241 replies to this topic

[bowlie]

So, been playing my 9m for a while. The center torso goes super fast every game. The Dual heat sinks are a real mess up becuase you cant fit enough anywhere. Looks much more sensible to replace them with singles so you can fit them in the arms and legs. Weight isnt an issue for me, so I think I need some FF armour and single heat sinks.

Anyway, how is it best to build a brawler? I am using all lasers atm, but I do love the ppc, and the physological impact of them is a factor. They really drive people away in a way lasers dont.

Anyway, im thinking the first thing to do is downgrade to a smaller standard engine. Im thinking the sd 280. Still gives me 50kph, enough to get to where I need to be, and enough space for more heat sinks for continuous er ppc fire.

Edited by bowlie, 15 May 2013 - 09:32 AM.

[Aethos]

bowlie, on 15 May 2013 - 09:20 AM, said:

So, been playing my 9m for a while. The center torso goes super fast every game. The Dual heat sinks are a real mess up becuase you cant fit enough anywhere. Looks much more sensible to replace them with singles so you can fit them in the arms and legs. Weight isnt an issue for me, so I think I need some FF armour and single heat sinks.

Anyway, how is it best to build a brawler? I am using all lasers atm, but I do love the ppc, and the physological impact of them is a factor. They really drive people away in a way lasers dont.

Anyway, im thinking the first thing to do is downgrade to a smaller standard engine. Im thinking the sd 280. Still gives me 50kph, enough to get to where I need to be, and enough space for more heat sinks for continuous er ppc fire.

short answer, you'll never get the cooling efficiency sufficient enough to boat ppcs effectively with single heat sinks.
you'll never get enough heat sinks running a small std280, the XL380 comes with 5 internal heat sinks that take up no slots, only tonnage, which have 2.0 cooling compared to non engine heat sinks 1.6.

The 9M is a great brawler, but it's a fast flanker brawler. Not a frontlines tank. Even with an STD engine, its still going to get its CT shot to hell.

You can boat PPCs on it, butyour going to need a massive XL engine for the cooling. Not to mention the bonus of torso twist that comes with a bigger engine. Use your arms as shields more instead of keeping crosshairs on target while weapons are on cooldown.

Never start a brawl. You'll get tore up. Jump in on one when u have a flanked position.

Edited by Aethos, 16 May 2013 - 12:43 AM.

[YueFei]

One thing I've found effective in an Awesome, to protect your CT, is actually to shield yourself from the very beginning, and let the other guy shoot first. If he shoots first and hits your arm, then you can turn and shoot back. If he doesn't shoot at you and holds his shot, then keep running until you reach the next piece of cover so you can reposition for a better angle instead of attacking head-on, or keep running until you can get behind him. Take your shot as you pass behind him, and then when he reverses his turn you can shield yourself again.

I beat an Atlas pilot who made the mistake of getting greedy with his shots instead of just letting me escape. I was actually trying to retreat from him, but he shot a couple big salvos into my arm (and in between his salvos I turned and shot him back with only the arm-mounted PPC). Instead of letting me go, he fired a couple big alphas back-to-back. That's when I turned back toward him when he was overheating, and my heat level was low. After that I was able to win a head-to-head brawl with the Atlas.

[bowlie]

Good point with the heatsinks... a 370/80 engine might be the way forward, but they are so damn expensive! a std 280 will do me for now I think

[Hex Pallett]

bowlie, on 16 May 2013 - 09:33 AM, said:

Good point with the heatsinks... a 370/80 engine might be the way forward, but they are so damn expensive! a std 280 will do me for now I think

A 8-series Awesome deserves nothing less than a STD300.

[Aethos]

start saving. If you could afford the 9M, you can afford the XL380.

The torso twist, cooling, and speed will save you many frustrating games you will endure running a small engine in an AWS.

[bowlie]

Im thinking I might go with this

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...3740c666c89ef60

Edited by bowlie, 17 May 2013 - 10:33 AM.

[Wildstreak]

After some time using them, guess I can show them now.

The brawling 8V and 8T I tried were nowhere as good as the Distance Brawlers I use now. Distance Brawling is the term I came up with to define how I run them, the guidelines are:

1 - Use LLs and LRMs. These 2 weapons come with a big overlapping range of fire for all weapons, between the 180m minimum of LRMs and 900m maximum of LLs. Anything between 180m and 450m gets full weapon damage, 450m to 900m LLs damage tapers off but still works.

