I find dual PPCs viable with 18 heat sinks, but that is the minimum I would take. The Marauder is just too hot to be useful to me stock. In general I prefer a single PPC as a long range backup for a mostly short range build.
Warhammer? Um.....
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The Marauder sacrifices a lot to carry that AC5, especially when you consider the Warhammer mounts 4 support weapons and a missile rack on top of the "2xPPC, 2xMLAS" base it shares with the MAD. I'd be curious about dropping the AC down to an AC2 (+ variant if available) to give more tonnage to heat management. The question is if the trade would allow the longer use of the PPCs to offset the Alpha damage reduction.
The increased Ammo Count, plus HBS’s Damage Buff to Autocannon Damage makes this a very tempting prospect. If I were to come across an AC2 with a +5 or +10 Damage Bonus, it would tip the scales for me and I would change it out for the Stock AC5 immediately.
Actually, the Marauder sacrifices a lot to carry dual PPCs imo
The AC5 is a decent weapon with far better dmg/ton(+HS) unless you use DHS. Unless you have a nice +dmg AC2 or a gauss, it's one of the best long range weapons you can get.. I'd rather strip the PPCs and go LLs. You could add JJs for the free tonnage, or strip one ML for a 3rd LL for more long range damage and still better heat efficiency, you could even just add one LL and a second AC5 (kinda wouldn't like that, just feels wrong), pure 4LL sniper, evil 4ML+AC20 brawler with tons of armor - alot of options. Options are far less interesting when you keep the PPCs.
Actually, the Marauder sacrifices a lot to carry dual PPCs imo
The AC5 is a decent weapon with far better dmg/ton(+HS) unless you use DHS. Unless you have a nice +dmg AC2 or a gauss, it's one of the best long range weapons you can get.. I'd rather strip the PPCs and go LLs. You could add JJs for the free tonnage, or strip one ML for a 3rd LL for more long range damage and still better heat efficiency, you could even just add one LL and a second AC5 (kinda wouldn't like that, just feels wrong), pure 4LL sniper, evil 4ML+AC20 brawler with tons of armor - alot of options. Options are far less interesting when you keep the PPCs.
That's a very fair point. Large Lasers are pretty close to parity to PPCs now, with the main trade being the loss of stability damage. AC2/AC5s are a lot more competitive here than they've been elsewhere, so keeping the AC5 and swapping to LL's on the arms is a solid reconfiguration.
sadly the MAD also pays the engine tax for being 5T heavier than the WHM, but still having the same movement profile
A 75 ton 4/6 mech actually has slightly more free tonnage than a 70 ton 4/6 mech. Interestingly, it's the same amount of free tonnage as an 80 or 85 ton mech at 4/6, with HBS's initiative cutoff being the tiebreaker that makes 75 tons most efficient for that movement profile.sadly the MAD also pays the engine tax for being 5T heavier than the WHM, but still having the same movement profile
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Yes, the missing stab damage is the only real drawback. I don't really care for the PPC debuff. But you get better damage for your heat and - what I consider to be actually really good - an accuracy bonus. The standard bonus on lasers might already be worth it before you have +++ versions, because your pilots might still not even hit a Union from up close. But once you reach +10dmg +3acc LLs, they almost never miss. That's about +20% accuracy over the PPC, pushing effective damage to +10dmg-PPC level.
I just don't see the PPC coming anywhere close to the LLs performance, and given the Marauders somewhat limited hardpoint options when compared to the Orion for example, LLs look really viable here.
The one point that really gives the Warhammer an edge here is the bonus damage dealt. While having a little less free tonnage, dmg output will be a little higher. Once you can chose which Mech to drop, it's kinda the choice of "more dmg dealt (WHM)" vs "less dmg taken (MAD)" - or you just drop both and have two really lovely Mechs. I really look forward to next week <3
I feel like there's fun to the had with a pocket Awesome variant of the Warhammer (or Warsome if you will). Run three Donal ++PPCs doing 60 damage base (any Charged Capacitors % increase in damage makes them 1 hit kills on a cockpit hit), a good Heat Exchanger and as many Double Heatsinks as you have, armour to taste, add a Tactics 9 pilot and go headhunting
Early on in your career though, downgrading the PPCs to 50 damage Large Lasers (they seem to be easy enough to come by) and using the tonnage on armour probably gives you a more useful Mech.
Early on in your career though, downgrading the PPCs to 50 damage Large Lasers (they seem to be easy enough to come by) and using the tonnage on armour probably gives you a more useful Mech.
Replacing PPCs with COIL-Ls with 2 extra DHS may be a better choice than LLs when you have them?
Move two hexes and receive two gauss level damage shots with enhanced accuracy. Move 4 hexes for 320 damage from the COILs alone. Gives you variable damage output for the same tonnage if nothing else.
Move two hexes and receive two gauss level damage shots with enhanced accuracy. Move 4 hexes for 320 damage from the COILs alone. Gives you variable damage output for the same tonnage if nothing else.
COILs might actually be pretty good on both the Warhammer and Marauder. Hard to come by I guess, but especially on the Warhammer they look kinda OP. I'll definitively toy around with some medium COILs on this, too.
I don't think Coils are going to be OP, not even good (not bad either) besides light mechs and perhaps some medium. For heavier mechs may be situationally good, sure, but also a LOT less flexible. You need to walk to use them, you cannot just jump + fire, you'll need to commit much deeper into one single course of action, and avoiding cover in the final approach (to maximize damage).
I'm thinking COIL-Ms could well be an interesting option to replace medium lasers on primary ballistic based systems. They can chip in as usual whilst you're using the AC/missiles, move abit to boost damage output to remove the repeated fire modifier, or simply move maximum to ramp up damage output when your main ammo is depleted.
This will be a better use in my mind than simply boating a load onto one mech.
IMO Coil-M are less efficient, because with Coil-L you can move less for the same amount of damage/heat and they weight only a tiny bit more. And they can't chip as usual because they need you to walk, now cover works against you.
Overall in heavies/assaults I don't they they'll come close to ML+SRM boats, ML+SL boats or LL boats. Boating allows for more predictable damage while using JJs and taking better advantage of cover, plus being able to optimize your armor for the range you'll be firing, while you may need to close distance in order to move enough so your Coil-L does decent damage, you have less options available.
I was thinking more of them being flexible support when your primary ammo is gone, I'll still stick with more mainstream fits for general purpose slaughtering.
But in that case other weapons will be more flexible too, like a single LL, a PPC or a couple MLs.
A Single Large Laser, a PPC or a couple Medium Lasers verses a single COIL Large or paired COIL Mediums, as secondary Weapons once my Ammo-dependent Weapons have run dry? Yeah, I’d take those COILs all day long. :bow:
Besides doing it for the novelty, in an assault I'd rather have a reliable source of damage than having to avoid cover or jumping in order to deal decent damage.
With the large COILs having decent range and the AI's tendency to attack the nearest target, you might not need to worry about cover too much. Or about armor. For a sniper-design that stays in the back, unless you are in an urban environment with lots of LoS/LoF blockers, this could work out quite well. We'll see next week
Sure, ML and SRM boats still will be most efficient imo. But I'm not really into the "most efficient" way all the time, sometimes I just want to try out new stuff and ways to annihilate
Where’s the Innovation in BATTLETECH?
Look no further than your Mini-Campaign and it’s COIL Weapons! :bow:
Look no further than your Mini-Campaign and it’s COIL Weapons! :bow: