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Post by Koalabear on Mar 26, 2022 13:22:08 GMT -5
My long term decision is now what to max after I max my KS and Shadow. My 5th slot is currently being used by my Paragon, with 28EN. It's sporting dual CB12. Going forward, I want to continue using the CB12s because I have two of them and I have the Major pilot. But, I know I don't need another 32EN mech (yet) so I don't want to max the Paragon. It's a great mech, but I want either a tank or the Zephyr to fill my 5th slot while my Tengu and Stalker level slowly in the background.
My choices are Jugg, Ares or Zephyr cause that's all I have. Well, I have the MD, but I don't think I'll go that route as it can't carry dual CB12.
The Jugg would be the easiest to max, and it used to be my favoured tank back in the day. But, now that they've balanced it along with the Ares, both tanks have their pros and cons.
Right now, I'm leaning towards Ares because it's a bit faster and the shield is stronger and not time-limited. Thoughts?
Edit....
Forgot to mention that my Ares is only at 4.7. My Jugg is at 5.1. The Ares needs to rank up 2 more times, and right now, it's over 2800 A-coins to level up.
I was also thinking about getting the Brickhouse finally. It comes at 5.1 already and has 18EN. It only costs credits and that's fairly easy to save up and it only needs to be ranked up once. Yes, it's super slow, but with it's Overcharger ability, I can really dish out the damage with the CB12s.
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Post by reconnecting on Mar 26, 2022 15:24:11 GMT -5
My long term decision is now what to max after I max my KS and Shadow. My 5th slot is currently being used by my Paragon, with 28EN. It's sporting dual CB12. Going forward, I want to continue using the CB12s because I have two of them and I have the Major pilot. But, I know I don't need another 32EN mech (yet) so I don't want to max the Paragon. It's a great mech, but I want either a tank or the Zephyr to fill my 5th slot while my Tengu and Stalker level slowly in the background. My choices are Jugg, Ares or Zephyr cause that's all I have. Well, I have the MD, but I don't think I'll go that route as it can't carry dual CB12. The Jugg would be the easiest to max, and it used to be my favoured tank back in the day. But, now that they've balanced it along with the Ares, both tanks have their pros and cons. Right now, I'm leaning towards Ares because it's a bit faster and the shield is stronger and not time-limited. Thoughts? Edit.... Forgot to mention that my Ares is only at 4.7. My Jugg is at 5.1. The Ares needs to rank up 2 more times, and right now, it's over 2800 A-coins to level up. I was also thinking about getting the Brickhouse finally. It comes at 5.1 already and has 18EN. It only costs credits and that's fairly easy to save up and it only needs to be ranked up once. Yes, it's super slow, but with it's Overcharger ability, I can really dish out the damage with the CB12s. What are your other 4 main bots in hangar? I'm guessing Panther and Killshot are in there, and your Paragon. Personally I would not keep Paragon, but to each their own. I lean toward Ares because of speed and permanent shield. Also he has firepower. I have fun with my 6.5 Brickhouse, but maybe that just me. He's a good tank with Carbines or whatever. Let us know what you decide. |
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Post by S1E1 on Mar 26, 2022 19:57:19 GMT -5
I'd lean towards Ares, although I have seen Mayer playing Juggs a lot with DL12s on YT. Think he might be mostly using it for CPC though. For tournament, tanks are basically always going to be backup bots. Good to win the match after your first mechs die, but never really big points earners with high kill streaks. Speed will probably be better then because you'll be dropping the late. I am also starting to see folks get higher points with Ares on Tunnel of Fate, where they hide shielded in the tunnel and mow down everything with Arc10s.
Brickhouse might be an exception in the kill streaks department. I have encountered some 「deteriorated bum-bum」 Longarm snipers with it. Also it's good for RMs, but I feel like Killshot will still be better. I don't have a BH and I don't play against the 6000sp crowd enough to be sure but it seems like it's not that popular in endgame. Zephyr is great in tournament but doesn't need to be maxed once it can carry ArcTorrents.
Honestly I would wait and see how close you are to maxing your Stalker by the time you get around to your 5th slot. That seems like it is a real serious earner for tournament points.
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Post by Koalabear on Mar 27, 2022 13:43:16 GMT -5
My other 4 mechs are pretty much permanent. I have maxed Guardian and Panther, 6.6 KS and Shadow. I need around 1200 bps to max Killshot and I forget how many for Shadow. The Paragon is my temp mech and always was. Right before Global, I leveled it up so that I would have another heavy hitter mech. Now that I've maxed Guardian and Panther, I don't really need it. Right now, it goes back and forth with CB12 and RM12. Once I max KS, it'll be the RM12 build, Paragon will continue with CB12 while I work on the Shadow which will be JR8 eventually.
