39 replies to this topic

[Elkfire]

I'd suggest using this site for figuring out mech builds before you buy one:

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

It's essentially the mechlab minus the fancy visuals, and it'll tell you how much buying a mech and customizing it the way you like will cost you.

[Rhaythe]

Uthgart, on 19 September 2013 - 11:33 AM, said:

Eh, it`s kinda slow for a brawler. At least for me. But if it works well for you - tell me, can you recommend this builds to a new player?

Both builds work quite well for my play style. Not to say they work for *all* play styles, but what does?

As for yoru question, I was directing that comment (tongue-in-cheek) toward your Jager-bashing. It's my favorite chassis. Felt the need to defend her.

I prefer to tell newbies wanting to fly a Jager to specialize. Either dual-gauss and 2 meds on the DD, or two UAC5s plus 2 meds and 4 LRM5s on the A. And keep to the fringes of the battle. Once they have enough experience to understand how MWO's combat ebbs and flows, then they can start adjusting according to how they play.

EDIT: My editing skilz suck

Edited by Rhaythe, 19 September 2013 - 11:41 AM.

[Uthgart]

Rhaythe, on 19 September 2013 - 11:41 AM, said:

As for yoru question, I was directing that comment (tongue-in-cheek) toward your Jager-bashing. It's my favorite chassis. Felt the need to defend her.

Hey, i like my Jager too! 2xAC-5/2XAC-2 work wonders for me. I just feel that it`s not as newbie frendly, that`s all. Jagers need skill and considerable c-bill investments to fully shine. And new players need a workhorse that will get them through the money grind `till they gather enough experience to build a mech that suits them.

[80sGlamRockSensation David Bowie]

Bishop Steiner, on 19 September 2013 - 10:49 AM, said:

the 3D is good, but owned by the Victor in that department, and in most regards, the Jager is superior in hard point and hardpoint location.

The cataphract poops on the victor in terms of mobility and agility.

[Bishop Steiner]

mwhighlander, on 19 September 2013 - 11:56 AM, said:

The cataphract poops on the victor in terms of mobility and agility.

tell that to the last 100 or so I have killed.

[AntiCitizenJuan]

Start with a Centurion or a Cataphract. They're popular mechs for a reason.

Let us know when you decide on a mech and we can help you come up with builds, or at least I will.

DO NOT start with a Jagermech, and stop recommending it to him. He needs a mech with full movement capabilities and some balls to get a feel for the game.

Edited by AntiCitizenJuan, 19 September 2013 - 12:31 PM.

[GrogX]

I would start with Centurions. You've had some experience with one and can outfit them fairly inexpensively. Buy an A model, upgrade to double heat sinks, put two medium lasers in the chest, 3 SRM-6's in the side torso, pew pew. Catapults, Cataphracts, and Victors are great but you would be grinding the first variant you bought for a while to afford a second 'Mech and outfit it.

Jaegers are good but they typically require an expensive XL engine to optimize and get torn up in a brawl. Orions just make me sad so far.

Hunchbacks would probably be good to start with as well, just not my cup of tea.

Good luck to you and welcome to MWO. More important (IMO) than your first chassis is to get on teamspeak and find a group to run with. It'll change your game entirely.

[80sGlamRockSensation David Bowie]

Bishop Steiner, on 19 September 2013 - 12:29 PM, said:

tell that to the last 100 or so I have killed.

"Tell that to the last 100 or so Victors I have killed."

Person experence does not counter fact.

The Victor is larger and has mroe armor

The 3D is more menuverable and has different hardpoints. One is not simply better than another. Completely different mechs that can fill similar roles.

[Bishop Steiner]

mwhighlander, on 19 September 2013 - 02:32 PM, said:

"Tell that to the last 100 or so Victors I have killed."

Person experence does not counter fact.

The Victor is larger and has mroe armor

The 3D is more menuverable and has different hardpoints. One is not simply better than another. Completely different mechs that can fill similar roles.

