20 replies to this topic

[Revyl]

Before I start dishing out my Bills, I was wondering if I could get a few good tips from more experienced players. Now I've tried out the different categories of Trial Mechs, and I must say, while Light seems a lot of fun, I think Heavy would suit me better. I'm reading good things about the Jagers.
As for my playstyle, I'm not much one for brawling. I guess I'd like sniping, but I don't want to be a sitting duck either. What I'm looking for would be a decently armored mech who can engage at medium/long range to get a couple of hits in, as well as being able to survive the odd unexpected close encounter.
I was wondering if a JM6-S with a Gauss on one arm, an AC-10 on the other, and 2 ML would be possible/viable, or if there's some other build I should consider working towards. I'm up for any suggestions here, really. Thanks

[The Great Unwashed]

The Jagers are nice to start with, but with two heavy ballistics you often end up with an XL engine. It might be better to start in a mech without it to get a feeling how often you loose your side torso. I started with a series of Hunchbacks and the FB. The latter had a normal engine, 1 AC20 or Gauss, 4ML and 1 ERLL.

Mixing the AC-10 with a Gauss leads to a (conflicting) mix of playstyles; continuous fire versus pinpoint fire (with bonustrigger delay; it's possible but I think it is confusing. Starting with 2xAC-10 should work well.

Example for the FB, with the only advantage you have lasers in the arms (Other variants work just as well). With no XL you can lower your side armor a bit if you like, but you will loose the arm if the side torso is destroyed.

FIREBRAND

[Racklesnack]

You may want to check out this site http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/
Gauss+ac10+2ml
Dual gauss
Or if you decide to try out brawling
ac20+ac10+2ml

[Rascula]

Jaegermechs are great but don't overlook the other mechs in the heavy family.
Catphracts are excellent sniper/brawlers,
Orions are good all round
Catapults are pretty much kings of LRM <excepting the K2 which is a wonderful sniper>
Dragons are fast and mobile, but tend to need a touch more care to be survivable.
Quickdraws are hard hitting and very mobile mechs.

Basically try before you buy if you can, heavys are expensive to buy and fully kit out, so play around with possible builds on http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab before you spend those C-Bills!

Edited by Rascula, 10 October 2013 - 03:30 AM.

[scJazz]

Welcome to MWO!

Generally speaking the Jagermech is a fine choice.

I would recommend that you get the Jagermech DD first since it comes with a valuable XL260 Engine that can be used in the other Jagermechs and Catapults and lots of others.

You do not want to use a weapon spread like the one you described. You are better off using 2 weapons of the same type like 2 AC10s. It makes the ammo situation easier to deal handle. It also makes aiming far easier.

Eventually, you will want to own (all at once or sequentially) 3 Jagermechs to get Elite/Master. Keep this in mind.

[SchwarzerPeter]

Check out http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/ if you to play around with loadouts withouts before buying.

ff you want a light i suggest a Jenner (best overall with jumpjets and a good weapon loadout):

For meduiums i recommend hunchbacks. Great beginner mech and the chassis allow you to play all kind of rolls.

On the heavy i have piloted Dragons and Jaggers. I wouldnt recommend the Dragon, it has a huge Center Torso, where all the damage lands. Jaggers need an XL engine to load all the heavy guns, but also got huge side torsos. So they die quick.

Assault mechs i would recommend a Victor or an Highlander, both got jumpsjets which make them a hole lot more mobile. Victors can run an XL engine (relative small sides) and thus be very fast (~80 km/h) and Highlanders can resit a lot of damage, when they run an STD engine. The jumpjets also help to sread the damage more and survive longer.

Edited by SchwarzerPeter, 10 October 2013 - 03:33 AM.

[Geek Verve]

As a (somewhat) new pilot, myself, here are a few things I've learned with regard to weapon loadouts:

• XL engines are great, as long as you know what you're getting. You can get a faster engine in XL for the same tonnage at the cost of six crit slots (three in each side torso). However, think twice before using a gauss rifle in the side torso with an XL equipped. The GR takes up seven crit slots and is the only weapon that can (and often does) explode when it takes critical damage, taking your engine (and therefore your mech) along with it.
  
• Try not to put weapons that use a different method of fire in the same hardpoint areas. For example, SRM's and autocannons both require you lead to the target, but each requires a different lead distance. Putting them together in the torso (or either one paired with a laser) causes you to end up with weapons that won't hit the same target unless you and your target are standing still.
  
• Gauss rifles are nice for sniping, but do to the charging time required, become much less effective in close combat. I've pulled off some nice shots on lights up close with one, but I've wasted a far greater amount of ammo on misses.
  
• With regard to lasers, the more you add, the exponentially higher your total heat is going to climb. Overheating in the middle of a hectic fight is no fun. Set them up in different fire groups and manage your fire accordingly.

Hope this helps.

Edited by Geek Verve, 10 October 2013 - 04:07 AM.

[Itsalrightwithme]

Re: XL engines, one of the most important two questions to ask are: 1) how likely are you to lose a side torso instead of your center torso, and 2) is it worth the risk?

