23 replies to this topic

[Phoenixhawk Nightshade]

I new to this game, and I am already frustrated becuase so far all I have done.Is looking around to start, and getting fed up.So please tell me if I have to spend money to get even a passable mech are not.

[Marvyn Dodgers]

Others much wiser will weigh in, but one thing that isn't obvious is that for your first 25 matches you get the cadet bonus, which increases your CBills per match. Use this to build up cash, and then look through this section to see what mech might meet your play style. In other words, don't buy a mech until after 25 matches and research what to buy in here, ask what appear to be stupid questions, and take advice, and always look for posts from Koniving (sp). Welcome aboard and don't rush into anything, if you see a link to smurfy in this area, go there and take a look around.

[Commodore Perspicuous]

The trial mechs right now are actually pretty decent. The Spider and Dragon are a little niche, what with using Machine Guns and Guass Rifle, but they are still good for different play styles. I would go with the Centurion as a beginner, though. You do NOT have to send real money for a mech. You DO have to (or should) spend the first 25 (I think it's 25?) matches using the trial mechs to learn how things move and what kind of playstyle you have. The first 25 matches or so you get a "Cadet Bonus" with your C-Bills after a match (in-game currency). At that point you should have enough in-game currency to purchase a pretty wide range of mechs.

So stick with it, learn the ropes on the trials, save your C-Bills, and once you're done with the Cadet Bonus see if you know what your playstyle is and what mech fits it. For new players I would suggest Centurions or Hunchbacks, particularly HBK-4SP. Having a shield arm on the Centurions and having all your weapons focused on the right side on Hunchbacks will help you learn to protect important parts of your mech. The HBK-4SP is an exception since it has a wonderfully symmetric hardpoint loadout that simply makes it one of the most user-friendly mechs in the game, in my opinion.

Hope this helps and hope you keep playing! It can be a bit of a rough start, but it's good fun if you stick with it. Feel free to ask plenty of questions! We all did...

[Hammerfinn]

These days, the trials are pretty solid. You won't have any experience on them, so veteran pilots will be able to make their mechs go faster, generate less heat on weapon fire, etc. The current trials are at least tricked out and actually built--they have XL engines and Double Heat Sinks and other upgrades.

It's generally recommended to start out in the trial mechs for your first 25 matches--you get a bonus to your CBill earnings, and should rack up enough to get your own mech and start customizing it.

The new-user experience in this game is pretty rough--it generally takes a couple hundred games until you can consistently feel "competitive" and find out what your own playstyle is, and in the meantime, you will get smacked down hard and repeatedly by better, more experienced pilots.

Poke around this sub-forum--there's LOTS of great advice on how to get started and do well. Stick with it--it's kind of a ***** at first, but it's worth it if you can tough out the learning-curve.

[Alaskan Nobody]

To clarify on the above, above average posts:

The trial mechs are to allow you to experiment with the weight classes before you spend in-game (Cbill) or real (MC) money.
The only mechs you can only get with real-world money, are the Hero mechs and Champions or (c) mechs.

Hero mechs give you a 30% bonus to in-game money earnings
(c) mechs give a 10% boost to XP earnings - Mech XP, and by extension, General XP.

All (c) mechs are simply a general variant with the bonus, in other words, you can get the same mech sans-bonus, with in-game money. In other words if you want to buy a Centurion9-A(c) but do not want to spend real-world money you can buy the Centurion9-A (sans-(c) ) for Cbills, ant it will have the exact same stats, just without the XP bonus.

The total list of things that require real-world money are as follows
1) Mechbays
2) Hero Mechs
3) All but a few paints
4) Paint Patterns (like the Tartan)
5) Champion Mechs
6) Cockpit Decorations (like faction flags)

Those are listed in order of how most people recommend prioritizing them, to simplify things some.

[TercieI]

Commodore Perspicuous, on 07 November 2013 - 06:07 PM, said:

I would go with the Centurion as a beginner, though.