Nope. Phracts suck (except for Ilya, naturally) and Victors are teh bomb. Fact of nature dude.

[Relic1701]

If you are unsure of builds (of any mech), click on my sig to check out user configs & loadouts and their playstyles.

Have fun

Edited by Relic1701, 19 September 2013 - 03:34 PM.

[Bishop Steiner]

Grogyoufong, on 19 September 2013 - 01:55 PM, said:

I would start with Centurions. You've had some experience with one and can outfit them fairly inexpensively. Buy an A model, upgrade to double heat sinks, put two medium lasers in the chest, 3 SRM-6's in the side torso, pew pew. Catapults, Cataphracts, and Victors are great but you would be grinding the first variant you bought for a while to afford a second 'Mech and outfit it.

Jaegers are good but they typically require an expensive XL engine to optimize and get torn up in a brawl. Orions just make me sad so far.

Hunchbacks would probably be good to start with as well, just not my cup of tea.

Good luck to you and welcome to MWO. More important (IMO) than your first chassis is to get on teamspeak and find a group to run with. It'll change your game entirely.

Sadly, as much as I love HBK-4G, they are not great starter mechs. I actually bought the Legendary package AFTER buying a basic Founder pack, and getting the HBK. I was so disillusioned with it, that I upgraded to get the others. After mastering the Centurion (and laughing at the "Leets" and their Zombie-Cents), I went back to revisit it, and discovered I did pretty darn good. But learning to defend that Hunch with it's low speed is not for beginners.

also for the haters and doubters:
JM6-StarterMech
Tough, durable inexpensive Jagermech to build. No XL engine for those scared of going pop, solid armor, good firepower with adequate ammo. Keeps the weapon groups simple, yet with their 2.5 second cycle time and 1300 meter range, good punch and DPS, backed by the lasers for extra punch and to help if ammo does run low.

Will run circles around virtually any Cataphract in the same cost range.

And btw, I like Cataphracts, but most of their reputation has been made off of the old Poptart PPC/Gauss Sniper Meta. Outside of that Meta, their "superiority" is largely marginal and subjective. Both chassis are great, but neither will go toe to toe with a Stalker and Atlas unless piloted by a vet.

To tune it as a relatively good "Starter" Mech, the CTF-3D is much more expensive, and the 1X is a judgement call. For a Brawler, the CTF is better. For fighting from range, the Jager IS the choice. And piloted smartly they do just fine in CQB, with or without an XL. (Though the CTF IS better in CQB for being able to protect it's engine)
I still enjoy my simple but effective CTF-1X, but almost ALWAYS turn to my Jagers for SERIOUS business.


The Orion and Catapult, on the other hand, will get cored a LOT, and are realistically best served in the way back, acting as support units. Try to brawl with either, you will get cored out, fast. (The Catapult K2 CAN make a good ambush mech, but it has limited ability to escape if it overextends).

For one that is largely good right out of the box, the CN9-D (Could recommend dropping the LRMS for SRMS tho) is actually a very solid choice, unless you subscribe to the Zombie method, in which case the CN9-A is the way to go, though it need extensive "fixes" before being ready for it's role.

Edited by Bishop Steiner, 19 September 2013 - 03:53 PM.

[Anastasius]

Cataphract, Jagermech, or Orion for a good first mech in my opinion.

All are Starwarsy and Iconic.

[AlphaTango7]

Hey, the first mech i bought and elited was the Spider class. Ive only just started playing (less then a month) but Ive got my little maxed out Spider and I just bought an Orion. If you read the forum you will see allot of complaining about hard points and blah blah but I read these forums just to keep up to date with things.

Both mechs Ive bought with c-bills have been mechs that I just wanted to play. If I wanted the best light mech I prob should have gotten a Jenner or Raven and I prob should have saved a little more to get an Atlas. But again, I bought what I wanted, not what was the "best".

