21 replies to this topic

[Vechs]

Other than extra tubes on the arms for the 3H, I really don't see the upside to either of them.

Why would you ever bring one of these variants to a fight?

[Ryvucz]

Vechs, on 08 January 2013 - 06:18 PM, said:

Other than extra tubes on the arms for the 3H, I really don't see the upside to either of them.

Why would you ever bring one of these variants to a fight?

Aside from needing 3 variants to unlock Elite and Master... just to have a different load out if you're a mech collector that keeps everything fully equipped.

[Selfish]

The 3H has twenty tubes on each arm mounting. This lets it fire dual LRM20's in just one salvo for some impressive burst, and is the defining 'trait' the variant has that other variants do not.

As far as I know there is nothing special about the 4N. It's lacking one missile hardpoint and has no advantages. I've fully mastered the variant and haven't found any unique fitting or stat that the chassis might have. I even tested its heat capacity (but not dissipation) to see if the devs tried to sneak one past.

[Vechs]

Yeah the extra tubes seem like a marginal advantage for the 3H, assuming you're using LRM20's and not... well, any other missile.

But the 4N? Just seems like a disaster.

[superteds]

nothing.

the 3F is the best for brawling

the 5S and 5M are then the next best. (CT laser gimmick, dual AMS gimmick)

Unless you reaaaallllly think the extra missile tubes are worth the pricetag and worse layout.

[Grissnap]

If you are making an LRM boat the 3H is better: the main reason is, you generally don't have the tonnage left over to even make use of your torso energy hardpoints anyway so you are giving up useless energy hardpoints for more missile tubes. The missile tubes are useful for LRM 15s or higher to get better burst damage. You do lose flexibility in the frame, so unless you are sure you want a Stalker missile boat I would avoid going for the 3H.

As for the 4N... I have no clue really.

[Broceratops]

i'd take the 3H over the dual AMS. AMS is just abysmal and there doesnt seem to be any plans to change it. on the other hand, having all your missiles out at once is actually pretty useful because your targets have a little less time to get under cover, and all those missiles hitting at once is more likely to get you the kill

[Wrenchfarm]

Some of the Stalkers really do seem redundant. I was hoping more subtle advantages for them would be revealed over time, but so far - nada.

[neuroelectronic]

The 4N is there so IGP can sell you another mech. the variant system is really a hacky F2P scam. They could have at least made use of it to give some kind of advantage to certain variants, but they couldn't think that far ahead with all the money bags filling their *** retinas.

It's almost as bad as paying $60 to transfer mech XP to general XP. What a lazy F2P hack. Game had so much potential but obviously the person(s) involved in the quality aspect of this game quit when they saw it what it was turning into.

Slap a bolistic hard point on a "hero" variant and charge $50 for it? suck my nuts.

Edited by neuroelectronic, 31 May 2013 - 06:25 AM.

[Hex Pallett]

neuroelectronic, on 31 May 2013 - 06:12 AM, said:

The 4N is there so IGP can sell you another mech. the variant system is really a hacky F2P scam. They could have at least made use of it to give some kind of advantage to certain variants, but they couldn't think that far ahead with all the money bags filling their *** retinas.

It's almost as bad as paying $60 to transfer mech XP to general XP. What a lazy F2P hack. Game had so much potential but obviously the person(s) involved in the quality aspect of this game quit when they saw it what it was turning into.

Slap a bolistic hard point on a "hero" variant and charge $50 for it? suck my nuts.

Here comes the crybaby.

Command Console is yet to be implemented so we'll see.

[Jay Z]

I have mastered all 5 non-Misery Stalkers. Yes all 5. Why? Because Stalkers are amazing and because I have so many builds to try that I need that many stalkers to run even half of them, so why not get all the variants. (I would do the same if there were 10 Jenner variants).

Anyway, my 4N has served me very well during its life and has been retired from active service with exactly 200 games and 80417 damage (402 per game average). It's had 4LL, 6LL, 4PPC and a range of other builds during it's life. The Command Console may yet come into play and may make the 4N a preferred variant.

The 3H is an interesting mech which opens up a few possibilities. I am using this at the moment with reasonable success. STK-3H

These are my only 2 long ranged focused mechs that I own (other than a couple Catapults with 2 LRM15s) and the only mechs that I would use PPCs on. All of my others are close range focused brawlers.

My other Stalkers
3F: My First Stalker Not Brawly Enough
5M: My Favourite Current Build
5S: All the things! Bane of my drop lance

In short, if you want 3 Stalkers get the 5M, 3F and 5S. Only get the 4N and 3H if you are crazy or love Stalkers (or both ).

[ZBeren]

Jay Z, on 31 May 2013 - 06:22 PM, said:

In short, if you want 3 Stalkers get the 5M, 3F and 5S. Only get the 4N and 3H if you are crazy or love Stalkers (or both ).

This.

If you're getting into stalkers get the 3F first, more torso twist and the same hardpoints the 5S has, expect for the extra AMS. Only ever get a 5S if you're going to mount 2 AMS, otherwise just don't buy it at all. 5M for ultimate brawling/all around.

