155 replies to this topic

[Bishop113]

It's as if you're actively trying to deter me from buying an Atlas..but it won't work!

[Lan]

Bishop113, on 11 June 2013 - 05:14 AM, said:

I had to read it, it just looked so juicy!

I understand it'll be a spendy endeavor but that's alright, I have time

So what are the differences between each chassis and which would be best suited for mid range combat?

Thanks, the guide isn't anywhere near done. Three long sections of text to go, polishing all over and I'm planning to do some videos if I can find the time.

The best medium range? Probably the RS with four large lasers and a AC20. I am quite fond of my D-7 with three large lasers, ac20 and two LRM15 though.

All of the chassis can perform midrange, it's mostly about optimising a good build for med range (200-700m) Which is probably large lasers and ac20 (or a ballistic combo).

The D-DC can do a real nasty version with 2 LLAS, 2 UAC5 and a tripple SRM for example. It has the added benefit of ECM, radar invisibility is handy but not as important now that counters are in play (BAP, uav, tag).

[Bishop113]

scJazz, on 11 June 2013 - 05:25 AM, said:

.....

I don't know that I'm going to purchase MC, if I do I wouldn't want to purchase the Jenner or Cicada hero mechs, I've tried lights a plenty and they are neat for a minute but not the type of gameplay I want. And according to you it would be cheaper to use MC to buy the Atlas with said configuration than to buy the two light mechs.

[Lan]

Jazz, XL engines in Atlas? In the brawlers, never. In the long range, maybe but still very hesitant. Bullet magnets don't need to make themselves vulnerable, imho.

Is weight really a issue in your builds? I have yet to find a build that requires XL, which can't be solved by Endo steel.

But that's only me of course.

Edited by Lan, 11 June 2013 - 05:51 AM.

[scJazz]

Bishop113, on 11 June 2013 - 05:45 AM, said:

I don't know that I'm going to purchase MC, if I do I wouldn't want to purchase the Jenner or Cicada hero mechs, I've tried lights a plenty and they are neat for a minute but not the type of gameplay I want. And according to you it would be cheaper to use MC to buy the Atlas with said configuration than to buy the two light mechs.

Balance... you could go and spend lots of $$$, or you could just grind it, or use the above for something in between. Just note and this is really the main part... the JR7-F(C) at 1450 MC = 2.45m worth of XL Engine. The X-5 is 5.4m worth of not having to grind for that XL325. Plus it includes two mechs you don't like now but might like later. Mech bays to put it all in and leaves you some extra MC for stuff if you spend $30.

[Bishop113]

Lan, on 11 June 2013 - 05:36 AM, said:

Thanks, the guide isn't anywhere near done. Three long sections of text to go, polishing all over and I'm planning to do some videos if I can find the time.

The best medium range? Probably the RS with four large lasers and a AC20. I am quite fond of my D-7 with three large lasers, ac20 and two LRM15 though.

All of the chassis can perform midrange, it's mostly about optimising a good build for med range (200-700m) Which is probably large lasers and ac20 (or a ballistic combo).

The D-DC can do a real nasty version with 2 LLAS, 2 UAC5 and a tripple SRM for example. It has the added benefit of ECM, radar invisibility is handy but not as important now that counters are in play (BAP, uav, tag).

I look forward to the rest of the guide!

I'm liking the AC20 on my Hunchback a lot so four lasers and an Ac20 sounds fun, although UAC's are also super fun to use!

Question, when alpha striking is there any benefit to it besides all your weapon damage at once? For example does the damage get amplified in some way when everything is pounding together?

[scJazz]

Lan, on 11 June 2013 - 05:49 AM, said:

Jazz, XL engines in Atlas? In the brawlers, never. In the long range, maybe but still very hesitant. Bullet magnets don't need to make themselves vulnerable, imho.

Is weight really a issue in your builds? I have yet to find a build that requires XL, which can't be solved by Endo steel.

But that's only me of course.

Some builds use them... I'm no Atlas master but just glancing at http://www.mechspecs...ay.php?22-Atlas shows them. Heck don't use the X-5 for the XL Engine at all.

[scJazz]

Bishop113, on 11 June 2013 - 05:53 AM, said:

I look forward to the rest of the guide!

I'm liking the AC20 on my Hunchback a lot so four lasers and an Ac20 sounds fun, although UAC's are also super fun to use!

