81 replies to this topic

[Artifex 28]

I've been playing few hundred matches now (~130k XP stashed without premium, after the elite unlocks) with this baby, and it's easily the most fun mech I have played. After playing ages with Raven 3L, I was not ready to give up the mobility so I came up with this. I thought I'd post it for people to test out / hate.

While I have not tested this out in 8vs8, it's certainly super fun on random games.

Edit: Changed this from the original post a little bit.

Awesome 9M aka Powerpuff aka Big Hunchback

XL380 (82.7kph with speed tweak)
3x SRM4
1x Large Laser on right hand
3x Medium Lasers on head, left and right torso
5t of SRM ammo
23 Dual Sinks

54dmg alpha, pinpoint damage.
1.37 heat eff.

Surprise Atlas/Cataphract from behind and take it down with two alphas on CT.
Hunchbacks usually slow down to brawl you head on and down they go like paper.

Also viable with 4x MPL, drop armor on legs and head more. 59 alpha then.

Pros

• It is fast enough to cope with lights
  
• It is fast enough to brawl with mediums & heavies and even out circle some slower heavies
  
• It is fast enough to out circle / hit & run other assaults with ease
  
• It packs massive precision firepower
  
• You won't be running out of SRM ammo, even with 75% free rearm
  
• It's durable, IF you know how to cover yourself. Use those big arms and keep that damaged sidetorso on "backside" of your circle
  
• Weapons are split, you cannot be stripped of firepower
  
• No one legs an Awesome

Cons

• XL Engine
  
• Big model (but surprisingly thin when you move sideways)
  
• Expensive to buy (~17m)
  
• LRMs hit you accurately, dealing annoyingly high damage on that satellite dish -like torso

Edited by Artifex 28, 17 December 2012 - 06:38 AM.

[GalaxyBluestar]

you're sending an xl engine into closerange combat.... nice knowing you.

anyways serious now. the big question is what heat sink you use?

Edited by GalaxyBluestar, 16 December 2012 - 08:01 PM.

[Artifex 28]

GalaxyBluestar, on 16 December 2012 - 07:59 PM, said:

you're sending an xl engine into closerange combat.... nice knowing you.

anyways serious now. the big question is what heat sink you use?

As I said, this is an advanced build. You won't be stopping. This guy hits so hard and is mobile enough to cover those side torsos. I'll added the sink amount (23) on the OP.

I've taken zillion dual gauss pults + catafracts down with this one.
Nastiest opponent would be dual AC20 in proper hands.

Edited by Artifex 28, 16 December 2012 - 08:18 PM.

[GalaxyBluestar]

Artifex 28, on 16 December 2012 - 08:09 PM, said:

As I said, this is an advanced build. You won't be stopping. This guy hits so hard and is mobile enough to cover those side torsos. I'll added the sink amount (23) on the OP.

I've taken zillion dual gauss pults + catafracts down with this one.
Nastiest opponent would be dual AC20 in proper hands.

yeah you see you can out brawl the sniper based guys but this can't quiet out do the brawlers themselves. try without an xl engine and boost the armour firepower alpha's a bit more and i reckon you'd get better smother play cause your survival rate will get a big boost. just a theory but it's worth trying that's what these guides are about. testing what works and what doesn't. to behonest what you're trying to achieve would proberbly work better on the 8t or 8r varients 9m's are snipers with aditional close range support they just don't have the hardpoints for closerange focus. still sounds like you're having fun so who am i to argue.

Edited by GalaxyBluestar, 16 December 2012 - 08:27 PM.

[Artifex 28]

GalaxyBluestar, on 16 December 2012 - 08:26 PM, said:

yeah you see you can out brawl the sniper based guys but this can't quiet out do the brawlers themselves. try without an xl engine and boost the armour firepower alpha's a bit more and i reckon you'd get better smother play cause your survival rate will get a big boost. just a theory but it's worth trying that's what these guides are about. testing what works and what doesn't. to behonest what you're trying to achieve would proberbly work better on the 8t or 8r varients 9m's are snipers with aditional close range support they just don't have the hardpoints for closerange focus. still sounds like you're having fun so who am i to argue.

