4
Major changes to the balance have occurred!
Greetings everyone. This is a complete guide for newbies, to set them on the right path to playing at competitive levels within the game, such as with one of the League units that exist in MechWarrior: Online. I plan to keep this OP edited and up to date as patches and meta considerations change!
This guide will take you through all of the basics and focus on how to build the absolute top-tier 'mechs and equipment. Many players will tell you to experiment with "fun" weapons and mechs, and that's fine if you would like to - but many of them aren't the best weapons and 'mechs. That's what this guide is here for, as newbies deserve a primer.
Part 1: The Settings
Before you even launch, there's a couple settings you'll want to adjust. First is Throttle Decay. Turn that off. While it's more like a FPS, it will require you steadily to hold forward to move forward, and it'll just plain impact your piloting. Remember pressing X sets your throttle to 0 with the Decay off, so sudden stops are quite possible.
Second, you'll want to pick a style of Arm Lock. You have two options:
- Leave it enabled and press your bound key to enable arm movement
- Disable it and press a bound key to restrict arm movement
Part 2: The Trial 'Mechs
First, I will cut right to the chase: If you are in a Trial 'mech, you are handicapped. While the ©hampion 'mechs offer slightly better configurations, these 'mechs are not only sub-optimal, they often sport weak heat sinks, paper thin armor and weapons that give Ghost Heat right out of the gate. It's rough.
However, it's worth playing your first 25 matches in one before investing in a 'mech, to maximize your Cadet bonus, unless you feel like spending MC. Once those are done, you will own your very own 'mech to customize! The game rapidly turns around at this point, and you'll quickly find yourself in a position to turn the tables on any 'mech in a given match.
Part 3: Buying your own 'Mech!
Alright, so you've saved up C-Bills and now are ready to buy your own 'mech! This is where the game really begins. But now, you're probably asking.. what 'mechs do I buy?! A lot depends on your style, if you prefer recon/capping/counter-capping, brawling, sniping, or so forth. I'll try to briefly sum up primary roles. Remember, you will need to own three of any chassis to maximize it in the pilot lab!
Tier 1: The most frequent, high powered builds in competitive play
- Jenner D, F (Recon)
- Cicada 2A, X5 (Recon)
- Centurion 9A (Brawling & Missile Support), Centurion 9D (High speed brawling/missile support)
- Cataphract 3D (All purpose/Jump Sniping), Cataphract Ilya (Grinding)
- Highlander 732, 733C, Heavy Metal (All purpose/Jump Sniping)
- Atlas DDC (ECM)
- Orion (Pending alternate models to Master the chassis)
- Victor (Acting as a "Super Heavy" with Cataphract or brawling setups)
- Raven 3L (Recon)
- Trebuchet 7M (Brawling & Missile Support), Trebuchet 3C (High speed brawling/missile support)
- Stalkers (Direct fire sniping/Brawling)
- Stalker Misery (Direct fire Sniping/Brawling - Tier 1.5)
- Atlas RS (Direct fire sniping)
- Quickdraw (Very useful in tonnage drops specifically, despite it's huge size: The best 60 tonner.)
Before we start, I'd like to highly recommend SMURFY for pilots to start at. This lets you build a 'mech before you buy any parts, so you don't waste cbills on the wrong engine and gear!
So the first thing this guide will cover is setting your 'mech up with basic equipment, preparing for you to load it full of weapons and finishing touches. We'll start with the Upgrades tab:
- Endo-Steel: You always want this. The niche designs that do not benefit are so incredibly rare (and not worthwhile) that this is really a must-have feature. Add it to your 'mech ASAP.
- Ferro Fiberous: This is a bit more of a niche. There are many builds that can benefit - primarily ones that don't use arms - but not every 'mech can fit both this and Endo. The popular 3x SRM6, 2 Med Laser Centurion 9A benefits greatly from Ferro, allowing it to reach full armor.
