What's a good mech for rotary ACs?

[Winters]

Hey, I'm kind of new and between all the different mechs and their variants I'm a little overwhelmed. I've read a few threads on the subject but I'm hoping to get some help narrowing things down.

So far I've got a Locust-3M with small pulse lasers, a Bushwacker-P1 with SRM6s, and an Enforcer-5p with UAC/5s. So, I tried just slapping some rotary 2s or 5s on the Enforcer and calling it good but it feels risky and I don't think I'm getting the value I could be out of them. Ending matches with 500-600 damage though so I like what they're about. I read one of the Bushwacker variants can be good but I already have a Bushwacker and I'm trying to do something new here.

But there don't seem to be any mechs with rotary quirks and it seems like you can basically stick them on anything with ballistic hardpoints, I'm having trouble parsing my options and if anyone wants to help me out I'd appreciate it. Not ready for an assault, I'm thinking something in the 50-65 ton range, using a pair of rotary 2s with some medium lasers to supplement?

[salamatmahal]

I enjoy the MAD-3R with 3xRAC2 and 4ML. This is the one I would recommend to a newer player as it's a very brawly mech but also has super high mounts for the RACs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1ca6uFvq8Y&ab_channel=RandomMechwarrior

I enjoy the HBK-4G with 3xRAC2. It has relevant quirks and very nice high mounts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9KKa1d0NeE&ab_channel=RandomMechwarrior

I enjoy the FNR-5 with 4xRAC2 and 3xERSL. Massive DPS for short exposure times with ECM. Needs to be skilled out for heat for this to work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZLEwIYuuaQ&ab_channel=RandomMechwarrior

[cyäegha]

jesus christ, if i see another RACwacker ever again it'll be too soon

RACwacker is literally the worst thing you can do with the chassis, and i have no idea exactly why people keep suggesting it other than because it 'can'
a bushwacker's hitboxes are great for wiggling in between bursts and ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ awful for staring, plus the low-slung, close-track mounts means that any attempt to wiggle away from fire mid-stream will lead to all of your fire flying off into the aether, while 'mechs with a wider track could still at least get one gun on-target while wiggling

UACwacker is better than RACwacker in literally - not figuratively - every single possible use-case and it's by a country mile

[Harukage]

You can also try 3 RAC2s Shadow Hawk, though it is more of a meme build.
Among assaults you can equally use Hatomoto-Ku, Cyclops, Corsair, Mauler and Annihilator to mount 3 RAC2s.

[The Fifth Horseman]

Originally posted by Winters45:

But there don't seem to be any mechs with rotary quirks

Rifleman 8D has one, faster RAC unjamming. In general, range, heat or velocity quirks will also be useful. Cooldown quirks will be useless.

I'm thinking something in the 50-65 ton range, using a pair of rotary 2s with some medium lasers to supplement?

Undergunned. You either do 3xRAC2 or 2xRAC5.

[Chillidoge]

Bushwhackers, Hunchbacks, Shadow Hawks are all pretty good at boating RAC2s. I'm sure there are heavies out there that do it just as well, maybe the Dragon with it's 3x ballistic arm, but your payload is then loaded in a single part of your body making it easy to be stripped by a smart enemy.

[Ishan451]

Not really sure what makes a Bushwacker good at boating rAcs.

[Friends with Benedicts]

Jeager JM6 acting as supporting fire with two rotary AC5 on its arms. Find yourself an assault and stick close to it. Always be behind it and be careful not to shoot it on the back. This combo is extremely good for flaking.

Remember that jeager can't properly brawl with other mechanics, so avoid direct confrontation. Acting as supporting fire while enemies are focused on other mechs is pretty useful. I'm not a pro player obviously but that gameplay has saved my Jaeger from being a silly sniper.

[Tman]

Simple answer would be that some are but you find out when you have tried a few different hulls and loadouts as basically the gameplay and implementation changes on the hull you pick, the chosen weapon configuration will behave differently on different hulls, the speed given by mediums and maybe tweaked larges lets you reposition and avoid incoming fire the big hulls let you tank what the smaller ones cannot . Basically buy chassis try them and sell them if they dont suit ur needs, Oh also fits worth changes per map which cant be foretold. So like they say GL HF. :)

[Shotgun]

Originally posted by cyäegha:

jesus christ, if i see another RACwacker ever again it'll be too soon

RACwacker is literally the worst thing you can do with the chassis, and i have no idea exactly why people keep suggesting it other than because it 'can'
a bushwacker's hitboxes are great for wiggling in between bursts and ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ awful for staring, plus the low-slung, close-track mounts means that any attempt to wiggle away from fire mid-stream will lead to all of your fire flying off into the aether, while 'mechs with a wider track could still at least get one gun on-target while wiggling

UACwacker is better than RACwacker in literally - not figuratively - every single possible use-case and it's by a country mile

I use Bushwackers exclusively with RACs, and across almost 200 matches with a couple of variants, my KDR is almost 4:1 with an average of about 1.5 kills per match.

