54 replies to this topic

[Tiberius Grogan]

OK - I just joined the game and for , i dont know, maybe ten or so matches, Ive piloted the trial mech. Havent killed anyone yet - but survived most battles and did a little damage.

My questions are:

1.) What do I do now? I know I need to buy a mech - they all require real money - correct?
2.) Im ok with paying - its a fun game. But is there a tutorial somewhere beyond the basic piloting one?
3.) Ive done a little online research - ive concluded I want to play an Assault or Heavy mech. But Im not quite sure how to modify it once I buy it.

Looking for helpful advice so I can actually be of use on the battlefield.

thanks!

[TercieI]

Tiberius Grogan, on 28 July 2016 - 08:32 AM, said:

OK - I just joined the game and for , i dont know, maybe ten or so matches, Ive piloted the trial mech. Havent killed anyone yet - but survived most battles and did a little damage.

My questions are:

1.) What do I do now? I know I need to buy a mech - they all require real money - correct?
2.) Im ok with paying - its a fun game. But is there a tutorial somewhere beyond the basic piloting one?
3.) Ive done a little online research - ive concluded I want to play an Assault or Heavy mech. But Im not quite sure how to modify it once I buy it.

Looking for helpful advice so I can actually be of use on the battlefield.

thanks!

1) No! Keep playing in the trial mechs until you feel like you have some idea what you're doing and, more importantly, what you like doing! You'll never see this many CB again and, no, most mechs can be bought with CB, not requiring $, so that's important.

2) No, not really. Have you done the academy stuff?

3) Well, there are some player-made tutorials. I'd google Spike Brave MWO tutorials, he's got a lot of basic stuff like that. Kanajashi is another with a lot of good materials. Use Smurfy to design mechs, metamechs to get an idea of how top players build mechs and ask lots of questions here.

Welcome to MWO! Good luck!

Edited by TercieI, 28 July 2016 - 08:38 AM.

[Metus regem]

Tiberius Grogan, on 28 July 2016 - 08:32 AM, said:

OK - I just joined the game and for , i dont know, maybe ten or so matches, Ive piloted the trial mech. Havent killed anyone yet - but survived most battles and did a little damage.

My questions are:

1.) What do I do now? I know I need to buy a mech - they all require real money - correct?
2.) Im ok with paying - its a fun game. But is there a tutorial somewhere beyond the basic piloting one?
3.) Ive done a little online research - ive concluded I want to play an Assault or Heavy mech. But Im not quite sure how to modify it once I buy it.

Looking for helpful advice so I can actually be of use on the battlefield.

thanks!

Okay, first off Welcome to MWO!

Now I will do my best to give you some answers to your questions:

1) No, not all mechs take real money to buy, going to the store page in game, you should see a bunch of mechs listed that either cost MC or C-bills, C-bills are the in game currency that you get for fighting. Most mechs, excluding hero mechs, can be bough for C-bills sooner or later. The only thing that you may have to spend real money on, are mech bays, as you only start with a limited number of them, yes they can be earned in game, but it does take time, and often a lot of grinding away in faction play.

2) Nope, just the basic one. MWO seems to be a trail by fire game.

3) Once you buy your first mech, not something I recommend doing till after you've done both the academy and the mandatory 25 matches, that way you should have enough to buy anything short of a Clan Assault mech. When you select it, you should see a button for the mech lab that will let you change out weapons and equipment, provided you have the C-bills to buy the equipment you do not already own.

[SilentFenris]

Tiberius Grogan, on 28 July 2016 - 08:32 AM, said:

OK - I just joined the game and for , i dont know, maybe ten or so matches, Ive piloted the trial mech. Havent killed anyone yet - but survived most battles and did a little damage.

My questions are:

1.) What do I do now? I know I need to buy a mech - they all require real money - correct?
2.) Im ok with paying - its a fun game. But is there a tutorial somewhere beyond the basic piloting one?
3.) Ive done a little online research - ive concluded I want to play an Assault or Heavy mech. But Im not quite sure how to modify it once I buy it.

Looking for helpful advice so I can actually be of use on the battlefield.

thanks!

1) You do not have to pay real money for mechs. You get 4 mechbays for free which you can fill with the in-game currency you earn by playing matches "C-bills". If you want more mechbays or a premium mech then you need to spend real money for "MC" which is the premium currency. "MC" can be earned in-game without spending real money, but is it slow going.

2) There is further instruction available in the "Mechwarrior Academy". You will launch into a single player instance which has a gauntlet mode to run laps while taking enemy fire and a few different versions of a shooting gallery.


