Best weapon for "head capping" a battlemech?

[Daryk]

Rog, thanks! :)

[Sartris]

elite artic wolf (standard) + aim high + sandblaster

[pokefan548]

elite artic wolf (standard) + aim high + sandblaster

Also a delightfully devilish setup.

[Prospernia]

So, I'm not sure if this was our house-rule, but, swarm-LRMs worked like LB-X cannons, with each missile rolling for a location.  Now, if you fire two LRM-20's, both hit with at least thirty-six missiles, statistically, you'll get one head-shot. Now, if you can do that each turn, it'd be like a boxing-match until the pilot is, eventually knocked unconscious.

[Daryk]

That has to be a house rule...

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

I've never heard of any rules for Swarm LRMs that cause them to do damage clusters that are different from standard LRMs.

[Prospernia]

That's what I figured; and the grouping of five-clusters was probably to expedite the flow of the game.

And the best head-capping weapon, is black-ops in a mechwarrior RPG-game; if they can take out the mechwarriors, the mech is ineffective. 

[Col Toda]

In thoery light machine gun arrays  4s . 2 hits to the head may kill or KO pilot . Plus a push or kick to make the KO pilot dead or more Unconscious.  I have tried but haven't really succeeded in doing this yet . But on paper this potentially takes out the mech  pilot without breaking the 200,000 C bill cockpit with it .

[garhkal]

Never thought of a MG array before, for head capping.

[Frabby]

I've never heard of any rules for Swarm LRMs that cause them to do damage clusters that are different from standard LRMs.

Hmmm... have Follow-The-Leader (FTL) missiles been mentioned yet? A LRM-20 or potentially even LRM-15 with FTL ammo is also a headcapper. But probably not the best one available, with that +2 to-hit modifier.

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

Yeah, FTL missiles can potentially work.  And that reminds me, don't cluster artillery munitions roll damage on the punch table?

[Charistoph]

Yeah, FTL missiles can potentially work.  And that reminds me, don't cluster artillery munitions roll damage on the punch table?

Not any more.  That was Errata'd out a while ago with the 5th TacOps Printing, I believe.

[Prospernia]

Never thought of a MG array before, for head capping.

Too powerful:



Unless you can use the Punch hit-location, like, the mech is in partial-cover and you have a Vulcan.

[Sartris]

you have to first roll for the head hit and then hit with four heavy MGs to get 12 damage. it's not reliable or efficient. but it IS funny.

[Prospernia]

Also, any instance in which you can use the Punch hit-location chart, any weapon can be a, "Head Cappin'", weapon.

I was thinking of troopers stationed on roofs, higher than the mech they are ambushing.  They don't do a lot of damage, but, they got a one in six chance.

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

Standing on ground 1 level above your opponent and kicking with any mech that's 60+ tons.

[Prospernia]

Standing on ground 1 level above your opponent and kicking with any mech that's 60+ tons.

Yeah, just barely; I don't know why I like head-cappin' so much; maybe because it's the universal-equalizer; no matter how powerful that Clan-mech is, 12-points is it!  And I liked screaming, "There Can Only Be One", every-time I got a head-shot mech-kill.

[Minemech]

you have to first roll for the head hit and then hit with four heavy MGs to get 12 damage. it's not reliable or efficient. but it IS funny.

Remember Decision at Thunder Rift taught us that this is how you capture pirate mechs.

[pokefan548]

Yeah, just barely; I don't know why I like head-cappin' so much; maybe because it's the universal-equalizer; no matter how powerful that Clan-mech is, 12-points is it!  And I liked screaming, "There Can Only Be One", every-time I got a head-shot mech-kill.

I mean, special armor and reinforced structure. It's why I'm a proponent of called-high LB-X and SRMs.

Speaking of, used it to great effect recently. Had a Hellbie 1v1 a Warhawk by 1-turning it with laser and LB-X spam. Then had a Dire Wolf do the same with a Timbie. Ended up winning the match despite an absolutely awful start.

[Daryk]

Yeah, Hardened Armor by itself will get you to 21... Reinforced IS will get you another 3 points.

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

Of course, putting Hardened armor and Reinforced structure on the same mech means that you're left with a slow-moving machine that's almost impossible to kill but has the firepower of a wind-up toy.

[Sartris]

IJJs and TSM turn the windup toy into a kicking monster

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

And if its movement speed were more than 2/2/3, that might be intimidating.

[Sartris]

i'm constantly surrounded by cowards.

[Aresneo]

Of course, putting Hardened armor and Reinforced structure on the same mech means that you're left with a slow-moving machine that's almost impossible to kill but has the firepower of a wind-up toy.

If you are going with that combo you can carry 50-75% max armor and still be better protected then most mechs while not sacrificing too much firepower.

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

If you're not carrying at least 75% of your chassis's maximum, hardened armor's drawbacks don't make it worth mounting on a mech.