6 replies to this topic

[dmac28]

So I'm a newer player and have been playing a Thunderbolt 9S with 3 ERPPC for a while and love it. I love the range of the ERPPC and don't want to turn into a missile boater, not that there's anything wrong with that. I'm wanting to start getting a little more involved in the game and doing the leveling thing where you have to buy 3 mechs of the same varient etc. etc. I'm looking for advice on what mechs can carry minimum 2-3 ERPPC but then also a decent mid-range loadout without skimping on armor/heat syncs. I like the pop out/shoot/cover style of play so a mech with decent acceleration would be good as well.
Read good things about the Battle Master but can't seem to find it in the store at all, unless I buy it as a gift or something alone those lines? I guess I can buy it as a gift and redeem myself?

And yes. Search appears to broken as well.

[Spike Brave]

There are two stores. Go to the website if you want to purchases mech packs with real money. Otherwise go to the store tab at the top of the client. There you can buy mechs with C-bills or real money. You'll find the Battlemaster there. If you still have questions check out my tutorial. It should answer any other questions.

[Wedge Red Leader]

dmac28, on 23 July 2016 - 10:08 AM, said:

So I'm a newer player and have been playing a Thunderbolt 9S with 3 ERPPC for a while and love it. I love the range of the ERPPC and don't want to turn into a missile boater, not that there's anything wrong with that. I'm wanting to start getting a little more involved in the game and doing the leveling thing where you have to buy 3 mechs of the same varient etc. etc. I'm looking for advice on what mechs can carry minimum 2-3 ERPPC but then also a decent mid-range loadout without skimping on armor/heat syncs. I like the pop out/shoot/cover style of play so a mech with decent acceleration would be good as well.
Read good things about the Battle Master but can't seem to find it in the store at all, unless I buy it as a gift or something alone those lines? I guess I can buy it as a gift and redeem myself?

And yes. Search appears to broken as well.

Just be aware the 9S is a great IS PPC mech, just know that now so you don't expect any huge improvements. That said getting the 5SS and 9SE, and mastering it will bring it to were it needs to be for competitive play.

The Battlemasters are good mechs, just look at the quirk list for "ppc velocity" or "erppc velocity". The higher the velocity the better, as/if you rank up higher velocity is a must. Be aware ppc quirks apply to all ppcs/erppcs, and erppc quirks only apply to erppcs.
If you can't "find" the battle masters in the store, I'm not sure what I can do for you. I suggest finding a good optometrist.

Edited by Wedge Red Leader, 23 July 2016 - 12:52 PM.

[B L O O D W I T C H]

dmac28, on 23 July 2016 - 10:08 AM, said:

So I'm a newer player and have been playing a Thunderbolt 9S with 3 ERPPC for a while and love it. I love the range of the ERPPC and don't want to turn into a missile boater, not that there's anything wrong with that. I'm wanting to start getting a little more involved in the game and doing the leveling thing where you have to buy 3 mechs of the same varient etc. etc. I'm looking for advice on what mechs can carry minimum 2-3 ERPPC but then also a decent mid-range loadout without skimping on armor/heat syncs. I like the pop out/shoot/cover style of play so a mech with decent acceleration would be good as well.

You have a lot of options when it comes to the loadout you want to play.
Generally, if you want 2 (ER-)PPCs you will need the heatdispension to back it up, so look in the medium mech department with 45 tons and upwards.
Heavies will be able to handle 2 PPCs well, they have the tonnage for the two PPCs (12 to 14 tons for 2 of them depending if you chose Inner Sphere or Clan technology) a resonable fast engine and a lot of Heatsinks.
The upper range (70-75 tons) can, of curse run complementary weapons (such as a gauss rifle).

Especially the Timberwolf, a 75 ton Clan Heavy Omni'mech, is infamous for running a dual C-Er-PPC plus single C-Gaussrifle build very frequently.

Spoiler

The Nova, a 50 ton Clan Medium Omni'mech and the Summoner, a 70 ton Clan Heavy Omni'mech are also known for wielding dual C-Er-PPC frequently.
They both combine the "fire and forget" PPC projectile mechanic with high jump capability.
A technique commonly referred to as "poptarting" (mainly because it looks like the pilot is mimicking a slice of toast popping out of a toaster. If properly executed, it is a rather effective technique, tho.

Spoiler

Keep in mind, that Inner Sphere Battle'mechs and Clan Omni'mechs are two different Shoes.
Clan Battle'mechs are yet another different pair.

If you eyeing with a certain Chassi (like for example with Battlemaster, a 85 ton Innersphere Assault Battle'mech) fell free to ask for specific advices regarding their strenghts and weaknesses, builds and playstyles.
It is simply to much to cover in one go.

You can select your favorite 'mech simply by looking at the hardpoint locations (would you like your weapons in the Torso section or rather in the arms (if arms, one in each or rather both in one arm).

Or you can make your choice depending on which Chassi gets specific PPC or ER-PPC quirks.
Here you should remember that Battle'mechs have a fixed quirks while Omi'mechs have quirks for whatever parts they are build from (for example a arm from a "B" variant gives minor PPC quirks to the whole chassi it is attached to, this can add up depending on how you put an Omni'mech together).

Spoiler

Quirks on a Blackknight, a Warhammer and a Blackjack

Most 'mechs have their good and bad points, some are easier to handle as others and some have rather narrow configuration limitations.