As mentioned above, the 3H is only good for lrms, it does decent if you want to multi-boat lrms with some lasers, altho you'll relly way too much on keeping your arms functional. The 4N and the Misery just plain suck, unless they have some hidden trait I don't know about.

Edited by ZBeren, 01 June 2013 - 05:26 PM.

[heleqin]

ZBeren, on 01 June 2013 - 05:22 PM, said:

The 4N and the Misery just plain suck, unless they have some hidden trait I don't know about.

the 4N i'm not going to disagree about, but what makes the Misery suck? 5 energy/1 missile/1ballistic is pretty good, especially with 10% boosts to accel, turning, and torso twist over the non-3F stalkers? sure you're short on the missile side, but the Gauss or an AC20 go a long way to offsetting a lack of LRM mounts

[mack sabbath]

I'm a newer player still learning it, but last night my Misery did 689 damage and got 4 kills, and since my skills have gotten a little improved, it always hits the 300+ and at least a kill or lots of assists or both.

That's before the 30% bonuses too.

Misery doesn't "suck," I'd love to watch a GOOD pilot play my girl awhile!

Edited by Die Primate Die, 02 June 2013 - 11:00 AM.

[ICEFANG13]

The 4N is completely worthless and has not value over the 5S, nothing at all. The 3H is best for its missile tubes, but in the current, bring lots of LL or PPC Stalkers, its not as good as the 3F (which is best). 5M has most missile slots, but one is for a NARC tube, I think it works though (it does not shoot one missile at a time). The 5S has an extra AMS, maybe good, but 3F is still better.

3F
5S
5M
3H
using a toaster
4N

is probably how most people would write the list.

[ZBeren]

heleqin, on 01 June 2013 - 07:26 PM, said:

the 4N i'm not going to disagree about, but what makes the Misery suck? 5 energy/1 missile/1ballistic is pretty good, especially with 10% boosts to accel, turning, and torso twist over the non-3F stalkers? sure you're short on the missile side, but the Gauss or an AC20 go a long way to offsetting a lack of LRM mounts

Maybe the fact that your side torsos are huge and anything but an AC/20 mounted on them will prob get destroyed with the first alpha of any player who knows this. Not to forget keeping a single hardpoint of any type of weapon defeats the multi-boat purpose of a stalker. Misery is definitely better than the 4N, not gonna argue that, but it's far from being over the 3F/5S/5M, hell I would even say it's under the 3H.

Edited by ZBeren, 02 June 2013 - 07:01 PM.

[Krazy Kat]

4N can equip a command console. Useless now, but in the future who knows?

[Koniving]

There is good in the fact that even as someone who is obsessed with bringing the most you can fit in, since you can't fit in as much you're likely to use different weapons.

For example instead of 6 medium lasers (a common build back in the day of every stalker), you'd only have two energy hardpoints in each arm on the 3H. This queued players to snag things like large lasers, large pulse lasers, ER LLs and PPCs long before PPCs were a popular weapon.

With just twin LPL and two SRM-2s (not streaks, SRM-2s) I got this score. No unlocks (was the first day of the stalkers and lots of enemy Atlases).


The 4N's odd number of launchers sort of inspires people (or at least myself) to try something different. So instead of all SRMs, I squeezed in an LRM-15 into the arm with BAP, plenty of ammo for all, and 6 medium lasers. Worked quite well actually. Soften targets at range or steal the kill, and still had plenty of firepower for close range. Even had room left over in the other arm which I dedicated to extra heatsinks to keep cool. (Btw, the 4N could bring 4 ER PPCs + two lasers, or 6 ER PPCs.. so I don't see how that makes it any less effective compared to several of the other stalkers even in the current meta.)

Edited by Koniving, 09 June 2013 - 03:01 PM.

[Skyfaller]

Koniving, on 09 June 2013 - 02:55 PM, said:

The 4N's odd number of launchers sort of inspires people (or at least myself) to try something different. So instead of all SRMs, I squeezed in an LRM-15 into the arm with BAP, plenty of ammo for all, and 6 medium lasers. Worked quite well actually. Soften targets at range or steal the kill, and still had plenty of firepower for close range. Even had room left over in the other arm which I dedicated to extra heatsinks to keep cool. (Btw, the 4N could bring 4 ER PPCs + two lasers, or 6 ER PPCs.. so I don't see how that makes it any less effective compared to several of the other stalkers even in the current meta.)

Its not about it being less effective, its about there being no reason to purchase this variant. A 3F is a far better option because it can be kitted with the exact same loadout as the 4N (and has extra missile slot!) plus has the better torso twist.

[SniperCzar]

Honestly, I thought I was going to hate a 3H before I got one, but you can turn it into a swiss army knife of goodness with a PPC, TAG, two LLs, dual LRM20s w/ Artemis, and 16DHS. XL engine is not much of a liability, you're best suited to be a midrange suppression mech that stands right behind your brawling line.