Found a Gauss Rifle++ in the black market

[RoyBaty]

The price is 4.44 million!
I'm wondering, is it worth it?

I just started playing again after launch in a new campaign. Are these kind of finds in the black market common?

[pete]

Do you have the cash? The fact that it is 2 crit spots smaller can be handy.

[wesnef]

Gauss++ aren't terribly common in the BM. I found one in my last Career, and three in my last Campaign. For what that's worth.

It all depends on if you think you'll use Gauss Rifles in the future. And how much money you have - there might be better uses for it at the stage you're at. (And depending on your game mode & difficulty settings. And what DLC you have.)

[JC]

I've seen 3 so far in my recent play, just around a year in. They seam like if you are passing by planets that have them, or plan your flights to stop, or pass by them they aren't the hardest thing to find. Now that i realized you can do planet flyby's and check the store and stop if you see something you like hunting for things has gotten a lot easier.

[red255]

black markets refresh inventory every time you enter the system.

so I go to the two black markets near each other and go thru inventory.

worth it? I mean once you start doing 3 skull missions 4 million isn't really a big deal. but you can buy a star league atlas for 2.25 million a piece so 6.75 Million for a full unit

so I wouldn't buy the guns if I didn't have enough money floating around to buy stuff thats actually good.

the Star League Atlas is a monster.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2073936265

this is the thing I went with.

6.75 for the Mech, 3.6 for each ER PPC++ 2.5 for the L Pulse lasers++ 1.5 for the medium pulse laser ++, .8 for the Exchanger++ Double heat sinks came with the unit.

does a crap ton of damage. great heat management. somewhat on the slow side. if the enemies arent running at you, you might need to waste a turn running at them. it not, and just use your massive ranged cannons.

total throw weight of 600 something damage. total cost something like 24 Million C-bills. + the time spent shopping. but its a beast.

I'd probably do some more tweaking to it. if time/money wasn't an object, or I could have spent alot less on it and been at least 80% as good. Large Lasers +++ cost only what .3 M?

but I was making a statement.

[wesnef]

Originally posted by red255:

6.75 for the Mech,. . . Double heat sinks came with the unit.

Depends, of course, on your difficulty settings. I've always used "mechs come unequipped", and my last couple playthroughs I've gone up to 4 parts needed (it's a bigger change than it seems at first - you can't headshot a mech and get it, for instance.)



. . . trying to remember what all I put on the Atlas II I got for finishing the Campaign. I know I put two of my Gauss++ on it, but I don't recall what else. Mostly because I never actually fielded the thing, what with not playing past the end of the Campaign. :D

My "monster" in that Campaign was a regular Annihilator, with Gauss++, 3x UAC5++, UAC2++. ~425 damage at pretty high range.

[red255]

yeah I don't have those DLC, point is after you have your Chassis you can spend your money on whatever, 4 million is roughly 2 3 skull missions.

and yes that would be a significant difficulty increase, since mecs coming equipped and 3 parts is a huge source of my income. frequently I have piles of heat sinks and jump jets from salvaged mechs I sell en bulk. god knows what everything weighs but I seem to accquire huge amounts of medium lasers, jump jets and heat sinks. so it adds up.

[L37]

Honestly i try to buy this ones when i see them. They are not very common and are pretty nice to have. Annihilator with 4 or 5 of them is pretty nice.
As for "better buy mechs"... do not know, IMO good weapons are more important in the end, and harder to find.

[red255]

you can fit 5 Gauss rifle on an annhilator? the thing weighs 14 tons + ammo. thats what? 75 tones of weapondry? how?

[Lack of Stuff]

Originally posted by red255:

you can fit 5 Gauss rifle on an annhilator? the thing weighs 14 tons + ammo. thats what? 75 tones of weapondry? how?

Well the regular Gauss weighs 15 tons but the + and ++ versions come in at 13 tons. I still don't think it's practical to put more than 4 on an Anni but if your using a mod then it becomes viable to stick a 5th one on perhaps.

[L37]

Originally posted by red255:

you can fit 5 Gauss rifle on an annhilator? the thing weighs 14 tons + ammo. thats what? 75 tones of weapondry? how?

Well, this "++" ones are "-2T", also annihilator is large version of urbanmech - it has no engine whatsoever (but funnily enough is as fast as other assaults in this game):
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2074300670
Loadout i practically use is this:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2074300359
And here are 5 gauss rifles:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2074300539

A bit too little armor for me (and because of it i use 4 gauss + uac2 version), but considering its range if you are carefull this thing should never be exposed to enemies and shot.

[red255]

so the anni is a 100T mech with close to 80 tons of free space for weapons and armor, and 20% bonus ballistic damage? I remember using them in Mech warrior 3, they were very awkward and not too sexy, but I can understand using them with the DLC.

I assume both the guns and Unit are a DLC based? None of the DLC add a daishi do they?

[Lack of Stuff]

Originally posted by red255:

so the anni is a 100T mech with close to 80 tons of free space for weapons and armor, and 20% bonus ballistic damage? I remember using them in Mech warrior 3, they were very awkward and not too sexy, but I can understand using them with the DLC.

I assume both the guns and Unit are a DLC based? None of the DLC add a daishi do they?

No Clan mechs in official content.

Edit: Except for a proto-clan type thingy.

