28 replies to this topic

[Graves24]

Hi, I just downloaded the game today and I have no idea what to do. I played the tutorial and some games but other than shooting and walking around I really don't know anything.

So I clicked on the store page to buy a mech, or atleast with the intention to it. Then I get a selection of cards. There are some tiny mech pictures on it with a price.. how do I know what the mech does? Is higher purchasing price = better mech?? I have no idea what I am doing There are no stats to go for..

What does experience do?

My mech in the tutorial was able to fly but my mechs I play with now can't. I replayed the tutorial but I don't get what I am doing wrong.

Please help me the game explains nothing

[Dracol]

Welcome to the game. You've come to the right place.

So.. to start, look at http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/
It's a web based mech lab where you can play around with mech builds and see what each one is able to do. Can't play em or anything, but it is a great information website about the mechs.

As for what the price means.... more expensive mechs of the same chassis have upgrades included. Such as XL engine (lighter in weight but more vunerable) or endo steel (lighter structure but takes up critical slots)

The heavier a mech is the more it will cost. A 20ton locust is a fast, quick to die mech, but cheap. An Atlas DDC is 100tons (highest tonnage of a mech in the game) but expensive.

I would recommand sticking with the trial mechs for the first 25 games. This way you get your full cadet c-bill bonus and a better understanding of what type of play style you prefer.

Experience is gained per each mech variant that can unlock perks that make it perform better. Examples: Slightly quicker heat dissipation, better turning speed, or 10% boost to top speed.

Only mechs with Jump Jets can "fly". Only certain ones can equip jump jets.

There are some great beginner guides on these forums. They should help you out a lot.

And last bit of advice, grab Teamspeak and join an open server (I have one such server listed in my sig, but others exist as well). There are usually people around on em that are happy to help new pilots.

Good hunting and best of luck

[Modo44]

Welcome to MWO.

Your first 25 matches come with a large Cbill bonus. You want to try all of the free trial mechs, then decide which class feels best for you, then buy a mech in that weight class and set it up to your preference. Your early bonus should cover most mechs up to the heavy class.

You typically want the Double Heatsinks and Endo Steel upgrades, which adds around 2 million Cbills to the asking price, unless a mech comes with those upgrades (a few do). To decide what mech to buy, look around the forum for recommendation threads. The search function is your friend.

For piloting, start by disabling mouse acceleration and smoothing, and lowering mouse sensitivity. You also want to look over the key bindings, and maybe modify the obvious ones to help you find them. Then, take out a trial mech to the training grounds, and just run around to see how it feels. Try setting up your mouse so that you can run circles around a target and hit it reliably. Remember that mech legs and arms (mouse control) turn separately from the torso (WASD keys and throttle).

No, the price of a mech does not correspond to its capabilities -- only to the tonnage and equipment. To check what each mech comes with stock, use the Mechlab screen, and select Filter: Purchasable. You can then display each mech's detailed loadout before buying.

Some mechs can jump, others can not. This depends on the specific variant. Jump-cabable mechs come with Jump Jets equipped, and a jump distance longer than 0m.

Edited by Modo44, 02 April 2014 - 11:28 AM.

[Graves24]

Hi, thanks for answering all of my questions. I think I will go with a medium mech that can jump since I hated the light mech and the two heavy mechs.

Edit: Can you also tell me what Endo Steel and Double Heatsinks mean?

Edited by Graves24, 02 April 2014 - 11:28 AM.

[Redshift2k5]

Endo steel takes up 14 critical slots and reduces the weight of the mech; this allows you to mount more/heavier items but uses up space, which is limited. This is helpful for some mechs and almost required for other mechs (Lighter mechs generall ahve slots to spare but need to find extra tonnage, but heavier mechs generally have enough weight but need to maximise available slots)

Ferro- fibrous also take 14 critical slots like Endo, but does so with a smaller weight benefit. FF is only really needed for light mechs and certain lightweight mediums who already have Endo equipped and still have in excess of 14 free criticals.

Double Heatsinks (DHS) take 3 slots instead of 1 slot like a regular heat sink, and have more capacity (the ones built-into the engine are doubly effective and ones you slot in individually are 1.4 times as effective). Nearly every mech build will be improved by the inclusion of DHS upgrade.

