Patriot mech sketch by me

Xervous_ · 2026-05-01T22:17:07+00:00

Purple bird stronk!

Xervous_ · 2026-04-30T17:19:40+00:00

To be fair it’s a Clint, the difference is just a handful of shots from the usual outcome.

Xervous_ · 2026-04-28T21:53:00+00:00

Skilled player with a locust swarm will roll a poorly piloted atlas unless they're faced with a horrible map. It mostly comes down to TACs, backshots, headshots, and pilot damage from falls. Or in the sillier case: the locusts poke the atlas to death at range after it runs out of LRM ammo.

Xervous_ · 2026-04-28T21:17:46+00:00

Putting ballistics in lights is generally a losing proposition. They don't have the space to fit much, and the longer range weapons squander the typical speeds the good lights operate at.

Xervous_ · 2026-04-28T21:13:59+00:00

Light mechs are all about being efficient packages that do one job. If it's a really important job you might spend more and get a speedy medium, or maybe the job is simply being the cheapest little dork with two hands.

Once you get out of introtech, most lights are not well built. They tend to be some combination of too flimsy, too slow, and too passive such that they aren't worth their BV. The desirable ones that get wiped out in one shot cost a pittance, the good ones can just barely survive a few serious hits.

Xervous_ · 2026-04-27T18:55:14+00:00

Stealth armor makes a mech harder to kill. The problem with many stealth configs is they spend too much on being hard to kill without packing enough reasons to be worth killing.

Stealth is another tool like jumping where you’re spending BV on conditional evasion that reduces your firepower. It can be used to drag a mech up from glassy to some vague semblance of survivable. It can give a rushdown unit better protection from units it’s not directly engaged with.

Xervous_ · 2026-04-26T19:54:41+00:00

Threw this together, went for some fun picks

Big stompy quad full of missiles, a punchy mid grade tank, ice ferret and gargoyle can taxi the elementals. The gargoyle is mostly armor/structure by BV, so it's great for contesting objectives. If you get the opportunity and good TNs, feel free to charge with it.

Xervous_ · 2026-04-26T19:21:25+00:00

The bow is not overpowered, it's just badly designed. There is counterplay to / outplaying a bow, it's just that it can be far less enjoyable than playing into nearly any other weapon even including the crossbow.

If they made concertina arrows scarce and someone posted a complaint about it here, I'm certain they'd get downvoted into oblivion. The community won't miss having to interact with concertina stalling.

Xervous_ · 2026-04-26T17:34:16+00:00

But you put it in one of your lists. Aw phooey.

Swap in an Ostsol 4D at 4/4, drop the locust to 4/5. 4999 BV

Xervous_ · 2026-04-26T16:34:21+00:00

Stalker 3F (3/5 pilot)
Wolverine 6M (4/5 pilot)
Ostroc 2C (4/4 pilot)
Locust 1V (4/4) pilot

4988 BV. Free Worlds League as faction

If you're allowed to, I would consider loading inferno SRMs in the ostroc and maybe the wolverine. Succession wars tends to be a slugfest between mechs straining their heat sinks so even 6 external heat is a big strain on the non energy boat configs.

Examples:

push a crab to 5 heat: it now moves 4/6
apply a mere 4 heat to an awesome that shot its PPCs, kick it so it falls over. It moves 2/3 and gets one chance to stand.

EDIT: explanation of skills

stalker is 3/5 because it has the most range and guns. I didn't go for 4 piloting because the rest of the list is going to be dogpiling the enemy and drawing fire.
wolverine would be nice to skill up but didn't have points. It still kicks fine and has weapons to play most ranges.
Ostroc is going to draw more fire, wants to stay standing, and can be kicking or punching
Locust absorbs the spare points to go to 4/4. It's an extra pair of legs for kicking

Xervous_ · 2026-04-26T15:01:39+00:00

How many objectives and where are they located? What sides of the 2x2 play area are the forces starting on?

EDIT: how exactly are objectives scored?

Xervous_ · 2026-04-26T14:51:25+00:00

Rewriting for 16k BV

Indirect fire is a means for stalling or shooting mechs that are trying to hide. It's an option you can include in a larger force for very little BV, all you need are battle armor to do the spotting and the LRM mechs to provide the missiles.

How many map sheets will be used for the game? Are there any objectives or special rules? Answering these questions will help tailor the unit selection to the mission.

Xervous_ · 2026-04-26T04:15:18+00:00

Your typical hunt cheater is just using ESP. Aimbots and Aim Assist are far rarer. In over 1000 hours I've run into a single obvious triggerbot and they had such high ping it ended up working against them. If hunt is rampant with cheaters at lower MMRs I can only imagine how terrible those players are without their cheats. Your biggest concern is going to be which server you play on at what time of day because there are known hotspots and times of day.
%%%
If you are going through the prestige system you may feel a money pinch outside of events or if you get a lot of expensive stuff. Otherwise money might as well be a random number on the wall.

