Grid Iron "Humbug" (1x Gauss, 3x MLas, STD225)

4/5,

1 rating

After having run out of ideas of what to do with this mech I'd settled on running the standard AC20 build that it simple and effective. Problem is I've been playing around with the GR on other mechs and the slow velocity of the AC20 was killing me.

I've had to downsize the engine a little and that's something I try to avoid on mediums but because of the GR I can engage enemies from farther away so speed is not necessarily as crucial. The GR also meshes well with the trio of Mlas. The standard build with the AC20 can get quite hot because the mech is limited to 10 DHS, but with the the GR all your dissipation goes towards the lasers and it plays much cooler.

4 tons of GR ammo also means I have almost twice as much ammo as with the AC20 and those long range potshots don't deplete my limited ammo stores.

Now, the AC20 does have a few distinct advantages and this holds true especially when the brawl starts. First of all, no charge time. It becomes less important the more you play with the GR but it can still mess up some of your shots in the heat of battle. The GR is also much more fragile and that means that you need to protect that RT even more if you intend on keeping it. This last point is balanced by the fact that you can engage at much greater range.

Anyway, its not the most imaginative build but it makes for an effective and fun little 50 tonner that doesn't have to worry about going face to face with much bigger targets at close range.

 

I came to this conclusion for the upcoming patch today and refuse to run a HBK with an XL engine. I don't think running an XL to squeeze in medium pulse lasers is worth it at all - especially since heat is not an issue on this mech regardless.

Your build has 1.51 tons left over and needs some crit padding in the RT but otherwise our builds are the same. I also squeezed in another 15 shots of Gauss. Makes me want a Grid Iron now...

 

This could be the new standard Grid Iron after quirk pass 2.

 

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I bought the HBK-GI when it first came out and struggled forever to find something it could do that another variant couldn't do just as well. When this gauss quirk came out, this was the build I started running, and the results so far have been absolutely amazing. Ordinarily I subscribe to the school of thought that hunchies shouldn't be running XLs, but with this one you generally stay your way outside of the main brawl. 7 tons gauss ammo sounds like a lot, but with the speed the gauss fires at, I've found no amount is too much. I originally ran with a STD engine and only 3 tons ammo, but I ran out of ammo way too quickly, and it evolved into what it is now. Routinely 500+ damage with 800+ damage games not being far from the norm. I'd take and post screen shots, but I seem to be unable to as of late. All that gets posted is a black screen =/

I run with the Gauss Cooldown module, Target Info Gathering module, Advanced Zoom module, and Radar Deprivation.

 

Hello and welcome on mechspecs.

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Isnt the XL engine and Gauss rifle a liability - when the Gauss gets destroyed it takes out the XL? Or is it simply a case of if the Gauss is destroyed, then its pretty much game over anyway?

 

Exactly.
You can use an STD engine, but you have to compromise on the armor (usually no armor at all on the arms) and the backup weapons (no lasers on the arms), or just being very very slow (STD200).

 

Knock some armor off the arms that nobody ever shoots at and upgrade to a STD 250