That HAS been my fundamental problem with running this build: it really does lack ammo, and you're not counting your damage potential, you're counting "who can I core out the back?" Damage numbers won't pop off, destroyed components and kills however can be pretty nuts.
360 damage from UAC20 and 210 damage from LMGs for a total of 570 damage with maxed skills? You really must have really good aim and be the king of the flankers to make it worth while: if you can't flank or if you have to face an armored opponent, you are pretty much screwed. The idea of a huge alfa to expose internals for your LMGs is good, but IMHO you need both a bigger alfa strike (40 damage double is very risky because you have a chance of jamming and it's not very pinpoint because you will fire 8 pellets total) and more ammo: if you have ammo to "waste", you can fire any oppotunity shot you have. Softening a a target is always better than the chance dealing no damage at all because you have to aim carefully your shots. Keep also in mind that if you can't engage as you are willing to, you are not a valuable asset for your team: playing the best way sometimes is not an option and hiding or waiting for the right moment could lead to losses for your team. The only weapons you can use to achieve both better alfa and ammo count with the same tonnager are SRMs (despite being hotter, but you are already extremely cool).... It's easier said than done though, because now that I'm looking at it on smurfy the shadow cat really lacks hardpoints on the omnipods. Anyway, that's why "The Mangler" https://www.mechspecs.com/threads/shc-p-mangler-1xclpl-2xcsrm6-a-5xcmg.11084/ exists. You can swap the MGs with LMGs, maybe even "downgrade" the LPL to a HLL for a bigger alfa strike, more ammo and armor and you will have pretty much the same concept.
The more I use this build the more I find it IS just too situational to carry. If your team is good you can guarantee a win because unless you're bad at stealth you WILL remove one mech from the game. Either a light will facecheck you (there is no light in the game that can duel this with decent aim) or you will core somebody out the back. The problem is you're measuring your damage in light mech/backstab kills entirely, and you're, like you said, limited to 360 damage. Don't fuck up. Swapped for 2xLPL using the Prime and A omnipods and it's doing better tbh. I'm really not a fan of 1xLPL+SRM12 compared to 2xLPL. 2 more damage in exchange for crippling the range and pinpoint potential? Meh. Yeah, I somewhat regret spending the cbills to backstab with an AC20 but hey. I will find de wae.
Well, "IS" is more situational, but more than often is better (or the best) for that particular situation (the only exception are unquirked long range weapons). The general rule of thumb is that IS has better brawlers and more than often has better DPS (and maybe even tank) than clanners, so provided that IS mechs can apply this better DPS, the should come out victorious from most fights. That's the reason why clanners often rely on both range, cover and alfa strike if possible (they poke more than often): they can apply more damage at longer ranges, but they can't sustain fire (or apply damage) as well as IS. Dual heavy gauss assaults are a good example: extreme alfa strike and / or DPS (depending on back up weapons, they could even be hotter than they should be), sometimes better tank, but slow as hell and can't adapt to a fast or sudden change in range engagement. They are excelent for an ambush or to brutally kill lone targets, but can't chase anyone and can be easily kited over 500-600 meters. I don't know if the terms exists also here in MWO, but in some MMORPGs "kiters" are those who have faster mechs and rely on range to both apply damage and prevent their target to deal any damage. A nice example is a brawer (any) fighting an ice ferret with dual ERLL: Ice Ferret can maintain range and keep on apply damage while the brawler is hopeless to reach and kill the Ice Ferret
Yeah, I've definitely been churning out the wins with my dual heavy laser ACH, and other mid-long range clan mechs. I'd been having a lot of success with a wide variety of backstabbers, as well as doing stupid shit with AC20s, so I mostly was trying to put these things together. This mech has problems. Not gonna lie. When it pops off it's absolutely disgusting, when it doesn't it's absolutely useless. Now I want to see a player who's actually GOOD at stealth play it. Ima tweet this shit at theb33f.
I have been using a similar build, but without the MGs. The best use case I have found for it is during the mid-game once the lines have engaged - no one expects a Shadowcat to come from around a flank with that much BOOM. Alternately, slap a SHC-B left torso omnipod in there and swap out one ton of CUAC20 ammo for ECM for even more sneak (but you lose the 8-omnipod bonus)
I hadn't found the ECM to be that much help compared to another ton of ammo. I'm also amazed that this build works wonders on the Shadow Cat, but is kinda garbage on the Nova. I totally get people's concerns with the lack of ammo, and I want to be clear that this isn't a damage dealer, it's a backstabber, flanker, and finisher. You've got to make every shot count and minimize your face time