Generators in AC4 1.4

[LS]

General discussion of generators in Armored Core 4, Regulation 1.4. Discuss any and all aspects of generators in AC4 1.4: the importance and meaning of various stats in the abstract, the specific practical applications of any given generator, the overall usefulness of any given generator, etc.

 

For reference, I have compiled a table of the stats of the eight generators:

Spoiler! --Click Here to View!--

http://oi55.tinypic.com/25k50fc.jpg

The ranges in the last three columns are due to those stats being affected by FRS tuning.

 

Most people will agree that MAXWELL is the best generator in this reg in terms of performance, with the highest output (generally the most important stat), and KP and capacity which are usually sufficient. However, many people make extensive use of SS-GL, since it has only 800 less output than MAXWELL, and considerably larger capacity, while weighing over 400 less; others avoid this generator due to its low KP and aforementioned lower output. Other generators are not widely used in this reg, to the best of my knowledge.

 

So, between MAXWELL and SS-GL, which is the overall better generator, and why do you consider it to be better? On what types of ACs and in which metagames (For example, I am more inclined to use MAXWELL in a metagame in which dual EURYALE is not banned) would you use each? In what cases, if any, would you consider or use generators other than these two, and why?

 

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Personally, I default to MAXWELL, not SS-GL. I generally do not use SS-GL unless I desperately need the extra weight, feel that the AC has more than enough energy with MAXWELL, and can afford to be significantly weaker to MGs and SGs. When I do use SS-GL, it is usually on ACs which play heavy cover games: ACs which engage for several seconds, then disengage for (optimally, though it rarely works out this way in matches) approximately the same amount of time, while their weapons reload. SS-GL is well suited for these kinds of ACs, since it lets them be more maneuverable over the short term than MAXWELL ACs, since they can fire off more successive QBs over a short period of time with their larger cap, and since the lower KP and output will not hurt as much with frequent breaks in combat, during which energy and PA can recharge.

 

In terms of other generators, I find ALIYA, LINSTANT, and HECTOR to be pretty much entirely useless. ALIYA has much less cap than MAXWELL, and the weight difference is not enough to make up for that when it also has less output. LINSTANT, although light with excellent KP, has so little output and capacity that ACs using it are necessarily much, much less mobile than ACs using higher performance generators, to the point that they would be better off increasing their overall weight by using a higher performance generator, since that would increase their mobility. HECTOR is a heavier HOGIRE with less output and cap, and slightly more KP, and in my experience HOGIRE gives a defensive advantage through its superior energy, since the KP difference is very minor.

 

SS-G, although it has enormous capacity, is so heavy that MAXWELL can be used in its place, and I prefer MAXWEL for KP. I have a hard time imagining a niche for it, though I suppose that a more extreme version of the coverwhoring SS-GL strategy might work nicely with it. It's just so heavy though. I'd rather use SS-GL and get more defense or another backup weapon, or MAXWELL and get more KP.

 

I have used both HOGIRE and JUDITH on low-drain RJs which couldn't fit MAXWELL and whose unfavorable stability/speed ratios made SS-GL's low KP offputting. I find that both perform well in cases like these, JUDITH moreso than HOGIRE, since its output is only 200 less and it also weighs almost 200 less. JUDITH is also useful on featherweights (not that featherweights don't suck).

[Exorcet]

On HOGIRE vs JUDITH, I actually feel the opposite. I go for the EN over the weight difference. I can't recall a situation that was so tight with weight that I really felt like going for HOGIRE over JUDITH was a tough call (then again, I hardly ever used them, and RJ's were perhaps my least favorite legs besides tanks).

 

The only thing I ever really liked about HOGIRE was the cap. It made it feel almost-competitive to the other gens as long as you avoided prolonged fighting. HOGIRE cap is just below the GA gens, and a bit beyond everything else, including tuned MAXWELL. JUDITH was just always mediocre in everything, and even on an RJ, I'd rather just go SS-G and use ALIYA/B+ENO to keep PA together by running away.

 

Also, it's ironic how much 1.4 HECTOR sucks given how great it was in 1.6. I probably liked it (1.6 ver) more than most people though. But that's another thread.

[Bakuhatsu Pengin]

i use GL

[Mom]

I used GL in AC4.

[exogen]

For what I am doing in 1.4 I tend to switch between MAXWELL and SS-GL as well.

 

In my opinion all other gens are trash save for a few builds that will probably not be very tier anyway. But to talk about why one gen is better or worse than the others is to talk about context.

 

this example might help elucidate what I want to say.

 

I remember Rach telling me how he was using smaller gens and less drainy boosters. If I remember the conversation right his rationale was that you didn't need all that extra EN of those HW gens because the LW gens, being obviously ligher, would make your LW AC lighter and as a result the les drainy boosters would allow you to move fast enough to keep up.

 

In my experience though I have not seen this to be the case. While there is some degree of truth to what he was saying, ultimately rocking side boosters like Kraken which are necessary for proper CQC and dodging at close range are tier. Kraken compensates for the loss of speed when rocking bigger gens; being that Kraken moves you so far it makes sense to rock a big gen for lots of EN being that speed is not an issue. What you come out with is something that is faster and has more EN and can still hold plenty of stuff then keeping to a all LW setup. This though has application to MW builds as well.

 

When you put a LW who is using boosters like Kraken with either MAXWELL or SS-GL against a LW that uses a LW gen or even a MW gen and les drainly boosters, the LW that has the more powerfull setup will have more EN and be faster. The choice at that point is obvious. Something like SS-GL also is a gen that give one even more reason to not use less powerfull gens. The thing is so light and as LS pointed out with FRS your getting something that is basically sufficent for high level play where as SS-G is to heavy and infirior compared to MAXWELL.

 

In my mind yeah its basically just MAXWELL or SS-GL and everything else, again save for maybe a view rare builds that I doubt are high tier, are worthless. And that is true no matter what weight class I am running.