24 replies to this topic

[Vasily Krasnaya Smert Rasputin]

OK, firstly.... am brand new, first day playing. But BOY do those trial mechs suck! The Spider has no guns, the Hunchback is OK, but way too hot, and the other two move like a sloth stuck in mollasses in the middle of a siberian winter!

So, I used to play TT, and the Vistor was my favorite mech. SO I know I want one, when they are availible, so I don't want to spend all my new person money right away, but I do want a decent, mobile mech that doesn't utterly suck, that isn't crazy expensive.

Suggestions, please?

(probably in wrong forum, but there are way too many to choose from on here!)

[Spheroid]

Blackjack is good if you mod it. The stock Trebuchet is only 4 million.

Edited by Spheroid, 05 June 2013 - 11:35 AM.

[Stokes52]

Buy a Centurion CN9-A. It's got at least one of every hardpoint, it's easily one of the most survivable mechs in the game, it's a helluva lotta fun, and it's got the price tag of a medium mech.

EDIT: It also has a very similar hardpoint loadout to the victor: ballistic arm, left torso missiles. The only difference is the two lasers on the left arm get put into the CT, which is actually kind of nice because you can use your left arm to block incoming shots in the Centurion.

Edited by Stokes52, 05 June 2013 - 11:33 AM.

[Vasily Krasnaya Smert Rasputin]

Stokes52, on 05 June 2013 - 11:31 AM, said:

Buy a Centurion CN9-A. It's got at least one of every hardpoint, it's easily one of the most survivable mechs in the game, it's a helluva lotta fun, and it's got the price tag of a medium mech. EDIT: It also has a very similar hardpoint loadout to the victor: ballistic arm, left torso missiles. The only difference is the two lasers on the left arm get put into the CT, which is actually kind of nice because you can use your left arm to block incoming shots in the Centurion.

well, ok, but I gott aadmit, I also dunno what I think about missiles. Every volley i put in the air seems to do little damage with LRMS, and my SRMS hit like confetti. What loadout would you recommend running?

[Xeno Phalcon]

Streak SRMs are pretty powerful due to their ability to pretty much always hit the CT, so even though they aint doing much they are hitting where it counts. Im a growing fan of the blackjack, but if you prefer frontline/brawling work I would go for the Centurion. Both have pretty cheap options (most of the blackjacks cost around 3.2M while tribuchet only has a few in the price range, and a couple are as much as some heavies.)

[Bishop Steiner]

CN9-A is good, though a lot of the mediums are kinda slow.

IMO BJs NEED DHS and XLs to really shine, at least the 1X. I am still tinkering with the 1 and 3.
Hunchies..... man they are the red headed stepchildren of MWO right now... damn waste of some of Alex's best art, too.
Trebs are OK but huge targets with kinda crappy torso twist. Even less attractive now that Poptarting took a hit (thank goodness)
The Cicada works real well for some players, but again seem to need serious investment to reach their potential.

A Jenner, Raven 3L, Cn9-A, CN9-AL, DRG-1C would probably be the ones I would look at, but all will need SOME investment to really be competitive.

[GroovYChickeN]

Stokes52, on 05 June 2013 - 11:31 AM, said:

Buy a Centurion CN9-A. It's got at least one of every hardpoint, it's easily one of the most survivable mechs in the game, it's a helluva lotta fun, and it's got the price tag of a medium mech.

EDIT: It also has a very similar hardpoint loadout to the victor: ballistic arm, left torso missiles. The only difference is the two lasers on the left arm get put into the CT, which is actually kind of nice because you can use your left arm to block incoming shots in the Centurion.

I second this

[Vasily Krasnaya Smert Rasputin]

Xeno Phalcon, on 05 June 2013 - 11:41 AM, said:

Streak SRMs are pretty powerful due to their ability to pretty much always hit the CT, so even though they aint doing much they are hitting where it counts. Im a growing fan of the blackjack, but if you prefer frontline/brawling work I would go for the Centurion. Both have pretty cheap options (most of the blackjacks cost around 3.2M while tribuchet only has a few in the price range, and a couple are as much as some heavies.)

how is the Hunchback with the AC/10 and 4 medium lasers?
I notice none of the BJs seem to have missiles (didn't the 3050 one have streaks and large lasers?), but the basic armamaent seems ok, and it has JJ on the BJ-1.