3) Stick to the trial mechs for a bit longer. Buying a mech before you know what REALLY works for you is a costly mistake many players regret. Also, some mechs like the Black Knight looks a LOT cheaper than say, the Timberwolf (both are 75 ton heavy mechs), but it is cheap because it NEEDS upgrades. Again, save your C-bills till you really KNOW what WORKS for you.

**edit**
wow, beaten by two other posters....

Edited by GrayFenris, 28 July 2016 - 08:52 AM.

[TercieI]

Metus regem, on 28 July 2016 - 08:39 AM, said:

Dude got ninja'd

GrayFenris, on 28 July 2016 - 08:40 AM, said:

Another dude got ninja'd

Get on my level, scrubs.

In all seriousness, I love that three of us answered this fast. This is really the only useful section of the official forums, but it's pretty great.

Edited by TercieI, 28 July 2016 - 08:42 AM.

[Tiberius Grogan]

OK thanks for the info!

Before I head into the academy...

• whats a mechbay? Is that a slot where you store purchased mechs? (god I just FEEL like a rookie even asking)
  
• A couple of you said "trial mechs"...plural - is there more than 1? How do I switch?
  
• When I see the cost of a mech in the store - it list both cb and mc - its not a "combined" price? its one or the other?
  
• I'm gonna do another 15 to 20 before I buy - but are there heavier trial mechs or are they all lights?
  
• Does gear, armor, etc wear down between matches?
  
• I can - it appears - change out weapon loadouts on my mech right?

thanks for taking the time to answer these - I've been a fan of Battletech since I played the old Infocom "The Crescent Hawks Inception" on the Apple iie (yeah I'm old).

Eventually Id like, once I'm educated and geared enough , to find a clan.

thanks!

[Rogue Jedi]

1) not correct, You can but Mechs using MC or Cbills, no Mech requires bith, so you can get most Mechs without spending real money, by the time you have completed the tutorial and the first 25 games you should be able to afford to buy and outfit any 1 Mech and maybe as many as 3

When a new Mech is first released it is real money only for 3-4 months before it becomes available for cbills, there are also "Hero" Mechs with a 30% cbill earnings boost which are also real money only, but there is no pay to win, the real money only varients are not usualy superior to the Cbill varients.

2) there is the tutoral which covers the basics and there are several additional activities all of which should help, there is also the training grounds allow you to learn the maps

3) lok up Smurfy Mechlab, that is an online tool which allows you to design the Mech out og game and figure out what it will cost. There are 2 basic tyopoes of Mech, Battlemechs have a fixed set of weapon hardpoints but far more customisation to the Mech itself it terms of engune and weight saving upgrades, Omnimechs have a fixed configuration all you can change is weapons and certain equipment but you have far more options when it comes to weapon customization because you can get omnipods containing the hardpoints from another varient so if your varient has missiles in the left arm and you want lasers provided another varient has lasers you can take/buy that arm omnipod and swap it with yours.

When it comes to upgrades a a higher engine number meens your Mech will be faster and more responsive, an XL engine weighs aboyt half what a standard engine does but meens loosing 1 or both side torsos will kill your Mech depending on if it is an Inner Sphere or Clan XL
Double heatsinks allow your Mech to survive higher heat levals and disipate heat faster compaired to singles, you will almost always want doubles.
Endo steel Internals anf Fero Fibrus armor both provide weight savings in exchange for internal space, Endo is better, only use Fero if you have enough slots left after putting on everything you want.
Most Mech come with less than max armor, you will usualy want to max the armor

[TercieI]

Tiberius Grogan, on 28 July 2016 - 08:48 AM, said:

OK thanks for the info!

Before I head into the academy...

• whats a mechbay? Is that a slot where you store purchased mechs? (god I just FEEL like a rookie even asking)
  
• A couple of you said "trial mechs"...plural - is there more than 1? How do I switch?
  
• When I see the cost of a mech in the store - it list both cb and mc - its not a "combined" price? its one or the other?
  
• I'm gonna do another 15 to 20 before I buy - but are there heavier trial mechs or are they all lights?
  
• Does gear, armor, etc wear down between matches?
  
• I can - it appears - change out weapon loadouts on my mech right?

thanks for taking the time to answer these - I've been a fan of Battletech since I played the old Infocom "The Crescent Hawks Inception" on the Apple iie (yeah I'm old).

Eventually Id like, once I'm educated and geared enough , to find a clan.

thanks!

Oh, yeah, seriously, google Spike Brave's tutorials.

