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Wow, any light can melt that thing.

Hell my cataphract can circle strafe that. XD

Actually, how is it that slow?

I have a 5S with 2 medium laser 4x LRM 20 still goes 50kp/h.

 Soladrin wrote:
Wow, any light can melt that thing.

Hell my cataphract can circle strafe that. XD

Actually, how is it that slow?

I have a 5S with 2 medium laser 4x LRM 20 still goes 50kp/h.

MY 4X can probably circle strafe it, and that's really saying something considering it goes just shy of 49kp/h.

Anywho, managed to scrape together enough for my 2nd Cata, and splashed out on the 1X. Currently running with AC/5 and 2 PPCs until I can afford Endo-Steel and Double Heatsinks, when I can probably drop the AC/5 for a Gauss Rifle.

 Shrike325 wrote:
I'm enjoying my current Stalker-5M.

5 LRM15's w/ Artemis.

Top speed: 33kph

Average match:
3-4 kills, 600-1200 damage done

Well, I know what I'm building when I get home.

 Ouze wrote:

 Shrike325 wrote:
I'm enjoying my current Stalker-5M.

5 LRM15's w/ Artemis.

Top speed: 33kph

Average match:
3-4 kills, 600-1200 damage done

Well, I know what I'm building when I get home.

I'd honestly say that it's a pretty bad design. It has zero versatility, is completely defenseless, is easily shut down by any ECM and is just plain boring. All you are going to be doing is sitting behind cover, waiting for the red circle and beep, listen to some launchy sounds, rince and repeat untill you win or get caught.

LoL! I've heard a 6 LRM 5 catapult is even more fun- on chainfire, the rockets never stop.

I'd honestly say that it's a pretty bad design. It has zero versatility, is completely defenseless, is easily shut down by any ECM and is just plain boring. All you are going to be doing is sitting behind cover, waiting for the red circle and beep, listen to some launchy sounds, rince and repeat untill you win or get caught.

I thought it, you said it.

1200 dmg is great but not as great as doing it brawling.

For me 600 dmg in a treb is much much more rewarding then 1200 in a lrm boat. It takes little to no skill to do high numbers with lrms, and is really boring.

We have a guy in our clan that has a stalker that goes 19 mph, and is constantly calling for back up and it seems to me that he is doing it wrong. 1 out of 10 he does really good with it. 9 out of 10 he screws us all by calling for back up and changing the flow
of the battle. He is also the same guy that has a 10 flamer hunchie that takes it because flamers are cool......and does pretty much nothing every match.

I really like my Cicada.
129 Kph and a gauss rifle.

Having run my 1X a few times, I can say I'm quite unimpressed. It might be better when I can replace the AC/5 with a Gauss Rifle, but right now I'm not really able to do enough.

I'm crap at using hotkeys, so as a consequence I've had to bind both PPCs to my RMB, and the AC/5 to my LMB, which means every time I fire the PPCs I get a ton of heat coming my way, but even trying to fire the PPCs seperately to keep the heat low, I'm reaching dangerous levels of it whenever I actually want to cause damage.

random matchmaking is starting to tick me off. constantly have lights go PUGing into the entire formation of enemies because they think possessing a Raven 3L makes them invincible.

I guess I need to get a microphone and figure out how to use teamspeak.

Gitzbitah wrote:
LoL! I've heard a 6 LRM 5 catapult is even more fun- on chainfire, the rockets never stop.

That sounds deeply amusing. If I get a better processor to get this game to work I'll be sure to try it out.

right now using a Catapult A1 with two LRM 15 and two LRM 5 to go along with 2 SRM6s.... versatile and so far I like it

Sgt_Scruffy wrote:
random matchmaking is starting to tick me off. constantly have lights go PUGing into the entire formation of enemies because they think possessing a Raven 3L makes them invincible.

I guess I need to get a microphone and figure out how to use teamspeak.

Mhm, random matchmaking feels more like Catapults, the game. All 50% of almost every game is K2's and A1's.

 Soladrin wrote:

Sgt_Scruffy wrote:
random matchmaking is starting to tick me off. constantly have lights go PUGing into the entire formation of enemies because they think possessing a Raven 3L makes them invincible.

I guess I need to get a microphone and figure out how to use teamspeak.

Mhm, random matchmaking feels more like Catapults, the game. All 50% of almost every game is K2's and A1's.

Oh I agree. I'm going to start dropping with a team soon. Never done that.

It's the Flavour-of-the-Month players. Some people just aren't comfortable if they do not pilot the most cheesy, effective and if possible broken build MWO has to offer, it seems.

