11 replies to this topic

[Omar Ravenhurst]

A bit about me: http://mwomercs.com/...ng-suggestions/

Whatever you call it, srmcat, ninjacat, splatterpuss, splatcat, cheesecat just to name a few, the Catapult A1 configured as a short range fighter is the mech equivalent of a double barrel shotgun. It's purpose built to do one thing: melt mechs.

Like all mechs, the skill of the pilot matters a great deal. Since the range of the mech is only 270m, you have to be able to approach with stealth and, when they do start hitting you, spread damage over a large area and protect those big, goofy ears!

I've tried all the various combinations of srms on my A1, but I really wanted to know which was best. There are plenty of videos out there showing the spread pattern of most configurations, but that's not what I want to know. This isn't just about how tight the missiles are grouped. The differing weight and heat of each configuration, and how you compensate for each one as well as the tactics you use for each one are likely more important than simple spread pattern.

Here's what I did. After I already had about 250k xp on my A1, I started a test. I built six different configurations of my A1 and recorded the results from 25 drops each. That's 150 drops worth of information. I recorded damage total, kills, whether I died, and how many rounds I had left. Each loadout was optimized with an eye towards speed, heat control, and as much ammo as I can carry.

Before I get to the good stuff, here's a few notes:
1) These are all lone drops (no groups or friends in any of these drops)
2) Assault only, evening or night central time between Jan 3 and Feb 16
3) Any match lasting less than 5 minutes (quick cap/slaughter) was discarded
4) Any match where I did less than 150pts damage (system error/me being stupid) was discarded
5) I had to discard about 35% of drops because of 3 and 4, so this is actually about 200 drops with 150 recorded
6) Mech was equipped with Cap Accel, Adv Sensor Range, and Adv Target Info modules
7) Same person, same play style (see note on last one), same computer, same connection
8) I don't claim these results are scientific or that you will have similar results.

Results:

6xSRM4 w/ Artemis, 300XL, 15DHS, 10t ammo, 416pts armor
Avg Damage 483
Median Damage 507
Highest Damage 907
Lowest Damage 188
Avg # Missiles Used 406
Avg % of Max Damage 47.5
Avg Pts of Damage Required/Kill 294
Avg Kills 1.64
KDR 2.93

6xSRM4, 315XL, 16DHS, AMS, 1xJJ, 10t ammo, 416pts armor

Avg Damage 486
Median Damage 453
Highest Damage 929
Lowest Damage 243
Avg # Missiles Used 452
Avg % of Max Damage 43
Avg Pts of Damage Required/Kill 337
Avg Kills 1.44
KDR 3.6
Notes; I have a lot of theories why my KDR is 20% higher here. It's probably a combination of engine speed, that jump jet, and random chance.


4xSRM4+2xSRM6, 315XL, 15DHS, AMS, 9t ammo, 416pts armor
Avg Damage 476
Median Damage 423
Highest Damage 953
Lowest Damage 210
Avg # Missiles Used 463
Avg % of Max Damage 41.2
Avg Pts of Damage Required/Kill 425
Avg Kills 1.12
KDR 2.15
Notes: This section and a bit of the next occurred after the patch in Jan. My FPS were cut in half by that patch and I had to put this test on hold, so that likely depresses the numbers. Still, something about the mixed setup is harder to run correctly.


2xSRM4+4xSRM6, 300XL, 15DHS, 10t ammo, 422pts armor
Avg Damage 525
Median Damage 522
Highest Damage 963
Lowest Damage 239
Avg # Missiles Used 490
Avg % of Max Damage 42.9
Avg Pts of Damage Required/Kill 328
Avg Kills 1.6
KDR 2.22


6xSRM6, 300XL, 15DHS, 10t ammo, 416pts armor
Avg Damage 536
Median Damage 546
Highest Damage 971
Lowest Damage 203
Avg # Missiles Used 477
Avg % of Max Damage 45
Avg Pts of Damage Required/Kill 335
Avg Kills 1.6
KDR 3.08
Notes: I love how similar the results for this build are to the 6xSRM4 w/ Artemis. Same weight, same space, and they perform about the same.


6xSRM6 w/ Artemis, 300XL, 12DHS, 8t ammo, 384pts armor
Avg Damage 503
Median Damage 456
Highest Damage 765
Lowest Damage 299
Avg # Missiles Used 491
Avg % of Max Damage 40.9
Avg Pts of Damage Required/Kill 393
Avg Kills 1.28
KDR 2.46
Notes: I had trouble with running this build. I had to change my tactics to reduce heat, but shutdowns were still a problem. I do not recommend this build.

So, what conclusions can we draw from this? First one is stay away from the 6x6+Artemis. You're simply wasting space and weight. Second, note the damage per kill trending upwards at roughly the same pace as the total damage in most cases. That gives me the general impression that using the srm4 is about as useful as the srm6. I will say that the alpha of the 6x6 does help. My subjective feel is that extra punch was nice in some cases.

I know the patch on the 19th is supposed to clean up some damage loss, so these builds may become more potent. It may also mean the 6x6 mechs become relatively more powerful. I'll post an update to these numbers after that patch.

Good luck and have fun splattin!

Edited by KamikaziChaser, 18 February 2013 - 03:32 PM.

[Kmieciu]

I recommend you try adding 3 or 4 jump jets to the mix.

[Demoned]

i was about to say the same thing before i read 1st post

i run the 4 SRM6 and 2SRM4 build (the exact same) but i only take 8 ton of ammo and use the weight left over for a couple of jump-jets.
they can help to get you out of some bad mistakes lol.

but a good guide overall thanks for taking the time to write it all down.

