10 replies to this topic

[Volrath2242]

just a few things. Is cash money the only way to get clan mechs and I picked a Victor as my first mech..how badly did I mess up?

[Appogee]

Welcome to the game.

Volrath2242, on 30 June 2014 - 12:49 PM, said:

just a few things. Is cash money the only way to get clan mechs

Yes, at this time. They were only launched a week ago. They'll become progressively available for virtual in-game currency (CBills) in a few months from now. Until then, there are plenty of Inner Sphere Mechs to cut your teeth on.

Volrath2242, on 30 June 2014 - 12:49 PM, said:

I picked a Victor as my first mech..how badly did I mess up?

It's not the best Mech for a newcomer - that would be the Shadowhawk - but never mind, it's still quite a good, versatile Mech.

Which variant did you buy? We can help you outfit it.

Your priority at the start should be to have a few matches, unlock its Basic efficiencies, and as soon as you have enough CBills, equip it with Double Heat Sinks and Endo Steel upgrades. These will control your heat better, and give you more space for weapons and ammo, respectively.

My other advice to new players is to buy a Hero Mech. While these cost real money, they accelerate your CBill earnings by 30%, meaning you can buy upgrades and new Mechs a lot quicker. The Ilya Muramets is the pick of them, not just because it's a heavy-hitting Mech, but also because the Cataphract family, to which it belongs, has a lot of variety and opportunity, too.

There's a sale on Hero Mechs now - 50% off - which will end about 20 hours from time of this post.

Edited by Appogee, 30 June 2014 - 12:58 PM.

[Volrath2242]

I picked up the VTR-9S. I thought was is I were to get anything it would be the Thor because I love that thing. Should I use the Gauss to it? i was looking at it and it seems cool

Edited by Volrath2242, 30 June 2014 - 01:37 PM.

[The Great Unwashed]

If you're new the gauss might be a bit too distracting; I'd leave it for when you're more comfortable with all the chaos going on around you. Try 2 AC5s and 2 PPCs and fire them at the same time. For the Victor, an XL engine works well (provided you have the in-game money ). 2JJ might come in handy too.

Example:
VTR-9S

Edited by The Great Unwashed, 30 June 2014 - 01:31 PM.

[Koniving]

Welcome. Around here I'm a name you'll come to know.

Volrath2242, on 30 June 2014 - 01:05 PM, said:

I picked up the VTR-9S. I thought was is I were to get anything it would be the Thor because I love that thing. Should I ass the Gauss to it? i was loonig at it and it seems cool

Of all the possible good and bad moves, this is probably among the good to very good ones.

To note, I'm going to do a level up system of builds for you. The first and foremost thing to do is upgrade to DHS. Until PGI reinstates repair and rearm...if they ever do, there is absolutely no reason not to run DHS. This also throws in endo steel at least until you can switch to a standard engine.

So here's build level one, minimal changes. You might also notice the heatsinks completely overwhelm the ammo, this helps protect them. You could try other tricks like stuffing some in the head and feet, but where I'm at that's a fast way to get killed. Where you're at it might be the safest route, it's been a while since I've been 'new'.

Definitely use some urban combat as much as possible; buildings are your friends. So is anything tall enough to block enemy fire.

The build has some serious issues. So if you have the funds.. you might skip right to level 2.
Rest spoilered due to size.

Spoiler

You might know that a big punch is good, and you have okay speed... but you SERIOUSLY lack range.
Lets fix that. Here we have two options.
Level 2 build Cool Running Indirect Spammer. This annoyance and fire support build is a rear line mech. It is equipped to spam and annoy people with long range missiles -- a great and easy source of income and damage while you get used to the concepts of heat management and lock-on systems.

You might notice that the ammo placement seems a little odd, right? CT ammo is burned through first, so before it becomes a worry it'll already be gone. The RT/LT ammo goes next in that order, and as padded as it is that'll be gone. Then RA/LA. The MG ammo if it blows won't do much, and the LRM ammo blowing in the arm has to go through the arm before it hurts your body which cuts it down by 50%. Everything is padded, but you do need to worry about your legs, don't get too jump happy in this build. You can do this in 2 firing groups (LLs and MGs in the same group for fun) or 3 (LLs, MGs, LRMs). The MGs are not particularly powerful but like lasers they need to be on target and not led. Also they are ice cold.

Level 2 build Direct fire brawler. This build packs an AC/10 instead of the AC/20. The SRM of the level one build is replaced with 3 streaks; a type of lock-on SRM that in MWO (but not battletech) that magically will never miss (instead of only fire when it'll perfectly hit). Combined with Beagle Active Probe, it will counter ECM (another lore issue here; but PGI's done this for balance reasons) within 150 meters. Streaks are great against enemy lights which is good...because otherwise the Victor is absolutely garbage against them.

