BSW-P1 "Bushhacker" (4xSRM4, 2xSRM2, LBX5, XL300)

Thread in 'BSW-P1' started by ShiverMeRivets, May 22, 2018.

  1. ShiverMeRivets

    ShiverMeRivets Well-Known Member

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    Artemis makes SRMs very inefficient in weight and crit slots, so it is out. We take 4SRM4 and 2SRM2. Why? Because this gets no ghost heat so we can fire all of them together. SRM2 are very efficient, so the 4.6 theoretical damage we "lose" by not taking 2 more SRM4s are somewhat offset by less spread, better heat efficiency, and faster cycle.

    LBX is there to aim at open components and crit them from short range, as well as to scare off lights, and give us some sense of less than complete helplessness against opponents at SRM range +1 meter.

    Take all the heat management skills. You dont pop-tart or trade SRMs from range so this build is less hot than the dry numbers suggest. You find an opponent, home in, and explode on him from short range. If he is not aiming at you and you keep the fire key pressed, after 2 sec the SRM2s fire, 1 sec later the SRM4s fire, then 1 sec and the SRM2s fire again, then 2 sec till another full SRM20 salvo, while the LBX5 is pounding at a high rate in between - this is a lot of cockpit shake and flashes. Very intimidating.

    When you do get hot, fire the LBX (1 heat only) and chain-fire all your SRM launchers - they make a perfect 3 seconds cycle firing every 0.5 sec for constant cockpit shake.
     
    Last edited: May 22, 2018
  2. Excalibaard

    Excalibaard 101 010 Staff Member

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    I like the concept and considerations you made while building this! Not sure if SRM20 with a relatively weak LBX5 is better than a few less SRMs (4x4 or 6x2) with an LBX10 personally, and you're a bit light on the ammo. Especially since you describe it as sustained fire, rather than firing one alpha and then twisting until you can alpha again. The XL engine is also pretty dangerous with the big side torsos and the boxes they get from missile launchers.

    Here's a light engine adaptation of your original build:



    And I'd personally probably focus on either the DPS or the burst aspects of your idea:




    This is probably more like how I'd build the concept (My SHD-2D2 runs the 4x4 version)
     
    CarloArmato likes this.
  3. CarloArmato

    CarloArmato Professional Potato Carrier

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    Excalibaard explained and fixed most of the doubts I had on this build, mostly lack of ammo (which actually is not really an issue because with skills you will have a good maximum theoretical damage), lack of sustained DPS and still mediocre alpha... Focusing on DPS or alpha strike is for the best: trying to achieve both won't allow you to either sustain a fight or to quickly kill / cripple an opponent.

    I think the Bushwacker is one (if not the) best medium mech to fit an XL engine, but due to the fact you should brawl with this build is very risky because anyone could be focusing a single side torso (or in some situations you can't expose the other fresh side torso properly) and quickly kill you... XL engine requires a lot of skills and cold blood to be managed properly when fighting at range, during a brawl isn't worth it if you don't keep an eye on the damage you received to spread it as much as you can.

    6xSRM2 build is probably the best solution: good ammo count (LBX10 has a whopping 200 damage per ton of ammo instead of 150 for the LBX5), best spread, almost same sustained DPS compared to the original build despite being 1 DPS lower (17 instead of 18)... Also, the -10% ballistic cooldown means that SRM2 and LBX10 will have nearly identical cooldown (2 seconds and 2.025 seconds) so you can fire them simultaneously all the time...

    You could also fit a LE250 on the LBX10+6xSRM2 build and achieve some respectable damage with maxed ammo skills (360 SRM ammo and 48 LBX ammo, which means ~720 SRM damage and 480 LBX damage for grand total of 1200 damage) while having the same cooling efficiency despite being slower. Also, if you are fitting a LBX10, 3 tons worth of SRM ammo are actually better than 4 because 3 tons worth of ammo because with skills you will be able to alpha strike those 6xSRM2 45 times, while you will be able to fire the LBX10 for 48 times (which is both your main weapon that can be fired at range AND the weapon that should keep on firing when you are running hot, so it means that you theoretically you will always have a SRM ammo surplus compared to LBX ammo).



    Still, the main downside of this build is the lack of speed: if you are alone with this build I think it's too slow to push anything, unless you skill into speed tweak, but then you would probably be lacking either survivability or firepower.

    Proposed skill tree: every heat gen, every weapon enhancement, most range and cooldown, most armor nodes, 2 coolrun nodes for enhanced cooling (they will come in handy, they do on my Cyclop build), half speed tweak... Basically, most of the important stuff and somewhat from anything to make it a good choice in the PUG for most maps.
     
    Last edited: May 24, 2018
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