-Yes, a Mechbay is a slot to store a mech. You have four to start
-Yes, there are 16 or so trial mechs at a time, decent builds, pretty well optimized
-Yes, either/or price CB or MC
-Yes, trials of all weight classes, both clan and IS
-You can change weapons on owned mechs, not on trials though, as noted the builds are decent

Keep asking the questions, that's how you learn, don't be embarrassed.

TercieI, on 28 July 2016 - 08:59 AM, said:

Dangit Rogue!

[Metus regem]

Tiberius Grogan, on 28 July 2016 - 08:48 AM, said:

OK thanks for the info!

Before I head into the academy...

• whats a mechbay? Is that a slot where you store purchased mechs? (god I just FEEL like a rookie even asking)
  
• A couple of you said "trial mechs"...plural - is there more than 1? How do I switch?
  
• When I see the cost of a mech in the store - it list both cb and mc - its not a "combined" price? its one or the other?
  
• I'm gonna do another 15 to 20 before I buy - but are there heavier trial mechs or are they all lights?
  
• Does gear, armor, etc wear down between matches?
  
• I can - it appears - change out weapon loadouts on my mech right?

thanks for taking the time to answer these - I've been a fan of Battletech since I played the old Infocom "The Crescent Hawks Inception" on the Apple iie (yeah I'm old).

Eventually Id like, once I'm educated and geared enough , to find a clan.

thanks!

No problem!

1) Mechbays are where your personal mechs sleep so to speak, unless a mech is marked with a special desginator (S)/(G)/(P)/(I)/( R ) it is not locked to that mech bay and can be sold to make room for a new mech.

2) Yes! There are lots of trial mechs, and they change over time. On your left, you should see a menu of options, the top one should say Select mech, go there and look at everything you can pilot.

3) The cost listed in the in game store tab, is either or, not combined.

4) Yes, i'm not sure what the current trils are like, as I have my selector set to only show me the mechs I own.

5) No, equipment does not degrade over time, and no you do not pay to relpace spent ammo. The only thing you do have to pay for are consumables, but those are something you don't need to concern yourself with for a while.

6) Only on mechs you own, for an idea of what you can do, I highly recommend using this website:

http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab

[p4r4g0n]

Mech bay are slots for mech that you purchase. You start with 4, you can buy more with MC (which you get with real cash), get some from attaining certain achievements, events, supply caches (dropped randomly for 1 member of the winning team.

New players get C-Bill bonuses for their first 25 matches. Do the tutorial for another 5 million C-Bills if you clear all the achievements.

It is recommended that you accumulate >25 million C-Bills before buying your first mech as you will want to do upgrades to optimize it as well as buy 2 additional variants to unlock the basic, elite and master mech skills. (Ask again about this later before buying your first mech).

After your first 25, I recommend continuing to try out the different trial mechs. You can choose different trial mechs by going to the Mech Bay tab and clicking on the trial mech you want to use.

Equipment, armour and ammo are automatically repaired at zero cost after each match.

You can only change or optimize a mech that you own. Trial mechs cannot be customized.

I believe your other questions have been addressed but feel free to ask if anything is unclear.

[Koniving]

Tiberius Grogan, on 28 July 2016 - 08:32 AM, said:

OK - I just joined the game and for , i dont know, maybe ten or so matches, Ive piloted the trial mech. Havent killed anyone yet - but survived most battles and did a little damage.

My questions are:

1.) What do I do now? I know I need to buy a mech - they all require real money - correct?
2.) Im ok with paying - its a fun game. But is there a tutorial somewhere beyond the basic piloting one?
3.) Ive done a little online research - ive concluded I want to play an Assault or Heavy mech. But Im not quite sure how to modify it once I buy it.

Looking for helpful advice so I can actually be of use on the battlefield.

thanks!

Kills are easy yet not easy.
Absolutely crucial is to first Target with R, and attack weak points (indicated by color on the paper doll on the upper right corner, the more red the body part is the more damaged it is. If it is black, that body part is considered destroyed).

Note: The "75%", "50%", etc.
That's "from 75% to 99%"
"50% to 74%"
Etc.

1.) What do I do now? I know I need to buy a mech - they all require real money - correct?

No. The (C ) or Champion mechs, which the trial mechs are, are regular cbill mechs that come pre-upgraded and include an experience bonus and sold for an only pricetag. Don't buy Champion mechs.

All of the regular mechs (of which if you include all standard 'Variants', there's nearly 150 or so of them) are free, acquired/purchased through which is the currency you earn as you play. We call them C-Bills (related to 'Comstar' but we'll leave lore for another time.)