- Double Heatsinks: This is another must have feature. You absolutely should add this to your 'mech immediately. While it makes heatsinks take 3 crit spaces instead of 1 for only a 40% increase in heat efficiency, the main thing is it converts your core engine heatsinks to doubles (10) and also will convert any additional heatsinks you place in the engine for 0 crits! The core advantage is such that it's never worth running Single.
- Artemis: If you have missile weapons, you'll want Artemis. It even (unlisted) improves the lock time of Streaks, and is vital to make SRM and LRM groupings tight enough to be useful. This is a must-have piece of gear.
So now you should likely gut whatever your 'mech has on it for equipment and begin to replace it. Your big options coming up are:
Engines: Engines have a ton of details not visible right away, and picking the right one is not a matter of just determining how fast you'd like to go. You could write a section on Engines alone. The main things to be looking at are:
- XL vs Standard - XL is much lighter, freeing space for more weapons & gear, but means you will lose 3 crits on each side torso, and losing a side torso will result in your death. This is highly debatable as to which chassis should use XL and which should not - Light 'mechs generally want to run XL universally, where 'mechs with wide side torsos take a major disadvantage for doing so. In general I'd say Standard for Brawling, XL for Recon, and pilot discretion for Snipers.
- Engines over 275 begin gaining room for an additional heatsink per 25 upgrades. This means a 325 engine can store up to 3 Heatsinks. If you've upgraded to Doubles, this means a savings of up to 9 critical spaces! Large engines are very useful for energy 'mechs.
- Remember, if you want to mount an AC/20 in a side torso, XL will use too many slots and render it unusable.
- Always be aware of Engine restrictions! Some designs are far less restricted than others, allowing the Centurion 9D to reach light 'mech speeds, where the 9A maxes out much lower. This is also why 'mechs like the Cataphract 4X are frowned upon.
- Speed for your class matters! A light 'mech should be moving at least 130 after Speed Tweak without exception; a fast medium (Cicada, CN9D, etc.) should be doing roughly the same in many cases. Meanwhile, a standard engine brawler medium (Cent 9A, etc.) should be going at least 90 after Speed Tweak, ideally as close to 100 as possible. Slow mediums do not work well, nor do slow lights. Assaults should even pack a sizable engine (Most Highlanders move in the 60s and most Cataphracts near 70s minimum) if possible, but there's definitely more room to justify speed drops there.
- BAP - Beagle Active Proves are an absolute must if you are using Lock On weapons. In addition to greatly speeding lock times, one BAP will counter one ECM (two BAPs will counter two ECMs in range, etc.), which is vital to maintaining lock when a light gets in range. The sensor range bonus is merely an extra and offers minimal impact. I would advise you consider the BAP only if you are running missiles.
- ECM - ECM has a number of advantages for team play. It will produce a "bubble" around the player's 'mech that makes it impossible to get weapons locks on the 'mechs within - including the ECM user - from long range without the use of TAG or (ER)PPCs (which disrupt it briefly). When enemies are inside of the bubble, they will also lose the ability to use target lock weapons such as LRMs, unless the ECM is countered by a BAP or an ECM in Active mode, which serves only to cancel the effects of ECM in the area. A good ECM 'mech can make it more difficult to damage or focus fire on targets (as they cannot be locked & scanned) and cause chaos in a team environment. While not as powerful as it was, if you're in a 'mech with an ECM slot you always want to equip it, but since precious few 'mechs can support it, it's not something that you will generally have all the time. NOTE: BAP and ECM Counter mode do not stack.
- AMS - Great against LRMs and Streaks alike, the AMS will cover both you and allies. If you are standing between an enemy and a friend, you can knock the majority of missiles out of the air before it even reaches them! Plus, it knocks out many coming straight to you. A very solid choice, if you can spare the tonnage. In a team environment it's nice to have a few in the mix.
- CASE - CASE will prevent an ammo explosion from spreading damage into other locations. It will not prevent ammo explosions from damaging the section they are in. For example, placing CASE in the Right Torso of a Standard Engine 'mech along with several tons of ammo may cause the right section to explode when the ammo is hit by a critical, but it cannot destroy the 'mech as no damage will transfer into the CT. Situational usage at best.