RACs are a projection weapon, and benefit a lot from the mobility that an agile chassis like the Bushwacker provides.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2394694672

[Dakota]

Originally posted by cyäegha:

jesus christ, if i see another RACwacker ever again it'll be too soon

RACwacker is literally the worst thing you can do with the chassis, and i have no idea exactly why people keep suggesting it other than because it 'can'
a bushwacker's hitboxes are great for wiggling in between bursts and ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ awful for staring, plus the low-slung, close-track mounts means that any attempt to wiggle away from fire mid-stream will lead to all of your fire flying off into the aether, while 'mechs with a wider track could still at least get one gun on-target while wiggling

UACwacker is better than RACwacker in literally - not figuratively - every single possible use-case and it's by a country mile

Could say UACs in general are a better weapon than RACs in every practical way honestly. I've seen so many people run Marauders and Bushwackers with RACs just stare nonstop that I've started focusing heads on Marauders again since they don't bother wiggling.

The RACs at least work when the things aren't taking much return fire, and the hitboxes of a Bushwacker are at least better than them running out in a Jagermech and trying to face tank, but honestly any mech doesn't last that long when face tanking the way RACs and machine guns require.



Anyway to OP: You really don't want a 50-65 ton mech for RACs, and just a couple RAC2s is going to be really bad. RACs are a weapon that requires that you just out tank and out DPS your opponent, best mechs for that are assaults, Annihilators, Fafnirs, stuff like that with a couple RAC5s paired with some UACs so you still retain some burst but a lot of extra DPS when you can bring the guns to bear. With that your goal is to just beat down whatever opponents commit rather than poke, as RACs are incapable of really dealing with people who are poking out to attack and then hiding after anyway, and assaults are really all about committing to a spot.

IF you do go with a lighter mech for RACs you're relegated to fire support duty, stick with an assault mech to draw fire off of yourself and then add DPS to the fight against targets that aren't focused on you. Having some additional support options like ECM or AMS to further support the group would be good for the team overall.

Thanatos is a pretty good heavy that can run a lot of builds with dual ballistics up high including dual RAC5 or if you find you dislike them you can swap in dual UAC10s or dual gauss or whatever, the big feature though is it's ECM. Really no reason to not just go ahead and use a 75 tonner if you are going for a heavy, a heavy slot is a heavy slot in the matchmaker, doesn't matter if you're only 60 tons, and having some heavier armor, ability to optionally add jump jets, high mounts, ECM, and multiple alternative good build options is probably a lot better than going for something like a jagermech or rifleman that dies to a stiff breeze and gets focused more.

[Swamp Thing]

This is fun and good out of the box ;)

https://mech.nav-alpha.com/#8cf77ba7_COR-7A

[Deviantdemigodz]

LOL are you joking OP Racs don't work very well at all even with 3 or 4 of them in fact 1 rac 2 or 5 alone does more damage overall than 2-4 of them together PGI balance LOL go figure.

P.S get a real mech like a MK2 with 2 ac10 or uac10 and lasers and missle's and go nuts and have some fun.

[salamatmahal]

Originally posted by Deviantdemigodz:

1 rac 2 or 5 alone does more damage overall than 2-4 of them together.

Is there any evidence you could share regarding this point?

[brownie689]

Originally posted by cyäegha:

jesus christ, if i see another RACwacker ever again it'll be too soon

RACwacker is literally the worst thing you can do with the chassis, and i have no idea exactly why people keep suggesting it other than because it 'can'
a bushwacker's hitboxes are great for wiggling in between bursts and ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ awful for staring, plus the low-slung, close-track mounts means that any attempt to wiggle away from fire mid-stream will lead to all of your fire flying off into the aether, while 'mechs with a wider track could still at least get one gun on-target while wiggling

UACwacker is better than RACwacker in literally - not figuratively - every single possible use-case and it's by a country mile

You just don't know how to use the RacWacker. slap on 2 RAC 5's. It's meant as a fire support mech. You get behind your assault and lay down massive fire and never stop shooting until everything is dead. It's amazing. Makes your enemies panic, run for cover and die because they get so confused by their screen exploding and shaking while your team finishes them off.

[JC]

I actually have a victor that i run a rac in, It's an odd duck for sure, but i just love the mech. It's sorta like a fat heavy.