King Crab- XL vs STD engine?

STD only lasts longer if you are hit side torso.

 

Actually if you never get hit side torso, XL is more survivable. More speed and armor (if you sacrificed armor to make weight) obviously boosts survivability, but more firepower makes you less likely to die by A) killing them first and B) forcing them to be more defensive.

That said, the only crab I've killed in the 4 games I got in yesterday I shot it in the leg with a single burst of 3xcERML on my Nova's left arm. It was all I could see and I guess it was already hurting.

 

Video done, hitbox sketch in progress.

 

Standard + Endo over XL + Standard

You can't run an XL and Endo, there's just no room.

 

https://www.mechspecs.com/threads/king-crab-hitbox-images.7969/

The sideflaps really are counted as sidetorsos interestingly enough.

​

 

Ok, enough of testing. Here is my impression. But first a question: You guys voting for XL Engine .. you serious about it and really got so much luck with XL? After two days testing - this Mech dies more often from CT, but nevertheless at least 30% of my games i lost one or even both STs. This is too much for me. Absolutely not comparable to the Catapult. If you run XL be really sure to keep distance and avoid Damage! Otherwise you die before you can use any of the extra Firepower you loaded given by the XL Engine.

Here are some examples getting wrecked:

 

I agree with Blagg Zear that the hitboxes are unfavorable for XL's, have had many sidetorso losses myself during the past two days.

That said, each to his own. I'm sure some people will make XL Crabs work real good.

 

I think XL is fine for the long range peek builds like dual gauss+PPC or ERLL+LRMs, and maybe for some of the mid range dakka builds as well.

I would never take XL in a AC20 + SRM brawler build, especially as some of the best ones are assymetric and the whole idea is to have a shield side.

 

It's trivial to roll damage in a crab precisely because the torso twist speed is so quick and the hitboxes are so enormous. Taking ST damage? Turn 45 degrees to the opposite direction and watch the damage shower on your CT/other ST.

I took an XL360 in a 2xAC20 2xLPL brawler crab with 7t of ammo. Rushed the entire enemy team in FC archway at the same time. Results:

 

The more firepower crab have, the more likely it is to get ST focused instead of CT, especially heavy dakka builds, as they have to store somwhere ammo and most probably have XL engine. Seen more than few times people switching fire to ST as soon they realize crabs loadout, most of times leading to much quicker demise of target. On the other side people tend to shoot CT, and as Sniper said rolling damage aint a problem. Most of ST damage i recived in KGC was dealt by lrms.

 

This is a theoretical Build by using XL Engine. Since i can't garantee that it works, i post it here for everybody to discuss:



The Idea: Torso-Twisting, Critpadding, Shield-Arm and ultimate high Alphastrike Damage for ultrashort TTK in a CQC Brawl -> the faster you kill, the less counterfire you get from the opponent.

Thoughts?

p.s. i call it the "King of Fiddlers"

 

Shortened TTK is one of the best defenses in any game. In MWO, if you core someone, they will focus on survival more than counterattack.

 

I have tried both, STD is better in the most case.
Exception is the Gauss+PPC build, but that is a long range sniper turret.
I guess LRM Crab would be fine with XL too just like other LRM boats, but you can only fit 4xLRM10. I am not running the Krab with LRM yet.

 

To be honest I still prefer the Awesome for LRM boating.

As for XL, I keep going back and forth. I've had a lot of side torso destructions, but the extra weight means better mobility and that often saves my butt a lot better than armor would.

 

Played only crabs these days, I will use XL only when I want 2x PPC 2x Gauss or 4x AC5 2x AC2 (on those builds without XL you have heavy mech armor on a 100T, so XL is better on them), other then that I'll always go STD.

 

I switch out randomly just to keep people guessing. People know I run the UAC crab so when they see me they shoot for the ST only to be surprised when I have a standard and move slower but still pack the same whallop. I've surprised a few people I play with regularly when they came after me thinking I had an XL only to be gunned down with 1 torso laughing at them.

 

On UACs I always go STD, as you can load 315 ammo and a STD325 with good armor values.

XL is not worth there, IMO.