15 replies to this topic

[MortVent]

What mech seems to be best for starting out learning gunnery skills?

I handle LRM support boats best, but running a K2 Cat and really need to learn gun skills

Lean towards medium and heavy mechs, preferring jump jets when possible (more for getting around than anything)

Trying to find a good chassis family to work to elite as a gunner, vs going trebuchet for a faster version of my catapult

[Johnny Marek Summers]

Do you mean ballistics or trying to stay on target with lasers?

The Blackjack is a medium whose variants all have lasers and two of them have ballistics. Two of the variants have jump jets.

Actually two of the variants of the Trebuchet has jump jets. Between the five variants of the Trebuchet there is a mix of all three weapons groups. However the 7K is the only one with Ballistics and it does not have jump jets.

The Centurion has a mix of the three weapons groups but none of the variants have jump jets. As does the Hunchback.

For Heavies, Jagermechs look fun. Their guns are up high so it will be fairly easy to use terrain to hide most of your body and still shoot. Most of the variants are laser/ballistic and the A has all three. The only problem with the Jagers are low-ish armor values for it's weight and no jump jets.

A lot of people recommend the Cataphract and it does have a mix of all three weapons groups leaning more towards lasers and ballistics. However the low slung arms will take some getting use to and may prove to be fustrating to learn on. Of its variants only the 3D has jump jets. Oh yeah, Cataphracts do tend to attract attention of the shooty kind.

All of the information is pretty much from MWOwiki on gamepedia, the forums here and Youtube videos (I like Mack and Kikoskia. Just be careful as the videos tend to be from a few months ago and a lot has changed since then. Oh and Kikoskia tends to favor silly builds).

EDIT: Added in sources (vaguely)

Edited by Johnny Marek Summers, 10 September 2013 - 08:44 PM.

[BookWyrm]

Jagermech. One of the best at the moment, despite constant boating nerfs. I think it will remain very viable now, and in the future.

[MortVent]

Think I'll try the jagermech, but really looking at getting better with direct fire weapons of all types.

Learning to aim, deal with shake, etc

A heavy would mesh well with the skills I'll be unlocking with the catapults vs a full grind in another weight class

[Redshift2k5]

The K2 itself is an excellent ballistic mech, but you can't go wrong with a jägermech. If you want ballistics and jump jets you'll need to go up to an assault like the Victor or Highlander or down to the 45 ton Blackjack.

The upcoming 55 ton Shadowhawk will have a ballistic and jump jets and can go decently fast, if you can wait until November (or buy a project Phoenix pack)

[Modo44]

The Jager is the obvious choice -- one of the scariest non-MC mechs at the moment. If you want to try arm-mounted ballistics, consider a Victor 9B or 9S. You can put up to dual UAC5 on those, with more armor and mobility than a Jager has, but a less stealthy profile.

[Strayed]

Cataphract 4X or 3D

Just don't expect to go anywhere in a jiffy

[Redshift2k5]

I don't know why I forgot about the Cataphract

[TyrEol]

The Cataphract 3D doesnt have to be slow and combined with the jump jets its highly manoverable.

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...c7614c5574842b8

With a big engine it makes an excelent mixed balistics and energy mech and you can top 80kph, example build above.

Generally if you're just getting used to direct weapons I'd avoid the gaus riffle to start with for now, it has a new charge up mechanic that is different to all the other weapons on the game.

Similarly be careful of the LBX10 it can be awesome fun but it's best used close range.

In my opinion AC5's are a nice weapon to get the hang of balistics, not too heavy so you can usually fit more than one, good range, nice amount of ammo per ton and a relatively quick recycle time. You will get lots of shots in which gives you plenty of practice at leading moving targets.

UAC5s can put out more dps but the jamming mechanic even at the new reduced rate is not very beginner friendly.

You could also use AC2s but they generate a bit to much heat for my liking.

I concur with the suggestions for Jaggers and Victors both chasis I own and love, I wish I'd not sold my K2 but at the time wasn't keen on the other Catapults so it seemed to make sense

Best of luck
Tyr

[Pastor Priest]

For ballistics and jumpjets, your choices of mediums and heavies are limited. Basically, you have the BJ-1 and Cataphract 3D. If you want to omit jumpjets, the Jager is a solid choice, with a focus on ballistics and energy. More and more, I think that will be my next mech, after I finish my Victors.

