I'm not sure how much I understand this clan stuff, and what I should make of it. I like this notion of Omni-mechs/pods and the mechs themselves. However, I've looked at smurfy.net and went to the weapons section, and saw differences between the clan weapons and the IS weapons, with the IS weapons lacking only in range. But I've heard words tossed around such as "OP" or "Long-range".
Right now I have a Cicada, a Commando, and a Hunchback in my mechbays with room for two more.
Should I get myself a clan mech ASAP? Is it worth it? How should I play the mechs? Which one?
Up to you on that. Honestly if you wait until August, they start coming out for cbills.
If you are in a rush to get one, the three that I find to be the best and most enjoyable are the Nova, Stormcrow, and Timber Wolf.
The Nova should come out in the later half of August.
Now, "OP" is a word being thrown around because in lore Clans are massively overpowered, and in a recent tabletop match 3 50 ton mediums took out 2 50 ton, 1 30 ton, and 1 90 ton mech with only one loss and a fair bit of damage on another.
On MWO, they have a different playstyle and when fighting them require a different approach to the typical Inner Sphere mech. Normally an IS mech either fires lots of damage at once then looks away to cool or it spams lots of wimpier firepower.
Spoiler
Both of those styles are easily killed by Clan mechs. Instead of simply duking it out in the open, heavy use of cover is needed. Bob and weave between buildings, alternate between yourselves (okay he's shooting your ally. Now get him to shoot you. Now your ally gets his attention; this spreads his damage and heats him up so that the two of you can kill him), gang up against them. You never want to stare intently at them, and you do not want to attack from in front.
Thankfully Clan mechs are god awful at turning and twisting in most cases. Many of them can't use their arms left and right (depending on weapons equipped).
Also unlike when fighting IS mechs, Clan mechs with few exceptions have most of their firepower in the arms. Meanwhile when fighting Inner Sphere mechs you'd never want to aim for the arm because it's just wasted effort.
Clan mechs play aggressively. Yes there's some idiots poptarting, but they are incredibly easy to kill and little more than annoying. The real threats are those that rush, especially in a pack of 2 or more. Most builds will always look at you, preventing them from spreading damage dealt to them, but in a staring match they will always win. Even if you twist and try to spread the damage, they will win a one on one fight. Hence the use of cover, dense building areas.. Basically to fight them you must use tactics.
It's like fighting the British in the Colonial Wars. Instead of a formation though, that one mech is about 50 British soldiers with guns. For the most part your best chance to fight them is to bob between the buildings, trees, etc., hitting them while they struggle to face left and right trying to find you. Stay still too long and you're dead. In the open too long? Dead.
Most Clan mechs die with incredible ease to LRMs.
On the plus side for Clan mechs, they all have incredible viewports and can see almost unobstructed. This is great but also a shame, since most of them can't flex their arms if they use PPCs or any ballistic other than MGs.
Given your arrangement of mechs, you'd love the Kitfox. It's the first one to come for cbills however, so I'm not sure if the 30 dollars to get the 3 pack of them is worth it.
If you can afford it, getting one of the three I suggested near the top is definitely worth the A La Carte price. And their individual prices go down if you get more via that method.
If you can wait til the first half of next month, maybe spend the money to get MC and pack on a lot more mechbays? Kitfox comes out for cbills on the first patch of August.
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If you get curious about what they are..
Type either version of their names into Sarna.
On this link, Kitfox is already pulled up for you. It gives you detailed information, lore, and a general idea of what the mech is built for. The Kit Fox is intended to be a long range support mech.
(Clan mechs have their rightful name, which the Clans refer to them as... and their given name, which Inner Sphere refers to them as [since they were largely unknown and despite the Clan's tendency to call a planet's leader and say things like "We have bid to take your planet. With what paltry forces will you defend? Well then, we will use 1 Star to crush you. If we win, you surrender to us. If you win, laughable as that may be, we will leave you be.." [a Star is the Clan version of a lance, it consists of 5 Battlemechs. An Inner Sphere lance consists of 4.])
The clan mechs are very Laser dominante however you need to hold that laser on allot longer then a IS laser to do that damage ive seen many people spray lasers around and do nothing with them I say laser dominante because their ballistics are not pin point they can be if your a amazing shot but they fire bursts their ac20 fires 4-6 bursts that do a total of 20 damage instead of 20 damage pinpoint if you are a good pilot you can kill a clan mech with a IS mech
the Omni pods allow you to take anything but the CT off another variant of the same mech they add different hardpoints and quirks
Weapon stats are not the whole picture! Clan mechs have many other changes, including burst-fire Autocannons, spread damage on ERPPC, longer beam times, ripple-fire LRMs, etc that bring some balance to the weapons even when the damage/weight numbers are in favour of the clans.
