I had two objectives when creating the Swaypacked, to get my alphastrike as high as possible and to fill every last crit with something. Cost, heat efficiency, range, and sanity were all thrown to the wind. As of the posting of this message, this is my go-to 'mech. I've set the arm MLASes to groups 1 and 2, the RT MLASes to group 3 (chained, left shift key) and 4 ('F' key). The MPLAS in the head is assigned to group 6, and I only use it if my RT has already been destroyed. My general strategy with this 'mech is to act as an escort for something big, stompy and long-ranged. Anything with the audacity to close to it gets treated with an hunch-strike to put the fear of Kerensky into it. If that doesn't dissuade it, I hunch-strike again... mostly to prove that I can, and that there's a 3rd one waiting for them if they want to try my patience. The other mode is to run in a wolf pack, with other fast mediums and use the pin-point accuracy of the hunch-strike to focus on the tender parts of enemy 'mechs. This build is theoretical, since I haven't saved up the C-bills to nab yet another XL engine. The heat curve on this 'mech is sure to be utterly unforgiving. As with any 'mech that tries to match its alpha and tonnage, this 'mech has serious, glaring and exploitable flaws. Edit: I've played with the XL version, and it feels far too fragile. Without some sort of range to back it up, I quickly found the XL version to be picked apart in short order. If you want to run an XL in your laserback, run UntamedZer0's Laser Surgeon
I have played with variations of these before, however you have done something I have never tried: a big standard. I think I am going to give your standard build a shot. It's giving me some ideas. I enjoyed the builds like this I have ran in the past. Lining up that laser packed torso on someone for an alpha is always fun. Typically running an XL in a Hunchback doesn't really bother me since everyone aims at your hunch and without it your pretty much out of the fight anyways.
I also built these back when LRMs were lousy. The change in metagame has not been kind to these guys.
1 DHS and .5 tons of armor is a good trade to get AMS. Thanks, Blagg. I also feel like this concept may be more viable now that 12v12 is in place. It's not reliant on ammo, does 1 job and does it well. Now I just need to cook up a range-monkey to pair him with.
With the BAP and Seismic changes, is it a good idea to sacrifice a heat sink and some speed for the ECM protection?
