14 replies to this topic

[ZeProme]

Good evening everyone!

As a new player who has began last month-ish, I have a firm grasp of how the game is played and the role specifically for each mech. I like to give thanks to everyone on this forum for helping me and other newcomers ease the learning curve.

SPECIAL THANKS, to Koniving!!! He has helped me immensely from providing tips to how to play, to playing together in a group with his friends on TS. It was a great experience.

His Youtube channel has helped me a lot, so I recommend new players to check it out as well!

So far I own the Centurion CN9-A, Hunchback HBK-4SP, Catapult CPTL-K2 and the Cataphract CTF-2X.

My impression thus far is that I like the CN9-A(http://mwo.smurfy-ne...3b7f4a4a02c905e), HBK-4SP (http://mwo.smurfy-ne...3b7f4a4a02c905e), CPTL-K2 (Stock with ER PPC and lots of DHS, still needs XL engine) but I really dislike the CTF-2X. Big torso, low arm guns, and lots of weapon grouping which makes it hard to group weapons. (I have like 4 weapon groups >_>)

Because I really like centurions (their zombie mode is fun as hell and IMO they are probably the most versatile medium mechs), I'm thinking of buying a CN9-YLW in the near future whenever it goes on sale at 50% off like 2 months ago.

It might just be me but I feel as if the CTF-2X is probably too hard for me. I don't know if other new players experience it the same way, but almost every time, my CT dies so much more faster compared to other mechs. I even put all the armor on the front.

So, that leads us back to the purpose of this title. I want to try and experiment with light and assault mechs since I never owned one before. I like to hear from the community as to which light and assault mechs are generally more forgiving and easy to play and grasp.

I have tried the Dragon community variant and so far I don't like dragons because of their ridiculously large center torso. I guess I don't know how to play it. They are fast and somewhat nimble making them ideal for agile snipers, similar to a light and medium like hybrid.

I have heard positive feedbacks from people who have bought the Highlander - Heavy Metal mech, so I'm eager to read feedbacks from different Highlander variants this Tuesday, a possible candidate for my next mech to buy.

[Koniving]

O_o

Oh no... New players are gonna stalk me now. *Hides.*

Spoiler

Thought I'd stealthily share something made by 7NationArmy, who placed 4th in mediums during the first big contest. The video includes myself, 7nationarmy and Verrick in a lance of trial Centurions. Very handy information, even though this relates to the harder-to-use Centurion 9D trial mech.

I'm also the dancing Cicada at the end.

Will let you know how the new Highlanders turn out. Noticed something though. The Highlander 732C (unless it is the 732 Colleen?) and 733P don't exist..
http://www.pcgamer.c...ander-variants/

So I wonder what they will carry?

(PS the youtube vid's for other new people, plus I surprisingly don't spread that one too often. I think 7nationarmy needs to make more vids.)

Edited by Koniving, 15 April 2013 - 06:53 PM.

[ZeProme]

Eager to know. I can tell the Highlanders have great potential due to their hardpoint features and also JJs! Yay for JJs!

Oh Kon I already seen that, but I might as well watch it again

[ZeProme]

If I can learn from the Centurion master whom is placed 4th overall for Centurion in this whole server, I could be the next Centurion ace

[AlphariusII]

The Raven 3L is currently the light king. A 3 medium laser and 2SSRM build plus ECM will go a long way towards offsetting any lack of skill or familiarity. Jenners can outrun you but your only real worry is being outnumbered by other lights or being legged. The 4x and 2x are useful for nothing more than ERPPC + Jump Jet silliness and grinding to elite, respectively. I haven't spent any recent time in any other light chassis, but I do know a few people who make excellent advantage of the Jenner's heavier firepower.

