Mech warrior 4: mercenaries free

[QuailLover]

What type of map are we talking about though? An Urban map would limit the effectiveness of the LRMs and ER-(weapon goes here).

 

[Moss]

The Arena maps, so mostly mid distance with decent cover.

Assault lasers? That's... a horrible idea. You're going to get outranged and peppered with LRM, PPC, Gauss or what have you. HLLas, ERPCCs or ERLLas is a better choice.

I know it is, but it's the least horrible idea there is.

The behemoth simply doesn't compensate for it's large size and grindingly slow speed with armour or firepower. At long range I've found it's even worse, you're too slow and large to be missed by even the AI so unless you're incredibly lucky with your shots, or your opponent is somehow dumb enough to sit perfectly still, you're hosed. Not to mention the turning speed of the thing means you're incredibly easy to get behind and stay behind.

The only thing I've found that even remotely works is to try to back them into a corner and hope that you're armour holds out long enough to get to mid range. I honestly can't see it being able to take on any force equal in Credit Ratings on an open map.

Well, he's proposing a four on one.

I've yet to see an urbanmech do anything but explode, so I'll have to take your word on that.

A.k.a. the Alice Newkirk approach. Best hope you have MFBs, or you'll be running dry in minutes.

I kinda like the 2x Arrow IV (30x2) 4x HMLas Timber Wolf. 80KPH, 13.5t ferro fibrous, BAP and 4 heat sinks. Damage was 56 out to 1200m and 80 out to 300m.

How many mechs am I going up against here? I've never had anything survive more than three alpha strikes, even in 1v10 fights the worst that happens is that you loose your AC20 ammo and have to beat them down with pulse lasers, but it's got the armour and speed for a slug fest against other heavies/mediums. The Annihilator is technically better, as you can jam in a fourth Ultra AC20 without loosing ammo or armour, but the slight loss in speed and it's ridiculous profile makes it a pain to pilot.

That being said I've got a similar build with the Longbow, sacrifices speed, but the larger missile racks mean you get the Artemis system with the Arrows and the extra accuracy sure as hell doesn't hurt. Pulse lasers as back up to deal with light mechs/vehicles I can't outrun, but Ironically I always find myself suffering from ammo problems even with 45 in each rack.

 

[Ebin]

Alright, so 4 hollander IIs vs. a Fafnir didn't work out in skirmish mode. However, what did work is 4 Hellspawns with 2 of those small clan LBX's vs. the Behemoth II. The Fafnir however seem a bit harder because it's much more difficult to hit it's Center Torso.

CLBX AC-5?
You tried to go toe to toe with a Fafnir and it's HGs with LBXes?
Am I hearing this right?

Dude, the HG caps out at 600m range, the LLas at 650m; ERPPCs and ERLLas have 925 and 800m range respectively. A ****ing Urbanmech C (4.5m C-Bills) could take out a stock Fafnir (14m C-Bills) if it was competently piloted.

The CLBX AC-5 Caps out at 700m and does 7dmg for both amounting to 14 dmg once you get close enough. Almost ran out of ammo too after it placed a great shot on my left arm taking out one of my CLBX's about half-way into the fight. Oh yeah I had an Continuous Laser as well, but it caused too much overheating when I had to depend on it, that and some Rockets which didn't carry enough ammo to be completely useful. And I took out a Behemoth II with 5 Golems mounted with 2 mortars and one of the Battle Armor Thunderbolt missles. Took for ****ing ever too. Finding a layout which could accomplish that was a pain in the ass as well. Didn't think it would work either due to the ammo shortages and then you'd have no weapons. Of course, afterwards I used a Fafnir mounted with two HEAP-AGL's and just kind of destroyed a bunch of stuff, good times.

In the campaign though, I'm always running into the issue of tonnage. I love ballistic weapons but the tonnage required to mount them is expensive. Probably need to expand onto lasers as back-up weapons when I need to conserve ammo or run out.

 

[Taimat396]

So I went and got this. What do D:

What sort of weapons do I want to be looking at, what sort of chassis, etc etc.

For say a general buiser type - Get midrange, strafe like hell, big guns, enough armour to take a hit or two. And for a big 'stand in front of me and you die' tank. Almost certainly use energy weapons, given i'm a ****e shot.

Tried a Templar to start with, but cranking it up to 100KM/H leaves little room for weapons and none for armour

 

[G36E]

For say a general buiser type - Get midrange, strafe like hell, big guns, enough armour to take a hit or two. And for a big 'stand in front of me and you die' tank. Almost certainly use energy weapons, given i'm a ****e shot.

cLBX AC/20s. cUACs seem great but weigh 3t more and eat ammo twice as fast for very little extra gain. Energy weapons are horrible for a bruiser, the heat buildup means you'll end up flushing coolant far more often than you can afford. If you must though, heavy lasers are a great way of leveraging the extra crit slots when you're low on tonnage.

The Thanatos XL's a good heavy 'Mech with 360 degree torso rotation and can mount a pair of the cLBX AC/20s, great for general purpose use.

For flat out combat, you'll want the heaviest mech you can find. Daishi, Atlas, Annihilator, what have you.

Tried a Templar to start with, but cranking it up to 100KM/H leaves little room for weapons and none for armour

You only need about 60~70KPH at most, I get by with 80KPH on the Timber Wolf. Anything extra's a waste of tonnage.

