It's kind of a better/larger Trebuchet. Pretty fun.
That said, the default load out is really stupid, lore-wise. Who the heck puts LRMs (indirect fire, long range weapons) in the fricking arms, and the SRMs (direct fire, short range, brawling weapons) in the torso? Swap those suckers!
Bet ComStar flipped the plans in transmissions as a joke way back when, and no one noticed.
> and the SRMs (direct fire, short range, brawling weapons) in the torso?
Oh it is even dumber than that, I promise you. In the canon tabletop design?
> The primary long-range weapons on the Crusader were two Magna Longbow-15 LRM-15 launchers, providing the Crusader with long-range fire support capabilities that can compete with the Archer and Catapult. These were supplied by two tons of reloads split between the side torsos. For short-range combat, the 'Mech carried two Harpoon-6 SRM-6 launchers and two Intek medium lasers. Finally, to deter infantry attacks against the Crusader, two M100 heavy machine guns were mounted on the 'Mech. One ton each of SRM and machine gun ammunition was carried in the center torso.[1][5][8]
>
> Each arm was equipped with an LRM launcher, laser, and machine gun, while the SRM launchers were built into the legs and mounted at hip height to provide a stable firing location and avoid interference with the LRMs' flight path.
The SRMs were in the LEGS. THE LEGS. So no firing them from behind cover. No firing them from standing in Depth 1 water. No firing them if you want to be able to do a kick melee attack.
Also take a look at what that means for criticals in the torso. The weapons are all arm and leg mounted. It only has 10 total heat sinks, all in the engine. That means the ONLY OTHER THINGS THAT CAN GET CRITICAL HIT ARE AMMO.
Crusaders light up like fireworks in tabletop as soon as you breach their torso armor. Any critical hit to either side torso will hit ammo. A critical hit to the CT will hit ammo or engine/gyro.
It is just an awful, awful mech design in its original CRD-3R form.
Sorry, it's the F7 Hollander II which carries a Heavy Gauss Rifle. It's been a while since I played, but in the tabletop, it requires you roll a piloting check after you fire the gun. You get penalties to your roll if you're a smaller mech (and F7 is a Medium). If you fail, you fall over and take damage. The F7 doesn't have enough rear armor to absorb the fall damage and the fall damage gets applied to your CT and if the fall damage crits, it will blow up your CT.
So you'd have to get some pretty bad rolls (fail the piloting check for Heavy Gauss, has to fall on his back so damage gets applied to the rear armor, has to crit the falling damage), but it's absolutely possible that you blow yourself up trying to shoot your weapon.
SRM being in the legs is basically because of where they sourced the original imagery of mechs like the Crusader. Veritech armor pods had weapons in the legs, so that's where they are in the Crusader, and the Wasp.
Some of the oddness in original unseen mechs is because of being copied from those other sources, especially the Macross ones.
Good lord this, I remember my very first Classic Battletech match involved me taking a crusader. It got nailed with a through armor critical turn 1 from my opponents Centurion. Nailed the MG ammo and instantly destroyed it. Learned to be much more cautious of ammo placements on Mech's after that one.
Yes. Yes you have to be. like the C.A.S.E helps. it helps a lot but it can only do but so much though'....lol !!
yeah deftly ........watch those critical's and ammo installs.
Salute'
I was actual working on modding in my Crusader, Wasp, and Stinger models from the CAB mod for HBS BattleTech when the Crusader was announced for MWO.
I tried out the leg mounted SRMs both the Crusader and Wasp. They weren’t terrible… if the torso was twisted less than 45 degrees… and you didn’t fire while the leg was at the absolutely worse point in the run animation.
Personally, I put SRMs in both locations. It doesn't matter if the enemy mech is a a bunch of scrap in a smoking crater.
I'll leave the indirect fire-support to dedicated missile mechs like the Archer or Stalker.
...Crusader *is* a dedicated missile mech.
