Well, Bye

On Trial: part 2

Welcome to part 2 of my trial mech review "On Trial" for November 2016.  Here are the last two light mechs currently available at this time.  

Mist Lynx Prime

Game 1: Alpine Peaks, Skirmish. 12/10 win.  I only did 210 damage but I got a kill, KMDD, and solo kill.  The small pulse lasers gave decent firepower and the speed and jumping capabilities were decent for a light but of course it is a very fragile mech.  

Game 2: Polar Highlands, Skirmish. 7/12 loss.   I only did 112 damage in this match because I got greedy going after a Raven and ended up getting pulled into a trench with four other mechs where my leg got blown off straight away by a Hellbringer.  This mech is really not tough enough to take on heavier mechs.    

Game 3: Crimson Straight, Assault. Loss.  I did 260 damage on this match and got two kills.  I went over the saddle with the light lance and we tried to capture the base.  Unfortunately most of my team ran back to our base to kill one enemy mech while getting their own backs shot out.  Still we nearly captured the enemy base but were unable to because the full enemy force arrived.  This mech is pretty good for city fighting.  It’s small and able to use cover and fast enough to hit and run just be careful not to get hung up on terrain.  

Game 4: River City, Assault. 6/12 loss.  I did 291 damage on this match and got a KMDD against an archer.  The game was close for a while but my team was just outplayed by a fare more aggressive enemy.  Again the mech did well with city fighting.  It’s so small I was able to run around the broken bridge area while cutting the legs off the Archer while using the terrain to take damage for me.  

Summary:  This mech is really best suited as a striker or flank harasser using its speed to respond quickly to potential targets in the brawl.  It is too slow to be a good scout and is vulnerable to faster lights and fast mediums.  It seems to do well at taking legs off lights and mediums and with some work heavies.  

This is a better light for new players than the other trial lights right now.  It’s far easier to pilot than the others and has enough firepower to do okay.  Still it’s not a great trial mech because of it’s speed of 133 kph and because it’s so fragile.  Use the terrain when piloting this mech.  Keep moving and go for legs.  Watch out for fast lights and mediums like Arctic Cheetahs and Cicadas and don’t stray too far from friendlies.  Try and stay close to friendlies that will seem like a bigger threat and use that distraction to pick off legs and exploit exposed components.

Spider 5K

Game 1: Grim Plexus, Assault. 12/5 win.  I did 350 damage got 3 kills, 1 KMDD, and 1 solo kill.  I had a really good team who called targets and focused.  I mostly did sniping and flank harassing but I did use my machine guns on both of my kills.  The ER large laser has a very good refresh rate and 4 machine guns do a lot of critical damage.  This mech has a +50% cool down on energy weapons which really helps.  

Game 2: River City, Conquest. 11/8 win by conquest.  I did 250 damage in this match but got no kills.  I did get 10 assist.  I didn’t snipe as much because it was conquest but the mech was fast enough to get caps and counter other lights getting caps although it is not a great anti light mech.  Again the energy cool down really helped.  

Game 3: Polar Highlands, Skirmish. 12/4 win.  I did 387 damage and got 2 kills with 1 KMDD.  My team worked very well this match.  I basically scouted and called targets while sniping but both my kills were at knife fighting range.  

 

Game 4:  Frozen City Skirmish. 12/8 win.  I did 277 damage and got 12 assist.  My team did pretty well here coordinating.  I was calling targets again and scouting more than sniping which didn’t help my damage.   

Summary:  I likes this Spider pretty well.  I was impressed by the laser’s rate of fire.  One downside was that the jump jets have been reduced to two which gives the mech all the jumping ability of a Highlander.  They should really be called hop jets.  I would hesitate to say this is a good trial mech.  I’ve never claimed to be a good player but I am a veteran player and I’m not sure this mech would perform well for a newer player.  The machine guns help but they only have one ton of ammo for four guns so they don’t last long.  I should be a sniper but I was using it more as a skirmisher/striker/scout partially because the laser is mounted so low on the center torso it’s easier to kind of fight from your own pack and use the good speed the mech has to reposition.  

I would probably try and use the mech more as a sniper with more practice than I did.  It does make a decent speed with over 150 kph speed.  It’s pretty good for getting behind or two the side of the enemy and taking a few pop shots then running off as they turn to chase you.  Here is another situation where the 50% cool down helps.  Getting twice as many shots off before the enemy finds you are starts to come after you really helps on what is basically a mech with one real weapon.  The range of the ER large also helps you get a full burn against big targets and it also has a -25% burn rate.  Get well behind big targets and get as many shots off as you can before they notice.  

On Trial. A review of current trial mechs for Mechwarrior Online November 2016 Part 1

Greetings and welcome to The Brethren Academy trial mech review column "On Trial" a review of trial mechs currently available for use in Mechwarrior Online.  In Part 1 I am reviewing the Clan Jenner IIC and the Inner Sphere Panther 10K.  

