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#21 Hexenhammer

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Posted 16 August 2013 - 03:05 PM

View PostWVAnonymous, on 16 August 2013 - 02:50 PM, said:

I wonder if that's the motivation behind the Double XP 1st victory of the day? To level up mechs faster than you can earn money to buy new?



I think its more likely to give players a reason to play but I'm not sure how well it works because no matter what it seems like you can never make money fast enough to keep up with XP. More so now with the rewards being lowered with 12v12.

#22 StarGeezer

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Posted 16 August 2013 - 03:23 PM

View PostKoniving, on 16 August 2013 - 02:43 PM, said:

Hello StarGeezer. Wow, it is Geezer? Started to type Gazer. Anyway, I'm Koniving, your local new player helper and occasional grumpy pants


No problem, Koniving. That's how I came up with my handle in the first place: I am a StarGazer (avid amateur astronomer), and as I'm getting on in years, decided to mash it up by becoming a Geezer. Or, you can just just call me Tim. I'm easy to get along with that way. LOL

Great tips on the new mechs, I'll be sure to pass along your notes to EpicCG a little later when we play. I just took my K2 out on the training maps to get myself acquainted with it, and even "out-of-the-box", it performs nicely. The twin PPC's *hit* fairly hard but cost about 25% heat capacity to fire, so I'll definitely have to look into those double heatsinks. Watched your vid, very nice. You took a metric butt-tonne of damage and kept on swinging, so that was awesome!

View PostWVAnonymous, on 16 August 2013 - 02:50 PM, said:

Also, if you plan in advance to play three mechs to get elite bonuses, go all the way to mastery for all three mechs. This allows you to more or less ignore c-bill earnings as far as I can tell. By the time you level up all three, you should have enough to buy your next three.

I wonder if that's the motivation behind the Double XP 1st victory of the day? To level up mechs faster than you can earn money to buy new?


Excellent advice, thanks WV! I think once we get some double heatsinks and a few other bits-n-bobs, we'll probably just squirrel away the C-bills until we get some more experience under our belts.

EDIT: Apparently the obscenity filter couldn't make out the space between the "s" in "PPC's" and the next word, "hit", resulting in a false-positive on the poo-poo meter. I just loves me some technology. :lol:

Edited by StarGeezer, 16 August 2013 - 03:28 PM.


#23 Kurkotain

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Posted 16 August 2013 - 03:45 PM

Koniving arrived, disregard all advice and listen to him :lol:

just kidding

Nice setup for brawling in a k2, however, if he is just starting, it might be wise for stargeezer to stay back and try his hand at fire support. A K2 is not an ideal platform for brawling, since it needs an XL to be speedy and agile enough.

Try switching the XL300 from the sarah to the k2, it frees up a lot of tonnage and lets you equip more and heavier weapons, not mentioning the ammo/DHS needed to keep 'em firing.

Something like this would be my go-to starter build for a K2:

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...85f2580ec879426

Little expensive since it needs DHS and endo-steel (for a combined 2.5 mil cbills) but fairly effective and ammo independent.
Stay with your group, in the back and focus fire at anything your group is firing at. Can snipe (But don't duel any snipers) and switch roles to an effective direct fire support mech. not recommended for brawling but can defend itself pretty well in a pinch.

Switch the LLas to Ac/5 if you want some dakka:

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...85f2580ec879426

Ammo is a bit on the low side, and bit lower arm and leg armor (arms are rarely blown off on k2s, you need to protect your legs because of the ammo stored there and enterprising lights, looking for a quick kill)

All that from my long experience running CPLTs, especially the k2. But our playstyles might be different, so what worked for me might not work for you. Not saying that i'm really good with it, it's just that i suffered so long through the chassis that some things stuck with me.

View PostKoniving, on 16 August 2013 - 02:43 PM, said:


There is this which I just put together; it runs off of a classic concept. The machine gun is there more for fun than much else, but if he fires it when he's hot he's still doing something. Plus it looks cool. Lots of heatsinks, but he will still need to exercise trigger control and the engine's not cheap, even if it is a standard engine.



