53 replies to this topic

[Pumpkin Spice Templar]

I guess that makes sense with the heat sinks. Ballistics are still more fun than lasers, though What is the most damaging ballistics weapon? And now that I know about slots, I'm suddenly looking at the Mechs in a whole different light. I'm even considering the Catapult A-1 with all those missile slots. So far I've seen the most damage done with Missiles, and I know from experience the terror of incoming LRMs. EDIT: Scratch that. That catapult is the trial mech. I think I want something else.

Edited by Xanzikron, 08 August 2013 - 07:49 PM.

[Royalewithcheese]

Ballistics-wise, I'd say the top 3 are:

AC/20: This hits for 20, making it one of the most damaging per shot weapons in the game. It's really reliable, doesn't break easily, and hits hard (there's a little damage drop-off after 270) out to about 500 meters. You can fit two of these onto a Jagermech or a Catapult K2, which is a really powerful short-range set up. If you end up running this, group-firing them will generate extra heat (but hits hard enough to one-shot anything you hit in the cockpit) and chain-firing them will be very heat-efficient, which is worth keeping in mind. My personal favorite weapon.

UAC/5: This does insane damage, but has a chance of jamming for 5 seconds. Here's how they work: you can fire them every 1.1 seconds without jamming, but during that reload time you can get another shot in with a chance of jamming the gun. It's somewhat unreliable and it requires you to stay aimed at your enemy (letting them hit you back) but the damage is so absurd that a lot of people (myself included) run it anyway on some builds.

Gauss: This hits for less than than the other two, but it generates basically no heat. This makes it amazing when paired with PPCs, and some of the strongest builds in the game run a Gauss alongside two PPCs or ERPPCs. It's easy to destroy once your armor's gone and explodes when destroyed, so it's a good idea to avoid putting it in the same compartment as an XL Engine or other things you don't want to lose.

[Bishop Steiner]

Xanzikron, on 08 August 2013 - 07:43 PM, said:

I guess that makes sense with the heat sinks. Ballistics are still more fun than lasers, though What is the most damaging ballistics weapon? And now that I know about slots, I'm suddenly looking at the Mechs in a whole different light. I'm even considering the Catapult A-1 with all those missile slots. So far I've seen the most damage done with Missiles, and I know from experience the terror of incoming LRMs. EDIT: Scratch that. That catapult is the trial mech. I think I want something else.

cats get killed easy if they ar eexposed.

Ac2s and 5 do very high DPS, becuase they cycle fast. The AC20 and Gauss fire a lot slower, but hit like hammers with pinpoint insta damage

[Airu]

^ I love the reaction of enemy assaults when I fire ac20 from my raven 4x while they are ignoring me in favor of heavier mechs
one of my most favorite weapons in the game

[One Medic Army]

As nobody's mentioned it yet:

You can use this website to test out builds to see if they fit, it will also tell you how many cbills it will cost.

I suggest building a few mechs on there to see how the process goes.

Some rules:

• Always upgrade to Double Heatsinks
  
• If you have the space, always use Endo-Steel before Ferro-Fibrous
  
• Ammo is best stored in the head/legs or any other section that hardly ever loses armor before you die.
  
• I generally aim for ~30-40% heat efficiency, since you're new I'd aim for 50% or so until you get the hang of heat managment.

[BarHaid]

Something else to consider; lower arm actuators. How have you fared in mechs with full arms vs stubbies? I have found that I really need the full traverse of fire that the lower arm actuator gives. It's a very different play style in my book.

[Risko Vinsheen]

Though I started with my four Founders mechs I switched to the Centurions as soon as I could and they defined my love of Medium mechs. I started with the CN9-D but quickly swapped out the XL engine for a Standard and did some other tweaks to it to make it work. I also bought the Yen-Lo-Wang (my go-to mech if I get tired of everything else) and the CN9-AL (which has quite a bit of flexibility for builds considering it has minimal ammo requirements). So far the Centurions are the only mechs I've completed all the Elites on and I've even Mastered YLW.

Put a couple Medium Lasers or Medium Pulses in the center torso with a standard engine and then do whatever you want with the rest of the mech you'll be fighting until the bitter end. Just learn to use that shield arm and torso twist to spread your damage across your mech instead of letting them focus fire on one thing and you're golden. Good speed for its size, variety in weapons, and decent armor mean the Centurion's pretty well balanced in all aspects, though it's not the greatest in any one thing. I'd recommend it as a good starting mech for someone just getting into the game.

[BarHaid]

Listen to Risko. Cents are the bomb!

[Ingvay]

Cataphract 3D or Victor 9K would be good choices. Can't really go wrong with a Centurion either...hard to kill. Lots of good advice on the thread though....

Edited by Ingvay, 08 August 2013 - 09:50 PM.

[TexAce]

Cataphracts are good allrounders, Jägermechs are high risk, high return mechs, Cents are no good choice for beginners, Victors also very versatile and have JJs, Cats are always good at one thing at a time (could get boring after a while), Awesomes are only for the dedicated players and hard to master, Stalkers are slow and cumbersome but devastating, Highlanders are pretty good alltogether, Atlas are king of the hill but sloooow (never put XL in those).

Remember whatever you buy, put Double Heatsinks into it. Endo is a must for every heavy, and usually a must for every Assault (except its a hot build, then its better to use the slots for more Double Heatsinks).

If you like Dakka (meaning big and many ballistics) I'd go with Vics, Cataphracts, Jägers (S or A at first, then DD at last) or Highlanders. Don't underestimate JJs.

Use smurfy to test your builds before you buy anything.

Edited by TexAss, 09 August 2013 - 01:15 AM.