[red255]

checking the Atlas 2, stripped down has 1.5 more tonnage available over the Anni. I mean if you want to use ballistics then sure go with the Anni. I'd still go with something other than a Gauss Rifle. probably UAC 5's. and use the extra tonnage for more guns.

haven't seen UAC 5's stats per se, but usually the conflicts are at AC5 range or closer.

I just don't like Ballistics. they are very heavy, they jam, their magazines explode, the damage isn't worth the weight.

but I haven't seen the AC 5's the ER PPC++ is way up there though for only 6 tons. and its range is very long.

I just fell in love with conflict at 270m and use the Medium lasers and SRM for most of my fights, at the earlier game level. the Assault class mec I typically use multi target, fire off my long range weapons at a distant target, and my short range weapons at something closer.

If I can get around to one side it generally dies.

[wesnef]

Originally posted by red255:

I just don't like Ballistics. they are very heavy, they jam, their magazines explode, the damage isn't worth the weight.

Well, they don't jam in this game, so that's fine. I stick the ammo in the legs, so I've never had an ammo explosion. Or maybe one. In 1000 hours of play.

The UAC5++ is 45 dmg x2, -2 tons, -2 recoil
The UAC2++ is 35 dmg x2, -2 tons, +10 dmg
The LBX2++ is a 72 dmg shotgun for 5? tons

but I haven't seen the AC 5's the ER PPC++ is way up there though for only 6 tons. and its range is very long.

I basically avoid PPCs in the base game (my default mod since patch 1.2 or 1.3 is to replace them with LLas), and the ER PPCs and Pulse weapons in the DLC, because they're just too damn hot. Also, they're super expensive to buy. :D

I just fell in love with conflict at 270m and use the Medium lasers and SRM for most of my fights, at the earlier game level.

I came to the realization that in my latest Career, once I got above Medium mechs? I almost never used 270m range weapons. I think I had 2 MLs on my Marauder, but that was it.
Rifleman? 3xLBX2, UAC2
Warhammer - 3x ERLL, LL
Marauder SLDF - 4xLL, 2xML
Archer - 2xLRM20
Anni - Gauss, 3xUAC5, UAC2
Highlander SLDF - 3xLL, UAC5, LBX2, 2xLRM10

(Of course, the SLDF Griffin was 4xSRM6, 1xMPL, 2xMG; and the SLDF Crab was 2xERSL, 2xSRM6, 2xML.)


That said - yeah, before Heavy Metal all my 'endgame' lances had a Grasshopper with 7xML + 6xSupport. And my most common early-to-mid-game mediums were a Shadowhawk with 3xSRM6, and a Centurion with 2xLLas, AC5. So, a bit of both. :)

tl;dr - to each their own. :D

[danko9696]

Originally posted by red255:

checking the Atlas 2, stripped down has 1.5 more tonnage available over the Anni. I mean if you want to use ballistics then sure go with the Anni. I'd still go with something other than a Gauss Rifle. probably UAC 5's. and use the extra tonnage for more guns.

haven't seen UAC 5's stats per se, but usually the conflicts are at AC5 range or closer.

I just don't like Ballistics. they are very heavy, they jam, their magazines explode, the damage isn't worth the weight.

but I haven't seen the AC 5's the ER PPC++ is way up there though for only 6 tons. and its range is very long.

I just fell in love with conflict at 270m and use the Medium lasers and SRM for most of my fights, at the earlier game level. the Assault class mec I typically use multi target, fire off my long range weapons at a distant target, and my short range weapons at something closer.

If I can get around to one side it generally dies.

As said above ballistic don't jam here. And they're very very good, some of the new weapons, other are mediocre or just bad.

- UAC2s are super good, better at medium range than SRM6s and nearly as good (tiny bit worse) than SRM4s while having a lot more range. The only real con is lack of hardpoints for them in most chassis. For pure medium range they cannot compete with MLs (or SRM2s) but they can with MPLs and ERMLs, losing in general but in the same ballpark and they have a lot more range.

- UAC5s are at a good distance from UAC2s efficiency wise, as they don't get bonus damage in the ++ variant but they're still quite good. They're in the same level as LLs but with more range, and clearly more efficient than ERLLs, which have similar range (although not exactly the same).

- UAC10s are mediocre, a lot worse than the other UACs. In fact they're even much worse than AC10s for 0% DR headcapping (60 dmg per hit), although they recover for other brackets and also for CT core, still kinda mediocre but enough to blow regular ACs (besides that 0%DR headhitting).

- UAC20s are quite good, a bit worse than UAC5s for headcapping efficiency but also a bit better for CT core, as they do get the +20% treatment for the ++ variant. That is, ignoring range/recoil/ammo. If you don't access to a couple TTS+++ then I'd say they are still good but well behind UAC5s.

- LBX2, super good for non PS shots, only SRMs are more efficient for that, but it has a lot more range. They do spread a LOT, so performance suffers for headcapping and CT core. Still not terrible due to the initial very high dmg/weight/heat efficiency. A good weapon but not a star imo. As an alternative to LRMs they are considerably more efficient but they lack indirect fire, although they can be used for headcapping along other weapons, while LRMs are nil for that.

- LBX5-LB20 are bad, very bad... unless you go for stab damage, but still they're not good. Just too heavy, very low efficiency without any real value when you can just use LRMs.

- Not a DLC one but still one upgrade from pre HM Gauss. That +5 internal damage makes a big difference, now it can headcap at 20% DR and the -2t variant is much more common now, as it can be purchased instead of only as a Flashpoint reward.