12 replies to this topic

[FoxGhost]

so i purchased my first mech and i want to customize its loadout, is there a way to change enrgy weapons into ballistics or missiles? or are we stuck with a weapon type slot on purchase of a mech. i thought it would be silly if we are stuck, unable to customize our mech load out based on the version we chose to buy.... i would understand some restrictions but i should still be able to choose different weapon types.

[Bulletsponge0]

on Inner sphere mechs, no

on Clan mechs, you can change the omnipods and different omnipods have different hardpoints

the mech you just bought with cbills is an Inner Sphere mech

[Red1769]

Then it would be kinda silly to have different varients in the first place (beyond the mech skill tree, no reason to get any of the others). Oh, the answer is no, you're stuck with whatever weapon hardpoints it has, by the way. It's one of the few things that seperate varients from each other. And is, by far, the biggest. And even then, some mech varients are way too similar to each other on that front.

If you wanna switch around hardpoints, clan mechs are the only ones that can do that, but come with several more restrictions (such as some hardwired equipment, like engines, jump jets, and heat sinks). If I had the release schedule for those, I would link it for you.

and I got

edit 2: later on, you might see some Inner Sphere omni-mechs, but I can't imagine those being put in for a long time yet.

Edited by Red1769, 03 July 2014 - 03:30 PM.

[The Basilisk]

The weapontypes and placement of the weapons along the chassis is one of the major things that characterizes a Mech.
So no there is no way to change a Hardpoint Class on a Chassis. You can't transform missle hardpoints to ballistic or energy type hardpoints or vice versa.

How ever tis is only completely true for IS Mechs. Clanmechs ( they come for C-Bills over the course of the next 4 month) you can exchange bodyparts (pods) so you can install a pod with hardpoints that are more to your liking. But even this pods come with hardpoint combination *as is* and those hardpoints cant be changed one by one.

Edited by The Basilisk, 03 July 2014 - 03:30 PM.

[TercieI]

IS mechs hard points are locked to one weapon type.

Clan mechs may change weapon types by changing omnipods (within the limits of those available)

FWIW, most players feel the game allows too much customization, not too little.

Good luck and welcome to MWO!

[FoxGhost]

okay thanks, i was hoping the different variants just had different load outs, i hadnt herd much of these 'hardpoints' before, thanks

[Warblood]

Quote

is there a way to change enrgy weapons into ballistics or missiles?

only clan mechs can do this at the moment

for Inner Sphere mechs you have to choose the variant with the hardpoints that would best suit the role you like to preform with that mech

[luxebo]

FoxGhost, on 03 July 2014 - 03:18 PM, said:

so i purchased my first mech and i want to customize its loadout, is there a way to change enrgy weapons into ballistics or missiles? or are we stuck with a weapon type slot on purchase of a mech. i thought it would be silly if we are stuck, unable to customize our mech load out based on the version we chose to buy.... i would understand some restrictions but i should still be able to choose different weapon types.

Couple extra tips, you do end up needing to purchase a total of 3 variants in order to master the mech MXP wise. Always spend MXP not GXP on mech skills. Another thing, smurfy, since no one mentioned it, is a good tool to use for designing and researching mechs.
http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab

What mech did you buy up till now? Also, you're still in Cadet Bonus, so I would've recommended to play through Cadet Bonus first, but since you didn't at least we could help you in deciding what loadouts you want. As Terciel said, most people think this game is too free in building mechs, so every mech has a variety of potential loadouts possible. For example, an Atlas can have many different layouts of different combos of ACs, lasers, missiles, and can fit a variety of roles, from supporting missile boats, to snipers from long range, to close range surprise brawlers.

Hope I helped.

[Redshift2k5]

FoxGhost, on 03 July 2014 - 03:29 PM, said:

okay thanks, i was hoping the different variants just had different load outs, i hadnt herd much of these 'hardpoints' before, thanks

The loadout determines the hardpoints; if a mech has energy weapons in it's arm & head and ballistic weapons in it's right torso, that is the number & location & type of hardpoints that mech has.

A different variant may have a different number, location, or type of hardpoint. some variants are very similar and some variants are very different. Depends on which ones you're looking at.