Question, when alpha striking is there any benefit to it besides all your weapon damage at once? For example does the damage get amplified in some way when everything is pounding together?

The benefit right now is that all your weapons will hit the same spot on the target. Two of your Alpha Strikes to my overly gigantic CT will kill me. Firing chain or two groups means at best I'm torso twisting damage away. At worst and most likely... I just charged you shot you in the face and jump spun over your head and am preparing to rattle your cage.

[Lan]

Like Jazz said, it's all about hammering one section of the enemy and taking it out. A alpha with mixed weapons can be problematic, ballistics have travel time but damage is pinpoint, lasers deliver damage over duration (about 1sec) but is very exact if you can maintain focus on one part. Missiles spread and depending on your mechs setup (# missile ports and # of lrm racks) take time to reach the target.

I alpha strike mostly when I am head on with near static targets. If you have a mixed loadout, the targeting and lead will be different.

[Flak Kannon]

H Bishop,

I know I am late to the party with a response, but here goes.

First off.

1:1 kill to death isnt terrible.

You only have 160 matches played. This game really requires a bit more investment in actual drops to see a tangible increase in effectiveness.

I mean, how many mechs do you have the 2X basic efficeicnes, plus elite, plus extra module slot unlocked for?

The reason I ask is that a large number of people who are whooping up on you have all the bells and whistles unlocked and have all the modules needed to have that slight edge. And that slight edge is can be the difference between you getting knocked out and not during a match.


If you like the game, stick with it, invest the little time you have, and be patient. You will continue to be a disadvantage against all those who have 2000-3000 or more drops and have all the bells and whistles unlocked.

That's just the sad truth.

Get your Basic X2 unlocked, elite unlocked, and mastery unlocked on the Mech chasis you love, and then invest modules in every available slot. Then and only then will you be more than average on the battlefield.

Good tactics help, but look at it this way.... One Sherman tank verse one Panther Tank is the equivalent of you going head to head with a mech that is just a little better than you in the same weight class because of unlocks. It's not the pilot, it's often that little edge the other pilot has due to equipment.

That is my anecdotal observation after 2000+ combat drops.

[Bishop113]

So once you unlock all the mastery stuff for a mech do you have to keep all three or whatever chassis in your mechbay to keep those unlocks?

[Bishop Steiner]

trial assaults are about as bad as you get as their low speed is excerbated by being unable to unlock pilot tree efficiencies to help it turn and such. The Trial RS simple can't turn to keep up with ANYTHING.

Would recommend if you use a trial, the Hunchy, but to save up for either a good Centurion or Jagermech or Catapult.

[Flak Kannon]

Bishop113, on 11 June 2013 - 04:01 PM, said:

So once you unlock all the mastery stuff for a mech do you have to keep all three or whatever chassis in your mechbay to keep those unlocks?

No.

Once you have unlocked Mastery on a mech, you can sell that mech, just be sure to strip it of what ever equipment and modules you may want to re-purpose.

But if you re-buy that mech chasis, you will have those unlocks already there waiting.

Do you understand how the mech EXP tree works?

You need to unlock all the basic efficeinces on 3 mechs of the same type ( 3 different Cataphracts for example) to gain access to the elite tree. You need to unlock those all those elites to get access to Mastery. Each tree is 21,500 exp for basic and 21,500 for elite.
Mastery is a nice perk, but really Basic X2 and Elite will be the real game changers.

Modules first need to be BOUGHT for unlock, then individually purchased outright.. it's like a double unlock for modules. But once you unlock, say Seismic Sensor, it's unlocked forever for all variants that are able to equip it. You just then need to 'buy' the module for the mech, that can be moved around like a PPC or an engine. You can buy multiple seismic senors, but you only need to unlock it once.

And I am stoked as I just started reading all the post from the beginning, that your first mech is a Cataphract 4X, which was also my first mech.

FYI, it is the hardest Catapharct to learn, but once you do, all the others Cataphracts will be much easier. The 3D is the best with Dual UAC5's and 4 ML's....my opinion.

My name is Flak Kannon in game, feel free to friend me.

[Lyoto Machida]

bishop, on 09 June 2013 - 06:48 PM, said:

Hey guys, I made a thread quite a while ago asking for help and pointers and was greeted with a lot of helpful advice, that was several months ago. I don't play MWO on a regular basis but I do occasionally get into it and play several matches a day for a short period of time, but I'm still having a really hard time enjoying the time I spend with MWO.