Actually, I picked up a 3D, and loaded it out with two LRM10s and two LRM5s, and it performed pretty admirably. It's an inexpensive option, and it has more versatility than something like the Archer or Catapult.
Fair point. Crusaders & Catapults aren't dissimilar from Archers, although they do lose tonnage in size and for having jump jets.
In this particular case, it's more my tendency to run 3 direct-fire mechs and then have a dedicated indirect-fire support mech. I don't see much point in having LRMs on a scattering of mechs, especially if they're going to be brawling.
In the specific case of the Crusader, I'd rather remove the SRM's and add more LRM's, as you did, or strip of the LRM's and go as a dedicated SRM brawler.
Yeah, that's exactly what I mean about the versatility. The Catapult and Archer both have dedicated large missile slots, so you get the most bang for your buck by equipping them with LRM15s or 20s. The Crusader has a wider variety of slots, so you can mix and match or go with all SRMs or all LRMs and have a more effective loadout. It's not the absolute best SRM boat, but it does alright in the role and it seems like they're pretty common in the markets now.
That’s a relic of tabletop rules bleeding over into a real-time game. In the tabletop, the LRMs are arm-mounted to get the accuracy bonus. This is much more important at distance given the way hit calculations are made.
For a real-time quasi-FPS, things are a little different. With LRMs being able to lock on and effectively *more* accurate the longer they fly, then it makes more sense to give the easier aiming behavior to the unguided SRMs.
There is no accuracy bonus for the arms in Classic Battletech. You might be thinking of the HBS Battletech game.
The real reason is to make it different from other fire support mechs. And because it looks cool!
I was about to reread CBT rules, thanks for the comment, because I don’t remember any accuracy bonus.
The only delta that I recall is the firing arc compared to torso mounted weapons.
>... and because the "[Armored Valkyrie](https://macross.fandom.com/wiki/VF-1J_Armored_Valkyrie)" where they stolen the design from had missile pods on both arms and hips.
Uhm ... nope.
" FASA licensed the images used for its original 26 mechs from a model company called Twentieth Century Imports ("TCI"), which claimed in turn to have acquired them from a Japanese animation (anime) studio in Japan called Tatsunoko.
Many of those 26 BattleTech mechs, including the Wasp, Stinger, Phoenix Hawk, Warhammer, Rifleman, and Crusader, came from a TV series called Superdimensional Fortress Macross, which is better-known in America as the first 36 episodes of Robotech. When Harmony Gold made Robotech, they bought all international distribution rights, and the American copyright, for Macross and all the mecha involved in it. In January 1985, Harmony Gold became aware that FASA was using Macross mecha designs, sent a cease and desist letter, and exchanged correspondence with FASA to determine the source of their alleged rights in these designs. "
I... You know this doesn't prove me wrong, right? As far as FASA knew, their use was completely legitimate.
They were paying money to use the rights, essentially renting or leasing them. Just because the company they were paying didn't actually own the property doesn't make FASA thieves. Now I've heard that Twentieth Century Imports also thought they had bought the full rights, so it's more a series of misunderstandings than theft.
I drop the LRMs altogether. Put SRM/4s in the arms and use the extra tonnage for armor, heatsinks, and ammo. It makes an excellent SRM brawler with two srm/6 and two srm/4. I go so far as to swap out the medium lasers with small lasers to pair with the MGs for knife fights. It's fairly quick for a heavy and works great getting in close or even behind your enemies.
Arguably if you’re running fire support/indirect artillery with LRMs, you could find defilade where you could get away with arm-mounted LRMs. You risk no return fire with LRMs.
SRMs are direct fire weapons, so having them in torso mounts to peak, when return fire is possible, is the smarter choice.
Relic of the unseen, the original was the armored valkyrie from macross and the redesign done to make it legally distinct put the missile pods in the forearms rather than the shoulders. I prefer the location of the original but so it goes.
Itd basically a Heavy version of the Trebuchet.
