Thanks to a suggestion from Mythweaver, I changed my Fast Sniper into this: A much better Mech for my play style. It's still not all that impressive (I hate the 3C...) but I at least am pulling my weight. It's still not much good against Lights, but it'll make a Centurion duck for cover pretty quickly. And I got a glorious Cat-A1 headshot in Tourmaline Desert yesterday. It's nice when people ignore you because you're in a Cicada. I do tend to run pretty hot though. I can get several shots off, but it takes a while for the heat to dissipate. So, having a Coolshot or two still comes in handy. But overall, I'm pretty happy with it, for a cheap throwaway Mech. Upgrading to DHS would let you put an AC/2 on, or something like that, for a little extra punch.
Something you should remember when sniping is to "shoot and move." You never want to be caught staying in one area too long, take a few shots and then move to another location. This will give you time to cool down and it also adheres to ideal of always being on the move, if you stop you die. Myth.
Even though it's a more expensive 'mech, you get much better heat efficiency (and more armor) if you lose the Endo/Ferro and go with DHS. The MGs are added for humor, feel free to trade them for Heatsinks or Armor.
If you wanted to keep the armor and structure you have now, you can trade the PPC and HSs for a Gauss Rifle and two tons of ammo. It actually gives you better DPS. h34r:
The reason I chose the ER PPC is because you aren't dependant on ammunition. With the Gauss Rifle your potential damage maxes out at 300 points, assuming you land every shot. However, the exchange from Endo/Ferro to Double Heat Sinks is a great idea, Machine Gun to taste. Myth.
Be more creative with the ballistic slots, as stated before, a Gauss is an option for sniping, but so could an ac2 and a large laser. Unless you have ungodly aim, you also need something for those close encounters. Also, if you intend to snipe, and not run around people, you should consider lowering the engine's size some for more fire power, but if all you want is laser, then you are in a tough spot for this mech.
The sad thing is I did better using Spider-5D Sniper (197armors,ECM,max-XLengine,1xER PPC,1xTag,2xJJs) so...I think CDA-3M is better for sniping...with ECM, and you can even put 2xER PPC! but you cannot put extra DHs anymore(not enough slot). And for this variant, the Ballistic slots are very important so use them also
