Soliciting Opinions

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Soliciting Opinions

PostPosted: Sat Jul 16, 2016 5:56 am

BlueFlames
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Joined: Wed Sep 01, 2004 3:24 am
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So this month, I'm grinding out skill trees in the Nova. Next month, The Cyplops gets delivered, which will have me busy, and then I'll have most of my backlog of mechs caught up. (Most of my lights are off the to-do list, on account of PGI not understanding the substantive difference between volume and cross-sectional surface area.) That's had me looking at what gaps I've got in my lineup of mechs. After August, I'll have at least one Clan and Inner Sphere mech of every weight class, except for a Clan assault.

Well, that needs to change, but let's not forget who I am. Slow and out-of-position is not my style. So looking for fast Clan assault omnimechs, available for C-Bills gives us a list of two: the Gargoyle (5/8 walk/run) and Executioner (4/6 w/ MASC).

My initial inclination is toward the Gargoyle, but that's hardly a final decision. I like the XL400 engine with all six internal heat sink slots filled. Its weaknesses are weapon mounts principally on low-slung arms (a weakness shared with the Executioner), limited availablility of missile hardpoints (also common with the EXE), and pod space limited to twenty tons, given nearly full armor. The Executioner has a slower base speed which is partially compensated for by the presence of MASC, has heavier armor characteristic of its larger size, and just over twenty-five tons of pod space.

You can see that these are really comparable mechs. I put the question to you, then: If you were about to embark on an endeavor to grind out 48-55 million C-bills to buy and master one of these chassis, which chassis would you choose and what factor(s) would sway you in that direction? (Alternatively, if this is a decision you made in the past, which mech did you choose and why?)

I'm not making this a poll, since I'm not delegating this decision as a referendum, but I am interested in your opinion, whether its formed by experience with the mechs or a simple gut check or anything in between.

Re: Soliciting Opinions

PostPosted: Thu Aug 04, 2016 8:29 pm

BlueFlames
Posts: 465
Joined: Wed Sep 01, 2004 3:24 am
Location: SSX Vault 12
Alright, let's see if some sample builds spur your imagination....

While looking these over, it's important to note that both the Gargoyle and Executioner have most of their weapon hardpoints on their arms, and those mounting points are quite low-slung. The Executioner has a few torso omnipods that provide a limited number of higher mounts, but the Gargoyle does not. This means that these chassis have limited ability to poke in and out of cover in long-range engagements, so the sample builds will focus on short- and mid-range loadouts.

First, as much of an apples-to-apples comparison as we can muster. My UAC20 Loki is a pretty strong performer, but it has limited armor capacity, being one of the smaller heavy chassis. Running an identical weapons loadout on a Gargoyle trades a heat sink for another half ton of ammo and 128 points of armor. Alternatively, dropping a half ton of ammo and doing a simple armor shave gets the lost heat sink back. Going up to the 95-ton Executioner, with the same weapons adds another 96 points of armor beyond what the Gargoyle carries, three heat sinks beyond the Loki, the larger ammo load of the Gargoyle, and MASC and jump jets to make up for some of the maneuverability lost to its lower base speed.

Since the Executioner offers a few hardpoints that are good for sniping, I worked up an unusual sniper build. The TC7 is what makes this one an oddball, and I'd need to do some experimenting, before I could in good conscience recommend the build to anyone else. The chief benefit of the targeting computer on this build is that it drives the projectile velocity of the PPCs up to that of a Gauss Rifle, making it easier to hit those distant targets. It also lets you more easily back up your PPCs with ER small lasers, since the range bonus from the computer drives the lasers' effective range up to 230m-250m, depending on if you use the range module.

Given that the Gargoyle has no high hardpoint options, there's little sense with designing builds that use longer-range weapons than boring laser vomit (and given the range of Clan LPLs, even that doesn't make a lot of sense). Since this is such a bog-standard combination of weapons, I won't belabor the description.

The next Executioner on the list is a non-ballistic brawler. Medium pulse lasers and ER small lasers have a similar overlapping range profile, and all of the lasers come into or are near optimal range, when the SRMs can be brought into play. All the heat sinks should allow this build to sustain a pretty brutal barrage at close range, even without a giant UAC available. Finally, the TC3 is there because there wasn't any other useful way to fill the tonnage with only three crits left.

A comparable Gargoyle gives up a bit more range, but because it isn't hauling around fixed equipment, it has more room for heat sinks, allowing it to run a little cooler in an extended fight.

One interesting thing the Gargoyle has that the Executioner does not is combination ballistic-missile omnipods for the arms. That allows for some goofball builds like this. That's not as silly a weapon loadout as it might first appear. Granted, all three need to be fired a little differently to hit a moving target, but since the ideal range for ER medium lasers, UAC10s, and LRMs is about 400-500m, you can pump out maximum damage from quite a distance. This lets you leverage the Gargoyle's 87kph top speed to control the range of engagement against other assaults and even most of the game's heavies.

So there's some ideas. What are you interested in seeing me play in the late September/October timeframe? Remember, I'm just looking for opinions, not necessarily informed opinions, so even if you've not played either chassis (or MWO more broadly), you're still welcome to chime in.

Re: Soliciting Opinions

PostPosted: Fri Aug 05, 2016 6:51 pm

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Anubis
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I was holding off on posting here as I don't play, but as you're happy with uninformed opinions:

Personally, I like the sound of your TC7 Executioner build. Would be pretty cool to read about the results of your experimentations with it, and how/if it evolves from there :)
"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

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