0
I'm writing this guide because MWO is not your "average shooter". This game is not very complicated, however the getting started part is very complicated. It is very easy to be overwhelmed in this game because it functions traditionally different from most/all FPS (first person shooters) and once you learn the basics... you might like it.
This guide will not follow any traditional format, but it will follow a "sequential format" of how newbies should logically follow through game progression and simple/basic tips of what to do and what to look for...
I will say this.. PGI (the game developer) will eventually add a tutorial about the game at some point... for now, I'd rather get you doing the fundamentals first and not wait on them to deliver it anytime soon.
Chapter 1: After Registering, Before/During The First 25 Games
So, you've registered. Congrats. This part will suck. You have 4 trial mechs, one from each weight class (light, medium, heavy, assault). Each weight class has a different role, so it is imperative to "LEARN YOUR ROLE".
Roles in the MW Universe:
1) Light - These are the scouts.. the eyes and ears of to dictating how a match should be played. These are not primary fighting roles, but you are expected to contribute in some way shape of form, including combat and capping (which will be explained later). It is best to NOT be overaggressive AND RETREAT WHEN THREATENED. Use your teammates for backup/help and then help attack the mech that is chasing you.
It is often suggested to NOT chase other lights or fast mechs, because they often will get you killed. Unless you have greater numbers or strength, DO NOT CHASE THE OTHER FAST MECHS.
For lights, SPEED is life. The faster you are, the more likely you are able to evade shots that a slower mech would usually take damage from. Light mechs have the LEAST amount of armor, so upgrading the mech's engine is a priority (which is usually very costly).
2) Medium - This is probably where you want to start. These are the mechs that have decent speed, but not at the same level as a light mech would have. They do have decent firepower to impact a battle. They are best served to be "background assistance" to heavies and assault mechs... leaving them to soak the damage while you assist them.
Note: Despite Cicadas are classified as being mediums, they are more like "overweight light mechs" and should be treated as such.
3) Heavy - For those of you who wish to have good firepower with reasonable mobility, this is the class to focus on. You are there to dish damage and also have the ability to move fast enough to get out of the way. These mechs should be helping other mechs in the main battlefield as much as possible...
Note: Dragons are more like medium mechs and IMO should be treated as such.
4) Assault - This is the class where most battles are dictated from. When you see them on the field, you need to focus on them because they usually have the firepower to kill you quickly. They have considerable armor, so they are the "pillars" to success or failure. Make sure that you follow behind one of these mechs when traversing into hostile territory. They are the least mobile, so tactics involving speed and getting behind them can be very successful. Assault mechs cannot be ignored on the battlefield, unless you are much faster or more agile than them...
Note: Awesomes are not traditional Assault mechs (they can be fast at times), and I'd consider them Heavies despite them classified as Assaults.
The best thing to do is to try ALL of the trial mechs in the Training Grounds and see if you can "work with them".
Basic Piloting Training:
Dropping into the training grounds is easy. Select the mech you wish to use in the training grounds, either through the quick 4 mech selections on the left, or via the mechlab. In the mechlab, you will need to select the trial mech category in order to access details about the trail mechs.
To the left of the Ready/Not Ready button in the upper right corner of the screen, there's an orange "mech" and it will create a dropdown of what modes you wish to play (Assault, Conquest, "Any", and Training Grounds). Training Grounds is in blue IIRC, so select that it will ask you whether to drop into the Training Grounds. Select "yes".
You will drop into any one of the maps in the game, so your experience will be different every time you drop there. The mechs in the training grounds will always be the same... assuming you wish to learn aspects of those mechs.
Weapons:
First off, I suggest you to learn how to set up weapon groupings. In some of the later MW games (starting from MW3 I guess), you are given the opportunity to set up your weapon groupings through the mechlab. I'm not sure whose brilliant idea to not have that implemented earlier is beyond me, so you have to set that up in the Training Grounds and/or before a match. You will commonly need to change these weapon groupings AFTER adding or swapping weapons into your mech.