A good rule of thumb is that the smaller the mech, the more worthwhile the XL engine. Light mechs thrive on speed, speed, speed, and can carry very little weight. If you put a Standard engine in a Jenner, you can surive a side torso loss, but you are damn slow and you won't be carrying hardly any ammo nor armor.

In a Stalker or Atlas, you can carry lots of guns and armor, so even if you lost a side torso and half your weapons, you are still a mean fighting machine. So most Stalkers and Atlas use Standard engine, except maybe a few Boar's Heads.

If you are in a Medium or Heavy, then the consideration is less straightforward and it depends on each mech. Very few Hunchies carry XL, but Cent D do, it really comes down to weapon slots and roles and hitboxes. And if you are worrying about things at this level, you really aren't a newbie and you shouldn't be reading this sub-forum .

Revyl, on 10 October 2013 - 02:51 AM, said:

I was wondering if a JM6-S with a Gauss on one arm, an AC-10 on the other, and 2 ML would be possible/viable, or if there's some other build I should consider working towards. I'm up for any suggestions here, really. Thanks

Jagers are very good mechs especially for pugging and 4-mans.

However, re: carrying only one Gauss, I hope you already know that the Gauss has to be fired using a special sequence. You have to hold the fire button to charge them up, and then release to fire (within a time limit). So I rarely see Heavy/Assault mechs carrying only one Gauss, I see plenty with two Gauss. If you have to concentrate that little much more to fire one, why not fire two? Otherwise you'll be busy charging up the Gauss to fire the AC10. At least that's my approach.

[John MatriX82]

Revyl, on 10 October 2013 - 02:51 AM, said:

Before I start dishing out my Bills, I was wondering if I could get a few good tips from more experienced players. Now I've tried out the different categories of Trial Mechs, and I must say, while Light seems a lot of fun, I think Heavy would suit me better. I'm reading good things about the Jagers.
As for my playstyle, I'm not much one for brawling. I guess I'd like sniping, but I don't want to be a sitting duck either. What I'm looking for would be a decently armored mech who can engage at medium/long range to get a couple of hits in, as well as being able to survive the odd unexpected close encounter.
I was wondering if a JM6-S with a Gauss on one arm, an AC-10 on the other, and 2 ML would be possible/viable, or if there's some other build I should consider working towards. I'm up for any suggestions here, really. Thanks

As others told you, use smurfy to play around with builds and chassis and look ho you could invest your money properly.

For the first mech here's an heavy small list:

-Dragon: 60 tons, Huge CT, XL friendly but requires also endo and sometimes even FF along with DHSs to be ran properly; pretty expensive for what you can do with it, it's now an old wreck and I wouldn't reccomend it, even if I was one of those knights defending it months ago.

-Quickdraw: pretty tall and beefy mech for the same tonnage of the Dragon; XLs aren't bad with it, JJ capability makes the Dragon obsolete, but it now has somewhat an hard time without being able to dish out ballistics; it plays like a big medium, but I'd not reccomend it for a starting mech as the Dragon requires DHSs, XL engines (possibly fast 320+ rating) and so on.

-Catapult: old favorite, it suffers greatly by a big head hitbox, so that basically even a commando is probably going to headshot you .
Extremely XL friendly, gets in the K2 an unique variant capable of wielding a good array of ballistics or ACs with lasers or PPCs; it could be one of the adviced mechs for you if you're going to employ it as a mid to long range support mech, but the other variants (A1, C1 let the C4 stay where it is) are pretty different and rely on missiles so you could find some hard time mastering the K2.

-Jagers: heavy ballistic oriented, very high-mounted hardpoints, basically any variant is good at dishing out projectiles of any sort, with the JM6A being capable to go ballistics and missile. However, due to the heavy weight of ammunitions and weapons, you require most of the times XL engines in them, resulting in limited survivability because the side torsoes are HUGE and even with XLs you won't be able to be that fast either.
Imho it's a mech that isn't good for a starter mech, you may want to have more experience before moving on Jagers.

-Cataphract: this is the chassis I advice you to start with. 70 tons allow either XL and Standard engine builds along with a good mix of ballistics and energy weapons; best variant is the 3D because of JumpJets, then 1X/2X; the 3D's 280 XL engine is a good one and you'll be employing it also in lights and many other chassis. Standard engines range from 280 to 300 and you can do a good amount of builds with those as well (always go DHS and ENDO even with XLs, with STDs sometimes you may even be able to fit FF).
The 4X is generally overshadowed by the Jagers, because the arm-mounted ballistics are pretty low and you have to expose the whole mech in order to shoot compared to tipping out with any jager so to reach master I'd avoid it and go with 3D/1X/2X.

-Orions: deeply failing to be a good brawling mech, they are suited to be support mechs with a gargantuan CT hitbox that however makes them decent while employing large XL engines (325+ rated), a work that can be done better by the Cataphracts, Jagers, Victors and even Catapults or Awesomes imho. I'd stay away from them for a starter mech.


As for weapons, I'd not reccomend mixing gauss and AC 10; they are pretty different, munitions travel at different speeds the former needs to recharge every shot while the AC 10 doesn't, without considering different ammo feeding and management.

