20 replies to this topic

[chem]

I haven't played in over a year but I'm giving this another try.

I have, at master level, Jenners and Catapults. I own Jenner -F -K and -D (not champions). I own Catapult -A1 -K2 and -C1 (not champions). My goal is to eventually own and pilot a good Mad Cat. What should I do?

I see a lot of modules that are "locked" but that cost c-bills, like "target info gathering" etc. Right now I have "adv. seismic sensor". I don't know what items the current metagame/balance favors. What advanced mech or weapon modules (not consumables) should I buy and what is the easiest way to farm them? I've never seen the weapon modules before.

With those Jenners and Madcats, can someone link good fits for the current meta? I own a XL280 engine in addition to STD245/260/315.

What's the best way to farm c-bills, still just winning matches and not dying? Does dying matter?

When is the Mad Cat coming out, or other clan mechs?

Do some champion/hero mechs that you can NOT get via c-bills have unique advantages, strictly better than their c-bill version? If so, which mechs?

Thanks guys.

Edited by chem, 02 August 2014 - 03:16 PM.

[Eldane]

You have to first unlock the modules with GXP, then you purchase them for cbills.

The current hot modules are Radar Deprivation(if you hate getting hit by LRMs) and Shock Absorbance(reduces leg damage, great for jumpy mechs and lights in general).

Target Info Gathering is also good, and if you run LRMs or SSRMs you might wanna look at Target Decay.

Finally I hear Hill Climb may be nice for slower Assaults and Heavies, but can't say from experiance.

As far as farming them, well you just have to play. Assists and Savior kills are great for cbills and xp.

Edited by Eldane, 02 August 2014 - 03:18 PM.

[Zelumbras]

Jenners usually do very good with a XL300 engine but that is rather expensive so for now you can make decent builds with the XL280.

Here are some Jenner builds that should work good with that engine (although it is probably still worth to farm for an XL 300):
JR7-D
JR7-F
JR7-K
I don't own any of the Catapults but the dual Gauss K2 is pretty popular and hit detection for SRMs has also improved a lot if you want to use them on the other variants.

As for the modules:
- Seismic is still very nice
- Target Depriviation will make you much less voulnerable to LRMs
- UAV and Artillery/Air Strike will get you a lot of extra (G)XP if used correctly

CB farming:
Assists and Saviour Kills give a lot of CB and XP so try to damage at least 6-8 mechs over a match. Spotting for LRMs and a well placed UAV will also add up but the latter costs 40k per use. Be also careful with some of the new clan mechs, especialy the Direwolf and the Nova Prime, since they can both do over 80 damage in just 2 seconds on an immobile or slow moving target. Other than that: stay mobile, save some JJ fuel to soften your landing and focus on targets that are already engaged.

Mad Cat (Timberwolf) and clan mechs:
Clan Mechs are currently only available for a lot of real money but will soon be released one by one for CB too. For more info visit here: http://mwomercs.com/...lease-schedule/


Hope that helps a bit but feel free to ask if you have any additional questions.

edit: some more info

Edited by Vulcan888, 02 August 2014 - 04:00 PM.

[Rogue Jedi]

the Clan mechs will be released for MC and Cbills over the next few months, the Timber Wolf (Mad Cat) is due the second week of November, here is a link to the release schedule
http://mwomercs.com/...elease-schedule
if you do not want to wait you can buy the mad cat collection (realy expensive, but includes 3 varients each of 7 diferant chassis for 21 mechs total or the a la carte Timber Wolf (3 variants) here
http://www.mwomercs.com/clans
scroll down to the bottom of the page to purchase only the Timber Wolf

here is my JR7-D build, it works well in a hit and run role, and uses an XL 280
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...aaae4133ab07460

the best way to earn Cbills is to do as much damage and get as many kills and kill assists as possible, preferably while winning a lot, if your main interest is earning Cbills (and you will probably need close to 50,000,000 for 3 Timber Wolves) do not use consumables (e.g. Air Strike, Artillery, UAV, Cool Shot) too oftern as they will likely cost you more Cbills than they will earn you

if you do not mind investing some MC for extra Cbill earnings then buy Premium time, this increases earnings by 50%

their are a lot of good Mechs available, give us some more information on likes and dislikes about your current Mechs and we can offer some advice.
If you like the Jenners then you will probably also enjoy the Firestarters, they have more firepower and better hitboxes (some shots will hit places other than the center torso and legs) than the Jenner in exchange for slightly lower top speed and agility

Edited by Rogue Jedi, 02 August 2014 - 04:08 PM.

[Koniving]

chem, on 02 August 2014 - 03:02 PM, said:

What's the best way to farm c-bills, still just winning matches and not dying? Does dying matter?

With what you have...
Jenner D + Tag + 3 ML + 2 LRM-5s or two streaks. Good speed hopefully. TAG enemies and LRM-spam them. (Streaks works too but more risk involved).

Hit the target with Tag + LRMs: Cash payout. Hit an ECM mech with tag and LRMs, double cash payout. Damage, cash payout. Kills, assists, etc., cash payout. Anyone else hits your tagged target with LRMs, more cash.

Dying doesn't matter. Just winning by the entire enemy team being slaughtered does (to get even more cash). Ties and "out of times" work too. Just don't try to win by capturing the base.

Spoiler

You'll be robbed blind for base captures or wins by resources; they pay dirt and you'd actually get identical money (in the case of assault) by suiciding at the beginning of the match as you would for capturing the base.

Not that you should, it's just a simple fact.