On the bottom right hand corner of the screen, you can see your "weapons loadout". These are the weapons that are equipped on the battlemech. The '+' section means that the weapon is in the torso and/or head. All torso weapons will have limited range to shoot with, so you will have to "face" your target in order to use them effectively. The "O" section means that the weapons is in the arms. Depending on the mech, the arms tend to have the most range for firing, so you don't literally have to face your enemy when shooting. However, arms tend to have less armor than the torso, so be aware of this.
The middle part of the screen shows the reticule, usually with an 'O' that follows it around. The 'O' is your arm weapons, and ideally, you should wait for both the 'O' and the reticule (the '+' sign) to be in the same location when you fire, so that all the weapons hit the same location. It is not always possible for both of them to sync up (especially when the target is way above and/or below you).
There is a "distance" listed next to the reticule, showing you the distance to the reticule's targeted location. This is VERY IMPORTANT to pay attention to when you are aiming your weapons at a target. A target too far or too close to you can impact your damage dealing, depending on what weapons you have.
Also, the 2 sets of square boxes on each side of the reticule, showing you the "availability" of your weapons, which in part is linked to cooldown bars.. which will be explained a bit later...
To control the weapon groupings use the arrow keys (which are the default). There will always be one column and one row highlighted. Where they meet/intersect tells you which weapon and weapon grouping you want to change. Use Right Control to activate (lighted up) or deactivate (no light) that weapon for that current grouping.
In most cases, you will wish to weapons of the same type grouped up. Ideally, you will want AT MOST 3 weapon groups.
When you fire with the left mouse button, it will shoot from the WEAPON GROUP COLUMN that is highlighted. I don't like this behavior.. as it makes more sense to shoot weapon group 1 from there.
BTW, if you wish to change any aspects of your controls, hit ESC, then click on Options to goto the Control menu to change them there. You can also do this through the main mechlab screen by click on Menu button (in the lower left hand corner) and clicking on "Options".
Ideally, your left mouse click button is Fire Weapon Group 1, right mouse click button is Fire Weapon Group 2, and the middle mouse button is for regular zoom (not advanced zoom).
Weapon Group 2 should be for cooler weapons... like missiles or ballistics. If you happen to have like a 5 button mouse, you should map a 3rd group into one of the extra buttons you have.
Often, firing multiple weapons in a group will generate heat quickly. Using the '\' key to alpha, you will see ALL of your weapons firing and you will quickly see the heat scale increase. If you have multiple heat generating weapons in a group, you will want to hit the "Backspace" key to see the CURRENT HIGHLIGHTED COLUMN to chain fire. When you now fire that group, it will shoot one weapon at a time, allowing you to cooldown and fire fewer of the weapons. Note that you will have to be more accurate with your firing to make the most out of chain fire.
Notice that each weapon on your loadout has a number in meters next to it. This is the "optimum range" for that weapon. Shooting under that value allows you to deal FULL 100% damage to the target. However, there are exceptions to that rule.. but that's what usually will happen. For many weapons, shooting further than that range will still do damage, but it will do LESS THAN FULL DAMAGE. Ideally, if you can shoot the target closest to you, you will do more damage overall... again, there are some exceptions to this rule...
Here's a quick list of weapons types:
Lasers - They are simple and easy to use. You fire it onto a target, it deals damage. Simple enough? You have to focus the laser onto the enemy as long as possible as you will not be able to do full damage when you don't. Pulse lasers are similar to lasers... they weigh more and have less range, but require you to spent less time at shooting the target. Pulse lasers are better at shooting fast/light mechs.
All lasers have their "maximum range" to be double the "optimum" range.. so a Large Laser of 450m range can shoot up to 900m. At 675m, the Large Laser would be doing HALF as much damage as it normally would (the damage drop is LINEAR).
Medium Lasers are often recommended as they are pretty much the best damage per ton weaponry in the game.
The larger the laser, the more damage it will do and the more range it has... at the cost of tonnage and slots.
PPCs - They are projectiles.. so they require some additional skill to use. PPCs are simply hotter than regular lasers.. however they have greater range and don't require time on the target like lasers. Regular PPCs have a 90m limitation... where all damage is reduced when the target is 90m and UNDER. Therefore, it is a good idea to keep up backup weapons (medium, small lasers) that are unaffected by this. You could also substitute a regular PPC for the ERPPC, which does not suffer from this limitation, at the cost of generating more heat.
