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.