Rifleman IIC: An Imperfect Mech - MechWarrior Online

[@johnmoore8599]

"If that FNR had shot me, that would have been bad." is an extreme understatement. You'd likely have died to a CT shot. That was a really informative video and interesting build for that chassis. Thanks! They shouldn't have made the radar array so thick. Even the "fix" will be interesting on this mech.

[@BlackhawkSC]

Thanks. Yeah that probably would have been insta-death. I think they just need to move the boundaries slightly inward on the dish as well as the CT. If you look at it from the front, there are two "ridges" on the upper torso. If they move the hitbox boundary to the middle of those ridges instead of the outer edge, I think it would help a lot. That's about a 20% reduction since those ridges are quite thick.

[@Arnuld15Governator]

Fantastic video. This video has basically summarized the personal experience and problems that I had with the mech which I hope will get fixed soon.

[@BlackhawkSC]

I was just watching this when I also saw this comment kzbin.info/www/bejne/mIHLhpuvpbtlbdk

[@Arnuld15Governator]

@@BlackhawkSC Well, the mech does have huge arms like Arnold so it wasn't a coincidence :D

[@michaelheld7601]

This is what precice Laser surgery looks like. Crippling a vapour eagle with 2 alphas... insane job sir! Not even to mention all the rest. On the left stacked builds: I hear you! ;)

[@jfriggin]

I've found that the arms as well are extremely large, especially on the ballistic variants. Between that, the low engine cap on most variants, and the very large scaling, I feel like the chassis at large right now is quite overbalanced. Certainly in the right circumstances it can perform, but 75-90 ton firepower at 100 ton speeds with only a 65 tonner's armor to protect it make this mech a hard sell as it is currently, imho.

[@TheMagdaDar]

Good vid! Half tempted to get the mech pack just to relive the MW2 nostalgia despite the bullet sponge CT

[@jaredscott8514]

it was awesome the other day I sniped a rifleman iic on my kodiak. It was on mining collective, he was hiding behind the buildings and I was peeking around the corner of the center on the first lap, his head was just high enough to double tap all my AC's and they dropped just right into the CT

[@maclarenschell8855]

"imperfect" understatement of the year lol. Also first Nah but fr at least it has good hardpoints and quirks, and will probably pick up at some point for them

[@DzinkyDzink]

Have you seen WHM-IIC lately? Now that was promising back at announcement!

[@johnmoore8599]

Don't recall you ever making a vid on the RFL-IIC-2 which is one of the better chassis. Glad you are back though. Hope all is well.

[@BlackhawkSC]

Things are good, thanks. I might go and backfill some reviews that I missed in the past. Good to see you're still playing!

[@johnmoore8599]

BlackhawkSC Yeah, but this is not the MWO from 6 months or even a year ago. The teams are doing counterintuitive actions and a lot of mindless NASCARing. In some ways it is fine because brawling is back, but any team that uses map control or even decent tactics can wipe the floor with most of these teams. There are a lot of new players who I don’t recognize.

[@BlackhawkSC]

I've been playing a few rounds during my spare time. The main difference for me is the existence of groups, which can dominate a solo match. But the actual good groups are rare enough that it doesn't hurt solos that frequently. It may be just me, but I feel there's less NASCARing due to groups being in solo queue.

[@johnmoore8599]

@@BlackhawkSC Well, that is true. If there is a good group, they try for map control. If the other team knows what they are doing, they don't NASCAR against them. There can be tonnage disparities due to the groups. The spawns are messed up now as well. Assaults now spawn where the lights used to which can place them farthest from the objective sometimes.

[@BlackhawkSC]

@@johnmoore8599 I noticed that. My assaults sometimes end up in the wrong spawn point, which makes playing something like Fafnirs very risky.

[@Pricklyhedgehog72]

Nice analysis, as always...

[@konkarthebadgermechpilot5374]

At first I thought he said *Laser Vomit." At first, I was like Wuuut?!!! But it only took a second to realize it was Laser "Very" in other words, a Battle term meaning "Firing a Group of Lasers from your Cannons." Apparently it was Used during the US Civil War as "Rifle Volleys" where a whole line of Troops would fire at oncoming troops from the other side.

[@BrandonVelarde]

I tried the 4 LPL build and didn't like it that much. I should have tried your build. I did really like the RFL-IIC-2 (6 UAC2s) and surprisingly the RFL-IIC-3 (2 Gauss, 2 HLL). One of my problems is that I was playing it like an assault at first which obviously doesn't work. I think the slow speed got me playing it like an assault. Once I started playing in the second line, I did better. I'm a little worried that if you fix the CT, the side torsos will get blown out faster. I noticed lights really liked going after me in the RFL-IIC.

[@silverhawk7324]

How did you make that many cbills from that match? Even when I break 1k damage I rarely get over 500k cbills..

[@BlackhawkSC]

Premium time + lots of solo kills and components destroyed. Damage by itself doesn't pay that much.

[@Arnuld15Governator]

You should make another video now that the hitboxes have been finally adjusted in the most recent patch, along with the Mad 2 that was recently fixed. It definitely feels alot better from the few games that I played so far.