With the actual meta AC5s or UAC5s (along with Large Lasers, even ER ones once you master your mechs) are usually better, unless you want to go dual AC10 but imho that gun spits peanuts for the weight it has, for 2 more tons you get an AC 20 and for 3 more a GR even with a lower DPS it's better at medium and long ranges because the bullet is extremely fast and allows you to target specific enemy mechs sections with ease.

[Revyl]

Well, I bought the Jager 6-S, left the two AC10s, ditched the two smaller ACs, and I have dual ML and dual small PL, as well as massively more armor. So far I'm happy!

[Geek Verve]

Revyl, on 10 October 2013 - 10:56 AM, said:

Well, I bought the Jager 6-S, left the two AC10s, ditched the two smaller ACs, and I have dual ML and dual small PL, as well as massively more armor. So far I'm happy!

Glad to hear it. It's amazing how much more fun the game is in a mech that suits your style of play. After buying my first mech, not really understanding yet what was best for me, I had just resigned myself to the notion that the majority of the player base was just significantly better than me. After doing much more research, I decided to grind away at 35k - 70k per match until I could come up with a few million C-bills that, along with what I could get from gutting and selling my first mech back, would put me in something that would be a better fit. The difference was a pleasant surprise, and that CPLT-K2 is still my favorite mech at this point. I actually feel like I can make significant contributions to the team, now.

[KevinL21]

Thanks for the opinions.

I am new to the game but love it buying 12000 mc straight and a month of playtime.

I bought a spider based upon the trial mech (different variant).


For my second mech, I'm thinking of getting a catarphract 3d for long distance sniping duty. How much would it cost to outfit one reasonably?

Thanks to the community.

[TercieI]

kleung21, on 25 October 2013 - 04:42 PM, said:

Thanks for the opinions.

I am new to the game but love it buying 12000 mc straight and a month of playtime.

I bought a spider based upon the trial mech (different variant).


For my second mech, I'm thinking of getting a catarphract 3d for long distance sniping duty. How much would it cost to outfit one reasonably?

Thanks to the community.

Work with the (excellent) included engine and probably 13-14mm

S

[Appogee]

Cataphracts or Catapults are a better first choice.

I'd steer clear of the Gauss for now, due to its more complicated firing mechanic. Plus, it's damage per second is relatively low due to its long cycle time. You'd be better off starting out with AC10, AC20 or AC5, PPCs and/or lasers.

While Jagers have nice high-mounted weapon points, they also have less armor, and are more vulnerable in the hands of newer pilots who aren't yet used to torso twisting and effectively using cover.

Edited by Appogee, 26 October 2013 - 06:46 AM.

[Jaegerwulf]

Revyl - if you continue to enjoy your JM6-S, and want to get other jagermech variants, I would recommend first, as someone else did the DD. I have great fun with that mech with 2 lb10x, 4mg's, and 2 ml's. very heat efficient and I tend to earn as many cbills on the dd as I do on my firebrand.

which brings me to my next point, if you are willing to spend some real money on this game to get some mc, I recommend the Firebrand 'Hero' Jagermech if nothing else, for the 30% bonus to earned cbils. it is also the only Jager with energy hard points on the arms. (mine has 2 ac5's and 2 LL's)

oh also check out http://www.mechspecs.com/forum/

they have a sub forum for loadouts for every variant of every mech in the game, and they have a rating system in place for the various loadouts. just be aware that a loadout rated 1 time at 5 stars may not be near as good as a loadout rated 21 times at an average of 4 stars over there hehe.

Edited by Jaegerwulf, 26 October 2013 - 02:06 PM.

[Autobot9000]

Cataphract 3D or 4X is your safest bet, after that Jagers are great for laying waste with ballistic fire, lastly Catapults were once great, but now LRMs seem to lack the punch, hence I would probably prioritize your first mech

1) Phract (3D or 4X if you like quadro AC5)
2) Jager-S with 4x AC2 or 2 U/AC 2 AC2
3) Catapult C1

I would stay away from other Catapults, the K2 is topped by any Jager as long as its about the ballistics. The CTF-3D is probably the safest mech to go for.

[Charons Little Helper]

Just as a warning - weight limits will be coming soon. However - a Jager will likely be about the average weight (likely a hair above from things said by developers - but not much)

[King Arthur IV]

the jager has to be the most new player friendly mechs out there. high mount weapons with no lateral articulation, its extremely easy to point and shoot with it.

[DI3T3R]

Raven-3L

1. The ECM allows you for relatively save sniping right behind the big guys.
2. You learn to MOVE OR DIE!!!!!!


Brawlers are a bad choice for new players. Just a few days ago, during a battle in Frozen City: I stood behind the hill by the downed dropship, darting back and forth, exchanging sniper-fire. A guy in a Thunderbolt walked right past me, over the hill, towards the enemy and attracted the fire of a full lance. He got destroyed within less than 10 seconds. Great strategy.

[Macbrea]

I would never advise a Raven as someones first mech in this game. I started on Ravens. I can tell you that you will skill up all three of the ravens and the 2x and 4x are terrible compared to the 3L. With the engine tweak they are better but that is only after you have spent a huge amount on c-bills on them.