In my recently faction play games, I've noticed that my Large Laser boat Mechs seemed to do pretty well. So I decided to make the whole drop deck a large laser boat. Currently, my deck sits as: Centurion AL, 50 tons, 3 ERLL Catapult Jester, 65 tons, 5 LL Thunderbolt 5SS, 65 tons, 5LL Stalker 4N, 85 tons, 6 LL (this one could be replaced by a Battlemaster 1G, but I have the Stalker mastered) Now, this gives me max weight, and 19 LLs (really 16 LLs and 3 ERLLs). I have 3 Mechs with XL engines and one with a STD. I'm planning on making one change, and dropping the Thunderbolt 5SS for a Jagermech Firebrand, which I can put in a lower-rated engine (255 XL) and get 6x LL on. This is a Mech I already have, and the only reason I'm not making the change now is that I'm not at home. This would bump me up to 20x LL. I could swap stuff around, too, and say change out the Jester and Centurion for a Battlemaster and Spider. As the Centurion is my 4th Mech (because it's basically there to round out the tonnage that's used by the other Mechs), dropping it to a Spider wouldn't hurt the overall drop deck too much, while the Battlemaster would be an upgrade over the Thunderbolt (with an extra laser and a STD engine). The final product I am looking at would require me to purchase additional Mechs. I am looking at my final drop deck consisting of: Rifleman 3N or 5D, or Quickdraw 5K with 5x LL (the Quickdraw has better quirks, Rifleman higher mounts) Jagermech Firebrand with 6x LL (this would have to use an XL255 to fit it) Grasshopper 5H, 5N, or 5P, or any Warhammer with 6x LL. This would let me jump back to the holy grail of the XL300. Another Grasshopper or Warhammer with 6x LL. The end result is I'd have 3 Mechs of decent speed and a Firebrand, all with XL engines, but with a total of 23 Large Lasers between them and enough heat sinks on each of them to handle the job reliably. Of course, I need to buy a few Mechs and level a lot of them in order to make this deck, but that's why it's my final product I'm working towards. Another possibility would be to get 24, but I don't know if the Assault would be too hot, or too easy to kill with an XL: Rifleman 3N with 5x LL Rifleman 5K with 5x LL Firebrand with 6x LL Battlemaster 3M with 8x LL Before I buy these Mechs, I thought I'd run this by you guys and see what the thoughts were. Points of discussion could include (but are not limited to): Comments on the idea in general (large laser boating the deck) Comments on any specific Mechs chosen Ideas for fitting more LLs into the build
I really enjoy the Wolverine 6K 3xERLL with an XL engine. I can get 1000 damage in my first drop with this if I play smart, then move to a more brawling mech. My other medium is the Shadowhawk 2K with 3xERLL and a STD engine for survivability, however it gets much hotter than the Wolverine. I like the Jagermech with LL as well, and you can mix in some dakka for the hot maps. As always the Stalker is a great laser boat, I don't have Battlemasters but I think I should get them because they look to be nice, and even nicer with LPL. As an alternative the Banshee 3E is a good mech with 3xLL and 3xAC5, hot, but a good combo similar to how I run the Jagermechs.
I actually played around a bit, and I think I'd be trying too hard to get more lasers at the cost of heat sinks. What I have now is a good blend of damage and DPS. I could get a few more lasers, but I'd rather keep the heat sinks I have and keep a slightly smaller amount of lasers going longer.
An XL Stalker is a walking coffin. I strongly recommend a 5x LLAS Battllemaster-2C which has high chest mounts and amazing durability quirks. If you want to run your Stalker put a 300 STD in it and run a quad or penta build, not a hex. Large laser Thunderbolts should be built on the 5S not 5SS. You could just dump your T-bolt and run a single Jester that would be fine. Hex anything is a losing proposition. You should build around sustainable firepower. Clan ERPPC/Gauss wins alpha trades every time.
The 6xLL Stalker has a 300 STD. The XLs on the 6x mechs would be if I dropped to a Heavy, or XL on Assault if I got 7 or 8. Hex LL is good because I get 2 ghost-heat free shots of 3 and 3.