Isn't that catapracht a little...undergunned? I mean, i can see a hunchback 4p fullfilling its role, using less tonnage and being more agile. Yes, its better armored, and lot more heat efficient so it can keep up firing its lasers all day, but it wont mean much in the face of overwhelming firepower a CTF is supposed to face in its role.

Just my opinion there, not meant to start a discussion (a bad one, at least)

Edited by Kurkotain, 16 August 2013 - 03:51 PM.


#24 muskrat

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Posted 16 August 2013 - 03:58 PM

StarGeezer

From one Geezer to another:

I run my cataphrat 1x with this config:
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...d804346de669f79

Heat control a must, you could shave a bit more armor and put on another heat sink, with you as a "wingman"
this build would compliment any build you decide on your Cat K2

a modification if it runs too hot, replace standard ppc's with Llasers
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...fe92ba82642f182

More sinks: added 3rd med laser, 2 fire tics Llaser's/AC10 3Mlaser's/ac10

This is a Fair Support Mech

Bow
Muskrat

Edited by muskrat, 16 August 2013 - 04:14 PM.


#25 Xeno Phalcon

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Posted 16 August 2013 - 04:05 PM

*cracks knuckles* Well technically I am a Blackjack pilot but I also pride myself in my technical derpmancy and here I'll lay out a play by play for cheapest ways to upgrade your K2:

CPLT-K2 300XL with Extra HS Takes your sarah jenner's 300XL and slaps it into the K2, then use the extra space for near max armor (smigin less on the legs) and a crapton of heatsinks, still will be a bit hot but this would get you right out the door.

Using that somewhat akward machine grind your way to 1.5M and convert your single heatsinks to double heat sinks ala CPLT-K2 +DHS what iv done here is basically stuffed the mech with as many double heatsinks as it could stomach, there are notably two tons left over that you can do whatever with. Can add more Mgun ammo but most would probably convert the medium lasers to medium pulse lasers for less range but greater pin point damage up close.

Then some grinding later you get enough for endo steel, though you'll need to drop some of the DHS to fit that - at this point you are reaching the greatest level of customization potential and from here you'll want to find what weaponry you like best, I would however avoid trying to strap a gauss rifle to the side of this design while you probably wont get your side torso shot very often gauss rifles are super fragile and explode when they are destroyed so should somone actually shoot you there, you go up in a ball of fire. AC20's wont fit due to the XL engines size (not the weight) so dont waste your money there. PERSONALLY speaking im a ballistic ***** so I would tend towards something like CPLT-K2 ???? though its got ammo strapped all over it and UAC5's take some getting used too, deadly though if you get accustomed to it jamming.

My insanity aside, you could try fielding a few of the trial mechs to test out the weaponry (rather than the mech) and find what ones feel right for you, IMO this is more important than some people think (especially those obsessed with "high elo meta") unfortunately there arnt a whole lot of different weapons to try still its a start.

#26 Koniving

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Posted 16 August 2013 - 04:58 PM

View PostStarGeezer, on 16 August 2013 - 03:23 PM, said:


No problem, Koniving. That's how I came up with my handle in the first place: I am a StarGazer (avid amateur astronomer), and as I'm getting on in years, decided to mash it up by becoming a Geezer. Or, you can just just call me Tim. I'm easy to get along with that way. LOL

Great tips on the new mechs, I'll be sure to pass along your notes to EpicCG a little later when we play. I just took my K2 out on the training maps to get myself acquainted with it, and even "out-of-the-box", it performs nicely. The twin PPC's *hit* fairly hard but cost about 25% heat capacity to fire, so I'll definitely have to look into those double heatsinks. Watched your vid, very nice. You took a metric butt-tonne of damage and kept on swinging, so that was awesome!


