38 replies to this topic

[Dornhoeschen]

hi folks,

i am a proud new owner of a FS9-s. it is my first mech and i attached 3 med and 1 er LL to it.
i know, as a beginner, a light mech is probably not the best but as long as i work in a team and keep on spotting the enemies for our rockets and fire my uav, i get some pretty nice assists or even kills.

i want to attach 2 er ll to it, perhaps a sl for short range engagements.
but my mech seems to be too light, is that true? (i already have a 295 engine)

also, do i have to own all of the firestarters to attach more things to it?

what would you suggest as a next mech for me, perhaps in medium class?
i ve already spent about 20 bucks on the game and dont want to get addicted.
dont get me wrong, its a pretty nice game for which am willing to pay, but i dont want to spend too much money for it over the time.

and my last question is about the crosshair. when i am in spectator mode, a lot of guys seem to have their arms unlocked from the torso. am i interpreting this right? i mean, the circle gets out of the crosshair, depending on their mouse movement. or is that a gimmick which i have to purchase? if yes, which one? or does a FS simply not support arm movement?

i appreciate your answers and sorry for those noobish questions, i try to get most of my informations from the internet, but i didnt find any on those issues.

[Rasc4l]

Hr Morriden, on 01 June 2014 - 02:07 PM, said:

i am a proud new owner of a FS9-s. it is my first mech and i attached 3 med and 1 er LL to it.
i know, as a beginner, a light mech is probably not the best but as long as i work in a team and keep on spotting the enemies for our rockets and fire my uav, i get some pretty nice assists or even kills.

i want to attach 2 er ll to it, perhaps a sl for short range engagements.
but my mech seems to be too light, is that true? (i already have a 295 engine)

also, do i have to own all of the firestarters to attach more things to it?

Congratz on the firestarter, I don't have those myself yet. I see people putting a lot of medium lasers to them (and machine guns if they fit). If you're looking for a 2xERLL light, I'd suggest raven 3L.

Hr Morriden, on 01 June 2014 - 02:07 PM, said:

what would you suggest as a next mech for me, perhaps in medium class?

If you want to keep some of your mobility, which you are used to then yes, medium. Shadowhawk works great.

Hr Morriden, on 01 June 2014 - 02:07 PM, said:

and my last question is about the crosshair. when i am in spectator mode, a lot of guys seem to have their arms unlocked from the torso. am i interpreting this right? i mean, the circle gets out of the crosshair, depending on their mouse movement. or is that a gimmick which i have to purchase? if yes, which one? or does a FS simply not support arm movement?

It's a feature in the Options called arm lock. It's on by default but if you click it off, your hands will be free. You can bind a button to have arms locked again while you keep the button pressed. Will help you focus fire with hands free. Some mechs have their arm movement limited, which means arms may have one axis locked and they don't move that way.

[Arnold J Rimmer]

Am on my phone, so I can't answer the loadout question pff the top of my head. I'll let others do that.

However, I can answer your other points.

You do not have to own the other variants in order to equip your mech. That's only necessaryfor the purpose of unlocking efficiencies. If you're having trouble putting weapons on the chassis, you may have run out of hardpoints in a body location, tonnage or slots. Make sure you check which part of your mech is highlighted.

As a next mech, the Centurion is an excellent design, the Hunchback is relatively cheap to kit out, the Shadowhawk is all around brilliant... list goes on. Mediums are my favourite class, ha.

If yoou go into the Options menu, you can select whether you want to start in third person, with or without throttle decay, and with arm lock on or off by default. Whichever you choose, you can temporarily witch modes by holding the Shift key.

[Dornhoeschen]

wow, thanks for the quick answer. i simply didnt figure out that i have to hold the shift key to move my arms. thanks a lot.

one last question: i still cant figure out what those abbreviations after the type (e.g. fs9-s, fs9-h) mean.
i can buy all of them, but honestly i am missing a short explanation of the mech BEFORE i buy them.

thanks a lot in advance. i will keep your proposal for the shadowhawk in mind. which type should i get there?
i think i want to combine 2 er ll with some ballistic short range weapon.

[juxstapo]

Smurfy

^ that site: has details of the loadouts of every variant, which is what those letters denote, variations on each chassis. Variants may be nearly identical but have the hardpoints in slightly different spots, or may be capable of mounting more jump jets or a larger engine, etc.

Edited by juxstapo, 01 June 2014 - 02:33 PM.

[Bartholomew bartholomew]

And just as a heads up. You have to have 3 of each chassis basiced to go on to elite skills, But only need 3 of that weight class elited for mastery in it.

I.E. you will need three different firestarters at fisrt so you can get the basic pilot skills done to unlock elite skills. But if you have already basiced out and started on elites on, for example ravens and jenners. Then you would only need 1 raven and 1 jenner with elites in your ownership. To fully elite and master the firestarter.

[Veranova]

This is what you're looking for.
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...35208225f4b9f0a

Like someone said you'll want to go for a Raven-3L if you really like this tactic, its high energy mount and ECM coverage make it superior for this playstyle. But you'll be using an XL280 for that to fit an extra heatsink alongside the ECM.

