Annihilator is too good!

[sevenmelons]

3x UAC10 + 1 Gauss Riffle with Comms+3 cores everyone not on Bulwark at first sight. ew!

[BloodCat]

Originally posted by Zuul:

UAC2++.

Strap 5 of these bad boys on and you have a 420 point alpha for 25 tons and 5 crits. Virtually no refire penalty with decent guts, and range just doesn’t matter. Plenty of space and tonnage for armor, ammo, jump jets, a full suite of lasers and enough heat sinks to keep you nice and chilly.

All the dakka.

UAC/2s are somewhat range excessive. UAC/5s, on the other hand, are head-blowing machineguns which can be used for close defense if needed.

[(GI Joe) Stormcrow]

Its prolly op'd but the got toilet paper armor. If you run into a lance with teeth they'll blow your arms off and pick you apart. I pull one of the AC/10's and max the armor out. That makes it OP'd. A walking fortress. Get a decent gunner in it and you can take down an Atlas in the first round.

[danko9696]

Originally posted by BloodCat:

UAC/2s are somewhat range excessive. UAC/5s, on the other hand, are head-blowing machineguns which can be used for close defense if needed.

Forget about the range, the UAC2s are just more damage efficient and better for headcapping.

[WC?]

I like that the AI gets to use it. Running into one on the field gives anyone pause even if they are running their best mechs and pilots. It simply is a threat just by being on the board. This is the new king of random headshots for the AI. Sure the marauder is better for the player, but the AI gets more mileage out of those bonus damage AC/10. I have already lost a few pilots to random head hits out of these things. I have taken to simply never ever exposing myself to it without some kind of defensive mod on, either from vigil or some trees. Does command module protect you from getting headcapped by AC10 with bonus on its own? I have not checked yet.

[Exarch_Alpha]

Not really. You need 3 shots to land on assault mechs. With 5 you need 2.

I do like my Marauder with UAC 20, however. Guaranteed one hit kill, and even if it misses it´s a ton of damage elsewhere.

[Petrothian]

Originally posted by Purplehood69:

I have devastated every Annihilator that I came across.
It is simply 100 tons of no armor.
When I finally acquired enough to field one myself, it was the first to get what little armor it had stripped in every combat, so I sold it.

^pretty much this. NPC annhihilators have trouble hitting my fast moving mechs. and have paper thin armour.

[Harukage]

I see Annihilator as a glorified oversized Rifleman/Jaegermech. The same pattern really. Slow and poorly armored long range weapon platform. It has no business staying anywhere near combat.

[danko9696]

Originally posted by Hyndis:

Snub PPC's with +dmg are disgustingly good. The ++ version does a 25x5 dmg cluster of shots. Thats 5 medium lasers of damage for only 6 tons and 35 heat.

Not saying SNPPCs are bad but that's not a fair comparison. Those five MLs are much better with called shots than the snub, and also you're comparing a ++ snub vs regular MLs, with ++ MLs the difference is much higher.

Originally posted by Exarch_Alpha:

Not really. You need 3 shots to land on assault mechs. With 5 you need 2.

I do like my Marauder with UAC 20, however. Guaranteed one hit kill, and even if it misses it´s a ton of damage elsewhere.

If you use ++ variants that changes dramatically and the UAC2++ becomes a much better weapon than the UAC5++. It's lighter, with less recoil and less heat, allowing you to add more weapons on top. And that superiority (over the UAC5) also translates to the ANH, although in this case the UAC20 really shines when going for the CT. Here[i.imgur.com] there is a little chart to show my point.

[Zuul]

Originally posted by Exarch_Alpha:

Not really. You need 3 shots to land on assault mechs. With 5 you need 2.

I do like my Marauder with UAC 20, however. Guaranteed one hit kill, and even if it misses it´s a ton of damage elsewhere.

UAC2++ only needs 2 rounds to hit to head cap. That being said why bother playing around with the chance of RNG screwing you when that much raw damage can just chew right through the heart of an Atlas.

5 UAC 2++s on an annihilator gives you enough left over tonnage to clear 600 damage alphas while still running cool and ignoring recoil penalties.

Since a well built lance almost certainly contains a Marauder for head chopping and damage reduction...you’ll be spending most of your focus for called shots with that mech instead. So the raw massive damage potential and sustainability over the uac5 version really shine.

While a triple uac20 build can get up into that damage range too...range and recoil are very serious issues.

[Valen]

I prefer my mechs to mount mostly energy weapons. Annihilator has weak armor. Other assault mechs can core just as well - with the right builds.

Your Annihilator build is a walking bomb - Gauss weapon blows up and takes out entire section if hit - not to mention all the ammo you must be packing for the UAC 10's

I'll pass.... On your glass cannon.

But if it is good for you - have fun with it.

[Named]

Not sure why people keep commenting on low armour of Annihilator. It's a 'Mech designed for maximum damage output - there is always a trade off when specialising. It can't be everything.

I have always had specialist roles in my team - usually two front liners with high armour, medium and short range. One medium to long range DPS (sniper or artillery) and one fast moving scout/backstabber.

I have never had an issue with my glass cannons getting focus fired. It's very easy to keep them out of harm's way. Even when the enemy TRIES to focus them - that's good - it opens them up for easier backstabbing and shortens the fight.

Anyway, you're better off with UAC2, 5 or 10 on an Annihilator. Why would you need it to be close to the fight with that kind of weaponry? It has plenty of armour to take the occasional hit when your tactics are ♥♥♥♥ and you accidentally let that happen.

[Ichthyic]

it doesn't have low armor. why do you all keep saying that? just because the default loadout IS low, doesn't mean you can't max the armor on it.

it has fine armor for an assault mech once you max it out.

[Named]

Originally posted by Ichthyic:

it doesn't have low armor. why do you all keep saying that? just because the default loadout IS low, doesn't mean you can't max the armor on it.

it has fine armor for an assault mech once you max it out.

That's true. I don't even max it out - I refined the loadout to a nice set of UACs, enough ammo to sustain them and a TTS+++ - it has sufficient tonnage for standard assault Mech armour. It has less than an Atlas II with full loadout - so I'd never use it as a brawler - but that's far from being a weakly armoured Mech.

I've just assumed that even if it were frail, it can perform very well as a "glass cannon". Even though it is way tougher than any other "glass cannons" I've put in the field.

[Ichthyic]

FWIW, it has the EXACT same armor setup as an Atlas II, except the atlas has more front center torso armor (350 vs 310). that's it. everything else is the same.

[Ichthyic]

also, for those saying they are having problems squashing small mechs... put some big shotguns on your annihilator. an LBX 20 does the same damage as an AC 20, but more stability damage, and shotguns 6 pellets. you will hit small mechs with those. and they have very low refire penalty (only 2 base).

if you are going after slower mechs, you get more bang for your buck by using UACs/AC20s. alternate fire between your two UACs, or get yourself at least 2 ballistic TTS+++ to help compensate for the massive 8 refire penalty.

if you want to use it for headhunting, UAC2++ or gauss++ will work. either will allow you to fully armor up too, not that you should need to.

add a tag to your close range annihilator for bonus damage, and/or add a tag to your other close range mechs.