50 replies to this topic

[Simply4Riot]

I'm newer to the game a need some help picking a mech I've enjoyed playing in the light trial spider running up and bugging people and all that I have got a few kills here and there and a bunch of assts so just looking on some imput on were to go after the trial mech thx for the help

[Satan n stuff]

Simply4Riot, on 07 February 2014 - 06:58 AM, said:

I'm newer to the game a need some help picking a mech I've enjoyed playing in the light trial spider running up and bugging people and all that I have got a few kills here and there and a bunch of assts so just looking on some imput on were to go after the trial mech thx for the help

Well if you like the trial Spider you can always buy yourself a set of Spiders. I would suggest you try some other trial mechs first so you'll have an idea of which weight class you feel more comfortable with, if it turns out you prefer lights I can recommend the Jenner, Raven and the Cicada, which is technically a medium. I'd save the Commando and Locust for last if I were you and play them in that order, they are the hardest lights to play well, the Locust being by far the hardest to play.

[Nick Makiaveli]

People generally consider lights to be the hardest to play, but if you like drive-bys, then Lights are for you!!

Do some research on how skill progression works, else you may cause yourself some grief. In short, you need to complete all the Basics on 3 different variants of a given chassis to unlock the Elite skills. Chassis is the mech type, ie Spider, Jenner, Raven, and variant is the specific mechs, ie Raven 3L, 2X, and 4X. Getting to Master is a bit more complicated, but for now just work on picking a mech and get 3 of that type. Get the Elites done on all three, and you are good to go for that weight class.

Also, if you have spare time you can't spend playing, read the Short Question.... thread above. Lots of info up there.

[Voivode]

How many matches have you run in the other trial mechs?

I ask because it is a commitment once you select a chassis. In order to unlock the elite efficiencies you will need to purchase (and grind XP with) three variants of that chassis. Choose carefully. It's a good idea to purchase two variants of a chassis at the same time if you can afford it.

If you like lights then I will give you a breakdown of what's what with lights. Keep in mind this is only my impression of them after playing the game for a couple years, and others might disagree. If you encounter anyone who considers a particular chassis "garbage" then I would recommend you disregard all their advice as they will only recommend you purchase the "flavor of the month" which might change. As a new player you should get what works for you as you learn the ins and outs of the game, not what is considered "competitive" or "meta".




Locust (20 tons): As mentioned above, the most difficult light to run. It is small to the extreme so max speed is the best defense as the armor is very thin. Probably better saved for a time when you have more experience as this chassis requires higher than average skill to make work, but can be very effective when run properly.

Commando (25 tons): My personal favorite light chassis. Fast to the extreme. Significantly better armed and armored than the Locust, it is nonetheless still lightly armored compared to the other lights. This mech can turn on a dime and is excellent at hit and run style warfare. As with the Locust, speed is your greatest defense. This mech is worth picking up early on as it is very cheap. The hero variant (The Death's Knell) is a solid mech that is the cheapest hero out there, if you are looking for a way to cut the grind down. This mech has an ECM variant.

Spider (30 tons): Hands down the most survivable of the lights. Part of this is due to hit detection issues, but it is also due to excellent hitbox setup for the mech. Speed is high, and jump jets add extra maneuverability. Unlike the Commando and Locust, this mech can stay in combat for extended periods. The weakness of the Spider is in firepower. The hardpoints don't leave a lot of options, especially on the 5V. You can still rack up the damage because you can stay in combat. An excellent choice for a starting mech. This mech has an ECM variant.

Firestarter (35 tons): Currently there is only the Ember hero variant in game. By the end of February all of them will be available. I can only give you my first impressions having run an Ember, but those impressions are good. Maybe put this on the "next mech" list and proceed with one of the others.

Jenner (35 tons): The best armed of the lights. This is a true skirmisher. Jenners carry decent armor and are capable of 152 KPH (with speed tweak) so they are solid in a fight. Jump jets are one of the strong point of this mech, which makes the hero variant (Oxide) more challenging to run than the standard variants. In prolonged combat this mech is not as survivable as a Spider but it can carry double the firepower a spider can. A good choice to start out.

Raven(35 tons): The Raven is the most diverse light. All three variants are significantly different and will require different loadouts and playstyles. All Ravens are taller than the Jenner and protecting your legs in a Raven is a must learn skill to run the chassis. The 3L is a standard light that moves just north of 150KPH and also carries ECM. It is generally the most favored variant. The 4X is slower by about 10KPH but has jump jets. It is the next most popular and is seen frequently. It is my personal favorite among the Raven's. The 2X is the least favored. It has no jump jets and is 10KPH slower than the 3L. It should be noted, however, that the 2X is capable of carrying the most firepower. It is challenging to use that firepower effectively.

