The Wonderful Annihilator

[DodgerSD]

I had the chance to buy the extra parts needed to finish building an Annihilator. The Black market also had 3 UAC-10's for sale so I snagged them too. So now Decker is blowing away anything under 70 tons with one volley and knocking arms or legs or maybe the head off anything bigger. After the Grave Robbing mission I headed south on the map to come back up through the black markets down there and what do I find, 2 Gauss + and a Gauss Rifle as well as 3 tons of ammo. Also while Distracting the locals for my Pirate friends I come up against an Annihilator that Glitch headshots. So now Decker has a big friend next to him with 4 Gauss Rifles and between the two of them nothing is left standing.

 

[Antediluvian Monster]

Running mine with twin UAC10s and twin regular AC10s with ++ damage. Once I get sufficient double heat sinks I might switch to 4 UAC10. Fairly reliable headcapper provided the enemy has no cover.

 

[DodgerSD]

I purchased 3 SLDF Griffins on the black market and stripped them for the DHS plus the ones off the Highlander at the end of Grave Robbing keeps mine cool.

 

[RecklessCaution]

One of mine used to run Triple AC10s, it upgraded to triple Gauss (all at least +, took a lot of hunting around) with two SLs for backup, which allowed it to run near-max armour and fit some Melee Actuators for anyone thinking they were going to get in under the Gauss' range. When your Morale is high enough out of combat and you've maybe even got some Comms Equipment mounted somewhere, you can pretty much make a Called Shot every turn and regen all the Resolve, and with three headshot threats every turn you'd be surprised how often that 18% comes up! The other was a pure damage machine, five LB2-X++s, two Snub PPC++s (again, took a lot of hunting). Deals something like over 700 damage in an Alpha, and until the Snubs get involved runs ice-cold. Taking a Snub out of the firing circuit allows it to cool down almost completely, because I packed a lot of heat sinks, some Double, in there.

 

[LucidFugue]

I've got one in the bay. I have 2 AC10++ stability damage and 1 AC10++ damage, and 1 LB10X. I haven't put it together yet but it's something like 85 stability damage on top of the 250 alpha strike. I wish I could get my hands on some UACs for it, but I'm going for score in my career at the moment and haven't been able to justify a black market stopover just yet. I've cleared my current planet with zero repairs required so I'm going to be able to equip it shortly. I can't wait!

 

[EmptyPepsiCan]

I like engaging from long range with a spotter, so for me the combination of the Annihilator and the UAC/2++ is just nuts. As soon as I can find the JH chassis I'm thinking of the following build (or build concept, I guess):

5 x UAC/2++ w/ 6 tons of ammo (15 AC alphas)
2 jump jets
1880 armor
18 free tons to fill the remaining 3 energy hardpoints, 2 support hardpoints, and many open crit slots (including 7 per arm)
+++ injury resist cockpit or com system
+3 hit defense gyro

The goal is a build that's realistically achievable early in the second half of a career/campaign, without having to suspend operations and scour the galaxy for components. Everything on the list is stuff I'd have bought anyway, so when I get the Annihilator I can just bolt it on and go.

With that build I get decent mobility (and the ability to reach high ground) and 15 extreme range AC alphas of 420 apiece (the equivalent of 10.5 large lasers - for 40 heat). There are all kinds of options for that last 18 tons, so I guess I'll just slap on the best stuff I have available at the time. I'm thinking of 2 +10 damage large lasers. That's a long range alpha of 520 with very manageable heat. There's also room left for 4 of the 0 weight, +10 damage arm mods, if I happen to have them lying around. That's 160 melee damage I can use in a pinch.

Put that build on a tree-covered hill with a Bulwark pilot and it has enough armor and hit defense to stand there, blasting away, pretty much forever. Pair it with an inferno boat / spotter with a TAG - also realistically acquirable by the mid game - and it would be a monster.

 

[Doctor Machete]

If you want to know where to look for specific equipment you can go to the ...BATTLETECH\BattleTech_Data\StreamingAssets\data\itemCollections, open all .csv files at once with a file editor like notepad++ or similar and do a global search on all opened documents, in this case UAC20. It will show what files has it, and that what labels do you need.

That being said, even with the TTS I find it a bit meh weapon, at least on the 3/5 assaults. The range is just too short for the mobility and they hardly get opportunity to engage in competition to the MVPs of headcapping Marauders and AC/10 Annihilators and backstabbing Lostech mediums (the new Phoenix Hawk is ridiculous, 400 damge backstabs from a relatively cool running 'mech that jumps as far as Spider).

I think the mobility of 3JJ assaults is fine, and at worst UAC20 has some point as being the most damage per hit weapon of the game, but now (in contrast to the regular AC20) also it's quite damage/weight/heat efficient. That cannot be said about the UAC10, which of course has more range, but then UAC2/UAC5 also have more range than the UAC10 and also are more efficient.

The UAC10 ANH is not a headcapping MVP. Not terrible but not brilliant either. Even with the ANH quirk quirk weapons like LLs are better (more dmg/weight/heat), and of course the UAC2, which is the real MVP. As it has super long range, no recoil with maxed pilot and super good performance for such a long range weapon (with PS). For energy IMO the MVP goes for the ERML, a compromise between both ML's efficiency and the lower efficiency but higher range from LLs. MLs are still super good if you want to get into medium range.

Put that build on a tree-covered hill with a Bulwark pilot and it has enough armor and hit defense to stand there, blasting away, pretty much forever. Pair it with an inferno boat / spotter with a TAG - also realistically acquirable by the mid game - and it would be a monster.

I think that's true only if you have some support from other mechs. You cannot just "stand there" without help. The low mobility is really a hindrance for survivability. If you get focused by several mechs you're going to suffer, a lot. While with faster assaults you don't have such a problem (depending on the build).

