Triple LLas as Mainattack Weapons. Chainfire them to avoid Ghostheat. The rest for finishing up close when armor is opened up. Blagg
haha! Great minds think alike, I was about to post my own version and dub it the "Bitchin'B" I'd move the AMS ammo out of the CT as it will be prone to lasting and exploding if your CT gets opened up... Just trade with a ton of LBX and it will get used up and out of there fast. You can also drop one DHS to take an AC10 instead of the LBX10, which might do pretty good as well. I love the idea, here is my take on it: 4/5 from me. Not sure who in the right mind would rate this below at least a 3...
Nice ideas, yeah an AC10 would be more effective to punch some big Holes into your Targets, but then you need to move that Heatsink out of the left ST. About the Ammo for AMS in the CT, I wouldn't make too much worries about that because of Lurmageddon nowadays. AMS will be burnt up faster than 1t LBX Bullets, don't you think? I also thought about replacing the 3x LLas Combo by a 2x PPC + 1x MPLas Combo, just to increase the Pinpointdamage plus Range. What do you say?
I don't agree, I would normally say it is personal preference, but there is nothing about it that makes sense to me. You are risking something that might kill you based on what your enemy may or may-not do. What if you encounter an enemy lance early on and they open your CT at a fairly quick rate, before LRMs have been going very long if at all. You're better off with your AC10/LBX ammo in the CT because you know you will be burning through it in an engagement. It makes more sense to me that you would put ammo there that you know will be used, because it depends on you and your firing rate as opposed to what your enemy does. I'll not risk anything based on what my opponent does, in a way that is letting the enemy control the risk you take which is never good. Anyway, it's not the biggest thing in the world, but I thought I'd share my opinion on it. Concerning the PPCs, it looks interesting, but counter-productive for a brawler. You can argue the PPCs will open up components on your way to a battle, but now you have much less close-range (brawling) firepower. At 90m you're alpha is 11 points less, your max dps is 4 points less, your sustained dps is ~1 less (with heat management of the LLas). Overall I'd shy away from the PPCs because of these reason. That said, the PPCs always have that pin-point factor which makes it much better compared to the LLas in certain situations at range. This is counter-productive as I mentioned earlier because the mech really shines up-close and personal, so there is no reason to focus on the range aspect. Unless you want more range capability at at the cost of brawling capability.
it's really depending on how fast you encounter the enemies. Most matches i play now are camping for the first 5 Minutes, but only Poptarding and Missile Attacks. Even if the enemies are not really targeting you, standing near to your friendlies often lets your AMS activate and burn quite quickly. Most dudes now load LRM.Ammo enough for the whole match, so 1t AMS.Ammo won't last long. If you don't meet any enemy lances for the first 5 Min, you can't fire 15 LBX Shots. In this early phase your real danger are Poptards, who aim for your CT, so better keep your Head down, even if you are a Assault.Brawler. Never run straight to the enemy team, especially not in the early game phase, if you know that they most times stick together and can kill you within some seconds. Doesn't matter if you have 1t Ammo LBX, AMS, LRMS or whatever. Just stay calm, until you find a good moment to engage with your team. About the PPCs you are right, that there is the disadvantage of the 90m minimum Range. But the advantage is, you can pinpoint open up some Armor in a straight visual line of fire, and if the opened can dares to come close, you just need the LBX+MG Combo to make the kill. The only fear.enemies are Lights, which are very hard to hit with PPCs. LPLas are more effective up-close and personal, but without the Range you can't support your team, when Targets are out of your range.
I actually really like the LPLas idea. It follows the same mentality as the Can Opener. I think the best option for this mech is still the 3x LLas for the range and sustained close-range damage potential. Maybe it's just me, but I prefer LLas over PPC in most situations. If the Enemy has a crit ST, you can more easily target it with a beam weapon. Pin-point weapons are great for getting a component opened, but not finishing them off. You run the risk of missing with that pin-point damage and hitting an adjacent component. Whereas the beam weapon can be adjusted and has not flight-time to compensate for, only movement. Think about how effective the Raven-3L is at finishing off mechs. Another advantage of the 3 LLas setup is being able to hit all mechs regardless of speed and size. It boosts your assist score and overall game-score. I'm certainly interested in giving these variations a try!
Great points on both your sides, though I tend to agree with Solahma in general. If you have to put ammo in the CT, make sure it's something you know you'll use up fairly quickly. Of course, as Blagg noted, AMS ammo can be emptied in no time at all on those matches that end up being a mere LRM spam for the first few minutes. But then, I've had lots of matches lately where I see only 1 or 2 LRM boats, on either side. The LRM hype is starting to die down, to the point where, in competitive play, whether or not you see LRMs at all could be determined by the flip of a coin. That said, the ammo-in-the-CT problem seems like a bit of a moot point to me. If it's that big of a deal, simply put that extra ton of ammo in an arm like the others. Regarding PPCs, I generally tend to prefer LLasers, for the reasons Solahma already stated. PPCs are great for those ranged sniping situations, but LLs have considerable range as well. And in a brawling situation, (for which this build seems to be designed), LLs are obviously preferable, primarily on account of the 90m minimum range of the PPCs. The LLs also have a better overall dmg/heat ratio, which means more damage and less heat, ideal for brawling. Finally, regarding the AC10-instead-of-LB10X idea, I would stick with the LB10X. Not only does it enable you to keep one extra DHS, but it also produces less heat than an AC10, both of which increase the build's overall sustained DPS. And obviously, the LB10X provides that extra crit-boost which, paired with the MGs, makes this build perfect for finishing off cored 'Mechs. In the end, I'm loving the look of this build on paper, and I really think it would perform well in game. I'll have to take it for a spin sometime soon, and see how it performs. Edit: I would swap one ton of LB10X ammo for a ton of either AMS or MG ammo. Though I'm one of those types who'll fire the LB10X at 900 meters just because I can, 75 shots still seems a bit extreme. I'd probably take an extra ton of AMS instead; in today's world, it'll likely come in handy more often than the extra ton of LB10X would. My version, with minor changes: (Ammo in right arm, because the left is more likely to get taken off.)