- Jump Jets - These allow your 'mech to hover for short bursts. They are incredibly useful, and you may only need to take 1 to be effective on many builds, as it is enough to clear terrain and "glide." Multiple jets do speed your jumping ability, however, so it is something to look at on a 'mech by 'mech basiss.
So now we're up to the fun part, mounting guns. At present time there's a small number of great guns and a lot of bad sub-par options that you should avoid at all costs. I'll try to cover the major ones. Remember, guns go greatly past their listed range! The listed range is merely when damage begins to fall off. Check the MechWarrior Online: Wiki for a complete list.
Tier 1:
- PPC - Long range, hard hitting, and easy to use. Despite it's heat and slower velocities and now 0 minimum range damage, the PPC is still a common weapon - in particular on assaults. It is now better to run less PPCs and more heatsinks to make it viable.
- ER PPC - Hotter than the PPC but it hits at both longer ranges, and without a minimum, making it useful for both infighting and sniping designs. However, in general most 'mechs will only be able to comfortably support 2 now.
- AC/20 - Thanks to the buffing of SRMs, the AC/20 now has a companion weapon. Incredibly damaging per shot, an AC/20 paired with other weapons can be enough damage to bring down a light in one shot to the right spot!
- Gauss Rifles - The Gauss Rifle is now the king of sniper warfare. While many derride the delay as "killing" the weapon, the velocity buff in conjunction with the new netcode makes this an absolutely lethal sniper. Practice "precooking" the Gauss - charging it just before you want it - and once you get the hang of the weapon, it is now far more deadly than ever before.
- SRMs - SRMs are effectively a shotgun in their current form, like an LBX should be. Very damaging at point blank, as long as you have a 'mech with enough ports! In addition the SRM4 and SRM2 fire considerably faster now, making all SRM4 builds very viable. They pair well with Medium Pulse Lasers.
- Medium Lasers - This is a great backup weapon to put on many designs, and an effective primary on lights and mediums.
- Small Lasers - Again, for it's weight, this is a great "bonus damage" weapon on bigger 'mechs if they are centered around infighting, while making a decent primary on some smalls.
- Small Pulse Laser - The only member of the Pulse family to be considered worthwhile at present, the SPL makes a great light 'mech weapon. It's short duration makes it great for fighting other lights.
- TAG - It almost doesn't belong on the Tier 1 list, as it only benefits LRMs/Streaks, but it is exceptional at making both much more useful through the ability to pierce ECM, tighten missile groupings and speed lock times. All non-SRM missile boats should have one.
- LRMs - LRMs are a weapon that's very powerful against victims not organized or prepared to counter them. If you are using LRMs you should always mount a BAP and TAG so as to avoid ECM rendering them unusable, and make sure to carry plenty of ammunition. Most importantly you need to fire at least 25 missiles in a salvo - ideally more - otherwise AMS will obliterate the majority of your firepower, if not all of it. This is why a single LRM is never advisable. If you do use LRMs, I'd highly recommend the Centurion 9D over a heavier 'traditional' boat, since dictating the huge 180m minimum range and 750m range of TAG (which lets you break ECM bubbles) limit your effective ranges greatly. LRMs have been vaslty improved through the virtue of less PPCs on the field! They are returning in competitve play for the first time in a long time, and have moved up a tier.
- Ultra Autocannon/5 - The only light AC I'd recommend to anyone, the UAC/5 is a very good weapon in casual games as it allows you to do huge damage to a target if left unchecked. It's failings are primarily the need to stay on target, which is a death sentence when you deal with focus fire.
- Large Lasers - Previously Tier 1, Ghost Heat limiting them to 2 brought them swiftly down to a 2nd tier weapon. ER Large Lasers are still too hot given the duration renders their range advantage moot, and are not even Tier 2, by comparison.
- Large Pulse Lasers - Now considerably cooler than the ER PPC, with hitscan, the Large Pulse Laser is now a very viable option for a brawler build, with enough advantages over an ER PPC to entirely justify it. Remember the limit is two, so pair them with other guns if possible; this is could arguably be Tier 1.5.