[mack sabbath]

If you like to brawl, you can't go wrong with the mech I'm running, it's a beast!

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...c8c138031e911d3

Cataphract 1X

[blacklp]

Cataphract 3D, imo, is probably the most well rounded mech in the game at the moment.

[Escef]

Die Primate Die, on 09 August 2013 - 04:12 AM, said:

If you like to brawl, you can't go wrong with the mech I'm running, it's a beast!

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...c8c138031e911d3

Cataphract 1X

Unfortunately, I've found brawling to be a dicey proposition since 12 vs. 12 came out. If you want to brawl you need a lot of patience, otherwise you can easily find yourself outnumbered 4 or 5 to 1. Before 12 vs. 12 you could occasionally find a pair of stragglers and pick one off and frighten the other away.

[LowSubmarino]

For somebody completly new to the game I would not recommend the centurion at all nor a brawler heavy build.

The centurion requires experience to play effectively as aiming isn't as easy as with other mechs. Initially you will also wonder as to what role you fill with that mech. Trying to take other heavies or assaults head on is a bad idea and skirmishing requires intimate map knowledge and constant proximity to the main group.

That said you should always stick to the main group.

For a first mech I can recommend the stalker 3f. You can peek around corners or over ridges really well in that mech and it can even take concentrated fire for a few seconds and is thus forgiving in terms of small positional mistakes.

If I were you I would simply choose a sturdy mech like the stalker for the first mech, equip it either with lrms or a few ppcs (as main weapons) and stick to the main force peeking out of cover and shooting happily away.

That way you will get to know the feel of the game, the mechs, the weapons and the maps while prolly staying alive till the mid or endgame. With those loadouts it is also easy to get a few kills here and there and doing decent dmg from safe distances.

The victor or centurion are not that easy to play effectively and you need to get a lot closer to the action.

[Risko Vinsheen]

blacklp, on 09 August 2013 - 05:22 AM, said:

Cataphract 3D, imo, is probably the most well rounded mech in the game at the moment.

Of all the mechs I own the Cataphract 3D would be the least likely mech for me to recommend to someone. I've had that mech since it was in a Trial By Fire sale and have yet to find a build I can tolerate and do well in. I've repeatedly come close to just selling it but have held on to the hope that I can find something to do with it someday because everyone seems to think it's so great.

Guess this is just proof of 'different strokes for different blokes'.

[zraven7]

Ran a thread about this exact topic a lil bit back, should still be relevant.

http://mwomercs.com/...__fromsearch__1

Enjoy!

[BarHaid]

You know what? I'm going to take the opposite tack here. Buy a Commando for your first. It will be a brutal lesson in "How Not To Get Hit". You will die many many many many times. But your situational awareness will become honed to a keen edge. You will develop a powerful to hit-and-run ability as well as the knowledge of the best position to stand behind an Assault (for defense as well as attack).

Also, if you find the chassis to be intolerable, you will still have mega C-bills left over to buy something bigger!

[zraven7]

BarHaid, on 09 August 2013 - 08:24 AM, said:

You know what? I'm going to take the opposite tack here. Buy a Commando for your first. It will be a brutal lesson in "How Not To Get Hit". You will die many many many many times. But your situational awareness will become honed to a keen edge. You will develop a powerful to hit-and-run ability as well as the knowledge of the best position to stand behind an Assault (for defense as well as attack).

Also, if you find the chassis to be intolerable, you will still have mega C-bills left over to buy something bigger!

I've always thought a Commando was a good starting mech, because they are inexpensive and have decent weapon hardpoints. Really good Commando pilots still scare me.

[WildeKarde]

I don't think I'd recommend an assault as a first mech, I'd be inclined to agree with a cataphract as a good choice. Whatever you choose remember to include 1.5m cbills in the price for double heat sinks, maybe endo steel as well for additional cost.

Looks at the builds of the mechs you've been playing and if you did well with that then look to replicate it initially on what you buy.

[Angel of Annihilation]

Xanzikron, on 08 August 2013 - 06:53 PM, said:

Thanks Guys! I guess if there isn't much tanking than I shouldn't go for Atlas. I mainly play the Cicada, followed by the Catapult from the starter Mechs. The Raven was too slow with no firepower, and the Victor also seemed to have no firepower.

Here is the thing. You can't judge a mech by its trial version because 95% of trial mechs suck. You can use them to get a general feel maybe but that is about it.

The reason for this is your going to be changing the configuration pretty massively once you get a real mech and thier characteristics change along with those configurations.

For example, a raven once build out can run 152 KPH, the fastest anything can go in the game. Another Example, the Victor can easily match most Atlases in Firepower plus be darn near as fast as a mech 25 tons lighter.

Also you have to consider variants as some variants are better than others. Take the Spider. In my opinion on the 5D variant is worth a darn, the rest suck.

This being the case you have to ask yourself what playstyle you enjoy. Personally I would go with the Victor 9S or 9K as your first mech if you have the C-bills for it. It is very rewarding and offers alot of different build options.

One word of caution. When you buy your new mech, you need alot more C-bills than just the price of the new mech. For example:

Double Heat Sinks - Must have these - 1.5 million C-bill upgrade.
Endo Steel - Often want/need this - 1 million C-bill upgrade (can be lower)
XL engine - must have these in alot of mechs - 3-6 million C-bill upgrade.
Weapons - You will definately need to change these - 1-3 million upgrade.

Basically your going to want to have at least around 5 million C-bills more than cost of your first mech available to you for upgrades when you decide to purchase. You may not need it all but it is likely you will.

Edited by Viktor Drake, 09 August 2013 - 11:28 AM.