10 replies to this topic

[Veritasnous]

Okay, so I'm not a high level player, and I'm not a master predator player so I make no claims about the quality of this setup. I do, however, want to share the internals I use on the predator and talk briefly about why I chose them and how they work for me.

I play a very pansy predator style. I keep moving and take potshots, attempting to do high burst damage in short spaces between cover, reentering cover and stalker mode to re-position and do more burst damage. The aim is to not only not get hit, but not be seen in the first place.

I prefer a setup of advanced reconstructor/failsafe/shock coils

Advanced reconstructor: 25 armor regen per second when out of combat for 10 seconds. Since I often enough DO get hit or occasionally have to enter direct combat, I think the reconstructor helps keep the pace up, so to speak. I can re-enter stalker when it comes back up, begin positioning myself for ambush, and never bother repairing. The reconstructor seems uniquely useful on the pred, because the predator is especially well suited to controlling when it enters and exits combat.

Failsafe: 60% damage reduction from self damage. I like to lay mine traps a lot. Usually 8 mines all bunched together, and try to bait enemy mechs into chasing me. But 8-10 of my own mines getting hit by a TOW while I stand on them is quite painful (and totally embarrassing!). Thus: failsafe.

Shock coils: Often I'm in stalker sitting above enemies (above is really the best position from which to fire mines and excellent for hit and run tactics). Often my enemies are fleeing somewhere and I'd like to be able to drop down and follow them to ambush them while they repair. But if I jump down the fall damage will break stalker and if bump jump before hitting the ground to avoid fall damage, it will break stalker. With shock coils, I just fall straight down and I can continue my stalkerish behavior.

[Hijinks_The_Turtle]

That's nearly the same setup I have.  Except, I have that thing that makes you faster in dodge, boost, and walk speed (I can't remember the name) when you get below a certain percentage of health.

[Veritasnous]

Hijinks_The_Turtle, on February 17 2014 - 04:35 PM, said:

That's nearly the same setup I have.  Except, I have that thing that makes you faster in dodge, boost, and walk speed (I can't remember the name) when you get below a certain percentage of health.

I used that at first, but then switched to the reconstructor. I'd have to try both more to see which I prefer. My reasoning on that internal was that it would aid hit and run tactics as well. Get a kill, escape combat quickly, or move to a better position more quickly.

Scratch that, I had the one that gives you 25% run/walk speed when you get a KILL, not below a percentage of health. "Power Surger" rather than "Evasive Device."

Edited by Veritasnous, February 17 2014 - 04:56 PM.

[Hijinks_The_Turtle]

Maybe you should try that internal that gives you some health back for every kill or assist.  I've not tried it yet, but it sure does sound very helpful.

[Odinous]

Veritasnous, on February 17 2014 - 03:04 PM, said:

Okay, so I'm not a high level player, and I'm not a master predator player so I make no claims about the quality of this setup. I do, however, want to share the internals I use on the predator and talk briefly about why I chose them and how they work for me.

I play a very pansy predator style. I keep moving and take potshots, attempting to do high burst damage in short spaces between cover, reentering cover and stalker mode to re-position and do more burst damage. The aim is to not only not get hit, but not be seen in the first place.

I prefer a setup of advanced reconstructor/failsafe/shock coils

Advanced reconstructor: 25 armor regen per second when out of combat for 10 seconds. Since I often enough DO get hit or occasionally have to enter direct combat, I think the reconstructor helps keep the pace up, so to speak. I can re-enter stalker when it comes back up, begin positioning myself for ambush, and never bother repairing. The reconstructor seems uniquely useful on the pred, because the predator is especially well suited to controlling when it enters and exits combat.

Failsafe: 60% damage reduction from self damage. I like to lay mine traps a lot. Usually 8 mines all bunched together, and try to bait enemy mechs into chasing me. But 8-10 of my own mines getting hit by a TOW while I stand on them is quite painful (and totally embarrassing!). Thus: failsafe.

Shock coils: Often I'm in stalker sitting above enemies (above is really the best position from which to fire mines and excellent for hit and run tactics). Often my enemies are fleeing somewhere and I'd like to be able to drop down and follow them to ambush them while they repair. But if I jump down the fall damage will break stalker and if bump jump before hitting the ground to avoid fall damage, it will break stalker. With shock coils, I just fall straight down and I can continue my stalkerish behavior.

i use same internals except for failsafe i use deflectors for dodge.for the primary weapon i prefer the T32 bolt,i like it for close combat and unsuspected enemies.

[Veritasnous]

Odinous, on February 17 2014 - 05:45 PM, said:

Veritasnous, on February 17 2014 - 03:04 PM, said:

Okay, so I'm not a high level player, and I'm not a master predator player so I make no claims about the quality of this setup. I do, however, want to share the internals I use on the predator and talk briefly about why I chose them and how they work for me.

I play a very pansy predator style. I keep moving and take potshots, attempting to do high burst damage in short spaces between cover, reentering cover and stalker mode to re-position and do more burst damage. The aim is to not only not get hit, but not be seen in the first place.

I prefer a setup of advanced reconstructor/failsafe/shock coils

Advanced reconstructor: 25 armor regen per second when out of combat for 10 seconds. Since I often enough DO get hit or occasionally have to enter direct combat, I think the reconstructor helps keep the pace up, so to speak. I can re-enter stalker when it comes back up, begin positioning myself for ambush, and never bother repairing. The reconstructor seems uniquely useful on the pred, because the predator is especially well suited to controlling when it enters and exits combat.

