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[Wiles]

Do any of you happen to be Cataphract pilots? I'm having difficulty picking a third variant so I can master them.

The only one I have right now is Illya Muromets but I will be getting the loyalty 'phract later in the month. I have pretty much narrowed it down to three contenders. First up is the 1X, it has some nice energy quirks, I thought it might work well with some large pulses and an AC 10. Next up is the 4x, it has 4 ballistic hard points and some decent ballistic quirks and I was thinking that it might be fun with four AC 5s and some back up lasers. Lastly I'm interested in the 0xp. Its quirks aren't as good as the other two but it comes with ECM. I'm leaning a bit towards the ECM variant but I'm not sure if the ECM on a Cataphract is useful enough to make it worth buying.

[Flying Dice]

I've been running the 0XP with ECM and three LPLs. It... feels like it should work, but I haven't had a good match in it yet. I even dropped the fourth LPL and swapped to a standard engine and that barely helped. Even more than the IM it depends on going ignored. That's what the Cataphracts in general feel like to me, 'mechs that can do really well, but only if people don't focus them down.

Unrelated: all this faffing about balance and tech has me pumped up for the new BTech game. No clanners. Lostech that's rare as hell instead of piled on every 'mech. No hyper-specialized and optimized meta builds. The hilarious thought of a rag-tag group of mercs fluffed as Wolverine remnants managing to recruit Natasha Kerensky away from the awoo crew...

[MrRoboto75]

So I took the trial Hunchback IIC for a quick spin.

Overheated and shut down at least 5 times but somehow survived the match, and even snagged a KMDD.

[Wiles]

I think the Hunchie IIC is my best performing medium, I like it a lot. I use pretty much the same build as the trial (not including the erroneous AC5 ammo they have on it ). I try not to use the backup lasers too much to avoid overheating.

I think I'm done with faction warfare for a while. After the faction warfare event I was pretty close to merc rank 3 which gives a mechbay so I thought I'd keep playing until I hit it. I think I've played 8-10 matches since the event and I've lost all but one match. I keep dropping with randoms against 8-12 man groups. The last few have been the worst, I switched over to IS (I like to rotate) and I've been going up against 12 man Kodiak gen rush groups that will wipe your team and finish the match in about 5 minutes.

My most recent acquisition is a Commando 1B. It's not quite as fast as a locust but it is pretty close! And with all those durability quirks it can take a few hits before it get blown to bits. That extra little bit of survivability is helping me do better than I would in the locust. I've always read that the Commando is a bad mech but I have been enjoying it quite a bit.

[MrRoboto75]

Commando was the first trial mech I ever piloted.  It was alright, usually didn't do a whole lot per match.  Quick, though.

[Rince Wind]

I should probably use my Marauders most of the time, because my other Mechs all have more than enough XP.

[Wiles]

Commando was the first trial mech I ever piloted.  It was alright, usually didn't do a whole lot per match.  Quick, though.

I think the trial commando has a pretty lousy loadout, I don't know why you would take a std engine on a fast light. It really limits your speed and firepower.

[Damiac]

I think I'm done with faction warfare for a while. After the faction warfare event I was pretty close to merc rank 3 which gives a mechbay so I thought I'd keep playing until I hit it. I think I've played 8-10 matches since the event and I've lost all but one match.

Wait are you saying you've witnessed CW games where the clan team didn't win?  I've played about 10 of them, and clan always wins.  The scouting ones are more even, but the 12v12 ones are clan dominated every single time I've played.

[Flying Dice]

It's group-dominated and meta-dominated. In the absence of large groups and PuGs willing to organize, clanners have a slight edge I'd say because they have a lot more top-tier picks, especially for their heavies, and a much larger proportion of their 'mechs are good or great in FP, easily over 75% of Clan heavies and assaults, whereas IS has a shitload of terrible or mediocre 'mechs and a much lower proportion of great-to-total.

But the only really meaningful advantage is organization. 12man vs. PuGs wins every time unless they suck a barrel of dicks and are playing drunk. PuG vs. PuG goes to the more organized PuG (or, failing that, to the one on defense).

[Wiles]

I switch between Clan and Inner Sphere every time my merc contract runs out, I've seen Clan PUGs lose to IS units pretty regularly. It goes pretty much exactly as Flying Dice Said. Organisation trumps everything else.

edit: I've found part of the problem with PUG on PUG Clan vs. Inner Sphere matches is that Inner Sphere pilots don't really play to their mechs strengths. If you're playing peek-a-boo at range you're probably going to lose the poke war against clan tech. People don't know how to push unless they are being badgered over the comms to do so.

[Damiac]

Well yeah, the fact that clan wins the range game in a game dominated by play at range is what makes the clans so dominant.  They don't need the same level of organization as IS needs, and maybe with 2 well organized teams it's well balanced.  Since the majority of play is pug vs pug and clan wins if both teams do the default easy thing to do, it's not surprising that they win a lot more.

It is good to hear the clans don't always win though.

[Rince Wind]

I wish the maps weren't so similar. You have 2 or 3 paths/trenches and then the area with the base.
It can't be so difficult to come up with things that are worth attacking/defending that are not necessarily behind such a wall (and they all employed the same guy who is the worst gate mechanics designer ever).

[Wiles]

But it's not a game dominated by play at range. Most faction play maps have a fair amount of cover right up until you get to where the enemy team is. The problem is that a lot of players are not very good at pushing as a team. If you play the poke game as an attacker you will lose almost every time.

And from my experience the majority of play is not PUG vs PUG in faction play (unless a faction play event is going on) it is usually 8-12 man groups versus PUGs. I'm sure there are a fair amount of group vs. group play too, but I'm not part of an active unit anymore so I no longer see that side of things.

[Damiac]

Fair enough, my experience is rather limited.  That's just my observations thus far, I'm sure I'm showing my noobiness a bit.

[Flying Dice]

The best thing you can do in PuG play is to exhort everyone to push together/form a firing line and hold ground, depending on your side. Often all it takes is one person willing to provide basic drop-calling that everyone knows but neglects.

If you do get stuck as IS PuG vs clanner group, try to get everyone to go hyper aggressive, get in their faces, fuck them up at point blank range. You'll still lose, but you'll get more points and feel better about it.