CN9-AL "Karl's Kompromises: A PuG Tale" (1x ERLLas, 3x MLas, 2x SSRM2, AMS, BAP, STD 275)

I was messing around with different AL builds and simply couldn't find one that was working for me. I tried the Faux Wang and could neither brawl nor bug out and keep cool. I tried the Classic and Predator and did better, but couldn't manage brawl situations well. Then I tried fast Woowoo and did better still, but won't up getting punked a lot because of the XL engine. I realized that what I needed was a compromise boat. Specifically, something to PuG with and get consistent performance instead of swinging between 500 damage matches and 50 damage matches. So I scrounged this together and since then have been achieving neutral kill-death ratios or better with high assists and a solid team score for spotting and damage in PuGs. The caveats here are twofold:
1) Stick with your team! Flanking sometimes works, but this build isn't quite as good solo as other builds. The whole point of Beagle is to see the enemy from farther away and keep your team from being screwed by lights with ECM coming in to harass the group and mess up their sensors.
2) Pick your shots with the SSRMs. Only having a ton of ammo makes it precious, best used when lights come to harass. Or to pick up that component destruction or kill that can decide a fight.

The great SubjectSeven helped me tweak the build to be less fragile while keeping acceptable firepower!

As a support build made for PuG drops, this is not the king of any one thing except running fast for best position and being able to zombie at long range. Over prolonged team fights, you can discourage far targets with the ERLL, focus damage on near targets, get critical sensor data, keep a group from being hosed by enemy ECM because you weren't lucky enough to drop with any on your team, and provide a little bit of cushion when the enemy makes it rain.

The other great thing about this build also is that as a starting point it's great for making your own compromises that play closer to other board builds when making a planned drop, or if you simply don't care for a particular component. If dropping Beagle, make sure to swap out Streaks for regular SRMS!!! They're honestly interchangeable for preference anyway. I thought about including variants, but they look like top speed zombie versions of builds already on the board. That said, here's my preferred non-streaker:


and the BAP-less version with more ammo/armor that packs 2x SRM 4 (turn a 4 into a 2 to get even another ton of armor to spread around if you want):



Original, more fragile load-out preserved to show Karl is a n00b, with the original warning:
Low armor makes you fragile if you make yourself a target, and you can't zombie while legged (I'm strongly considering a different armor distribution because of this, but am not quite sure where to pull from).

 

I'll actually try out that torso mounting of the ERLL and possibly adjust the build some. Not exactly new to the game, but haven't been able to play consistently or enough to mess with builds on my own until now, so still working out some of the kinks...Centurion is only my second chasis type to try and master, the first being Commandos. 3 ML gives you a little more punch when things get hairy, but it could very well be worth dropping the third and just hitting the ERLL every so often to get more armor, my only icky feeling about the original build. I'll let you know and possibly update the build tonight


[edit]Dropped a few times with the first variant and VERY pleased with the performance. It still runs cool enough that you can hit the ERLL every few seconds for additional brawl damage and very close to the damage in close fighting as my original build without being as fragile. Easiest tradeoff ever made! The torso is definitely the better sniping position because of the higher placement too. It actually runs cool enough that I might drop a DHS for another ton of SSRM ammo like your second build does in the future, once I get the Elite mastries

[edit2]Updated original post with new builds. Thanks Seven!