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Many a thread is filled with the moans of agonized players living in a miserable existence with mechs they hate or cannot handle properly.
I have had the good fortune of being a design geek and have experimented building mechs of every chassis and variant that range from the downright lulzy (3 SRM6 commando), to the purely competitive; and I have been told by several friends and corp mates that my designs are good. As such I have decided to share what I have learned, and I hope it helps people.
NOTE: I added a section for XL vs. STD after the list as suggested by Sulla.
From my experience so far these are the 10 tips I can give to building a healthy functional mech:
If you follow these 10 points, I can guarantee you will have a good experience with your mech.
1- You need a minimum of 10 heatsinks to operate the mech(anything less and you can't launch), also use Smurfy's to build your mechs first. It's a free service and it will save you millions of C-Bills.
2- UPGRADES: Upgrades are a trade off system. You lose slots (14 for FF and endo, or 3 per DHS) in return for freed up weight. Same thing for XL vs. STD engines. XLs are lighter but take up more slots. (expanded below in the XL Vs. STD section)
Double heatsinks are mandatory for almost every mech save for maybe 3 variants in the entire game (LCT-1V, SDR-5K, Jaeger with 6 MGs and nothing else. I might be forgetting one or two more, but aside from those every mech should have DHS)
Another upgrade that is almost as ubiquitous as DHS is Endo-steel. If a mech is to be upgraded to free up some weight for the cost of 14 slots, Endo steel is the best choice. It frees up exceptionally more weight than FF armor. Whenever possible, endo steel is a good investment. However, it is not as mandatory DHS.
3- Pay attention to how many weapon groups you will end up having once done.
You can easily make all the weapons fire from one group, but you will explode after a couple of shots, from heat damage. Figure out what you are comfortable with (usually L.Mouse Button for left arm, R.Mouse Button for Right arm is simple enough, with a possible third group for torso and head weapons) Some people are only comfortable with using a 2 button mouse, and so 2 groups are optimal for them. While others (like my W.O.W playing friends) can handle an 18 button mouse without developing a new level of consciousness.
4- Pay attention to your role, if you plan on being a long range mech, then you can afford to have XL engines in there, even if they are traditionally not viable (Stalkers should never have XL, unless they are going to be a long range mech.) The reasoning is that you will be far from the main fight and thus won't get hit as often, and need to relocate a lot to provide optimal support. On the other hand, if you are going to be a brawler, then you want a standard engine.
Lights are about the only exception to the rule as you should have XLs in them 90% of the time.
5- Pay attention to the possible heat generation. Smurfy's will always show you the heat efficiency for alpha striking (the game UI does the same thing too) However, Your heat efficiency when firing only 2 medium lasers are very different from firing 2MLs plus 2 ERLLs. So use this heat simulator website as well to test how your weapon groups will actually function with their heat.
6- Crit padding. If you have precious items and weapons in one part of your mech that you would rather not lose to crit hits from things like MGs, throw other things next to them. If all you have is your Gauss Rifle in your side torso with nothing else, then every crit on that side torso is guaranteed to hit the rifle and kill you sooner. On the other hand, if you threw a couple of other items in there (extra crit slots) now your rifle has a less of a chance of getting hit. That's a huge improvement for your life expectancy. Same thing applies to ammo in the Side Torso. A curious exception is Gauss Ammo, since it is inert and does not explode, the ammo takes up a single slot, making it very easy to use for crit padding, and it's a lot better to lose a ton, or half ton of Gauss ammo, than to have the rifle explode inside your mech.
7- Can you do the same with a lighter engine of the same type, and get more heatsinks/ammo in there? If so, do so. Losing 10 Kph from your max speed is insignificant in an assault rigged to be an LRM boat if that means you can stick 2 or 3 more tons of ammo in there. (Try not to drop below 250 rated engines as the heat drop offs become difficult to manage sometimes. this is very chassis specific as not every mech can mount 250 sized engines)
8- Max armor, or as close as possible to max. If you need to shave some armor from your mech, start with the cockpit, NOT the legs. People usually know you have ammo in your legs, so they will go for them HARD. This goes double for Victors as they use JJs to spread damage, and end up putting a lot of damage on their legs, where they have 4 tons of ammo sitting, just waiting to explode. So with Victors you always have max armor on legs. (12 armor on your cockpit is good enough, if you need to shave that much to keep max armor everywhere else, although as noted by Bloodweaver, 16 is the minimum you need to survive 2 Gauss to the cockpit).