2.) Im ok with paying - its a fun game. But is there a tutorial somewhere beyond the basic piloting one?

"Academy". After completing the basic piloting one, roam around to switch between mechs and find different 'tests' and 'challenges'.

Also, my personal suggestion is to save paying for Mechbays or Hero Mechs (which come with a 30% cbill bonus). And there's ways to get mechbays for free. Save that for later though.

3.) Ive done a little online research - ive concluded I want to play an Assault or Heavy mech. But Im not quite sure how to modify it once I buy it.

"Mechlab" and remember you need to remove things in order to add things, as you have the limit of the weight the mech states. For example a 100 ton mech cannot have more than 100 tons, and you do not want it to have less than 100 tons either.

Tiberius Grogan, on 28 July 2016 - 08:48 AM, said:

OK thanks for the info!
Before I head into the academy...

• whats a mechbay? Is that a slot where you store purchased mechs? (god I just FEEL like a rookie even asking)
  
• A couple of you said "trial mechs"...plural - is there more than 1? How do I switch?
  
• When I see the cost of a mech in the store - it list both cb and mc - its not a "combined" price? its one or the other?
  
• I'm gonna do another 15 to 20 before I buy - but are there heavier trial mechs or are they all lights?
  
• Does gear, armor, etc wear down between matches?
  
• I can - it appears - change out weapon loadouts on my mech right?

thanks for taking the time to answer these - I've been a fan of Battletech since I played the old Infocom "The Crescent Hawks Inception" on the Apple iie (yeah I'm old).

Eventually Id like, once I'm educated and geared enough , to find a clan.

thanks!

"Clans" and "clan," as I'm sure you might know are two different things. We refer to "clans" (guilds, etc) as "Units" to avoid confusion. Loyalist Unit, Merc Unit, etc.
I haven't had the luxury of playing Crescent Hawks but from what I seen and read of it, aside from the combat it was a pretty good RPG.

On to your questions:

whats a mechbay? Is that a slot where you store purchased mechs? (god I just FEEL like a rookie even asking)

Yes. Effectively it is a limitation of how many mechs you can have. I currently have a little over 200 mechbays and house 187 mechs within those.

A couple of you said "trial mechs"...plural - is there more than 1? How do I switch?

"Mech Select" should allow you to choose from up to 12 (or is it 24? Think it is 24) trial mechs. Make sure the filter is set to "Trial" and not "Owned." When you buy one, set it to "Owned."

When I see the cost of a mech in the store - it list both cb and mc - its not a "combined" price? its one or the other?

Correct. One or the other. The price is for those who want to use real money as a shortcut. MWO is "Pay to get it now" or in some cases "Pay for convenience" rather than pay to win.

I'm gonna do another 15 to 20 before I buy - but are there heavier trial mechs or are they all lights?

There should be. Usually it is 2 or 4 of each weight class. Split between "Inner Sphere" (or "House") and "Clan".

Does gear, armor, etc wear down between matches?

No. There has not been a repair and rearm mechanic in MWO since 2012.

I can - it appears - change out weapon loadouts on my mech right?

Yes. It is one of the principle mechanics of Mechwarrior games.

Welcome to MWO.

Edited by Koniving, 28 July 2016 - 09:17 AM.

[JC Daxion]

Like they said, Play the tutorial..


But after that i highly suggest you go into training grounds, under the home tab, and just play around on all the maps (the last 6 you don't really need to spend that much time on at this point as they are CW maps, but it wouldn't hurt just to take a look and shoot the practice dummies..

spend a good 30 mins plus, +2-3 drops on each map, and learn um a bit


Id also spend time playing around with the few bots in training grounds as well.


There is nothing that will help you more than learning how to move and twist, and how heat works,,, OUT of matches, before trying to learn in a match with people shooting at you.

Every 30 mins in training grounds will give you a huge advantage in game..

[Koniving]

Side note: Despite my strong Mechwarrior and then kinda weak Battletech knowledge (such as you're cooler if in water), etc., it still took almost two weeks for me to get my first actual kill.
It's a lot easier these days.

[Tiberius Grogan]

Alright - I have some work to do!! Going to through all the suggestions here and begin reading. Did find the other trial mechs - learning to pilot now. Done a match with med, assault, and heavy - did some damage but no kills yet. Died a lot. Learning.

Apparently I can only post 2 more times today after this one so ill save those last 2 for later? Does the posting limit go away eventually?

thanks all for the great advice - loving this so far!