[BlackJackRaider]

The K2 is actually an excellent mech to learn gunnery on. 2xLL with 2xUAC5s CPLT-K2, or 2xAC10+4ML CPLT-K2 are both great builds (although you probably need an XL engine to maximize their usefulness).

My main gunnery suggestion: Turn mouse sensitivity down! Way down! There is a slider for this in the options menu. I personally run mine at either 0.3 or 0.4 sensitivity (I can't remember which at the moment). MWO is not a twitch shooter. You need to aim carefully for your ballistic shots to avoid wasting time and ammo. Likewise, lower sensitivity helps a lot in keeping your lasers on target for the full burn duration.

If you really, really want to get good at direct fire gunnery, buy a Jenner-F. Load it up with a bunch of MLs, SPLs or SLs, toss in an XL 300 or 280, and run around shooting people at 145+ kph. Once you get good at aiming in that scenario (which is what forced me to turn down mouse sensitivity in the first place), you will be pretty accurate shooting with anything.

Or just keep practicing with your K2, it's actually a good direct fire mech.

Edited by BlackJackRaider, 11 September 2013 - 06:07 AM.

[MortVent]

Well still got that chassis and now all three jaggermechs (not the mc only one though)

Using my catapult K2 still, and got the other three chassis to play with too

Thinking of picking up a light mech or a trebuchet. The tre to be a light hunter, since it has a mix and mobility to get around in (and can still play the same as my cats)

[StarGeezer]

The K2 was my first mech, and is still one of my favorites. I honestly don't miss the jumpjets; I have the A1 and C4 with the JJ's, and frankly forget to use them half the time. I unashamedly use an XL engine in the K2 (I don't typically get side-torso'd, because of the profile I almost invariable get CT'd.) Between the XL and the Elite Speed Tweak, I'm pretty mobile for a heavy. Very simple loadout as well...2 LL's and 2 PPC's...and that combo works exceedingly well for me.

I know I've mentioned it in several other threads, but I can't overstate the importance of using the Training Grounds to hone your steering and aiming skills. The ability to move at top speed while aiming with some degree of accuracy will really help in actual drops. Spend some time running around several maps (River City is a particular favorite due to all the buildings to dodge between for cover.) Using the TG's was the single most valuable bit of advice I got when I first started playing, so I pass that along for your edification.

[MortVent]

Been using them, but the honest problem is.. most targets move!

[StarGeezer]

True enough. But if you can get a handle on shooting stationary targets while YOU move, then the next step of hitting targets while you're BOTH moving is that much closer. Trust me, it works. And if someone who 1) is a "man of a certain age" whose reflexes and fine motor skills are a few years behind him and 2) doesn't come from a background in FPS's to draw upon...if this guy can manage to develop passable targeting acumen, then just about anybody can do it.

[John Buford]

StarGeezer, on 12 September 2013 - 07:17 AM, said:

The K2 was my first mech, and is still one of my favorites. I honestly don't miss the jumpjets; I have the A1 and C4 with the JJ's, and frankly forget to use them half the time. I unashamedly use an XL engine in the K2 (I don't typically get side-torso'd, because of the profile I almost invariable get CT'd.) Between the XL and the Elite Speed Tweak, I'm pretty mobile for a heavy. Very simple loadout as well...2 LL's and 2 PPC's...and that combo works exceedingly well for me.

I know I've mentioned it in several other threads, but I can't overstate the importance of using the Training Grounds to hone your steering and aiming skills. The ability to move at top speed while aiming with some degree of accuracy will really help in actual drops. Spend some time running around several maps (River City is a particular favorite due to all the buildings to dodge between for cover.) Using the TG's was the single most valuable bit of advice I got when I first started playing, so I pass that along for your edification.

Yes what StarGeezer said, was going to say pretty much the same thing but he beat me to it. Belive it actualy works just need to keep at it and both your Piloting and Gunnery will go up. You can start with moving slow and hitting specific areas of a mech to going fast but make sure you hit the weak spot of that mech. An example of this is hit the Jenner in the CT, a Raven or a centurion in the legs, Hunchie in the well hunch and stuff like that.