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[As a note, I will try to update/modify this thread/post whenever I remember or think of something new and useful]
First off, I am going to kick it off with things you shouldn't worry or think about for the first few weeks of playing. This will prevent new players from getting stuck on little things so they can focus on learning the game.
2.5: DO THE TUTORIALS- seriously, doing the tutorials and bonus trials can not only teach you how to be a better pilot, but some of the challenges can also earn you around 2.5mil for getting gold in each one. So its worth it to do some extra tutorial grinding to get you some needed funds for upgrades or buying mechs.
- DONT worry about getting Artillary/Air strikes, UAV's, or any other consumable for your mech. Every time you buy a consumable, its somewhere between 40k to 80k to replace them every game if you use them. and considering that losing a match and not getting a kill or other reward bonuses and you use both consumables, you could actually be in the negatives for the match. Consumables are just too expensive to maintain as a new player.
- Don't squander your Cadet rewards for 25 matches in a trial mechs. by that time, you should have a healthy amount of money to buy something (around 7+ million or so), but dont be in a rush. feel free to keep using trial mechs until you have a good feel for the mech you like/want and then buy it. And make sure you have a about 500k to 2mil leftover to modify your mech. You cant switch out or change your loadout in trial mechs, but when you buy a mech, you have full reign to do whatever you want to it (restricted by hardpoints). But be realistic, and make sure you have heat-sinks. Try to maintain a heat rating between 1.20 and 1.60.
- DONT worry about paint schemes, dashboard items (likes statues, warhorns, hanging items). They may look nice, and fun to have around (especially warhorns) but they can be pricey. Stay away from these until there is a sale on something. ALSO KEEP IN MIND: when you buy a paint scheme, that paint scheme is ONLY for the chassis you bought them on (like the sherman scheme for an atlas, it will only be available for an atlas mechs). So dont buy a paint scheme and expect it to be availabe for all your mechs. But paint colors you buy are available for any of your mech to use, but they are very pricey. Again, wait for a sale to happen.
- Please don't ask where your ER PPC or PPC, or any laser based weapon ammo is. Lasers/PPC's dont have ammo.
- DONT GET XL ENGINES and dont worry about moving faster! most heavy and pretty much all assault mechs are SLOW AS ****. Deal with it. XL engines are not only incredibly expensive (high end ones cost more than most mechs in the whole game), but also make it easier for you to get killed. since your XL engine takes up 3 of your torso slots in all 3 torso sections, any shot into a weakened torso can instantly kill you. I know the huge weight reduction and good number of heat sinks looks awesome, but for a new player, you are just going to die a lot.
NOW ON TO THE GOOD STUFF
As a brawler, you are accepting a certain modicum of social requirements that you may decide to ignore to your own detriment. But here are some of the expectations:
You are a 'tank/dps' hybrid. You are expected to not only soak up damage for other mechs (or at least draw fire from other mechs) but deal tons of damage. Light and medium mechs will use you as a shield, and will often run to you so you can give them both covering fire and be a human (mech) shield. It sucks, and it can be painful, but it comes with the job. Try to stay with the group, the group will try and protect you (especially from pesky light mechs) in return you are expected to do some serious damage; and in general, be useful. Expect to fight in close range, and use equipment that compliments your QUIRKS (special bonuses all mech will have). Expect to use mostly short-medium range weapons like small and medium lasers and pulse lasers, and occasionally have 1 or 2 long range weapons like ER large lasers and/or LRMs.
Assault mechs are probably the most newbie friendly mechs because they have so much armor, and plenty of hardpoints, but they are also some of the slowest, tallest and bulkiest mechs in the game.
Here are some of the best 'brawler' mechs to get into the game (preferably without spending real cash):
INNER SPHERE MECHS : or IS for short.
- ATLAS: [Assault Class, 100 ton] A serious mainstay in the assault class. Has a good balance of hardpoints, armor, and weapon options available. Was 'king of the hill' until the Direwolf and King Crab came into the game. a good engine, AC/10 or 20, a couple lasers and an LRM/15 is an average but competant build. Deadly at all ranges, but a very expensive mech. if you wan one right off the bat as your first mech, expect to save up some ccbills, because its a damn expensive mech. But the best one to get for your buck would be the D-DC variant, which can equip an ECM module.
- King Crab: [Assault Class, 100 ton] Is currently the king when it comes to brawlers. If you are going to throw cash at the game, this mech is worth every penny. Tied with the atlas for armor and weapon options available (depending on mech variant), you can really make this mech into anything you want. The 000 variant can equip 4 AC5 or UAC5's and still have space for 240-360+ rounds of AC5 ammo, and depending on the engine, you can put some serious speed on your mech. But you would be better off running 2 AC/20's and a laser or two since the 000 mech currently has quirks for AC20's. Either way, you are seriously going to ruin someones day. You can do 2 AC10's or LBX-10's in each arm, but the slow fire or spread of so much damage leaves it behind running AC20's or quad AC5's.
- Banshee: [Assault Class, 85 ton] Now I am not that familiar with these mechs, but a lot of people like to work with this mech when it comes to brawlers. They have a lot of options available for hardpoints, and pack nearly as much armor as the crab and atlas. I cant get into specifics because of unfamiliarity, but they are cheaper than the atlas and crab, and are still viable.
- Battlemaster: [Assault class 85 ton] This mech family is very energy based, and somewhat missile based. I wouldn't recommend this mech for standard brawling because of how fast heat can build up running a laser/ppc heavy mech. But the Hellslinger (heavily modified) can really take a beating and dish it out. Dont expect to run AC weapons on the mech, stick to lasers and focus on hit and run tactics, especially if you are running PPC's.
- Catapult: [Heavy Class, 65 ton] While not inherently a brawler mech (its mostly an LRM boat or ER PPC glass cannon), I have seen some really absurd builds with racks of SRM's and a laser tag that can do some crazy damage. I wouldnt recommend doing it because it is fairly expensive and unreliable, but if you want to just get silly, theres an idea for you. Keep in mind the Catapults have a very large CT hit box, and large arm hitboxes. The Jester hero (laser based) mech though is probably the most brawler friendly catapult, but you can only get that with MC.
- Cataphract: [Heavy Class, 70 ton] It has fallen out of favor thanks to other mechs coming around that are seen as more viable, but dont completely overlook this mech. it is a little more on the fragile side for a brawler, but it can dish out some serious damage in close range. and it is also cheaper than other heavy/assault mechs, and more versatile.
- Victor: [Assault Class, 80 ton] This mech has a lot of viability, and options available for brawlers. its a little on the light side (80 tons) but more maneuverable and can fit jump jets. you can honestly get really absurd builds on this mech and is a well balanced mech that threads speed with firepower nicely.