The CLBX AC-5 Caps out at 700m and does 7dmg for both amounting to 14 dmg once you get close enough. Almost ran out of ammo too after it placed a great shot on my left arm taking out one of my CLBX's about half-way into the fight. Oh yeah I had an Continuous Laser as well, but it caused too much overheating when I had to depend on it, that and some Rockets which didn't carry enough ammo to be completely useful.

Methinks you mean Ultra ACs. LBXs only fire once and their damage drops off at range. Rockets are relatively pointless, you'd be better off mounting ATMs or SSRMs.

And I took out a Behemoth II with 5 Golems mounted with 2 mortars and one of the Battle Armor Thunderbolt missles. Took for ****ing ever too. Finding a layout which could accomplish that was a pain in the ass as well. Didn't think it would work either due to the ammo shortages and then you'd have no weapons. Of course, afterwards I used a Fafnir mounted with two HEAP-AGL's and just kind of destroyed a bunch of stuff, good times.

隐藏: I have a more efficient proposal

In the campaign though, I'm always running into the issue of tonnage. I love ballistic weapons but the tonnage required to mount them is expensive. Probably need to expand onto lasers as back-up weapons when I need to conserve ammo or run out.

Always carry at least two MLas, they're useful for tanks and light vehicles. Ballistic and missile weapons are the emergency weapons when you need to pull out all the stops.

 

[Taimat396]

Yeah, I'm starting to notice some of this. Never actually played Originally had one (I forget the name) with two twin linked PPCs and two large clan gauss cannons up top. Turns out that's longish range. And 20 heatsinks + five speed upgrades + all that left me with very little in the way of armour, especially given it was an assault mech.


Also; oh god the controls are terrible. I'm going through the tutorial setting them to more reasonable stuff when they turn up. WASD movement, Q/E for weapon groups, mouse for torso.

 

[QuailLover]

Hahahah playing this with a keyboard! (Remembers playing Mech Warrior 2 with keyboard)

Anyway I've always been a fan of the Thor/Summoner. At least have one LRM rack and one ERPPC. Then stick a few pulse lasers on there, and add weapons and heat sinks to taste. (Though this was more of a MW3 load-out since Pulse Lasers were much better in 3.)

 

[Taimat396]

Still haven't found an assault I really like (The Marauder II's nice, but not in campaign) that actually works - Loading the Daishi with CLBX20s and Heavy lasers is all well and good, but it takes half an hour to get in range

On the other hand, I love the Loki and Black Knight. Latter has four PPCs, and the Loki has two CLBX20s and a heavy laser. Tried the Thanatos-XL with two CLBX20s and four heavy lasers, but it's too slow - It's as fast as the Daishi, but with much less armour and worse weaponry. Also overheats like a mother****. The Loki has the same armour, but is 35KM/H faster. Still kills things plenty fast. Smaller frame too, which helps.

And the Hellhound is the same - little faster than the Loki, less armour. ****e slots, but three pulse lasers still puts out more damage than two PPCs with only a little less range. Running circles around people is fun.

Are all the ballistics other than CLBXs and gauss as useless as they appear?

Hahahah playing this with a keyboard! (Remembers playing Mech Warrior 2 with keyboard)

It's actually pretty decent now I've changed it all around. R shuts down, F flushes coolant, WASD controls the legs, Q and E switch weapon groups. Y for passive sensors, T for light amps. The only thing missing is jumpjets, since it won't let me use shift, Ctrl or mouse 4/5.

 

[G36E]

Still haven't found an assault I really like (The Marauder II's nice, but not in campaign) that actually works - Loading the Daishi with CLBX20s and Heavy lasers is all well and good, but it takes half an hour to get in range

Put more engine in? Mount ERPPC?

On the other hand, I love the Loki and Black Knight. Latter has four PPCs, and the Loki has two CLBX20s and a heavy laser. Tried the Thanatos-XL with two CLBX20s and four heavy lasers, but it's too slow - It's as fast as the Daishi, but with much less armour and worse weaponry. Also overheats like a mother****. The Loki has the same armour, but is 35KM/H faster. Still kills things plenty fast. Smaller frame too, which helps.

隐藏: There are other ways of getting speed

2x cLBX20
4x HMLas

And the Hellhound is the same - little faster than the Loki, less armour. ****e slots, but three pulse lasers still puts out more damage than two PPCs with only a little less range. Running circles around people is fun.

Pulse lasers suck in MW4, you end up spreading most of your damage out over the guy's mech, far better to have an alpha that puts his CT into the red immediately. With the Hellhound, you have lots of excess tonnage, but very little in the way of crit slots, so you may as well mount 6 HSLas.

隐藏: Example

Are all the ballistics other than CLBXs and gauss as useless as they appear?

cUACs are deliciously powerful, but not as efficient as the LBX. Standard AC is bloody heavy, MGs do nothing, Long Toms and AGLs are pointless for anything beyond 300m range.

 

[Taimat396]

It's all irrelevant now. Found the Warthog, which is nearly as maneuverable as some mediums (And sitll lets me use 2cLBX20 and five Heavy med lasers...Got nothing on the Anni with four cLBX though ). Also found the Blackhawk. 10 med lasers, two heavy med lasers. And the...I forget, might have been the blackjack. Two cLBX20s on a medium is insane As is two ERPPC on a puma, but that has heat issues.

I've not managed to cram more than four long range weapons on a mech yet, assault or not - Got a warlord with two clan gauss and two ERPPCs, but it takes a while to kill things. And no railgun in the campaign means my Marauder isn't all it could be


We should get a game going sometime, I've still yet to play multiplayer.