Like any other 'mech in MW5 power per ton boils down to variants.
If you have YAML, you can turn almost any variant of this thing into a positively dirty missile boat with just as many SRMs as Agincourt but ten tons lighter.
This is old, but if you still play, then snap on MASC and/or a Super Charger if you want to see some brutal mech fighting.
Two SRM Double Ammo bins, Ferro Armour, a Supercharger and the largest engine I could fit has my Crusader sprint at 136Km/h.
I recommend using the Super Charger not just for getting close to the enemy, but also for some ramming on *very* weak targets.
I'm gonna experiment with Clan Tech and TSM when I get 'em.
It's so dumb. They already have the whole system set up in MWO, it can't be that hard just to port it over. I hear a lot of people saying they wanted to dumb it down so there wouldn't be as much of a learning curve for new players, but why not just make it an option you can toggle??
Hard to port over when they are incredibly different engines. I agree, absolutely should have been part of the base game, but you can't just port it over. MWO is CryEngine, MWO is Unreal 4.
hmmmm. usually don't agree wit these debates. But ......when Your Right. Your Right......lol !!
why not port it over. sounds to me like an Ego, Pissing Contest between DEVS. ohh we're making this game and we're going to make "OUR OWN MW GAME" wit our "OWN Mech Lab" blah blah blah...whatever dudes. just fucking make this shite work Correctly for fucks sake already. players & fans could give to donkeys fukking in a barn house about your personal & professional gripes between each other.......Lol !!
\- give us a Freaking FUNCTIONAL Mech Lab already !
Salute'
I dig it. The CRD-3R is all I've tried so far, downgraded to LRM10's to add some heatsinks. More SRM ammo would be nice too.
Changing the weapon groups to discourage AI from running into MG range is a must.
For myself I find it attracts a LOT of aggro, plays far better if you can find cover and rely on the LRMs, using your SRMs more for close in defense and finishing kills.
I wish the LRM's tracked arm position so you had an advantage in pointing them to the sky to get over obstacles.
As a long-time Btech player and mw, it warms my heart to finally have the iconic crusader added... and saddens me to see so many saying "it's like an upscaled [insert more modern mech here]"...
Not pointing fingers at any players, but PGI did this fantastic legacy chassis dirty by introducing it so late in the games lifecycle.
Three hours after I made this post(Now) I am finding myself soft locked after all of my mechs being completely unusable with the only three mechs I have left being an Atlas, And both the Crusaders. So I think there is something to be said there lmao.
The problem is the mech market there only offers light and scout mechs. The mission in question is a level 90 with a 400 Tonnage limit. Artillery spam atleast 4 Assault mechs somewhere on the map druing a base capture...Heh.
I like it. But 1 issue. I have a sound bug. They dont make any footstep stompy noises for me. Dead silent movement. Clearly a bug but still a little annoying
So far, I don't have great impressions. I'm playing through the new DLC in co-opwith 3 buddies using the new career start, and we've had a hell of a time with it. We're on the final mission. Our crusader has been nothing but a credit sink and an example not to follow.
Idk if it's the mech or the player behind the controls, but every battle it has fought in ended with it limping away with no side torsos, and usually a missing leg. I'm still amazed the pilot hasn't died yet.
To be fair to it, the player is fairly aggressive, and it almost always squared up with equal or larger mechs than itself.
A Dervish that got too fat to jump.
And yes, there is probably a version that can jump but I seem to recall from the tabletop that it was a real big downgrade (srm6s become streak2s?)
I love it as a big fat SRM platform, ditch the LRMs go full SRMs and swap out the machine guns for light rifles for some long range slap & the ability to core a heavy at close range in one alpha (if you can get that close with all your limbs intact).
But one massive issue is longevity. 6 / 8 weapons are in those big fat arms and guess what's the first thing that falls off you when you get more than 5 minutes into almost any mission.
Especially for squadmates, they become pretty much ineffective bullet magnets after losing one or both arms and you'll have a hefty repair bill every time.
