The Cat Came Back

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The Cat Came Back

PostPosted: Sun Apr 10, 2016 11:00 pm

BlueFlames
Posts: 465
Joined: Wed Sep 01, 2004 3:24 am
Location: SSX Vault 12
You know what was awesome? My city-fighter Shadow Cat in MW4. Nobody expected an LBX10-toting Shadow Cat to be darting around between and over the buildings. I'm getting misty-eyed just thinking about it. The thing about that build, though, was that it benefited from a lot of the differences between the build rules in MW4 and those in MWO. I was still excited to see the chassis return, and I've finally gotten around to building and leveling them.

Because of how omnimechs work in MWO, I'm separating the builds by primary weapon type, instead of by variant. I'll also note that some of these mechs don't have an optimal omnipod selection to fully utilize the available quirks. For example, one of the SRM builds has a prime left arm, instead of a B left arm, so if you build any of these yourself, double-check the omnipod quirks to make sure you're not missing out on little bonuses.


Ballistics

In tabletop, the Shadow Cat Prime is a pretty awesome little sniper. The direct translation into MWO leaves it short on ammunition. Dropping the active probe and aggressively shuffling armor around leaves you with something passable. I don't care for the meek secondary battery, but dropping those two medium lasers doesn't allow you to carry enough ammo to rely on the gauss rifle alone. The real bummer is the lack of ECM, which is part of what makes this an appealing platform for sniping in MWO. There's just not enough space for it.

Right, so let's set aside sniping for a moment and consider something more akin to my MW4 streetfighter. Trading the gauss rifle for a UAC10 frees up tonnage for a more substantial volume of ammo and ECM. This one is okay at sneaking around on the flanks and sinking shots into hostile mechs' backs at medium range. Compared to some of the other builds I'm going to highlight this one just doesn't impress, even in its mid-range role.

Dropping the UAC10 down to a UAC5 opens up the possibility of a more traditional MWO sniping configuration. Since the UAC5's burst size was reduced from three shells to two, it became a little more viable for Clan mechs to run UAC5s in combination with PPCs. It's not as ideal a combination as with the Inner Sphere variants of these weapons, but you can make it work. It could do with another half ton of ammo and any way to reduce the jam rate in a close-quarters fight, since it's heavily reliant on that UAC5, so let's keep tweaking.


Energy

You know what pairs well with a PPC and doesn't jam or require ammo? Another PPC. This is a much better build in the sniping role, since it fires off a few volleys, and when it gets hot, you know it's time to reposition. You do need to be very aware of your surroundings, while sniping, though, because if something gets close, you are done. ERPPCs are too hot and Clan heat sinks are too weak for this build to be even remotely capable of defending itself at short ranges.

Sticking with the theme of solving problems, swap the PPCs for large pulse lasers. They run cooler; the Clan version still has ludicrously long range, and the beam duration....isn't completely horrible. Actually, this is a much better mid-range skirmisher than the UAC10 build. It's just easier putting damage on your target using beams than it is with burst-fire autocannons.

Because the Shadow Cat doesn't (currently) have any combination of omnipods allowing for clusters of smaller energy weapons, these are kind of your options for energy builds: Take the biggest energy weapons available and either pair them or mismatch them. It's a disappointing chassis, if you like a variety of energy-based options. Fortunately....


Missiles

So the two arm omnipods from the B variant allow for lots of mixed missile-energy builds. Combined with ECM, MASC, and jump jets, the Shadow Cat can be a deadly SRM ninja, sneaking up on enemy mechs, stabbing them eighteen times in the back, and disappearing.

My first attempt at such a build closely mimicked one of the Wolverine builds that I highlighted last month. I stacked the SRMs on one side, intending the left side to be a largely expendible shield. It does alright, but I erred way too far on the side of heat efficiency. In a brawl, this build's armor will give out, before it gets close to overheating. What you need is a quick kill, and this variant just can't quite deliver.

What a difference four more tubes can make. If you can maintain the element of surprise, until you're ready to strike, then you can pretty reliably isolate and kill the likes of Marauders and Hellbringers. The quirks on the B arm omnipods combine well with Artemis to tighten your missile spread ensuring that most of your 48-point alpha strike will be focused on a single component. Just take your time; work your way around the outer edge of the map, and then open backs.

Alternatively, flamers were recently given purpose in the context of MWO. This build functions very similarly to the previous build, except that you can risk fighting larger targets, assuming you're able to isolate them from their team. The flamers are used to build your target's heat up to 90%, at which point, they are left with the decision to fire at you and shut down or allowing you to dish out SRMs with impunity. You're losing some of your raw damage potential for that added utility in a limited one-on-one context, but it's not a terrible trade.

Finally, it was recently pointed out to me that LRM5's have an incredibly tight spread, meaning that if you're willing and able to get your own lock and stay within about 400-600 meters of your target (minimizing their ability to find cover), you can drill through armor in a surprisingly precise manner. That seems like an idea with which to experiment. Artemis and the Active Probe are there strictly to improve lock speed, and the medium pulse lasers serve to amp up your damage output, if you decide to get particularly close. Just beware of the damage drop-off that occurs on Clan LRMs within 180 meters.


