10 replies to this topic

[xHDx]

I'm new to this game and have played 3 matches only and have bought my first light weight Mech (Commando Com-1B). After this I went to buy a module to see how the customization works, but i ran into a weight problem's.

Basically I am unable to apply any upgrades because my Mech cannot handle the weight. I just want to know is there any ways to allow me to add more weight such as weapons, upgrades.

[Redshift2k5]

All mechs have a maximum weight capacity.

There are some upgrades you can apply that will give you more weight to work with. These work by replacing your components with lighter replacements; the mech still never weighs more than it's maximum weight.

• XL Engine (Extralight) takes up six additional critical slots (three in each side torso) and replaces a standard engine
  
• Endo-steel structure takes up 14 critical slots (in any location) and gives back weight
  
• Ferro-fibrous takes up 14 critical slots (in any location) and gives back weight (less effective than Endo Steel)
  
• DHS (Double Heatsinks) replace your single 1-slot/1-ton heatsinks with 3-slot/1-ton heatsink which functions at 1.4 times the capacity(with additional heat sinking capacity for DHS within the engine)

None of these options are cheap.


you can also remove current items to change them for different items, for example removing a ton of ammunition allows you to add an additional heatsink, or viceversa. You can never add new equipment without first removing something (or applying one of the weight-saving upgrades listed above) to make weight available for a different item.

Here are the official video tutorials for MWO. Scroll down a bit and you'l see one of them is a mechlab training video.

Edited by Redshift2k5, 03 August 2013 - 07:46 AM.

[EyeDie I]

i dont think modules have weight,you can sacrifice slots and lower your weight by upgrading your stucture to endo steel or armor to ferro fibrous,also where you downloaded the game theres a free day of premium time you can claim then activate(stacks with your cadet bonus)modules are bought with gxp which you wouldnt have enough after 3 matches.

[ShockATC]

xHDx, on 03 August 2013 - 07:20 AM, said:

I'm new to this game and have played 3 matches only and have bought my first light weight Mech (Commando Com-1B). After this I went to buy a module to see how the customization works, but i ran into a weight problem's.

Basically I am unable to apply any upgrades because my Mech cannot handle the weight. I just want to know is there any ways to allow me to add more weight such as weapons, upgrades.

Short answer: NO!

You can not add more "weight" to your mech to put more weapons in it.
Mechs have Tonnage-limit which puts them into classes: Light, Medium, Heavy, Assault
The heavier the mech, the more he can carry.

The only way to put more weapons in to a Mech is to play with the limit. Change the weapons, put more or less armor in the mech and so on.
A good way to get more "Free-Weight" is to purchase a XL - Engine.

Another Tipp: dont play with Light Mechs when you are new, they are hard to play. You should start with a Heavy Mech.

[Divine Decoy]

Actually start with a Hunchback, they cheaper then heavies and jsut as easy to use. Search forms for most guides, pick one you want to try/use you can't go wrong (unless its the Hunch with 2 ballistic slots or the one with 1 HUGE missle rack 4J i think it is). Other wise the rest all play well, don't need much upgrades other then endo steal and a nice standard 250 or 260 engine. All really cheap for new players.

Rest of advice is right. more weapons based on tonnage or less armor or the super expensive and fragile XL

[Hammerhai]

And remember not to spend your cadet bonus which you get for the first 25 games. This will help you buy a nice first mech. So stick with trials and the commando for now, since you have got that.

[Unnatural Growth]

All I'll say is I also started off as a new player playing light mechs. It is harder to successfully pilot a light mech. They are fast, twitchy, hard to aim weapons with, pack very little punch, and their armor is made of tissue paper. The only thing that will keep you alive is SPEED. You must go fast, or die.

You're first hundred games or so will be utter frustration. The map on Tourmaline Desert is littered with destroyed mechs. I believe all of those are MY Jenners!

Lol.

It takes a specific style of play to run one. This may or may not match your play style.

You must use hit and run tactics. Brawling is a huge no-no. Circle around the enemy positions and hit them fast from behind. Just a full speed "drive by", strafe a few mechs on your way past and keep running for cover. Once you are clear of the enemy, find another spot to start your strafing run over again. If you find a lone enemy mech, you can try and engage them by circling behind them and staying in their back while firing.

You can also scout before the main engagement starts. You can also decoy cap the enemy base, to draw enemy mechs away from the battle to give your team's mechs an advantage.

Someone mentioned Hunchbacks, those were the second chassis I elited when I finished Jenners. The medium chassis Hunchback is a great mech. Very stable weapon platform, very serious offensive punch. They are quite slow though, so you must play it accordingly. A brawlers mech imho. Not enough armor to go toe to toe with an assault mech and win. But playing it as a friendly assault mech fire support mech, and staying with your formation of assaults and heavies, you can throw some very serious firepower at whatever enemy mech your team's assaults are engaging.

I kept 2 of mine and swear by them both. The -P with 1 ERLL and 7 ML's, and the -J (yes the -J) with 2 LRM10's and 6 ML's. Both have some long-ish range capability, as well as some serious brawling range firepower. You must carefully watch your heat levels in each one. Dual Heat Sinks are a MUST!

