Icarus's blog: "Hope- by any other name."

Well, I've got a few before my lunch is ready so I thought I'd post my review of my second suit for AC 4; For Answer

Altruz, its a name I picked up very similar to another alias of mine that I used for a pilot handle in Gundam Crossfire.

It sounded like a good last name.

Anyway, Altruz is basically my response to the mid-weight champs on the duel rosters. Mid speed bipeds with mid-heavy payloads of versatile weaponry.

In other words guys with 70+ weaponry ratings, all around good distance and weapon synergy, technically sound units with decent speed and a ton of boost capacity- its pretty hard to outmaneuver them, but not impossible, and its even harder to outgun them, but not outsmart them.

You have to make a general assumption with these guys
since they're this high up, they're going to have ways of RIPPING through your defense, and then knocking you out.

This means one of two things, high fire rate low offense ballistics weapon to chip very rapidly through your shell, or a high output low fire rate long distance energy beam that says "what shell"?

there's no -good- solution to this other than high mobility and a balanced defense- if you can stay OUT of range of the machine gun ballistic chipper you can avoid most streams and turn them into short burst of damage, if you have high output burst speed like I do and high well rounded average speed, you can pretty much get out of range of machine guns in a hurry
as for the beam weaponry- if you hear it and you haven't started your boost, its probably too late- but you can likely determine their attack habbits and learn a pattern to dance-burst out of danger- or close the gap and make them uncomfortable with using a high cost/output beam weapon.

Resist the urge to singlemind your defense and make yourself virtually immune to energy or ballistic damage- these guys ALWAYS at this rank carry multiple weapon types, hell they usually have seeker missile barrages too.

Resist the urge to outlast these guys with armorpoints and defense
this is what my brother used to do, and it was a pretty solid strategy, he'd build a tank with a high defense/AP core with a HUGE weapon payload but that kinda got 86'ed the first time I maneuvered around him, jammed his radar and missiles and beam sabred his spine.

Ah... Black Rose... That was a good unit back before the change in mobility styles and perpetual boost.

It could outrun most missles without even boosting.

anyway, back to Altruz

So Altruz was built mostly out of necesity, sure Wickd Crickt was fast, balanced, and awesome

But like I said, you just eventually get completely outclassed in this game with most high speed builds.

High defense
Mid-high AP
Mid-high mobility
High aim correction/firing stability at medium range.
Gigas weapon payload for short engagements.

I really want a better firing computer, but at this time I have the best firing system for my weapons while sacrificing radar performance- sometimes its hard to see incoming missiles or my enemy's position, I'll see a radar blip rather than a constant refresh.

I'd say the blindspots and poor standard weapon lock on (but great lock-range) are my suits greatest failings.

Rather thand designing a 1-2 attack system (tear down defense and attack) I built basically a heavy barrage of ballistic weaponry.

On my right hand primary weapon I have my old sniper rifle (great range, superb accuracy/compensation, great attack power)
My right Shoulder a medium performance chain gun.
(The hand chaingun has a higher payload, damage rating, defense puncture, fire rate, but DAMNED if it isn't heavy)
Right hip my hold-out pistol
(for those "FUCK! I'm out of ammo" situations only)
On my left side primary hand weapon is my long blade
(mediocre damage but HUGE sweeping attack range, unlimited ammo so long as I have generator capacity, no bells, no whistles)
and my left shoulder is my old stand-by
my shoulder mounted- highest damage and ammo (but highest weight, slowest reload time and greatest recoil and second biggest blast radius) grenade launcher.

Now- the advantage to putting my sniper rifle in my right hand, and my grenade in my left is simple
I get to use both (with similar optimal attack ranges and firing styles) at the same damn time.

Would I -rather- have the chaingun in my main right hand, and the HUGELY powerful (but 1/2 ammo count) sniper rifle on my right shoulder?
You fucking bet I would...

I could lay down massive damage at medium range (and most of these guys can't avoid the aim compensation of my FCS/sniper rifle AND the blast radius of my grenade launcher even with outstanding piloting skills at that range)

Here's the general thought process.
Stagger with my sniper rifle and get a direct hit-medium grazing hit with my grenade launcher.
I get about 2 1/2 shots to every shot Sniper:grenade launcher.
If I keep dancing, and maintain my optimal range I have most high performing AP/Defense suits down in about 90 seconds.
High speeds and overboost biped types give me a smidge more trouble- but I'm usually left with 1/4th to 2/3rds my health as opposed to an outright blowout.

Versatility is a great thing
but if you're using energy weapons or speed- I'm going to tick your boost capacity down with a hailstorm of bullets from my chain gun, and hit you with one fucking grenade round and close the match.

Long distance types are scary, you've got doomsday devices- I haven't changed my high performance high cost boosters and I STILL don't use energy weapons for that reason, so I can dodge your pewpewmax. I close the gap- you panic and stop firing, and then you die.

Highspeeds are annoying, but you can't take me down with any kind of weapon layout because I know the optimal range of your weaponry and operate outside or inside of it while you flap around frantically trying to regain your optimal range. I can dodge too :P Also- see above, I know how to take out your speed, I know how to kill you in one shot.

I even had a guy that would fly OVER me, turn and barrage, had a shotgun style, fire/forget rocket barrage, and machine gun.

One qboost backwards and I was outside of his dispersal range, and hit him with a riposte before he was even done turning.

So what did I lose in changing from my standard to what I'd consider heavy for me?

About a 10-15% drop in mobility.
150-210% defense penetration
and an all around strategic advantage and offensive capability increase while maintaining the same performance type of my previous design

Energy is for boost, not pewpew.
Even if the pewpew is AWESOME.

Grenade launcher is love.

Now, its not as comfortable or as nostalgic as my highspeed low weapon capacity designs of yesteryears, but damn, you can't win with those things against these monsters.

Options options options, don't plan around your optimal range, adapt around theirs. You are not singleminded, you cannot anticipate every move, build to recover from it instead.

Just like my magic decks, my FPS style, and my roleplaying/strat teams.

Balance... only not really.