Is it just me or is the cent just a very strange mech. I came from playing Phract, Atlas, Jaeger and Jenner. But i cant get used to the Cents weapon poisitions and its incredible hugeness for a medium mech. I feel like the weapons do whatever they want on this mech, the convergence is just super crazy. And why is it almost as big as an Atlas?
Generally the Centurion is one of the better Medium Mechs. Especially the CN9-A with three Missile Pods capable of using triple SRM6s and being able to go Zombie is regarded to be one of the best Mediums in MWO. Because of the weird shape of the Centurion, he usually can survive heavy attacks by spreading the damage all over the body before going exploded. I can witness the awesomeness of this Mech. In one game there was a Centurion in the enemy team. We attacked him with three guys, ripping off his both arms, hitting him many times on the torso, while he ran like a crazy chicken over the battlefield, both torso sides blew away. The Health dropped to under 30% (!!!), before he finally fell to ground. OMG! How could he survive so long? After that match i decided to buy my own CN9-A. Though its not my favorite Mech, its definitely one of the better. Blagg
This is one of the reasons cents r my overall favorite mechs. I cant count how many times i've run around like that. You gotta torso twist man. the AL variant is my personal fave tho with the current meta being able to use 2 ppcs/erppc in the same arm. The entire left side of your mech is just a shield really. Also, i tried finding the link but couldnt, so ill try to explain it best as best i can. There are very deep unresolved issues with hitboxes and damage spread that is happening in-game that the Dev's of the game havnt quite figured out. This is why a cent can last as long as he does. I cant give you a full detailed reason because, simply, no one has figured out why or how to fix the situation or even really why it's happening as it is. What we do know is that smaller/lighter mechs have much more survivability than they were originally intended to. The smaller the mech=harder to kill due to hitboxes and damage relocation after parts have fallen off. Once, say, the arm comes off and you shoot the same side torso, you are not doing full damage to that torso. not even close. Through tests it was figured we end up doing about 25% damage to that torso if we are shooting from the side of the "dead" arm. Mechs right now have "phantom arms" that we cant see but still screw our damage output. or help us survive. Theres more to this but i feel like i've already added enough confusing info so ill stop here. Just know that the Devs are trying to fix this ASAP, but its not a simple procedure. Rule of thumb right now is thus: Lighter=harder to kill having big "shield" arms will save your ass (this is why jagers die so quick compared to cataphracts)
First Cent I bought was a -9A. About the third or fourth match I played, I lost my shield arm (no big whoop, I always do, that's what it's there for) but then a Jager one-shot my AC/5! WHAT A DICK! I thought I'd be useless losing what I considered my main weapon. (I considered it that for it's ranged focused strike) BOY WAS I WRONG! Two MLas and 3xSRM6+Art finished off three mechs when I'd lost the AC/5 after firing only four rounds! That close range punch is just brutal against mechs who are coming out of a brawl. I ended up as one of two survivors on my team, the other being a BoomJag. He had 4 kills, I had 3 and 3 assists. Guess I underestimated SRMs and ONLY two medium lasers. (/sarcasm) I always have run with far more energy than that and far less rockets. Who knew. Zombie Mech Murder for the win!
With SRMs getting a potential boost soon (even just a couple of percentage points would be awesome) you will see more and more Zombies or like variations.
Here is the proof how damn f***ing survivable this Mech is.. Just go Zombie! Forget XL Engines, go for Standard in a Centurion.
I once saw a Cent going down at 12% I've written this a lot but Cents are great. My favorite is the CN9-D variant because I enjoy the big engine, but every variant is good (and has it's specific playstyle, which makes it a very pleasant mech to grind).
Ok, i can see some of the problems now. Im used to spread damage by torso twisting and using the shield arm for soaking damage, thats ok. But i used an XL engine so far and it seems like thats a nogo on this mech. And i currently just hate SRMs, since the spread is ridiculous... If i aim for the CT, i want to hit the freakin CT! Not the whole mech and maybe 2 missiles hit the CT. Im currently running 2xAC2 and 2xML build with XL 300 engine and just support my team with cover fire. Works fine and i do 300-700 dmg most games, but it just doesnt feel right. The mechs not intended for that i guess. Ill gitve triple SRM6 with Zombie mode another shot, maybe it'll work itself out.
Do it after the patch today as SRMs are getting a boost to 2.0 damage per missile. Also, see if you can find a build with Artemis if you want a tight spread.
HAAAAA!!! 3xSRM6+ART is now the deadliest weapon in the game! 500 damage in a medium after losing my AC/5 right off the bat to a PPC Stalker. SRM buff, good. Allowing 3xSRM6? Hmmmm... Maybe they should add heat penalties after 2.
3 SRM6 is OK. I'm running 2 AC/2s, 2 medium lasers and 325XL, I love it. Centurions may be intended for XL engine (CN9-D and YLW), it's just a totally different gamestyle.
With the new SRM buff and using STD Engine this thing really turned out to be fun. One thing i noticed though is that SRMs sometimes fire delayed. I got them on the same tick as the MLs but they often fire after the Lasers not the same time. Really annoying. But it can take a shitload of dmg in zombie mode, so good for distracting enemies and making them hunt you while your team kills them.
It's because you don't open your missile trap doors. Few mechs have those things (centurion, catapult, stalker).
the A, and AL are probably better with STD engines since you can't really use anything bigger than a 275 anyway but the D however was made for an XL. When you use a big XL in the D its more than just a really fast top speed. Your torso twist is really fast, you can stop and accelerate much faster, you can anchor turn much faster. When you get into brawls and turning fights with other mechs, those are the things that are gonna save your hide. A big alpha on an assault mech is worthless if he can't even turn around to hit you with it.
The cent is a very different beast from those 'mechs you listed. Of them, only the 'fract has comparable arm-movement. The cents (except the AL) have completely separated their hardpoint types, so you really have to think about your fields of fire when running a cent.
Because of the weapon convergence, I usually run Cents with arms locked down. Nothing worse than aiming with your AC/5 only to have your lasers or volley of SRMs sail by.