As far as assaults, I much prefer to avoid using them as evading fire is much more to my liking than soaking/spreading it. With that said, the Awesome is good for support. Like a light, it can do immense damage to the enemy team when ignored and immense damage to your patience when focused. Atlases are alright if you, unlike me, are skilled in placing accurate shots while you waddle through a lance worth of firepower. I have no experience with the Stalker other than a few trial mech drops, but I've seen them used to good effect given that they don't 1) have an XL engine in order to alpha two times without exploding and 2) face anything that can exploit their horrendous twist range.

As for the CTF-2x, I spent a lot of time trying to come up with a good build for it. The best I found was a pure short-ranged brawler equipped with a prayer that no one pays you any attention. Even when torso twisting it's simply too easy to core. If you haven't tried the 1x, the high shoulder points are great for a 2x ERPPC build backed by 2xMlas. You can peek over hills and fire while still retaining a STD engine with a high enough rating to shoot and scoot, something most 3D poptarts lack. The 4x is almost a decent twin Gauss platform save for the tendency to lose an arm in a stiff breeze while Atlases leave you in the dust.

Hope this helps.

[RLBell]

Stalkers have one nice quirk: With a standard engine, losing a side torso and its attached arm is an inconvenience, not a death sentence. You have just lost half of your weapons, but still have more than half of your heat sinks, so your remaining weapons fire more often. Unless you have the -5M, losing both side torsos is a crushing blow. Surprise! Surprise! the most zombie-ish Stalker brawling builds are based on the -5M, with a Large Standard/ER/Pulse laser in the CT.

[ZeProme]

I looked at the stalkers variants many times, none of them seems appeasing except for the 5S with 2 AMS. Stalkers kind of turn me down because they have a much lower transverse length and transverse speed meaning its very vulnerable to fast mechs. It seems like it excels in 1 way engagement battles like the ice cave on frozen city map.

[RLBell]

ZeProme, on 15 April 2013 - 08:07 PM, said:

I looked at the stalkers variants many times, none of them seems appeasing except for the 5S with 2 AMS. Stalkers kind of turn me down because they have a much lower transverse length and transverse speed meaning its very vulnerable to fast mechs. It seems like it excels in 1 way engagement battles like the ice cave on frozen city map.

Stalkers are team players. They have enough weapons to curb stomp a light that is circling someone else, but are at a severe disadvantage when they are the target and alone (although, I have gotten lucky). I suck, big time, with a KDR of 0.6, but if you are in a light harassing a team mate and I have line of sight, my Stalker will get you.

[Koniving]

I like using Stalkers to bull rush and brawl with people; my flamer stalker being the prime example of that. However as of late the lack of damage for SRMs has been very discouraging and makes the build impractical now.

AMS at the moment has little use. It will have use in the future when missiles are fixed however there will be no missile tweaks tomorrow's patch. For now the only handy thing is reducing the damage of enemy streaks or potentially destroying some.

Honestly instead of rushing into the various types of mechs, I'd focus on at least eliting either the Centurion or the Hunchback. Have at least one mech at full strength. Then use it to help you get the money needed to experiment with any future endeavors. After all none of your mechs will truly shine until it has all 4 elites unlocked.

Edited by Koniving, 15 April 2013 - 09:39 PM.

[Lege]

Play the stalker and don't be caught alone. I've been driving my 5M with five large lasers, 24 dhs and 300 std engine. If you do get caught alone, put you back to a wall and make the light stay in front of you. If you just don't like the stalker, the Atlas D-DC is still probably the best overall mech in the game. In any assault you need to stay with your team in the early to mid game. For a light mech, the Raven-3L is still one of the easiest mechs to do well with. ECM is still one of the biggest game changers.

[ZeProme]

Makes sense Kon. I guess I should start eliting mechs instead.

[Buckminster]

Koniving makes a great point with eliting your mechs. Once you start to add on all the skills, plus the doubling of your basic skills once you finish elite, it really makes a difference.

As far as light vs. assault... I have zero assault experience, except for brawling in an Atlas in closed beta. For lights, I have the three Ravens. The 3L is a great mech, it's combo of ECMs, speed and streaks makes it a very tough contender, and the additional 15 tons of weight (compared to the Commando 2D - the other ECM with streaks) allow for you to mount a lot more stuff. The 4X and 2X are tough to get through though, so grinding your skills in them is a chore.

