21 replies to this topic

[MechFang2106]

Again I am a assault player and I don't know what light to buy... Also if you have any builds that come with the 'Mach that's great! Thanks.

[scJazz]

Wow this is a tough one.

Get a Jenner F

JR7-F 6xSPL

Substitute SPL for Medium Lasers, for your choice. You can cause a lot of havoc in one of these but the playstyle of any Light is totally foreign to what you are used to doing.

[Alaskan Nobody]

Jenner is the usual go-to light: relatively good armor, weapons, speed, and of course, jumpjets
All have jump jets
2 have missiles
None have balistics

Ravens are more information oriented, but a mixed loadout of abilities
One has jump jets
One has ECM

Spiders are mostly about the speed, giving up firepower to get there, but have jump jets
All have jump jets
one has ECM
None have missiles

Commando are hit-and-run specialists - they have less armor than a jenner and no jumpjets though
most have plenty of missile slots
one has ECM
None have Jumpjets
None have balistics

Locust are squishy squishy little bugs - fast and small though
no ecm
no jump jets
no real armor values.

Having said that - scJazz pretty much nailed it - all of them are going to be a far cry from what you are used to.
I personally favor my Commandos, but the Jenner are (possibly ) the better choice

Edit: Typo

Edited by Shar Wolf, 04 November 2013 - 04:17 PM.

[SuomiWarder]

You didn't mention if you have a play style you prefer for weapons - like guns or large lasers or LRMs.

None of them will act like a Stalker in use. In general I would say that a Jenner is the best all rounder for the lights. If you want a light cannon you;ll probably have to go with a Cucada and pretebd it's a light.

[Unnatural Growth]

MechFang,

It really depends on what play style you want to use? Even lights can be played differently. You can scout, snipe, hunt enemy lights, harass, base defend, or (gawd no) cap rush.

Do you have an idea on "what" you want to do with this light?

[mailin]

Raven 4X with an AC20.

[MechFang2106]

All of y'all have asked what my play style is. It is brawler with ERllas (in case we get pinned behind some rock) and ssrm2's or Lrm's (so I can start firing when I'm walking to battle) cuz I'm slow.... But thanks for the fast replies too!!!! and no no cap rush.

Edited by MechFang2106, 04 November 2013 - 04:14 PM.

[scJazz]

Shar Wolf, on 04 November 2013 - 02:21 PM, said:

Lots of wonderful detail that I skipped

Having said that - SC pretty much nailed it

OK sorry but I have to correct you on this part...

The callsign is JAZZ! SC is the squadron tag... the Skeleton Crew. A small group of pilots flying flight sims who are extremely helpful to newbs. The SCs are also notorious for having a disparate impact causing a large amount of hate and discontent for such a numerically small group. A 20 year old tradition repeated in MUDS, Everquest, Aces High, EvE, and now here

Get it straight Shar Wolf! Callsign JAZZ!

MechFang2106, on 04 November 2013 - 04:13 PM, said:

All of y'all have asked what my play style is. It is brawler with ERllas (in case we get pinned behind some rock) and ssrm2's or Lrm's (so I can start firing when I'm walking to battle) cuz I'm slow.... But thanks for the fast replies too!!!! and no no cap rush.

Ummm we didn't have too It doesn't matter what style you prefer in the Stalker. Light mechs are always played as fast moving hit and run Skirmishers or Dead.

[TercieI]

Shar said it well above, but I'd suggest Jenner because they're excellent and, more importantly, they're excellent. All three variants are really pretty darn good. The -K gets a bad rap, but only because it's standing near the -D and -F. The -K is solid, the other two are just exceptional. If you want to master even one variant (and IMO, why wouldn't you?), the Jenner is the best chassis to start lights with.

All of the others you'll have at least one that is a real pain (possible exception being 'Mandos, but I wouldn't suggest they be your first light, I started with them and don't recommend that). Once you've gotten three Jenners through elite, you won't be obliged to get any other lights further than through basic to master the variant(s) you want. (Looking at you, non-5D Spiders...).

Also, Jenners all have the same engine cap, so you can get away with investing in only one expensive XL engine. They're the only light chassis this is true of now (Locusts, too, I guess, but don't start lights there, really. And if you do Commandos and skip the -2D, you're doing it wrong) so that's a nice perk. Also, if you want to and can spare a few actual $, you can get that engine and a reasonably kitted JR7-F for not that many MC on sale through tomorrow midday, which is a nice jump-start on the chassis.

Edited by Terciel1976, 04 November 2013 - 04:19 PM.

[Alaskan Nobody]

scJazz, on 04 November 2013 - 04:14 PM, said:

Get it straight Shar Wolf! Callsign JAZZ!

You have any idea how many "Jazz" there are running around the forum?
Calling you "John" or "Smith" would be about as definitive.

PS: had meant to type out your whole name.... thought I had in fact

[scJazz]

Shar Wolf, on 04 November 2013 - 04:16 PM, said:

You have any idea how many "Jazz" there are running around the forum?
Calling you "John" or "Smith" would be about as definitive.

