39 replies to this topic

[warhamsterdave]

A big hello to you all at the mechwarrior online comunity.

I have just downloaded the game but due to working on a ship with very limited bandwidth I will have to wait untill ashore before I can play any games.

I have been interested in Mech's ever since back in the 80's making models and later playing Adeptus Titanicus.

I am very new to this online gaming thing and only a few months ago started to play world of tanks and thought this would be great if it was in the future with giant customisable mechs. And look what I have found, haha.

My main question to you is when I can get ashore and play, what are your top tips for someone like me who is new to mechwarrior and the whole genrer?

I have invested in the project pheonix as I am a great believer in helping to keep a game that is F2P supported as I can at present afford to do this and it will help in the longrun by keeping the game running.

Thanks in advance for any tips.

PS...... I cannot watch youtube while onboard.

Dave

[ArkNemesis]

My advices :

- Stay with your teammates

- Don't check somewhere if you d'on't have an assault

- Keep your c-bills (you will gain a lot for your 25 first matches : cadet bonus) until you know what you will buy as first mech

- Use the trial mech to try the different classes

- Medium (hunchback) and heavy (cataphract, catapult, jager) are the best first mechs (from my point of view)

- Never buy ferro-fibrous if you can buy endo-steel instead

...

- And read some of the marvellous guide you can find above this topic (pinned)

Have fun on battlefied!

Edit : oups : and try to make some friends in game to play with them on a teamspeak or equivalent voice chat. It is the best way to learn and teamwork is the key to victory.

Edited by ArkNemesis, 31 October 2013 - 04:03 AM.

[Colby Boucher]

1. Stick with your team. One of the most powerful tactics in this game is to have your team move as a unit and focus fire on individual enemies (made possible by the letters above the red targeting box)


2. For your first... 15 matches, I THINK, you will get a "Cadet Bonus" which will massively improve your income. I don't suggest buying your own mech until that period is up.


3. You cannot roam about like a headless chicken, unless you are a light. You need to decide what your goal is, and follow through with it, even if it means waiting a minute for enemies to pass (only one life, better to live than get a few free shots)


4. YOUTUBE. Figure out what roles certain mechs will excel at, and learn a thing or two about how experts build their mechs. For instance, if you are going to buy an XL engine, which is significantly lighter than standards but mind-blowingly expensive, you only need to buy one. You can swap it around between chassis later. This and other tricks will make or break your ability to make money, and therefore your ability to be a valuable team member.


5. Being a new player, rule number one is doubly important. Pay attention to what makes a winning team, and don't get discouraged when you fail miserably, because it WILL happen.


6. Since your mech is divided into separate parts, it is beneficial to have any damage you take be spread around your entire body. The practical application of this is that if you constantly twist your center torso away from enemies while not firing, you will last MUCH longer.


7. GOOD LUCK AND HAVE FUN!

Edited by Colby Boucher, 31 October 2013 - 04:04 AM.

[Itsalrightwithme]

Join one of the many guilds here, or simply set up TeamSpeak and hop on the free public NGNG server. Click on the upper left logo here: http://www.nogutsnogalaxy.net/

In the absence of reasonably good official tutorials nor consolidated official documentation, nothing beats having a voice-accessible buddy help you through the growing pains of learning the game. There are plenty of big guilds oriented towards new players, and I can personally recommend skye-rangers.net even though I am no longer a member. How's that for endorsement?

Welcome and see you around the field.

Oh, and if you read posts by that guy Koniving, heed everything he says/writes. He is like Kerensky's Gift to Newbies, a semi-deity that Newbies should worship for protection.

[Denolven]

I have only one: if you like Mechs, don't let the game discourage you.
It has a steep learning curve and many things that are not exactly intuitive. But if you can endure that and find some buddies to drop with, you'll have a great time. For the times when nobody is online, you can always browse the training grounds subforum for guides.

Welcome to MWO

Oh, and if you have any specific questions and no motivation to search through a million textlines, feel free to ask right away here: Short Question - Short Answer
It's a pinned topic in this forum section, because we know that every new player will have tons of questions.

[Geek Verve]

Looking forward to welcoming you to the game!

Make sure that before you begin your first match, your premium time has been activated. This greatly increases the amount of C-Bills you earn, especially during your first 25-match cadet bonus period. On the main lobby screen, a field at the bottom left should show your remaining premium time as "X days left". If it shows zero, click the button next to it to activate any premium time you got with the Phoenix package (if it came with the tier you purchased).

If the Phoenix package you purchased doesn't include any premium time, you still get one day for free, but you have to know where to find it. Go back to the MechWarrior Online site and proceed like you're downloading the game for the first time. After clicking download, go to the bottom of that screen and look for a button that says something to the effect of "Get 1 Free Day of Premium Time".

