo. I frequently just used the 75% rearm too. I would occasionally run out, but at that point I'd have done so much damage that I didn't care.

Also, I agree with Lavrenti! I ran with a 245 engine for a long time only to learn of the additional benefits of the 250 later. So close, but so far.

I will admit that most times I have trouble finishing off the 3 tons of ammo. I'm mostly still learning to properly aim the darn missiles when circle strafing and what not. Right now I can only reliably aim them while moving in a straight line (usually perpendicular to the target) but not when turning. I'm still trying to use it up as much as I can. The heat is okay, the build in the video was actually running with 1 less DHS with 4 tons of ammo (which I couldn't use up).

I'll update this if I do get a 250 or play around with more DHS and less ammo.

Cferre, on 09 December 2012 - 06:37 PM, said:

Heat is quite manageable with my build (eff 1.1). It just requires some discipline.

The HBK-4SP in the video is running at 1.1 Heat Efficiency. It has 1 less heat sink than what's listed in the guide. It's not bad overall. Too bad I couldn't get any good games on Caustic to show how it runs there too.

Hotthedd, on 09 December 2012 - 06:51 PM, said:

I run a similar build in mine, but use the AMS and drop endo in favor of more DHSs.

I love my Hunchie.

AMS is a good option but I don't seem to run into a lot of missile boats and I usually end up backstabbing them with the way I play. If they are far then hills and walls usually do a good enough of a job of stopping them.

Fred013, on 09 December 2012 - 04:23 PM, said:

I piloted this mech for a while before I sold it (why?) and I took out 2 MLAS and ran with 3 because I overheated too much. And I couldn't fit in DHS!

DHS is sadly a requirement for a lot of mechs in order to get a lot of extra shots in. If you do buy it again, make sure you put DHS.

[Aerowind]

I opted for a 260 in mine (mostly because I didn't want to buy another engine and had one I pulled from a Catapult). I love this thing. I'll often perform flanking maneuvers when the big brawl starts happening. Just find a mech with target fixation and put two alphas in his back to watch him explode.

Hell, I circle strafed a fully armored Atlas with this setup. 4sp is a beast.

[Ryft]

I use something very similar... 250 engine, 2 tons ammo, DHS. Left click is left arm lasers, right click is right arm lasers, scroll wheel click is SRMs, and scroll wheel tilt to the right is the head laser. At some point I might get fussy and put a 5th group on scroll-wheel-tilt-left for a single SRM unit, but I find the separate left/right arms is all I need for some additional heat discipline, as well as letting me not waste shots into random buildings and hillsides. It also helps avoid shooting my team in the back, and since this mech runs in the middle of the pack that's probably appreciated.

With only 75% of 2 tons of SRM ammo, I don't spam missiles all over the place. I save them for choice shots, and use the 5th laser for some extra damage the rest of the time.

Now... what makes me sad is when I see people put little streak SRM2 in the shoulders. I used to run them, but this thing loses its "punch in the mouth" factor when you take away the SRM6s.

[Leded]

hey thats my favorite 4SP loadout

[Valrock]

Ryft, on 09 December 2012 - 08:43 PM, said:

Now... what makes me sad is when I see people put little streak SRM2 in the shoulders. I used to run them, but this thing loses its "punch in the mouth" factor when you take away the SRM6s.

I used to run streaks with this setup, the main advantage over the SRM's was in having less weight, meaning I could run AMS and the 250 engine. And while you do lose some alpha strike fire power, i found that consistenly hitting with 4 missles (2 x 2 streaks) provided more reliable damage than the slightly more shotgunned SRM's, particularly when chasing off pesky light's.
This was before ECM, of course.

Overall tho great build, I think I might go get my 4SP out of the garage and blow off the dustballs =)

[jonny1982]

250 engine, 4 MLAS in the arms and 2 SRMs with 2 tonnes of ammo here. Great build provided you don't try to go it alone - use the ok speed to get round the back of a distracted heavy or assault. Running an extra MLAS in the head seems like a bad idea to me - you can't sink the extra heat on all maps (though I suppose as a backup for when you lose an arm it couldn't hurt).

[Ewigan]

i do not own a hunchie (yet), but piloting commandos i fell in love with medium pulse lasers.
why does everyone run the hunchie sp with normal lasers?
Heat dissipation that bad with pulse?

[DocRebuy]

I currently run my 4sp with 2srm6, 4 arm mounted small lasers and a medium laser in the head. Endosteel and a 260 engine.
I am still saving up to get double heat sinks. When I have them I 'd like to switch my lasers to ML and run a similar setup to the one suggested in the original post.
So, I know that the 250 engine has a double heat sink advantage over the 245. But how about the 260? Is it even better (heat sink wise) than the 250?
Because I 'd like to keep the 260 and rather strip some srm ammo and/ or some leg armor, if viable.

[Jaded Jasper]

I run a similar variant, that I like somewhat better:

260 engine
2xSRM6 w/ Artemis
5xSmall Laser
DHS, Endo, +4 heatsinks
4 tons ammo, i.e. 3 tons with free reloads.

I'm always tempted to drop a ton of ammo and down to a 250 engine, then upgrade to Medium Lasers... but when I tried it that way it ran too hot for sustained brawling, and I found that I wasn't making much use of the MLs' range anyway.