Also worth noting is that you better be prepared to drop some c-bills on a good 3L. The base mech is expensive, plus you really need to upgrade the engine to get the full speed out of it. Expect to spend 13 million c-bills for a fully loaded 3L.

[Koniving]

Indeed. After all you remember my hunchbacks were doing 92 kph with a standard 260 engine. Even if you were to pack the same engine you can't go that fast until you unlock the speed tweak. I also have convergence, which allows my weapons to calibrate to a range much faster (which isn't so important for lasers but very important for ballistics).

Personally I found the 4X to 2X to be superior mechs in terms of the Ravens. But that's because I don't treat them the same way most do.

• The 2x has become a PPC sniper with twin standard PPCs and a tag. I'll sneak about, pop up, throw in some shots, and pop outta sight before anyone makes a shot at me. Then I'll go find me another vantage point. To be honest I treat it like the "Recon" sniper from Battlefield 3. Don't stay in the same spot too long, keep moving, and hope the enemy doesn't have a light to send after me.
  
• The 4x is a brawler that contends with even Atlases and Stalkers in head-on battles. I pack on an AC-20 and have up to 5 tons of ammo. Or I can trade ammo for jump jets (which have been handy, nothing is more satisfying than jumping over an Atlas's head to shoot him in the back that final time). Sometimes if I'm playing alone [pugging] I'll trade a ton for small lasers in order to fend off enemy lights or squeeze in some extra damage. Even 3L's (if they're smart) run from a stationary AC-20 Raven, because I can take twice his damage with my armor arrangement and it only takes two to three hits in the same location to kill him. Just two in the leg gets me a guaranteed kill (because he can't make it difficult to hit him anymore).
  
• With the 4x I could also replicate the 2x's twin PPC build, or trade the AC-20 for 2 AC-2s and contend on the long range maps as an harassment sniper.

But again, elite either the hunchback or the centurion first. The more mechs you have the harder this will be until you get some mechbays.

[DEMAX51]

I love light 'Mechs.

For one just starting out, as AlphariusII pointed out above, you really can't go wrong with the 3L. Once you get more familiar with piloting a mech that goes that fast, however, I think the Jenner-F is really the way to go (though, if you're really good with standard SRMs the Jenner-D can be beastly too).

[Koniving]

ZeProme, on 15 April 2013 - 07:00 PM, said:

If I can learn from the Centurion master whom is placed 4th overall for Centurion in this whole server, I could be the next Centurion ace

Actually he placed 4th for medium mechs (so, all of them).

Anyway! Since I got reminded of this, here's the lowdown on Highlanders.


As you already know I own all of the Hero mechs up to this point.^1 The Heavy Metal is capable, but has a strong weakness in that 80% of its hardpoints are in the left side. The tradeoff is that it gets energy hardpoints in the left arm and capability of extra jump jets. This also limits it a bit, due to the hand actuator in the left arm. It is not possible to use all 3 energy for PPCs, so it cannot use all of the weapons that exist for the energy side.

I now own the 733. I have only used it in a default configuration but already it has outperformed the Heavy Metal's default config considerably. There have been matches where the 733's default configuration outperforms my HM's jump-sniping loadout in terms of damage and kills. Unlike the Heavy Metal, it actually feels like an Atlas.

When faced against Highlanders, I generally find them to be much bigger threats than Atlases.

However, unlike an Atlas, disabling them is considerably easier when fighting close range.^2

• If their main close weapons are missiles, destroy their left side.
  
• If their main close weapons are ballistics or lasers, destroy their right side.

Below is a list of features I've noted about the Highlanders.

• All Highlanders except the Heavy Metal carry energy and ballistics on the right side. Missiles are always carried on the left regardless.
  
• The Highlander 733C is the only Highlander capable of carrying an AC/20 or twin UAC/5. It cannot carry twin LB/10x. This is accomplished by removing the lower arm actuator.
  