Clan mechs also have no options to adjust their engine and have only one speed available, as well as not being able to change their armor or structure type (no matter how badly you want your Summoner to have Endosteel, you can't). Most effective Inner sphere mechs rely on loading an engine larger than their stock engine and Clans lack that option.
Clan mechs are fun, and feel quite different to play. With more weapons available and swappable omnipods, they have a lot of customization options.
Don't buy one because you expect it to be OP, but if you want a clan mech and don't want to wait for their eventual C-bill release, or you want a shiny Invasion variant with +30% C-bill bonus, go ahead
Actually aside from saying he heard "OP" and "Long-Range", the original poster didn't actually mention anything visually 'better' for stats other than typically the Inner Sphere weapons were lacking in range in comparison.
And for anyone interested... One of the "most overpowered" builds that supposedly exist. ....overpowered it's not, but extremely deadly it is...unless someone's shooting you with ballistics or missiles, then it's the most worthless build you can possibly have. (You have 0 accuracy when being pelted by spam fire like AC/2s, chain fired AC/5s, any Clan UACs, etc).
LocationStomping around in a giant robot, of course.
Posted 01 July 2014 - 07:58 AM
My suggestion? No.
Not only that, heck no.
A new player's best money is spent on Mechbays- Clan stuff is going to see some rebalancing, and IMHO if you're that new, start learning with the tried-and-true stuff you can get with C-bills first. Once things settle down and the screams of "OP!" and "NERF NERF NERF" die off, take another look and pick up what you like. The first Clan 'Mech goes to C-bills in August, IIRC.
You'll be able to buy a Kit Fox for C-bills in August. Kit Fox is pretty nice, ECM, good loadouts, but not as fast an an IS light (but the clan xl makes it almost as durable as a standard engine)
We don't know when clan mechs will stop being up for sale on the website, which is how you get an Invasion variants (with it's special geometry, unique pattern, and permanent c-bill bonus)
Eventually all clan mechs will be available for C-bills so even if you don't buy one now you'll always have the option to buy one later for free.
The thing about the Kit Fox I've discovered while leveling mine is that it's a lot better if I stay away and shoot from a long range. The thing has paper armor. I mean, all lights do, but it has no speed compared to IS lights. You really want to play it like a half-armor medium mech. Cover is essential. Luckily the ECM helps! It truely fits as a light support mech. You can also load it up to swat away enemy lights that get near your team's blob (basically, a flyswatter), but you can't chase them because you are too slow.
LocationEvery world has a South Bay. That's where I am.
Posted 01 July 2014 - 11:38 AM
What they said. Unless you have more money than time (which in fact, I do) your best bang for real money is mech bays. Never buy a mech for real money unless you can only get it that way (hero mechs) and I prefer to wait for those to go on sale. I only buy the packages for other reasons (Founders: getting the game funded; Phoenix: the package was actually a fair deal; Masakari: the package was part of my Christmas).
Kit Fox in August for C-Bills unless you're comfortable spending real money on digital assets.
All that being said - if you feel the need for backup, let us know.
I will probably not be in the game for a bit, but when I am, I am usually game for at least a few matches playing backup to somebody. (lets me play otherwise painful-to-play builds )
(as are several of the above posters - if not all of them, would need to ask them though, just to be polite )
You do not have to spend the money on a clan mech no. So it's not that you should, it's rather, do you want to. I did because from the older games Mech Warrior 1-3 (yea I never got 4) and Mech Commander, I liked several of the clan mechs (some aren't in this game yet). One of my favorites was the Summoner and Hellbringer (similar styles of mechs). So for me, I only put in $90 for the Summoner package back in February to get all the monthly bonuses and 9 mechs total. And it was all I was willing to spend at the time. I want the Storm Crow as well but didn't want to put in $180 so I'll wait for it for C-Bills.
Unless you have more money than time (which in fact, I do) your best bang for real money is mech bays. Never buy a mech for real money unless you can only get it that way (hero mechs) and I prefer to wait for those to go on sale.
Agreed on the Time > Money.
However,
The Prime Variants if you buy NOW, you get 30% more C-Bills (Hero Primes). If you buy them later with C-Bills the Prime Variants are NOT considered Hero mechs like they are now i believe. So they do not get the 30% bonus, or the Limited Orange/Green camouflage (For what it's worth)
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