Failsafe: 60% damage reduction from self damage. I like to lay mine traps a lot. Usually 8 mines all bunched together, and try to bait enemy mechs into chasing me. But 8-10 of my own mines getting hit by a TOW while I stand on them is quite painful (and totally embarrassing!). Thus: failsafe.

Shock coils: Often I'm in stalker sitting above enemies (above is really the best position from which to fire mines and excellent for hit and run tactics). Often my enemies are fleeing somewhere and I'd like to be able to drop down and follow them to ambush them while they repair. But if I jump down the fall damage will break stalker and if bump jump before hitting the ground to avoid fall damage, it will break stalker. With shock coils, I just fall straight down and I can continue my stalkerish behavior.

i use same internals except for failsafe i use deflectors for dodge.for the primary weapon i prefer the T32 bolt,i like it for close combat and unsuspected enemies.

Yep, the breacher is quite hard to use in direct combat. Especially with a 150+ ping. Still, I can do passably well with it in a straight up fight at this point.

[Onyxmizer]

I wish I could look this up:

Armor Fusor <-------------- combo is better than adv recon imo. I often have both healing me while I find my next target :3
basic reconstructor <-------^
basic extractor (or was it repair kit_)
basic power surger
basic deflectors
shockcoils

Keeps me front line, mid range. I rarely have to stop.

Edited by Onyxmizer, February 18 2014 - 08:47 AM.

[Lightangel112]

For my pred I got:

Deflectors: cause I get up close and need to be moving for CQC, this is now an even better choice with faster dodging times.

Failsafe: reason I have this is not due to landing in my own mines. It's because of my aggressive playstyle, I get up in people's faces and spam the breacher and EOC P in their face, and cause I am so close the dmg falls back on me from the EOC P which is kind of an AOE.

Shock coil: basic really, stay in stealth from high falls to alpha strike people from down below even.

Basic reconstructor: Although it is not advanced, it still helps even if a little. While repairing it kicks in towards the end, or I stop repairing and let it take over the rest or while in stealth it still works without fail. I just got to remember to disengage for 10 seconds.

Internals I tried out:

Adv Rec: I used to have advanced reconstructor, but I felt it took to many slots to be an overall effective predator player and now with the health refit, it makes even more sense not to use it. I found out that when I used this that it took longer to heal up using it than pressing C.

Armor Fusor: it's funny that someone thinks that this item is better than adv recon, cause i did the maths (a while back) and its like 3 hp per sec. The lesser version does 1.5 health per second iirc. So to me seemed like a useless item, maybe more helpful to C mechs.

Evasive Device: I quickly realised before the HP patch, this item though helpful wasn't helpful enough. It would help me survive maybe less than 50% of all my fights due to faster speed. The predator isn't that speedy to begin with, so making it slightly faster didn't make sense. If you get caught unaware, combust with some honour.

Power surge: also didn't make sense due to my aggressive playstyle either, after every kill I would get this boost in speed but I would most times often have to repair right after a skirmish so this item was made redundant in that respect solely due to playstyle really, and repairing after every fight is a must now.

Edited by Lightangel112, February 18 2014 - 11:48 AM.

[Greenvalv]

Air Compressor - no one really expects a hovering Predator to dodge

[Hijinks_The_Turtle]

Greenvalv, on February 18 2014 - 02:31 PM, said:

Air Compressor - no one really expects a hovering Predator to dodge

I really ought to try that.  It'd be so much fun zipping around while making enemies eat EOC mines.

[Lightangel112]

Lightangel112, on February 18 2014 - 11:44 AM, said:

For my pred I got:

Deflectors: cause I get up close and need to be moving for CQC, this is now an even better choice with faster dodging times.

Failsafe: reason I have this is not due to landing in my own mines. It's because of my aggressive playstyle, I get up in people's faces and spam the breacher and EOC P in their face, and cause I am so close the dmg falls back on me from the EOC P which is kind of an AOE.

Shock coil: basic really, stay in stealth from high falls to alpha strike people from down below even.

Basic reconstructor: Although it is not advanced, it still helps even if a little. While repairing it kicks in towards the end, or I stop repairing and let it take over the rest or while in stealth it still works without fail. I just got to remember to disengage for 10 seconds.

Internals I tried out:

Adv Rec: I used to have advanced reconstructor, but I felt it took to many slots to be an overall effective predator player and now with the health refit, it makes even more sense not to use it. I found out that when I used this that it took longer to heal up using it than pressing C.

Armor Fusor: it's funny that someone thinks that this item is better than adv recon, cause i did the maths (a while back) and its like 3 hp per sec. The lesser version does 1.5 health per second iirc. So to me seemed like a useless item, maybe more helpful to C mechs.

Evasive Device: I quickly realised before the HP patch, this item though helpful wasn't helpful enough. It would help me survive maybe less than 50% of all my fights due to faster speed. The predator isn't that speedy to begin with, so making it slightly faster didn't make sense. If you get caught unaware, combust with some honour.

Power surge: also didn't make sense due to my aggressive playstyle either, after every kill I would get this boost in speed but I would most times often have to repair right after a skirmish so this item was made redundant in that respect solely due to playstyle really, and repairing after every fight is a must now.

I just wanted to add that I changed my predator abit thanks to Xacius new guide for new players. It still has deflectors, failsafe, but it doesn't have shock coil and basic recon, but now has a 2 slot item extractor. I will also change up my items abit also, detonator will remain but MK2 not MK3 + radar scrambler or scanner, which ever I feel is best for which map I play on.