[@BlackhawkSC]

I tried it yesterday and it was indeed better

[@FuzzyNova]

I have had a very noticable problem with mine. And I haven't researched too much into it or watched many other videos. I love the mech but there is a big problem. At least for me for the last three days. And it's not trying to keep up with my team in Two of the main standard variants with the engine cap. It's That I'm fresh one second and the next I'm down. At first I thought I thought my mech had taken a headshot once or twice. But then it kept happening. Usually you know when your about to go down. And I have been going down quick unexpected. More than I have in any other Heavy mech before. I don't see a way around it other than being more careful. Im not a wiz in the technical stuff but yeah the CT (and the head CT) seem to be the issue. Doesn't happen every match but enough to where I'm scratching my head from the quick death.

[@BlackhawkSC]

The damage concentrates to the CT, and with only 42 points of structure (54.6 with skills), it's easy to go from red or orange armor to dead. Which is why an 2xHG Fafnir, with a 70+ alpha can easily turn you from "ok I still have some health" to RIP in one shot. Even a clan laser vomit build can do it if your armor is weak enough. With the current nascar situation, you're not often at range, which makes it even easier to hit CT.

[@floridaman3823]

MUH GUNS! MUH LAZERS! MUH GATORS! FLORIDA MAN!

[@Gr1nd0r]

Lol yeah the Rifleman IIC has massive CT I shot it from 250m with a Vapor Eagle splat build and it died despite having some CT armor left it wasnt even cored lol

[@stevenboughner7255]

The thing is it's too slow, lights will have it for lunch.

[@gfarrell80]

What I've done so far: mech.nav-alpha.com/#c33d67b7_RFL-IIC 3xERPPC, ignore LPL quirk. mech.nav-alpha.com/#c6bc0eec_RFL-IIC-2 6xAC2 mech.nav-alpha.com/#e598cf5b_RFL-IIC-2 6xLB2X (not sure which I prefer yet, standard AC's or LBX's) mech.nav-alpha.com/#658334b3_RFL-IIC-3 1xUAC10, 3xUAC5, decent dakka blaster mech.nav-alpha.com/#1d07f5d6_RFL-IIC-CH 2xLB10X, 3xMPL I've tried several things and still not sold on this yet. Laser vomit is a tough sell, I don't think this thing has the mobility to do laser vomit well without a very compliant enemy. Final note, on the RFL-IIC energy variant, the mounting of the arm hardpoints goes: 1st: middle hardpoint 2nd: lowest hardpoint 3rd: highest hardpoint So if you are loading a mix of weapons in your arms, make sure you prioritize your bigger tonnage weapons in the higher of the hardpoints.

[@BlackhawkSC]

What's the incentive of LB2's? Crits or what? I was thinking about placements, but it didn't really matter that much for me to change it, but you're right it should be optimized.

[@gfarrell80]

@@BlackhawkSC no real incentive other than they're cool. They have slightly higher velocity and do rip up open components slightly faster, but I think I'll go standard AC2's for the ability to pick out a component better at range.

[@HHHThanatos]

I'll get one of these per c-bills one day. I like the 4 LPL Rifleman, but the low engine cap is awful. tha

[@BlackhawkSC]

Do you play assaults? It's about as fast as a fast assault with speed tweak.

[@HHHThanatos]

@@BlackhawkSC Honestly, I'm best with mediums and very mediocre (ok, bad) with most of the assaults. Yes, I play them, but way less than others. I'm getting better, though. tha

[@douglasscharbrough2563]

I put 4 uac 5 on the 2c2 and 2c3 and both pretty good. The other i went with the 4 lpl

[@I0lcatz]

So, why do people always go right instead of left? like did people just agree to always circle right?

[@BlackhawkSC]

Just convention from the beginning of MWO when the top mechs of the game can be built right stacked

[@Genecaster]

I don't know that the CT hitbox should be fixed, the Rifleman is more of a sniper mech, you shouldn't be doing main brawling with it, I'd say you're better off with another platform for proper engagement. Though, I don't have a IIC. I only have the regular Rifleman and I can say it has the same problem, CT is quite hittable, I only play at range.

[@johnmoore8599]

The build runs hot, but works rather well.

[@BlackhawkSC]

It cools very fast though, especially if you limit your alphas. Use the 3x LPLs when you're hot and pretend your ERMLs don't exist :)

[@ghoulbuster1]

only shoot the ER-ML's when you are 0% heat and then just use pulses

[@ghoulbuster1]

this mech needs one thing to make it good -20% LASER DURATION

[@xaius4348]

Havent seen a single video with people using proper lazer order

[@BlackhawkSC]

Sure, but it's not really that important on this chassis. It moves it slightly up but not by much. If it really mattered you would see more people placing it in the proper order.

[@StormHornet56]

Saying that the rifleman IIC SHOULD rely on speed and not armor skill points is like saying tank destroyers should be made to combat tanks in WWII. I understand the logic, but it's just not grounded in reality. In quick play, you WILL be taking damage, and proper positioning is what keeps you from taking damage. Running 4kph faster will not get any mech out of danger, nor does it allow you to peak faster. It won't even save a 48kph assault mech, since 52 is still too slow to keep up with the team if they leave you. They're your primary defense, and if you're left alone, you just die while running 4kph faster.

[@BlackhawkSC]

Your analogy doesn't make sense. The Rifleman as it is currently isn't a tanky mech. So we're not making it do something that it's not currently designed to do. In fact we're making it perform its role better. Proper positioning also requires you to move into that position quickly, so it should be obvious why you would need that speed from time to time. The mobility tree doesn't only give you top speed but agility as well, so you respond faster to changing situations.

[@1228carlito]

lol "aggressive teammates" in Solo Que. The Mech needs the CT hit box fixed AND armor quirks.

[@douglasscharbrough2563]

Nascaring as a general rule is moronic