As a whole this Direct Fire Brawler build is for practicing in a group. I highly recommend taking Armlock off for this build and the one above it.

Level 2 build Rapid Fire Ranger. As you might notice we're now using 2 AC/5s. Since AC/5s fire faster it kinda makes up for its lack of damage, and the two of them together give you the punch of an AC/10 but at longer range and for less heat. The missiles were dropped and so were the lasers and in their place we've slapped in an ER PPC. This is for long range aiming and to practice lining up your shots.

This build is a rear to middle line mech, though it can fight on the front line too. Be warned, that ER PPC might outclass your AC/5s for range (up to twice what it says for 0 damage, linearly degrading from 10), the ER PPC is incredibly hot in comparison.

Use this build if you're afraid to turn off armlock.

Level 3 would be to change engines, likely to an XL engine. At that point you will be MUCH more at liberty to try different things.

These builds should tide you over until then, and you're welcome to combine these with those suggestions of other players.

For fun, here's one of my personal rigs. The armor has been removed because I keep my own armor allocations a secret when possible; it's crucial to survival. Victor 9-B. It's a little dated. I'm favoring LB-10x + AC/5 whenever possible now.

Enjoy.

Edited by Koniving, 30 June 2014 - 02:12 PM.

[Appogee]

Volrath2242, on 30 June 2014 - 01:05 PM, said:

I picked up the VTR-9S. I thought was is I were to get anything it would be the Thor because I love that thing. Should I ass the Gauss to it? i was loonig at it and it seems cool

9S is a reasonable variant. Stock it comes with a heavy hitting AC20, which packs a punch.

As Great Unwashed says, most experienced players would equip it with 2xAC5 and 2xPPCs.

Remember to increase its armor to maximum values, as it comes stock with reduced armor. To round it off to 80 tons, you can take the head down to 10 and take 14 or so out of each of the legs.


EDIT: fixed quote attribution as per the error Koniving pointed out.

Edited by Appogee, 01 July 2014 - 01:38 AM.

[Volrath2242]

Now this is a forum i can get behind. I'll try these things when I get home. Also, are parts pretty much ready to buy or do I have to get other mechs to unlock other parts?

[Eximar]

Parts are always available in the Mechlab if you have sufficient c-bills to purchase them.

[Koniving]

Appogee, on 30 June 2014 - 01:42 PM, said:

As Volrath says, most experienced players would equip it with 2xAC5 and 2xPPCs.

Great Unwashed says.
-------
Back to Volrath here.
Parts as in weapons and equipment? They're ready to buy; kinda pretend the techs can go across the street to get them instead of special order for now. That'll come in a couple of months...Yay Community Warfare!

Anyway.. You will eventually need two other Victors to fully unlock any particular Victor's potential via spamming the pilot skill tree with unlocks. Just remember not to use GXP; it's too hard to get and required to unlock access to any neat modules like capture assist or sensor enhancements.

Also remember you can edit posts since it limits you to 5 until you complete 25 matches (sort of an anti-spam thingy; advertising bots do hit the new player section with ads to "entire kitchens cheap." >.>)

[Bulletsponge0]

Volrath2242, on 30 June 2014 - 12:49 PM, said:

just a few things. Is cash money the only way to get clan mechs and I picked a Victor as my first mech..how badly did I mess up?

Welcome to MW:O

as you can see, there are many very helpful people here on the forums that can answer any question you may have...

but the biggest thing is to send them friend requests in-game so you can group drop with people that can show you the ropes....that will help make the learning curve a little less steep

[The Great Unwashed]

Koniving, on 30 June 2014 - 02:16 PM, said:

You will eventually need two other Victors to fully unlock any particular Victor's potential via spamming the pilot skill tree with unlocks. Just remember not to use GXP; it's too hard to get and required to unlock access to any neat modules like capture assist or sensor enhancements.

Indeed. Even though the modules are ridiculously expensive and saving for them might take an eternity, getting the GXP for those modules takes even longer. (still, 2,000,000 for a new zoomlens? ) You will probably use some modules for the rest of the game of MWO.

• I almost always add the Target Info Gathering module to get an early view on the damage status of an opponent and to learn where to hit him where it hurts most
  
• I nearly always use Advanced Zoom.

The Beagle probe (1.5) acts as a Target Info Gathering module, Sensor Range Module, and then some, but modules take up no weight and space.

(The only reason I currently do not use the Target Info Module is that I prefer Zoom and I'm running with Sensor Deprivation and have no mastered clan mech yet.)

And remember, before you have unlocked any skills in the mech tree, your Victor will be very sluggish, so opening these up is important.

Edited by The Great Unwashed, 30 June 2014 - 10:32 PM.