- Centurion: [Medium Class, 50 ton] This mech is in the medium weight class, and is a bit on the fragile side for brawlers, so dont try to tank with them But they can run a good compliment of weapons like AC10's and medium lasers (make sure to chain fire). But you have to worry about both armor and heat. Because of its small frame, I wouldnt recommend using XL engines. Also dont expect your left arm to be anything more than a shield, so make sure you 'Swivel tank' on your left side before using your right side which tends to house your main weapons.
- Thunderbolt: [Heavy Class, 65 ton] While weighing in at only 65 tons, the Thunderbolt can be tougher to kill than 'mechs which significantly outweigh it. It's extremely blocky design allows it to spread damage with ease, while its weapon hardpoints and quirks allow it to support a broad range of loadouts. An excellent, high-mobility workhorse 'Mech for both brawling and distance combat.
- Highlander: [Assault Class, 85 ton] I am on the fence with this mech, it can be a good brawler if you have good positioning (and a really good load out), but this mech also has a VERY LARGE CT, and incredibly slow engine. This mech is a mixed bag, some variants are really good (Heavy Metal) while other variants are lackluster at best. Expect to put down a pretty penny on upgrading the engines, heat sinks, and weapons in order to make it viable.
- Zeus: [Assault Class, 80 ton] To be straight forward with you, I really hate this mech. I hate the hardpoint locations, I hate the torso hitboxes, I hate most of the faction paint schemes on it too. But when I do feel like running it, I run my zues with 2 ac5's, and a couple srm6's and a spare laser or two on it. (seriously why put so many LRM's in the arm, it doesnt make sense, arrrgh)
- Black Knight: [Heavy Class, 75 ton] Need more playtime with this mech, but it is a very laser focused mech, and runs really hot. I would not recommend Brawling with this mech, trying to trade blows will just get you overheated. Skirmish/Hit and Run is the best tactic to run with this mech. Eliting this mech really makes it shine compared to other IS disco balls.
- Mauler: [Assault Class, 90 ton] This is a beefy mech to roll around with. Not inherently a brawler in its standard loadout (more of a fire support platform), but some modification can make it more brawler than expected. Drop the LRM's and put in SRM's, use pulse lasers, and make use of the ballistic hardpoints in the chest for UAC 5's and it can be downright vicous (and very hot in short order). One major downside to this mech is that it has a really terrible torso twist range. Be very careful, light mech will eat you up if you're left alone.
- Marauder: [Heavy Class, 75 ton] This mech is not only a legacy mech thats part of the 'Unseen', but with its rebirth its a damn fantastic mech. Think of it as a mini KGC (and thats a good thing). This mech is mostly energy focused with laser hardpoints in its arms, and a ballistic hardpoint or two in the right torso. This mech can take plenty of damage, and enough getup an go to get out of a killzone, but at 25 tons less than a KGC it doesnt have the same amount of armor. So you dont want to just sit around and wait for someone to shoot you. My two favorite builds for this mech right now is 6 ML and a gauss rifle, and 4 MPL and LRM20. This is a fantastic mech to go pugging around as well as take into Faction Warfare.
- Archer: [Heavy Class, 70 ton] This mech is a little fragile compared to other heavy mechs thanks to its huge ST hitboxes, But also offers a lot of build options. Think of it kind of like a swiss army knife of heavy mechs. It can boat LRM's, it can boat SRM's, and while not completely suited for it due to a lack of quirks, It can also be an laserboat. The hero mech (Tempest) also comes with ECM, which already makes it a great pick for any kind of drop. Especially with versatile LRM quirks for any sized LRM on all variants. And having 2 CT laser points almost makes it usefull as a 'zombie' mech.
- Dire Wolf: [Assault Class, 100 ton] Currently the biggest, ugliest and fattest clan mech currently available. And what it fails in aesthetics, it makes up for in sheer firepower. With all the different omnipod options, hardpoint options, and upgraded double heat sinks that only take 2 slots (as compared to IS mechs using 3 slots for a double heat sink) makes this thing scary. This mech doesnt have as much targetable space compared to the atlas and king crab, and you could use swivel tanking (moving your upper body left and right to spread incoming damage do your arms instead of your torso) to increas survivability.
- Warhawk: [Assault Class, 85 tons] The smaller, and even uglier little brother to the direwolf. Its more designed to be a sniper than a brawler, but can be both. Unfortunately since its 15 tons lighter, and weapons can only be equipped in the arms, it is not as optimal as the Direwolf when it comes to brawling. But still having lots of double heat-sinks, and designed for laser weapons, its great for longer, drawn out combat like conquest of Faction Warfare.
- Timberwolf: [Heavy Class, 60 ton] (aka MADCAT for those of you who arent hardcore MW/BT players) While not inherently a brawler (like the catapult) it can be played like a brawler in times of desperation.I would not recommend it because the Timberwolf has such large hit boxes and rather few weapon hardpoints. IF you are to play this mech as a brawler, running a couple pulse lasers in the arms, and either SRM's or SSRM's with a tag. IF you are going for a brawler build with a Timberwolf, the TBR-S is the best variant to go with. It can equip a decent ballistic weapon that can help prevent you from overheating by using AC weapons (preferably AC2 or AC5 variants).
- Gargoyle: [Assault class, 80 ton] I would put this mech more as a skirmisher than a brawler. It has a XL400 engine, and some good hardpoints on the arms, but like most clan mechs it has a huge CT that makes it easy to be a target. Keep in mind that this mech works best with hit-and-run strategy. It has a loadout to compliment it, so try to not slug it out with other mechs, you will get out dps'd m and considering how small the arms and L/R torso is, you probably wont be able to swivel/torso tank the dps from heavier mechs like the atlas or king crab.
- Executioner: [Assault class, 95 ton] I really like this mech. It is direct fire centric mech with lots of AC and moderate laser hardpoints. It comes with JJ's and has the fancy new MASC system, which can be a major lifesaver trying to keep up with nascar races or get your *** out of a killzone. This is a mech that gives you a lot of bang for your buck, but you have to keep an eye out on MASC energy rating, lest you kill yourself from leg damage because you want to outrun an arctic cheetah.
- Ebon Jaguar: [Heavy Class, 65 ton] This mech is not really a brawler. Mostly skirmisher or fire support. This mech is light on armor and lacking in hardpoints that would make this mech your worst nightmare, but that by no means tells you that the mech is weak. It is very fast, has a low profile (especially for a heavy mech) and has relatively high weapon hardpoints that make hill-humping more than just a hobby when your wife isnt around. Play fast and smart and you can take down higher tonnage mechs with ease, but dont wait around for them to fire back at you.
Lasers: As a brawler, lasers are almost a requirement. They dont run out of ammo (which is good for Clan Warfare or longer match types like conquest), but the downside is that they generate lots of HEAT. The more heat generated, the less shots you have to fire before you overheat and shut down. Lasers come in 2-3 different flavors depending on the size of the weapon.
- Standard: the 'regular' range for the weapon. You will have the average distance, damage and duration time for a laser fire salvo.
