Good old time favourite since MW4: mercenaries. It was OP back in the day thanks to the unique dual Heavy Gauss build. On a side note: I found no announcement or other thread on the fafnir, so I've decided to create this thread. Link to preorder and full preview First 3 mechs are for the standard pack (FNR 5 / 5B / 6U), while 5E and 6R are only in the "reinforce pack" and the last one is obviously the hero mech. Please note that 5, 5B and "wrath" are the only versions capable of fitting an ECM and they can actually fit stealth armor. Heavy gauss and stealth armor is NOT possible due to the fact stealth armor adds 2 fixed armor slots in each component except for Center Torso and head. Possible builds: FNR-5: 2xHeavyGauss + 3 MPL could be a thing, otherwise classic gauss + ERLL FNR-5B: 2xHeavyGauss + 5MPL like the annihilator, otherwise the classic 2xGauss + 5xERML like the Mauler 2P FNR-6U: I'm not sure how would I build it, maybe something like 4xLBX5 + 4xMPL FNR-5E: easy. 2xLBX20 + 4xSRM6+A *evil laugh* FNR-6R: I'm not sure how to build it without mixing too many weapons... This is probably the chassis I'm least interested. Wrath: hell no. I'm not gonna mix up things on this chassis, it looks even worse than the 6R... Maybe 1xHeavyGauss and 4xSRM6+A, but IDK honestly... So, are you interested in this mech? It doesn't looks gorgeous or with excelent hitboxes (side torsoes are probably gonna be huge and CT too small), but hardpoints are high and at the same height, plus I really don't know if quirks are gonna be any good... It's still looks kinda risky to preorder it, despite I could go for standard plus reinforcement pack (I'm interested in the 5B and 5E)
I am interested. 100 ton ECM with ballistic hardpoints could be fun to troll around in. I am going to be stuck trying to determine whether I want more guns or more engine (325) and keep reminding myself that stealth armor is fun, but not necessarily optimal. For the 5B, I might try 2xGauss, 2xLL, 3xERML before upping the engine and going to 5xERML. Kind of a slow Deathstrike with ECM, which was the only thing the Deathstrike is missing. 6U - Can probably wait until C-bills for me. 5E- There are faster things out there for the splat build. Maybe 4xAC5s with SRMs or SSRMs in the arms. Maybe C-bills. Wrath... outside of the ECM LuRM boat potential - I could see a stealth armor ambusher with 1xGauss, 2xMRM30, and 3xMPL or 2xLPPC. Still a bit hot and probably underwhelming. Maybe 3xLPL, Gauss and SRMs.
The more I look at the Fafnir, the more I wish I had bought a Collector for the Annihilator. Fafnir might have better hardpoint locations, but less hardpoints, worse geometry / hitboxes and also only a 325 max engine (contrary to 360 from lore). So, nothing special to set it apart from Anni but that ECM, but which takes 14% of your skill points. Meh.
This doesn't apply to stealth armor: with stealth armor, skilling in ECM / stealth is not mandatory because you can't be locked at any range but you will simply have a longer delay before you can reactivate the stealth armor, which is not a big deal because most of the times you will have to wait anyway to cool down your mech. You could even use only ECM as a "passive" AMS because enemy will need more time to lock on you. Which mechs? I'm actually looking for brutal IS SRMs and LBXs boat assault mechs.
That's why I would like to try out the Fafnir with a splat build. I will probably have to deal with little ammo and/or no Endo Steel, but it could be worth a try.