Kinda leaning toward BJ-1. CN9-A or HBK-4H. Wish they had the 4N version availible.

[zraven7]

I'd have to say an hunchback, either the 4h, 4j, or 4p. Primary reason being that they are solid mechs even with they're stock engine in, which will save you a lotta money. They are good for support, and flanking, and they supoprt some varied and effective weapon combinations. They'll likely simply cost you less money to play effectively than most other models.

Edited by zraven7, 05 June 2013 - 11:45 AM.

[Stokes52]

You have two options for using up the missile slots. Either, 1) Run Artemis, which is more expensive but is what I prefer, or just put on 3x Streak SRMs. Streak SRMs can 'lock on' making aiming much easier, and you can fit three of them on the CN9-A. The reason I like Artemis with SRMs is it greatly decreases spread, meaning you can target individual mech parts, even at the max 270 range. You can do the same thing with SSRMs, but with Artemis you can fire more missiles per ton, meaning more damage (if you can aim!)

Since engines are expensive, you'll probably be playing with the standard engine. In that case, here's something I'd play with if I wanted to do Artemis:

CN9-A Artemis

For the extra budget build, I'd go for this:

CN9-A SSRMs

If you decide to put a little more money into your Centurion, I'd invest in an engine around the 250 rating.

Note that both of the above builds utilize double heatsinks. Double heatsinks are basically a must on any competative mech, but it does cost 1.5mil Cbills. You could technically run any of these builds without them, and I'd encourage you to play a bit without it just for kicks, but to really be competitive you're going to want to fork out the extra dough.

[heleqin]

Stokes52, on 05 June 2013 - 11:31 AM, said:

Buy a Centurion CN9-A. It's got at least one of every hardpoint, it's easily one of the most survivable mechs in the game, it's a helluva lotta fun, and it's got the price tag of a medium mech.

EDIT: It also has a very similar hardpoint loadout to the victor: ballistic arm, left torso missiles. The only difference is the two lasers on the left arm get put into the CT, which is actually kind of nice because you can use your left arm to block incoming shots in the Centurion.

this. the Cent A is hands down the best medium mech for starting out. i started out in hunchbacks, which are great, but they're a lot less forgiving than the Centurions. Load it out with 2 Mlas, 3 streaks an engine sized at 250 or above, and then the ballistic of your choice, i run an ac10 with an XL260 engine, but an AC2 or 5 with a STD250 is great as well.

the Cent AL is good also if you prefer energy weapons over ballistics, it takes the Flavor of the month ER PPC easily (2 even).

[SgtMagor]

got my YLW on sale otherwise I would recommend that, Jagermech, Jenner, Spider, Black Jack, there a good amount of mechs you can get on the cheap. you just need to decide what mech will satisfy your play style (role) in game.

[Odnir]

If cheap is what you want, a Hunchback or a Centurion is the way to go. Even considering the fact that SRMs aren't what they once were, the HBK-4SP is both newbie-friendly and gets better as your skills improve. And the CN9-A is uber-tough when you twist a lot, which of course means it's a great mech for practicing torso twisting. Hunchbacks and Centurions are also mechs where any new engines you buy will be the cheaper standard engine, not ultra-expensive XL engines.

Light mechs in general are never as cheap as they seem. You'll buy an XL engine that costs millions, plus DHS, and all kinds of other upgrades, in order to make them perform the best they can, and even though the sticker price is pretty low, in the end you'll have paid much more than if you just buy a Centurion or Hunchback.

Edited by Odnir, 05 June 2013 - 12:12 PM.