[Metus regem]

Tiberius Grogan, on 28 July 2016 - 09:14 AM, said:

Alright - I have some work to do!! Going to through all the suggestions here and begin reading. Did find the other trial mechs - learning to pilot now. Done a match with med, assault, and heavy - did some damage but no kills yet. Died a lot. Learning.

Apparently I can only post 2 more times today after this one so ill save those last 2 for later? Does the posting limit go away eventually?

thanks all for the great advice - loving this so far!

Yes, yes it does, after you've finished your first 25 matches you name colour changes on the boards and the limit goes away.

[Koniving]

Tiberius Grogan, on 28 July 2016 - 09:14 AM, said:

Alright - I have some work to do!! Going to through all the suggestions here and begin reading. Did find the other trial mechs - learning to pilot now. Done a match with med, assault, and heavy - did some damage but no kills yet. Died a lot. Learning.

Apparently I can only post 2 more times today after this one so ill save those last 2 for later? Does the posting limit go away eventually?

thanks all for the great advice - loving this so far!

As above, complete 25 matches (it is an anti-spambot measure; spambots can't play video games.... or can they?)

Heh. You can "edit" posts to add information, too.
I'd invite you to play with me, but I fear that your tier 5 won't tank me down enough for us to be on an easy-enough street to avoid the big mean groups.

Just remember some little tips:
If they have big guns, shoot the biggest group of guns.
If they are fast, shoot some legs until they limp.
If they are scary; get the **** out of there!
If you are alone, you're doing it wrong.

Good luck.

(If someone else with premium time is on though, send me a message and we can invite Tiberius into a private match.)

[Rogue Jedi]

Tiberius Grogan, on 28 July 2016 - 08:48 AM, said:

OK thanks for the info!

Before I head into the academy...

• whats a mechbay? Is that a slot where you store purchased mechs? (god I just FEEL like a rookie even asking)
  
• A couple of you said "trial mechs"...plural - is there more than 1? How do I switch?
  
• When I see the cost of a mech in the store - it list both cb and mc - its not a "combined" price? its one or the other?
  
• I'm gonna do another 15 to 20 before I buy - but are there heavier trial mechs or are they all lights?
  
• Does gear, armor, etc wear down between matches?
  
• I can - it appears - change out weapon loadouts on my mech right?

thanks for taking the time to answer these - I've been a fan of Battletech since I played the old Infocom "The Crescent Hawks Inception" on the Apple iie (yeah I'm old).

Eventually Id like, once I'm educated and geared enough , to find a clan.

thanks!

1. yes Mechbays are slots to store Mechs, you are given 4, you can buy them for 300MC, $6.95 will usualy get you 4 but MC and Mechbays can both go "on sale" meaning it is possible to get 10 for that 6.95

2. go to select Mech or Mechlab and there you have a variaty of filters, there are 16 trial Mechs available, 2 each Clan and IS for each weight class

3. yes, ether not both

4. there are trial Mechs in all 4 weight classes

5. no, gear is perminant, the only exception is consumable modules

6. yes, you can change weapons on a purchased Mech, if it is an Omnimech you can even swop weapon hardpoints from a diferant varient, if it is a Battlemech you can customise the engine type and size, structure, armor and heatsink types, and both types of Mech have optional equipment you can add/remove but some omnimechs have locked equipment.

[Coralld]

Koniving, on 28 July 2016 - 09:24 AM, said:

As above, complete 25 matches (it is an anti-spambot measure; spambots can't play video games.... or can they?)

Heh. You can "edit" posts to add information, too.
I'd invite you to play with me, but I fear that your tier 5 won't tank me down enough for us to be on an easy-enough street to avoid the big mean groups.

Just remember some little tips:
If they have big guns, shoot the biggest group of guns.
If they are fast, shoot some legs until they limp.
If they are scary; get the **** out of there!
If you are alone, you're doing it wrong.

Good luck.

(If someone else with premium time is on though, send me a message and we can invite Tiberius into a private match.)

I'd like to expand on that and say, do the twist. Learning to torso twist away or back and forth is a good way of spreading in coming fire so you live longer.
If you are in a Light mech then don't stop moving, speed is your friend.

[Tiberius Grogan]

hate to waste a post on this but is there a record somewhere that tells me how many ive played? and if so - where?

[Metus regem]

Tiberius Grogan, on 28 July 2016 - 10:10 AM, said:

hate to waste a post on this but is there a record somewhere that tells me how many ive played? and if so - where?

Under achievements, you should see something about rookie matches or some such, should be down near the bottom of the achievement list.