- ER Lasers: in short, ER stands for 'Extra Range'. if you hadnt guessed, it means lasers with this prefix have increased range compared to the standard version. But the downside is that they generate more heat and have a longer 'pulse', which means you have to keep the laser on the enemy for longer in order to do full damage.
- PULSE Lasers: These lasers also weigh more than the standard variant. But deal slightly increased damage much faster and have a shorter firing cooldown, so you dont have to stare at your target to do the damage. But pulse lasers generate more heat and have much shorter range compared to standard or ER versions.
- PPC: Projected Particle Cannon. Its considered a laser weapon. It can deal a large amount of damage for long ranges, but theres a large downside to the weapon. It has a minimum range (90) and a very large cool-down and heat generation issue. This also comes in a ER variant that doesnt have a minimum range to do damage, and has longer range. The downside is that it generates even more heat and weighs a couple tons more. Not really recommended as a long range weapon option for a brawler. it fires like an AC weapon, and make sure you lead your target before firing, this thing is slow and noticeable when fired.{Specal note for both versios of PPC weapons, if you hit a mech that has and ECM module with a PPC, the ECM gets knocked offline for 4 seconds}
- FLAMERS: If you didnt guess, its a flame thrower. It doesnt do very much damage, or have very long range but its whole purpose is to 'overheat' an enemy mech and force them to shut down. Not really recommended for a brawler, but I could see limited usefulness in very specific builds.
- TAG: Remember those cool 'laser tag' toys that came out in the 90's? its kind of like that, except you dont get points, you help yourself and your team mates deal more damage to the target hit with the tagger'. The tag doesnt generate any heat, and doesnt do damage, but it helps missiles hit targets better, and can break the ECM barrior on a mech for as long as you can keep the tag on the target. I would recommend putting one on your mech if you dont need more ammo or weapons and have an extra laser slot that you can throw this in.
- Autocannon: or AC for short, is pretty much firing tank shells at the enemy. The smaller the round, the farther it will travel, But the less damage it will do. The larger the round, the bigger the damage (how much is dependant on the size of the round, AC2 does 2 damage on impact, AC10 does 10 damage). The PRO's for the weapon is that if they hit their target, the damge is consistent and its harder for the enemy to tell where you are. The CON's is that you can only pack so many rounds, and that if the armor gets shredded on wherever your ammo is, the ammo has a chance of blowing up and destroying/damaging your mech even more when they take damage. IF you are running an IS mech, its recommended that you get a case for wherever your ammo is stored on your mech. IF you are running a clan mech, you dont have to worry because all clan mechs have built in CASE's, so you dont have to worry about that.
- Ultra Autocannon: or UAC for short. It uses a different ammo type that standard AC weapons. They weigh a little more, but have an increased firing speed. pretty much the faster you click (after a round has been reloaded) the faster the weapon fires. The unfortunate downsides include the possibility of your weapon jamming, which you have to wait several seconds for the mech to fix it. You can also go through ammo faster than expected when firing this weapon, so make sure you either bring lots of ammo or at least control your firing rate. If you have several of these babies equipped and set them to a single weapon group, hit 'BACKSPACE' while in a game while you have that weapon group highlighted to enact 'chainfire' it allows you to just keep firing while waiting for CD timers, your weapon system wont jam if you go this route. But if you keep clicking while this is active instead of just holding down the button, you can still get jammed.
- LB-10x: while technically a part of the AC family, this weapon system differs greatly. In short, its effectively a shotgun with significant range. It has the same ammo size as an AC10, but instead of shooting a single round, it fires a random spread of 10 AC1 rounds that increase in scatter as they travel. Some people don't like them, some do. If you are terrible at aiming, or tired of lights running circles as they tear you apart, this weapon should be considered a great asset.
- Machine Gun: You shouldn't have these on your brawlers, but if you are, here's some info on them. They have very short range, deal very little damage, and are pretty much only for crit'ing or destroying areas of a mech that have had their armor destroyed. The ammo stacks for this weapon comes in stacks of 2k rounds, so dont expect to do much with it. And you probably shouldn't have it equipped in any of your mechs unless you are going for a very special build. But they are useful in dealing with light mechs that can hound you.
- Gauss: This is a sniping weapon. IT SHOULD ONLY BE USED FOR SNIPING. dont try to run up on someone with this equipped to 'no scope' them. In a brawler, you really shouldn't have this equipped, but I can see possible builds where this is used as a 'long ranged' option if you dont want to mess with LRM's or large lasers or PPC's. The weapon also has to be 'charged up' bar to be fired and you have a window of about 1 second to fire once its charged up or the weapon instantly puts itself into 'cooldown' mode and you have to either wait for it to cooldown before or press your luck when it comes to timing and try to 'recharge' the shot. Gauss ammo doesnt come in very large stacks, but one of the good things about the ammo for it, is that it can never explode. so you dont have to have a case wherever the ammo for it is stored (but this is ONLY for gauss ammo, every other ammo type including machine gun and AMS ammo can still blow up, and even the weapon system itself can still blow up and cause more damage to your mech).
- LRM: Long Range Missile. Its name says it all, they are meant to be for long range firing. They have a vertical firing arc, so keep this in mind when trying to fire this system around overpasses or trying to skirt the tops of ridges and mountains. The weapon system start at 5 and increases by 5 up to LRM 20. And the number in the weapon system tells you how many missiles it fires. This is usually one of the main 'longe range' options for brawler mechs because its simple and easy to maintain and doesnt take up too many slots. Its usually recommended to have an LRM 10 or 15 in your brawler if you are going to have one. Last thing to remember is that LRM missile have a minimum charge sistance of 180 meters before the missiles are armed and will do damage.
- SRM: if you hadnt guessed, Short Range Missiles. These are direct fire 'dumb' missiles. When fired they just go straight, no tracking, no special things to consider. They have no arming distance and are short ranged, so dont expect to do any sniping with these. Keep in mind that the ARTEMIS upgrade for SRM's decrease the weapon fire spread, so its a very serious upgrade to consider if you want to run SRM's.
- Streak SRM: (or SSRM) unlike the SRM, these missiles require a lock on, but they are similar to SRM's because they are direct fire. it only fires 2 homing missiles, but each does 2.5 damage. It can be particularly useful in hitting light mechs (if you can get a lock on them). you should only need 1 stack of ammo for it (unless you are running multiple SSRM's, which isnt a bad idea), But if you are going to use SSRM's, I recommend using a TAG. The tag will reduce homing time and increase the accuracy of the missiles. Artemis has no effect on this system.
- NARC: The snitch of the missile family, but its serves a greater purpose. They are direct fire more akin to an AC weapon, but doesnt do any damage. What it does do though is if you hit someone with it, for the next 20 seconds, ANYONE on your team can lock on and track the NARC'd target, even if they run under ECM coverage. It only has 12 shots per stack of ammo (so you might want to have at least 2 stacks), and the NARC system takes up a missile slot, but your team will love you for it if you run this and can hit targets. You can even NARC multiple targets. And NARC's make it easier for missile systems to hit their target.