• The Highlander 733C is punished for this by removing 10 degrees of motion (cutting it in half) from the arms. However, the actual mechanic should not allow the right arm to be able to rotate horizontally at all, allowing the left to pivot at the full 20 degrees of all other variants. This would have caused issues or triple crosshairs. It was done this way in the interest of simplicity.
  
• Most Highlanders actually have weak legs, especially if all the weapon hardpoints are used.
  
• Unlike Atlases and Stalkers who trade rear armor to the front, most Highlanders keep their rear armor beefed up.
  
• All Highlanders have the engine size of 325 as their maximum. The exception is the Heavy Metal, which can carry up to an engine rating of 330.
  
• The Highlander has the heaviest jump jets in the game. Each one weighs 2 tons.
  
• At default speed and max jump jets, none can hurt themselves in their landing. Minimum height to damage one's self upon landing is 30 meters or a speed of 48 kph. The exception is if the landing involves colliding with a mech.
  
• In time, the Highlander will be able to crush (kill) or damage mechs by jumping on them. Truth is, it can already damage them but not in the way we want.
  
• Given the Highlander's size, in a bull-rush collision knockdown (when enabled), it would mathematically win against all but the speed tweaked 310 engine stalkers, be able to contend with but not likely win or lose against the Atlas, and will always lose against the Awesome 9M or Pretty Baby due to their superior speeds. However, to compensate the Highlander is likely to cheat with a jump jet dropkick (famous from closed beta catapults) instead of a full-on bull rush / tackle.
  
• The Highlander's energy weapons cannot point down far enough to hit a light mech that's within 30 meters.
  
• The placement of the missile launchers in the Highlander's left arm creates a criss-cross formation of SRM 6's, giving the missiles the faint shape of a +.
  
• Placement of LRM-20 in the arm, or on left torso's second slot, will place a 10-tube launcher which fires the LRM-20 in two volleys of 10, spacing out the heat at the risk of spreading out fire.
  
• The Highlander's cockpit is huge, but surprisingly difficult to hit. 80% of the visible cockpit area (referring to the entire front side of the head) counts as the center torso. As opposed to 95% of the Atlas's (if you were to count the entire head as the cockpit, if only counting the window of the left eye then it's closer to 70%).
  
• It is possible to hit the cockpit from above the Highlander -- to most mechs, a cockpit shot is nearly impossible from an upward angle do to them only counting in the upper brackets of the windshield's transparent metal alloy viewport.
  
• The Highlander's excessively mechanical walk is clearly modelled after current high speed machinery. The walk gives the impression that the Highlander cannot side step without a torso twist, and as such could be easy to knock over from the side. Time will tell.
  
• All [cbill] variants of Highlanders (which excludes the Heavy Metal) carry a superior number of missile hardpoints.
  
• The Highlander's damage textures appear to be incomplete.
  
• The Highlander appears to be virtually defenseless against an ECM spider.

^1 Not easy, but buying in bulk helps (you get more per dollar for buying the 50 or 99 dollar packages than you do for the 15 or 30 dollar ones. The per dollar ratio rises as you go higher up. A fairly good incentive, as essentially makes the expensive mechs cheaper even though their prices don't actually lower.
^2 If an Atlas loses one shoulder, it still has at least 50% of its firepower and at least 1 energy weapon to fight with, making it impossible to make the mech completely defenseless without destroying both sides. The K and D Atlases could still fight with CT mounted energy weapons even after losing both shoulders. In comparison, the Highlander often carries range-focused builds. Long range ballistic/ high heat energy with some streaks or SRMs. Or, lots of LRMs and close range ballistic/energy. Or some combination. Whatever the case, the Highlander is much easier to neuter by destroying the "close range" side of the mech whichever side it may be. It's like fighting a Fiddler Crab. There's always one claw designed for long range and one for close.

Edited by Koniving, 18 April 2013 - 05:00 PM.