Premium time increases your C-Bill rewards by 50% (I think). After your first 25-matches, you will likely have enough C-Bills to buy the most expensive mechs in the game or a few of the cheaper ones. Just be prepared to spend an additional couple million on upgrading a mech after purchasing it. Double heat sinks are all but a must, especially if you mount a lot of energy weapons.

While you're waiting to get started, check out the defacto standard online mech lab: Smurfy's MWO Reference.

Edited by Geek Verve, 31 October 2013 - 06:34 AM.

[Lucky Noob]

Welcome.

Tipp: prepare to die, die alot, this Game is awesome but it has an steady learning curve.

Get used to it and dont care, watch in spectator after dieying helps alot.


Tipp: most Important........ Have Fun

[Cybermech]

best advice I can give you,

make as many mistakes as possible, die lots of times, think like your trying to learn chess for the first time.
don't always stick to your team, notice when they blob up on to one spot.

the bigger the mech, in theory the easier your gaming will be, whoever smaller mechs will allow you to make a few more positioning mistakes as speed will allow you to adapt to many situations.

if you have a low end machine, your old enough, then you might find piloting smaller mechs to be a pain.
you will make lots of cbills in your first 25 matches so use the trial mechs to get a picture of how you like different types of tactics.

also note some trials (especially smaller ones) have really low armor which will end you getting instant killed.

[Nothing Whatsoever]

warhamsterdave, on 31 October 2013 - 03:35 AM, said:

My main question to you is when I can get ashore and play, what are your top tips for someone like me who is new to mechwarrior and the whole genrer?

When you die in a match stay and spectate the match, you can pick up a lot watching others and following any constructive chat such as mentions of where targets are, suggestions of where to go in a map and so on, then if the match results if a win or loss and if there is any colorful chat during and at the end of a match. It's a lot of trial and error, but I learned this game that way, and with tips you get here will help you.

With your Overlord package, tryout the Shadowhawks as often as you can, they are very versatile mechs that have a nice mix of speed, ballistics and jump jets.

I recommend investing in an AC/20 that you can swap between your Shadowhawks. AC/10s are also a fine weapon to pair with a PPC or ERPPC if you'd like to try that out too.

As mentioned earlier Smurphy's http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/ is an awesome resource to use. And here's MechSpecs

[Redshift2k5]

My number one advice is a little different:

Don't be afraid to ask questions.

There's a lot going on in MWO, and many features are still in flux so a feature you read about may have changed, or new things added, etc etc. Ask questions!

[MavRCK]

Check out the reddit forums: reddit.com/r/mwo - lots of great posts and commentary!

[Alaskan Nobody]

Welcome to the game!
May your matches all be close ones!
(The one-sided fights get boring real fast )

[LauLiao]

ArkNemesis, on 31 October 2013 - 03:58 AM, said:

- Keep your c-bills (you will gain a lot for your 25 first matches : cadet bonus) until you know what you will buy as first mech

- Use the trial mech to try the different classes
.

Very good suggestions here.

You're going to have a lot of "HOLY {Scrap} I died fast" moments when you first start. Don't let that discourage you. It can be a difficult game to learn, especially if you don't have the Battletech background that a lot of us do.

The best thing you can do honestly, is find a group to play with over Teamspeak/some other voice client. Having someone able to answer your questions and give you advice and tips in real time as you're playing is invaluable.

[Corvus Antaka]

Don't get discouraged. It won't be easy.

But it's worth it in the long run.

[Sephlock]

warhamsterdave, on 31 October 2013 - 03:35 AM, said:

A big hello to you all at the mechwarrior online comunity.

I have just downloaded the game but due to working on a ship with very limited bandwidth I will have to wait untill ashore before I can play any games.

I have been interested in Mech's ever since back in the 80's making models and later playing Adeptus Titanicus.

I am very new to this online gaming thing and only a few months ago started to play world of tanks and thought this would be great if it was in the future with giant customisable mechs. And look what I have found, haha.

My main question to you is when I can get ashore and play, what are your top tips for someone like me who is new to mechwarrior and the whole genrer?

I have invested in the project pheonix as I am a great believer in helping to keep a game that is F2P supported as I can at present afford to do this and it will help in the longrun by keeping the game running.

Thanks in advance for any tips.

PS...... I cannot watch youtube while onboard.

Dave

Most of these apply to pugging, although some will apply to matches with people you know as well:

Don't pilot Locusts or rely on LRMs.

Never be the first guy around a corner.

Stick with the team.

Seriously, stick with the team. It always sucks to start off a mission and see one or two dudes walking off to a cap point that no one else is going to, knowing that they'll be dead in about 40 seconds and we'll be playing 12 v 10 (or whatever).

As an addendum to the above: If you want to try to get your blob to move in a certain direction, MAKE SURE PEOPLE ARE FOLLOWING YOU, AND TURN BACK IF THEY AREN'T. YOU ARE NOT GOING TO DO YOUR TEAM ANY GOOD LIKE THAT!



(Just imagine the Mechwarrior 4 intro).

