16 replies to this topic

[Eldante]

So far out of the trial mech's i like the CPLT-A1(C) because it is the only mech i can actually do damage with out of the trial's so far. The cooldown's on the weapons for the other trial mech's make it seem as they are completely defenseless. Even with the Cplt when i follow my team and stay in the back i still get picked out 1st and its really annoying. I have 7.5 mill cbill and i dont think i have played my 25 games yet. I would flat out buy a 30% cbill boost mech but that perk is not listed on any mech's in the mechlab so i have no idea which ones have it besides the goldenboy because it is on an ad lol. I just want a long range mech for now that can do some nice damage .

[Roughneck45]

All trial mechs suck, so do not base your judgements off what they can do.

The only mechs that give you a 30% c-bill boost are hero mechs. They cost MC, which can only be purchased with real money. If you don't mind shelling over a few dollars it can be a good investment. There are a bunch to choose from, but only about 4-6 of them are really good.

If you want long range and damage you want PPC's. They are dominating the game right now. Most people put a gauss with it too.

What weight class are you looking at? Does jump sniping sound like something you would want to do, or would you rather keep your feet on the ground?

Edited by Roughneck45, 30 August 2013 - 10:52 AM.

[Redshift2k5]

Well, the CPLT-A1 C is a 'customized' mech that is far more optimized for play than the other trial mechs. In future trial mech rotations, always look for a Champion mech instead of a regular stock mech!

All Hero mechs have a permanent 30% C-bill boost. Champion mechs have an XP boost instead.

If you have 7.5 mil you're pretty close to your cadet bonus running out.

You need to think about how fast you want to go and what weapons you want to use- The CPLT-A1C is a good example of a long range missile-specialized mech, do you want more LRMs or do you want to try direct fire weapons? The Victor 9K has a gauss rifle, do you like the gauss rifle? (The gauss is due for a major function change soon though)

[Eldante]

I like having mobility and having the ability to jump for sure. Aiming and movement are really easy for me even if i use a fast mech. It is just the weapon cooldowns that kill me in close combat. The gauss rifle feel's useless to me but i haven't played with the victor too much because im lucky if i can do 20 damage with it lol. With the Cplt im doing 300 damage at least per game with at least 2 kills 6 assists.

[Koniving]

This website may help you test some ideas.
http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab

It can help you see the loadouts and limits of each mech chassis and variant.

On trial mechs.

Spoiler

Trial mechs are inherently inferior to customized mechs due to a rising capacity system that MWO uses to try and simulate "instant cooling" of weapons from tabletop as the developer David sees it. Trying to forced a system of averages into a static system has produced some nasty results, such as double heatsinks being over 2.5 times superior to standard heatsinks in the short run, where it 'averages' out to about 2.0 times better, and then becomes inferior in high numbers versus standard heatsinks. The long and short of it is the system allows such alpha strike abuse that bandaids have been necessary. Where a trial mech could be useful if the rising threshold was simply removed. See the capacity link on my signature if you're interested, but you are not expected to know or understand it. This is mainly for those who have been here much longer.

Some notes: large lasers, large pulse lasers, PPCs and ER PPCs can only be fired 2 at a time. But if you're bored you can pack 2 ER PPCs + 2 LPL and get around the system.

Avoid using large lasers. You have to wait 4.25 seconds to fire again, which is the longest wait for any ballistic or energy weapon, and longer than most SRMs and half the LRMs.

Catapults make a modestly solid starting mech but it is expensive to get off the ground. They benefit greatly from the use of an XL engine which is not easy to obtain due to it being almost as expensive as the mech itself if not more so.

The use of double heatsinks is almost essential due to the system mentioned in the trial mech spoiler, be certain to upgrade as quickly as possible.

It is recommended that you go beyond the cadet bonus and grind out every cbill you can tolerate as you may double the cost of a mech by the time it is fully upgraded.

[Redshift2k5]

Sounds like you'd probably do well investing in the Catapult chassis It can be pricy though, because you'd want to invest in a 300xl engine and Double Heat Sinks in addition to the cost of the chassis.

[scJazz]

Don't rush into things is my advice. Right now you are playing with a handicapped ELO rating. That ends when you finish your Cadet Bonus. New players are notoriously horrible at dealing with LRMs so the kind of fights you are managing with the Catapult A1 © might not necessarily be how things will work out for you afterwards.

My advice to you is play the Victor a bunch more and see if you get better. You want to try things out because once you make your first choice and spend your CB you're going to be stuck with it.

There is no penalty for NOT SPENDING CB the second you can. Just a penalty for screwing up that first choice

Having said all that...

This is my Catapult A1 Build by far my most favorite mech with 600 matches so far.
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...8f2da2e67c49433

This is what I literally just finished doing in it...

Edited by scJazz, 30 August 2013 - 11:30 AM.

[Eldante]

I'll keep trying to use the victor but the weapons it comes with in trial make it really painful. I can jump alot to avoid taking damage but the weapons are soo close range that it is obsolete on such big maps. Are the jagermech's alot like the catapult?. I really like the jm6-a with those 4 missile hardpoints with ballistic in the mix too . Also i cannot find any information about the game launch. If i buy a mech now will i keep it when the game launches?.

Edited by Eldante, 30 August 2013 - 11:41 AM.