Most of my problem right now seems to center around my ping, it's always above 150, every single match I've played the last two days I've had 150 ping. I don't know if this high ping is going to cause major problems for me or if I really am just a horrible player but I've been running the trial atlas in every match and I just get destroyed every time.

Now I am trying to use the tips I've gotten before, I try to turn to plant enemy shots on different parts of my armor and such, I try to focus all my fire on one point on my enemy but nothing seems to do any significant damage ever. I recall a match I played a few hours ago, I walked over a hill, took one barrage of LRM's from a single mech, walked around some more, and the next barrage from that same mech instantly killed my Atlas. I don't know about you but I would think a giant slow armored beast would last longer than two rounds of missiles.

At any rate, I can't tell anymore if the game is just a sorry mess or if I'm still horrible at it, my damage count at the end of every round is always very low, my death and loss rate are both very high. It just doesn't feel like any amount of skill or accuracy plays any role in this game, it all feels random to me.

Looking at my profile my stats are abysmal in my opinion, 70/90 win loss ratio, 1:1 Kill death ratio.

I don't know, this is just really frustrating, not having bot matches, a single player or at the very least a game mode with respawns and repairing, every match is just me walking, fighting for 5 minutes and then watching as everyone else plays when I get my *** handed to me. I stick with my team as best as possible, I focus fire as best as I can and my end result is always disappointing.

Bishop113, on 11 June 2013 - 04:01 PM, said:

So once you unlock all the mastery stuff for a mech do you have to keep all three or whatever chassis in your mechbay to keep those unlocks?

Not sure if you have two accounts or what but 1.1 KDR is not bad for a new player at all. If you wanna jump on the 9th Sword Teamspeak server, I'd be happy to run Atlases with you. Have 3 mastered and put in hundreds (maybe a couple thousand) of games in them since Closed Beta. The only thing better than one Atlas is two Atlases...

[Bishop113]

Awesome thanks for the info.

I will add you shortly, I am using a hunchback now though because I swapped accounts to get the cadet bonus so fresh start!

[Buckminster]

I just want to throw this out there - thanks for sticking with it. The new guy experience is pretty rough, and we (and PGI) need all of the good feedback that we can get so that we can make this a good game.

[Bishop113]

Yes I made a second account.

My K/D is fine now on the new account, 1.67 at the moment. 1.1 is just not acceptable to me, I guess I hold my game playing standards high but it's mostly just about the gameplay being enjoyable, for me if I am dying for every kill I get that is not very fun so I like to have a high K/D just for that reason alone.

[Bishop113]

Buckminster, on 11 June 2013 - 05:02 PM, said:

I just want to throw this out there - thanks for sticking with it. The new guy experience is pretty rough, and we (and PGI) need all of the good feedback that we can get so that we can make this a good game.

It's very easy to stick with it with such a kind community

I think PGI is doing a pretty good job with this game, I am a mechwarrior fan starting with MW3 so my wanting to gut it out with this game despite doing poorly is mostly a thirst for mech action that isn't satisfied in today's market.

I would still like a single player or coop vs bots mode, I think there's something to be said for allowing players to group up with buddies casually and lay waste to some bots without having to focus your build around being competitive and getting stomped until you learn each mech and stuff so I do hope they introduce bots in the future.

[Joker Two]

bishop, on 09 June 2013 - 06:48 PM, said:

Looking at my profile my stats are abysmal in my opinion, 70/90 win loss ratio, 1:1 Kill death ratio.

I don't know, this is just really frustrating, not having bot matches, a single player or at the very least a game mode with respawns and repairing, every match is just me walking, fighting for 5 minutes and then watching as everyone else plays when I get my *** handed to me. I stick with my team as best as possible, I focus fire as best as I can and my end result is always disappointing.

One thing to keep in mind is that without an option to fight bots, a 1:1 kill ratio is not bad at all, and neither is a slightly lower than 1:1 win/loss ratio. In fact, with ELO, the game will pit you against better and better opponents until you are playing people of approximately equal skill. If you approach MWO as more of a simulation than a shooter-style game, I find it makes all but the worst losses more palatable.

[Bishop113]

I absolutely agree! As long as I'm getting some assists and not dying for stupid reasons(dying instantly in the first 3 minutes) I enjoy this game more than any typical shooter, I've also played Hawken and that game is not fun at all unless I'm kicking ***, so I quit that instantly lol.