EDIT--

Oops, I typed -G instead of -P, I sold the -G ballistic hardpoint Hunchie.

Edited by OldOrgandonor, 03 August 2013 - 09:40 AM.

[Konril]

xHDx, on 03 August 2013 - 07:20 AM, said:

I'm new to this game and have played 3 matches only and have bought my first light weight Mech (Commando Com-1B). After this I went to buy a module to see how the customization works, but i ran into a weight problem's.

Basically I am unable to apply any upgrades because my Mech cannot handle the weight. I just want to know is there any ways to allow me to add more weight such as weapons, upgrades.

I think I can understand what you are experiencing.

The fact is, each mech has a weight limit that defines how much of a capacity it has and how the engine affects it's speed and handling. Freshly purchased "stock" mechs come pre-loaded with equipment that uses all of that weight. But rarely in the most efficient way. Usually to free up weight to add stuff you need to remove other stuff first. For example, if you pull the large laser and medium laser out, you can put 3 medium pulse lasers into the place where they used to be. Another example is that you can pull the SRM2 and the ammo out and put in more heat sinks to manage the heat produced by the lasers. (Although honestly, you probably want to invest in a Double Heat Sink upgrade first.)

There are a couple of options to make more available weight at the sacrifice of space and C-bills. 10% of a mechs weight is the mech's structure. With an Endo-steel upgrade, the weight of that structure is cut in half (rounded up to the nearest 0.5, though). So you can free up 1 ton in your Commando by upgrading the structure to endo-steel. Ferro Fibrous armor effectively reduces the armor weight by about 10%. That isn't much on a Commando, but could probably allow you to put more armor on.

Finally there is the XL engine. XL technology cuts the weight of the engine almost in half, but at the expense of a lot of C-bills and having your engine occupy space in both the side torsos as well as the center torso. You can survive the loss of the side torso with a standard engine, but not an XL engine. For the Commando that makes for an interesting choice. The lighter engine weight allows you to pull the standard 150 (and two heat sinks) and replace it with an XL 210 (which gets you two heat sinks back in the engine). That will allow you to be much faster than the stock model without really sacrificing anything. Although if you replaced it with an XL 150, that would save you 2.5 tons to do whatever you like with. (But if you aren't aiming for maximum speed, you probably needed to save up for a medium or heavy mech to begin with.)

Does this make sense?

[mailin]

Also not that you can't add anything without taking something off your mech first. Additionally, I don't know which module you were trying to get, but I strongly suggest you not spend any real money on this game until you figure out a little bit more exactly what you're spending it on. (Although premium time and extra mech bays are never a bad idea.)

[oldradagast]

Also, Double Heatsinks improve almost every build in the game. Unfortunately, the current explanation for how they work is pretty bad (unless they changed it recently - I haven't checked.) It's something like "Takes up 3 slots and grants 1.4 times the cooling of a single heatsink."

That's all true, but what they forget to mention is that all engines come with internal heatsinks (smallest engine has about 6 or so, largest can have over 10), and when you upgrade to double heatsinks, all those ones internal to the engine get upgraded to twice the cooling ability. This takes up no extra space and doesn't weigh any more, so it's a huge boost in cooling ability. Many new players won't be aware of this huge advantage unless they play around with an online Mech lab and toggle the mech they are building from single to double heatsinks and then see the huge improvement in cooling.

[Bront]

Building a mech is about tradeoffs. Usually that's trading something that takes weight for something else that takes weight, but it's not always that simple.

Double Heat Sinks take more critical space, but cool better, which usually results in needing less of them, saving some tonnage (and possibly space, but not always)

Endo-Steel internals save you some tonnage (5% of your mech's total tonnage, rounded down to the nearest half-ton) at the cost of 14 internal spaces.

An XL engine is lighter, but bigger Internally.

Weapons weight different ammounts, some require ammo and all generate heat (though some less so than others). You can usually swap them to suit your needs.

oldradagast, on 04 August 2013 - 06:15 AM, said:

Also, Double Heatsinks improve almost every build in the game. Unfortunately, the current explanation for how they work is pretty bad (unless they changed it recently - I haven't checked.) It's something like "Takes up 3 slots and grants 1.4 times the cooling of a single heatsink."

That's all true, but what they forget to mention is that all engines come with internal heatsinks (smallest engine has about 6 or so, largest can have over 10), and when you upgrade to double heatsinks, all those ones internal to the engine get upgraded to twice the cooling ability. This takes up no extra space and doesn't weigh any more, so it's a huge boost in cooling ability. Many new players won't be aware of this huge advantage unless they play around with an online Mech lab and toggle the mech they are building from single to double heatsinks and then see the huge improvement in cooling.

An engine can hold 1 HS internally per 25 rating points, and "comes" with up to 10 of them "free" (they're factored into the weight of the engine, so don't cost additional tonnage).

So, if you have a 150, it comes with 6 heatsinks already built in. A mech needs 10, so you'll need to mount 4 more. Meanwhile, a 300 engine comes with 10 heatsinks, but you can mount 2 more in the engine that take up no additional space. The extra heatsinks still cost additional tonnage, but the first 10 are already factored into the engine's weight.