Oh yes. It takes a beating and it's fast. But a key to taking a beating is to make sure they can't focus that damage. Spread it out as much as possible especially when you can't fire back due to heat or due to range. Spreading the damage is actually easier in a Catapult than in a Cataphract since you can twist farther and faster.

This video is much shorter and involves the example build I provided.



This is an old build. I mean old as in I forgot about it. But it's very simple, very cheap, and would work a lot better now than back then. Matter of fact once I can get the other 3 hard drives connected ( my main fried so I've been trying to get it back together ever since ), I'll be pulling the dust off of my K2 and trying it again since MGs do more than two and a half times the damage they did at the time, and LPLs do more damage and generate 3 points of heat less per large pulse laser than they did at the time.
Spoiler


Far as this one goes... a 4 PPC K2 can only fire 2 PPCs at a time... and yes I am sitting there dancing. o.O; I actually get pretty good at it by about half way into the song. And yes, hidden in this video is the simplest way to dodge incoming LRM fire. It still works, too. Near the end I do get into the battle and get an unexpected kill.
Spoiler


Oh, be certain to click on "Pilot Lab."

Select your mech (Heavy, Catapult, CPT-K2) and immediately unlock Cool Run (cool 7.5% faster) and Heat Containment (maximum capacity until shutdown increased by 10%). Unlock the others as they become available.

#27 Koniving

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Posted 16 August 2013 - 05:28 PM

View PostKurkotain, on 16 August 2013 - 03:45 PM, said:

Isn't that catapracht a little...undergunned? I mean, i can see a hunchback 4p fullfilling its role, using less tonnage and being more agile. Yes, its better armored, and lot more heat efficient so it can keep up firing its lasers all day, but it wont mean much in the face of overwhelming firepower a CTF is supposed to face in its role.

Just my opinion there, not meant to start a discussion (a bad one, at least)


In a match of alpha strike warrior, it's only under-gunned by one laser. :lol: It's actually designed to work with the Catapult. By itself yes it's badly under-gunned in the current meta. With the catapult, he's quite adequately equipped.

That's 25 damage per firing of the lasers, very easy to focus. It's fast. It's got a standard engine. Yes, the machine gun leaves it wanting. But take one into the field. It runs fairly cool. You strip off the armor off of their torsos and arms, then let loose with the MG... their guns are gone. Suddenly you're not feeling so under-gunned. :ph34r:

Now, speaking of which the tactics of using these two together is you'll want to find isolated enemies and sneak up on them. You could brawl all out but if you want to take out a lot of enemies, isolate them and pick 'em off.

This build feels 'under-gunned' too, but I steadily come through matches with around 600+ damage and at least two kills in most matches.
Spoiler


(Wow this took me a bit to realize I forgot to press post. lol.)

Edited by Koniving, 16 August 2013 - 05:31 PM.


#28 StarGeezer

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Posted 16 August 2013 - 07:36 PM

Well, so far I swapped in DHS, FF armor and Endo-steel structure. Kept the PPC's, but swapped the 2 medium lasers out and replaced them with pulsing mediums, and then took the machine guns out in favor of a couple of AC2's. Right now, I'm in the trial-and-error stage, and I absolutely suck at theorycrafting (which is ironic, considering I used to do statistical analysis for a living.)

No matter though, I'm still having a blast so far (pardon the pun.) Thanks to all for your help and exceedingly warm welcomes. The community here is top-shelf, all the way! :lol:

#29 Galen Crayn

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Posted 16 August 2013 - 07:49 PM

Welcome to the community :lol: Try and error is one of the fun aspects of this game. I have spent a lot of time with creating and testing new builds and still try even after thousands of matches.

The K2 is a wonderful mech. You can play it in so many different ways.

And if you love Battletech and Mechwarrior the Phoeniy Package is great! And we need more Phoenix buyers to get our flame skin, so buy it! :lol: And you can add me too to friendlist if you need some tipps or only someone to play with

#30 Koniving

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Posted 16 August 2013 - 08:05 PM

Same on the adding. I'm actually in game right now.

