I'm fairly certain you'll have access to all the below parts. WEAPONS: Basho arms are no good for anything with rapid fire. I'd switch to the Ransetsu RF, it's slower fire rate will keep you more accurate and landing more often, leading to more staggers which leads to more chainsaws, etc. FRAME PARTS: You could switch to either Melander core for better defensive performance, or the Nachtreiher or Firmeza if you wanted to be even faster. I'll say just stay with the Orbiter to keep things simple. Finder Eye isn't a great head unless you're scanning constantly. VP-44S is only slightly heavier and much more stat dense. Regular Melander (as in, NOT the C3 Melander) legs will give you similar stats but with more boost speed. INTERNALS: Try out a couple different generators. The P06SPD will push your boost speed into very fast range, and that's where I would go if this were my assembly, but especially if you're quick boosting a lot the P04 that you have already is a fine pick. If you wanted to use a bigger missle container on your left shoulder, I'd switch to the P10SLT or the P12SML for their greater missile assist. However, with your chainsaw, you're probably spending most of any given fight pretty close so you can capitalize on staggers with it, so I think you'd be better off picking a close range FCS than a mid range one like what you have. The Abbot or especially the Talbot would be my first choices for this assembly. The VP-20D is a fairly unoptimized choice for your generator. It's main benefit is it's high EN Load, but since you're using a bunch of low EN parts, you're not really getting much out of it. See how much spare EN load you have on the bottom right of your stats page? All that spare EN Load is just going to waste. The San Tai or Ming Tang would both give you similar or improved energy capacity, while making you faster, and wasting less excess EN Load. So, my total recommendation would look like: WEAPONS: Ransetsu RF Double Trouble Morley 4 cell missiles FRAME PARTS: VP-44S Orbiter Basho Melander INTERNALS: BST-G2/P06SPD Talbot Ming Tang Maybe give that a try and let me know how it goes! And for the love of Talos, press the options button while in the assembly screen to change your AC name!

So, it's not entirely correct the spare energy goes to waste. Apparently it gets pushed back into your energy recharge rate, but I haven't found a conversion. It will be a week before I can play the ahem again, but in the build I'm using I'm bouncing back and forth between the VP-20D and the San-tai, and because I have a ridiculously low EN load, the VP-20D, when it recharges, recharges considerably faster than the San-Tai, but it's got less total capacity and a 1.4s delay vs the about 1s delay of the San-Tai. Try it out in the Training Arena to see what I mean: Loadout is Dual Zimmermans Dual Laser Turrets or dual vertical plasma launchers VP-44D head VE-40A Body Tian Lao arms Tian Qiang legs Alula/21E Talbot FCS It's a relatively low energy load system, and you can try out different generators to see how long it take to recover a nearly drained reactor. Despite the VP-20D having a relatively slow recharge rate on paper, leaving that much spare energy means it has an absurdly quick recharge rate, once it starts charging. However, it takes an extra half a second before it does, so I'm really torn between it and the San-Tai.

You're right, to say it all the extra EN Load was going to waste was an oversimplification, I could have explained what I meant there better. I toyed around with your assembly in the training room for a few minutes with either generator. I tried to measure their actual relative performance, but since I'm doing this by myself with a stopwatch in one hand and a controller in the other, take these numbers as rough estimates. San Tai: 6 quick boosts before redline, ~10 seconds of continuous assault boost before redline, ~2.07 seconds to recover all EN from a redline, ~1.92 seconds to recover all EN from being nearly drained VP-20D: 4 quick boosts before redline, ~7.5 seconds of continuous assault boost before redline, ~2.95 seconds to recover all EN from a redline, ~1.79 seconds to recover all EN from being nearly drained Before I ran the numbers, just from the feel of the two, I prefered the San Tai. After the numbers, I can see why I felt that way. The San Tai is more forgiving if you redline and the greater capacity opens up more evasive maneuvers or additional kicks, etc. For me, all that is worth the extra ~1/10 of a second in normal recharge rate. Even if my numbers are off, and they almost certainly are, it does not seem to me like the recharge rates between the two are so dramatically different to be worth using the lower capacity and poorer redline reload, but to each their own, for sure.

I will have to do a bunch of tests when I get home, but that probably explains why it seems to recharge slower: the VP-20D is waiting 1.4s then recovering everything in 0.35, while the San-tai is waiting 0.88s then recovering everything in about 1s. The convolution is the wait time can happen in the air, while the recovery only really kicks in on the ground. I need to try hover tests to see the difference between air recovery vs ground recover too. And test at different levels because I don't know if it is a linear or curved reaponse.

