42 replies to this topic

[Iacov]

HERE WAS A PICTURE
but apparently "You are not allowed to use that image extension on this community"
weird, but okay...
the link to the picture: http://imgur.com/3fajAwm

<a class=
James "Preacher Man" " Dipolo
Mech: Catapult C1-Custom "Tortuga"

Not much is officially known about the Freelancer James Dipolo.
Some of the enemies that met him on the battlefield describe him deprecatingly as
Vulture - preying for his victims in his custom outfitted Catapult; waiting for the moment
they are most vulnerable.
Others describe him as Mad Dog, a fearsome Mechwarrior, brawling through the ranks, just
to gain distance again and strike with his long range weaponry.
His Mech "Tortuga" doesn't wear any unit insignias, for they say Dipolo has never pledged allegiance to anybody.
Some say he was "born into the Business", others say he was merely looking for something "to pay the bills".

Former companions draw a completely different picture of this mercenary;
of a man that respects and loves life too much as to take it or throw it away all too easily.

Known as tactitioner among those that enlisted his services, he strives to minimize enemy casualties.
Using the advantages of the Artemis IV Fire Control System, he tends to specifically aim his
LRM-15 Salvos for an enemy's Mech's legs.
If this is not enough and things get messy, he still has two Large Pulse Lasers up his sleeve; as
soon as a hole is cut into the enemy's armor, two machine guns will do their part to shred the
internals.

Once asked why he named his Mech Tortuga, spanish for tortoise, and if it was in reference to its speed,
he supposedly replied "I like turtles!".

edit: changed image to a slight improved one
edit 2: revised hardpoint layout and "ideal" loadout proposal

The answers to this thread made me think of all the ballance issues you have to take into mind, when "designing" a hardpoint loadout

Personally, I propose to stick to the "even" 2M2E2B loadout...2M arms, 2E side torsos and 2B in the CT (yet keeping the "visual position" of the ballistics as shown above)
This has several benefits: you can still go for several loadouts, without canibalizing other variants:
- You can still go for a similar build like a C1 or C4 (Missile/Energy wise) without offering the exact same loadout.
- You can still go for AC2s and PPCs without canibalizing the K2, which stays the "ballistic expert"
- And the A1 is still unmatched in its missile boating abilities

So you don't canibalize - plus the Tortuga wouldn't offer all too cheesy builds, especially in comparison to what already exists.

My (personal) recommended loadout is:
Upgrades: Artemis, Endo, DHS
Armor: 368 of 422
2 LRM 15, 2 LPulse, 2 MG
Ammo: 4x LRM, 1x MG
XL 275, no additional heatsinks

Edited by Iacov, 29 September 2013 - 11:47 PM.

[Iacov]

in the heat of the moment i forgot the most important thing:
besides "yay and nay", what do you think should a hero catapult should bring with it?
i know, many ask for the butterbee, but still, the ones that hold against 4xE,4xM that it could render the exisiting non hero variants obsolete might be right

so, what do you think might be a good layout or a balanced hero catapult?
(personally, i would prefer the layout i wrote down in poll-question 2)

[FerrolupisXIII]

this looks really cool. i might say move the ballistics to the CT for balance, just so that it isnt a do everything mech,

[focuspark]

so... it's a C1 with 2xMG in place of 2xML?

Personally, I really want a CPLT-K2 variant... the K3?

LA/RA: 1 EHP each
LT/RT: 1 MHP + 1 AMS each
CT: 2 BHP

default loadout:
2x PPC
2x LRM10
2x MG

Basically a flipped CPLT with the missiles in the torso so the big 'ol PPC barrels can stay in the arms.

[Bhael Fire]

I want a cat that can boat 12x SRM/6s.

[WaddeHaddeDudeda]

Iacov, on 30 January 2013 - 12:05 AM, said:

"I like turtles!".

I hereby approve this sentence! (Click at my profile and check the date in that comment bubble!) ^^

[focuspark]

Bhael Fire, on 05 March 2013 - 03:09 PM, said:

I want a cat that can boat 12x SRM/6s.

Thanks - that was a helpful post...

[Bhael Fire]

focuspark, on 05 March 2013 - 03:24 PM, said:

Thanks - that was a helpful post...

I try.

[Aim64C]

The hardpoints are a bit arbitrary for me - I could go for a 'hero' variant of both the K2 and C1 (or C4). I'm not opposed to your hardpoint layout - I'm not sure it's the best, either. I'd simply be happy for a hero version of the kitty.

Though I just spent 9 million C-bills on my (hopefully final) build of my C1.

Were you considering any performance alterations to it? Acceleration/Torso twist/engine limits/etc bonuses or penalties?