#31 StarGeezer

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Posted 16 August 2013 - 09:41 PM

Added you both, and thanks! :lol:

#32 StarGeezer

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Posted 17 August 2013 - 02:53 PM

Okay, Day 2 and here's where I'm at:

Still running with my K2, but I seem to be having a huge brain-fart when it comes to actually moving in my mech. I see videos of folks running with absolutely no problem, but I'm seemingly unable to grasp how to coordinate my feet with my torso. I know about the centering buttons (C and F), but it just seems like I'm constantly running through jello. My feet don't respond with anywhere near the same sort of reaction that my torso does. I'm sure I'm not explaining this properly, but when I watch others play, they seem to have nowhere near the hassle I'm having with just trying to keep from tripping over my own mech's feet.

So, is this just attributable to lack of skill and something that will get better with time and practice? Or is there some magical setting I'm missing somewhere? (I did buy the Anchor Turn efficiency, but it didn't help much.) Or is it perhaps just a shortcoming of the Catapult chassis? I've tried taking some of my trainer mechs out, but don't fare much better in those either.

Most of the time (in fact, practically all the time) I die simply because I can't get out of my own way. I've also noticed at times I get so "twisted around" that the game engine freaks out and my view starts whipping around inside my cockpit (and no, I'm not hitting the Freelook by error. I've checked.)

Getting a little frustrated with what seems like my incredible ineptitude on full display. Any tips or hints are most appreciated (and desperately so!) Thanks! :(

I'm almost considering a more "sedentary" role of maybe being a missile boat...something that doesn't rely so heavily on maneuverability. :D

#33 Koniving

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Posted 17 August 2013 - 03:01 PM

View PostStarGeezer, on 17 August 2013 - 02:53 PM, said:

So, is this just attributable to lack of skill and something that will get better with time and practice? Or is there some magical setting I'm missing somewhere? (I did buy the Anchor Turn efficiency, but it didn't help much.) Or is it perhaps just a shortcoming of the Catapult chassis? I've tried taking some of my trainer mechs out, but don't fare much better in those either.


Comes with coordination. Have you played World of Tanks or Battlefield in the past? If so, switch to third person and watch as you use A and D to turn, and the mouse to twist the turret.

In the mean time are you on? I'll hop on and play a bit.

Also as you mentioned: Press C to center your body to your legs. Press F to center your legs to your body.

Re-reading what you said... I get the impression you are playing with a joystick or a throttle and flight stick? It really doesn't sound like a keyboard/mouse combo with the way you describe it.

When the minimap is working, your leg direction is indicated by a dotted line.
- - - - -
or
|
|
|

This shape is your torso with your supposed field of view.
\......../
..\..../
....\/

Edited by Koniving, 17 August 2013 - 03:13 PM.


#34 StarGeezer

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Posted 17 August 2013 - 03:22 PM

Actually, I am playing with a KB/mouse combo. I have not played World of Tanks, and I absolutely suck at standard-fare FPS games, so have absolutely zero experience with Battlefield, CoD, etc. Actually, I take that back...I did play CoD2...once. I died horribly and repeatedly...on the tutorial mission. Yeah...I'm that bad. :(

I know about the mini-map and the cone/arrow. I use both those and the HUD compass indicators to try to keep myself organized (the little yellow arrows above and below the compass ordinals to show which direction your torso/feet are facing.) Mechanically, I "get" how it's supposed to work...I'm just encountering a huge disconnect between theory and practice.

Edited by StarGeezer, 17 August 2013 - 03:23 PM.


#35 Koniving

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Posted 17 August 2013 - 03:25 PM

There is a big disconnect. The irony is that it'd be great with those of the N64 generation jumping immediately to PC. There's a disconnect with the twin stick generation, and one with the Atari, NES generation too. I'm on though, and if you have teamspeak 3, I'll throw you a link into Zhizhu's chat so you can jump into some matches with me and Lordred.

