29 replies to this topic

[Johnny Reb]

If I had to choose I would go Atlas-D-DC. Stalker is nice but can be a better team player shielding with ecm.

[Kyynele]

Remember that your mileage WILL wary. I personally love Catapults. They have better torso twist range than any other heavy or assault, which makes them feel really nimble even if they aren't as fast as some others. Most of them also have JJs which helps add to that feel. The chassis also allows perhaps the greatest variety between variants compared to others - if you pick A1, C1 and K2, you most definitely won't feel like you're grinding the same mech 3 times, which you will be feeling on some others.

For Cataphracts and Jagers, expect to die a lot more often than in a Catapult to side torso hits if you plan to run XL engines on them. I found the really really low arm hardpoints on all Cataphracts painful to use, and in general just couldn't enjoy playing them even though I did grind the 3D all the way to master. Jagers were even worse for me.

A Stalker could be like a giant version of your K2, you probably wouldn't need to adjust to much more than it being really slow and, well, clumsy. 3F is the way to go, unfortunately the other Stalkers you will need to play to get to elites will be pretty much the same but worse to play. That being said, Stalkers easily pack so much firepower, you should be able to fit any of them with just DHS, large lasers or PPCs and get tons of kills.

As a fellow Catapult afficienado, I'll list my personal favorites from the other mechs:

You might like lights in general, all but Commandos have as good torso twist as the Catapult. The Champion Jenner currently in trial mechs should have a reasonable loadout, you could try that out and see how you feel about lights.

- Raven 3L - is no longer the OP noobmobile, but remains a good light.
- Raven 4X - well, I enjoyed the max XL engine with 2 PPCs and JJs quite a lot, even though I can't honestly say it's one of the greats.
- Jenner D and F - better firepower than the 3L with JJs and faster speed, no ECM though.
- Spider 5D - Really hard to kill, you'll often be the last one alive. The other Spiders suck so much I can't recommend it, though.

- The X-5 (or Cicada 3M or 2A/2B if you're not going to get MC) - like a light in a medium chassis
- Hunchback 4P and Blackjack 1X - with max medium lasers these tear through enemy mechs. They run extremely hot. Hunchies have good torso twist.
- Yen-Lo-Wang - Fast, AC20, ERLL, harder to kill than you'd think. (MC only)

- Stalker 3F - the other Stalker to get I'd say is 5M for the 5 missile hardpoints and the CT energy hardpoint for serious zombie action. Misery as the 3rd one if spending MC and really liking Stalkers, whatever other one if not.
- Atlas D-DC - I don't really enjoy playing this much, but it's easy to get good results in it.

Only you yourself can tell what works for you.

[Atusek]

Johnny Reb, on 26 May 2013 - 11:57 PM, said:

If I had to choose I would go Atlas-D-DC. Stalker is nice but can be a better team player shielding with ecm.

I agree completely, DDC is great brawler too, plus for mastering purposes you can get an RS with 2 PPC 2 ERPPC and gauss to emulate the misery without having to pay MC, .......just don't buy the K. ever.

[JackPoint]

Naimes, on 26 May 2013 - 08:27 PM, said:

So far I have been playing mechwarrior for a little over a month now and it is truly a amazing game however I have hit a bit of a hurdle. I tried all the catapults and found the k2 to be something I truly excelled in. That said I do want to transition to something else eventually. but I literally have no idea what. People in game told me to try the trial mechs but there configurations are sub par and dont present the best that mech has to offer. I have more then enough cbill to fully fit basically any mech on the roster.

So what would be a decent mech to move to?

That's the trouble with trial mechs they don't show the full potential of the chassis, if I was new to this game now and tried a trial mech with its basic loadout I would definitely not buy one. PGI should optimize trial mechs to showcase them.

[Fajther]

So you only own one catapult? Have you considered the C1? It feels completely different. The jump jets. The missiles. It can brawl, poptart, Long range support. You can do worse then three catapults.

[Naimes]

Fajther, on 27 May 2013 - 11:53 AM, said:

So you only own one catapult? Have you considered the C1? It feels completely different. The jump jets. The missiles. It can brawl, poptart, Long range support. You can do worse then three catapults.

I owned all the catapults and chose to master the k2, then I sold the others to make room for another mech set. Personally Im not a collector. I prefer to have 1 or 2 mechs that I am awsome with then 10 or 12 that I dabble with so I will test the next mech set to the maximum and pick the one that meshes with my game personality. That said the reason I didnt like the other cats was I learned at least for mechwarrior online Im not a fan of missle mechanics. Short range missles are ok since there basically like a shotgun but I tend to love ballistic or energy weapons.