- Medium Pulse Lasers - While I would not waste the tonnage on them for most setups, if you have the extra weight (but not criticals) these are in fact an acceptable upgrade on a light/medium-hunter mech. I would stick with regular mediums for secondary guns on a slower design, however.
- Machine Guns - While these have been modified to destroy internal components shockingly fast, they're still a hard niche to fill. Many of the designs that can carry a lot of MGs require dedicating to that sort of build, and are very "squishy" - such as the Jaggermech. It's hard to give these weapons a fair shake due to a limited selection of delivery platforms. The jury is still out.
Ammo Placement: One word on Ammo Placement, remember, everything but Gauss ammo - including AMS ammo - can explode. Try to keep ammo out of critical areas (XL engine sides, etc.) at all costs. That said, I highly recommend placing ammo in the Head if possible as it's very likely to suffer a crit that does not kill it, and ammo will be used first from that location regardless. Remember, some designs CAN benefit from CASE, in particular standard engine designs. Remember, ammo stored in the legs is used last, making it extremely dangerous!
Missile Ports: Many 'mechs have dynamic missile ports that change with what launchers you put in them; others have static ports that remain the same. This can massively impact missile behavior! Attempting to place an LRM/20 on a Trebuchet 7M's Left Torso - where only a single missile port exists - will cause the weapon to try to stream out one missile at a time, and do so in a manner that's so slow the gun will be ready to fire again before the shots have left the tube. While that is an extreme case, be careful where you place your LRMs and SRMs! Some 'mechs like the Centurion 9A can fire all missiles in a single salvo, where others will fire two or more clusters for the same payload. This can also impact firing characteristics (such as accuracy over range) in many subtle ways. Given the sheer number of possibilities, the best advice I can give is to pay attention to the number of tubes displayed on the 'mech after you place the missiles, and experiment! [PS: At the time of writing this, the Highlander's missile ports are bugged. Hopefully the upcoming patch fixes them.]
Part 7: Setting up the Modules & Pilot XP
So you've finished setting up your 'mech, configuring it's weapons and gear, etc. What more is there to do? Simple - all the new MW:O features in the Pilot Lab layer!
The 'Mech Unlocks
If you've checked your 'Mechs in the pilot experience list, you'll see that you can upgrade three tiers- Basic, Elite, and Master. You need 3 'mechs of the same chassis to unlock Elite, and 3 at Elite to unlock Master. It's fairly simple stuff. The main reason I bring it up is to stress the importance of Speed Tweak in particular. This is a huge bonus, more than any other on the list, and is worth leveling up any 'mech you plan to use to obtain. The other perks are worthwhile, of course, and I recommend you try to get any major chassis to Master, but Tweak is definitely an early priority.
Modules
The Good
- Coolant: Coolant is incredibly useful for knocking a chunk of heat off your 'mech in a one time use environment. This can give you more initial punch or save you at a critical moment! The Cool Shot 6 is very weak and should be avoided - even combined with the others. I would highly recommend you gain the XP necessary to unlock the 9 by 9, which is just as good as the MC version with no real world cost associated.
- UAV: If you enjoy commanding groups or running recon, I highly recommend a UAV. While they can be shot down, dropping one on an enemy formation will allow for massive indirect fire and/or strategic decisions to be made that you just couldn't do without seeing the positions and chassis types of the enemies. It's a very niche piece of gear, but very, very useful in the right hands. It is worth upgrading.
- Seismic Sensors: While nerf'ed, they're still absolutely vital to catch 'mechs getting the jump on you. Well worth purchasing the Advanced Seismic Sensor for!
- Adv. Target Decay: If you are using LRMs specifically, you will want this module every single time. This buys you several seconds more of lock time once you lose LOS with a target, allowing you to guide in in-flight salvos. Everyone else can ignore it.
- Capture Accelerator: If you're playing Conquest, everyone should bring this if possible. If you're playing Assault it's still worth while, and often the team with Cap Accelerators is the team that wins if things come down to a cap race. Very important gear worth buying!