The Centurion got replaced with the Blackjack on Tuesday and the Blackjack, due to being the AC/20 "boom boom" build is also very specialized and a bit finicky to use. They really should have brought the Jenner back in in place of the Spider, IMO.

[Commodore Perspicuous]

Terciel1976, on 07 November 2013 - 06:27 PM, said:

The Centurion got replaced with the Blackjack on Tuesday and the Blackjack, due to being the AC/20 "boom boom" build is also very specialized and a bit finicky to use. They really should have brought the Jenner back in in place of the Spider, IMO.

Ah, well, I can see why OP is a bit frustrated with mech selection, then... :\

[Koniving]

Your questions have essentially been answered, but here's a few fast things that will make your experience a bit more fun.

• You can go to first person perspective with F4.
  
• Never press Alt F4 for any reason.
  
• The Blackjack's weapons all do their best damage at 270 meters or less. But if you're that close to the enemy and an ally isn't closer, "Him say you gonna die, Kimosabe."
  
• Never stand still as a spider. Don't lead the machine guns; point right at the enemy.
  
• To fire the Gauss rifle of the Dragon or the Atlas, hold the button down until the 'lights' in the cockpit go out, then release. Hold it too long and it won't fire.
  
• Press R to get information on enemies. Orange/red sections are almost ready to blow.
  
• Little known secret. Most enemies with cannons have two common traits: 1) They have ammo in their legs. 2) Their legs have significantly reduced armor to save weight. Combine those two facts with some well placed shots and watch the 'popcorn' as their ammo goes boom inside them!
  
• Running hot? Can't wait to cool faster? If you're in a safe spot press P and count to 5 and you will most assuredly be cold afterward (unless you're in lava). (Edit: Be sure to press P again afterward to power back up!)
  
• Check out my posts here and here for answers to many of the common questions.

Edited by Koniving, 07 November 2013 - 08:38 PM.

[Ryokens leap]

Please use the training grounds feature and learn the maps. This will help you greatly. Also download Teamspeak 3, lots of players here that are more than willing to answer questions. You can also watch matches on Twitch TV and see how to play in groups. Good luck.

[Koniving]

Marvyn Dodgers, on 07 November 2013 - 06:05 PM, said:

if you see a link to smurfy in this area, go there and take a look around.

And and since no one linked one... http://mwo.smurfy-net.de Smurfy. And so you can see what the mechlab looks like, my BlackJack. And a Raven 2X built for sharp-shooting using the same engine.

And my current favorite rigs.

Spoiler

My first run with it was recorded by Lordred below.

My Victor design.


My current Catapult K2.


My hard-hitting fast LRM Kintaro design.

[Alaskan Nobody]

Those are some very scary mechs Kon - in more ways than one

[Arnold J Rimmer]

Yeah, submitted to Webster now.

[Koniving]

Arnold J Rimmer, on 07 November 2013 - 10:01 PM, said:

Yeah, submitted to Webster now.

Webster? Can I haz link?

[Geek Verve]

Great tips already posted. I thought I'd add the single-most game changing thing I learned early on. Don't chase targets just for the sake of shooting at something. You will almost always end up in a bad situation and finishing the match as a spectator. Don't be timid in battle, but pick your spots.

I probably averaged below 100 damage in my first 75-matches, before figuring that one out.

[Arnold J Rimmer]

Koniving, on 08 November 2013 - 07:54 AM, said:

Webster? Can I haz link?

No, because joke submissions don't get entered

[Modo44]

Channeling Captain Obvious, I would add basic things to do in any FPS:

• Lower your mouse sensitivity.
  
• Remap all useful keys to where you like them to be.
  
• Use cover.

Terciel1976, on 07 November 2013 - 06:27 PM, said:

The Centurion got replaced with the Blackjack on Tuesday and the Blackjack, due to being the AC/20 "boom boom" build is also very specialized and a bit finicky to use.

The BJ is much more versatile -- it shows off lasers, a big gun on something small, and jump jets on something slower than 100kph. That trial is a big improvement over the Centurion, which was extremely short-ranged, and had missile bay doors adding to noobie confusion.