Too slow. Outplayed by lights and good mediums. I am happy dashing 700-1k dmg/round, with avg 2.5 killls.

Which brawler exactly takes me down?

I'll take any mediums down hands down.
UAC5 Muromets is nasty, but it has serious problems dealing damage if you circle it.

Edited by Artifex 28, 16 December 2012 - 08:46 PM.

[GalaxyBluestar]

that's funny i throw 4Xsrm6 into anything coming my way and they cry off.

which brawler? i thought you wrote that duel ac20's were nasty, not when you smother play with many missles. they're trying to pull their crucial do or die shot and you can just get in their face and button bash many shakey missles into their cockpit without the hassle. it's just easier.

[Artifex 28]

GalaxyBluestar, on 16 December 2012 - 08:46 PM, said:

that's funny i throw 4Xsrm6 into anything coming my way and they cry off.

which brawler? i thought you wrote that duel ac20's were nasty, not when you smother play with many missles. they're trying to pull their crucial do or die shot and you can just get in their face and button bash many shakey missles into their cockpit without the hassle. it's just easier.

Dual AC20 is extremely rare build on Catapults on pugstomps.

[Hex Pallett]

DAYUM!! I've been using Artemis for so long I forgot SRM4 takes only one crit slot! Ah I should've bought 9M instead of 8T....

This is brilliant! You can out brawl the snipers and LRM boats, and out run the brawlers! I'd have some more firepower in the arm though. I played with the mechbay java a bit and came up a build with same missiles, 3xMLas and 1xERPPC with 20 DHS. Which should be good enough to balance the heat of chainfiring ERPPC over long range.

[Artifex 28]

Helmstif, on 16 December 2012 - 09:25 PM, said:

DAYUM!! I've been using Artemis for so long I forgot SRM4 takes only one crit slot! Ah I should've bought 9M instead of 8T....

This is brilliant! You can out brawl the snipers and LRM boats, and out run the brawlers! I'd have some more firepower in the arm though. I played with the mechbay java a bit and came up a build with same missiles, 3xMLas and 1xERPPC with 20 DHS. Which should be good enough to balance the heat of chainfiring ERPPC over long range.

I would not touch the large lasers nor PPCs yet, before they get buffed as the devs have promised.
Also, the weapon setup I am running the 9M with, allows easy alpha with hit & run while running behind buildings etc. No need to run from hunches, dragons nor centurions. Free food!

And trust me, this Awesome turns QUICK. Having only 1 energy and 1 missile slot on hands hasn't been an issue. It would be with standard slowpoke engine.

Although you can basically get even damage dished out with a brawler Cataphract (2-3x UAC5 or so), it's better to hit and run around, unless you get them from behind. Two CT alphas from rear, like vs Atlas, and they are gone. But if they are bit sideways, it's much harder to drop them from rear than an Atlas. Anyways, they have really hard time keeping that DPS on you when you move, even more so focusing it on single piece of torso.

Edited by Artifex 28, 16 December 2012 - 10:22 PM.

[ElcomeSoft]

I use a similar build but with a 360XL which I share with my Master Dragon on occasion.

And Large Lasers are my weapon of choice at the moment in most mechs. If PGI are buffing them, I don't understand why but I'll certainly enjoy being even more powerful.

[Tarriss Halcyon]

ElcomeSoft, on 16 December 2012 - 11:29 PM, said:

And Large Lasers are my weapon of choice at the moment in most mechs. If PGI are buffing them, I don't understand why but I'll certainly enjoy being even more powerful.

The buff might be a damage increase or a heat decrease, along with PPCs. I'm hoping the Large Pulse gets a bit of a range increase as well.

[Artifex 28]

ElcomeSoft, on 16 December 2012 - 11:29 PM, said:

I use a similar build but with a 360XL which I share with my Master Dragon on occasion.

And Large Lasers are my weapon of choice at the moment in most mechs. If PGI are buffing them, I don't understand why but I'll certainly enjoy being even more powerful.