Untill I actually did some reading on hard points and the weapons systems I just bought what looked cool, which i am not regretting. A game is meant to be fun, and while I may not have the best mechs I have the mechs I enjoy to play.


I would also highly suggest watching some youtube videos of the mechs your wanting to play. This gave me an idea on how to play certain load out types (long range missle boat, short range brawler etc) and can also show you what weapons do what ( I learned this just by watching what was on cooldown after they fired some shots)

And dont worry about your k/d ratio. I die allot but still have tons of fun with this game.

But the Hunchback, Spider and Orion are mechs that I have bought and I enjoyed all of them.

And dont sell any weapons/ammo/engines/etc as they can be interchanged between all your mechs

[Sadistic Savior]

HodorII, on 19 September 2013 - 08:08 AM, said:

Saw the game , started an account/DL, did the matches till my starter bonus credits ran out, I now have 9.7 mill cred.

Reading up on the forums, trying to decide what to buy as a first Mech, given the recent changes which I am given to understand reading the forums has made some weapon not work well, UAC5 (whatever that is ) and poptarts (sounds like my daughters breakfast).

Anyhow, any input on a good first mech would be welcome (I like large stompy robots, not 200 mph me in a bodysuit weird spidery things ).

IMO Hunchbacks and Catapults make the best starter mechs, because they are so versatile. Until you decide what your playstyle is, I would start with those. can mount a broad range of weapons, decent speed, good armor, not too expensive.

Poptarts are now a non-issue. Mechs with jump jets used to be able to hide behind ridges and jump up and fire and drop back down to avoid being hit. That is not really possible anymore because PGI added cockpit-shake when you jump, so you can no longer reliably aim weapons while jumping.

[Malcolm Vordermark]

I recommend the Cataphract CTF-3D. It is tough, allows for a variety of builds, and can mount jump jets. The starting XL280 engine does make you more vulnerable but it is not to hard to pick up a standard engine if that is a concern.

[operator0]

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...c9ff3a90a523ada

This Cataphract 1X is a tournament worthy build. Great brawler and not too expensive at 10.7Mil Cbills.

[HodorII]

Thank you for all the replies, I eventually got a Cataphract 4x, endo steel with 4 ac5's, slow as dirt, but getting 150 to 720 (best so far damage a game), the odd game where I stomp around slowly and do nothing but most games in the range of damage I mentioned.

If I can get shots lined up this thing kills other mech's quick

Up to 6 mill creds again now so deciding whether to save to 10 mill for the 3d or get another of the variants.

[Xeren KelDar]

I'd get the 3d. It's a versatile platform that you can build a variety of builds on.

[Bishop Steiner]

operator0, on 21 September 2013 - 06:03 AM, said:

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...c9ff3a90a523ada

This Cataphract 1X is a tournament worthy build. Great brawler and not too expensive at 10.7Mil Cbills.

it's decent. Better if you drop a heatsink for an extra ton of ammo. 21 hots for your primary gun is nowhere near enough, IMO. (Unless you somehow never miss)

More balanced, cheaper and with better endurance
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...a916b40ba2b4c7e

I always foudn the heat to damage ratio of the 5th medium to be questionable at best.

Edited by Bishop Steiner, 21 September 2013 - 11:53 AM.

[Psychokreep]

Depends greatly on your play-style.
-Do you like 'in-your-face' combat style?
-Do you like quick-capping, shoot-n-scoot pest?
-Do you like long distance sniping?
-Do you like long distance power-punching?
-Do you like quick, maneuverable combat (medium size)?
There are so many styles to choose from that to give any informed 'perfect' choice is almost impossible. After using the trial mech's, is there a preference you are looking into? Everybody will try their best to help with your decisions in order to help you become a force to recon with. But for now, look into all the feedback and make informed decisions before forking over your hard earned C-Bills into a platform you do not like.