It has to be said, I was extremely impressed with the prizes for both the recent Clan Wars and the raids.
Not only were we treated to a nice little participation only shield system, but there were some revamps to the raid tables that saw folk who gave it a reasonable go able to net themselves a handful of decent weapons to boot.
But one thing I did notice was the justification that led to said groovy shield item, to whit that some of the participation prizes weren't worth it.
Of specific mention was a little piece of kit called the Handheld Nuke and the fact that all it was useful for was the resale value of a few Niodes.
Well, here's the actual truth.
Bunnies lie.
Because these little highly fissionable gems do indeed have a use, and I'm going to pass it on to you since some of the old salts seem to have forgotten about this little trick.
Let's look at those stats.I'm not going to bother with cost, because you will get access to them through Clan War prizes. 75% chance of double damage, 25% chance of triple damage. Then the kicker, the reason people don't want to use them. 90% chance of kickback with 100% damage. There's a better chance of blowing yourself up than the enemy, making it a useless system, correct?
Wrong. Wrong wrongedy wrong wrong.
Look at the tonnage range, and see what you can fit it on.
Hello Mr Oggun.
Available at level 24, and if you get it fully leveled at that stage it will have an in built 16% chance of double damage all on its tod. So fit it with a Nuke, and the chances of double damage go to 91%. 101% if you get your Oggun to level 39 or higher. Just saying.So, we have each and every shot doing double damage. That now means the Nuke gives us a 25% chance of not triple, but SIX TIMES damage. See where I'm going with this?
Now we start looking hard at our other equipment to see what can help.
Expanding Cables give you some more 3 x damage. Multi Fuel Turbines are a bit naff when it comes to engines, and while I wouldn't put one on a mainline mech if I had the choice, they help out here. Same goes for a Stuxnet Injection. The point is you can get it up to over 40% without any weapon bonuses.
But since we are talking weapons, may I point you in the direction of the Injection Beam (readily available from missions) or even the Square Flame? Nuff said.
Actually, I take that back. Just in case you haven't worked out what we are doing here.
Injection Beams at 37 damage and Square Flames at 30 damage may be on the light side of damage output, but they are already doubled to 74 and 60 respectively. You won't get access to that kind of damage until around level 70. But most importantly they give that little bit of extra 3 x damage chance to give you your overcharged shot.
Now what exactly are we going to do with this mech that is bound for a very short, loud and bright life?
Well, we are going to put it and a few like minded friends into our short line... because at those low levels, you are going to be getting your lines of three mechs regularly swamped by higher levels with lines of four. Or missions with lines of four. Or Raids.
Your good mechs go in your long lines, your dross generally goes in the short lines, there only to make up the numbers or get maybe a lucky shot off.
Now one of your short lines has suicide Ogguns.
Kickback only occurs if you hit them, not if they dodge... so if everyone is still dancing, your Ogguns are fine. Who cares if they are carrying a nuke?
Well, somebody on the receiving end will if you get off that lucky shot you were hoping for... and a 6 x shot will breach even Epsilon grade shielding.
It may not be a crit kill, and you will die in the process, but your short line was never going to survive anyway... and 6 x damage is the next best thing to a crit at your level. Rival Clans, Raids, Missions. Every single one can be hurt and softened so your good stuff can finish them off.
So go on... keep a few Nukes. They were free after all.
Submitted by David McCallum #701548