Cicada (40 tons): Not technically a light, the Cicada is capable of speeds equivalent to the Firestarter, Jenner, and Raven. As a 40 ton mech, it carries more firepower and armor than the other mechs in this list. It is, however, notably larger than they are and an easier target. Its diverse set of hardpoints and extra tonnage give you a lot of options beyond running a beefier light build. The hero Variant (X5) is the only Cicada with missile hardpoints. If you have been piloting a Spider this mech will take some getting used to. It is, however, a chassis well worth picking up. This mech has an ECM variant.

Edited by Voivode, 07 February 2014 - 08:10 AM.

[Denolven]

I strongly recommend to NOT get 3 of a chassis at first, because it's boring as hell if all your mechs basically behave the same.
Instead buy 2-3 very different mechs, so you have some variety. When I started, I got a Spider for squirrel work, a Dragon for punch and to test different weapons, and a Stalker for missile fun (I'd probably pick an Awesome or Highlander for that now).

The difference between basic and elite level of a mech is far smaller than the difference between mechs. Yes elite status is better than basic. But being bored to hell is never a good idea. And considering how everything takes ages, I'd rather have some variation first. Upgrading comes later.

Edited by Denolven, 07 February 2014 - 08:22 AM.

[Voivode]

Denolven, on 07 February 2014 - 08:21 AM, said:

I strongly recommend to NOT get 3 of a chassis at first, because it's boring as hell if all your mechs basically behave the same.
Instead buy 2-3 very different mechs, so you have some variety. When I started, I got a Spider for squirrel work, a Dragon for punch and to test different weapons, and a Stalker for missile fun (I'd probably pick an Awesome or Highlander for that now).

The difference between basic and elite level of a mech is far smaller than the difference between mechs. Yes elite status is better than basic. But being bored to hell is never a good idea. And considering how everything takes ages, I'd rather have some variation first.

That's a fair point, it is more exciting to have multiple different mechs, especially from different weight classes. I made the recommendation to buy two of a chassis at once because lights are more dependent on the elite efficiencies (particularly speed tweak) to be effective than other weight classes.

[Buckminster]

Denolven, on 07 February 2014 - 08:21 AM, said:

I strongly recommend to NOT get 3 of a chassis at first, because it's boring as hell if all your mechs basically behave the same.
Instead buy 2-3 very different mechs, so you have some variety. When I started, I got a Spider for squirrel work, a Dragon for punch and to test different weapons, and a Stalker for missile fun (I'd probably pick an Awesome or Highlander for that now).

The difference between basic and elite level of a mech is far smaller than the difference between mechs. Yes elite status is better than basic. But being bored to hell is never a good idea. And considering how everything takes ages, I'd rather have some variation first. Upgrading comes later.

Part of this can also be remedied by laying out your mechs differently. Do two variants have missiles? Make one carry LRMs, the other SRMs. Two energy heavy variants? Make one a laser boat, give the other a PPC. It's how I've typically built my variants - one Shadow Hawk carries the AC/20, one is a Streak boat, one is a jack-of-all-trades.

It's also a strength of the Raven as your chassis choice - the -2X boats energy, the -4X has ballistics and jump jets, and the -3L has ECM. Three distinctly different styles.

Edited by Buckminster, 07 February 2014 - 08:35 AM.

[Koniving]

Denolven, on 07 February 2014 - 08:21 AM, said:

I strongly recommend to NOT get 3 of a chassis at first, because it's boring as hell if all your mechs basically behave the same.

One of the main reasons I loved the Raven. Each Raven required a very different mindset. (I really need to work on and completely pitch the armor per mech variant idea at full force as it'd really diversify not only the different mechs in the same weight classes, but the variants from one another.)

Since Simply4Riot likes lights and lights are cheap, give each light a try and see what you think. Personally I'd keep saving, because in the next week or two we'll see the rest of the Firestarters become available. That way you have even more choices and a fast Firestarter isn't that much different from a Spider (aside from more armor and weight to work with at the cost of needing even bigger engines to have the same results in speed).

[Malcolm Vordermark]

If you like light the Jenner and Spider are good choices. As previously noted the Jenner packs more punch while the Spider is harder to put down. Do not buy the "Champion" version of these mechs as they are not really worth the money. Better to just grind the C-bills to buy and outfit them.