- AMS: short for Anti-Missile System. It pretty much shoots down incoming enemy missiles around/at you. I would recommend equipping this on any heavy/assault brawler mech you field just because of how prevalent missiles are in the game, and they can sneakily 'core' you if you dont pay attention. I recommend 1 full stack of AMS ammo in mechs that can use it per AMS equipped. Just be aware it isnt perfect, missiles will still make it past its defense, but it makes a lot less missiles hit you and allies around you.
- ECM: It doesnt do any damage, but what it does do is deprive the enemy of being able to lock onto you or your allies in the near vicinity of it. It can be countered by beagle active probes (I only recommend using those on missile boats), another ECM in jammer mode (disrupt mode gives you the blanket of safety), or a UAV (which only lasts for a short time and can be destroyed and only last for a short time). If you have a mech that can use this (like the ATLAS-D-DC) you better put that **** on it. Few mechs in the game can equip ECM's, and they take up several slots and tons, but completely worth it. Special note: The ECM does not work with BAP, so if you can equip ECM, that takes priority, if you cant and rely on target locks, take a BAP.
- C.A.S.E.: The name is long, and the debate over its usefulness is even longer (seriously, just read through the thread). In short, its suppose to prevent the spread of damage from ammo exploding and transferring from your arm or L/R torso into your center torso. If you are running an XL engine, this is beyond worthless to have. IF you are a laser boat/disco vomit, you do not need this. The only reason you would need this is if you are packing so much ammo (like in the case of a King Crab) and you 'cook' it (by overheating your mech) or it gets hit by a critical hit, it doesn't instantly kill you. You are better off trying to spread your ammo around than putting in a case, unless its impractical to do so.
- Beagle Active Probe: its a great piece of equipment to have, especially if you have LRM's on your mech. It increases radar range, reduces lock times, Counters 1 ECM effect (for yourself only) and speeds up targeting info. It also has one other perk, the ability to detect powered down mechs (but almost no one ever uses it for that because most people go out fighting) but is rarely used for it. I recommend putting this on most assault mechs if you can, they are worth it.
- Command Console: Does almost the same thing as the BAP (the item above this one) except the bonuses are smaller, it doesnt counter ECM effects and cant detect powered down mechs. Its heavier than the BAP, but takes up only 1 slot instead of two. You can have both on your mech to get increased bonuses, but thats 2.5 tons and 3 slots taken up. Only a few mechs can use a command console, and buying/using it is up to you, but its not really useful unless you need that extra radar/lockon bonus.
- Targeting Computer: only Clan mechs can use these. They do a similar thing that the BAP does, except it only directly increases targetting information/tracking and damage, without countering ECM or other passive effects like seeing powered down mechs. The higher the mark of the computer, the more tons it has and the bigger the benefits but also takes up more slots.
- Jump Jets: if you are a brawler, I do not recommend equipping these. I would say that wasted tonnage could be use for more ammo, heat sinks and weapons. BUT if you are inclined to use a mech that can use JJ's and still want to brawl, it does have some usefulness. They can help get over some annoying terrain, and can help with mech in turning by 'jumping' into the air, making it easier to turn your legs.
- MASC: A new system in the game thats slowly getting impimented. It gives your mech a massive speed boost for a very short time, but excessive use can kill your mech. You get a new icon on your hud on the left side of your targeting reticles that tells you how much heat your MASC generates when in use. Punching into the DANGER ZONE will get you killed, but sometimes you have to go right into the DANGER ZONE to get out of the danger zone. So dont red-line it unless its absolutely necessary. Only a few mechs in this game have it (Executioner, Loyalty Wolverine).
Would you like to know more?
[YES] [NO]
IF YOUR ANSWER IS YES, THEN CONTINUE TO THE TACTICS SECTION.....
TACTICS: (will expand upon this more, just give me time)
- First rule of Mech Club? STICK WITH THE GROUP.
- Second rule of Mech Club? REPEAT THE FIRST RULE!
- THIRD RULE OF MECH CLUB: THERE IS FRIENDLY FIRE IN THIS GAME. This ain't COD/BF12345678698573045. This is Mech Warrior, everything can hit both friend and foe. If you call in an airstrike at your feet, guess who is going to get heavily damaged? YOU. before you fire on someone, especially in a tightly packed corridor in canyons or Veridian Bog, check your fire. Its okay if you accidently hit a friendly if you guys are trying to survive a push from the enemy team, but if you so much as shoot me 2 or 3 times right at the start of a match, I have no problem unloading my AC20's until I watch you die and ragequit out of a match. I have done this before, and I wont report anyone else who is defending themselves from a team-killing-fucktard who is trigger happy and shoothing their buddies in the back.
- FOURTH RULE OF MECH CLUB: communicate. Nothing is more OP in this game than communication. Especially now that VOIP is finally in the game. Call out enemy movement, Call out targets that your firing on (if there is no lance commander to call out targets), call out when you use an arty/air strike or deploy a UAV. If you dont have voice chat, then try to type it out.
- FIFTH RULE OF MECH CLUB: The only stupid question is the un-asked question. You may get a rager on occasion, but most players (hopefully) will give you a heads up on what to do/not do. Most of the players in this community tolerate and help new players with their questions (within reason).
- SIXTH RULE OF MECH CLUB: Make sure you bring enough ammo to the firefight. Especially if your running LRM 15-20's, or AC2-5 weapons, you will run out of ammo faster than you think. For LRM's have a minimum of 6 tons of ammo (this still isnt enough unless you are running lasers as alternate weapons). For AC2-5-10-20, the rule of thumb is for every one of these you have equipped, have a minimum of 3 tons of ammo each. So for running 4 AC2's, try to have a minimum of 10-12 tons. especially if you dont have any other weapons to support yourself if you run out of ammo or your ammo gets destroyed.
- SEVENTH RULE OF MECH CLUB: Chainfire your weapons. With the addition of 'ghost heat' (extra heat generated when firing too many weapons, particularly big weapons like PPC's or AC20's). Set up your weapon groups (preferably before the match starts) and then hit BACKSPACE on the weapon group you wants to chainfire. It will GREATLY reduce the amount of heat generated by a weapon groups. AC20's, PPC's, ERLL, and pulse lasers generate a lot of heat, and firing them off at the same time or while not in chainfire mode will generate even more 'ghost heat' and force your mech into a shutdown process.
BUT if you are going to paint yourself like a clown eating skittles ****** all over you, please try to use cover to reduce both your damage and your presence on the field. When moving from one place to another, try to use the terrain to give you cover so its harder for you to get target locked.
ADVANCED WARFARE: More advanced tactics to keep you in the game longer. And whats the term kids use nowadays? Rekt? I think so. This will improve your ability to rekt the enemy.
First step, make sure you have the proper controller for your preferred playstyle.
But in all seriousness, the first step is learning the controls for the game. You can figure out the basics in the tutorial, but there are some little tricks that can improve your game. Some people like using a gamepad, some like using a joystick+throttle now that they are coming back (thanks to elite dangerous, star citizen, etc) and of course there is no shame in playing with a simple keyboard+mouse.
