56 replies to this topic

[RagEneT]

Hello everybody!

So, I gave MWO a shoot and guess what - I really liked it. Game is fun and I can not wait for more features to be added. But as a new player there are things that I do not know yet and I have many questions.

I have played this game for a little bit, finished a few matches with the trial mechs. I have collected 4,000,000 credits - I am half way on getting my own first mech.

I have also finished watching the tutorial videos and I do not make the complete beginner mistakes as I have been playing games for years now. But I do have some beginner questions:

1) IN-GAME

1.1 Sometimes my fuel is depleted. Yet I can not spot a fuel gauge and do not see what is the fuel refill rate.

1.2 What do I do if I run out of ammo

2) MENU

2.1. How come there is no chat? I mean it is far easer to find people online and ask a few questions rather than make a forum post and wait for reply.

2.2 There are SO MANY mechs that I do not even know what should I be buying as my first mech. Long range attacks seems to be what most people are doing.

2.3 How's organized play doing? Factions? Guilds? Teams? I mean it is far more fun playing this game in a pre-made team.

Thanks!

[Alaskan Nobody]

?????????????


Ok, this one I am pretty sure is trolling...right?
I don't know how to set up those tags up top myself+FUEL BAR?!+.......

Edit: No offense meant if you are not Trolling, but......

Edited by Shar Wolf, 21 January 2014 - 01:54 PM.

[990Dreams]

• Directly next to your radar is the JJ fuel gauge.
  
• Equip lasers as backups
  
• The SOCIAL button to the lower right of the screen is In Game Chat
  
• Use mwo.smurfy-net.de to build Mechs
  
• Organized play is called CW or Community Warfare. It is coming soon, about 44% complete. After UI 2.0 comes out CW should come around by the end of the year at the latest.

[DEMAX51]

1. The only fuel for your 'Mech is your jumpjet fuel - it is a orange bar beside your minimap, and it recharges over the course of a few seconds after you're back on the ground.

1.1 If you run out of ammo you're screwed - have some backup weapons like a few medium lasers.

2.1 If you click on the "social" button in the bottom right corner of the game client, you can see a list of people you have added as friends in game. You can double click on a friend's name to send them a chat message.

2.2 Long range ballistic/PPC builds are generally considered to be the most effective, but I would recommend playing around with as many of the trial 'Mechs as you can before you actually purchase something. Get a feeling for what you like and then buy the appropriate 'Mech.

2.3 Apart from the in-development community warfare, there are a few player-run leagues and tournaments around. If you're interested in joining a group check out this forum's recruitment section to find several groups that are actively recruiting (or, save yourself the time and just visit www.blackstaralliance.com )

Edited by DEMAX51, 21 January 2014 - 05:38 PM.

[cSand]

Hey if you want some people to play with go ahead and add me to your contacts (Social button at bottom right of the MWO client)

We always have a group of 3-4 goin and we will teach you the ways young jed.... I mean pilot

[Koniving]

It's been answered already, but for a visual demonstration.



Note that in this video, for the first match there is no gauge (It's an Orion; no jumpjets) and then in the second while piloting a Griffin there is one. The screenshot happens to be from the second match while chasing the Raven 3L.

[JC Daxion]

Being new, I would pick a medium mech to buy for your first.. they are cheep enough that you can earn all 3 needed to get to elite skill boxes in piloting.. (this makes your mechs work better)


From what many people say, the shadow hawk is a very good first mech to master. I personally played a Hunchback, and they are great, but not as newbie friendly as the shadowhawks due to said "hunch"

Buy double heatsinks, and endo steel for the mech you get.. You will most likely need to buy a better engine as well..

Save GXP to unlock module slots, But if i were you i would grind a lot of extra XP, on one of your mechs, and then use a GXP sale to convert to unlock modules...

After your 3 mechs are bought, and configured, save your Money, to buy modules you unlock later.. this will cost you about 6m per module, Id say 5 or 6 are very useful to own. Swap them around into mechs you wan't to use..

