Firestarter Variants

Thread in 'Firestarter' started by don Zappo, Feb 4, 2014.

  1. e92

    e92 Benefactor

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    Feb 18th is upon us! Finally time to get the chassis mastered.

    I'll be going for a K or an S first to get a break the Ember play-style a bit. Then the H to see if it will be superior to the E.
     
  2. tfun90

    tfun90 Advanced Member

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    My thoughts on variant optimizations so far:

    Dual-AMS FS9-S:
    http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=138&l=20fb6b50879a861ba5a8661f56be32283e5065e5

    Jenner-F with MG's, or Ember sidegrade:
    http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=140&l=bb44eec4e77ff7c76b3a4593f974a8cb00fb4383

    Sustained DPS brawler:
    http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=139&l=4b4d90cab5c8db19c54d211a061bfbf431a1bfb4

    Dogfighter:
    http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=139&l=ad7db34779c27c057d306f5f930fb07fce50be63

    MPLas OP:
    http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=139&l=c6f3e0ce6a7518b32883625ef3d7ffe5930085bf

    I'll take the A over the K, one of the FS's advantages is shield arms, but that means weapons in those arms are at risk of going boom. Then again, the torso pitch makes getting lasers on target REALLY hard. Maybe we'll see JR7-F live on as a pure dogfighter. That said, fake Jenners:

    High-jumping, missile eating style:
    http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=141&l=b2cb4315ff9f35ddb76cdf2aef0e7f363478599a

    Cool style:
    http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=141&l=e6ec2f5653a27eddaf6fc4505a32f406045cdc48
     
  3. e92

    e92 Benefactor

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    I bought the dual AMS FS9-S and the ember side-grade FS9-H.

    Initial thoughts:
    FS9-S: dual AMS doesn't mean you're all of a sudden good vs streak hunters. They mitigate some damage and sometimes allow you to get away without losing an arm like you might have before. However, they are still the bane of your existence. Never ever engage streak boats.

    FS9-H: I feel like the Ember is superior to this mech. I am not a jenner pilot and the strength of my firestarter game involves isolating enemy mechs and attaching to their backs like a monkey. I am finding myself using the 4 arm MLas as I did in the ember, and seldom using the torso MLas. While the extra 10 damage alpha helps initially remove the armor, I feel like its taking me longer to kill them because the machine guns are slower. In the end, I am doing less sustained DPS because heat won't allow me to take advantage of having extra lasers anyway.

    Will these mechs replace the jenner? I think not. The torso pitch limitations make the weapons mounted there extremely weak. The K variant is the only one that doesn't have this problem, but it isn't vastly superior because you risk losing your weaponry much more.
     
  4. MntRunner

    MntRunner Junior Member

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    I also felt that the H isn't as good as the Ember for the same reasons you described. Basically I've been running it the same as the Ember 4ML in the arm, 2MG's, and then messing with the CT energy hard points to try and differentiate it. I've tried flamers, small and medium lasers and I couldn't find anything that worked on as well as the Ember. Basically I've decided you can't run the H in a similar role as you would the Ember. About the only thing I've found that works well is to put a LL in the CT, and keep the 4ML and 2MG's. Initially I'll play a harasser role where I keep my distance and poke the enemy with the large laser. When the enemy is pretty vulnerable I them move in and try to finish them off with the ML's and MG's. I'm not sure if this build is any better than the Ember, but it does give you an alternative play style.

    As you said the jenner will probably not get replaced by the firestarter. Although, I think the firestarter is a good alternative and can be used with jenners very well. Personally I think the FS9-K and the JR7-F play basically the same role, just with different mech specific quirks. The JR7-D can be either a light hunter with SSRM's or a Hit and Run mech with 2xSRM4's, both of which the firestarter can't do as effectively. The firestarters (primarily the Ember) seem to be better for crippling mechs once armor has been stripped off.
     
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