[One Medic Army]

Centurion A or AL are both good.
Hunchback P and SP are also good, H tends to get de-hunch'd pretty quickly, and lacks the firepower of the hunch-P.
Blackjacks look interesting, haven't tried them yet myself.
I'd go for one of the jumping blackjacks, the fast blackjack, or one of the above mentioned centurions or hunchbacks.

Couple of customization "rules" for MWO:
Always upgrade to double heatsinks. Always, it is never a bad idea.
In pretty much everything except for assault mechs you should plan on using endosteel as well.
Up-engine the crap out of whatever you're driving, speed is life.
If your side torsos aren't getting blown off in a given mech, it might be worth investing in an XL engine. Centurions and hunchbacks you should probably plan on a standard though, as well as with most assault mechs.
Maximum armor, be careful where you shave it off.

Try out http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/ for planning builds.
It will also help you figure out the true cost of a build when including new weapons, upgrades, new engine. Since you're new I'd suggest aiming for a heat efficiency (on smurfy) of about 50-60%, most of mine run in the low 40s.

Edited by One Medic Army, 05 June 2013 - 12:18 PM.

[jakucha]

Centurions are nice, they can survive for quite a while.

[Fajther]

Welcome!!!! Please allow me to put in my bid for the hunchback sp. I love it so much. I used the stock version of it all the way through the basic skill three, but that was a while ago. For a while i ran it with two larger lasers and two ssrm2. That was nice to. I think that in the current meta that might be the best. Tag and lrm15's was fun too.

I agree with the previous poster about double heat sinks almost always being good, and putting in as big an engine as you can. 10 more kph makes a big difference, 30 more kph is huge!!! These are expensive things.

Unfortunately I have to agree with another previous post about playing a mech with similar hard points to the one you want to buy so you can get good at it. Cn9a might be the better choice.

[Vodrin Thales]

SgtMagor, on 05 June 2013 - 12:10 PM, said:

got my YLW on sale otherwise I would recommend that, Jagermech, Jenner, Spider, Black Jack, there a good amount of mechs you can get on the cheap. you just need to decide what mech will satisfy your play style (role) in game.

Yen-Low is not a good starter mech. Can be quite strong in the right pilots hands, but it takes knowing how to torso twist properly and position yourself well to protect the gun arm. I would not recommend that mech to him. Cent A, AL are much better choices.

[Xeren KelDar]

Centurion, Hunchback, Catapult, and Cataphract all have similar movement profiles stock. The Cataphract 4X (current trial) is the slowest Cataphract of them all. The Cataphract 1X, 2X, and 3D all do 64.8 kph which is the same speed as the stock Hunchback 4P. I'd probably reccomend the Centurion A or AL, or the Hunchback 4SP for starters. The Centurion CN9-A probably has the best synergy for Victor training as it has all 3 weapons types and only lacks jump jets.

[Bishop Steiner]

a BJ 1 is not that much weaker than a Centy. And I say this as a guy who loves his Centys and Hunches. Seriously, we are talking about .5 ton of armor difference, MAYBE a full ton. Most people shave that much off their mechs legs anyhow. I find the myth of the BJs fragility highly overstated. (Like many myths propagated on these forums).

The Knock? no missiles. Well, unless they get hardpoint happy, missiles are the tertiary weapon system on a Vic anyhow. Whoopdty Do, an SRM4.

BUT, the BJ-1 CAN mount an AC/20, and the Mediums, AND Jump Jets, for scarcely less armor than a Centy.
The Centy on the other hand mounts a lighter AC (or a Gauss) and no JJs, but can pack the Missiles.

So what aspect do you feel is more important, emulating the hardpoints, or emulating the fighting style? The BJ-1 is going to be better for the latter.

[Corvus Antaka]

Hunchback for mediums. The AC/20 hunchback is a monster if you're a good pilot. The other hunchies all hit nice and hard. Good zombie mech too, though not quite as good as the centurion. For mediums the phract is a solid all round choice, and the Catapult is also an incredible mech all the variants depending on your style.

Edited by Colonel Pada Vinson, 05 June 2013 - 03:06 PM.