I've played four matches with each of these mechs to get a feel for how they play, what their role is and weather or not I think they make good trial mechs.  I hope to get through all 12 trial mechs available before they change them.

    

Jenner IIC

The Jenner IIC is a 35 ton Clan light mech armed with 4 SRM 4s and 2 SRM 2s with a top speed of 135.5 kph and 230 points of armor.

Game 1: River City, Skirmish. 0/12 loss.  Crap round for me Taken out after doing only 80 damage but still out damaged 4 other mechs.  Not a great round to start off with.  Attacked a Kodiak delivering two full salvos and one half before getting cored out by several mechs.  Mech has speed and jumping and a good enough alpha.  Just a bad round.  

 

Game 2: Terra Therma, Skirmish.  4/12 loss.  Better round than the first.  I did 339 damage with one KMDD.  The mech performed much better damage wise but I was more careful not to try and solo with it.  Heat was difficult to manage with a Clan SRM build.  I overheated at least four times.  

 

Game 3: River City, Skirmish. 9/12 loss.  The team communicated better.  I did 401 damage with two KMDD.  Only overheated one time but it is still a very hot mech for a new player to run.  

 

Game 4: Mining Collective, Skirmish. 12/9 win.  I only did about 164 damage this round which is what usually happens when I win in a PUG match.  I don’t usually do well on Mining Collective.  It lags my machine for some reason.  This could be a good map for this mech but it is easy for a light to get caught up on terrain or pinched into a tight spot so it’s not the best.  

Summary:  While this is a pretty nice mech and would probably be a great mech in the hands of a pilot who likes this kind of build I feel it makes a very poor trial mech.  SRMs are difficult for new players.  They require a lot of aiming and close fighting in this light and fast mech.  I just don’t think it is going to be appealing to new players.  It is also a Clan SRM boat so it runs hot and of course dies easily when it shuts down because it is a light.  

It is definitely a striker mech.  It’s fast and had a decent alpha with short range weapons so it is good for delivering a punch to the brawl.  It is not a good anti light mech but is great for harassing big mechs.  It’s too big and cumbersome for scouting so stay close to the pack and wait until the brawl gets stuck in before striking at close threats.  

Panther 10K

The Panther 10K is a 35 ton Inner Sphere light mech armed with two PPCs with a top speed of 108.8 kph and 215 points of armor.

Game 1: Grim Plexus, Domination. 9/3 win by Domination.  I did 277 damage with no KMDD.  Did some jump sniping but mostly just ranged sniping and suppression.  PPCs recharge very quickly.  Was lucky not to be charged by a light.   

Game 2: Caustic Valley, Domination. 12/7 win on kills.  I did 211 damage.  The low slung arm was really a problem for me on this map.  I had to jump snipe while being chased around in close quarters with no defense against close brawlers.  Without a lot of speed I’m surprised I survived the match.  

Game 3: Grim Plexus, Skirmish.  2/12 loss.  I only did 168 damage.  The team really folded on this one.  A few of us were trying to give direction but for the most part everyone spread out and did their own thing while the enemy team stayed cohesive and reacted as a group.  It’s a good map for this mech but an unsupported support mech is not much use.  Found myself scouting because no one else would.  Also the enemy team had several LRM boats with narcing and tagging lights so they got lucky with match maker.  

   

Game 4: Alpine Peaks, Skirmish. 10/12 loss.  I did 479 damage with two kills and one KMDD on what is probably the best map for this mech.  I was able to stay at range and knock the crap out of large targets which is what this mech is best at.  

Summary:  This is a nice sniper/skirmisher with a good alpha for a light and pretty good speed for a panther.  It is however a really bad trial mech.  Boating two regular PPCs will leave new players splashing a lot of useless shots against mechs that are way too close.  It is also not nearly fast enough to escape fast strikers.  The low arm mount on a light mech means you have to get up over a lot of terrain to fire while exposing your mech.  The mech is tough but it is still a light and can’t take a lot of punishment.  It’s decent as a jump sniper but doesn’t have a great jump either.  Another bad feature for a trial mech is that it has all it’s weapons on one arm and the arm is big and easy to hit making it easy to render the mech useless.  

 

It works better in the skirmish role using your own assaults and heavies for a screen as you jump up and shoot the enemy assaults and heavies while being largely ignored in favor of of bigger targets.  It is very susceptible to fast flankers however.  Staying too far back in a traditional sniper mode makes you too much a target to counter snipers especially since you have to expose over half your mech to shoot.  You should also use your left arm to shield enemy attacks.  If attacked by enemy lights or medium strikers you should run towards the largest mass of friendlies who you should never stray far from.