Holy cow. I am all over the place. Doesn't look like BJ's can pack enough punch. Now I'm thinking Trebs might be a little too fragile and "twitch" for me (Dragons already feel too fragile, less armor probably won't help that).

I've got 20M CB saved up. I'd like to be able to buy and fully equip at least two variants of whatever chassis I go after next with this 20M CB. If I have to save while I level the first 2 up to buy the 3rd, that's OK. So pricing might rule out assaults (although I could be convinced otherwise...)

I've actually been thinking about Jaggers now. Between the 3 variants, I could have builds built around missiles, ballistics, or even energy (the -S). One of them comes with an XL so I can have the option of STD or XL builds.

You guys like your Jaggers?

What would you buy if you were me?

(already have Ravens, Hunchbacks, Dragons, and Cats)

Atlas.

/thread

But seriously, an assault would help round out your stable. The D-DC and the RS seem to be favorites around here, so you could always start there, drop 11-12M and see how it goes.

Slow down your play style and smell the roses for a change.

So many things I could say here... but I guess BJ's are just not for everyone.

Please turn in your man card on the way out.

I thought about that. I seriously considered it. I think I will continue to consider it...

Getting kind of excited about an Atlas now...

What are people's thoughts on the Highlander? Pros/Cons Highlander vs Atlas?

That is Kludger's wheelhouse. He can't stop making out with them.

Hahaha I definitely recommend Atlas > Highlander...

Atlas DDC and RS are good all around mechs that can deal serious damage, the Highlander for me is like a smaller Atlas with JJs but the JJs are pretty heavy (2Ton each) so you start 10ton down on the Atlas and then to add Jets takes even more tonnage away from weapons.

If you already had an Atlas then the Highlander is a nice smaller variation on it, but the Atlas still rules IMHO.

I'd probably rate the Assault mechs this way Atlas>Stalker>Highlander>Awesome with the Atlas beating the Stalker mainly due to better weapon and role flexibility, but all are fun in their own way with specific builds.

I sensed evil and was steered towards this thread.
The Stalker is clearly the greatest of the assaults! Not only a huge layout of weapons, but you can actually get decent speed to get in the fight--or out of it. Plus, the atlas is like a magnet. Everyone wants to down the atlas. The stalker is also safer to point straight at the enemy. Unless they know to shoot it in the crotch, they shoot it straight on, easily distributing the damage among RT/CT/LT and the arms since from straight on they're pretty tightly packed.
The atlas has an edge on modules though.

Sorry, Raw, but maybe I should have posted in my OP: Stalkers are not being considered for my next purchase due to them being butt-ugly.

To answer your question about Jaegers. I have all three and I am able to do pretty well with them, but they are not good 1v1 unless your using the ac40. They are all about DPS...the longer your ignored the better you do. I will not bring my Jaegers out of the stable unless I am with 2 other SHQers. Love the mech but it has liabilities.

S

Hahaha, I think Stalker and Atlas are are both great but just useful for different things.

I love my Stalker-3F 5xLL boat, it's one of my favorite and most effective mechs (3.0+ k/d), but eventually when they get the weapon balance right and the modules enhanced, the flexibility the Atlas has with module slots, ECM, command console, and ballistic+energy+missile weapons will beat the Stalker tank on flexibility.

My suggestion is to buy Atlas first (DDC or RS) and then when you fall in love with it and eventually recover your C-Bill account then buy Stalkers and enjoy the fun of both, a side benefit with assaults is you cause more damage so you usually make more money and xp.

PS. So far I have passed on the Jaeger mostly because it looks like a one trick pony where either 2xAC20 or 4xAC2 are the useful builds... so not diff enough from Cataphracts or Catapults to merit my buying it yet.

Right now I'm thinking I'm going to buy a DDC. Then after I see how that goes, I'll see if I want to buy the RS and D to get Elite and 2X Basic perks. (I haven't been able to resist the Elite/2X Basic bonus on any of my other chassis...)

What do you guys think of this?

AS7-D-DC

or this one (might be too hot)

AS7-D-DC

I think you will be lucky if you are able to fire your ac20 that many times in a round.

Drop a ton of ammo and a HS, upgrade your srm4 to a 6 and add another ton of srm ammo.

That will give you 17 srm shots, 21 ac shots. and get your ECM out of your shoulder.

Here:

http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=17&l=33840588eff55c627d1b2b7ba90a097610fb7f8d

Good call. That was too much AC20 ammo.

OMG. I'm so excited. I can't believe I've gone this long without getting an Atlas...

I think we are ready for our Steiner scout lance.

Agreed, 3 tons, maybe 4 of ac20 is good. You might even go with 1 ton of streak ammo on that build, but you would be wise to keep 2 tons on the SRM build, since you'll run through that fast (big blasts, no waiting on a lock).
I like the idea of the streaks, since you can switch the ECM to counter and always make use of them. I never did that, just didn't occur to me at the time. Might consider working in a BAP too, since it increases your range, but even better for streaks, speeds up the target lock. You don't get much time to lock on the lights scurrying around your feet.

I think you need to shoot for as close to 1.35 (somewhere around 42% on smurfy) on heat as possible. Unlike the fast moving mechs, you lay down fire continuously once you get into the brawl. You don't have as much time to cool down. Consider the coolshot if you can't get down that much.

Drop the armor on the legs. No one shoots the legs until after they've accidentally lost armor. It's a waste of time, they always go torso first. Same with stalkers. You rarely see a legged atlas or stalker.

Consider these tweaks...a little faster on the run too:
SRM build:
AS7-D-DC

Streak...ER Laser instead of ER PPC
AS7-D-DC


Otherwise, there's always the guass rather than AC20 to control heat and more ammo per ton. They're made of glass though, not a good thing on a mech where EVERYONE knows where it is and is gunning to take it out first.

Just a thought:
AS7-D-DC

ECM, BAP (even more useful very soon)
2 x LPL
3 x SSRM
1 x AC20, 4 tons ammo
heat, 38%, should be about 1.25 in game, but you won't fire streaks as fast as you would SRM's
STD 315

IMO, head armor is a place to save some weight when needed. I don't think a few points off of that does anything when it comes to a cockpit shot. Just keep it at 11 min. to cover a single PPC shot...2 PPC's hitting won't be stopped by 18 pts anyway.