[TercieI]

Rouken, on 07 February 2014 - 08:41 AM, said:

If you like light the Jenner and Spider are good choices. As previously noted the Jenner packs more punch while the Spider is harder to put down. Do not buy the "Champion" version of these mechs as they are not really worth the money. Better to just grind the C-bills to buy and outfit them.

Possible exception for the JR7-F(C). It's cheap and gets you an XL300 and a really good mech right off the bat.

OTOH, if the OP has enjoyed the trial spider and wants to drop some $, the Ember is that on steroids and will have c-bill brothers soon.

[Koniving]

Mixed on that, Rouken. While buying one with money for the mech itself isn't worth it, they definitely are for the engines that most players will continue to use for the rest of their days. I've got 100 mechbays and 91 mechs now, and though I've never bought one the value added by the XL engines on the dirt cheap lights really is worth while. But if you can find that value on a hero mech, that is by far more worth while than a champion version. And damn, even with 40 XL engines there just isn't enough of them to go around and the XL 300 engine costs more than 2 Jenners for cbills, for just a couple of quarters more than buying a regular Jenner for MC. Of course I find that particular Jenner build to be horrible.

Anyway. The problem with starting into light mechs is the need to have some kind of XL engine. 180, 255, 280, and 300 are all good sizes but only the 180 is universal. If you dump the Locust and Commando from the list, then 255 is universal but many say "not fast enough."

[Koniving]

Terciel1976, on 07 February 2014 - 08:46 AM, said:

OTOH, if the OP has enjoyed the trial spider and wants to drop some $, the Ember is that on steroids and will have c-bill brothers soon.

Ember can help with earning cbills, too. But coming with the standard engine kinda hurts it as a first true cash sale as it doesn't have that added value of an engine you can frequently use in other mechs. Though I gotta say while it can run super fast it does also satisfy my own preferences of being much slower and wielding large autocannons. So it can be quite a jack of trades.

Still, Simply4Riot, here's a link that shows you the starting bills, prices, and prices in Cbills after you tricked it out to be your ideal fighting machine. http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab You can use this to help you figure out what you want to try.

(I'm looking forward to the other firestarters; it handles itself well at below 90 kph.)

Edited by Koniving, 07 February 2014 - 08:57 AM.

[Malcolm Vordermark]

Koniving, on 07 February 2014 - 08:49 AM, said:

Mixed on that, Rouken. While buying one with money for the mech itself isn't worth it, they definitely are for the engines that most players will continue to use for the rest of their days. I've got 100 mechbays and 91 mechs now, and though I've never bought one the value added by the XL engines on the dirt cheap lights really is worth while. But if you can find that value on a hero mech, that is by far more worth while than a champion version. And damn, even with 40 XL engines there just isn't enough of them to go around and the XL 300 engine costs more than 2 Jenners for cbills, for just a couple of quarters more than buying a regular Jenner for MC. Of course I find that particular Jenner build to be horrible.

Anyway. The problem with starting into light mechs is the need to have some kind of XL engine. 180, 255, 280, and 300 are all good sizes but only the 180 is universal. If you dump the Locust and Commando from the list, then 255 is universal but many say "not fast enough."

Its a fair point. I usually only spend money on things I cannot acquire through C-bills. Also, I think if you save all your money from the cadet bonus you should be able buy a Jenner and the XL300 in short order.

But there is no arguing that you will get plenty of value from that XL300.

[mailin]

Kudos to the OP for liking the trial spider. Lights, and especially those with jump jets, are difficult to do well, mainly a result of lack of firepower and armor combined with twitchy maneuverability. It is easy to find yourself in a tight spot, but the speed of a light can often mean survivability. If you enjoyed the trial spider, maybe get a spider for real. The 5D is generally considered the best variant due to ECM, or you could get a Jenner F, which has 6 energy hardpoints for some real punch. Really the only light that is considered completely subpar is the Locust, followed closely many believe, myself included, by the Commando. (Sorry Voivode). As previously mentioned, the Cicada is general considered a heavy light and is often equipped similarly to a Jenner, although with more armor and no jump jets.

[Dan Nashe]

Jenners will die more easily than spiders but do a lot more damage.
Raven 3l and jenners are the competitive mechs.
Raven 2x and 4x are pretty weak.
Firestarters should all be out in 2 weeks. Firestarters may be better than jenners, TBD.
Don't go Cicada. They die more easily and their competitve utility is limited to situations where the teams set special rules.
And can't jump.
Spider 5d is great at lower skill brackets, but really weak at higher ones (so few weapons, enemies great shots).).

