I've had decent luck with this build...provides damage at all ranges and serves as a good deterrent to rushers to the backside. Let me know what you guys think!
Hey and welcome to MechSpecs! I'm not a fan of doing XL engines in a Crab, too large hitboxes for that to work well IMHO. If you can swing it, kudos to you! V2, improved ammo placement. My suggestion would be to go Endo, swap to a STD 300, drop the artemis, drop the command console and add a TAG laser. Endo gives you less weight savings then a XL but it won't kill you to loose a sidetorso. Artemis only helps when you have line of sight and doesn't help defeat ECM. A TAG laser is better in this case, does the same thing but can defeat ECM. TAG and artemis stack but it's not worth the tonnage for a secondary weapon sys. Command console weighs 3 tons for neglible advantages. Added more ammo for your primary weapons, I use 28 shots for a single AC20 myself... These are just tips and viewpoints, not a challenge to your build. Peace.
Haven't tried the build, but from a light pilot perspective, this is the perfect Crab for me to find. AC40, plus 2 LRM15 with Artemis means I can tell you're an XL engine as soon as I get your target info, since you HAVE to be packing a lot of ammo to keep in the fight. If, somehow, this was a STD build, I'd still focus that back RT to strip 3 of the weapons from your mech. Up close, AC40 may be nasty, but vs a light, you're going to have trouble consistently hitting lights unless your aim is amazing. The Command Console in the head is also a meh choice...especially seeing as that any ECM near you negates your LRM30 since you don't have a BAP. But most importantly, you're completely ammo dependent here, so once you start running dry, that's it. With a build like this, if I couldn't take your back, I'd just try to snipe your legs at range with ECM knowing that's where your ammo will be.
Durandal, Lan, fair points. I may have to give the TAG a shot over the Artemis, I hesitate because my experience with LRM seems to be they're mostly useful to apply damage to targets past an object. Of course that also negates the advantage of Artemis. The CC I find extremely useful in lowering the time to lock which significantly increase the chance my LRM will make it to target in a locked condition (yeah im working on the cash for the sensor module). Dur, I've been caught exactly five time by lights on my way to the group. Four of those time the AC20's saved my life. The lights simply wont hang around after getting nailed once or twice. The torso range and speed of the crab over every other assault ive used really helps with this. I've used lasers in LRM builds before, and they hit better, but they dont kill or drive anything off better. By the way, the one time I couldn't seem to hit crap and the fricker murdered me, I think you were the pilot! Ive tried both XL and STD builds...the lower torso twist speed of the STDs seem to get me cored in the center...so far (a few hundred matches in crabs) I've had better luck with the speed advantage of XL.s..being able to get out of bad situations a bit faster and move the torso to the right/left. In fairness Ive been pugging, so my ELO may be low enough the disadvantage isn't obvious. Thanks for the observations! Oh, and just being ammo heavy kinda murders the safety factor of a STD...although Ive yet to run out of ammo anywhere other than at the last enemy mech...and I tend to use most of the ammo of both weapons..i like the range combination...LRMs for the first half, AC20s for the second.
You need BAP to go LRM. You need more AC20 ammo. You probably don't need CC. You might also need more AC20 ammo. Consider this. Downgrade to 2xLRM10, then you don't need your +A. You get your BAP and your TAG for your LRM. You also gain more ammo and more speed. Not bad, right?