[By the way, this is actually the mouse I use to play MWO. I have set the 11 and 12 buttons to be UAV and Arty strike, while leaving the other side buttons for weapon fire groups. It works great and is fairly cheap http://www.amazon.co...e?ie=UTF8&psc=1 ]
I have already spoken about 'unlocking' your arms, which allows you to move your arms somewhat separately from your torso. A secondary skill (great for tag boating) is to learn how to face your legs so that your torso doesn't follow your arms. You need to oversteer your legs in one direction so that your torso is 'locked' to the max turn degree, and effectively it allows you to shoot at 2 targets (as long as you have weapons in both your arms and your torso). Not as cool as 'no scoping' or other modern FPS skill moves, but it can help in splitting fire when 1 target is outside of say your torso weapons (lets say an AC20) and your have 2 ERLL in your arms. If you are on the sulfur pit map, someone playing 'poptart' on a ridge in front of you, and you have someone thinking they are a sniper on further another ridge line, you can set up your torso to fire on the closer ridge whenever someone 'pops', while keeping consistent fire on the longer range target. Its not easy and you can easily waste ammo because your paying more attention to one target and not the other.
Cover: Next is always try to have SOME kind of cover or defilade when moving from one location to another if you can. There is a difference between COVER and DEFILADE. Cover will stop shells, lasers and missiles from hitting you. DEFILADE offers no protection, but makes it harder to be seen. The best way to tell you the difference is on the VERIDIAN BOG (or to most of the players in the game, THAT GODDAMN ******* FOREST MAP). Only the trees, insect husks and rock formations on that map give you cover. But all that green crap (read: foliage) will prevent players from seeing you, even with heat vision) is defilade. Use both to your advantage. Since most of the game is spent physically looking for something to shoot, any way you can make it harder for the enemy to see you automatically increases your chance at survival.
How to push the big red button: Playing Brawlers is not easy. They are cumbersome, attract LRM's like magnets, and no matter how much armor you put on, focused fire will melt your armor like butter. Try to learn the range of your weapons, and know when to engage people with them. Direct fire weapons like AC's are probably the best choices, with lasers being second. The reason why I say this is that AC weapons deal their damage at once, while lasers have to maintain the pulse, which can be easily moved to another spot thanks torso turning. So pulse lasers are better for this than standard or ER lasers. Also keep in mind that the maximum range of a weapon is twice its optimal range, and incrementally falls off past its optimal range (so 270m is optimal for an AC20, while 540 is the farthest to do any damage at all) so try to engage targets inside or around the optimal range of your weapons.
Picking targets: Next bit of advice is to talk about focusing your fire. I know its 'cooler' to take your time blowing up all the arms and legs of a mech and watching the broken pieces fall off, but try to focus your damage. Most mechs put more armor on the front of their mech than the back. And the CT (center torso) has the most armor in the game. But try to focus on hitting the center torso when you get into a fire fight. Some mechs have really large center torso's (king crab, direwolf, atlas) while some have really tiny ones (raven, jenner, orion, shadowhawk). But one thing every mech has in common is that the engine is in the center torso, and the sooner the engine is dead, the less damage you and your team will take. Some mechs may have XL engines, meaning that blowing up the side torso's will kill them, but thats a lot of extra damage you have to deal in order to kill a mech. So when you get into a firefight, try to focus on the CT, and call your target out so others can focus fire on them. Its more important that the mech gets killed instead of you trying to act like a fool and deal all the damage so only you get the kill.
Another useful way for killing a mech (particularly light mechs) is by 'legging' them. If you destroy 1 leg, the mech is dropped to roughly 30%-50% of their possible max speed, making them nearly immobile. If you take out both legs of a mech, they mech is destroyed.
Simply put, playing a brawler mech is about playing to your mechs strengths, while trying to cover your weaknesses. If you dont have long range weapons, move from cover to cover, and wait for the enemy to come to you. No need to give the enemy free damage. I would recommend at least having an AMS on any mech you plan on brawling with. You are just too big and slow to ignore it, especially with how prevalent LRMs and SRM's are in the game.
HEAT MANAGEMENT :
Next tidbit I have for you is Heat Management, and Map Awareness when it comes to heat. Each and every single map in the game has a different ambient temperature which has a direct effect on how quickly (or slowly) your mech cools down from the heat it generates. Certain maps are helpful and detrimental to each weapon type. Hotter maps like Caustic valley or the (in)famous Terra Therma (aka Mordor) means that pretty much anything but AC weapons are going to generate so much heat that only a few volleys can be fired before you have to wait out and let your temperature drop. While other, colder maps like Frozen City or Alpine Peaks have incredibly cold temperatures, so it means that you can get a little bit more spammy with weapon fire because your systems cool down much faster. There are skills you can take that will improve your mech's heat containment and cooling, but those take time, and to really take advantage you have to have 3 different types of mechs of the same chassis to make the most out of it, but its completely worthwhile.
A special note, with the recent patches they did to how heatsinks and mech skills, pay attention because this is going to be on the test.
IS: Inner Spere heat sinks do not cool off as fast as Clan heat sinks, not only that but double heat sinks take 3 slots instead of 2 like clan double heat sinks. The tradeoff now is that IS heat sinks have higher heat cap compared to Clan mechs. This is not a insignificant detail. So often times in IS mechs, its better to go with bigger engines to get more internal heat sinks (and double heat sinks if you buy the upgrade) so that you can save slots for your weapons and armor upgrades.
Clan: Clan heat sinks (especially double heat sinks) have a very high cooling ratio compared to IS heat sinks, and take up less room. But clan mechs have a much lower heat cap (which means you have to watch out for overheating) and your weapons generate much more heat. So keep this in mind. Even if you have a great cooling ratio of 1.6 or better, its still incredibly easy to overheat your mech and shut down if you rely on alpha strikes.
You might want to set up mutiple weapon group settings (if your keyboard or mouse gives the comfort level). Your first couple using chainfire to help keep your heat and ammo manageable. While using a couple other weapon groups for 'alpha' strikes, where you fire all your weapons to try and eliminate a threat as fast as possible. Keep in mind though, alpha striking generates massive amounts of heat, and depending on ammo, quickly deplete your ammo, so keep a tight track on it when you are in the heat of combat.
(Also a special note, if you have heat sinks in your legs, and you walk into water, the heatsinks will work even better at cooling off your mech, but you can only take advantage of this as either a clan mech or an IS mech with standard heat sinks)
SNIPING SECTION
Sniping : Sniping is a familiar, but different animal when it comes to this game. While sniping you normally just think of sniper rifles or the odd assault rifle thats got longer range accuracy than others. Simply put, anything that has a range longer than 600m you can consider being a 'sniper' weapon. So LRM's, Guass Rifle, AC2's, ER Large Laser, PPC and ER PPC's (and with mods, AC5's). Now for this part of the guide, I wont get into a breakdown of every mech, because you could nearly make ANY mech into a sniper, barring hardpoint limitations and tonnage. So I will just go over some of the more 'common' snipers and go over limitations and tactics for different weapon systems. Keep in mind, that LRM's are pretty much the only weapon that you can snipe with that doesn't require you to have LOS (line of sight). All other weapons are 'direct fire' meaning if you see them, they can see you. You either have to try and keep them at range, or have a close range answer when someone rolls up on you.