9- Artemis is useless on SRM4s and 2s. they already have minimal spread, put it on SRM6 launchers if you've got the slots and weight to afford it. I usually don't but that's more of a personal choice. Artemis is useful on LRMs (in terms of lock on speed, accuracy is not affected on the LRM 5) of all sizes, but I usually prefer having extra tons of ammo to having Artemis (again, personal preference here)
10- Last, but most important. Pay attention to your own (or your client, if you are building for some else) piloting quirks, and the quirks of the mech in question (for example: Centurions don't need max armor on the empty left arm). So doctor the build to fit them better. Meta builds don't mean a thing if you can't use them effectively (or more accurately, PROPERLY).
The 10th rule cannot be emphasized hard enough as it is all-encompassing. For every rule from 1-9 there will be exceptions. Those exceptions exist and they are rule 10.
XL vs. STD
One thing to note about engines: Regardless of their type, if an engine has a rating of 200, it will give the same amount of power regardless of type. Your mech will move and turn just as fast with an XL 200, as it does with a STD 200.
Now, on the engine explanation:
Standard Engines (STD) are available in every mech, they are fitted only in the center torso and as such don't take up any space elsewhere on the mech. That has the added advantage of allowing the mech to soldier on even after losing both side torsos. As such, they are very common in Brawling mechs (mechs built for close range combat and remaining in the fight or extended periods of time). Not to mention brawlers need to learn how to soak up a LOT of damage, and STD engines allow them to last for exceptional periods of time while under fire.
Zombie mechs are a special breed of brawling mechs (yes there are long range versions of them, but zombies were developed mainly for close range combat). They are designed around the concept of losing both arms, and both side torsos while still fighting. The Centurion chassis is one of the most famous/infamous zombie mechs in the game. To give you an idea, a Zombie centurion can continue fighting even while at 8% percent hull integrity (no arms, no side toros, one leg, everything is cored yellow and red, but it still has 2 MLs in the CT).
Such survival potential is not possible with an XL engine.
As such, STD engines are ideal for mechs that fill these roles/requirements. The trade off is that they are heavier than XL engines.
Extra Light Engines (XL) are an upgrade with a trade off: They are lighter so your mech can have bigger ratings for the same weight. For example a STD 220 weighs 14 tons, which is the same weight as an XL 275. That's a 3 Heatsink difference (8 heatsinks in the 220 Vs. 10 in the 275 + 1 internal) plus a staggering speed increase.
The downside is that they occupy 6 slots in the CT (same as a STD engine) plus 3 in each ST (Side torso) MW:O rules state that an engine is completely destroyed if it loses 3 or more slots, as such, losing a side torso is instant death.
XL engines do have a risk with them, however they are designed for a different role than STD engines. While STD engines focus on survival. XL engines allow you to put bigger engines into your mech, as such you would be more maneuverable and more mobile.
XL engines are used in mechs that need to get around the field quickly, while carrying a lot of things (Dakka falls under the all benevolent category of "things") As such, fire support units such as LRM boats, and sniper mechs, or Skirmisher and harasser mechs such as small LRM load mechs, and 2 LL toting mediums and lights engaging at over 500 meters, could definitely use XL engines. Mechs in those roles are not meant to deal with a lot of firepower directed at them, as such they can afford to mount XL engines to allow them to move faster than with a STD engine. (STD 160 weights 7 tons, while an XL 190 weights 6, the 190 allows you to move more than 15 KpH faster, which is a significant difference) On the other hand, those roles are required to move and relocate quickly all over the map to provide support for their team. So the speed is more valuable for them than survival.
Light mechs are an anomaly to this rule, as whether they are brawlers or scouts, or skirmishers, they should be mounting XL engines more than 90% of the time. since they need to save every ton possible, and faster movement can mean the difference between life and death.
Special note: The three slots that an XL engine takes in the STs are not critical slots in the traditional sense. Apparently they do not get hit by critical strikes. The only way to really destroy those 3 slots is to destroy the entire side torso.
EDIT 1: Can't believe I forgot to link to Smurfy's
EDIT 2: Credit to Bloodweaver, Tesunie and Sulla for helping me update and improve the guide. Thank you for the suggestions guys.
EDIT 3: Credit to Rushin Roulette for mentioning Gauss ammo as viable crit padding.
Edited by IraqiWalker, 29 September 2015 - 01:06 AM.
(<- Joking here. But I probably could create a couple more if I desired to...)