 

[Axterix13]

If you want to know where to look for specific equipment you can go to the ...BATTLETECH\BattleTech_Data\StreamingAssets\data\itemCollections, open all .csv files at once with a file editor like notepad++ or similar and do a global search on all opened documents, in this case UAC20. It will show what files has it, and that what labels do you need.

You can just do a search on the itemcollections folder, instead of opening all the files.

But whether you open them all and then search, or just search the folders, you'll still need to do additional checking, because the item collections that contain the ultra 20s could be included in other item collections.

 

[EmptyPepsiCan]

I think that's true only if you have some support from other mechs. You cannot just "stand there" without help. The low mobility is really a hindrance for survivability.

A mech with 1880 points of armor, on the high ground, bulwarked, in cover, with a +3 hit defense gyro can take a pretty good beating, but yeah, of course it would have support from other mechs. The build is based around 5 extremely long range ultra autocannons supplemented with long range energy weapons - it's a fire support mech. The concept works with a 2 UAC/2 Shadow Hawk and it works even better with a 3 UAC/2 Marauder, so it stands to reason it would be a thing of beauty with a 5 UAC/2 Annihilator.

Anyway, I like to put a fire support mech on a hill toward the back of the action, ideally before making contact, then use 2 mechs to form a front line while the 4th flanks, backstabs, and distracts. So I guess I'm still playing Baldur's Gate, just with stompy robots.

 

[Antediluvian Monster]

The UAC10 ANH is not a headcapping MVP.

There is no such claim there either. What it was contrasted to were the (twin) UAC/20 3/5 assaults who I found simply too slow for the range. Since they weren't pulling their weight I found myself leaving them home, usually sortieing with a Marauder, Cyclops, Annihilator/Warhammer (depending on whether I could stomach Annihilator's 3/5) and a medium instead.

You are also replying to a post from different thread, though it is topical for this one as well.

Not terrible but not brilliant either. Even with the ANH quirk quirk weapons like LLs are better (more dmg/weight/heat), and of course the UAC2, which is the real MVP. As it has super long range, no recoil with maxed pilot and super good performance for such a long range weapon (with PS). For energy IMO the MVP goes for the ERML, a compromise between both ML's efficiency and the lower efficiency but higher range from LLs. MLs are still super good if you want to get into medium range.

So far in 600 days of career I have found 7 ERML++ (of which 6 are on Marauder) and 2 UAC/2++. I'll definitely have to try out 5x ERML 5x UAC/2 Annihilator once I have the gear though.

 

[Doctor Machete]

You are also replying to a post from different thread, though it is topical for this one as well.

Sorry for that, got confused.

There is no such claim there either. What it was contrasted to were the (twin) UAC/20 3/5 assaults who I found simply too slow for the range. Since they weren't pulling their weight I found myself leaving them home, usually sortieing with a Marauder, Cyclops, Annihilator/Warhammer (depending on whether I could stomach Annihilator's 3/5) and a medium instead.

The ANH is not 3/5 and I agree it is a bit too slow for medium range, although it can work if you have good support/backup to compensate for the lack of mobility. But most other mechs like King Crab, Stalker and Atlas-II I think have enough speed to make medium range weapons very effective and at the same time enough weight to mass them and still running cool. Besides exceptions like the Marauder due to the quirk, I think that's the sweet spot for the firepower/mobility ratio if you're not going for pure firepower (ANH) or much more mobile (WHM, GRH...).

Also you need the ANHs (and the UACs) if you want something close to a proper Steiner reconnaissance lance.

So far in 600 days of career I have found 7 ERML++ (of which 6 are on Marauder) and 2 UAC/2++. I'll definitely have to try out 5x ERML 5x UAC/2 Annihilator once I have the gear though.

In my last Career the hardest to get were the UAC2s but the bottleneck wasn't the rarity but just the money. If you have enough savings you can just jumping between systems until you get them.

 

[Axterix13]

The ANH is not 3/5 and I agree it is a bit too slow for medium range, although it can work if you have good support/backup to compensate for the lack of mobility.

HBS did the same thing to the Anni they did to the AC Urbanmechs, bumping the speed up from 2/3 to 3/5, while leaving the free weight the same. It moves 95m/165m, the same as an Atlas. So yeah, it's a 3/5, though it is limited to only 2 jump jets (which due to the silliness of jump jets lets it jump 90m, so it's actually the only 3/5 in the game that is limited to a 3/5/3, rather than a 3/5/4.

If the Anni had its proper speed, it wouldn't be as popular

 

[Doctor Machete]

HBS did the same thing they did to the Anni they did to the AC Urbanmechs, bumping the speed up from 2/3 to 3/5, while leaving the free weight the same. It moves 95m/165m, the same as an Atlas. So yeah, it's a 3/5, though it is limited to only 2 jump jets (which due to the silliness of jump jets lets it jump 90m, so it's actually the only 3/5 in the game that is limited to a 3/5/3, rather than a 3/5/4.

If the Anni had its proper speed, it wouldn't be as popular

I stay corrected.

But anyway what I think matters for this purpose is the jump speed anyway, it's what allows you to backtrack while firing at the same time or to jump over obstacles for a burst of damage.

 

[44th MAC|Bonsai]

If the Anni had its proper speed, it wouldn't be as popular

True. I play with MechEngineer mod and TT movement speed/jump range - damn am I glad I can switch engines It's not just that move 2 is slow, it's painful. Instead of wasting firepower by needing a few turns to just get a clear shot, I just "wasted" tonnage on a larger engine. Still a good mech, but now I really understand why HBS chose to make the urbie and anni faster than they should be.