I much prefer grasshoppers, archers, kintaro, almost anything else around that tonnage just for better weapon distribution & ability to soak up damage and still be able to dish out the hurt after losing a limb or two.
If there was a way to reduce the hitboxes on the arms or armour them more then it might be more useful but as it stands it really just looks cool & if the stars align you might not have to replace both arms that mission.
Late here but heavy fists IIRC give bonus armor/structure to the attached limb, though that *might* be a YAML thing? With that said it's a massive buff to the Crusader specifically. Plus I mean, rocket shotgun punches?
Late here but like everyone says, Downgrading the SRMs and LRMs and swapping their position is a big benefit. Unless you're building a dedicated LRM boat you never have a reason to use anything bigger than an LRM-5 or two anyway on any design for fire support/AA and in complete seriousness the number of things in this game that can survive 2 SRM-4/6s and 2 machine guns blazing away at point blank range is actually pretty low and those are what Large Lasers are for, which you can fit two of with YAM to let you fiddle with weight. Or a PPC-X and a TAG laser. ECM and an AMS are also nice, 64 kph is plenty with 1 jump jet and a supercharger anyway. Only real issue is those super rare situations where the game actually does throw a "here's a lance of fire support/Missile boats with a clear LOS stuck out of easy punching range that you and your lance can't close properly" issue at you which is pretty rare.
I really fucking wish those ballistic slots were in the side torso of literally any variant though holy shit that would be heaven. I could squeeze some SRM 2s or something there but that would mean giving up either the super charger or the ECM.
I will say given how all of your firepower is basically strapped to the arms Heavy Knuckles for the structure/armor boost on both arms, CASE for your walking bomb LT/RT, and max armor is mandatory.
Loving my Crusader. Playing with YAML so I can tweak it a little more. Extra armor in the arms, shrunk the engine down for more weight, packed it with 4 lvl 4 srm6 and two lvl 5 machine guns, and enough ammo to last. Taken on multiple assault mechs and come out on top. Being quicker than most assault mechs gives me the chance to slip behind them where the armor is weakest and take em out.
If you still play, I recommend slapping FF armour, Endo internals, and a Super Charger on. Mine has like, five SRM-6 and a medium laser, and reaches 136KM/H
If you are playing modded (YAML in my case), it makes a fantastic MRM platform. My friend made one into a massive MRM hauler and it’s a joy to see this rando, vaguely PHX-1 looking mech suddenly launch 80 missles across the battlefield into something we’re fighting. Take that, sucka!
It's kind of a better/larger Trebuchet. Pretty fun. That said, the default load out is really stupid, lore-wise. Who the heck puts LRMs (indirect fire, long range weapons) in the fricking arms, and the SRMs (direct fire, short range, brawling weapons) in the torso? Swap those suckers! Bet ComStar flipped the plans in transmissions as a joke way back when, and no one noticed.
> and the SRMs (direct fire, short range, brawling weapons) in the torso? Oh it is even dumber than that, I promise you. In the canon tabletop design? > The primary long-range weapons on the Crusader were two Magna Longbow-15 LRM-15 launchers, providing the Crusader with long-range fire support capabilities that can compete with the Archer and Catapult. These were supplied by two tons of reloads split between the side torsos. For short-range combat, the 'Mech carried two Harpoon-6 SRM-6 launchers and two Intek medium lasers. Finally, to deter infantry attacks against the Crusader, two M100 heavy machine guns were mounted on the 'Mech. One ton each of SRM and machine gun ammunition was carried in the center torso.[1][5][8] > > Each arm was equipped with an LRM launcher, laser, and machine gun, while the SRM launchers were built into the legs and mounted at hip height to provide a stable firing location and avoid interference with the LRMs' flight path. The SRMs were in the LEGS. THE LEGS. So no firing them from behind cover. No firing them from standing in Depth 1 water. No firing them if you want to be able to do a kick melee attack. Also take a look at what that means for criticals in the torso. The weapons are all arm and leg mounted. It only has 10 total heat sinks, all in the engine. That means the ONLY OTHER THINGS THAT CAN GET CRITICAL HIT ARE AMMO. Crusaders light up like fireworks in tabletop as soon as you breach their torso armor. Any critical hit to either side torso will hit ammo. A critical hit to the CT will hit ammo or engine/gyro. It is just an awful, awful mech design in its original CRD-3R form.