If by this point you still love the game.. buy more mechs, and enjoy! PS read a bunch of the guides, there is tons of useful info

[Roughneck45]

The only chat is when you are in a match or if they are on your friends list, so unfortunately forum searches and posts are the best way to get questions answered...

...Unless you join a faction or team, then there are always people to help you out. There are plenty to choose from, MWO has a very dedicated community and a lot of units ranging from casual to competitive.

As far as choosing a mech goes use this
http://mwomercs.com/...mech-tier-list/
I would recommend jenners, shadowhawks, cataphracts, victors, or highlanders depending on what weight class you want.

[Katus]

Welcome to the Giant Stompy Robot Carnage Game.

1.1 By fuel you mean Jump Jet reaction mass. The gauge is just to the inside of your throttle bar next to your mini map. It recharges pretty fast.

1.2 Ammo.. Well now, if you use it up and don't got yer self a back up piece then yer what we call either a Zombie, or a Stick. Stock Mech builds almost never have enough ammo for a protracted fight. Your best bet is to as David said: carry a laser OR when you get your first Mech make sure if you a weapon that uses ammo carry plenty.

2.1 As David said the chat function is on the Social button on the bottom right of the UI screen. Then you have ingame chat: T for everybody, Y for team and U for lance.

2.2 Yup, there's a buncha Mechs out there to suit all play styles. DO NOT go with the herd on weapon selection! Pick what you like best then run with it. However, don't be afraid to try out different weapons on different chassis and as your personal skill level goes up you might find that a weapon system that sucked for you before is now DEATH in your hands.

2.3 As of now there is no organization other then what we the players build for ourselves. Community Warfare is "supposed" to drop this Fall. I really hope it dose, but we will see. Personally, premades are better IMO especially if you and your team are using a voice chat.

Here are some tips to help:

1. Go to Options.
2. Turn OFF 3rd person view. It is really cool to see your Mech from the outside, but the big red flashy light makes it easy to see you all the way across the map. Also, 3rd Person disables your mini map and that makes it harder to find where you are going and where the bad guys are. Further, 3rd person disables you from aiming your arm weapons separate from your torso weapons. This is critical in a close in fast circle of death fight.
3. Turn OFF Throttle decay. It is cool but not a good idea, especially if you want to look at the map or text chat while moving to a better location to kill the bad guys.
4. Turn OFF arm lock. If you have arm weapons they will be able to move further and faster then the torso weapons. Just the thing to get rid of those pesky lights.

As a rule, I go after folks that are running in 3rd person because they can't aim as well as a person in the cockpit. I tend towards fast circle attacks if I can.

[RagEneT]

@ Shar Wolf
I am not trolling and I was aware of the Social Button. When I was asking about the chat, I was thinking more for a GLOBAL CHAT.

@DavidHurricane
A very nice tip on where to test build my mechs. Thanks!

@Everyone
Ok, so fuel is only for JJ's Now I know. Cool.

@cSand
Added.

@JC Daxion
Cheers for help

@Katus
Really nice tips!

Now I feel much more confident and ready to play more and farm that GXP

[Hauser]

When buying the mech of your choice remember that you'll need to buy Endosteel and Double heatsink upgrades. This adds another 2 million to the price of your mech. You need these upgrades because without them you simply can't perform as well as you should.

I would suggest buying a medium mech. They're cheap.

I'm personally a fan of Hunchbacks. They're cheap, work well with (cheap) standard engines and come in variety that of chassis each other which specializes in a different weapon. To become good at using them you'll have to understand torso twisting and basic manoeuvring.

You'll need about 7 million to fully equip one. If you share the engine with the next chassis the other two will each cost about 6 million. I would suggest getting at least 3 chassis. It will allow you to get the basics and elite skills. Once you get all your elite skills, the effects of your basics are doubled. This effectively doubles the power of you mech.

You can also go with Shadowhawks. They're a bit more expensive because you'll want an XL engine. For them you're looking at 11 million for the first and 7 mil each for the next two.

When buying engines remember to buy standard engines in increments of 25, so 250, 275, 300, ect. Don't buy below 250 unless you must. Each increment of 25 above 250 gives another free space for a heatsink. They might not always be the best but you can reuse these easily between mechs which makes them worth allot more.