Some mechs will have additional hardpoints of the same type & location as a bonus (for example, the Hunchback 4G comes stock with 1 ballisitic weapon and has 3 hardpoints).

If you could change hardpoints then people would only ever buy the mech with the best tonnage and best hitbox shape or best <whatever>, instead of having to look at different mechs to carry different possible loadouts.

If you have an idea of what kind of mech you want, think about what weapons you want and how fast you want to go, and we'll find a mech that fits the bill.

[Karamarka]

FoxGhost, on 03 July 2014 - 03:29 PM, said:

okay thanks, i was hoping the different variants just had different load outs, i hadnt herd much of these 'hardpoints' before, thanks

When you buy them they come with different load outs, but also different hardpoints. ABC1 might have 2 missile 2 energy and ABC2 might have 4 missile 0 energy. Once you have the variant you want, you work from there building the mech.

[SnagaDance]

And just to mention Smurfy again:

The home page shows all the mechs in the game with their basic stats. Including the total number and type of hardpoints (in the column 'hardpoints' ), and to the left of that it shows the locations where these hardpoints are located.

http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/

Please note that that the location of the hardpoint within a particular bodypart may still differ between mech designs. For instance, the Energy slots in the torso of any Catapult mech are mounted low (meaning you need to expose more of your mech cresting a hill to be able to fire them unobstructed) belly level if you will, while the torso ones on a Battlemaster are mounted high up. People on the forum can help you with questions about this particular aspect.

[Rogue Jedi]

FoxGhost, on 03 July 2014 - 03:29 PM, said:

okay thanks, i was hoping the different variants just had different load outs, i hadnt herd much of these 'hardpoints' before, thanks

as has been mentioned diferent varients have hardpoints in diferant locations and sometimes a diferant total number of points, for example

the Catapult
the A1 has 6 missile hardpoints (2 with 20 tubes each, meaning an LRM20 fires in one volly, 2 with 10 tubes each meaning an LRM 20 would fire in 2 volleys of 10 missiles eacy), 3 in each arm and 4 jumpjet hardpoints
the C1 has 2 missiles 1 in each arm( 20 tube) 4 lasers (2 Center Torso, 1 Left Torso, 1 Right Torso) and 4 jumpjet hardpoints
the C4 has 4 missile (2x20, 2x10, 1 of each in each arm) and 2 energy (both in CT) with 4 Jumpjet hardpoints
the K2 has 4 energy (RA, RT, LA, LT) and 2 Balistic (RT, LT), it cannot mount jumpjets
the Jester (hero mech) has 6 energy hardpoints (1 each in RA, RT, LT, LA 2 in CT) and 2 Jumpjet hardpoints and 2 AMS hardpoints (the other catapults only have 1).

diferant varients also have diferent maximum engine sizes and quirks including modified acceleration, twist speed and arm speed. ECM requires a hardpoint and only 8 out of our current 157 (at time of writing) mech varients can have an ECM Hardpoint, AMS requires a hardpoint, most mechs have 1, a few have 2, and the Kit Fox C arm can mount 3 with an ECM (the C arm omnipod can be mounted on any Kit Fox)

Edited by Rogue Jedi, 04 July 2014 - 07:11 AM.

[LordKnightFandragon]

FoxGhost, on 03 July 2014 - 03:18 PM, said:

so i purchased my first mech and i want to customize its loadout, is there a way to change enrgy weapons into ballistics or missiles? or are we stuck with a weapon type slot on purchase of a mech. i thought it would be silly if we are stuck, unable to customize our mech load out based on the version we chose to buy.... i would understand some restrictions but i should still be able to choose different weapon types.

Yes, your basically stuck with w/e "hardpoints" the mech comes with. Hardpoints are the purple(ballistic), Orange(energy) and Greenish(missile) things you will see when you hit Mechlab>choosemech>configure>view mech.....that gives you the total overview of your loadout. IS mechs are unable to change them. You must look at the mech before you buy it to ensure its the mech you really want and that is had the hardpoints you will want to play with.

Also, go google Smurfy, like the 1st link should be smurfy MWo mechlab..you can pick any mech and play with it, pretty much making any loadout you want. Then you can make it in game, if you have the mech and space bucks.