#36 Galen Crayn

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Posted 17 August 2013 - 03:32 PM

If your mech is slow the leg movement is slower than twisting the torso. But its only a matter of time and practice. ill promise! When i first played an Atlas for example it was a shock! I was so bad that i sold it after an hour. But after time i tried it again, practiced more and now its one of my favorites.

Edited by Galen Crayn, 17 August 2013 - 03:34 PM.


#37 StarGeezer

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Posted 17 August 2013 - 03:53 PM

View PostKoniving, on 17 August 2013 - 03:25 PM, said:

There is a big disconnect. The irony is that it'd be great with those of the N64 generation jumping immediately to PC. There's a disconnect with the twin stick generation, and one with the Atari, NES generation too. I'm on though, and if you have teamspeak 3, I'll throw you a link into Zhizhu's chat so you can jump into some matches with me and Lordred.


To further the irony, I'm a lifelong console player as well. I've had them going all the way back to Pong and the Atari 2600. I have both the XBox 360 and the PS3, and have both the XBO and PS4 on Launch Day pre-order. Point being, I'm not a stranger to the twin-stick theory. But I'm also a PC gamer (long time MMO player, starting with Ultima Online and the original EQ and quite a few in between.) So I'm also at-home with a mouse and KB. Strangeness. LOL

If it's okay, I'll take a raincheck on your kind offer. I'm not in a position at the moment to hop on the game (not to mention install TS on the gaming rig...just got it in June and haven't had reason to install TS until now.) I will definitely take you up on your offer however. Maybe having a little face time with experienced folks will help "unclog the drain" I appear to be having. :(

View PostGalen Crayn, on 17 August 2013 - 03:32 PM, said:

If your mech is slow the leg movement is slower than twisting the torso. But its only a matter of time and practice. ill promise! When i first played an Atlas for example it was a shock! I was so bad that i sold it after an hour. But after time i tried it again, practiced more and now its one of my favorites.


I'm sure that's part of it, Galen. There's a definite lag between how fast I can twist my torso and how fast (or lack thereof) I can align my feet. And as I'm scanning the horizon, it becomes all-too-easy to get my top and bottom out of sync. Just part of the growing pains, I'm sure.

#38 Not A Real RAbbi

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Posted 17 August 2013 - 03:55 PM

View PostStarGeezer, on 17 August 2013 - 02:53 PM, said:

I'm almost considering a more "sedentary" role of maybe being a missile boat...something that doesn't rely so heavily on maneuverability. :(




May I recommend just the opposite? Get in that Sarah's Jenner and go nuts. You'll either learn your way around controls quickly in that mech, or you never will in any mech. Somehow, though, I suspect you'll pick it up quickly.

ALSO, don't be afraid to drill yourself a bit in Training Grounds. There's no time limit, so go into River City and run laps on the streets there. Something like that. Once you feel a little more confident in handling your mech (K2 was a pretty good choice, by the way) you can go try out your newly-acquired prowess on some enemies in live action.

ALSO, some things will come along as you add to your efficiencies for that chassis. Be sure to stay on top of that in the Pilot Lab!

#39 StarGeezer

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Posted 17 August 2013 - 03:56 PM

View PostKoniving, on 17 August 2013 - 03:01 PM, said:


Comes with coordination. Have you played World of Tanks or Battlefield in the past? If so, switch to third person and watch as you use A and D to turn, and the mouse to twist the turret.


Just went back and re-read this...I know I heard they were working on 3rd person, but thought it was only on the test server right now. Am I wrong is assuming this? Thanks. :(

#40 Koniving

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Posted 17 August 2013 - 04:02 PM

View PostStarGeezer, on 17 August 2013 - 03:56 PM, said:

Just went back and re-read this...I know I heard they were working on 3rd person, but thought it was only on the test server right now. Am I wrong is assuming this? Thanks. :(


Meant third person on "those" games. It'll be a little bit before you get third person on MWO.





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