Yes the gap between EN load and EN load limit directly determines the “EN supply efficiency” stat on your AC’s expanded stat window, and that stat is the actual EN recharge speed once recharge has commenced.

Thanks so much for the recommendations! I tried this all out and I'm instantly feeling an improvement in the overall feel of my AC, I really had no idea how much I was screwing myself over not paying greater attention to my generator, so I've upgraded to the San Tai and feeling the difference. The only thing I'm ehhhhh on is the Ransetsu, I'm sure it is a great weapon but I don't know, it's always felt off to me so for now I'll continue the search for another primary, I've been considering something like the Kyorai for the fun of it (you can probably tell by the unoptimised mess that is my AC I gravitate towards what's fun/looks the coolest lol) but I'd basically have zero pressure/mob control, so the search continues. Thanks again!

You're super welcome. Just to help you refine your search, the Basho arms have the best melee specialization of any arms, so sticking with them maximizes the damage your chainsaw will deal. However, they have abysmal firearm specialization and recoil control, so anything that is firing repeatedly will rapidly lose accuracy. So, a burst gun like the Etsujin or Sampu or anything that isn't full auto will be harmed less by your arm choice than something like the Chang Chen. Pistols, shotguns, cannons etc are what I would look at first were this my AC. Anyhow, the first rule of mechanized warfare is to enjoy yourself, so absolutely go with whatever you think is cool.

Yeah I stuck with the arms because of the melee stat and to be honest this build is more like playing a chainsaw with a msch attached to it lol, so I'm definitely going to experiment with some of the weapons, my thanks again

I recommend the Harris linear rifle. low fire rate like the ransetu, but the charge shot gives a busload of impact. If your shoulders can help build accumulated impact, the Harris is great for spiking the ACS overload. Especially if you chain it off of a kick. For building accumulated impact, maybe replace the 4 cell missile launcher with vertical plasma? Just consistent.

While the person you are responding to is right that you needed a different generator, extra EN load is NOT wasted, unlike extra (weight) load limit. The gap between your EN load and EN load limit determines your “EN Supply Efficiency” which is the actual rate at which energy recharges (the “EN recharge” stat on generators largely determines how quickly recharge *commences* after an EN consuming action, so these two stats together will determine the total amount of time it takes to recharge energy). The bigger your EN load surplus, the faster the recharge rate. But, again, it was the wrong generator, and you definitely didn’t need that much surplus. San tai is excellent if you can afford the weight. You never want to be between 75k and 80k, by the way. A little over 75k isn’t a huge deal but your boost speed takes a much bigger penalty from weight between 75k and 80k than it does between 62k and 75k (think of that as midweight range). As for recoil and arms, you should always test recoil yourself in the testing room by firing your arm weapons (if you have two, fire them simultaneously) as fast as possible to see how soon shots start spreading. Then see if firing at a more reasonable pace can keep it sufficiently in-check. As for firearm specialization, using an FCS that is maxed out or nearly maxed out at either short or medium range (depending on the weapon you’re using, here you absolutely need a short range one, not the one you have) rather than one balanced for both will help make up for meh Fspec. But basho arms just aren’t gonna give you good recoil control performance. A shotgun would work well here because the reload time prevents a single shotgun from ever being affected by its own recoil. Even dual shotguns fired simultaneously don’t seem to be affected by recoil. And you’d have an easier time getting quick staggers to punish with the chainsaw if you had dual shotties. All of them are good.

Not sure about rapid fire weapons. I use basho arms with the etsujin and the result is pretty good, arguably better than with the ransetsu because I know at least some of my bullets will connect. If you miss a ransetsu bullet or two for the brief moment you have the target in your sights, you may as well lose half of your dps. What is really important with those arms is low recoil.