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Post by dukeofadvil on Mar 27, 2022 15:50:26 GMT -5
I chose Ares over Juggy after the rebalance. That little extra speed fit my play-style better. But i would still be running Juggy if they didn't mix the shield ability a while back
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Post by S1E1 on Mar 27, 2022 20:25:12 GMT -5
My other 4 mechs are pretty much permanent. I have maxed Guardian and Panther, 6.6 KS and Shadow. I need around 1200 bps to max Killshot and I forget how many for Shadow. The Paragon is my temp mech and always was. Right before Global, I leveled it up so that I would have another heavy hitter mech. Now that I've maxed Guardian and Panther, I don't really need it. Right now, it goes back and forth with CB12 and RM12. Once I max KS, it'll be the RM12 build, Paragon will continue with CB12 while I work on the Shadow which will be JR8 eventually. Wow, you're close to there. That's awesome! I am nursing a suspicion that a maxed Paragon will be pretty fun with DL16s. Boost in, get a lock, unload and retreat. I imagine it'll still be pretty squishy and not that great for endgame, but it still might be fun to play. Of course, it'll be forever and a day before I have a DL16 and manage to double it... |
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Post by Koalabear on Mar 28, 2022 7:52:35 GMT -5
I chose Ares over Juggy after the rebalance. That little extra speed fit my play-style better. But i would still be running Juggy if they didn't mix the shield ability a while back Me too. It was the right thing to do though cause back then, the Jugg was the better tank. Now, it depends on personal taste. |
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Post by Koalabear on Mar 28, 2022 8:32:19 GMT -5
Update. Added a poll and added Stalker and Tengu. I'm more in favour of Stalker over the Tengu though because of it's ability to carry dual CB12 or RM12, and it was originally my plan to use the Stalker in the 5th slot. It's still woefully under leveled though but I suppose I can throw some credits at it while I'm collecting blueprints for Killshot and Shadow. But, I would only do this if I don't plan on buying the Brickhouse which has similar ability, way more HP but is way slower.
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Post by Redfiend on Mar 28, 2022 11:03:29 GMT -5
Update. Added a poll and added Stalker and Tengu. I'm more in favour of Stalker over the Tengu though because of it's ability to carry dual CB12 or RM12, and it was originally my plan to use the Stalker in the 5th slot. It's still woefully under leveled though but I suppose I can throw some credits at it while I'm collecting blueprints for Killshot and Shadow. But, I would only do this if I don't plan on buying the Brickhouse which has similar ability, way more HP but is way slower. Stalker is too squishy for Carbines. Ares is probably your best bet. BUT, if you despise Mortars, Jug is still the only thing that can "nope" them on any map. Brickhouse is better with mid-long range weapons because it's so damn slow. |
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Post by Koalabear on Mar 28, 2022 11:49:14 GMT -5
I just looked and I have over 1400 bps for the Ares and over 7k blueprints for the Jugg. I think I could probably max them both given enough credits and A-coins.
IDK, right now, I'm kinda leaning towards the Ares only because I just faced a maxed Ares and it soaked up all my RG shots and still killed me. It was close though. I'm sure a maxed Jugg would have done the same.
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Post by lrob on Mar 29, 2022 2:54:40 GMT -5
I'm like two steps behind you, but I'm really interested in your post because I'm in a pretty similar situation. I'm not running a tank now, but eventually for a 5th mech, I was thinking about how necessary is to have a tank vs. Stalker (that is currently accumulating BP in the background). Because of the same reason, I don't have a strong opinion about this. My only comment is that for me (as someone already mentioned before) if you're planning to use the carbines, the extra speed of Ares makes a difference. With the sustained damage, sometimes you need some legwork to finish the job.
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Post by Munki on Mar 29, 2022 11:59:39 GMT -5
I personally like the Ares but you stated you liked the Jugg back in the day. It is also one rank higher so that saves some A-coins. I see less human piloted Juggs; that can help you as opponents have less practice fighting them when maxed out.
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Post by Koalabear on Mar 29, 2022 13:56:44 GMT -5
Another thing for me to consider...
Because the Jugg's shield is now timed, if the shield gets taken down before the 12s is up, you have to wait til the end of the 12s PLUS the 10s cooldown before you can activate the shield again.
As for the Ares, since the shield is permanent, as soon as it goes down, the cool down starts. These days, a single JR8 or even a single RG16 shot will take down either shield. Tanks don't really last that much longer than other mechs.