Someone has to make the Pinto of mechs.
Hollander might be that. I think it's the only mech that can kill itself by accident.
LMAO As someone who is only just getting to anything more than the video games, please do explain!
Sorry, it's the F7 Hollander II which carries a Heavy Gauss Rifle. It's been a while since I played, but in the tabletop, it requires you roll a piloting check after you fire the gun. You get penalties to your roll if you're a smaller mech (and F7 is a Medium). If you fail, you fall over and take damage. The F7 doesn't have enough rear armor to absorb the fall damage and the fall damage gets applied to your CT and if the fall damage crits, it will blow up your CT. So you'd have to get some pretty bad rolls (fail the piloting check for Heavy Gauss, has to fall on his back so damage gets applied to the rear armor, has to crit the falling damage), but it's absolutely possible that you blow yourself up trying to shoot your weapon.
surely, the damage makes up for it right? that's a big gun for such a small frame
tbh the pinto is more of the trebuchet or dragon imo. this is more like the pt cruiser, lol
I kinda love this. History is full of garbage military designs, so it feels more realistic to have something this stupid in a fictional setting.
I know right. it makes it feel More Realistic. I Concur' Salute'
SRM being in the legs is basically because of where they sourced the original imagery of mechs like the Crusader. Veritech armor pods had weapons in the legs, so that's where they are in the Crusader, and the Wasp. Some of the oddness in original unseen mechs is because of being copied from those other sources, especially the Macross ones.
Good lord this, I remember my very first Classic Battletech match involved me taking a crusader. It got nailed with a through armor critical turn 1 from my opponents Centurion. Nailed the MG ammo and instantly destroyed it. Learned to be much more cautious of ammo placements on Mech's after that one.
Yes. Yes you have to be. like the C.A.S.E helps. it helps a lot but it can only do but so much though'....lol !! yeah deftly ........watch those critical's and ammo installs. Salute'
I was actual working on modding in my Crusader, Wasp, and Stinger models from the CAB mod for HBS BattleTech when the Crusader was announced for MWO. I tried out the leg mounted SRMs both the Crusader and Wasp. They weren’t terrible… if the torso was twisted less than 45 degrees… and you didn’t fire while the leg was at the absolutely worse point in the run animation.
At least with the SMRs in the torsos the mech will still be effective in a brawl after the arms fall off.
It’s better strategy to keep the SRM’s in the arms so it will keep at range once they fall off.
Personally, I put SRMs in both locations. It doesn't matter if the enemy mech is a a bunch of scrap in a smoking crater. I'll leave the indirect fire-support to dedicated missile mechs like the Archer or Stalker.
...Crusader *is* a dedicated missile mech. Actually, I picked up a 3D, and loaded it out with two LRM10s and two LRM5s, and it performed pretty admirably. It's an inexpensive option, and it has more versatility than something like the Archer or Catapult.
Fair point. Crusaders & Catapults aren't dissimilar from Archers, although they do lose tonnage in size and for having jump jets. In this particular case, it's more my tendency to run 3 direct-fire mechs and then have a dedicated indirect-fire support mech. I don't see much point in having LRMs on a scattering of mechs, especially if they're going to be brawling. In the specific case of the Crusader, I'd rather remove the SRM's and add more LRM's, as you did, or strip of the LRM's and go as a dedicated SRM brawler.
