Author Topic: Rifleman: the 6X v. 6D  (Read 1818 times)

MarauderD

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Rifleman: the 6X v. 6D
« on: 22 September 2017, 11:28:51 »
As a big Rifleman fan, I've used the 6X quite a bit since it came out in TRO: Project Phoenix. It features near max armor, 5/8 movement curve, and twin LB-10Xs backed up by two ER medium and two ER small lasers. It is great dealing with any vehicle or VTOL because of the twin LBX with cluster ammo. It works fine against mech forces as well, all the way up to the modern battlefield. Despite the XL engine, it is one of my go to mechs in the low heavy range.

Last night, I got over my dislike of LACs enough to try the Rifleman 6D instead. It swaps out the twin LBX for quad LAC5s and keeps the ER mediums. Movement and armor are identical. I took one extra round of fire in this mech moving in toward my target. And then something fun happened:

Specialty munitions. AP rounds, Homing rounds, Flechette rounds. The 6D has 6 tons of cased LAC5 ammo. Which means you can bring specialty ammo in addition to normal ammo and really mix up your role. As it turns out, I didn't end up using the Homing rounds, but the Flechette rounds tore up enemy infantry and I got several nice crits against an enemy assault mech with the AP rounds.

In sum, I was pleasantly surprised by the 6D. Does anyone else have any experience with this mech? Is it as flexible as it seems? BV seems good at 1274--you can bring two against a lot of the high tech, 3145 monster assault mechs and come out ahead. What do you all think?

Iron Mongoose

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Re: Rifleman: the 6X v. 6D
« Reply #1 on: 22 September 2017, 14:16:30 »
I'm not a huge fan of LACs myself, so I don't prefer the 6D.  That said, a big part of the question is what sort of terrain you're in, and what sort of opposition are you expecting.  I think with a bit more range, the 6X is more of an all rounder.  More range tends to mean more damage, even if it's generalized damage, and in a team setting the clusters can often generate the same crits as AP rounds.  Now, it can't hurt infantry the same way, and it can't load precision ammo to hunt lights, so it can't specialize the way the 6D can (and with 6 tons you can take on two or three specialties).  So if you know or even expect to face foes that the 6D can specialize against, you can get your money's worth.  But, for me, if I don't have an expectation (and some of this goes to my usual player opponents and what I tend to see from them) then my baseline is to expect mostly mechs as a default and so I'd default to the 6X.

That said, I'm a big fan of the one with the LGRs and the big suite of ER MLs, though I'm a big LGR fan.
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MarauderD

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Re: Rifleman: the 6X v. 6D
« Reply #2 on: 22 September 2017, 14:48:27 »
I've never used the 7M. The LGR always scared me because I'm just not a good plinker. It also has 4/6 movement--fine up to 3075 but that feels dangerously slow in 3145.

Do you just stay at 20+ hexes when you are successful in that one?

Iron Mongoose

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Re: Rifleman: the 6X v. 6D
« Reply #3 on: 22 September 2017, 15:35:27 »
Usually I'm backing a lance or two of other mechs, Marauder 9M2s and things that want to mix it up mid range.  The LGRs sit at 16-17 hexes, so they're at medium range and counter fire is at long.  If anyone wants to mix it up with the Marauders/Orions/Perseai or whatever, then you can step up and be within 8 hexes of them to be medium range with a half dozen ER MLs, making tangling with my heavies seem a lot worse of an idea.  That leaves the enemy to face down a bunch of GRs, LB/Ultra 10s, and PPCs and HPPCs at medium range, with a few LGR slugs added in. 

Being a crazy person, I've also taken massed LGRs a few times.  You don't hit hard, but you hit early and hit often, and it is possible to carry the day.
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Firesprocket

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Re: Rifleman: the 6X v. 6D
« Reply #4 on: 23 September 2017, 01:27:38 »
The 6D is a good, but not great design.  The pros are the cheap BV, a large amount of ammo for special munitions, and really zero heat curve even after taking two engine hits for it's primary weapons.  The kicker is it also has a C3 slave.

It won't do anything spectacular, but it will let you do a bit of everything.  Take AP rounds to be obnoxious, precision rounds because you can, flechette to deal with infantry, and Flak to deal with VTOLs and Aerospace.  The difference between 2 shots at -3 with LBs and 4 shots with flak isn't likely to be a big deal.  The only thing you would really lack is less of a spread and chances at a critical once armor is opened up that an LB-X will provide.

I've never used the 7M. The LGR always scared me because I'm just not a good plinker. It also has 4/6 movement--fine up to 3075 but that feels dangerously slow in 3145.
Speed really isn't necessarily when you are using LGRs.  The fact that you are going to out range any Inner Sphere opponent is almost a given.  Further, when you are shooting at a range they can't shoot back, there is little reason to move so little to no movement modifier.

Massed Clan ER Large lasers will be a bit of an issue, but when aren't they?  4/6 should get you from place to place and around your typical terrain.  Duck behind a hill or into the wood and sit there to lob LGR shots down range all day.  If you have a bigger gun to shoot with elsewhere they are going to pay attention to it rather than LGRs.  LGRs are best in large quantities.

That said, there are also better LGR platforms with more armor than the 7M.  The leg armor is putrid and for some awful reason this design packs 6 ER medium lasers.  Something that should be lobbing down field from 17-25 hexes doesn't need that many medium lasers.  My preference to mount LGRs are tanks, but if you don't like tanks, try the Galahad 3D if you aren't locked to faction.  The BV is also 250 less if you aren't tied into faction.  If you can afford the extra BV the Tian-Zong is pretty decent and the stealth armor makes up the loss in speed.

MarauderD

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Re: Rifleman: the 6X v. 6D
« Reply #5 on: 23 September 2017, 10:11:13 »
Usually I'm backing a lance or two of other mechs, Marauder 9M2s and things that want to mix it up mid range.  The LGRs sit at 16-17 hexes, so they're at medium range and counter fire is at long.  If anyone wants to mix it up with the Marauders/Orions/Perseai or whatever, then you can step up and be within 8 hexes of them to be medium range with a half dozen ER MLs, making tangling with my heavies seem a lot worse of an idea.  That leaves the enemy to face down a bunch of GRs, LB/Ultra 10s, and PPCs and HPPCs at medium range, with a few LGR slugs added in. 

Being a crazy person, I've also taken massed LGRs a few times.  You don't hit hard, but you hit early and hit often, and it is possible to carry the day.

So, for a single lance, you would run it with a 9M2 and a Perseus or two? This looks like a good lance for the Jihad, does it hold up in 3145?