26 replies to this topic

[UnHolyLegion]

Im looking to get into piloting medium mechs, assaults and heavies are fun but my experiences in my Firebrand are making me more curious about mobile mechs. I do see alot of Griffins and wolverines running aorund. Any suggestions for a good medium starter mech, preferably not the hunchie, they seem to go esplodey too easy because of the..... well... hunched back lol.

Edited by UnHolyLegion, 05 March 2014 - 07:26 AM.

[TygerLily]

Shadow Hawks! Mobile, pack huge punch, they look cool...what more do you need! xD

[Xeno Phalcon]

Shadowhawks and Griffins are essentially the kings of the medium racket at the moment, that being said other mediums can edge them out in certain departments.

Cicadas - Fastest mediums on the market, essentially fat lights and one variant has the all powerful ECM.
Blackjacks - High arm mounts give them corner/hillhumping potential, like tiny Jagermechs.
Kintaro - Next best thing to a Griffin for medium streakboats, also make a fairly respectable LRM platform.

[UnHolyLegion]

ahh i forgots about the kintaro.... been seeing some of those doing some serious work as well

I also love my jagers soo its looking kinda like a toss up between the four of em (Griffin,Wolverine,Kintaro,or BJ), now which to choose..... im thinking of a number thats 1-4 lol

But as far as loadouts go which, for example, are XL friendly and so on??

Edited by UnHolyLegion, 05 March 2014 - 07:43 AM.

[Dazzer]

Don't forget the Centurion still a very viable and kick bottom mech.

as to the beloved hunchback

'don't worry my little Hunkie the nasty man did not mean it ' ***cuddles his hunchback foot*** lol

you could try the Hunchback 4SP a hunchie without the hunch.

[Charons Little Helper]

Of note - you'll have to wait a month or so if you decide to go with the wolverine. It's a very solid mech though. (though of note - both the wolverine & griffin have 1 variant which kinda sucks and you'll have to level up in order to elite / master the good ones)

Also - if you ever want to try dabbling with LRMishers - the griffin is probably the best mech for it. (due their crazy torso twist - you can literally run directly away from someone while continuing to fire)

The griffin is the current king of torso twist with a base of 130 degress & the wolverine ties the hunchie for 2nd at 125 degrees.

[TygerLily]

Oh snap, I forgot the Blackjack. That's a good one too, especially if you're coming from Jagermechs... Shadow Hawk and Blackjack are the two I suggest.

[Revorn]

Any Medium can be an intresting choice, each has its own Way to Play, and everyone had to be learned.

[Voivode]

If you want to experiment with mobility the Cicada offers a lot of that. You can run it as an overgrown light reaching 150kph, but you can also toss other builds on there since it has the tonnage to do some interesting things. The noisy cricket (2xPPC on a Cicada) is always a good time.

[UnHolyLegion]

any suggested builds for the afore mentioned mechs??

[AlmightyAeng]

UnHolyLegion, on 05 March 2014 - 08:26 AM, said:

any suggested builds for the afore mentioned mechs??

Well, since I'm with you on the Firebrand being awesome, I'll throw you a BJ builds.

BJ-1X - The Laser King - Yes, it hits ghost heat if you alpha. Fire them in groups of Left/Right or Left Arm/Right Arm/Torso. It's fast, has nice high firing points and is a blast. No JJ.

BJ-1 - The Champion - Before they made it a Champion mech, I ran this. It's fun, mobile and can hit HARD. Great JJ mobility, runs nice and cool. You can run this with the DC, too.

BJ-3 - Mixed build - Slower than the BJ-1X, but with JJ, can snipe with the ERLL...runs a little hotter, but not bad at all.

BJ-1 - Jumpsniper - If you wanna give it a try, this is a decent intro into the scene, mobile and maneuverable enough to use the backup weapons to decent effect on smaller mechs that'll rush you.

Edited by Ghost Badger, 05 March 2014 - 08:43 AM.

[Charons Little Helper]

It depends on whether you want to go XL for speed or standard for durability.

But for a fast flanking wolverine - I've had a lot of success with this - http://mwo.smurfy-ne...337195d3219113c.

