Unconventional Brawler: The Trebuchet


This pretty much sums the Trebuchet experience. Seriously, just watch the LG trailer. It perfectly portrays the Treb gameplay.

"Brawling in a Trebuchet? That piece of shit fine machinery that is only good for LRMs? I mean there's the Griffin, the Shadowhawk 2K and heck, even the Wolverines. Quit these perverted thoughts and take one of those you fool!"

What if I said the Trebuchet is a pretty viable SRM brawler? It always has been a bit brawly as a Streak/SRM platform but the new quirks seems to have injected more manliness to the Trebs. Especially the 7M and the LG are impressive and they stand out from the others in terms of favorable quirks and hardpoint layouts.

The 7M comes with a 3M+3E layout and 3E and 1M of them are housed in its arms. The LG leans more towards missiles with a 4M+2E layout with 2M+2E of them mounted on the arms. Even though the 7M is quirked for LRM15's, it also gets a 20% general boost to missile cooldown and a 10% heat reduction to missile heat generation. The LG has more subtle quirks, it only gets 15% cooldown and range bonuses for SRM4s.

Now, I used to combine SSRMs with SRMs in my Trebs back when SSRMs had a hell a lot of cockpit shake. I just chained the SSRMs while I pounded the confused victim with an SRM6 and 3xMLs. Meanwhile I jumpjetted all over the place at 100+KPH speeds which discombobulated my victim even more. It worked and I was really pleased with finding a non-LRM niche for the Treb. Then, the SSRM2s got nerfed more than once. They no longer went for CT only and they didn't give the cockpit an artillery treatment. When the JJs got nerfed, that was the final nail in the coffin for me. I said my goodbyes and put my Trebs away. I occasionally checked them out (especially after LG was released) but they never performed the same and the alternatives kept me distracted.

Yesterday, out of the blue, I rebuilt my 7M and LG according to their quirks. I put 2xASRM6'es in my 7M's torsos and put 3xML+ASRM4 on the arms. I also frontloaded the armor like a pro and headed for the group queue. If you're not familiar with high-Elo group queue, let me tell you it's a whole another ballpark. The randomness and slower pace of the solo queue is replaced with relentless and overpowering attacks, skillful pilots and teamwork. There's no place for "bad" 'Mechs here. Yet, the 7M somehow fit right in. The combination of its ridiculous mobility, quirks and ASRMs makes it an efficient killer. I consistently did great in a group of skilled players, even when our team was losing badly. Encouraged by the 7M (and the greed for more C-Bills) I did a similar build on my LG and it performed similarly, everybody was impressed.


Yes, jump jets. Use them. A lot.

Now, don't get me wrong. If you're not familiar with the principles of "JJ brawling" and a good deal of light experience (which translates directly into Trebs), you're better off in a better armored and harder hitting 'Mech. The Treb has some big flaws like a massive blackhole in its CT, arms made by the highest bribing company and a tendency to shed its legs spontaneously. You really have to use its speed and agility to make up for these by confusing, outpositioning and generally being a slippery son of a bitch. If you can do those (and if you're willing to learn them), then please give the Trebuchet a try. It's a Spider trapped in a medium's chassis.

Here are the builds I've been using so far:


I'll post a few example gameplay videos as I get around to recording them
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About Rak

I'm an engineer who likes to write extremely long articles about games that border simulation and mainstream.
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