The last couple weeks it used to be 3L's with ECM+Streak roflpwning any other Light. Now that the majority of non-3L Lights have either switched to playing 3L's themselves, or to another weight class, it may not be as "fun" anymore. SSRMs are way less effective against Mediums upwards than they are against Lights.

I guess the A1-Catapult is the next best things because you can boat SRMs like no other 'Mech in the game, and a full salvo of those can take down even an Atlas in a few seconds. So don't get too close to one of these or they'll rip you apart!

On the plus side, I find nothing more enjoyable than hunting down these buggers and picking off their launchers from afar. A Splatcat that has lost both its "ears" and helplessly tries to get away from the fight evokes eerily sadistic feelings in my gut.
That's their one weakness - all their weapon hardpoints are in the big boxes on either side of their head. They take quite a bit of damage to blow off, but once they're gone, he has nothing left. Not even a small laser. Nada. Nichts. Rien.

Also, team drops ftw. If any of you fight for one of the Successor Houses, go check on the MWO forums if they have a community hub and a public Teamspeak server where people can join in for ad-hoc games. Had some nice games in the past two days with a lance of fellow samurai from House Kurita.

Although I agree that the Stalker that I've been using has some flaws (god it's slow), it actually performs quite well. The major flaw is a group with ECM that stays within ECM.

Otherwise, most things die before they get to me (part of that is because I'm so far behind the lines even at max speed).

Another fun one I've been running:
Flame with 3x ER-PPC and a 300XL

i did build that stalker. I did OK with it, but god, it's so slow. I do very poorly on city maps with it. it seems that commandos have a sixth sense about where I am and they come and get me.

I swapped out the medium lasers for TAG and Streak SRM's, but they don't seem to do enough damage to be effective.

I'll probably go back to my founder catapult. It felt more like a good all-arounder. I also enjoy the Gauss Cat quite a bit.

I've been trudging through the Catapult tree for a while now after my foray into assault mechs and I've got to say that I think the hype of splatapults is pretty overrated. Alpine has done a lot to cut their popularity and I regularly do more damage or get more kills with a more sane C1/C4.

Right now I've been using A Cat C1 with 4 MPLAS and two LRM15+Artemis. Having a great time with it although I may go back to two large lasers and a tag instead.

The A1 SplatCat is situationally deadly, no doubt. The C1/C4 though is just so damn consistent.

Meh, I finished my Phract trees ages ago, still my fav mech. Probably will be untill highlander hits. Though I will be trying the Orion out.

The C1 is just a magnificent machine. Toss in some endo for the Artemis and some spare ammo, and you have a mech that is comfortable engaging in a long duel with anyone. Add dbl heat sinks, and it will never overheat

Sgt_Scruffy wrote:The A1 SplatCat is situationally deadly, no doubt. The C1/C4 though is just so damn consistent.

Oh yeah, absolutely. I think the rage is the result of situations where people were surprised, for under such circumstances the Splatcat generally does not offer any chance to rectify the mistake, which is very different from the normal combat situations where you can still try to get away as they last longer than a second. With 6xSRM6, it's literally you going around the corner and BOOM, destroyed - at least in a Light or Medium.

Catch it in a different situation, say, on long range like in Alpine, and it's very different. It's a one trick pony, so to say, but I can understand the frustration it evokes. It's like having a single card in a card game that automatically declares whoever gets it the winner, and calling it fair because it's just one card in the deck and it may not be drawn. Whilst being true, it still sucks for the losers when it happens, as they were expecting "more" from the game.

Alpine is good fun until I run out of ammunition...

Just finished the elite portion of the my three catapults. I was dreading slogging through the A1, but surprisingly, if you think outside the box, it's A TON of fun.

I finally decided to go with 3 LRM10s and 3 SRM6s all with artemis. The "sweet spot" for this mech is in the 250-300 meter range. It's too far away to get quickly whittled down by the MLAS boats, but too close for them to find cover. the trick when being chased is to use your insane torso twist to keep the lock on.

Versatile and useful at all ranges. just pray a 3L doesn't find you. It helps that you can do just over 70 kph and run for team mates.

I find that most LRM mechs tend to stay too far away from the action. Not only are lots of their missile wasted due to losing lock or cover, but they are isolated and get picked off by jenners/ravens/trebs.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Lynata wrote:

Sgt_Scruffy wrote:The A1 SplatCat is situationally deadly, no doubt. The C1/C4 though is just so damn consistent.

Oh yeah, absolutely. I think the rage is the result of situations where people were surprised, for under such circumstances the Splatcat generally does not offer any chance to rectify the mistake, which is very different from the normal combat situations where you can still try to get away as they last longer than a second. With 6xSRM6, it's literally you going around the corner and BOOM, destroyed - at least in a Light or Medium.