2 - With the large range of item 1, keep enemies outside the 270m range. Weapons such as MLs, AC/20s, other short range will do less damage to you. Further, having distance minimizes the ability to CT core you, even with your big torsos you present a smaller profile in their view so you live longer.

It is not exactly pure Brawling or Sniping but works better than either, also better than Flanking/Striking. I have done good with both though the 8V seems better than any variations of the 8T I run.

The Awesome 8V I built started this, I never got a 50%+ heat rating before (though smufy's heat numbers seem off, still in game it works). I tried in Testing Grounds before running it, the 3 LLs can be fired, no chain firing, about 4 times before Heat Warning, not Overheat. Alternate some LRM fire and add in a bit of dodging and cover, heat is very manageable. Cannot decide if I like this as good or better than the usual brawling 8R.

I tried a 8T version of the same build trading the 3rd LL for a second LRM. Seems decent but Artemis is gone.
Also tried a 8T with 1LL + 1LPL in each arm, nothing else. Other than corner shotting, I asked myself why I was not running a 8Q.
Finally tried this 8T design, looks to do as well as the 2LL, 2LRM one. You just need to sight targets more, it is like a 4LL 8Q with LRM backup.

The 8T boggles me still regarding harpoints, the arm Energy points look better for corner shotting than the 8R since you could do any corner with an 8T but if they blow out a side torso, the arm goes too and there goes some firepower. May sell this after unlocking Master slot.

[Aethos]

bowlie, on 17 May 2013 - 07:24 AM, said:

Im thinking I might go with this

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...3740c666c89ef60

For a brawler AWS, I think 2 ERPPC's is enough. Some have even argued that just putting one in the arm slot is enough. If you try and run 3, even with 22 DHS, and even with an XL350, you are going to have to chainfire those PPC's. Chainfiring means facing the target for to long exposing the CT long enough for someone to take a pinpoint high alpha on you.

Try it, but I think you will find 3 ERPPC's too hot. You could probably brawl with teh 3 MedLasers and chainfire the PPCs and possible stay good.

The key to a good AWS Brawler is speed, good heat management, and minimizing CT exposure.

you mentioned originally wanting to boat lasers.

I give you the AWS-9M-DEATHSTAR

AWS-9M

3 LPL, 1 MPL, excellent convergence (zombie mode (all torso), 22 DHS and an XL380. It never over heats. It saws off components. And it oneshots lights. And it goes 85 kph. This config has my 2nd highest dmg game ever at 950.

Edited by Aethos, 18 May 2013 - 09:55 PM.

[Cold Cash]

refitted all my awesomes and bought the 9m.

Pb is running 2x ERPPC, artlrm15, 2x streak, enjoying this build alot excellent at range and still nimble enough to pop lights who try to come in close. Also found the speed really shines to keep me at my safe distance from all the big un's.
Normally im try to be an aggressive sniper, looking for positions to exploit my ppc's and get max spread from my lrm's.

8v I have converted to a fast sniper/lrm boat. 2x ErPPC, LL, 2x ArtLRM15, packs a whollop. Running at xl300 so its speed is good since positioning is so key with these builds.

9m is hardly touched kept the 3 erppc's and run 3 streaks, its a beast and im happy i finally bought it. Did drop 1 dhs to make the streaks work, i may get rid of them and try the 3mlas build. But ive found the streaks to be so good.

The 1st 2 variants do well enough 300-500 damage range on your avg map. The 9m is just damn good at what it does, like everyone says.

[Abulafia]

I recently bought the AWS-8R, and I tried both the LRM build and the SRM build. Neither of those worked out for me, so I decided to go with a combo build:

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...78410ab34a7282b

This thing is great. Even in their weakened state, two LRM15s with two LLs are great for applying damage at medium-long range, and two SRM6s with the two LLs are enough to make brawlers think twice, especially if you've got the opportunity to soften them up first with LRMs.

The heat efficiency isn't great, but since the missiles operate at different ranges, I find it's easy to manage as long as I'm a little conservative with the LLs. The XL engine isn't ideal, but hasn't been a problem, since the goal is to stay at about 450m and provide fire support.