MECHS: (Will be updated as more mechs are released)
- Catapult: This mech is primarily an LRM boat, but consdering the weapon range, and diversity depending on the model type, you can either be an LRM sniper, PPC sniper or in more exotic builds, Gauss. Most of the catapult models are designed and have quirks for LRM's, particularly LRM 15 and 20's. And as a 'sniper', if you are going to use LRM's, dont go with LRM 5 or 10's, because most of your missiles are possibly going to be destroyed by AMS's. The 'jester' hero mech, and the basic version are designed to use PPC's. Which is a great weapon for ranged warfare, but you are hampered with long CD's, large heat generation, and the slow travel speed of the PPC energy. the PPC takes a long time to master because of how inconsistent the weapon can be. IF you are going to go the PPC route, you might as well use ER PPC's so that you can use them in close range.
- King Crab: The 0000 and 000B can be set up as snipers of differing types. And considering the tonnage available, the hardpoints available, and your engine needs, you are really only limited by your wallet. You can 'missile boat' it with 2-4 LRM missile launchers, you could put 2-4 ER LL or a couple PPC's, you can do Gauss cannons in the hands or even a mix (not for the best, but its your mech, you can do whatever you want). I have a crazy fit right now with 2 LRM 15's, 2 ER LL, and then 2 machine guns in the hands and an AMS (with 57.6 kph speed), and can usually net 1-3 kills a game with it. The King Crab is just a great, versatile mech.
- Stalker: This mech is a heavier version of a catapult, and has more varied hardpoint options compared to the Catapult. While not recommended to try and missile boat, you can certainly load up on lasers and put the pain on anyone you see. And considering how high the weapons are set on the mech, and how small its hitboxes are compared to the Catapult, you can do 'hill humping' without revealing your entire mech for enemy fire. The hero version of this mech (Misery) also has a ballistic hardpoint in the ST that you can fit with a Gauss cannon. So 2-3 ERLL and a Gauss can make this one hell of a ranged menace.
- Warhawk: This mech is a great PPC mech. Seriously, its great for sniping roles when it comes to whats available. The downside though is that weapons can only be placed in the arms. So you can't really poptart (stick to hill humping) with it, and has a very large profile and particularly large CT. Try to use positioning and terrain to make the most out of this mech.
- Timberwolf: This mech is the main LRM boat for clans. Running 2 LRM15's, and an ERLL in each arm makes this mech a very dangerous sniper. And with speed tweek hits about 90kph, great for getting to or from cover to unload missiles.
- Maddog: pretty much a lighter and faster version of the timberwolf. It has more options for direct fire weapons like lasers or PPC's compared to the Timberwolf, but sacrifices in armor and also has a large nose.
- Jagermech: A very direct fire oriented mech, it excels with PPC's and AC weapons. Keep in mind though that it has a huge CT hitbox.
- Cataphract: people like to run Guass in this mech for sniping. Keep in mind though it has a very large hitbox, and very weak arms.
- Highlander: This is more specifically speaking to the HEAVY METAL hero mech, it comes with a Gauss rifle, and other weapon options. This mech has JJ's available to be equipped to do some actual 'poptarting', but this mech has some serious downsides. It is incredibly slow (you WILL need to get a new engine in it, it only goes roughly 46kph before speed tweek or bigger engine) and it also has an incredibly large CT hitbox. This mech is very fragile in comparison to other assaults.
- Mauler: This is a great fire-support mech. With 4 missile slots (2 in each torso) this mech can make it rain in ways that would make a timberwolf and catapult uncomfortable in its sexuality.
- Marauder: This mech makes a great sniper mech. While only having 1 to 2 baillistic hard points usually meant for a guass or AC5/10, this mech is also good with PPC's, as well as 1 varant having a couple missile hardpoints.
- Ebon Jaguar: this is better off with LRMs slotted to the torsos, or you could run a dual guass setup. Not the best mech for sniping, but not exactly a slouch either, but low comparative armor does not mean it will survive prolonged engagements.
- Archer: This mech is not going to be a great sniper, at all. At best a fire support mech. As an LRM boat, it is great. With quirks that support all LRM types and missile velocity bonuses make it great for assisting allies with damage.
This goes without saying, but it has to be said because I see it every other game, IF you are trying to play a 'sniper', you should be behind your team's offensive line. You are using long range weaponry (some of them require minimum distances in order to damage), you should be as far away from the enemy team as possible without being outside your weapons ranges. Some maps are better than others at this (like Alpine Peaks VS Caustic Valley). Especially when it comes to LRM's. The only reason a 'sniper' build mech should be on the frontlines is because you got corralled by light mechs, or all your long ranged weapons or ammo is used up or destroyed and you only have a couple light/medium lasers or machine guns left as your weapons.
Try to use terrain to your advantage. Maps like Veridian Bog, Alpine Peaks, Forest Colony, Mining Colony, and even Mordor (Terra Therma) have some great sniping locations that allow you to duck behind cover before the enemy team can answer you. But make sure you move every once in awhile. If the enemy team can tell with decent accuracy where you are because you have sat there for the last 3-5 minutes, expect to die shortly because there are already mechs moving to your position.
To ARTEMIS, or not to ARTEMIS, this is the question :
Taking this upgrade is going to be centered more on if you are going to focus on solo or team play. For solo play, I would recommend taking the artemis. Granted its an expensive and heavy upgrade, since you are going to be relying more on yourself than team mates to get LOS and fire on enemies, this is a handy and worthwile upgrade. But if you have a group, or even a clan/guild/faction that you can reliably play with. Dont get the artemis and see if your buddies can bring a tag or narc'ing mech. The artemis system only gives you a bonus if you see the enemy, but without it, and you aim on someone narc'd then your missiles dont get the bonus tracking (only standard missiles get bonuses to tracking a narc'd target). Both standard and artemis missiles get the bonus if a target it tag'd. having someone who can tag or narc will also allow you to equip more missiles, since artemis upgraded wapons take more tonnage. BUT one upside is that the artemis allows you to fire your missiles (wherever your target pointer is pointing at) even if you dont have a lock. Its great for still laying fire down on mechs who overheated and shut down, or for firing on a mech thats under ECM. You can still 'dumbfire' missiles without the artemis system, but they are so spread out you aren't going to do much damage.