I would recommend getting the Ember as it's on sale right now in the Store tab, if you have the MC.
That's by far the best Firestarter, 4 Medium Lasers & 4 Machine Guns make easy work of any damaged mechs.

[Redshift2k5]

The actual abbreviation is nonsense. Some of them stand for a faction or for a sequential variant, but it has little bearing on the mech's in-gamecapabilities.

You can view a mech's stats in-game by going to mechlab, changing the view from "owned" to "purchasable", and highlighting a mech or pressing mech details.

For broad comparisons, Smurfy offers a wonderful reference chart listing all variants, hardpoints, engine caps, etc etc as well as a functioning mechlab for playing with builds to your heart's content.

[Rasc4l]

Hr Morriden, on 01 June 2014 - 02:27 PM, said:

one last question: i still cant figure out what those abbreviations after the type (e.g. fs9-s, fs9-h) mean.
i can buy all of them, but honestly i am missing a short explanation of the mech BEFORE i buy them.

thanks a lot in advance. i will keep your proposal for the shadowhawk in mind. which type should i get there?
i think i want to combine 2 er ll with some ballistic short range weapon.

Juxstapo linked Smurfy to you, which is the real source of information for MWO, everything neatly presented in one page.

There, you can easily browse the mechs (unlike in the store) and see what model corresponds to which hardpoint combination. You will find that almost all shadowhawks have ballistic slots so they should work well for you. Especially 2D/2D2 are nice.

[Turist0AT]

Wow you got a great mech, FS9-S has even the ability to equip two Anti Missile Systems(AMS runs on ammo).

What mechs to recomend depends on what you are looking for in a mech. Kintaro-18, Shadowhawks 2D2 and 2D are nice. Kintaro focuses on missiles and lasers, while shadowhawks can sport balistics, missile, lasers and jump jets but has a horrible field of vision from the cockpit. Consult the forums before making a purchase, ppl here are happy to help and recomend a mech for your playstyle.

If you enjoy firepower before speed then heavy class has alot of good options too.

I recomend checking this out: FOV

Edited by Turist0AT, 01 June 2014 - 03:18 PM.

[Dornhoeschen]

again, thank you guys for those quick answers. i appreciate it very much.
i think i will try a medium mech next.

Edited by Hr Morriden, 01 June 2014 - 03:14 PM.

[Koniving]

Hr Morriden, on 01 June 2014 - 02:07 PM, said:

also, do i have to own all of the firestarters to attach more things to it?

what would you suggest as a next mech for me, perhaps in medium class?
i ve already spent about 20 bucks on the game and dont want to get addicted.
dont get me wrong, its a pretty nice game for which am willing to pay, but i dont want to spend too much money for it over the time.

and my last question is about the crosshair. when i am in spectator mode, a lot of guys seem to have their arms unlocked from the torso. am i interpreting this right? i mean, the circle gets out of the crosshair, depending on their mouse movement.

Adding things
You need additional firestarters to unlock "Elite" levels of the pilot tree. But that is all.

To add things to your mech, you must first 'remove' things to add other things to your mech. You have a limit of 35 tons. Whenever you add something you add weight. When you remove something you remove weight. Some things are lighter than others.
Here's a Firestarter mechlab. Experiment. Add and remove things.

Medium mech
Many will suggest Shadowhawks as a first mech. Compared to your Firestarter you will find its sluggish mobility strange and limiting. I personally favor the Hunchback for its agility, the Griffin and Wolverine for fighting, and I've begun to like the Cicada again as of late.

Crosshair.
Unlock your arms. Use left CTRL for high precision control. Use regular mouse movement for low precision control. Hit and hold Shift to 'lock' the arms for pinpoint again.
Only works in first person.

Arm movement as demonstrated by a Hunchback.


Arm movement as demonstrated at high speed by a Spider.

Edited by Koniving, 01 June 2014 - 03:20 PM.

[Bulletsponge0]

Hr Morriden, on 01 June 2014 - 02:07 PM, said:

hi folks,

i am a proud new owner of a FS9-s. it is my first mech and i attached 3 med and 1 er LL to it.
i know, as a beginner, a light mech is probably not the best but as long as i work in a team and keep on spotting the enemies for our rockets and fire my uav, i get some pretty nice assists or even kills.

i want to attach 2 er ll to it, perhaps a sl for short range engagements.
but my mech seems to be too light, is that true? (i already have a 295 engine)

also, do i have to own all of the firestarters to attach more things to it?

what would you suggest as a next mech for me, perhaps in medium class?
i ve already spent about 20 bucks on the game and dont want to get addicted.
dont get me wrong, its a pretty nice game for which am willing to pay, but i dont want to spend too much money for it over the time.

and my last question is about the crosshair. when i am in spectator mode, a lot of guys seem to have their arms unlocked from the torso. am i interpreting this right? i mean, the circle gets out of the crosshair, depending on their mouse movement. or is that a gimmick which i have to purchase? if yes, which one? or does a FS simply not support arm movement?

i appreciate your answers and sorry for those noobish questions, i try to get most of my informations from the internet, but i didnt find any on those issues.