- Adv. Zoom: Advanced zoom has been repaired - and it is glorious! Now able to zoom directly to a powerful 3rd zoom level, this allows sniping with the improved velocity Gauss at extreme ranges extremely lethal! While I cannot recommend tying up a slot with it on most builds, Gauss snipers should definitely check this vastly improved module out.
- Target Info Gathering: It's not awful, but compared to the options above, I can't justify losing a module slot for it. Of The Bad, it's the least bad.
- 360 Target Retention: This only ever really becomes even remotely useful if you are solo. If you have teammates around keeping the target locked, you'll never lose lock! Even when lone wolfing, however, it's a waste to dedicate a module that offers such little benefit.
- Airstrike/Artillery Strike: Both fill the exact same role and have minimal cosmetic differences. They act like a grenade with a very long fuse you can drop on the map, causing huge red smoke that is very easy to walk around. While they now do semi-competent damage, their radius is small and the hit pattern is one-shot, making it almost impossible to even hit a shut down target with one. The accuracy upgrades reduce the radius to "improve damage" but make it even more impossible to hit targets with! Avoid these and if you got stuck with them, don't upgrade their accuracy!
- Set up your Weapon Groups: The first thing you'll want to do is setup your weapon groups. You generally want to keep weapons grouped to two or three "primary" groups, with alternate diversity at your discression. For example, if you have a Cataphract 3D with 1 Gauss, 1 PPC, 1 ER PPC, and 2 Medium Lasers. You want a group for the Gauss, a group for the PPCs, and a group for the medium lasers. In addition you could setup a group for Gauss + ER PPC (Which works at extreme long and close ranges) to maximize the design, but in general, you still only need to operate just two groups the majority of the time. Just remember, start simple and focus on builds that only need two groups until you're comfortable with it!
- Know your Role: If you're in a fast 'mech, you're going to want to cap, be the first one back to save your own caps, provide recon and fight other recon 'mechs pushing into your territory. If you're in a heavy sniper you're going to want to focus on finding 'mechs near the main group to expose yourself for only a second, to get massive damage. If you're in a brawler, you're going to want to be at the front of the pack, soaking up the hits. Do not go too far outside of these roles - i.e. do not chase the first Jenner you see if you've chosen to drive a Highlander, but be the first going after it if you're in a Jenner yourself. And if you're in a fastish medium/lightyou should be the first responder to defend your base from caps!
- Spread Locational Damage!: Since MechWarrior: Online is based around locational damage, you do not need to kill a whole 'mech to destroy it. This goes for both your victims.. and you! Thus, when in a fight, you should always be paying attention to your armor. You want to get the armor you have in the best shape angled towards the biggest body of enemies firing at you every time - and this includes the rear armor! Many times, in a down to the wire fight, a pilot could be saved if they would merely turn their undamaged rear to the enemy to soak the next shot, before turning back to return fire. It can even help to use freelook, so you can pilot "forwards" with a less-damaged side torso facing the enemy!
- Don't neglect your legs: A common line of thinking is that legs can get away with less armor. They can't. Good players will attempt to leg without mercy on any design that gives them the chance to. Make sure your legs have at least 90% armor rating! And feel free to blow off some legs of the enemy, too. Once a target is legged, it's time is limited.
- Look for flaws & hitboxes of your enemy: Ever run into a Yen-Lo-Wang? They're quite dangerous with an AC/20 and can wreck you quick if you're not looking. If you are looking however, merely blowing off - or damaging sufficently - the right arm, and you've reduced this 'mech to a 2 Medium Laser 50 ton paper weight. Other examples include splatcat (6x SRM6) Catapult "arms" and the Hunchback gun pod (which counts as front armor from all sides), among many. You'll find them as you go along and mercilessly take advantage of it.