[Graves24]

Thanks again for a quick answer. I will go for the Shadow Hawk variant or with either Trebuchet variant since they have both Double Heatsinks and Endo Steel.

[luxebo]

And a couple other items:
Atermis IV is a missile helping item and can be used to upgrade SSRMs for free (no tonnage used) but take up an extra ton for each launcher, plus is expensive. LRMs are more focused and SRMs are more closened up together so you can hit things more.
TAG helps get rid of ECM and helps lock on with sight and locking of an enemy. Important with LRMs.
NARC helps get rid of ECM and also helps lock on with sight, but hard to carry along with missile boats, better on scouts.

I suggest Shadow Hawk over Trebuchet, as Trebuchet will be very missile dependent, while Shadow Hawk 5M is a mix of things you could do. You need 3 variants in order to master a mech, and Shadow Hawk is better in general in comparison to the Trebuchet in my opinion.

[Redshift2k5]

Graves24, on 02 April 2014 - 11:50 AM, said:

Thanks again for a quick answer. I will go for the Shadow Hawk variant or with either Trebuchet variant since they have both Double Heatsinks and Endo Steel.

you can apply Double Heat Sinks to all mechs. That said, Shdowhawks are a great mech to start with.

[Darth Futuza]

Graves24, on 02 April 2014 - 11:27 AM, said:

Hi, thanks for answering all of my questions. I think I will go with a medium mech that can jump since I hated the light mech and the two heavy mechs.

Edit: Can you also tell me what Endo Steel and Double Heatsinks mean?

Light mechs are difficult to play, but once you get used to them they're definitely the most fun.

Will contest false claims to assault mech superiority.

[Koniving]

Graves24, on 02 April 2014 - 11:50 AM, said:

Thanks again for a quick answer. I will go for the Shadow Hawk variant or with either Trebuchet variant since they have both Double Heatsinks and Endo Steel.

Avoid trebuchets for now. They're in dire need of some tweaks and they can be somewhat frustrating. They would sour your experience.

Shadowhawk 5m is a good start, it comes with an expensive XL (extra light [and extra large -- they bleed into your side torsos so if you lose a side torso you die]) engine at a big discount. You can switch out the engine with a standard at any time (standard engines are heavier but they are center torso only so you can lose an entire side of your body and keep going).

Similar alternatives in the same category (Medium, 55 tons) are the Griffin 3M and the Wolverine 7K. All 3 have the same main benefits, but they cater to somewhat different playstyles. Griffins are missile-heavy. Wolverines are "jumpy". Shadowhawks are more straight shoot 'em up.

On the game itself, you can click Mechlab, then "Filter Owned" to "Filter Purchasable" near the top. This is the functioning shop to find mechs where you can actually see information on them and actually see them.


The "Store" itself was tacked on and is incomplete. The game recently received a brand new user interface that is not finished.

Please remember the game shows the (cash only) mechs first. Please scroll down to find the regular ones you can get without spending real money.
Hero mechs are unique with permanent 30% bonuses. Most are equal to, scarcely better, or somewhat not as good as the mechs.
Champion mechs the ones with the (c) mark are pre-upgraded short-cuts with random builds. They're the same thing as normal mechs, come with something like a 10%XP bonus and as I said, just a short-cut.
Then the regular mechs that come for with the option to short cut there too with .

Good luck out there.
Remember, as said before your first 25 matches are getting big bonuses to help you get your first mech. Wait til the "Recruit" tag disappears before you go to buy one, that way you got a lot of cash to use to get it.

Edited by Koniving, 02 April 2014 - 01:28 PM.

[Bigbacon]

one tip is DO NOT SPEND ANY C-BILLS UNTIL YOU GET ALL 25 CADET BONUSES.

you will regret it.

[Darth Futuza]

Also never sell anything, the shop vendor will rip you off and only give you 50% back of original value.

[Koniving]

Darth Futuza, on 02 April 2014 - 03:11 PM, said:

Also never sell anything, the shop vendor will rip you off and only give you 50% back of original value.

