Lance for quick focus fire kill?

[MC24hc]

I am thinking about having a comb that will allow me to pick off enemy mech quickly...

So far I am trying this:

Heavy (AC 20+2 SRM), Heavy (AC 20+2 SRM), Assault (2 AC20+2SRM), Heavy (2 LRM+ Whatever).

I try to use the long range heavy as recon and fires support, lure/ rush a single enemy mech into 4 AC20 close range focus fire (ideally call shot into one single area)+ a lot of SRM for knock downs.

Working ok but still takes longer than I would expect to kill a mech (quite often even if I make call shots the enemy just suffers a lot of module damage and does not die)

What's your focus lance setup?

[chefcook90]

My advice: drop the AC 20's. They have a crappy damage to tonnage ratio, especially after you factor in the extra ammo and heatsinks you need to support them.

Try going with full SRMs with ++ damage mods and 4 jump jets.

Jet behind the enemy and then core them out with a precision strike to the rear center torso - you can reliably one-shot Heavies with this tactic.

[MC24hc]

Originally posted by chefcook90:

My advice: drop the AC 20's. They have a crappy damage to tonnage ratio, especially after you factor in the extra ammo and heatsinks you need to support them.

Try going with full SRMs with ++ damage mods and 4 jump jets.

Jet behind the enemy and then core them out with a precision strike to the rear center torso - you can reliably one-shot Heavies with this tactic.

Ah thank you, I will try that.
Any preferred mech for this loadout? (Class/ particular model)

[gigamelon1981]

I also used full SRM and full LRM Lance.
In case they unable to kill, they will knockdown a mech.
Im using Mediums. Still no luck for good heavies.
Full SRM preferably using Wolverine, or Shadow Hawk if not available.
2 SRM 6 and 1 SRM 4 with 2 ammo, and 3-5 jumpjet.
It is far better than using Quickdraw, the first Heavy i had,
because costy jumpjet and actual armor.

Shadow Hawk only can sport 2 SRM 6 and 1 SRM 4 at max since one must be mounted at the head which only has 1 slot. Maybe Wolverine is better ? Honestly that setup is quite fine for me, since i could beef my mech with a lot of armor as well, better than most heavies.

Knockdown + Kick also secondary option.
Against heavier mechs, i could even resort something like killing the pilot without destroying any part simply using head aim and knockdown.

Full LRM i used Centurion
1 LRM 20, 1 LRM 15, and 1 LRM 5 with 3 ammo, no jumpjet.
This can one shot most vehicles, armor is thin tho, dont get caught.

Honestly i want to try AC 20.
Ik they're not damage/ space effective, but they destroy a part per shot.
Doesnt seem to work well with Mediums, lets see if i manage to get good Heavies or Assault.

[Rad Dad Redemption]

Once you get a Stalker just load up on SRM 6 +4 Dmg and M Laser +10 Dmg, I think you can fit 4 and 8 of each iirc. Jump Jets, max armor, rest on ammo and heatsinks. Called Shot core Atlases for funsies.

[MC24hc]

So I tried with some medium mechs (only have those that can carry 3 SRM/LRM), and I went the extreme:

2 Wolverines: 0 armour, 3 LRM, 1 Cent: 0 Armour, 3 LRM, 1 Highlander, 2 AC 10, 2 LRM

I use the Highlander to front and spot enemies, while the 3 other ZERO armour meds spam LRMs at long distance.

It works surprisingly well...the LRMs knock down enemies quickly and the call shots focus do a lot of damage.

Can't wait to get the stalker

[Niuq]

3-4 morale gain mods called shot everything ac20 range is too short for my liking .
Mech choice total depend on play style but the less speed you have the more long range weapons u might want to consider.

[Fendelphi]

Have 2 mechs that can "hang back" and fire away(fire support), preferably with LRMs, and high damage, long range weapons(ACs, LLasers, PPCs), as they are good for multishot/breaching shot enemies that tries to brace/bulwark.

The other 2 mechs are flankers/backstabbers that flank the same side, trying to safely get around the back. These will have a mix of SRMs and Mlasers(typically) and focus a side of a mech together. They will quickly grind through a side due to their high alpha(and only 3 sections to hit), both crippling the enemy mechs damage output(losing arm and side torso) and knocking it down(losing a leg).

Once in the back, they can easily break through an assault mech with both of them shooting into the rear torso. If the enemy turns to engage them, your fire support can fire into their backs.

Just be on the lookout for enemy reinforcements.

[Urm the Mad]

I've been arguing this in another thread but 2-4 AC10+++'s are all you should ever need to called shot an assault mech out of existence

[MC24hc]

Good to see different ideas, thx guys

[Mistfox]

AC20s are not that bad either, they totally remove the mech body part they hit, which can solve some med/light 'problems' fast if lucky. Or precision fire.