[mailin]

If you like the A1, then maybe get either the C1 or C4. Better mix of weapons available. By cooldown, do you mean recycle time or heat? The recycle doesn't change much, but the heat management becomes much better once you can afford DHS. If you have to run single hs, maybe look at putting them in the legs. If you stand in water with shs in the legs they cool you off slightly faster. Also, don't do continual alphas. Switch to chain fire and you can do more regular damage and control the heat a lot better. Also, note that eventually you're going to want three variants of the same chassis in order to maximize the xp you'll gain.

[ProfessorD]

Jagermechs allow for a range of very solid builds. They have similar arms to the Catapults (mounted high up on the chassis and only able to pivot up and down, not left and right) and similar mobility, since they're the same weight and have the same allowed range of engines. The Jagermech-A variant, with missiles, will probably feel quite similar to a Catapult.

Jagermechs do not have jump jets! None of them! If you buy them, be sure that's something you can live without.

Jagermechs generally rely heavily on ballistic weapons. All of the ballistic weapons can be used to deal good damage and generally have manageable heat, so it's worthwhile to learn how to use them. Nearly everyone in my unit owns Jagermechs and thoroughly enjoys them. Several of them own and enjoy Victors, too, but you're right that the stock trial versions suck.

Go do some reading on the MWO Wiki, in addition to Smurfy's mechlab.

http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab

http://mwo.gamepedia.com/Main_Page

[Eldante]

I ended up saying the hell with it and getting the jagermech jm6-a because if i get tired of it i can just buy a hero mech lol. So far i upgraded to double heat sinks and endo steel but i just did 450 damage in my last game and lasted alot longer. I really really like it so far except the inability to carry alot of LRm ammo and ballistic ammo at the same time.

[Redshift2k5]

Eldante, on 30 August 2013 - 11:34 AM, said:

Are the jagermech's alot like the catapult?. I really like the jm6-a with those 4 missile hardpoints with ballistic in the mix too .

While the 6A has 2 energy, 2 ballistic, and four missile hardpoints, using all of them is a lot of trouble since ballistics are heavy and take up a lot of space and you can be stuck with insufficient ammunition. It's a fun variant overall, just don't get your hopes up of running too many weapons at the same time.

Eldante, on 30 August 2013 - 11:34 AM, said:

Also i cannot find any information about the game launch. If i buy a mech now will i keep it when the game launches?.

You keep everything. The last wipe was last Occober.

Edited by Redshift2k5, 30 August 2013 - 12:42 PM.

[luxebo]

I think your main question has been answered already but trials so far I've played with can do tons of damage if in the right hands. They are mostly at a disadvantage, but can be useful. Raven you have to stay low and support the main crew of Atlas, Highlander, Stalker, etc. It's too slow to do much else besides support but I've done 350 damage with a kill and 10 kill assist. Cicada also has to stay low though passive scouting can be possible. I once grouped with multiple spiders and jenners. Staying near the main attack force, I killed 5 mechs and 8 kill assist. Felt so good after that game. Catapult is indeed very powerful and great as a support mech. Victor is a great sniper and brawler at the same time, and can take some hits. Need to be very careful with the mech though. I've scored about 500 damage once (no kills and only 6 kill assist but the damage done is surprising.) I totally wish I record and/or took screenshots, but sadly, I didn't get the chance too. Trials do suck, but when a certain variant shows up, it can make a quicker grind. I've never seen a list for all trial variants ever placed in the game, and I've seen only very few that alternate in the game. Hope I helped a little on the trials.

[Royalewithcheese]

If you want a long-ranged mech, the best ones are probably the Cataphract 3D and the Highlander 732 (some people are saying the 733C now that UAC/5s are better.) The basic idea is that you use your jumpjets for mobility and hit hard with 2-3* PPCs + a Gauss rifle. I've seen very scary things done with builds that swap out the Gauss rifle for 2xUAC/5, and that's probably what will replace the Gauss once it gets nerfed.

_{*3 PPCs generates extra heat beyond the PPCs themselves, but you can fire 2 PPCs of the 3 if you want to stay cool.}

EDIT: Didn't see you were running a Jagermech - I like those a lot, personally. 2xAC/20 builds are lots of fun, 2xUAC/5 builds are solid, 3xUAC/5 builds (I'd recommend the DD, because you'll also want an XL engine about the size of the one it comes with.) are horrifying. With ammo, I'd recommend you put it in legs/head, then arms, torsos last.

Edited by Royalewithcheese, 30 August 2013 - 01:11 PM.

[Koniving]

Some Jagermech JM6-A vids; these were using the fragile default build. Note these are somewhat aged and during 8 vs 8 games. I actually don't use the Jagermech JM6-A too often. I should use it more, but I'm unhappy with the loss of the double helix Artemis LRMs.

Spoiler

Other Jagers from the past. All custom made.

Spoiler

Twin AC/2 + twin AC/5.


Twin AC/2 + twin UAC/5



Weak weapons in bulk are very strong. 6 small lasers + 2 MGs.


What happens when you experiment. LB-10x + 2 MGs + 3 AC/2s.

[Takony]

Imho the best are:
Stalker 3F, Cataphract 3D then HGN 732 and 733C.
Then Jager Victor and Atlas DDC though I feel the last is a bit outdated.
The rest is meh, or plain bad. Phoenix Saber etc in best case scenario will be average mechs.

[Khobai]

I recommend starting in medium mech like a hunchback. Medium mechs teach you to respect not getting hit. Which will help make you a better pilot in everything else.