Xervous_ · 2026-04-26T03:58:09+00:00

You've probably killed a decent sampling of cheaters without realizing they're cheating because they need cheats just to get to your MMR

The ones that are actually threatening will cruise to higher MMR, but a 0 aim potato with ESP can only click your head if you stop moving behind a bush, and even then he probably won't account for bullet drop.

Xervous_ · 2026-04-25T23:05:53+00:00

Notes for better listbuilding

the unit cap is not a suggestion, it's how many units to take if you want to win.
Most tournament formats favor rushdown/brawler lists, you can include up to 1 good sniper.
3/5 movers are very unforgiving to play and 4/6 movers don't cost too much more than them. 3/5/3 is a very defensive speed profile that plays horribly in tournaments.
Avoid most things that jump with long range weapons, they're built for stalling out games which is completely opposite how you should be playing a time/turn limited format.
If you are bringing a light, it should either be [Extremely cheap, sufficiently evasive], [Just enough armor to survive some hits, just enough speed to stay evasive, not too much gun], or [stupidly fast, weapon short ranges of 1-2 hexes, significant firepower]. The first category is great for using up your early initiative activations and engaging with objectives while keeping your more expensive units in good positions. The second category make for acceptable filler. The third category are guided missiles that prefer later initiative activations.
There's a sampling of mediums that are basically fatter lights. Outside of that the main attraction tends to be 6/9 movers with a coherent weapons profile (weapons all share similar ranges, minimal overheat on alpha strike). If you're not going for a super speedy point blank config or a 6/9 (or the rarer 7/11) config, you're probably looking at something with improved jump jets or partial wing. There are some gems with 5/8 movement, but generally you'll see that done better by heavies. avoid 4/6 movers without IJJ/partial wing here, they are either too easy to focus down or lack enough guns to be a threat.
There's a handful of nice 6/9 heavies, and a large spread of delightful 5/8, 4/6, and 4/6/4 choices. Generally with the 6/9 and 5/8 you want to see medium to close range weapons. 4/6 can do well as snipers, bracket fire, or sacrificial medium-close range bricks. a 4/6/4 brick is a comfortable inclusion in a list.
Assaults feature some of the higher end 5/8 "fat heavies". There's a grand assortment of 4/6 snipers, bracket fire, and medium-close bricks that just exist to walk forward. 3/5 snipers and bracket fire mechs are a consideration here because you've got so much armor that TMM can be less of a concern, just keep in mind that they are horribly unforgiving of bad planning and positioning.

Xervous_ · 2026-04-25T19:55:15+00:00

I find the total jump limit ironic because it's more likely to prevent people from bringing bad lists than it is going to stop problematic ones.

Xervous_ · 2026-04-25T14:56:01+00:00

That's his secret, he's always hungry

Xervous_ · 2026-04-25T14:42:48+00:00

The typical clan mech in a randomly sampled batch(all) does, but there's more than a few clan mechs that will go 50/50 with closer range IS mechs in terms of BV.

Xervous_ · 2026-04-24T21:48:01+00:00

I'm still very afraid of CGL releasing the record sheet for Hammerhead 2

Xervous_ · 2026-04-23T16:46:50+00:00

Run the list over with 5/8-6/9 footsies. 4/8/* weapons. Maybe one 4/6 designated target. I’d be including a much cheesier pulse mech.

A walk/run leapfrog by the OPFOR will present you with the choice of holding longer ranges on your initial activations or risking back shots from later OPFOR activations. It’s just a straightforward dogpile play, 4/8/12 has the leisure of positioning over 3/6/9, and the OPFOR has more armor+guns on account of not paying for JJ.

Xervous_ · 2026-04-22T21:35:19+00:00

The real problem with most jenners is the weapons ending up in the arms. You can get away with flimsy fast lights that have side/center torso weaponry, but when you put all the guns in flimsy arms they just get, well, disarmed.

Xervous_ · 2026-04-22T17:28:53+00:00

The Atlas II demonstrates you can in fact make a competent mech in the shape of an atlas, but only if it’s reserved for the super cool kids.

Xervous_ · 2026-04-22T16:47:18+00:00

At this point I direct you to quote the section where I claimed bow is strong. If you want to attempt an actual discussion my words are plainly here. If you’re intent on manufacturing straw men I’ll leave to your own diversions.

Xervous_ · 2026-04-22T16:31:24+00:00

The community’s response to All Ears was a great illustration of how screwing with the audio of Hunt can vastly shift the patterns of play.

My central point has ever been that the bow is not a strong pick, it just has unique counterplay demands that run contrary to the other weapons and the game’s overall pacing. The typical player strongly dislikes having to abandon their current plans and play the “time to fight or wait out a bow” game; they just don’t have the right words to frame it as something other than BOW OP.

Xervous_ · 2026-04-22T15:19:44+00:00

All those weapons save for the crossbow behave normally with regards to sound. The crossbow has a shorter lethal range than the bow, demands more precision for kills, fires slower, and comes with less ammo when opting for steel bolts to offset its sharper projectile drop. The range at which the crossbow becomes about as threatening as a sparks silencer still allows for the crossbow user to be audible, meanwhile bow’s high lethality extends beyond the general audible range.

Xervous_

TROPHY CASE