[Urm the Mad]

Originally posted by Mistfox:

AC20s are not that bad either, they totally remove the mech body part they hit, which can solve some med/light 'problems' fast if lucky. Or precision fire.

This is another great point. An AC20 firing on its own can tear the core out of medium mechs. Firing with other weapons its a reliable weapon to remove all the armour on a mech segment. AC20 and 2x SRM6 can be a mean way of detonating ammo

[DarkFenix]

If memory serves, SRMs were nerfed with regards to called shots. So while they're still amazing for damage per ton, they're no longer useful weapons for quick coring.

So, what do you want for quick coring? Well, for starters you want a mech that does so much stability damage that it can cancel guarded status on anything. For that there can be no better than a quad-LRM20+++ Highlander, it outputs a ridiculous 320 stability damage at long range without needing line of sight, against a braced mech that's 160 stability damage, enough to unsteady all but an assault mech with a top notch pilot (the 5% of shots that'll miss mean you won't stagger a well piloted assault mech, which needs precisely 160 stability damage to unsteady).

Now that your intended target won't be bothering you with any inconvenient damage reduction, you need to core him. All that takes is a single mech, ideally an Atlas II since the King Crab has been indirectly nerfed for coring (by the SRM change). 2x AC/20+++, 2x SRM6+++, 5x MLaser++, a 415 damage alpha strike even without the SRMs.

[Lack of Stuff]

Originally posted by DarkFenix:

If memory serves, SRMs were nerfed with regards to called shots. So while they're still amazing for damage per ton, they're no longer useful weapons for quick coring.

So, what do you want for quick coring? Well, for starters you want a mech that does so much stability damage that it can cancel guarded status on anything. For that there can be no better than a quad-LRM20+++ Highlander, it outputs a ridiculous 320 stability damage at long range without needing line of sight, against a braced mech that's 160 stability damage, enough to unsteady all but an assault mech with a top notch pilot (the 5% of shots that'll miss mean you won't stagger a well piloted assault mech, which needs precisely 160 stability damage to unsteady).

Now that your intended target won't be bothering you with any inconvenient damage reduction, you need to core him. All that takes is a single mech, ideally an Atlas II since the King Crab has been indirectly nerfed for coring (by the SRM change). 2x AC/20+++, 2x SRM6+++, 5x MLaser++, a 415 damage alpha strike even without the SRMs.

You'd still need a second mech to knockdown since unsteadied mechs still retain guard.

[Ninjasquirrel]

If you're gonna use AC20, make sure you have a good pilot to reduce recoil penalty, and also good accuracy too since you're putting all your eggs into one basket.

I been playing with AC20 builds over this weekend and it's just too rng-dependent if most of your dmg is coming from those (I had a mission where my guy missed 3 consecutive shots at 90%+). It's great when you're getting good rolls and legs and arms are flying off but when you're missing it can cripple you. Especially those mechs that have one AC20 and thats it (like hunchback). And especially against high evasion mechs, they're useless (unless you get good rolls).

To survive at closer ranges, AC20 mechs also need to be well-armored (and movement if their only weapon is AC20), limiting the amount of other weapons you can stick onto it. Right now I am cautious to put AC20 on anything but assault mechs (and of course, hunchback), as assault are the only ones that can carry one and still have more than half its firepower available in case the AC20 misses.

Still, best moment of the weekend for me was when my hunchback jumped out of the bushes, blew the head off of an orion, and jumped back into the bushes before anyone knew what was happening.

Of course the rng gods deemed it proper to put 3 consecutive direct fire headshots on my commander's mech a few turns later lol.

[=]

Originally posted by chefcook90:

Jet behind the enemy and then core them out with a precision strike to the rear center torso - you can reliably one-shot Heavies with this tactic.

Called shot was nerfed with multi shot weapons and I generally dislike multi shot weapons as they spread their damage all over the target. This general tactic does works well with a Firestarter with 6 small lasers or a grasshopper with max MLs and MGs (MLs+SL+jump jets are too much heat now). A firestarter is all but guaranteed to core a light/medium mech and a Grasshopper will core a heavy and seriously damage an assault (with assaults I tend to target an upper torso with ammo as it will normally casue 2 wounds on the pilot and seriously reduce the targets firepower).

Quick kills from the front are quite a lot harder to do. Personally I have had quite a lot of luck with 'headhunters', pilots with tactics 9 for called shot mastery and weapons that do 61+damage (or a lot of MLs) aiming for the head. I made extensive use of AC20s from very early on in the campaign and they have headshot a lot of mechs.