[Iacov]

no i was not considering "tweaks" back then...but now that you mention it...
i could imagine a decreased acceleration - in trade for a slight increase of decelartion (like 15% decrease for 10% increase...not sure about the percentages...but you can imagine what i mean)...a lrm catapult is a fire support platform...therefore it should be able to quickly stand still...yet with the disadvantage that it takes slightly more time to accelerate to max speed - therefore the intention of large lasers (that could also be swapped for large pulses) and machine guns for self defense purposes (the machine guns would suit their purpose in generating no heat and since the crit buff i got lucky quite some times with my k2 and destroyed internals)
and no jump jets!
(and of course no ecm! xD)

i could imagine both, the 2B being in the CT or the side torsos (as long, as it maintains the same look as the k2 torso and the energy slots in the side torsos)
and 2M (arms),2E(side torsos),2B(ct or side torsos) is not intended to be "the best layout"...it's just a slight variation

yet, i do not know what be the best inital loadout for this variant would be
(imagine paying 5k mc for it...what would be "worth the money" except for being a different variant and having 30%cbill boost...the x-5 comes with all important upgrades...so i could imagine the "tortuga hero" to have dhs, artemis and endo right out of the box...though i would not give him an xl engine right away...rather a std 225 to 250 i'd say)

my personal loadout for a 2b,2e,2m variant would look like this: please imagine the CT machine gun ammo to be 2 machine guns somehow the permalink did not work...
368 of 422 armor
artemis, dhs, endo
2 lrm 15 (arms) + 4t ammo
2 large pulse (side torsos)
2 machine guns (center torso) + 1t ammo
xl 275

yet i also would accept a max engine rating of 250-260 if the devs would decide that it would be for better balancing

i'm just happy that they are considering a 2m,2e,2b variant as hero, according to ask the devs 32

and thanks for your feedback!

Edited by Iacov, 06 March 2013 - 12:32 AM.

[blah40000]

obligatory

Spoiler

[sC4r]

Quote

2xM (LA,RA), 2xB (LT,RT), 2xE (LT,RT)

that would be really nice cheeze mech btw does it come with jump jets?

[Iacov]

in my opinion, it could have jump jets, as long as the ballistic hardpoints are in the CT - otherwise you get a jumping dual ac/20 cat...i guess that would be fun on the cat pilot's side...but for noone else...

[flying1ace]

Great idea. This could be the new future of mwo! btw, did you right that? and draw the catapult? Wow. Just Wow.

[Iacov]

no no, i didn't draw it xD
it's the drawing of PGI's awesome artists!
some other users of the forum (i think) have "conceptualized" the k2 variant of the catapult
and another user has made a modification of the concept to have the catapult's baydoors closed
all i did was just putting together a C1 variant matching my layout-idea and repainted it

i really do hope that a catapult with k2 torso and missile "arms" will be released soon
at least the dev reply in Ask the Devs 33 gives hope to see a similar variatn as hero mech someday

[General Taskeen]

Machine Guns? No Thanks.

[PsychoTurtle]

My name is Psychoturtle, and I approve this Hero Mech

[Volthorne]

Yes to Pult hero, no to this design. It would invalidate the CPLT-C2, and PGI has explicitly stated that such things will not happen.

[Iacov]

the C2 is a Dark Age variant...therefore we won't see it for another ... don't know how many years, unless they speed up the timeline xD
and it wouldn't invalidate the C2 at all, if they put the ballistic slots in the center torso...(and if they go for that, i hope they still remain the machine guns optical where they are right now on the K2 torso )

and if you ment the K2...how do you think this would invalidate the K2?

[Volthorne]

Iacov, on 21 March 2013 - 11:19 PM, said:

the C2 is a Dark Age variant...therefore we won't see it for another ... don't know how many years, unless they speed up the timeline xD
and it wouldn't invalidate the C2 at all, if they put the ballistic slots in the center torso...(and if they go for that, i hope they still remain the machine guns optical where they are right now on the K2 torso )

and if you ment the K2...how do you think this would invalidate the K2?

Firstly, considering that the C2 could be built almost immediately post-Clan-invasion (3058 for the IS and earlier for the Clans), I think that bit of time line shenanigans could be easily retconned.

Secondly, having this "Tortuga" would give it better hardpoints than both the C1 and K2, because it would incorporate the strengths of both with the weaknesses of neither. Stick a pair of 6-packs, a pair of UAC/5s and some L/MLas on there and suddenly you've got something that invalidates both of the previously mentioned variants.

In short: no.

In long:
http://youtu.be/zfbK_dbsCu0

Edited by Volthorne, 21 March 2013 - 11:41 PM.