My griffin LRMisher of choice - http://mwo.smurfy-ne...ef5f8aa01ac8b6f (will change to 15/10/5 once they fix missile tube bug)

Brawler hunchie of choice - http://mwo.smurfy-ne...6b48d56b90b4f78

etc.

Edited: because I forgot to put BAP on the LRM griffin

Edited by Charons Little Helper, 05 March 2014 - 09:12 AM.

[UnHolyLegion]

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...74cf7bbe8839cf0

hows about this fella ^^

[Barkem Squirrel]

Shadow hawks are hard to beat, but the other mediums are also good.

What is your playstyle makes a huge difference on what you chose for a medium mech.

If you like LRM's, then a Griffon is what you want.

Chasing down lights there are 4 choices, Shadow Hawk, Griffon, Wolverine, and Kintaro.

Every Medium can be a little stinker, causing problems. You have speed and can do damage that no one can discount then run away.

[TygerLily]

Here's how I run mine:
Blackjacks
BJ1X - 2 PPC, 6 smalls
BJ-3 - 6 ML
BJ-1 = AC/20, 3 ML

Shadow Hawks
SHD-2H - two AC/5, one AC/2, one ML
SHD-2D2 - LBX, four Streak SRMs, two MPL, ~XL275
SHD-5M - AC/20, two ML, two SRM4s

[Spleenslitta]

Since you are giving OP advice could you help me out as well?

I bought a Trenchbucket 5J. I don't see anyone saying it's a good medium choice. Why not?
It has JJ's, weapon hardpoints in both arms.

What makes it so unappealing?

I wanted to make it a fast moving flanker sniper with some emergency close weaponry. Yeah i know a lot of players say you have to specialise in one range category only in order to do any good.

[Charons Little Helper]

UnHolyLegion, on 05 March 2014 - 08:49 AM, said:

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...74cf7bbe8839cf0

hows about this fella ^^

You have a broken link.

[Charons Little Helper]

Spleenslitta, on 05 March 2014 - 09:05 AM, said:

What makes it so unappealing?

For one thing - a single missile hardpoint isn't a good thing. You really need at least 2 to make missiles really work well. (true for LRMs, SRMs, & streaks)

For another - with all that energy it would run kinda hot.

It's torso twist is pretty weak for a medium mech - base of only 90 degrees - same as most assaults.

Overall though - it's not a bad medium mech. It's just that other ones are better.

[Modo44]

Spleenslitta, on 05 March 2014 - 09:05 AM, said:

I bought a Trenchbucket 5J. I don't see anyone saying it's a good medium choice. Why not?
It has JJ's, weapon hardpoints in both arms.

What makes it so unappealing?

You can put more stuff on 55 ton mediums, with similar speed and more armor.

Spleenslitta, on 05 March 2014 - 09:05 AM, said:

I wanted to make it a fast moving flanker sniper with some emergency close weaponry.

I run mine with 2xER+3xML. That gives it a good mix of long-range reach, close-range punch, and mobility. If you can manage the heat, 2xPPC+3xML also works.

Edited by Modo44, 05 March 2014 - 09:18 AM.

[Spleenslitta]

Modo44, on 05 March 2014 - 09:14 AM, said:

You can put more stuff on 55 ton mediums, with similar speed and more armor.

I run mine with 2xER+3xML. That gives it a good mix of long-range reach plus mobility. If you can manage the heat, 2xPPC+3xML also works.

Those run way too hot for me.

Charons Little Helper, on 05 March 2014 - 09:10 AM, said:

For one thing - a single missile hardpoint isn't a good thing. You really need at least 2 to make missiles really work well. (true for LRMs, SRMs, & streaks)

For another - with all that energy it would run kinda hot.

It's torso twist is pretty weak for a medium mech - base of only 90 degrees - same as most assaults.

Overall though - it's not a bad medium mech. It's just that other ones are better.

A so it's a torso twist problem. Shouldn't matter much to me since i primarily snipe.
But i read that it has a big center torso hitbox which makes XL less dangerous like with the Dragon. True?