I already had to swap two medium lasers to medium pulses, since was running out of space and had extra tonnage. TBH, I'd gladly spend +2 tons more for even bigger engine and run with 4x ML instead. Too bad it's not an option.

[Selfish]

The 9M "honey badger" has always been good at skirmishing. Calling it a brawler is a stretch!

[Artifex 28]

Selfish, on 17 December 2012 - 01:12 AM, said:

The 9M "honey badger" has always been good at skirmishing. Calling it a brawler is a stretch!

Well, I meant close range basically.

If you want more skirmish approach, swap the SRM6 to LRM10 and all medium pulses to medium lasers.

Experimenting with same SRM setup, but Large Laser on right hand. Rest being normal medium lasers.

Edited by Artifex 28, 17 December 2012 - 02:49 AM.

[Tremendous Upside]

I run 3xLL + 3xMPLs on mine and it works extremely well. You can deal damage from a moderate distance with it and 2 solid alphas to rear armor is enough to kill most opponents. It usually only takes 3-4 to core through CT as well. That's super easy with the speed, armor and an empty left arm to shield yourself with... In probably 300+ games with mine, the XL has been the death of me 2 or 3 times. It's not nearly as big a risk as people think.

[Artifex 28]

Banky, on 17 December 2012 - 08:09 AM, said:

I run 3xLL + 3xMPLs on mine and it works extremely well. You can deal damage from a moderate distance with it and 2 solid alphas to rear armor is enough to kill most opponents. It usually only takes 3-4 to core through CT as well. That's super easy with the speed, armor and an empty left arm to shield yourself with... In probably 300+ games with mine, the XL has been the death of me 2 or 3 times. It's not nearly as big a risk as people think.

XL certainly sucks IF you don't gain the speed from it. I mean SLOW with XL Engine is pure stupidity.

Feels like a waste of missile slot(s) if you don't take SRM4s.

Edited by Artifex 28, 17 December 2012 - 09:32 PM.

[Eisenhorne]

Question... why don't you just run a CN9-A?

3x SRM-6 w/ Artemis, 2xMPL, 80KPH....

It has less armor, but because its arms are equipped with no weapons, and it can lose its side torsos without dying, and its a smaller target, I'd say its more survivable.

More survivable, more firepower, 30 tons lighter, cheaper.

[GalaxyBluestar]

Eisenhorne, on 17 December 2012 - 10:09 PM, said:

Question... why don't you just run a CN9-A?

3x SRM-6 w/ Artemis, 2xMPL, 80KPH....

It has less armor, but because its arms are equipped with no weapons, and it can lose its side torsos without dying, and its a smaller target, I'd say its more survivable.

More survivable, more firepower, 30 tons lighter, cheaper.

your right which is why we see few awesome's on the battlefield... then again how many centurions do you see?

[Artifex 28]

GalaxyBluestar, on 17 December 2012 - 10:15 PM, said:

your right which is why we see few awesome's on the battlefield... then again how many centurions do you see?

WAY too slow for that durability.

If I was to play a Centurion, that'd be the 130-140kph running one.

...but thing is. My first unlock was Raven, and it seemed too similar to that. Just...worse.

[Tremendous Upside]

Artifex 28, on 17 December 2012 - 09:32 PM, said:

XL certainly sucks IF you don't gain the speed from it. I mean SLOW with XL Engine is pure stupidity.

Feels like a waste of missile slot(s) if you don't take SRM4s.

I'd never EVER recommend using an XL to anyone on any mech if they're not running one to bump the engine size up for more speed. That's the trade off. You're easier to kill when hit - but harder to hit because of the extra speed and mobility you gain from it. I run the XL385 in my 9M and it's got enough speed to run with most anything on the field - and to get behind other assaults and slower mediums/heavies. 45 firepower may not seem like a "lot" - but it'll kill most enemies on the second alpha to the rear CT... and it's still plenty to score headshot kills and core out front armor sections quickly as well. It's still not quite as good a punch as you'd get from ballistics, since its duration dependent - but there's no ammo to run out of or blow off sections of your mech with on critical hits.