But there isn't a single 'mech ingame which is unplayable. You can entirely make your choices bases on the look of the 'mechs if you would wanted that.

dmac28, on 23 July 2016 - 10:08 AM, said:

Read good things about the Battle Master but can't seem to find it in the store at all, unless I buy it as a gift or something alone those lines? I guess I can buy it as a gift and redeem myself?

And yes. Search appears to broken as well.

You have several options to acquire new 'mechs.

The first would be to click on the "STORE" button on the top left of this website.
Withe example of Battlemasters, you can click on "Gift Store".
There you will find, the Battlemaster Hero'mech "Hellslinger" under "Heroes" far down under "Assault Mech Heroes" (well, obviously) or the Champion'mech "BLR-2C(C)" under the "Champions" Tab.

Keep in mind that you probably need empty mechbays if you choose to purchase any mechs from the Gift Store (someone else please verifiy this for me).

Spoiler

Another Option is a Masterybundle. The Masterybundle for the Battlemaster line is also available under the STORE /Gift Store tab mentioned above.

It comes with a hero, a champion and a 3rd variant (so you can, well... like the name said "master" the chassi) but also with 3 mechbays to fit your mechs into your mechlab.

It also features premium time and, compared to buying each 'mech individually, is a much. much better deal.
(Battlemaster champion 18$, Battlemaster hero 26$ compared to Battlemaster Masterybundle (which features both and more) for 30$.

(Mastery Bundles are always -50% on everyting included in the packs, they are usually a very good deal all year around)

Spoiler

Your second option is to buy 'mech ingame with ingame currency.
There are 2 currencies,
C-bills (you get them as rewards for matches) and MC (ingame currency for the Store / camos / etc) short for mechwarrior credits which you can either buy with $ or earn as rewards (challenges, or faction play for example) ingame.

If you want to purchase MC, simply click on the golden MC icon on the top of this page.

Spoiler

The Store is also a good way to check the different quirks most 'mech feature, simply hover your cursor over a mech for a second and you can see the information quickly.

Spoiler

PPC quirks of an awesome variant

Keep in mind that there are frequently (several times a year) sales on everything.
That means sometimes you can get heros and even mastery bundles for a great discount (even up to -50%) so it might be worth waiting.
There are also sales on MC as well, or promotions were you get, for example +20% more MC for your $.

Edited by Toha Heavy Industries, 23 July 2016 - 01:12 PM.

[S 0 L E N Y A]

Warhammer6R and Marauder6R both take to PPCs rather well as both have the crucial 50% velocity boost.

The mounts on the marauder are a tad bit low, but this is compensated for with high balistic mounts and very tanky quirks.

The Warhammer has relatively high mounts in the torsos, although the stock (or true to lore) location of the PPCs are in the arms, which sit rather low. The Warhammer also takes to XL motors much better than the Marauder, which opens up a lot more options for faster builds

[B L O O D W I T C H]

About PPCs in general,

Since OP asked about several things like "decent midrange" capabilites

There are 3 kinds of PPCs canons in the game


First is the PPC

A pinpoint weapon with 10 damage and a rather high heat to damage ratio, it is usable on Inner Sphere 'mechs only!

it is also worth mentioning that the PCC always has a 90 meter minium range, shooting something below 90 meter will do 0 zero damage.

They are the "coolest" running PPCs and usually best on mechs which can pick their range of engagment.
There is nothing wrong with using a bunch of PPCs and fighting at 1 km away or fighting at a mere 100 meter.

Although, mechs which do not have much speed (sup 60-65 kph) can get overwhelmed easily since most mechs in a match are faster and can close in below 90 meter rather fast.

A slow mech with PPCs is very depending on your teammates.


Second is the Er-PPC

A rather hot running 10 damage pinpoint weapon with a horrid damage to heat ratio. They are also limited to Inner Sphere 'mechs only.

It has higher base velocity and no minimum range then the "normal" ppc, It comes with a high price paid in heat per shoot
Being such a hot weapon, it is very difficult to play them in prolonged battles (such as open engagements or brawls)


Third is the Clan-Er-PPC, limited to Clan 'mechs as the name is suggesting..

They have similar stats to Er-PPC but do10 damage and an additional 5 damage (or 2x 2,5 damage) to attached components.
An example would be to hit a center torso, which would do 10 damage to it and 2,5 to each side torso.
(this is a balancing sanction to counter high energy pinpoint alphas)

Clan mechs have a lower heat cap but higher heatdispension which makes playing Clan PPCs different from playing Inner Sphere PPCs.

Modifier for base PPC stats are of course quirks (a PPC on good PPC-quirk can feature a much higher velocity then a Er-PPC without quirks) but also Targeting Computers (for Clan 'mechs only)

So their stats vary greatly depending on the mechs, builds and loadouts used.
So, even if it's the same weapon family, a mobile panther with 2 PPCs plays very different from a quad C-ER-PPC direwolf (turret).


Mechs which i would recommend to look into would be

Light:

Panther
Adder

Medium:

Blackjacks (BJ-3)
Hunchbacks IIC (A variant)
Shadowhawk 2K

Nova

Heavies:

Blackknight
Warhammer
Marauder

Timber Wolf
Summoner
Hellbringer
Ebon Jaguar

Assaults:

Awesome
Victor
Highlander
Kingcrab

Highlander IIC
Executioner
Warhawk

Edited by Toha Heavy Industries, 23 July 2016 - 11:47 PM.

[dmac28]

Thank you all! Great info and just what was needed.