Targeting Upgrades:
On any LRM boats, ALWAYS take a BAP or a targeting computer. These not only increase the speed you acquire locks, it increases radar range and speeds up target info, as well as other benefits, depending on faction. Both of these directly improve your dps. Now the command console, I wouldn't recommend getting this. It only gives slight bonuses to your sensors, and also takes up a 3 tons and a critical slot. Its not really worth having, and is expensive. but if you feel you need the increased targeting information bonuses, take it with a BAP or dont take it at all.
If your not in an LRM boat, you should probably avoid taking a BAP/TC or command console. Since you rely on your vision anyways, this is not worth taking. Especally not a command console, which would be next to worthless. But do keep in mind that BAP/TC can slightly increase your zoom in range, so if you are in a Guass sniper mech, this is useful. I would also recommend getting the increase zoom module, giving you a more than 4x zoomed scope.
General Information
While not beholden to whether or not you are brawling or sniping, here is some general information to help you out, and possibly clarify and optimize your knowledge and skills.
Experience Points: If you have ever played an RPG, FPSRPG, DnD, or any other type of game that allows you to level up after garnering a certain amount of points to give you bonuses, then you have a pretty good idea what I am going to tell you. You have 2 different types of XP in this game.
- Pilot: Pilot XP is used to unlocked upgrade modules for your mech, like enhancements to your mech, increased firing rate or effective range for weapon types, or even improvements to your other systems like increasing your AMS range or making your UAV or NARC last longer. You earn pilot XP at a much slower rate than you would mech XP (even with premium bonus, champion mech bonus, and any other modifiers). So while it takes longer accrue, if allows you to enhance most things you put on your mech, and if you are in a pinch, you can use pilot XP to unlock bonuses for your mech chassis (not recommended until you have an abundance of pilot XP an nothing to spend it on).
- Mech: Mech XP is only earned for whatever chassis you are currently riding in, but it is earned faster than Pilot XP. Especially if you are in a Champion mech [it has a large C on its mech picture, or has a special note in the name like (I),(L),(F)etc] which earns 30% more XP than standard chassis (that can be added to the 50% bonus XP earned from premium time, meaning having both premium time and a champion mech will earn you 80% more experience on that chassis). A couple special things to note for Mech XP. In order to unlock the 'ELITE' tier of skills for a mech, you have to get all 'BASIC' skills unlocked for 3 different mech chassis for a single mech type. So you have to have atleast different named mechs of the same type, like any 3 from this list: Atlas AS7-D, AS7-BH, AS7-D-DC, AS7-RS, AS7-KS, AS7-S. Please not that if you have a champion version of a mech,[like an AS7-D(F)], buying an AS7-D does not count as a second chassis, because champion mechs have the same loadout as standard mechs, they just have an XP bonus (but HERO mechs are a different chassis, so can help in unlocking masteries). So getting 3 different mech variants all 'basic'd will unlock elite masteries for that whole chassis type. And when you get all 4 ELITE skills mastered for that mech type, your 'basic' skill bonuses are doubled (so like heat containment gives you 20% max heat instead of 10% increased maxed heat). And when you buy the 'MASTER' skill for a mech chassis, you can actually use MC (mech creds, the 'pay for' currency) to convert Mech XP to Pilot XP. This can really help speed up unlocking Mech upgrades.
Well for Mech skill tree's the simple route is: Cool Run>Heat Containment>Kinetic Burst>Hard Break. Those four should be the first you unlock for each an every mech chassis. The benefits of these 4 primary skills take prioritization because of the basic benefits they give.
- Cool Run: increases your mech cooling by 7% (15% when you elite). This allows you to fire more weapons before overheating because you dissipate the heat faster.
- Heat Containment: Increases your max heat threshold by 10% (20% when elite). In short, this also allows you to fire a little more before you get yourself in the redzone for heat.
- Kinetic Burst: Increases your acceleration by 22.5% (45% elite). This is very important for keeping up with your team as they move, and will help move your shiny metal *** when the missiles start flying and you need to find cover
- Hard Brake: Makes you decelerate 25% faster (50% elite). Help prevent you from overshooting when you are trying to move behind cover, and can help when turning. Not to mention it allows you to from reverse to acceleration faster (and vice versa). So it helps you reposition yourself much faster than without having this skill.
- Anchor Turn: Increases your turning speed by 10% (20% elite). You turn faster (your legs, not your torso), which is incredibly important for positioning your mech and swivel/torso tanking damage.
- Twist X: While not that useful in most situations, it can help you if you are trying to fight off light mechs. It increases the maximum degrees that your mech can twist its torso left to right by 10% (20% elite).
- Twist Speed: Now this one is very important for pretty much any mech in the game. It increases the speed at which your torso (and arms) move left and right. Very important for both torso/swivel tanking, fighting off light mechs, or trying to land shots in an intense firefight. Increases your twisting speed by 20% (40% elite).
- Arm Flex: Only really important on mechs that have their weapons on the arms, this increases how high/low the arms can aim. Useful in mechs like the King Crab, but it is only really useful on really mountainous maps where you will be at odd firing angles at the enemy. Increases it by 15% (30% elite).
These skills give your mech the important 'OOMPH' you need to really excel in MWO. the bonuses are really tangible, and unlocking all 4 for each chassis increases to bonuses to your basic skills (the skills listed above). I recommend trying to save up to get 'Speed Tweek' first, this is the most important of all the elite skills because it directly effects how fast your mech can move, and by extension, your survivability. Then I would go Fast Fire, then Quick Ignition, and finally Pinpoint.
- Speed Tweek: This increases the maximum speed of your mech by 10% (your mechs maximum speed is determined by the engine size, so bigger engine = higher speeds, and the higher the base speed, the higher the max speed thanks to speed tweek). This is the most important elite skill, but also the most expensive XP wise. So a mech going 64kph before, will now have a top speed of 70.4kph.
- Fast Fire: Increases the firing rate (cooldowns) of all your weapons by 5%. It doesn't seem like much, but it does make a difference, especially when added with pilot skills that decrease the CD of specific weapon groups (up to 15% CD reduction when added together).
- Quick Ignition: This speeds up how quickly your mech 'wakes up' after being shut down from overheating and speeds up the manual 'shutdown/power on' speeds by 33%. Its really noticeable how much this can be a lifesaver when you jump into a mech that doesn't have this skill.
- Pinpoint: Increases convergence speed (if you dont have your arms locked) by 15%. So your arms and torso weapon reticles 'match up' 15% faster. It helps when trying to return fire while torso tanking, and can help when trying to give yourself (or others) covering fire when in retreat.
Pilot skills: These are unlocked with Pilot XP, and give direct bonuses to your mech by unlocking modules to use, and enhancing equipment and consumables directly. you have 3 main branches when it comes to pilot skills. Mech upgrades, Weapon Range, and Weapon Cooldown.
- Mech Upgrades: These modules give direct upgrades to your mech, from allowing you to climb hills faster, to holding locks onto enemies longer, depriving enemies of keeping locks onto you when you get behind cover, as well as others. The modules tend to be fairly expensive but can be incredibly helpful. I recommend buying these only for mechs you run consistently.