When buying XL engines, don't buy the 250 and the 275, buy the 255 and the 280 instead. They have the same weight but more power.

Edited by Hauser, 21 January 2014 - 04:15 PM.

[Ghastous]

Awsome vid Koniving

[Alaskan Nobody]

RagEneT, on 21 January 2014 - 04:01 PM, said:

@ Shar Wolf
I am not trolling and I was aware of the Social Button.

I apologize for calling you one then - we get a fair (read: occasional) amount of alt-account trolling around here. (last week there were at least 3 that I saw that didn't even pretend to be otherwise) and your comment about the fuel-bar really threw me.

Best of luck, and welcome to the game.
(I probably will not be much more help than I have been so far )

[cSand]

RagEneT, on 21 January 2014 - 04:01 PM, said:

@cSand
Added.

Nice. Don't be afraid to fire me a message if you see me online!

[luxebo]

Shar Wolf, on 21 January 2014 - 05:30 PM, said:

I apologize for calling you one then - we get a fair (read: occasional) amount of alt-account trolling around here. (last week there were at least 3 that I saw that didn't even pretend to be otherwise) and your comment about the fuel-bar really threw me.

Best of luck, and welcome to the game.
(I probably will not be much more help than I have been so far )

It's just the title of the topic. Feels trollish when you read it twice. But no, he is a good man that is learning.

Sooner or later, repair bays and stuff like that will be implemented so you can repair and rearm. UI 2.0 should make the interface less confusing hopefully. And that's pretty much all that has not been covered. (Oh and the 44% mentioned is from this, The Plan: http://www.mwomercs.com/theplan)

[Koniving]

Ghastous, on 21 January 2014 - 04:19 PM, said:

Awsome vid Koniving

Thank you. Though honestly this one from earlier today/yesterday is likely to be much better.

Skirmish mode. Kintaro 20. Pugged (played solo).

[Metafox]

While joining a merc corp or other player-run group is a great idea, you might also want to start off on one of the public chat servers. There's a forum post here:

http://mwomercs.com/...e-chat-servers/

I've never used them myself, but from what I hear they're quite popular with both lone wolves and various units. Your best options would probably be the comstar server or the NGNG server.

[Rushin Roulette]

Id definitely start off in a public server before joining/committing to any unit. Its a great way to casually get contacts and to see which units are already present there. You can play casually with a few units which you meet and see for yourself how they act/react/play outside of the advertisement of their unit in the forums.

No unit will say "we are full of control freaks and psychopaths" in their recruitment thread ... but you will probably find one of those units in any online game. The only way to find and avoid them is to meet them "personally" in a voice server and get your own impression of the various people behind the pictures and information.

[bar10jim]

Once you've selected a chasis, look at the variants available. Some are more expensive than others. Check out their loadout. For instance, the Trebuchet TBT-3c comes with an XL 300 (arguably the most useful engine in the game) when you buy it. You can then use it to help basic out the other variants. I made the mistake of buying the cheaper ones first, saved enough to buy the larger engine, and then ened up with 2 of them when I bought the more expensive variant. That's 4 million C-bills that I didn't have to spend if I'd planned ahead.

[SnagaDance]

4,9 million C-bills even.....

Use those trial mechs to try and find what you like. After my first 25 matches I bought an Awesome. Mostly based on the way they are on the BattleTech TT game. Big mistake. Clearly not a mech for the rooky pilot.

So I scrounged some more C-bills and went for a Jenner. Now I knew I was going to get blasted a lot in that mech and I'd probably run into all kinds of stuff etc. but I also knew I'd probably like it. And I did. And became a far better pilot because of it.

Oh and guess what's the ideal engine for a Jenner. Yes, a XL-300. What a grind to get that one. So buying your first mech based on the inclusion of a XL-300 ain't a bad idea. Right now I've got 5 mechs and 3 of them share that same engine (though I'm saving for a 2nd one to reduce all the swapping needed in the mechbay).

Welcome to the game and see you on the battlefield.