- Focus Fire and the Q Key: If you are playing with a group or some friends, nothing is more important than focusing your fire. If you've noticed on the Target Lock boxes, there's a letter in the corner - A, B, C, etc. Each one of these is a unique ID for a specific 'mech. For example, if you lock a Cataphract that says D next to it, you could tell your teammates to target Delta, and everyone could focus onto it rapidly. By pressing and holding Q, all visible enemy/allied target info will appear, making it easy to find the called target as well!
- Don't be afraid to die: Many new players worry about dying a lot. The thing is, you don't even take a cbill loss for it, and sometimes you can help the whole team win through your death. For example, if the enemy is capturing your base while your team needs a few moments to rescue/counter-cap - charge into that square and do your best! Buying them a moment can change the outcome of the whole game, and you'll still get your Win bonus if you do.
- Be aware of Missile Doors: Some 'mechs like the Centurion 9A and Catapult have bay doors that increase the armor of the location while closed. While this does little to hurt LRMs (I'd always leave them closed in that case), the delay is brutal with SRMs. The only UI indicator is a small graphical light that goes from Yellow to Green, which can be hard to see in some lighting, so toggling on the fly can be dangerous. In general, you want your bay doors open on SRM 'mechs ASAP so your missiles fire on time.
- Don't get rattled, if you're being rattled!: ACs and LRMs, in particular in chainfire mode, have a way of unnerving pilots. Your cockpit will shake around, massive explosions will happen and it sounds like hell is raining down on your 'mech. How do you deal with it? Try to ignore it. Your actual aiming reticule isn't impacted, just the cockpit area. Watch your damage indicator to see how much punishment you are actually taking to determine the best course of action from there; a couple LRM/5s or AC/2s can easily make you think you are moments from death, with barely any damage to show for it.
- Always be Moving!: The lighter your 'mech, the more you'll be want to moving at all times. Do not be a light 'mech pilot that uses reverse to get targets, ever, and make sure to avoid slowly creeping around corners. If you're looking to hold position in a combat zone with a Jenner, try running circles in the area. Even in a slower 'mech, you want to try to keep your torso moving around as much as possible. The reason is even a single shot can decimate your 'mech and if a jump sniper pops a hill and sees a 'mech standing still - in particular lighter 'mechs - they will positively prime and hit you. One shot can be all it takes to remove a leg or to entirely core your 'mech.
OK, we've got your 'mech properly setup and hopefully you've decided on a plan for your next 'mech purchases and upgrades. So far so good. Now this advice is for when you're in the match!
- Arm Lock: Going back to the beginning, now is time to use arm lock via whatever style you selected. This is most dramatically effective in a jump sniper. Simply unlock / move your arms to the enemy 'mech, and restrict them. Your torso and arms - if fairly close - will now immediately snap back together right over the area you were aiming. This allows you to fire arm and torso mounted weapons onto the exact same spot instantly!
- Jump Sniping: Make sure to the read the above tip first. Jump Sniping is simple - set yourself going a moderate speed in a direction (so you don't "poptart" straight up, being an easy target), then jump as high as you can to get a clear line with your guns. 0.1 seconds after you release the jump key, your guns will be able to converge 100% accurately, and you can use the Arm Lock feature to snap on a target and fire, for massive damage!
- Jump Jet Gliding: Your rear armor is battered. There's a 'mech on your six that's weak, but you don't have the time to turn around and kill him, or his whole team will be on you. What are you going to do? Well, if you have a jet - GLIDE! Jump a small amount into the air, and then begin tapping your jets. Now, you can turn left/right while hovering slightly off the ground, allowing you to turn completely around - while traveling in your old direction. This is a massively useful evasive manuver that is under utilized out there!
- Breaking ECM with LRMs: TAG will allow you to actively lock a target inside of an ECM bubble, within it's 750m range. It also speeds the lock time and stacks with BAP. This allows an LRM 'mech inside of 750m to nullify the ECM and get the target lock rapidly, while Target Decay Module will help maintain it. Any LRM 'mech without these features is at a severe handicap, and this is among the reasons why TAG should always be carried on a long range missile boat in addition to it's grouping the missiles into a tighter, more single-damage location.