Edited by Naimes, 27 May 2013 - 06:15 PM.

[Naimes]

Kyynele, on 27 May 2013 - 01:02 AM, said:

Remember that your mileage WILL wary. I personally love Catapults. They have better torso twist range than any other heavy or assault, which makes them feel really nimble even if they aren't as fast as some others. Most of them also have JJs which helps add to that feel. The chassis also allows perhaps the greatest variety between variants compared to others - if you pick A1, C1 and K2, you most definitely won't feel like you're grinding the same mech 3 times, which you will be feeling on some others.

For Cataphracts and Jagers, expect to die a lot more often than in a Catapult to side torso hits if you plan to run XL engines on them. I found the really really low arm hardpoints on all Cataphracts painful to use, and in general just couldn't enjoy playing them even though I did grind the 3D all the way to master. Jagers were even worse for me.

A Stalker could be like a giant version of your K2, you probably wouldn't need to adjust to much more than it being really slow and, well, clumsy. 3F is the way to go, unfortunately the other Stalkers you will need to play to get to elites will be pretty much the same but worse to play. That being said, Stalkers easily pack so much firepower, you should be able to fit any of them with just DHS, large lasers or PPCs and get tons of kills.

As a fellow Catapult afficienado, I'll list my personal favorites from the other mechs:

You might like lights in general, all but Commandos have as good torso twist as the Catapult. The Champion Jenner currently in trial mechs should have a reasonable loadout, you could try that out and see how you feel about lights.

- Raven 3L - is no longer the OP noobmobile, but remains a good light.
- Raven 4X - well, I enjoyed the max XL engine with 2 PPCs and JJs quite a lot, even though I can't honestly say it's one of the greats.
- Jenner D and F - better firepower than the 3L with JJs and faster speed, no ECM though.
- Spider 5D - Really hard to kill, you'll often be the last one alive. The other Spiders suck so much I can't recommend it, though.

- The X-5 (or Cicada 3M or 2A/2B if you're not going to get MC) - like a light in a medium chassis
- Hunchback 4P and Blackjack 1X - with max medium lasers these tear through enemy mechs. They run extremely hot. Hunchies have good torso twist.
- Yen-Lo-Wang - Fast, AC20, ERLL, harder to kill than you'd think. (MC only)

- Stalker 3F - the other Stalker to get I'd say is 5M for the 5 missile hardpoints and the CT energy hardpoint for serious zombie action. Misery as the 3rd one if spending MC and really liking Stalkers, whatever other one if not.
- Atlas D-DC - I don't really enjoy playing this much, but it's easy to get good results in it.

Only you yourself can tell what works for you.

I'm starting to think my next 3 should be stalkers. Nice transition and they are non humanoid (relativly) which I like. I dont want to buy a misery at cost though as 30 bucks does not sit well with me. I would probably go 3f, 5m, and 5s. Since I tend to master one and sell the others a cash mech is a bit of a risk.

[Kyynele]

Naimes, on 27 May 2013 - 08:40 PM, said:

I'm starting to think my next 3 should be stalkers. Nice transition and they are non humanoid (relativly) which I like. I dont want to buy a misery at cost though as 30 bucks does not sit well with me. I would probably go 3f, 5m, and 5s. Since I tend to master one and sell the others a cash mech is a bit of a risk.

I leveled up my Stalkers before Misery was around, and went with 3F, 5M and 4N. Sold the 4N as soon as I could and kept the other two, since 3F is the most manouverable with all basic hardpoints, and 5M the only with a hardpoint layout that allows builds other variants can't have.

4N has 1 fewer missile hardpoint and only 1 AMS compared to the 5S, but costs 3.5 million less. Unless you really want the 255XL you get with 5S (it is the max engine size for Spiders), or you think that the dual-AMS would make the 5S the Stalker-to-keep for you despite it being otherwise plain inferior to the 3F, I'd consider the cheapo option.

[Sephlock]

Pick a Stalker. They're giant, flightless catapults.

[Naimes]

I did pick a stalker last night and I have to say with many chuckles that Im dying left and right. Im not used to the lack of mobility and Im finding while the stalker does not get cored like a cat can, It basically ops in for everything else to happen to it. I also think I have to give up on brawling with it. My original build simply included a double heat sink upgrade and 6 med lasers set on chain fire with 4 "6 srm" set to fire between vollies. It gets the job doen but I find I die right after killing my intended target.

That said I did install my usual adv seismic sensor and as usual when I am saved by something its usually that little modual. The situaltional awarness it provides helps immensly when ambushing mechs.

Edited by Naimes, 28 May 2013 - 10:04 AM.