Others have answered your question far better than I (a 3 month old noob) could possibly do.

Just want to say Welcome to MW:O have fun, don't get discouraged, send me a friend invite in game and we'll group drop sometime

[juxstapo]

I'll vouch that Bulletsponge0 is good people and an excellent mechwarrior.


which hopefully will make up for me being unavailable for some reason or other the last three times he's invited me to group. (wasn't planned I swear!)

[Bulletsponge0]

juxstapo, on 01 June 2014 - 03:46 PM, said:

I'll vouch that Bulletsponge0 is good people and an excellent mechwarrior.


which hopefully will make up for me being unavailable for some reason or other the last three times he's invited me to group. (wasn't planned I swear!)

and that reminds me....

HR Morriden, watch out for players that greatly exaggerate things

and jusxtapo, no worries man....everyone knows life happens...

[TercieI]

Bulletsponge0, on 01 June 2014 - 03:56 PM, said:

and jusxtapo, no worries man....everyone knows life happens...

Actually, shocking numbers of people don't know that.

But they don't wear Corsairs colors.

[n r g]

Rasc4l, on 01 June 2014 - 02:13 PM, said:

Congratz on the firestarter, I don't have those myself yet. I see people putting a lot of medium lasers to them (and machine guns if they fit). If you're looking for a 2xERLL light, I'd suggest raven 3L.




If you want to keep some of your mobility, which you are used to then yes, medium. Shadowhawk works great.




It's a feature in the Options called arm lock. It's on by default but if you click it off, your hands will be free. You can bind a button to have arms locked again while you keep the button pressed. Will help you focus fire with hands free. Some mechs have their arm movement limited, which means arms may have one axis locked and they don't move that way.

I wouldn't have bought a medium since I love heavies/assaults but:

I would buy 2 more variants and master that Fire Starter first, rather than deviate to an entirely new mech. A mech isn't even a "mech" yet to me, unless it has been mastered via pilot "tree"

[juxstapo]

Terciel1976, on 01 June 2014 - 03:56 PM, said:

Actually, shocking numbers of people don't know that.

But they don't wear Corsairs colors.

WORD.
Man the longer the Corsair's name persists, the more proud I am of what we've created.

E N E R G Y, on 01 June 2014 - 04:14 PM, said:

I would buy 2 more variants and master that Fire Starter first, rather than deviate to an entirely new mech. A mech isn't even a "mech" yet to me, unless it has been mastered via pilot "tree"

One the one hand: I, personally, get bored with Chassis, and my XP grinding suffers for it, thus I would recommend getting another chassis altogether if there is any danger of the game getting stale in that one. But them I'm also admittedly impulsive and a touch on the "emotionally immature" side.

Having said all that; E N E R G Y is 100% absolutely correct. With it's lackluster torso fwonkiness and the amount of difference speed tweak makes (specially in lights) the Firestarter really improves when fully leveled, almost to the point of being a whole 'nother mech. You really can't appreciate the difference until you experience it.. then you'll forget the difference until you go to an unmastered chassis in the same weight class. Having had fully leveled Jenners since CB, I was shocked at how poorly the Firestarters performed for me initially. Under the support and encouragement of my (better-than-me) teammates I finally persisted in elite-ing my FS9-S and then realized it really was as good as everyone was saying. Now I'm working on my -K and Ember.

TL;DR if you're bored with the Firestarter, get a different chassis. If you still like it and have the moxy to stick with, get two more Firestarter's and elite them to taste the rainbow.

Even shorter: Don't let any of us tell you how to have fun.

Edited by juxstapo, 01 June 2014 - 04:26 PM.

[juxstapo]

EDIT: Didn't read the OP closely enough, just noticed this:

Hr Morriden, on 01 June 2014 - 02:07 PM, said:

i ve already spent about 20 bucks on the game and dont want to get addicted.

Too late.

Quote

dont get me wrong, its a pretty nice game for which am willing to pay,

Get embroiled in a good social scene, there will be no turning back.

Quote

but i dont want to spend too much money for it over the time.

Don't worry, I've been here for two years, since the very first wave of closed beta invites, and only have roughly $700 give or take, but I've still got to upgrade my Clan Pack invested thusfar, it's a remarkably economical game.

Edited by juxstapo, 01 June 2014 - 04:32 PM.

[Rogue Jedi]

try something like this
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...bb5019ba788e360
using an XL255 you get sufficient tonnage to mount 23points short of max armor with 2 JumpJets, 2 AMS 2 ERLLs and 3 SLs.

if you do not have an XL255 the champion spider (half price at time of writing) comes with one

edit: in case you did not realise, the reason this uses an XL255 is the 255 is the lightest engine which uses the full 10 true double heatsinks (the XL250 weighs the same), additional DHS dissipate 1.4x the heat of a standard heat sink while the built into the engine DHS dissipate 2x heat

Edited by Rogue Jedi, 01 June 2014 - 10:42 PM.