PS: had meant to type out your whole name.... thought I had in fact

yeah... 1... me... stop screwing it up Sheep Bunny

[mailin]

I'm tellin' ya, AC20 Raven is a hoot. For the true light experience though, a Jenner is the best, most survivable light out there. After you get a feel for the Jenner, then you can try your hand at other lights or a Cicada. It really depends on your playstyle.

[ArcDemon]

Lights play very different from all the other mechs, and among lights themselves there is wide select of play styles dependent on the mech and loadout.

I would agree with the Jenner - it is a very well rounded mech with good armor and descent weapons for a light and is a very good teacher for the piloting skills you will need. The only difference is that I might be inclined to recommend the JR7-D as the best light trainer mech (equipped with 300XL, 4 ML, 2 SSRMS and 2-4 jump jets). The heat curve is more manageable and its 'endurance' in a fight is closer to what you will be used to compared to the JR7-F. The streaks should also help prevent you from getting eaten alive by other lights while you learn.

By comparision the JR7-F is a pure striker mech (and perhaps a good 2nd purchase once you've filled out the basics on the -D), running a high heat curve thats jump in to place a few critical shots before fading away. You really want to learn the light piloting basics before you get into a mech that constantly wants to overheat. In a Stalker it won't kill you in PUG play but in a light mech overheating in the middle of combat is usually a death sentence - someone will shoot your leg off or put an AC/20 through your torso and you're dead.

To cover the other lights, the Commando can be a fun ride (it's the mech I have the most recorded matches in) but for a new light pilot you're going to spend too many matches blown apart before you can get any real experience in. The spider won't be as invincible as you thought it was from your Stalker though the real catch will be learning how to do something with very limited firepower. The Locust is just the Commando turned up to 11. You will die every time, wait until you're really comfortable in lights before trying one. The Raven is a strange beast. The 3L is a reasonably armored light and even feels a lot like a bulkier Jenner with better torso protection and no jump jets. However the other 2 variants often need strange mutant configurations to be viable on the battlefield, like the AC/20 Raven. These may be fun but are not very good for learning general light piloting skills.

[Victor Morson]

The across the board praise for the 6 energy or 4 energy / 2 missile Jenners is absolutely deserved. Go Jenner first. It is the master lightmech.

The Spider or Raven only see use in niche leagues, and are otherwise mostly trash. The Locust is a joke mech and the Commando is just plain bad.

[Alaskan Nobody]

Victor Morson, on 04 November 2013 - 07:00 PM, said:

The Spider or Raven only see use in niche leagues, and are otherwise mostly trash. The Locust is a joke mech and the Commando is just plain bad.

Only for the intensively competitive.

Of course now, that may have been the first question we should have asked: how competitive do you want to be

[MavRCK]

Jenner. Tier Tier 1!

[Victor Morson]

Shar Wolf, on 04 November 2013 - 07:20 PM, said:

Of course now, that may have been the first question we should have asked: how competitive do you want to be

Asking that comes down to "Would you like us to recommend a very good 'mech, or one people like because it looks cool and/or nostalgia?"

It'd be like someone who is new to sci-fi going "Recommend me an action sci-fi movie" and then countering with "Do you want it to be really good, or something some people like alright?"

Edited by Victor Morson, 04 November 2013 - 07:25 PM.

[Alaskan Nobody]

Victor Morson, on 04 November 2013 - 07:23 PM, said:

Asking that comes down to "Would you like us to recommend a very good 'mech, or one people like because it looks cool and/or nostalgia?"

Close, but not quite - at my elo level the difference between most Light mechs is almost negligable - so it may actually be more a question of how good the people at his elo level are (or rather how good he expects them to be since lights have a different elo than assaults)

Victor Morson, on 04 November 2013 - 07:23 PM, said:

It'd be like someone who is new to sci-fi going "Recommend me an action sci-fi movie" and then countering with "Do you want it to be really good, or something some people like alright?"

I enjoy Bela Lugosi's Dracula, I also enjoy Attack of the Killer Tomatoes.
While Killer Tomatoes is hardly a 'good' movie, it is one I highly recommend when people are looking for a less serious monster movie.

Just because it is 'bad' does not mean you would not like it more than the 'good' one - as noted, I prefer my Commando over my Jenner, even though the Jenner is better - if he would prefer the Commando or the Locust, it does little good to try and shoe-horn him into the Jenner.

[Heavenly Angel]

Jenner if you just want to kill things.
Raven if you want ECM.
Commando if you like the idea of shooting streaks at other lights.
Spider if you just want to troll.

[Unnatural Growth]

Jenner is getting a lot of praise here, and it's deserved. It's a good mech. But, without knowing what role you want to fill, all we can give is generic advice. If you're going to scout and spot targets, you'll be better served in a mech with ECM imo. If you want a fast striker/harasser, go Jenner. The Jenner (and now Locust) is the only light chassis without an ECM variant.

Whatever light you go with, I recommend putting the largest XL engine in it that will fit. That, plus DHS, Endo and FF armor makes a light mech pretty expensive to build. If you want a Jenner, I would second the option of getting the Champion while it's still on sale. It comes equipped the right way. A stock vanilla Jenner is a target drone and you will hate it.

Speed is your armor in a Jenner. Go with the XL300 engine.