I have always be a fan of the Archer (from watching in the Robotech cartoon) and was wondering, is it the best overall long range mech? I know they are some best armed or armored, but I believe that around, the Archer is the best. Thoughts?
For LRM boats, imho the Stalker still reigns supreme, more tonnage, 4 missile hard points.
Well, the Bull Shark M3 is superior to both the Stalker and the Highlander 733, it also has 4 hardpoints and alot of free tonnage. While the Stalker has 57.5 free tons, the BSK has 75.5 (!) - allowing for some really supreme missile spam. The Stalker is cheap and easy to come by midgame, which is it's real advantage. It's still decent though.
6 UAC/2++
Let's say you have three A-II and you want the fourth mech to be a pure LRM boat, would you pick a Catapult instead of a Highlander just because the Highlander has more hardpoints and weight available?.Theoretically the Highlanders could be ranked higher, I just very rarely specialize them into pure LRM boats, and feel like they are better used as mixed platforms, likewise the Bullshark falls into the same category.
The Marauder can very easily beat it. Not as much firepower but better headcapping power and even for CT core, although much worse per salvo, it is likely you'll be able to fire more often and at targets in more vulnerable positions due to the higher mobility and superior survivability.If we're just talking about long range but not stipulating indirect fire support then I'm not sure anything can beat an Annihilator with 6 UAC/2++ supplemented with some long range energy weapons.
If we're just talking about long range but not stipulating indirect fire support then I'm not sure anything can beat an Annihilator with 6 UAC/2++ supplemented with some long range energy weapons.
Stalker with 4x 15LRM (+2 dam, +2 stab, or combo) is a tremendous amount of damage. Include a TTS and it gets even better. With a spotter, you can rain as much as 360 damage on a target without exposing a unit to harm.
Stalkers are perfectly capable of (and the only mech in the game that can, IIRC, due to proper hardpoint placement of one per area instead of 2-3 jammed into one area and free tonnage) actually carrying 4xLRM20s.
Although LRM20s are not tonnage efficienct compared to LRM15s
Stalkers are perfectly capable of (and the only mech in the game that can, IIRC) actually carrying 4xLRM20s. It gets a little tissue-papery if you add jump jets and enough ammo, and it doesn't mount any other weapon, but 80 LRMs are a huge improvement over 60. It guarantees Unsteady in the lousiest conditions (barely can see it, cover, guard, etc.), and more chances to crit, taking out crucial weapons (assuming +++ variants of stab/crit). This is why it has a spot in my lance over the Archer despite the module. + damage is wasted on LRMs, they are knockdown weapons, and indirect fire LBXs as far as armor sanding.
I run a heavily modified BT with classic crit slots etc, so I can't check atm, but doesn't HBS:BT support 10 critslots each sidetorso and the LRM20 has 5?
So the Bull Shark M3 with 2 missile hardpoints in each ST is also capable of mounting 80 tubes, while easily having enough free tonnage without sacrificing armor, cooling or ammo. With ammo for 12 salvos (1 ton per 10 tubes, my standard) it should be 48tons for weapons and ammo. The Stalker has 57.5 tons available, so that leaves 9.5tons for armor and cooling. The BSK-3M has 75.5tons of free tonnage, could easily add 14 single heatsinks to run perfectly cool (not necessarily a good idea) and still get shot at with 13.5tons of armor.
I mean, yes, you can make an 80tube LRM stalker that runs cool while firing all tubes every round, with DHS and 2.5 tons of armor. But with DHS being rare and expensive, the mech having 8 tons of highly explosive ammo - and stray shot's tendency to hit things that shouldn't get hit - I'd rather not put them into a mech that's basically made from plywood.
I never add 80 tubes to my stalkers, 70 tubes is fine, you can scrap a ton of ammo, switch 2 launchers to LRM15s, saving 7 tons and 6 heat in the process, get sustained damage without using lostech. But then you can also use the Highlander instead, it can do the same. Unless you want to use JJs or build some overheating, underarmored mech, the Stalker has no real benefit over the Highlander as an LRM boat.
If I had both Mechs and wanted one to be an LRM boat, I'd probably use the Highlander for this. With it's lighter JJs, 6 energy and 4 missile hardpoints, the Stalker is an insanely strong close range jump brawler, while the Highlander is mediocre (albeit iconic) in this role.
When you want to run cool with +-0 heat and use SHS, LRM20s are fine. With DHS, it looks slightly different, but 0.5tons aren't too much of a problem. And if you want to use multitarget with breaching shot, it's still totally worth it.
I see this come up now and again and I'm somewhat confused. For the purposes of creating an LRM80 assault the Stalker gets touted as the best in class a fair amount. If you strip all armor and just mount 4 LRM20s:
Stalker - 17.5 free tons
Highlander 733 - 20.5 free tons
BSK-M3 - 35.5 free tons
It would appear to me that both the Highlander-733 and BSK-M3 are objectively superior to the Stalker. What does the Stalker bring to the table over them? From an availability standpoint the Highlander is just as likely to spawn in stores or missions, the BSK is a little more iffy but once you progress far enough into the HM mission chain it also will spawn in random missions.
Let's say you have three A-II and you want the fourth mech to be a pure LRM boat, would you pick a Catapult instead of a Highlander just because the Highlander has more hardpoints and weight available?.
Also feels like a weird argument, because the regular HGN is bad outside the LRM boat role, mediocre at best (only 1 ballistic and 2 energy hardpoints) while the Stalker you put on the top position is worse as pure LRM boat than the HGN yet much better at other things with its six energy hardpoints and one ton weight JJs.
And don't forget a mech like the King Crab, far better as a LRM boat than the mentioned Catapult: 50 tubes with 4xTTS+++, 3xJJs, max armor and -6 alpha heat. The BSK would be kinda the same but with more missiles.
Because the only variant is the 533 (532b and 533P can't do LRM80), and it's all on the left side. You get your left torso blown off by the AI or a human you are screwed, whereas the stalker has a single hardpoint across 4 different regions (so if you lose a torso you are down to 50% not dead in the water). To say nothing for careful placement of ammo in the Highlander. But the Highlander is great LRM boat, arguably slightly better than Stalker in some respects as long as you are up against AIs.
And yes the Bullshark is better for LRM80, but much rarer to get. And some rare people may not have expansion packs, and/or the comments date back to 2018 before the bullshark was released.