I may give that a try when I get done with Mechwarrior 5. I finally got around to playing that :D

I’m savoring the pure joy that is a Cataphract in a lance that includes a Marauder, a Blackjack and the Hunchback hero mech with a burst-fire AC/20 autocannon and three medium pulse lasers, and it. Fucking. Rocks.

@Podbeing
Try Megamek to get your Tabletop Battletech games online.

I had the books…had…but at the time I was the only one interested in Battletech. So pretty much all of my big stompy robot action has been online or in one of the Mechwarrior games. Or Mechcommander and Battletech. I have yet to play much through MW5, because I haven’t had much time lately. New job and I’m training 12 hours a day right now. But giant robots are lurvely. ;)

@Podbeing  
You make an excellent case. :)
 
Say, do you play tabletop BattleTech by any chance? I’ve been trying to get friends of mine interested, but most of them live such busy lives that I just can’t seem to get them to sit down and learn. Some of them have a copy of HBS BattleTech, and I played a skirmish with one of them, but, well… admittedly the skirmish mode of that game feels kinda bland. Tabletop sounds more interesting, especially since I haven’t been able to play MechWarrior in nearly 10 years. lol

@Akamia  
Both have their uses.
 
PPCs are great when your enemy is somewhere right in front of your mech, and they do a bang-up job of knocking the other guy around, deleting a bunch of armor and screwing with their ability to target you. I love them myself, and they form the backbone of any lance I field. I love them for the theater and the range, and the damage they do. They just feel gooooood.
 
But, LRMs can go indirect, if you don’t have clear line of sight but you have a spotter or a sensor lock. And there’s a great psychological warfare advantage if your enemy sees this veritable hurricane of explosive ordinance arcing its way through the air toward them. It’s a message that says, “It doesn’t matter if you run or hide, I’ll find you either way.” It can potentially flush them out into the open, so your other direct-fire weapons have a change to pay their respects to your opponent. This gives the Timberwolf a measure of flexibility, so that whatever your enemy decides to do, you have an option to deal with them (and yes, oh yes, is it cool-lookin’). But, it’s not without it’s disadvantages, namely in that it’s much more expensive to field.
 
You CAN have the best of both worlds without breaking the bank, though–just make sure you have both a classic Catapult AND a K2 in your lance, and then you’ve got the best of both worlds. Then, if you’ve got C-bills to burn, you can field a couple of mediums or lights as recon and harassers, so you’ve got something that can keep nipping away at their flanks while your Catapults turn them scrap and nightmares :)
 
We can ALL be happy ^^)

Ahhh, the Catapult… Such a wonderful long-range fire support ‘Mech.
 
The CPLT-K2 variant seems a lot more popular on Derpi for some reason. I mean, I guess I can relate; I’ll take PPCs over LRMs too. Or do something completely different, even. But then again, I like to brawl, and the Timber Wolf chassis is a much better platform for brawling than the Catapult ever could be.
 
In the Timber Wolf’s case, I can have both LRMs and PPCs. Not entirely sure why I’d do that, but it’s an option…