All "ER" (extended range) weaponry increase range, but at the cost of increased heat.
PPCs "short out" mechs with ECM for 4 second period...
SRMs - Short Ranged Missiles are used at short range. They all have a max range of 270m, so the missiles explode and do no damage then. These projectiles are not difficult to use, but requires some practice to be proficient with them. SRM6s are less likely to deal concentrated damage at greater ranges (above 135m), so they require you to get closer to be more effective. SRM4s suffer less from this behavior. SRM2s are only good if the missile slot is a "NARC Tube". SRMs do not lock on, so consider them like mini-projectiles that move quite a bit.
A missile tube is a missile limitation, which causes weapons to fire as many as there are tubes. A NARC tube fires only 1 missile, which makes using an LRM5 a complete hassle and as not recommended.
SSRM - Streak SRMs are powerful but require you to get a lock from the target to use them. You can get a lock on a target that is MORE than 270m, but the missiles will very likely to NO damage on impact. Streaks are "negated" by ECM (as in you cannot get a lock), so for streaks to be useful, you will want a PPC and/or carry your own ECM if you are capable.
To target a mech, use 'r' (default key). Targeting the enemy is imperative to your success in combat. When using 'r' to target a mech, it will pick the closest target NEAR THE RETICULE. It will not cycle through targets that are not visible on your or your teammates radar.
To get the lock, you must hold the reticule OVER the target you wish to use the weapon on as long as you can before the reticule turns red, signalling that you can fire on the target.
LRMs - Long Ranged Missiles are designed to deal damage from afar. It isn't complicated to get that lock (it's the same as SRM), but in order for it to do damage, the target needs to be slow (LRMs traverse slowly) and LOS (line of sight) must be maintained on the target. You or your teammates must assist you in making sure the missiles reach their target. TAG is helpful for this as it is a long ranged laser that guides the missiles to its destination, and is recommended to use if you use LRMs. LRMs are completely INEFFECTIVE at ranges under 180m. Don't waste your time.
ACs - The bigger the #, the more damage you will do, but at the cost of range, less ammo to work with, and the lower rate of fire (ROF). Each ballistic type has different characteristics, so feel free to figure that out on your own.
Gauss - It's pretty much functions like a PPC, w/o the heat. However, the weapon itself can often damage you when the area that houses the weapon is exposed. It is a risk reward type of deal... so you will have to snipe carefully with that weapon.
LBX - The number attached to the weapon is the # of "pellets" you get for the weapon. It is explicitly designed to be used at short range (270m or less) despite having a high optimal range. It's not a good "shotgun" like weapon at the moment, but that is how you use it.
UAC - Ultra ACs can deal a lot of damage quickly, but have equally a good chance that the weapons will jam and make you useless. Be prepared to use lots of cover when the weapon is jammed.
Driving the mech:
It goes w/o saying, but driving the mech is key to your success. You need to be able to drive+shoot at the same time. What I suggest doing is learn how WASD functions. I also suggest you TURN OFF both throttle+arm lock in the options as well.
'W' increases the speed of your mech.
'S' decrease the speed of your mech - usually used for going into reverse
'A' turns left.
'D' turns right.
An important related key is 'X', which is used for breaking. This is important for faster mechs, but also used for slower mechs to turn quickly... as using the break is faster than hitting 'S' all the way to slow down and then go into reverse.
Practice in the training grounds to "circle" around every trial mech.. to get used to the idea because you will do this in a real game. Do it at a slower speed first (usually 50% or 1/2 of the speed bar) and then work your way up. Once you master that, learn to shoot while moving. It's wicked easy to shoot targets when standing still, but that also means it's easy for your target to shoot you back. Ideally, you want to be able to shoot on the move so you should be practice this a lot on the Training Grounds until you are comfortable shooting live targets in this game. Live targets will keep moving, so it is suggested that you learn how every weapon functions in the Training Grounds and see how it reacts while you move.
I'll do a lot of stuff later, but it took an hour+ to write this all up. There's more to be had... like "LEARNING ABOUT THE MECHLAB", which will be the next installment of this guide. I hope you liked this... because, I hated writing this.
Edited by Deathlike, 18 April 2013 - 09:56 PM.