Demoned

[Omar Ravenhurst]

Thanks for your comments!

I do often mount JJ on these mechs. What I was trying to do here was more of a direct comparison and I wanted to keep as many variables out as possible. The only variant I added a single JJ to for the purposes of this test was the 6xSRM4 without Artemis. Frankly, with that build, I was just throwning whatever I could on there because there's so much weight and space available. So, yeah, when not trying to even things out, I do certainly recommend a couple JJ, especially since they altered their liftoff characteristics.

I also probably run too much ammo on these builds. I only ran out of ammo twice and only got below 150 missles left another five times. That's seven out of 150 where I was either out or close to being out and the average damage in those cases is about 850, so it's probably ok to drop a ton or two to add JJ.

Edited by KamikaziChaser, 16 February 2013 - 11:38 PM.

[mailin]

I actually run a hybrid splat/streak. I currently have streakx4 and srm6x2 with Artemis. I wonder how I would compare to your numbers. I find that I really like the way the streaks always (well, usually) hit. The highest damage that I've recorded in this mech was 1012.

Thoughts?

[Omar Ravenhurst]

mailin, on 18 February 2013 - 06:47 AM, said:

I actually run a hybrid splat/streak. I currently have streakx4 and srm6x2 with Artemis. I wonder how I would compare to your numbers. I find that I really like the way the streaks always (well, usually) hit. The highest damage that I've recorded in this mech was 1012.

Thoughts?

I'm sure that helps against more hard to hit mechs, and the hit detection is far better on streaks, so you do more damage per missle on average. Frankly, I find the challenge of hitting a commando or spider to be quite satisfying: trying to guess where they're going, moving to intercept them, they come around the corner and BOOM, one less light mech to worry about. As for max damage, while my highest during this test was about 970, my highest with a splatcat is well over 1200. I had 1 match over 1000 during this test, but it broke my slaughter rule (discard under 5 minute), so I discarded that result.

Before ecm I ran 4 streak and 2 lrm20. That was a very good mech (2/3 of a streakcat+40 lrm is a beast), but ecm effectively killed it. That's when I became a fan of the splatcat. People complain about splatcats, but it is a very effective counter to ecm. Yes, ecm is less of an issue today, but that's partly because of the rise of the increased use of direct fire munitions, including splatcats.

The patch tomorrow promises to improve hit detection. How many times have you alpha'd someone in the back with a splatcat and they didn't go down? I've had a grand total of a single one-shot (on an undamaged Phract). An alpha from a splatcat at 20m with both mechs standing still should ALWAYS be a one shot kill on anything less than an assault. Even if spread evenly across all the rear torso armor, no one has more than 60 points back there. That's the minimum alpha with any of these builds, and at 20m, you're only hitting torso. Apparently there was a bug, and they've fixed it. If everyone's calling for a nerf of splatcats by Wednesday, I guess we'll know it worked.

Edited by KamikaziChaser, 18 February 2013 - 10:35 AM.

[TheStrider]

I was having troubles surviving with my initial build of splatcat. It was 6SRM6+Art.

I dropped the art, added 4JJ and the world opened up. I eventually droped down to 4SRM6 and 2SRM4 for heat sinks/ammo.

I use the JJ as often to get a hit in as to escape from danger.

[Omar Ravenhurst]

TheStrider, on 18 February 2013 - 11:12 AM, said:

I was having troubles surviving with my initial build of splatcat. It was 6SRM6+Art.

I dropped the art, added 4JJ and the world opened up. I eventually droped down to 4SRM6 and 2SRM4 for heat sinks/ammo.

I use the JJ as often to get a hit in as to escape from danger.

Even after over 400 drops in a splatcat, I too was having serious problems in the build with 6x6+ArtIV. I must have done 20 drops just to get the feel of how the mech runs before I started recording results. I had to switch bindings to left/right instead of alpha/chain/left/right which is how I normally run. That obviously led to difficulty as can be seen in the dropoff in damage. One of the great advantages of the splatcat is the broad distribution of damage, the splat if you will. Firing off half of the missles because you can't survive the heat not only decreases your damage rate, but also increases misses, especially against lights. When some spider is flying past you, you need that scatter shot to bring them down.

I do not recommend the 6x6+ArtIV.

Edited by KamikaziChaser, 18 February 2013 - 03:03 PM.

[Skadi]

Im actualy finding my Streak Cat even more fun now when im with friends, bring 2 DDC's and fire them nonstop.

[Omar Ravenhurst]

Yeah, now that ECM is fairly common and counter tactics are well known, it's not as much of an issue. For all the invective uttered against it, ECM is actually pretty easy to defeat. That said, I still prefer a splatcat to a streakcat, but there's no denying that a streakcat is a hell of a light/medium killer and a pair of them can shred just about anything. This is why we'll never see streak4 or streak6. Can you imagine the power of the A1 with 6xStreak6?

[That Dawg]

KamikaziChaser, on 18 February 2013 - 03:28 PM, said:

Can you imagine the power of the A1 with 6xStreak6?

Every waking moment of every day.

[frag85]

Interesting, it would be cool to see this again now that missiles have been altered. I have not used my splatcat much since the missile nerf.


When I used to run a splatcat pre-missile nerf, I always liked having the 6x6+Artemis for the tighter grouping and doing more effective damage at range. The speed difference between the 300 and 315 didn't seem that great to me. I carried 7 tons of ammo on average. Sometimes 8. 6 was too little. I found the build I liked used CASE with the ammo in the torso to keep it out of the legs, because a lot of people went for my legs.

Edited by frag85, 30 April 2013 - 01:21 PM.