Until you own about 20+ copies of something you'll never use.
Like certain size engines. Got two Banshees with what I made off of engines I never use.

[Darth Futuza]

Koniving, on 02 April 2014 - 03:23 PM, said:

Until you own about 20+ copies of something you'll never use.
Like certain size engines. Got two Banshees with what I made off of engines I never use.

I'm sure he can worry about that when he gets there.

[Koniving]

It's 95+ mechs away. Maybe sooner.

[JC Daxion]

Graves24, on 02 April 2014 - 11:50 AM, said:

Thanks again for a quick answer. I will go for the Shadow Hawk variant or with either Trebuchet variant since they have both Double Heatsinks and Endo Steel.

*edit,, and late to the post, and knoving already said all this... I would do it, the guy was so helpfull to me last year when i joined,, and he is still helping people out all the time. His advice is always spot on, or at least very good.. (i say this disclaimer, because styles, can always color your experience) But over all, he knows his stuff


Getting the shadow hawk, or one of the other two 55 ton mechs that comes stock with an XL engine, and doubles is a great first buy.. they are cheaper than buying the stuff seperate, and that engine will be gold in many other builds..

Probably the best thing a newbie can do with their cadet bonus is buy one of those awesome medium mechs...

Bigbacon, on 02 April 2014 - 01:55 PM, said:

one tip is DO NOT SPEND ANY C-BILLS UNTIL YOU GET ALL 25 CADET BONUSES.

you will regret it.

Im not sure i agree with that.. If you get one of the 55 tons mechs i mentioned with the XL engine, it would be worth grabbing.. all 3, the griffen, wovlerine, and shadowhawk, all are great mechs... and worth grabing before your cadet bonus runs out... You can also start unlocking your XP skills as you finish grinding!

Edited by JC Daxion, 02 April 2014 - 09:13 PM.

[TheCaptainJZ]

JC Daxion, on 02 April 2014 - 09:11 PM, said:

Im not sure i agree with that.. If you get one of the 55 tons mechs i mentioned with the XL engine, it would be worth grabbing.. all 3, the griffen, wovlerine, and shadowhawk, all are great mechs... and worth grabing before your cadet bonus runs out... You can also start unlocking your XP skills as you finish grinding!

I'd always recommend that a player buy the 3 variants of one chassis first so they can level them up and experiment with just different weapon configurations. Then they can branch out to another chassis. Also, although you can wait to finish all 25 matches, if you already know what you are going to get, go for it! You will start earning xp and still be getting the rest of your bonus. That said, if you aren't sure what to get, waiting for all 25 games before deciding is fine.

[Turist0AT]

"higher purchasing price = better mech"
well yes and no, you often get good XL engines or Jump Jet capabilities or Dual AMS with the more expensive versions.

When i was green i bought the most expensive mech in the game because i thought it was the best, Atlas-K also known as the worst atlas, realized i hate atlases and sold it, thats like 7 milions down the drain.

Edited by Turist0AT, 03 April 2014 - 12:39 AM.

[luxebo]

BTW, dunno if anyone mentioned this, but Shadow Hawks have a really small torso twist and feels limited, so if that doesn't suit you OP then you may want to try something else at the time being. Griffins have some of the best cockpits I've heard, and good torso twist. Same as the Hunchie, but it has a requirement of torso twisting or you'd lose the hunch.

[BLUPRNT]

You have already gotten alot of great help. This game can be very complex. Reading as much as you can tolerate in this section of the forums will be your best weapon.

There is one very simple thing that must be very clear. There is always a positive and a negative to everything in this game. Be sure to fully understand both, especially the negative before you make any decisions to purchase anything.

Example: The game is free to play (positive) the grind however to aquire cool new stuff can be very time consuming (negative).

Another Example: Shoving 6 medium lasers into a mech although sounds very cool and powerful (positive) is going to make your mech cook you and itself like a microwave (negaitve). Leading ultimately to your own demise, unless you are able to equip it to handle such.

Remember, Positive-Negative. Information is your best weapon.

Edited by BLUPRNT, 03 April 2014 - 12:00 PM.