Similar to my Hellstreak Brawler, but with PPCs in place of the LPLas for a hard hitting, long range punch. I tried ERPPCs, but the heat efficiency was too low.
I am not a fan of only 46 armor on the legs, and then having 400 rounds of SSRM ammo in there. SSRM ammo in particular I don't think you need more than 20 shots, 30 tops as you never fire them with out lock. This keeps you from wasting ammo. I'd suggest dropping either the AMS and ammo, or a ton of SSRM ammo and bringing your armor closer to max.
I disagree, Fuzzy, on all suggestions. Leg Armor: Legs rarely get hit even on lights nowadays (probably 80% of my deaths on my Cicadas are torso deaths), even less often on bigger mechs. 46 is plenty for you to absorb a few stray hits. If you can put more armor then its fine, but I am not at all uncomfortable taking a lot of armor off the legs and arms of a Stalker. SSRM Ammo: You can burn through a lot of SSRM ammo if its your primary source of damage, especially if you have 10 tubes. I've burned through 2 and 3 tons real easy with only 6 tubes on my COM-2D. In the patch today they will be less likely to hit CT, which means you probably want more ammo to compensate. AMS: With how powerful missiles are right now, I would much rather have AMS than 1.5 tons of armor. The only place I'd take weight off to fit more on is in the engine. I don't think 310 offers much over 300.
True on most points Skribs. My counters are this: Dropping to a Standard 300 actually gives you to much tonnage back, you will then have extra tonnage after maxing the armor. The only other option at that point is to just sit on tonnage, or upgrade to MPLS, which I don't like for the heat issues. I see people get legged, I leg people, and I get legged, pretty regularly. Especially when you see a mech that you know runs a ton of ammo like an LRM boat. It is WAY easier to just get into internals on the legs then watch them go up like a match stick. You can run less, but competitive people will simply chop you off at the knees. Especially if you are in a slow ass Stalker. SSRM ammo. You most likely went through so much because you didn't have any other real weapons, and were fast enough to get to mechs to get and keep locks. I can almost guarantee this mech will rarely top 20 salvo's, and will pretty much never top 30. You'll lose a torso at least before that as you have to be brawling for the SSRM's to be effective. I would absolutely LOVE to see someone FRAPS a game where they go through over 300 rounds of SSRM ammo in a Stalker that tops out at 65KPH. Remember we're not talking about a 80+KPH Streak cat with JJ's to hit over hills, or a super fast commando. We're talking a slow ass, slow turning, easy to lose side torso, Stalker. To sum up, if possible I agree drop the engine to 300, I'm just not sure what to do with the extra tonnage after you do so.
You could throw on an extra DHS, I'm sure there's room to fit it. The loss of speed would be minor, but I think it would be worth it. 2.5 tons off engine, 1.5 tons on armor and an extra DHS. This is, of course, if you're concerned about the armor. If not, then the 310 might be better. I hear quite often "I see leggings happen all the time", but frankly I see CT coring with everything else yellow armor or better probably more than half the time, even on lights or mechs with huge side torsi. I even heard "go for the legs, because it will cause ammo explosions", but usually before I can get through the armor on one leg, my team will have the target gone CT. If "shoot CT" is the general strategy, I find it works best to follow that strategy because it is what is most likely to help your team bring the enemy down. Remember, LRMs cannot be aimed, and the majority of people using direct-fire weapons don't even target the enemy or look at the paperdoll, they just aim CT and fire.
No empty crit spots, which is the problem. I've run with that low on the legs before, but I've never felt comfortable with it. It just plain sucks when you drop fast to some little jenner who is hugging your legs and chopping you off at the knees, or some alpha strike monster blows your leg off on one shot because of the ammo.
Ah, musta did my math wrong (can't get to Smurfy at work). Wish it showed the number of free slots... Anyway, 40 armor is more than enough for legs, IMO, especially on a mech with such a giant torso that barely anybody bothers aiming elsewhere. It might happen a lot to you, but it rarely happens to me on any of my Stalkers.
Its probably mostly noticeable to me because I normally leg LRM Stalker all day long. Just did one today in fact. Probably wouldn't happen as much with this load out.