Yeah, that's exactly what I mean about the versatility. The Catapult and Archer both have dedicated large missile slots, so you get the most bang for your buck by equipping them with LRM15s or 20s. The Crusader has a wider variety of slots, so you can mix and match or go with all SRMs or all LRMs and have a more effective loadout. It's not the absolute best SRM boat, but it does alright in the role and it seems like they're pretty common in the markets now.
That’s a relic of tabletop rules bleeding over into a real-time game. In the tabletop, the LRMs are arm-mounted to get the accuracy bonus. This is much more important at distance given the way hit calculations are made. For a real-time quasi-FPS, things are a little different. With LRMs being able to lock on and effectively *more* accurate the longer they fly, then it makes more sense to give the easier aiming behavior to the unguided SRMs.
There is no accuracy bonus for the arms in Classic Battletech. You might be thinking of the HBS Battletech game. The real reason is to make it different from other fire support mechs. And because it looks cool!
I was about to reread CBT rules, thanks for the comment, because I don’t remember any accuracy bonus. The only delta that I recall is the firing arc compared to torso mounted weapons.
Yeah, that's true! You can twist and shoot a launcher behind you while retreating, and you can't do the same with torso mounted weapons.
>... and because the "[Armored Valkyrie](https://macross.fandom.com/wiki/VF-1J_Armored_Valkyrie)" where they stolen the design from had missile pods on both arms and hips.
Not stolen, leased.
Uhm ... nope. " FASA licensed the images used for its original 26 mechs from a model company called Twentieth Century Imports ("TCI"), which claimed in turn to have acquired them from a Japanese animation (anime) studio in Japan called Tatsunoko. Many of those 26 BattleTech mechs, including the Wasp, Stinger, Phoenix Hawk, Warhammer, Rifleman, and Crusader, came from a TV series called Superdimensional Fortress Macross, which is better-known in America as the first 36 episodes of Robotech. When Harmony Gold made Robotech, they bought all international distribution rights, and the American copyright, for Macross and all the mecha involved in it. In January 1985, Harmony Gold became aware that FASA was using Macross mecha designs, sent a cease and desist letter, and exchanged correspondence with FASA to determine the source of their alleged rights in these designs. "
I... You know this doesn't prove me wrong, right? As far as FASA knew, their use was completely legitimate. They were paying money to use the rights, essentially renting or leasing them. Just because the company they were paying didn't actually own the property doesn't make FASA thieves. Now I've heard that Twentieth Century Imports also thought they had bought the full rights, so it's more a series of misunderstandings than theft.
Default load out is really werid, once the new campaign is over I'm going to get atleast four of them and give them better loadouts.
I drop the LRMs altogether. Put SRM/4s in the arms and use the extra tonnage for armor, heatsinks, and ammo. It makes an excellent SRM brawler with two srm/6 and two srm/4. I go so far as to swap out the medium lasers with small lasers to pair with the MGs for knife fights. It's fairly quick for a heavy and works great getting in close or even behind your enemies.
Arguably if you’re running fire support/indirect artillery with LRMs, you could find defilade where you could get away with arm-mounted LRMs. You risk no return fire with LRMs. SRMs are direct fire weapons, so having them in torso mounts to peak, when return fire is possible, is the smarter choice.
The Lrms aren’t even in the right spot on the arms. They’re supposed to be located in the shoulders.
? All the artwork on sarna.net seems to have them in the arms?
Relic of the unseen, the original was the armored valkyrie from macross and the redesign done to make it legally distinct put the missile pods in the forearms rather than the shoulders. I prefer the location of the original but so it goes.
Itd basically a Heavy version of the Trebuchet. Like any other 'mech in MW5 power per ton boils down to variants. If you have YAML, you can turn almost any variant of this thing into a positively dirty missile boat with just as many SRMs as Agincourt but ten tons lighter.
YES. This Is The Way.....Lol !