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Post by reconnecting on Mar 30, 2022 12:25:46 GMT -5
Another thing for me to consider... Because the Jugg's shield is now timed, if the shield gets taken down before the 12s is up, you have to wait til the end of the 12s PLUS the 10s cooldown before you can activate the shield again. As for the Ares, since the shield is permanent, as soon as it goes down, the cool down starts. These days, a single JR8 or even a single RG16 shot will take down either shield. Tanks don't really last that much longer than other mechs. I have to disagree about tanks. It can take three shors by my dual railgun Panther to kill a shielded Ares. And my Bruckhouse can take double Arc 10 attacks for some time while returning fire with its Carbine and Thermal Lance. And they are not maxed, yet. ;-) |
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Post by Koalabear on Mar 31, 2022 15:43:56 GMT -5
So, I think I've come to a decision and that will be the Ares. I was in a match today with a friendly maxed Ares. The key here is team work. He helped us push through into a highly contested beacon. There were even a couple of humans on the other side who were pretty good. But, my blue Ares team mate knew his stuff and we meshed our tactics very well together. I think a BH would mesh very well also, but more from an offensive standpoint, whereas the Ares meshed from a defensive standpoint. The Jugg can't cover other team mates except to draw fire and I guess that works too to a certain degree but likely not as well as the Ares.
So, once I save up to 2800 A-coins, I'll rank my Ares to 5 and then start throwing credits at it when I have them spare (which is now cause I don't have enough bps for the KS or Shadow yet).
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Post by lrob on Apr 4, 2022 12:42:24 GMT -5
I just watched a video in Mayer's YT channel and he said that the new upcoming mech will be a tank. I wonder if it will be a good option for your 5th slot. For sure will take a while before it's available at a decent price, but with Tengu and Stalker wasn't that long and they were not expensive to get at low level.
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Post by Koalabear on Apr 4, 2022 12:49:07 GMT -5
I just watched a video in Mayer's YT channel and he said that the new upcoming mech will be a tank. I wonder if it will be a good option for your 5th slot. For sure will take a while before it's available at a decent price, but with Tengu and Stalker wasn't that long and they were not expensive to get at low level. Really? Hmm, that is interesting. Good thing I didn't have enough A-coins to rank up my Ares yet. Maybe I'll wait and see. There's no real rush anyway. |
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Post by Koalabear on Apr 4, 2022 15:19:54 GMT -5
Just watched the Mayer video for the new Tank. Uh-oh...absorption shiedl?? I'm getting War Robot vibes here.
Lets take a look at the 3 shield mechs available now. IMO, I feel they are balanced. Jugg is an all over shield that isn't very strong and is time based. Ares has a strong frontal shield and is not time based. Panther has an indestructible stationary shield that is time based.
But, looks like we're gonna get a new shielded mech with an absorption shield that does something after a certain amount of damage or time. I don't know how I feel about that right now. If it just explodes like how Mayer thinks, that's not too bad - as long as you can damage it and thereby somewhat control when it explodes, and the explosion has a limited range.
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Post by lrob on Apr 4, 2022 16:07:57 GMT -5
Yeah hard to be sure. But I feel that talking about new mechs, they have been able to keep the balance... so far. Both Tengu and Stalker are good but not totally OP. Seems like it's not going to be long before this new guy is available.
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Post by Koalabear on Apr 5, 2022 8:15:22 GMT -5
True. So, basically by the time I'm ready to focus on my 5th slot, this bad boy might be out and I might have picked him up for cheap and have just started collecting blueprints for him. Hmm... Hmmm...
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Post by Koalabear on Apr 11, 2022 7:23:51 GMT -5
Update...
So, I bought those $2.79 for 400 A-coins x 5 over the weekend and had enough to upgrade either my Ares or Stalker which were both at the same level and same HP. I went with Ares just because I had over 1400 blueprints for it and only about 28 for the Stalker.
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Post by Koalabear on Apr 13, 2022 14:48:59 GMT -5
Just did some quick counting...even after I rank up my Ares to R6, I'll still need over 1400 blueprints to max it and I only have 1000. Sigh...sheesh, it's the same with my Shadow and KS. Just don't have enough to max quite yet and I'm certainly not going to do it with A-coins. Given a choice between these 3 though, I think I'll focus on the Ares more, just because both the Shadow and KS are fine in terms of weapons at their level, ie: JR6/8 and JR8/RM12 respectively. But, the Ares will only go into action with dual CB12 cause I don't have a 8EN weapon that will go with a CB12 on the Ares.
Well...I suppose I can go either MR8 or DL8 to go with the CB12...
Thoughts?
Note, I don't think I'm quite ready to go AT10 cause that's another bunch of blueprints I'd have to collect AFTER I pick up the AT10, PLUS ranking it up to get the range boost, PLUS getting the pilot for it, PLUS getting the range implant and leveling that...so no...