- Countering LRM users: The biggest thing countering LRMs is to know the weapon's blind spots: Inside of 180m they cannot do damage; outside of 1000 they will detonate instantly. Due to their travel time, this means at long range you can often just "walk away" from the missiles while they are in flight, and inside - the best way to deal with LRM carriers - you can push in with impunity. This is among the reasons I recommend the Cent 9D for missiles, as an LRM heavy assault will be at the mercy of any 'mechs rushing it. LRM mechs cannot count on teammates to escort them against whole groups, even if they are trying: If the enemy primes an LRM 'mech they can do little to prevent it, and the LRM 'mech can rapidly find itself unable to return fire. Many LRM 'mechs carry some infighting support weapons, but 3 medium lasers will not discourage an assault by a Centurion or Cataphract up close.
- Surviving Ghost Heat: As you may or may not be aware, a complicated and controversial system (due to it's crippling of several viable chassis and builds for little benefit) known as Ghost Heat showed up recently, limiting weapon configurations. This did little to impact the high alpha builds I'm recommending, but it's still best to minimize it's effects. In summary, instead of running over the limit by more than 1, try to look for compatible weapons. A simple example is 2 PPC + 1 Gauss = 0 Ghost heat, for example, while offering similar capabilities to the 4 PPC 'mechs previously popular. The same goes for SRMs and AC20s, etc. Also remember, do not overreact. Some designs are still very viable being slightly over the limit, such as the 3 PPC + 1 Gauss Highlander, they just require an additional weapons group setup.
- Maximize Alpha, Minimize Exposure: The golden rule with any competitive 'mech design is to do as much damage as possible, as quickly as possible. This again goes back to distrubting damage - a 'mech that can deliver a huge alpha (Such as Gauss/PPC) and then begin twisting/taking cover immediately after is massively superior to a 'mech that needs time to deliver it's damage (Say, the AC 2/5 family). When more than one 'mech is shooting at you, needing to face a direction for even a handful of seconds will often result in massive damage to your 'mech at best. This even goes for brawlers: SRMs are great to deliver a quick hit, followed by the pilot immediately twisting to present the strongest armor to the enemy.
- AMS Conga Lines are more effective than clusters: AMS will fire on any hostile missiles regardles of their goal. It is important to note AMS works in a 360 degree arc. By putting AMS 'mechs at the front of your group (Rather than mixed in the middle), this will cause any missiles fired on targets in the rear to be completely destroyed, as the missiles take fire from the front and rear of the AMS 'mech, rather than just front-to-impact. Having just a couple 'mechs in "line" like this can cripple the firepower of even the heaviest missile boats. A practical scenario: Your team is massed up on Caustic Valley, and you and your friend have AMS. By moving to the front of the group (but keeping out of sight at the lip of the canyon), you are now obliterating tons of missiles that might get fired at folks in the rear every time a light 'mech gets LOS, with no risk to yourself.
- Dealing with the Charged Gauss Rifle (Or why to stop worrying and love the Gauss Rifle): The Gauss Rifle is not nerfed, or dead. It is not "desynchronized" with other weapons. It has a new firing mechanic that is tricky, indeed, but the results of the velocity are well worth it. The era of twin gauss is returning! The trick, in essense, is to "pre cook" the Gauss Rifle; try charging it just as you crest terrain when jumping; before you turn towards the enemy, rather than after you aim, in a brawl. Likewise if you're trying to watch a skyline for jump snipers, simply charge it all the way, wait for the charge to fail, then recycle the charge; if someone jumps, the odds are very high you'll be cooked or near cooked, and with the velocity, you can even hit them with better results than before! The Gauss is, again, a harder to use weapon and I strongly recommend new players reading this start with a Centurion brawler now. Once you've gotten the hang of the basics, however, I strongly encourage you to pick this up and start mastering it as soon as you're comfortable with it!
- ... and how to keep an eye on it easily: One additional UI trick to make the Gauss charging lights more visible is simple: Add Gauss to all your "dead" weapon groups. If you have nothing in groups 3, 4, 5, and 6 - throw the Gauss in all of them. Each group has a charge light surrounding your crosshair, and by doing it this way, you have a lot more lights - which is easier to keep an eye on if you're just learning the weapon.