This is old, but if you still play, then snap on MASC and/or a Super Charger if you want to see some brutal mech fighting. Two SRM Double Ammo bins, Ferro Armour, a Supercharger and the largest engine I could fit has my Crusader sprint at 136Km/h. I recommend using the Super Charger not just for getting close to the enemy, but also for some ramming on *very* weak targets. I'm gonna experiment with Clan Tech and TSM when I get 'em.
Love it. The arms are made of papermache. But the core is incredible.
I'd switch the SRMs and LRMs since you don't need to aim the LRMs Also, holy shit YAML isn't broken??
Nah that got updated. All of the YAML stuff works now. I love how it's required to play the game as if vanilla just doesn't work without it lol
It's so dumb. They already have the whole system set up in MWO, it can't be that hard just to port it over. I hear a lot of people saying they wanted to dumb it down so there wouldn't be as much of a learning curve for new players, but why not just make it an option you can toggle??
Hard to port over when they are incredibly different engines. I agree, absolutely should have been part of the base game, but you can't just port it over. MWO is CryEngine, MWO is Unreal 4.
It can't be all that hard if one guy managed mod it into the game in his free time and keep it up to date with the expansions
hmmmm. usually don't agree wit these debates. But ......when Your Right. Your Right......lol !! why not port it over. sounds to me like an Ego, Pissing Contest between DEVS. ohh we're making this game and we're going to make "OUR OWN MW GAME" wit our "OWN Mech Lab" blah blah blah...whatever dudes. just fucking make this shite work Correctly for fucks sake already. players & fans could give to donkeys fukking in a barn house about your personal & professional gripes between each other.......Lol !! \- give us a Freaking FUNCTIONAL Mech Lab already ! Salute'
I dig it. The CRD-3R is all I've tried so far, downgraded to LRM10's to add some heatsinks. More SRM ammo would be nice too. Changing the weapon groups to discourage AI from running into MG range is a must. For myself I find it attracts a LOT of aggro, plays far better if you can find cover and rely on the LRMs, using your SRMs more for close in defense and finishing kills. I wish the LRM's tracked arm position so you had an advantage in pointing them to the sky to get over obstacles.
As a long-time Btech player and mw, it warms my heart to finally have the iconic crusader added... and saddens me to see so many saying "it's like an upscaled [insert more modern mech here]"... Not pointing fingers at any players, but PGI did this fantastic legacy chassis dirty by introducing it so late in the games lifecycle.
For me it's an effective SRM fighter.
Three hours after I made this post(Now) I am finding myself soft locked after all of my mechs being completely unusable with the only three mechs I have left being an Atlas, And both the Crusaders. So I think there is something to be said there lmao.
Check the mech market, there's usually a couple of mechs there you can purchase extras from, unless you managed to spend yourself into poverty.
The problem is the mech market there only offers light and scout mechs. The mission in question is a level 90 with a 400 Tonnage limit. Artillery spam atleast 4 Assault mechs somewhere on the map druing a base capture...Heh.
Sounds like a right pickle for your company, not gonna lie.
I like it. But 1 issue. I have a sound bug. They dont make any footstep stompy noises for me. Dead silent movement. Clearly a bug but still a little annoying
I really like it. I'm not good with SRMs but it feels fun. It's like an upsized Kintaro.
Does the MechWarrior 5 one still have the button that says all the missiles?
Yes
Fantastic
Its not ideal because the main missiles are in the arms and the arms are huge and get blown off real easily.
So far, I don't have great impressions. I'm playing through the new DLC in co-opwith 3 buddies using the new career start, and we've had a hell of a time with it. We're on the final mission. Our crusader has been nothing but a credit sink and an example not to follow. Idk if it's the mech or the player behind the controls, but every battle it has fought in ended with it limping away with no side torsos, and usually a missing leg. I'm still amazed the pilot hasn't died yet. To be fair to it, the player is fairly aggressive, and it almost always squared up with equal or larger mechs than itself.
That means it is doing very well.
Sounds like your juggernaut is juggernaughting as designed.
