Your most cringeworthy builds.

I've never liked the idea of any LRM assault. It seems like a waste of armor, but I especially think it's true of the 90+ ton mechs. You don't need 18 tons of armor if all you're going to do is sit behind the lines and lob missiles until the battle is won or lost. Leave that to the Catapults and Trebuchets.

But I don't blame players in solo. They have no training. No common strategy and tactics to use. No knowledge of how to get out of a sticky situation. It's a team game where the team the team rarely works together so why not put LRM's on that Atlas if you're bad at aiming or safely closing with an enemy. Those players probably still have fun so I let them be.

It would be nice though if PGI brought out a training program with a limited AI to teach players the basics of teamwork and roles, but that's a different topic and probably more work than they want to do.

 

The cautionary comment though is..... who do you thing should bring them and how do you know what others will bring?

The KCB bracket?

The Timberwolf bracket?

The Stormcrow bracket?

The any of a dozen good light mech bracket?

..... or the ones with the LRM quirks (including lots of heavies and assaults)?

 

I don't have a problem with a properly built LRM boat in the solo queue as its almost impossible to ever satisfy everyone else and you're on your own time. I just want them kicking butt and the isolated non self sufficient LRMer is rarely that.

 

"But but why does the king crab have claws daddy?"

"Because it was made to rip clan omni mechs to pieces."

"Why is it hiding in the back then?"

"Because PGI doesn't believe in melee combat."

Jk I know this is difficult and the reason for kill trades are so annoying in most fps. I really want a hatchman but again until melee whats the point.

Feel free to make your own answers to the questions above i can certainly think of a few more

 

Well strangely KCB are great defensive tools as it happens.

 

1) some mech is made for LRM, even in assault, think about some of the awesome series, they did a great job also with nightmarish chainfiring of LRM. On top of that they have a pair of LL/ERLL for useful actions.

Thefuq?
PUG does not equal undertrained. Don't give me the shit about all good players go in guilds/groups. Sometimes you just want to run alone, or grind and test stuff. In PUG games you can do more crazy things without dragging your friends down.

"I let it be"??? Who do you think you are to decide letting or not letting anyone be? As far as I am concerned everyone can play this game the way they like it. Yes, I make fun of cringebuilds and attics, but I would not make fun of the players. Maybe they are testing something, maybe they just want to goof, maybe they are a newbie, maybe... that said, I do suggest them coming to mechspecs for some builds.

That, and some builds out there are solely for leveling mechs, especiall in pugs. Like how I think the Gargoyle Config A is a fucking piece of shit compare to the other two variantions (hardpoints only in arms, yadayada), but I do need to drag this through basics for the sake of the other two variants. So to maximize xp I would probably just run some LRM crap to ride the first win bonus everyday until it finish, then just dunk it in the dark corner of my garage and lock it up. I do have fun with the other two variants though.

Like how it is now, if you team up, you will have to pilot something other than assault, but everyone want to level assaults. So go pug and level your thing up! Yes, pugs are great for grinding and leveling and getting points for events.

No, cpu teammates would not teach you about teams. NPC (even friendly) are pieces of shit you do not need to respect, unlike players. NPC are just tools. Players... well you can at least try to work together, if they are nice and friendly. And even in pugs there are ones that would listen to suggestions and battleplans. Yes, there are douchebags too, just fuck them and ignore them.

 

That's an interesting perspective because I've always felt mediums are there to kill lights and exploit any breach with their mobile firepower. LRM's to me are definitely not a tool for 90% of light and med chassis's. In fact I loathe any LRM's on lights

 

Mmh, my problem with that is there are some superb mediums and heavies nowadays whereas most assaults for me are massively overated.

 

I suppose you're right. They're not untrained so I take that back. But their training is to be individualistic rather than team oriented because almost always they do not know the quality of their teammates or what the team will do. A little training, even if it's not great, could teach newer players the rudiments of working as a team. I would feel a little more confident in my pug teams if I knew they all at least understood a little of what is going on and what to do. But that's not going to happen, so I'll just enjoy the game the way it is.

 

For information, that LRM Crab was encountered in group queue

About the rest... well, you're well aware of my position about LRM assaults. Except for the AWS-8R, which is a great LRM platform.
Also, what has not been said about medium and heavy LRM-boats, it's their great mobility. Who cares about and LRM-boat mobility, you'd ask, those things are like turrets! But when your 30 missiles volleys are hitting the mountain because you're not able to reposition yourself fast enough, you wish you were not a 60kph fatty.
Yesterday I made few drops on the KTO-18 (5 LRM5s), this is really flexible and deadly. You're fast (90kph), as soon as the narc beacon is on target you're in position to shoot, and the rate of fire is insane. Better than the Catapult-A1 in my opinion (it has TAG!).

 

When I run an LRM boat I almost never stand still. You don't have to go top speed, but even slow movment helps you to keep up with the team, and variate your missile path. Staying in one place is asking for enemy lights intervention, and LRM boats are not equipped to deal with lights too well. Then again my "LRM boat" usually have a couple ERLL/LL mounted, so I do exploit those red and smoking mech more if they are stupid enough to stay in the open.

I do agree Medium/Heavy LRM boats are better, awesome series being a special case with a few of them designed for LRM, and the Stalker H would be a LL-LRM hybrid, same goes for warhawk LL-LRM hybrid in some settings (have you seen unstopped LRM rain? Not the tiny LRM5 type but LRM15 grade!).

The annoying thing about KGc-0000 is that it has 4 missile hardpoints with HUGE TUBES (2x15+2x20) along with missile cool down quirk, but no AC quirks. That sort of make it an OK LRM boat. Not prefered, but actually functional as such.

Even though AWS have specialized LRM15 bonus in 8R and 8V which is superior. And they definitely have enough tonnage to pull off 3xLRM15 or even 4xLRM15, something the heavy would struggle in due to tonnage for ammo.

Then again even with Awesome I tend to add a couple LL, it would be a waste of an Assault not to have some defence and shooty power during late game, or when you are in a tight close spot..

But yeah, for the most part, assault are for assaulting and firepower. Hiding behind everyone is a waste of that armor and hardpoints of death, unless your LRM firepower is superior enough to take care of that. And things like Atlas definitely cannot do the job due to the low missile hardpoint count or small tube size.

 

I think, used appropriately, LRMs are a useful tool - even outside of boating. "Incoming Missiles" make people run for cover, and cockpit shake can disrupt aim. Indiscriminate LRM fire can trigger enemy AMS - even if it can't hit the damn missiles. As long as you don't focus on that weapon system alone, they aren't bad to keep around.

Unrelated, deadfiring missiles at ECMed Atlai and hitting them? Always good for a laugh, even if not terribly effective.

And I'm going to be horrible. My sub-optimal, just a slight tweak from stock, GRF-3M with the neat stock loadout. I enjoy the damn thing. When I can run it properly.

 

I also agree that splashing in some LRMs is not a terrible idea on some mechs. Highlanders with LRM20-30? That's pretty good while you're closing range. Some maps are so big and the high end assaults are so slow that they can get a ton of mileage out of weapons they can fire while closing. Plus, if you look at the Highlander quirks you can see that they are trying to make them mid-range fighters for a number of the variants. You can still fight from 250-500 meters and use that armor.

 

Berserker. Because a 100-ton axe-weilding maniac is what this game *really* needs.
It would also be the only mech I'd leave the flamer in. Because, fire-breathing.

 

Don't forget the Hatchetman and Axman mechs! Medium and Heavy, if I remember right, and built to ruin someone's day with melee.