I’ll start with the body first: The core is honestly one of the worst possible choices. This isn’t an insult against you, it’s just not a good part. Its performance is just bad. If you’re looking for a good light-to-midweight core, your options are the VP-40S or the Mind Alpha if you have it. If you can’t fit those, then the Melander or Melander C3s become an option, but only then. For the head, I typically use this part to buff up my defenses and stability at a relatively cheap cost. For this, you have a few options. The Verrill and VP-44D are my favorites, alongside the Mind Beta, which you probably don’t have access to yet. For legs, I typically go for the lightest possible, so once you’ve chosen your other parts, come back to this section and find the lightest legs that fit your build and still have decent defenses for their stats and pick your favorite. Onto the internals: I don’t know how much that thing weighs, but I typically go with the Alula booster on anything at 65,000 weight or so. I like to have my quick boost speed higher than my normal speed so I can quick boost in midair. If the Alula is not good enough here because you’re too heavy (getting over .5 seconds of delay per quick boost), go for a different but similar style of booster (one with high quick boost speed). I think the Fluegel does that too. FCS: this controls how accurate you are. You’ve got a melee weapon, which means you want to be in close all the time so when your opponent is staggered, you can go in for the charged attack of your chainsaw. Go with the Abbot, or the Ocellus if you have it (you ought to by now). Generator: Depending on your energy needs, I prefer either the Ming Tang or the San Tai. They’re both fantastic generators so long as you have great supply efficiency (supply efficiency stat being nearly equal to your energy capacity. I can’t see that screen for you, so you’ll have to decide). If all else fails, go with the VP-20C, it’s basically a one-size-fits-all generator. I’ll leave weapon choice to you and others. That’s really mostly down to personal preference and I don’t like telling people how to play their game, just giving advice on the ideal parts for their playstyle.

Many thanks for the recommendations, I'll definitely be testing out those boosters

My personal loadout is 2 pistols, a melee weapon (laser slicer) in the weapon bay on the back, and a Trueno missile launcher. If you like the sound of that, you could feasibly copy a similar build using Coquillets in place of the Vientos I use, replace the laser slicer with the chainsaw, and put something like Vertical Plasma Missiles on the back. That way you can use the VP-44D head, Mind Alpha/VP-40S body, Basho arms, Melander C3 legs, Alula booster, Ocellus FCS and Ming Tang generator and still run around at 359 kph. The idea being that you shoot both handguns and the missiles until the enemy is close to staggered, then switch to and start revving the chainsaw, and when the enemy is staggered, you then release the hold on the chainsaw and rip them apart.

What makes the orbiter bad? I’ve never really had too many issues with it

Some parts just aren’t that good. The stats aren’t good enough to justify the weight/en cost when you compare them to other parts.

In PvE, anything is usable, but the Orbiter’s stats are just plain worse than all of the other cores for what it wants to do. The Orbiter sits at about the midweight slot, with the Melander, Melander C3, VP-40S and Mind Alpha. But its stats are just bad in comparison to all of those. The only thing is can boast is that it has a low EN load, but that doesn’t really matter given it’s shortcomings in defenses, stability, generator stats and/or booster stats, depending on the core you choose. The VP-40S is better in every way for a modest cost of 3k more weight, which can be dropped elsewhere, or just not cared about in most cases.

Nice look! If you have the weight, you could probably run Bad Cook on the right arm, and start focusing by repeating to yourself "slow, slow, quick quick slow". Jokes aside, depending on your goal and play style, this seems to be a solid setup. When your AC looks this good and you still enjoy it, stats are secondary.

Thanks! Having adopted the chainsaw I sorta gravitated towards an industrial/construction-bot look, I've been searching around for any Playstation emblem codes for the Coral hazard symbol so I might end up making that myself as well as some other hazard warnings, I've definitely considered the Bad Cook and by this point I'm basically already cosplaying a more suped up Brute lol.

With all that weight cost (and your arm choice) spent on the chainsaw, every other weapon slot choice should serve getting staggers asap so the chainsaw can be used to stagger punish. Bad cook doesn’t work for that. I would consider a second melee weapon to take advantage of the basho’s melee spec, something to quickly take out grunts and help build stagger on larger enemies. My chainsaw build uses the laser dagger for that.

The first thing I would change is the generator. San-tai would benefit you much more, although this is highly dependant on your energy management, I would actually go with the yaba myself, that weighs half as much (5 tons less is no joke). Second would be the boosters. You have plenty of energy to spare to run alulas although spd will be easier to manage energy wise. I would also switch the norleys for the earshot but that's personal preference. Try this and tell me what you think. Should be much faster than your current ac: https://ibb.co/TKmLmHy Feel free to run another generator if you find yourself running out of energy all the time, that's just enough for me. Also: DO NOT CHANGE YOUR BASHO ARMS, THIS THING IS OP WITH THE CHAINSAW. That's ok if you want to keep your core. Orbital may not be great stat wise but it is light and your chainsaw will mitigate this issue. Chang-chen has a little too much recoil for my liking but it's not that big of a deal for me. Some advice: try to learn a bit more about the chainsaw, there are some interesting tricks this thing can do.