12 replies to this topic

[Doc Holliday]

Looking for a good CDA-3M build that uses an LBX-10 AC, hopefully keeping the stock engine.

[Cordy Ceps]

IMAO, there is no good build with this weapon on this mech.
Ballistics suck on a 3M and the LB-x sucks among ballistics. Energy is the way to go, UAC 5 might do it too, if you are a hardcore ballistics fan.

What you dont seem to understand, is that you have the mobility to freely choose your firing position to most mechs and target the weak parts. You also have the armor and ECM to slow down for a moment and aim properly.

Spending 13 tons on a weapon that does no concentrated damage at ranges over 50m seems wrong to me.

With the stock 3M, you could do something like that:

Remove the CASE and the SPL and a ML and the uac5 ammo in the LT, place two uac5 ammo into a leg, ECM into other leg.

Strip armor from your arms and put it on legs and torsos.

With endo and FF, you can add another 2 ML and some armor

Finished

But better go with energy.

Edited by Cordy Ceps, 04 January 2013 - 03:02 AM.

[Spectre999]

I'd start with 4x MPLAS, a concentrated alpha applied to the back kills most mechs dead surprisingly quickly, and you have the speed to get there. Next, give it enough heatsinks to keep it going (meaning, enough heatsinks to allow for a sustained chain fire of all the lasers.
4x MLAS is a more heat-efficient alternative that gives you better range, you can also balance it out by packing 2x MPLAS and 2x MLAS - just choose whichever you're most comfortable with.

Once you get the lasers down, choose whichever AC you're most comfortable with. Though don't bother with an MG or AC2, you'll be better off with a beagle, AMS, or more heatsinks. Upgrading a single laser either Large Laser, Large Pulse or a PPC to add you some range and score assists is also an option if you can't decide on a ballistic weapon.


Contrary to Cordy Ceps, I don't think there are any good or bad choices, AC10, LBX10, AC5 and UAC5 are all valid. AC5 is arguably the weakest, but it has nice ammo/ton ratio. LBX is pretty poor vs. fully armored targets, but it really shows its worth once your teammates strip some of the plating. It's also good at breaking though the lagshield on the lights.

[Doc Holliday]

Thanks for the responses. The reason I posted this is because I was trying some different builds on http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab and I just couldn't figure out a build using the LBX 10 and stock engine that didn't sacrifice too much elsewhere to suit me. Maybe it's just not possible. I finally did settle on a 4x MPLAS, but even that build left no room for anything else but heatsinks.

[Spectre999]

Ok, I have to confess that what I wrote above was purely speculative, I did some toying around in the mechlab and came up with the following:

First of all, some raw data with regards to the engines.
I stared by stripping all the arm armor and going down to 31/40 for both legs. This is a bit risky, but it's as low as I would go.
Endo Steel is of course a must, Ferro Fibrous gives us a whooping 0,7 tons, so... eh.
Dual Heatsinks are also a must.

With 300 engine, you get 133 max speed and 16 tons free to play with
With 310 engine, you get 138 kmh max speed and 14 free tons max
With 320 engine, you get 142 max speed and 13 free tons max
With 340 engine, you get a whooping 151 max speed and 11 free tons max.

(all speeds after speed tweak of course)

As you can see, the sweet spot seems to be closer to 300 than 320. With 16 tons, you can pack an AC10 with two tons of ammo (which is plenty) and 4x SLAS or 2x MLAS while maintaining a decent heat efficiency with no additional heatsinks.

Normally, I'm not a fan of small lasers due to the pitiful range, but with that speed you can actually get there with no hurry.

Unfortunately, this leaves no room for the ECM.

So, for better or worse, you're stuck with AC5 or UAC 5 (unless you like to have the AC10 as your sole armament.. which I don'trecommend, it's good but not that good), AC 5 in itself which are ok, but you won't get impressive firepower out of that.
Still, AC5 with two tons of ammo plus 2x MLAS plus 1x MPLAS is about as good as you can get.

[Indoorsman]

Spectre999, on 04 January 2013 - 03:40 PM, said:

Still, AC5 with two tons of ammo plus 2x MLAS plus 1x MPLAS is about as good as you can get.

AC5 x2 ammo and 4xMLAS =

[TruePoindexter]

Indoorsman, on 05 January 2013 - 12:33 AM, said:

AC5 x2 ammo and 4xMLAS =

I can confirm that this build is awesome.

[Noah Brody]

I moved away from the fast skirmisher build with the 3m. I treat it as a true support mech and I've racked up some surprising scores doing so.
Speed is not a concern since I hang with the assaults and heavys providing ECM coverage and, importantly, counter ecm (my max speed is around 80ish). I focus my lasers on my teams targets until there are internals showing then unleash with the lbx.

I have much better kill to death ratio playing this way as we'll.

[Bront]

The 2 I flip between are Stock Engine (XL320), Endo, FF, and either:
4 MPLs or 3 ML and 1 LL.

The 3 ML 1 LL build gives you a lot more range, and the LL lets you do some snipe scouting on some level, while being cool enough to use up close.

The 4 MPL build with the new MPL buff is a lot better. With this build it's not too hot most of the time, and does some pretty good pinpoint damage in a fight, making the 3M a reasonable anti-light mech and good at stripping off limbs.

Still I think the 3ML 1 LL build is slightly superior.

I've found no good use for the balistic. 1 MG isn't worth 1.5 tons. Making the mech a gauss sniper is an option, but I'd rather take a Jager or Phrat for that.

Edited by Bront, 25 February 2014 - 08:35 AM.

[C A R N A G E]

I've been seeing quiet a few duel erppc/ppc sniper builds lately.they are really annoying once fights breakout especially when your trying to win a brawl and keep getting sniped 800 meters out from one.

[HurricaneZ]

I do not believe the 3M is about fire power, she's all about scouting and hitting from behind. Takes time to setup and get into position, but once you do she's a game changer. Also when hitting someone from the back, using ballistics is a dead give away that you're there and they will turn to face you. You need to fire the quiet stealthy 4 x ML or 4 x MPL while they are being hit by someone else. so they don't even know you're there until its too late. After 2 or so steath kills, you can run around hitting anyone as you please since your team will have a 12 v 10 power play.

Edited by HurricaneZ, 07 March 2014 - 04:32 PM.

[Dulahan]

I've been running mine with 2 ERLL, and a single SL, along with ECM and an XL320. It seems to do the trick. Am I a top scorer? No. But I'm getting kills here and there and surviving. I generally try to use my ECM to hold back and snipe while keeping the big boys under the umbrella to help deal with LRMageddon.

[Samziel]

Fitting an LBX-10 in 3M is one of my favourite builds! However it won't work with XL320. You need at least XL280.

Like this CDA-3M

It's not a build for competitive, but it's a fun build. That Cicada will still run fairly fast and has now firepower to match heavier opponents at close range. LBX-10 works also fairly well against lights.


Probably one of the best builds I've been using is 2 ERLL. You simply shield your team with that ECM and work as a sniper.

Fitted one for your XL320 CDA-3M

Edited by Samziel, 27 April 2014 - 01:36 AM.