Amusing Anecdote

Prior to writing this, I had a couple of really enjoyable matches using my Shadow Cats in the public queue today, at least one of which should be shared.

One particular match had me dropping in the LPL Shadow Cat on Polar Highlands for Assault. Polar Highlands is this particular Shadow Cat's favored hunting grounds. Class IV jump jets are the best jets in the game; Shadow Cats are on the light side for those jets, and it has six of them locked in because omnimech. This all means that you can run through the deep trenches and pop up to recon or take shots, with only the most attentive opponents able to catch sight of you.

Due to the event running this weekend, it's also worth noting that everyone and their dog is piloting a heavy mech. I dropped alongside an Arctic Cheetah, two assault mechs, and eight heavies in this match. I was content to leave the slow mechs to their own business, and so was the Cheetah. He broke way way off to the right to circle around behind the main hostile force. I did roughly the same thing, but stayed closer to the center of the map to make up for my lower speed.

After a bit of a jog from the drop zone, I had a jump out of the trench I had been following to see if I could spot the enemy force. I did, and I had the opportunity to take a few pot shots at the back of a Mad Cat. The Mad Cat was oblivious, but an Archer a little ways behind him spotted me and turned to give chase. I just continued along the trench, toward the hostile base, and kept my head down for a minute and was gone before the Archer got anywhere near my position.

As I got nearer the hostile base, I started popping up again, and spotted a Daishi, straggling behind the main force. Again, I put some potshots into the back of the mech, and again the Archer, now *way* out of position spotted me and gave chase. The Daishi was oblivious to all of this and continued slowly forward.

Having a juicy whale floating around, isolated from any support, I wasn't going to let the Archer keep me from this one, so I circled in a little tighter, between the Daishi and the enemy base, and started popping up on the assault mech's opposite flank to poke at his rear armor some more. With both of his rear side torso sections open, the whale finally decided to turn and face me. The only thing more sad than an Archer chasing a Shadow Cat is a Daishi chasing a Shadow Cat.

Just for grins and because I knew I had time, I decided it was time to kick the bee hive. I stepped into the perimeter of the hostile base to see if I could get the rest of the enemy firing line to turn away from our main force. I don't know if that worked or not, because the main forces were fighting about 1.2 kilometers away and over a hill, but the friendly Cheetah reacted, deciding to come in off the flank to join me. The pilot of the Cheetah seemed to be under the impression that I was going for a capture victory, because I abandoned the cap after a few seconds, knowing that an Archer and a Daishi were looking for me, and the Cheetah stayed in place.

I pulled some range and took a few potshots at the Daishi, before noticing that the Archer had begun to engage the Cheetah on the base. Both were short-range builds, which didn't bode well for the lighter Cheetah, so I started sinking some shots into the Archer's side torsos to help the Cheetah finish it off, before the Daishi could join the fight. That went well, but the Cheetah had to bail, when the Daishi did finally arrive.

The fight with the Daishi, for me, was just an exercise in controlling the range of engagement. The assault mech was running UAC10s, medium lasers, and LRMs. The LRMs couldn't lock me, owing to my ECM, and my pulse lasers had a longer optimal range than the rest of his arsenal. I kept darting in and out of the nearby trenches and hills to keep the assault pilot off-balance, poking whenever I got a free shot.

Doing this, I managed to pull off one of the Daishi's side torsos, but in that time, the rest of the enemy team folded, and the surviving friendlies converged on the Daishi to steal my kill. Oh well. A win is a win.


Final Thoughts

What we have now is not the Shadow Cat of old. You can't pull off some of the Earth-shattering ballistic builds that MW4's mechlab permitted, and that's probably for the best. That said, the SRM builds allow for a similar playstyle as the old LBX10, street-fighting Shadow Cat. ECM enables this by allowing you to skulk about unnoticed, and opens up new options, if you prefer longer-range engagements.

Is the Shadow Cat the best Clan medium mech in MWO? Certainly not. As a mainline fighter, the Stormcrow offers more armor and pod space. The loss of MASC, ECM, and jump jets are significant, but that's six tons of equipment, added to ten tons of bigger chassis. Granted, it needs a bigger engine and the extra armor takes up weight, but in the medium weight category, the remaining gains for firepower are still huge.

So the Stormcrow is *better*, but the Shadow Cat is more fun. Darting in and out of cover, jumping through otherwise impassable areas, and being able to deal damage unnoticed is delightful. Even if you don't share my particular nostalgia goggles, you should find at least a little bit of joy flying about the map in a Shadow Cat.

(Yeah, I made two posts this month. Deal with it.)

Re: The Cat Came Back

PostPosted: Tue Apr 12, 2016 11:40 pm

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Anubis
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BlueFlames wrote:(Yeah, I made two posts this month. Deal with it.)
You say this like it's a bad thing :D
"Perhaps this is what I have always wished for since that day. The loss and destruction of all. That's right, one must destroy before creating. In that case, if my conscience becomes a hindrance to me, then I will simply erase it. I have no other choice but to move forward....therefore!" - Lelouch vi Britannia/Zero, Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch

Forever an eXile and proud of it!

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