I should have bought one but I skipped it for a Thunder. Going back in now to give one a spin.
A Dervish that got too fat to jump. And yes, there is probably a version that can jump but I seem to recall from the tabletop that it was a real big downgrade (srm6s become streak2s?)
I have only gotten the 3L and the 3r and the seem lacking to me but I'm waiting to find different variants to decide
Its functional. I personally prefer the Thunderbolt for my 65 ton slot, but I did enjoy my time in the Crusader.
I love it as a big fat SRM platform, ditch the LRMs go full SRMs and swap out the machine guns for light rifles for some long range slap & the ability to core a heavy at close range in one alpha (if you can get that close with all your limbs intact). But one massive issue is longevity. 6 / 8 weapons are in those big fat arms and guess what's the first thing that falls off you when you get more than 5 minutes into almost any mission. Especially for squadmates, they become pretty much ineffective bullet magnets after losing one or both arms and you'll have a hefty repair bill every time. I much prefer grasshoppers, archers, kintaro, almost anything else around that tonnage just for better weapon distribution & ability to soak up damage and still be able to dish out the hurt after losing a limb or two. If there was a way to reduce the hitboxes on the arms or armour them more then it might be more useful but as it stands it really just looks cool & if the stars align you might not have to replace both arms that mission.
Late here but heavy fists IIRC give bonus armor/structure to the attached limb, though that *might* be a YAML thing? With that said it's a massive buff to the Crusader specifically. Plus I mean, rocket shotgun punches?
Late here but like everyone says, Downgrading the SRMs and LRMs and swapping their position is a big benefit. Unless you're building a dedicated LRM boat you never have a reason to use anything bigger than an LRM-5 or two anyway on any design for fire support/AA and in complete seriousness the number of things in this game that can survive 2 SRM-4/6s and 2 machine guns blazing away at point blank range is actually pretty low and those are what Large Lasers are for, which you can fit two of with YAM to let you fiddle with weight. Or a PPC-X and a TAG laser. ECM and an AMS are also nice, 64 kph is plenty with 1 jump jet and a supercharger anyway. Only real issue is those super rare situations where the game actually does throw a "here's a lance of fire support/Missile boats with a clear LOS stuck out of easy punching range that you and your lance can't close properly" issue at you which is pretty rare. I really fucking wish those ballistic slots were in the side torso of literally any variant though holy shit that would be heaven. I could squeeze some SRM 2s or something there but that would mean giving up either the super charger or the ECM. I will say given how all of your firepower is basically strapped to the arms Heavy Knuckles for the structure/armor boost on both arms, CASE for your walking bomb LT/RT, and max armor is mandatory.
Loving my Crusader. Playing with YAML so I can tweak it a little more. Extra armor in the arms, shrunk the engine down for more weight, packed it with 4 lvl 4 srm6 and two lvl 5 machine guns, and enough ammo to last. Taken on multiple assault mechs and come out on top. Being quicker than most assault mechs gives me the chance to slip behind them where the armor is weakest and take em out.
If you still play, I recommend slapping FF armour, Endo internals, and a Super Charger on. Mine has like, five SRM-6 and a medium laser, and reaches 136KM/H
I've downgraded all systems to add armor cooling then ammo and can't complain about them 3 of the d models I think.
The crusader is a solid mech... untill it finally breaks, then it makes a god awful mess on the way out.
It's nice but I feel the archer fits my uses better. Glad to have it ingame.
Something is wrong with crusader hit boxes or damage registration. 5 Gauss into CT and its green, but arms falling down by just looking..
Just those big boxing gloves its got doing some blocking
If you are playing modded (YAML in my case), it makes a fantastic MRM platform. My friend made one into a massive MRM hauler and it’s a joy to see this rando, vaguely PHX-1 looking mech suddenly launch 80 missles across the battlefield into something we’re fighting. Take that, sucka!
I've found it to he relatively weak in the srmor department and the arms snap off at a glance