Edited by Modo44, 08 November 2013 - 12:36 PM.

[Koniving]

Arnold J Rimmer, on 08 November 2013 - 12:24 PM, said:

No, because joke submissions don't get entered

Oh c'mon. None of them are joke submissions. Each of them average between 2 and 8 kills per match and between 300 and 1,100 damage.

[Mad Porthos]

To the OP...

No, you don't have to spend money to have a passable mech, you can do it with Cbills alone. Some of my best mechs were that way because before I even spent one MC, I filled up all 4 mechbays with mechs. That having been said, spending MC helps if you ever intend to seriously explore the different types of mechs in the game. Even if you do not buy mechs with MC, you need MC to buy additional mechbays to STORE the mechs that you'll buy with Cbills you earn in combat.

When I first started here, I literally decided to master all the lights without spending any MC. I did so. Mind you, at that time there was only the Commando, Raven and Jenner, but one by one, I bought three jenner chassis and got all the basics, then elited them with experience and somewhat improved the mechs. Then I made a big mistake, I sold them. Lost alot of value, but that was what I had to do, to open up the mech bays to buy commandos that i was going to learn as well. After learning each of the commando's in turn, I sold them and bought my way through the ravens.

By the time I was going through the ravens I had alot of extra parts like medium lasers, armor, even engines that I had not sold with my mechs. It takes time and cbills to build up that "inventory" of weapons to swap in... but NOT real money. After I mastered the Ravens, I decided I was going to do the medium mechs and contrary to popular suggestions, I went for the Centurions, not the Hunchbacks. Realizing the losses of the effort I made to build my mechs, every time I sold the mechs I had customized and played through to gain skill, I finally spent real money to start buying mechbays. That's the way the game is set up. They are a business, they need to offer services and things that will encourage you to spend money. Once you've spent that money, great you gain the advantage of not losing all your mech when you want to learn and customize new mechs, but the fact remains, you can play this game and get decent mechs, if not really good mechs, with just cbills and your 4 starting mechbays.

Resenting that eventually there might be some reason to spend real money on the game is just wrong headed. You don't have to and if you don't want to, fine. Eventually you may like the game enough to invest real money, until then invest the time to build your four mechs and skill. And if it's not for you, so be it. But like anything, it takes time and effort to become good and it is not handed to you on a platter even if you spend money.

I have seen many come and go here, some even good friends who for a long while complained this game was pay to win...because they were not paying, just doing as I mentioned above, earning thier mechs that were pretty good. Much of that was before the cadet bonus even, so it was a grind. Then, after they made some decent mechs and felt they were doing good, some actually bought extra mech bays and hero mechs, resentfully griping that they had to do so just to keep up. To thier surprise, they didn't always do better in thier new mechs, nor happen to win now that they had spent real money. For months they had been complaining that they were losing because they had bad cbill mechs, or not enough real money and MC to get the good stuff... then once they had the good stuff, they complained that it was worthless garbage. Never was there a change in what they got, but it was in the attitude.

Some of those friends no longer play at all. They are on to games where when they spend real money they get a better avatar, more guns or expendable modules that give big advantages, gold ammo and shields - they are on to games where they can go to auction halls and get what they want without actually earning it or going on the quest it comes from. To some degree, that's fine but it's not my style. Some of my friends who I still play with, they stuck with this game and came to realize the one thing they couldn't buy was patience... having some taught them to play far better and some of them are now really good pilots, fun to play with and competitive in nearly any mech you put them in. When you watch a Locust 1v clean up 4kills and two assists, with only 300 damage - conquest mode win, you come to realize even the very worst mech by some people's reckoning, can be great fun and effective if you take the time to get a hang of the game, tactics and accept that you will not always be John Rambo, but sometimes playing Forest Gump can have it's moments.

[Arnold J Rimmer]

Koniving, on 08 November 2013 - 12:38 PM, said:

Oh c'mon. None of them are joke submissions. Each of them average between 2 and 8 kills per match and between 300 and 1,100 damage.

iseewhatyoudidthere.jpg

[Koniving]

*Confused.*