Personally: Jenners or Firestarters. Ravens and spiders as second choice for ecm.
Cicadas distant third.
DoNot Start with commandos or locusts. Seriously, you'll just die and not do much damage :-).

[Koniving]

Commandos especially, but Locusts as well can provide some really good potential but it takes a base set of skills and strong understanding of the game to make use of their potential. These skills are developed over time. This makes the Commandos and Locusts more ideal for those who played the "easy" mechs and want a challenge.

For myself, as I love a challenge I turned my Locusts into walking cannons. Locust Energy Cannon and Locust Autocannon. Because in the words of Freddy Mercury in ERB; well you'll just have to listen to him for a few seconds.

The Commando is a great mech in the right hands but it relies heavily on either lasers, PPCs, Streaks or LRMs.

Unlike the Jenner and Raven, the Locust as really great peripheral vision for situational awareness (provided your FOV is pretty high up). But to be offensive you have to sacrifice speed. To have speed, you have to sacrifice offense. It becomes a tough choice.

Speaking of commandos, I noticed this gem on Lordred's perfect screenshot thread.

Edited by Koniving, 07 February 2014 - 10:18 AM.

[TercieI]

Koniving, on 07 February 2014 - 08:54 AM, said:

Ember can help with earning cbills, too. But coming with the standard engine kinda hurts it as a first true cash sale as it doesn't have that added value of an engine you can frequently use in other mechs. Though I gotta say while it can run super fast it does also satisfy my own preferences of being much slower and wielding large autocannons. So it can be quite a jack of trades.

I'm going to remember this is New Players' and skip an extended rant about PGI's insistence on putting ridiculous engines in the majority of hero mechs, galling though I find it...

I agree, Ember's one downside is that you're still going to be out over 5MM to equip it properly. What I was saying is that it is essentially the mech I always wished the SDR-5K, LCT-1V and CDA-3C were and that if the OP enjoys the SDR-5K(C), he should really enjoy the Ember. Not only taking advantages of holes, but also making them.

[Buckminster]

DanNashe, on 07 February 2014 - 09:09 AM, said:

Raven 2x and 4x are pretty weak.

This is debatable. They're generally considered to be weak, since the other mech in the series (the 3L) has ECM and used to be one of the most OP mechs in the game. They also used to be significantly slower - an engine cap of 245 compared to the 295 of the 3L.

They've since changed the engine cap up to 275, which gets it moving at a very respectable 140 kph, and eliminates what used to be a weakness that was hard to overcome.

[Koniving]

Buckminster, on 07 February 2014 - 10:19 AM, said:

This is debatable.

Spoilered as off topic.

Spoiler

The changes made to the Ravens to 'buff' them I think would've been unnecessary when you consider how the mechs were originally intended. The 3-L has an armor value of 161 with a structure value of 119. The 2X starts with 208 armor with a structure value of 119. The 4X starts with 234 with a structure value of 119. While the 2X and 4X were slower they were intended to be able to take a ~lot~ more abuse than the much more nimble 3-L.

The problem is we got armor equality. If the 3-L isn't limited to lower armor then allowed to have both ECM and superior speed then how is the 2x and 4x not gimped with their superior traits given away for free? The armor idea I've had, stock + 100 = new max, would put the 3-L's max at 261, the 2x and 4x at 308 and 334 respectively, and they'd all still have 119 structure health.

The speed increases have helped the 2X and 4X but I feel those changes caused them to lose part of their identity.

Edited by Koniving, 07 February 2014 - 10:27 AM.

[Amsro]

Simply4Riot, on 07 February 2014 - 06:58 AM, said:

I'm newer to the game a need some help picking a mech I've enjoyed playing in the light trial spider running up and bugging people and all that I have got a few kills here and there and a bunch of assts so just looking on some imput on were to go after the trial mech thx for the help

If you really like the spider I would buy all 3 and Master them, all 3 can be setup differently and while not a deadly mech will net you some valuable skills and match awarness.

I'll post up the builds I use, nothing to shocking here.

Spider 5D - The 5D will give you ECM, which is always useful!
Spider 5V - The 5V is your speedy scout @ 170 kph. Air Strike and Artillery with both Accuracy Modules helps this little guy!
Spider 5K - This one you know already, but mine is built for speed.

Once you get all 3 and Master them you will have accumulated enough C-Bills for another mech at least.

On the flip side you could wait until the Firestarter is released this month. Very similar to the Spider, not as fast @ 151 max but far more energy hard points.

The Spider was my first Chassis over a year ago and its still one of my best!