Edit: If you're like me and you're tempted to leave off Artemis, don't. The extra lock speed is vital on the LRMs, and I find the tighter spread makes a huge difference on the SRMs, since this mech isn't fast enough to get to point-blank range (and shouldn't want to anyway).

Edited by Abulafia, 18 May 2013 - 07:53 AM.

[NRP]

The 8V can still hold it's own as a straight up brawler. I still use this build from time to time:

STD300
3 LLs
3 SRM6s
Endo, DHS

I really wish the PB had this hard point layout.

[Tremendous Upside]

NRP, on 18 May 2013 - 09:06 AM, said:

The 8V can still hold it's own as a straight up brawler. I still use this build from time to time:

STD300
3 LLs
3 SRM6s
Endo, DHS

I really wish the PB had this hard point layout.

I've been going back through a number of my hero mechs over the past week to try and make them a little more viable in the current game-state. PB... Yeah, I wish it just had a slightly better hardpoint configuration - or the missile tubes switched up/increased... but it seems to work pretty well for me with a couple of PPCs, 1SRM6, 2SRM4s(LA) and 1ML with an XL380. The heat efficiency works out nicely, but it's just not the kind of punch you'll get from a bigger assault mech. It kinda feels like a CTF-2X/1X running with an XL/energy loadout. I suppose that's fair. It's only 10 tons heavier - and it's been working for me... but it's tough to go back to that once you've been exposed to Highlanders

[Cold Cash]

agreed highlanders are so potent, have great hardpoints, and though slow are very manuverable with the jj's, i still like to play the support game now and then though so ive been enjoying the support role in my aws.

[NRP]

For me it's the STK-M Misery. I run an AC/20 and 5 MLs, and I feel like I can go toe to toe with any other mech and come out on top. I just have that little extra bit of confidence with it, unlike my Awesomes.

Anyway, I've switched up my PB build a bit to maximize firepower and get a bit more range. So far it's been working well.

XL400
2 LLs
ML
3 SRM6s
Endo, FF, DHS

I use arm lock and fire all the lasers simultaneously (one group alpha, one group chain fire), and the SRMs in group 3. The lasers strip the armor, and the SRMs tear the guts out. The arm lock helps to keep everything pinpoint. I'm just so much more accurate with lasers than I am with PPCs

[bowlie]

Just tried 3 ERPPC with a 380XL Engine. Got 406 damage first game which is pretty good for me. Averaging about 200 which I put down to a laggy laptop

[Kh44k]

I tried my 8Q with 2x PPC and 5x ml together with a std 300 engine and dhs. Works very well, heateffi=1.19 which isnt really good but if avoid to fire sensless alphas its still a "cool" build.

[Jeremy Wade]

Question: Does anyone have any thoughts on just using XL engines in everything for Awesomes?

I mean the CT is so massive I don't think I've ever really lost a side torso. I run a 9M with the 380XL and I don't feel as though I'm really being penalised for taking it, people just see my fridge like torso coming their way and go for the bullseye.

[Aethos]

Jeremy Wade, on 23 May 2013 - 09:01 PM, said:

Question: Does anyone have any thoughts on just using XL engines in everything for Awesomes?

I mean the CT is so massive I don't think I've ever really lost a side torso. I run a 9M with the 380XL and I don't feel as though I'm really being penalised for taking it, people just see my fridge like torso coming their way and go for the bullseye.

For sure in the PB and 9M. hands down. weight savings. faster torso twist. more engine heat sinks. more tonnage for heavier weapons. And you are absolutely correct, the CT is the weak link not the LT/RT. If i manage to get cored from a side torso you better believe my arm on that side was gone first.

my 8R as LRM boat runs XL. only way to get all 4 LRM15s/Artemis in there. Ran it with STD300 as brawler before, 2 ERPPC, 4 srm6, all this after mastering brawler PB. Didn't enjoy it at all. Felt no difference in STD survivability other than down because how slow a brawler it is.

I plan to run an 8T next with a 300XL with a "Timberwolf/Madcat"-esque loadout. Again, the XL just lets you put heavy heavy weapons.

[Jeremy Wade]

Yeah I was just mucking around in the mechlab with my 8T.

If I switch the engine from the STD290 it currently runs to an XL300, I can drop the endo internals, and shove it full of heat sinks, as well as moving a bit faster. Will have to save up some Cbills and give it a whirl.