Edited by Sephlock, 31 October 2013 - 11:54 AM.

[warhamsterdave]

Thank you very much for all the tips and the links.

I have and will be checking them out over the next few days until I get ashore.

I am really looking forward to getting out for a stomp around in a mech.

See you on the drop zones.

Dave

[Unnatural Growth]

Since you already have the Overlord package, I would ignore the trial mechs for a while. You're better off gaining XP points in the mechs that you already own.

I would recommend either the Shadowhawk or the Thunderbolt to start with. Both have one stock variant that comes with Dual Heat Sinks (DHS) already. This is a huge boon for you, as just starting out you will be Cbill poor. Engine and structure upgrades when you can afford them. The (P) variants give you Cbill bonuses, which are very handy for building in game money (Cbills), but they come with Standard Heat Sinks (SHS) and will overheat quickly in battle.

Once upgraded, those Shadowhawks are VERY good mechs. It's taken me a while to get the Thunderbolts to work for me, kind of have to play them a little more conservative than my other heavy chassis mechs. The Battlemasters are formidable, but take quite a bit of Cbills to upgrade properly into a well functioning assault mech imo. The Locust... well... it is the lightest of the light mechs. Light mechs are a very cruel learning curve, and the Locust seems to be the least forgiving of them all. Small, fast (when upgraded), but made out of paper mache and very easy to kill.

My advice would be Shadowhawk>>>Thunderbolt>>>Battlemaster>>>Locust. In that order of learning. You can earn Cbills as you go, and upgrade each mech with earnings from the previous mechs, etc, etc.

I would NOT activate your premium time!! You get 90 days premium time for going Overlord. BUT, once you activate it, you CANNOT shut it back off again! So, unless you know you have 90 days worth of time you can play consecutively, you'll be wasting it. If you activate it on shore, then board ship and sail, it will be running out while you're still at sea.

It would be nice if you can activate it, play for a while, and then turn it back off again when Real Life gets in the way, but alas, it's not so.

[mailin]

OldOrgandonor, on 31 October 2013 - 03:30 PM, said:

Since you already have the Overlord package, I would ignore the trial mechs for a while. You're better off gaining XP points in the mechs that you already own.

My advice would be Shadowhawk>>>Thunderbolt>>>Battlemaster>>>Locust. In that order of learning. You can earn Cbills as you go, and upgrade each mech with earnings from the previous mechs, etc, etc.

I wholeheartedly agree with this advice. The Shadowhawks are great mechs that can be equipped a wide variety of ways. One bit of advice that I haven't heard from any yet is patience. Patience with yourself, because as mentioned the learning curve can be pretty daunting and you WILL die a lot. Be patient with yourself and don't get discouraged. I've been playing this game for over a year now and it's still fun and exciting. Patience also applies in matches though. Unless you're running a light, always stay with your team, and actually always stay a little bit behind them. Move with them and try to fire on what they fire on. If no one moves initially, don't be the first to move. Let someone else make the decisions while you concentrate on driving your mech and hitting the enemies. But most important, good luck and have fun. Happy hunting.

[Ian Grahame]

There's a lot of good advice above. The forums here, on reddit, and at mechspecs will all be of help, and if you have any net connectivity at all aboard ship you can tap those even if you can't play.

I'll throw something else out at you that might be of some help, indirectly. MWO and the previous Mechwarrior games are all based on the Battletech tabletop miniature game. If you pick it up and some of your buddies aboard ship are gaming geeks, you can play that game and learn the basics of the various weapons and mech builds. While obviously that's not a computer game shooter and teaches you nothing of the controls, it will give you grounding in various concepts that came to MWO basically intact from the source material.

And thank you for your service, sir.

[Buckminster]

Welcome! To throw in my 2 cents as well. Some of this will be repeats, but that's because it was good advice the first time.

Use your Phoenix mechs. You already have them, and it doesn't make sense to get familiar to the trial mechs.
Use the (P) variants. They earn you extra C-bills, which is very important in the beginning.
Play with your mechs before you try and customize them. Try and get a feel for them before you start spending your cash.
http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/ It has all the stats, plus an off-line mechlab. It'll let you play with ideas before you spend any C-bills.
Pay attention to the skill trees and the mech efficiencies. Those little bonuses make a big difference.
Your mech is a vehicle, more like a tank than a soldier. The direction you are moving may not be the direction you are looking. The sooner you master that, the better off you'll be.
Don't be afraid to get out of a fight if the situation is bad.
Analog movement controls are worth the investment. I use a cheap joystick for my throttle and turning, and it's much better than WASD.
A good mouse for aiming is also worth the investment. Your weapons are organized into fire groups, and it helps to have more mouse buttons.
There is a training grounds where you can run around unopposed. Use it.

And most of all - don't forget to have fun! This game has a steep learning curve and can be very frustrating. But it's a fantastic game once you get over that hill.