I might update this section with Smurfy links down the line, but these are some standard weapon configurations and setups that are very popular and great places to start learning the game:
- Centurion 9A: 3x SRM6, 2x ML/SPL, Standard Engine. A manuverable easy to use brawler 'mech that's incredibly hard to kill, this is one of the very best starter 'mechs for the brawling minded pilot.
- Centurion 9D: 2x LRM15, 1x TAG, XL 300. The Centurion 9D is an optimal missile boat, if you would like to drive one. It's fast enough to dictate the engagement range and stay within optimum, while being fairly durable and having enough room for plenty of ammunition. With some skill it will vastly outperform assault missile boats, as it can dart in/out of their ranges and avoid many incoming missiles as a result.
- Cataphract Ilya: 3x UAC5, Standard Engine / 3x UAC5 3x ML, XL Engine. While the Standard build is far more useful in competitive play and far more durable than a comparable Jaggermech, the XL version is often acceptable in pug games. Both builds do massive amounts of damage in short bursts, in particular if you are being ignored. This makes this setup an ideal money maker! If you're looking for a hero to grind credits fast, this is the one.
- Cataphract 3D: 1x Gauss, 2x PPC, Standard/XL Engine. The Cataphract 3D is a diverse 'mech with lots of possible loadouts, but this one is the "gold standard." Capable of Jumping and with an easy to use sniping setup, this is a great 'mech to learn long range fighting in.
- Highlander 732: 1x Gauss, 3x PPC, Standard/XL Engine. The 732 is one of the most popular designs out there and for good reason. You will want to have 3 groups (1 Gauss, 1 2x PPC, 1 3x PPC) so you don't have Ghost Heat issues in a heated mid range fight (firing the 3rd PPC a half second later instead), but can still deliver the full alpha in sniping situations. Optionally you can add some SRMs.
Part 10: If you really enjoy the game, join a unit!
You are only getting about half of the MechWarrior: Online experience if you do not play in 12-man groups. The changes to pacing, to roles, to communication & teamwork - they are massive. There's many good units hiring ranging from House/Clan groups, to Mercenary units like my group. Check the Outreach forums if you're looking to sign up!
Many of these units are involved in player-run leagues, which offer all kinds of interesting restrictions and their own internal metagames, greatly adding to the experience. While not for everyone, I highly advise it, as teamwork is more paramount to success in MW:O than in 99% of the games currently on the market!
Part 11: Common MW Community Terms
As a part of a franchise that's been going for over a decade, there's a number of both old and new slang terms for things that happen in the game. I'll try to cover some of it here!
High Alpha Build - A build centered around an "Alpha Strike" (firing all weapons) to do the most single-shot damage possible.
Poptart - A jumping 'mech with sniper weapons that pops up, fires, and pops down again. Sometimes used insultingly for jump snipers who go straight up and down in the same spot (predictable) but often just used to refer to jump snipers in general.
Cored - When armor gets knocked off part of a 'mech and damage starts going into internals, it's often referred to as being "Cored out."
Crits - Short for Criticals, as in the each slot-per-section of a 'mech in 'mech lab. Critical Hits in MechWarrior literally damage your Criticals.
In Conclusion
I would like to remind everyone this is a work in progress, and will be updated as more things come to mind / changes to the meta happen.
Again, this is a guide for new players to learn to play like the most competitive units in the game. I've written guides on many of these topics before, but I figured there should be a single thread unifying all of them as a "one stop shop" for new players.
There is a lot of white noise out there, with many recommendations pointing to things that look cool, sound cool, or are nostolgic rather than what is the most effective options in the game. As I think new players should have access to as much information as possible, this guide was created with them in mind. I hope it has helped, to that end!
I hope to start a video series soon that will cover much of this in addition to many things I'm sure, at the time of this posting, have slipped my mind.
Edited by Victor Morson, 07 September 2013 - 10:52 PM.
Tell them to include the AMS!