- Weapn Range: Simply put, this skill increases the potential damage range for the weapon.
- Weapon Cooldown: In short, it reduces the CD from weapons so that you can fire them faster. Keep in mind though that the shorter CD's for many weapon types will increase the heat generated by said weapons because you are firing faster. While this will increase your DPS, you will have to keep an eye on heat generation, it can really sneak up on you thanks to ghost heat with weapons like SRM 6's, ER LL and PPC's.
MODULES: Min/max that paper DPS bro.
Here are some of the best mech modules to put on your mechs.
Brawler: Be the bad mech touching them.
- Radar Deprivation: One of the best modules in the game, its also one of the most expensive (6mil). When equipped on a mech, the second you move behind cover, the enemy mech loses sight of you, or they turn away, they will lose a lock on you and will have to 'retarget' you in order to get your information back up and to lock missiles on you. I would only put this on really expensive mechs you play very often, and have already spent a pretty penny upgrading. This will improve your mechs survivability, even if you dont have an AMS or ECM.
- 360 Target Retention: This is also a great module to have because swivel tanking/ maneuvering, or getting outrun by a light mech, regardless of the situation, you will still maintain a lock (and thus targetting information) on the targeted mech, even if they move behind you (as long as they stay withing 180 meters of you) and your allies can still fire missiles on the target. This is a great module to have, especially if you have Streak-SRM's.
- Seismic Sensor: Another great module, but has more specific use. Its range isnt amazing, and its really expensive and requires you to stand still, but can be great if you dont have a UAV (or its been shot down). It will give you 'pings' on your map whenever an enemy mech is walking nearby you. It can be really helpful on maps like veridian bog or river city.
- Improved Gyros: This one isn't bad per-se, but considering how useful other modules are, this one shouldn't be priority. This module reduces the 'screen shake' you experience when missiles, AC, or PPC projectiles hit you. While I wouldnt recommend this as a priority module, as a brawler this module can really help in heavy firefights by allowing you to keep focus on a target. Because sometimes the amount of screenshake can make it impossible to hit anything.
- Advanced Zoom: This is more for mechs that use PPC's or Gauss Rifles. As you probably guessed by the name, it allows you to zoom in more. This is really, REALLY helpful if you use these weapons. But the module is incredibly expensive, and if you use missiles, trying to maintain a lock while 'super zoomed' will be difficult. But if you want those headshots, and looking to go pro, this is a must.
- Target Decay: This module is an absolute MUST if you plan on using catapults and timberwolves very often. Make sure you max both levels of the skill before buying the module. It will allow you to keep a lock on the target for up to 2 seconds/ 3.5 seconds after you lost LOS on your target, which gives your missiles a greater chance of hitting your target. Its pricey, but utterly amazing.
- Sensor Range: More for missile boats than snipers, but still very useful, it increases your sensore range (15%/25%), allowing you to see/lock on to target from farther away. But keep in mind that just because you can see them on radar doesnt mean you can hit them with your LRM's if they are outside of 1k (unless you get range increase weapon modules for your LRM's).
- Target Info Gathering: While it doesnt increase the speed you get locks on anyone, It brings up the targets information MUCH faster (the armor points/healthof a targeted mech), great for helping sniper mechs pick off already weakened enemies. But I would recommend getting the other modules over getting this.
- Improved Gyros: While not a priority either, this can be really helpful when in a sniping duel with someone, or you are taking fire while trying to snipe someone. It will reduce the screen shake, allowing you to place your shots better if you are getting fired upon.
MECH QUIRKS
This special section is here to give you a quick overview of what Quirks are, and what they can do for you. Every mech has them, but not every mech has it in the game yet (just about all IS mechs have quirks, but right now clan mechs dont really have any quirks except XP or some specialty from an omnipod). They give your mech specific bonuses for having specific weapons on them that follow the design the devs think the mech should follow. These bonuses differ between variants of the same chassis, and can come with both good and bad bonuses usually with white text (for good, like 5% heat generation, which is worded wierdly but reduces the heat generated by said weapon) while negative changes will be in red text.
There is also something important, the bonus quirks only specifically effect the exact named weapon. So bonuses to Large Laser heat generation (reduced heat generated) will only effect Large Lasers, it wont give a bonus to ER LL, or LPL because they are considered different weapons. While you aren't required to chase the quirks on mechs, you can fit them however you like, it is preferable to build your mech towards your quirks, since its free bonuses that you dont have to try and skill up for in order to get them. (so for example, a KGC-000 has quirks for ac20's, so putting on ac20's instead of 10's or 5's will allow you to shoot further/faster with ac20s without having to put modules to boost them).
One last thing about quirks, they can stack with weapon modules, so having 10% range module for LL, while also having a chassis that gives 10% range to LL will net you a full 20% LL range. some examples and explanations for quirks.
Laser duration: Reduces the time the laser has to be fired to do full damage.
Heat generation: Reduces the amount of heat generated when fire the weapon.
Range: Increases the range of specified weapon.
Turn rate: Increases/decreases the turn rate for your mechs legs.
Twist rate: Increases/decreases the turn rate for the torso.
Twist angle: increases/decreases the furthest angle the torso can twist.
Improved Velocity: Speeds up the projectiles movement so it travels faster (but not further).
So if the quirk is in green letters, its 'good', while being in red letters means its 'bad'.
One special note about the Hellslinger. It has a quirk for 50% reduced environmental impact on cooling. This can be both helpful and painful. What it means is the cooling bonus you would get from maps is reduced. So while it may not sound so good, its helpful because on hot maps, the temperatures dont effect your colling, and you take less heat from flamers, but that also means you dont cool off much faster on frozen maps or having heatsinks in your feet when standing in water.
Miscellaneous stuff
This section with be about any ramblings or odd things that aren't specifically about piloting mechs, but will be MWO related.
I will start this off that this is a F2P game, you aren't required to spend a single dime on it at all to enjoy. All mechs will eventaully be made available with in game currency (just not right away). But if you are going to spend money on this game, the best bang for your buck is to go with mastery packs (you get 3 mechs, 1 hero, 1 champion, 1 standard mech) plus premium time and mech bays if you want a single chassis. But if you are looking to get a bunch of mechs, the Masikari collection (clan invasion/first wave) gives you the most mechs of any pack, 8 full sets of clan mechs (1 champion and 2 standard mechs for each chassis) for 24 mechs. But if thats too much to pony up (trust me, it is pretty expensive), then go for the cheaper mech collection packs like the Resistance or Wave 2/3 clan mechs. Each will net you 12 mechs (1 champion, 2 standard per chassis) for a much more reasonable price. Nut if you aren't able to afford it, or can't justify paying that much on a game, then at least check in every thursday/friday to see if there is a weekend event that you can earn a free mech in (Like a champion 1/2, adder up, Allegiance, etc).
Edited by Fobhopper, 28 March 2016 - 03:14 PM.
