Sunday Notes

Source: Alex Wolfe
It's been a long day. It started out by me wanting to take advantage of the free premium time to level my Stormcrows, but it got out of control really fast. Here's what I've been up to:

  • UAC-2 is a really fun weapon. Though it doesn't really do much damage-wise because it's impossible to concentrate fire. What it does is annoying the heck out of your opponents, because it spews out a ridiculous amount of lead in a very short time. This blinds and confuses the enemy and he has no way of telling if it's a 6xUAC-5 Dire Wolf tearing him apart or just a puny UAC-2 unless he's aware of you. I've been combining the UAC-2 with 5xML and 19xDHS in my Stormcrows and it's actually a good combo for the solo queue.
  • UAC-10 might be the best single Clan autocannon. It has decent projectile speed and dumps 2.5 damage projectiles that hurts a lot. It's a great all-round killer. UAC-20 only surpasses it at extremely close ranges but otherwise its projectile is just too slow to compete. I settled on a 3xML, 2xSL, UAC-10 build for my Stormcrows. ERSL's are getting buffed next week so this build is going to be even more potent.
  • ERML's are extremely hot! I didn't notice it much on my Timber Wolves and Warhawks due to  their high locked DHS count, but you certainly cannot boat these as easy as IS ML's. ERML is basically the IS LL of the Clans and its heat reflects this too. That's why this ERSL buff is important, the Clans need a comparable alternative to IS ML to compete. The trial Nova is essentially trying to boat 12 IS LL's and it's obviously not working out. I expect the Nova and Stormcrow to greatly improve after next patch, now that ERSL's are more viable.
  • What happens if I put 3xAMS on a Kitfox along with AMS Overload and Clan AMS Range 5 modules? Would it be an impassable firewall? Maybe it's a better idea to waste those missiles rather than not getting shot by using ECM? This idea has been bugging me a lot in the recent days and I tried it too, but today was the day I got the results. In order to try this, I had to make myself a juicy lurm target. So I tossed out the ECM and didn't bring a Radar Deprivation module. It kind of worked. As expected, Clan LRMs are essentially firewalled with this combo. Unless it's a Warhawk alphaing 4xLRM15's at you or you're being focused by many LRM boats, nothing goes through. IS LRMs are still not much affected though, they go through the firewall in droves since they come in a huge bunch. Still, it was interesting to see so many missiles being wasted, I went through 9000 AMS rounds a few times. If there were two Kitfoxes like this I reckon it would be a solid firewall. More stuff to investigate!
  • While doing this, I brought a TAG and a NARC and proceeded on NARC'ing the hell out of enemy teams. The result? Rock solid 350K C-Bill income(after premium) every match and the best of all, a greatly improved chance of winning. NARCs force the enemy into being passive, giving my team an upper hand in positioning.
  • Playing a support Kitfox this way(ECM, AMS, NARC, TAG) is a very relaxing and rewarding way to play this game. If you haven't tried yet, try it! (and read this article before doing so)
  • The Kitfox is really growing on me again. I talked about this earlier in another post, but the reason why I don't play much with IS lights is because they're so similar when it comes to builds. I can only play the same MG/ML/SRM builds before I get bored to death. The Kitfox on the other hand, is like a Swiss knife. It can mount AC's all the way up to UAC-10, it can carry heavier energy weapons and LRMs comfortably and it can spice up these builds with ECM, 3xAMS, TC and jump jets. I'm still discovering new builds today, after tens of hours in these 'Mechs. The only downside is the speed and occasional Jenners coming around and showing you who's the boss in the light world. Still, can you imagine a PPC Jenner being good? Or an AC5 Raven/Firestarter being viable? The Kitfox does all of this and does them well.
  • To finish it off, I jumped into my BNC-3E again. I have been using a 3xAC5+4xML build with incredibly success, it can even win duels against all kinds of Dire Wolves. I was originally using 2xUAC5+2UAC2 on this 'Mech, but I changed it after AC's got nerfed multiple times. So I thought I'd try it again. The result? It can still do respectable damage, but it just can't kill. The damage is spreading too much to be effective. The sheer DPS of the AC2's used to offset this a bit, but no more. It's also a pretty hot build and needs a smaller engine than the 3xAC5 build, which means worse torso twist and easier corings. After a few mediocre matches, I switched to the 3xAC5 build again and proceeded to absolutely demolishing enemy teams. IS AC5 is incredibly strong in numbers, try to boat it as much as you can.
  • This weekend event is the best one ever and PGI is being really generous. The rewards come in trickles, but they're still enough to make some difference. I accumulated something like 750MC already. 
Anyways, enjoy and have a great start to the next week tomorrow!
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About Rak

I'm an engineer who likes to write extremely long articles about games that border simulation and mainstream.
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