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Post by lrob on Apr 13, 2022 15:15:45 GMT -5
I would say DL12/8. I think it's a pretty strong setup for Ares, but not sure if you have DL12 and I think you want to use Carb12 and Major. What about pulse cannon 8? With the Carb 12. It would benefit from the innate skill and leveled up it's a solid weapon.
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Post by Koalabear on Apr 14, 2022 8:03:05 GMT -5
I do have the DL12 but it's not leveled. I'm tempted but that's another commitment I'm unwilling to do just because it'll distract me from my priorities right now. I've run the DL weapons on my KS before, and TBH, I'm not that big a fan. I feel it's another one of those weapons that don't really get viable until you throw a bunch of modifiers at it, in this case, the extra large explosion diameter to hit mechs behind shallow cover. When my Shadow is max, I'm thinking of trying DL8 and JR8. I I've tried with with JR6 and it's only ok due to my DL8 level.
My PC8 is at R4 I think, so it might not be a bad idea as a side project while I wait for more blueprints to drop, and it might be fun later on to try PC8 on the Shadow.
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Post by salvia on Apr 14, 2022 11:29:32 GMT -5
Can confirm that the damage radius implant for the DL is a game changer. You get a dramatically increased number of double kills, and kill enemy mechs by shooting at a nearby wall becomes a viable (and pleasurable !) tactic.
But to be fair, the weapon is already viable without that implant.
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Post by Koalabear on Apr 15, 2022 13:07:29 GMT -5
Just picked up the DL16, so I think the DL weapons is something I'll invest in for the long term, after I've got my mech line up leveled.
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Post by Koalabear on Apr 17, 2022 18:13:40 GMT -5
Ok, so I'm a bit flush with A-coins now thanks to a few A-coin deals and impulse spending (and my credit card closed so why not?). Anyway, I can spend 2800 to rank up my Ares to R6 or 4000 to buy the remaining blueprints necessary to max my KS or just over 3000 to max my Shadow. Hmm.... thoughts?
I'm kinda leaning towards maxing my KS. It gets a huge HP buff plus I can finally run dual RM12 or dual CB12. I could even start leveling my newly acquired DL16 and run DL16/DL8 for the requisite 24EN for maxed KS. This would let me skip leveling the DL12 for now. My Shadow is still kinda ok with JR8/JR6 and I might even shelve it for a bit to run JR8 Stalker just to get some achievements out of the way.
My Paragon is hardly used because it can't stand up to sustained fire and my original goal was to replace it with the Ares. But, since I don't have enough blueprints to max my Ares, I'm a bit wary about pushing too fast and "wasting" all those credits.
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Post by lrob on Apr 17, 2022 20:20:05 GMT -5
Did you get a chance to try SG8? I think that after the recent boost it became a really good weapon. The only problem is that in order to have a decent range, it needs to be leveled up (and not a bad idea to add at least the blue implant for range). But I know that you like Shadow and I think that could be a really good setup, able to put Shadow at the "meta level". I don't have a maxed light mech, but I tried it with my Stalker and it was fun.
About the KS, he is my only maxed mech, and I love the guy. I mostly use him with dual MR12 and it's fun to play with him. I tried to play with DL, but I found myself more comfortable with the burst damage of MR. Dual RM12 is definitely a good setup in terms of power, specially to farm tournaments in some maps, but if you play with friends there is always this feeling of unfairness surrounding the weapon. I still don't love shooting and killing robots that I don't even know what they are.
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Post by Koalabear on Apr 17, 2022 21:14:55 GMT -5
I didn't manage to pick up the SG8 so can't run that until it becomes available for in game resources.
Another pro for maxing my Shadow would be to run both DL8 and LA8. I'm really stoked to try the Shadow in the "invisible sniper" role. My Torchlight pilot is decent level too and I can put JR8 on the Stalker. This of course, would mean putting off leveling my Ares, since I can't max it any time soon.
Dang, now I kinda wish I didn't rank it up to R5 and spend those 2800 A-coins...
Another thing to consider...now that I picked up the DL16, I'm thinking of shelving my SB16. I like running dual SB16 on my Panther, but it's DPS is just way too low at higher level games and TDM. If I can ever get my DL16 cloned, it'll definitely replace the SB16...but it has a LONG way to go.
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Post by S1E1 on Apr 17, 2022 22:56:35 GMT -5
I'd vote for maxing your KS. It'll be the most effective for the most maps in tourney once it can carry 2x12EN weapons. My experience with my maxed Ares so far is that except for running it with Arc10s it is not really a great 1st or 2nd mech to run in tournament. Not fast enough and not enough firepower. It is good as a 3rd mech to mop up though. Also if it was me and I was flush with A-Coins, I'd go for the big purchase and get the satisfaction of checking that box off. That's just me though.
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