Catch it in a different situation, say, on long range like in Alpine, and it's very different. It's a one trick pony, so to say, but I can understand the frustration it evokes. It's like having a single card in a card game that automatically declares whoever gets it the winner, and calling it fair because it's just one card in the deck and it may not be drawn. Whilst being true, it still sucks for the losers when it happens, as they were expecting "more" from the game.

Yeah, running into a splatpult in a back alley will ruin your day. it is a good ambusher no doubt. Thank god, it doesn't have ECM.

The Cat has insane torso twist for sure - it can almost look right behind it!



Fortunately, this also means that they have to take more time to turn the other way around when you manage to slip past the point of no return. Skilled Light pilots can exploit this, though it's hard to to, especially against skilled Cat pilots who are adept at using their BattleMech's feet in reaction manoeuvers.


By the way, currently watching the old Battletech cartoon. Classy stuff. Did you know that all episodes are available on youtube?




That music is so awesome.

It must have taken ages to render those computer graphics with the machines they were using in the 90s.

No doubt! From the rumours I've heard, the series was ultimately shut down because they could not afford a second series as the CGI was too expensive.

Bummer. :(
Somebody should revitalise it. Still, it was a surprise when I found out they got even this, given that 40k barely managed to put out a short direct-to-DVD movie.

Current Battletech canon actually gives a respectful nod to this old series by rendering the entire cartoon an in-universe holovid show and FedCom propaganda. A rather clever solution to address some continuity issues, I must say.

"The legend of Adam Steiner - serialized for FedCom citizens in a holo adventure series soon after the Tukkayyid victory - tells that then-Kommandant Adam Steiner formed an ad hoc independent force called the First Somerset Strikers upon learning of Somerset's fall to strange invaders from beyond the Periphery. The legend goes on to describe how, world by world, Kommandant Steiner and his Strikers battled the forces of Clan Jade Falcon, eventually liberating Somerset after a private duel against his nemesis, Star Colonel Nikolai Malthus of the Falcon Guards Cluster.
While many of the basic events of the legend did happen in reality, their impact was massively overstated in the public media. [...]"
- BT Era Report : 3052

I managed to scrape together enough CBills for endo-steel, DHS and Ferro-Fibrous (because I could), and I quite like the Gauss + Dual PPC build I've got going in my 1X right now.

It's got a higher alpha than my Gaussphract, the DHS and lack of Gauss heat means I get a good number of PPC shots off before I even begin to start heating up, I don't have to feed the PPCs ammo, and I can even CASE the Gauss Rifle, so no more blowing myself up.

The only downside is that I've found the best way to have the weapons is the Gauss Rifle in the only ballistic slot (right torso) and the dual PPCs in the right arm, because it's the only place with 2 energy hardpoints. It means that my right side gets targeted a lot more, but it gives me a greater chance of all 3 shots landing on the same facing, whereas before, at least one of the PPC shots had a goodly chance of hitting a different facing or even firing just wide.

But aside from that, she's a powerful thing. I've got far more kills and damage done in the matches I've used her in than I did with my 4X, and she's a lot faster than my 4X, too.

Until I get get hold of some ERPPCs I will still be wary of fighting up close, but it's a risk I have to take, really.

EDIT: It's also quite boring playing it alone. I need someone else to blame for when it all goes wrong.

Just started playing. Callsign is: Pater Mons

Fantastic so far but after playing for about 4 hours last night I'd only racked up 2 kills. Definitely takes some practice.

See you all on the battlefield.

My name is Avatar720.

Bet nobody could've guessed that!

Everybody should check out whats in store this month. Some awesome stuff AND lag support. I'm ecstatic! (not cos my pc sucks. New Zealand is just that far away from their server.)
http://mwomercs.com/news/2013/03/618-2013-march-creative-director-update

Hmmm, the consumables could come close to making it P2W unless the MC costs are as inflated as they currently are. I'm not exactly sure how much an air/artillery strike could do, or if the teams get a warning about an inbound strike, but all it needs is someone in a light mech to run up to the enemy team early on and let loose a strike.

Coolant injectors I'm not sure about; they make sense, but I'm not convinced that allowing that 6 PPC stalker to ignore (or at least offset) his heat penalty will be a good way of going about things.

Public stats I'm not fussed about so long as they make it opt-in as opposed to opt-out or permanent.

Releasing yet another large map when Alpine Peaks is already too big is just silly imho.

Everything else seems alright, especially the training ground. Letting newbies learn things at their own pace is a better way than throwing them in at the deep end; I know that when I first started we might as well have been a man down for all the good I was doing, so it should help balance matches slightly.