(Note: Actually playing or even so much as firing 1 medium laser will get you more money than capturing the enemy base and destroying every single turret [as damage to turrets don't count and turrets don't pay]. So it's really in your best financial interest to play and attack things no matter how bad it may be).

(For conquest, try to capture bases after most of the enemy is dead and 'drag it out'. It's actually a good thing if the enemy cowers and hides somewhere as every second he stalls you'll get a few pennies more).

Enjoy your easy money.

Edited by Koniving, 02 August 2014 - 04:43 PM.

[dragnier1]

I think the current meta has returned to ppc+gauss, with acs' projectile speed reduced. It might return to ppc+ac should the devs reduce ppc projectile speed.

As for the timber wolf, or any other clan mech you're looking at, i quote you this:

Spoiler

Quote

As posted earlier in this thread, courtesy to Flying Fox 333: https://docs.google....RoSQ/edit#gid=0
And also Mechwarrior Mousse: http://mwomercs.com/...ated-7-22-2014/

Edit: Quoted prices subject to changes

Edited by dragnier1, 02 August 2014 - 09:56 PM.

[Modo44]

Small XL+big guns Catapult builds can simulate the Timber Wolf decently (think XL265 with 2xUAC5+PPC+3xML). Another one would be the Orion, but that thing's enormous firepower comes with mobility issues. No IS mech really comes close to Clan DPS, though. If you want to learn jump-sniping and general high mobility play, buy a Victor and put some PPC/AC5/Gauss mix on it with XL325 or larger. Think Dragon on steroids (very fast for an assault, run and gun playstyle).

chem, on 02 August 2014 - 03:02 PM, said:

Right now I have "adv. seismic sensor". I don't know what items the current metagame/balance favors.

Seismic for jumping mechs (it only works when stationary, which is what you become when you drop from a jump), radar deprivation on everything (crucial agains LRMs, which are very popular). Since consumables have separate slots now, you can always take an arty/airstrike and whatever fits (e.g. a cool shot for DPS mechs, a UAV for scouts).

chem, on 02 August 2014 - 03:02 PM, said:

What advanced mech or weapon modules (not consumables) should I buy and what is the easiest way to farm them?

No weapon modules unless you have waaay too much Cbills. They are pretty useless locked at level 2 now. They will become interesting if they ever go up to level 5.

Upgrade your most used mech modules to avdanced. Those upgrades do not cost Cbills (existing modules just switch to "advanced"), so it is GXP well spent.

chem, on 02 August 2014 - 03:02 PM, said:

What's the best way to farm c-bills, still just winning matches and not dying?

Winning, assists, kills -- in that order.

chem, on 02 August 2014 - 03:02 PM, said:

Do some champion/hero mechs that you can NOT get via c-bills have unique advantages, strictly better than their c-bill version? If so, which mechs?

The Dragon Slayer (Victor) allows for an entire shield side including one stripped arm. It also has better weapon convergence when using arm lock than other Victors. The Misery (Stalker) is on its own level compared to other Stalkers since it runs way cooler while packing an AC20 or a Gauss Rifle. The Ember (Firestarter) works in a similar fashion, running very cool for a light mech. The Ilya (Cataphract) is a popular Cbill farming mech (the triple UAC5 build shreds components with unprecedented speed).

Edited by Modo44, 02 August 2014 - 10:19 PM.

[Redshift2k5]

chem, on 02 August 2014 - 03:02 PM, said:

What's the best way to farm c-bills, still just winning matches and not dying? Does dying matter?

Do some champion/hero mechs that you can NOT get via c-bills have unique advantages, strictly better than their c-bill version? If so, which mechs?

Thanks guys.

You don't lose C-bills if you die. Getting lots of assists, savior kills, component destruction, spotting,etc etc gains you C-bills, and if you die after you've done a bunch of that stuff you're fine. If leave the match after you die you still get paid! But don't rush in, get splattered, and quit, you won't have contributed enough to make it worth your while. Generally, surviving and assisting your team is how you make C-bills, but if you die after putting in a good effort don't worry about it.

Champions don't do anything you can't do on a regular mech, except they are "preupgraded" with some different (standard) equipment and have an XP boost.

Heroes have functionally different hardpoints and stats (such as different values for engine max, acceleration, torso twist, etc). Generally a Hero mech is not better but all of them are different and can bring loadouts their on-hero counterparts cannot. None of them are strictly better on paper but In some cases these different loadouts fit the meta better which makes them really good. Heroes also get a unique camo pattern and a sizable C-bill boost. Always having a mech that can give you a C-bill boost can really come in handy, and if you combine it with premium time you can make tons of c-bills very quickly.

Edited by Redshift2k5, 03 August 2014 - 04:57 AM.

[Spheroid]

The 280XL is good in the Jenner-D. I would recommend seismic, radar dep. and UAV.

[Hammerhai]

Definite full vote for the XL 280 on the Jenner. It is one of the most useful light mech engines you can ever get. The 300 works well in Cicadas and quite a few IS heavy brawlers for max firepower( and reduced durability, sadly.)


Sacrificing MC and buying champion or hero mechs with the right engines can give you the XL 280 (Firebrand, CTF 3D), but is very much optional. Best investment of MC is still Mechbays and most especially Prime Time bonuses on CBills. Followed by buying sale champion mechs with expensive XL engines you would have to grind for else. The equation is simple. Time or Money, your choice what you spend, but spend you do.

To unlock modules in a reasonable amount of time you will need to convert mech xp to gxp, as you earn GXP at the rate of 5% of mech xp. Watch out for double rate gxp conversion weekends to maximise this, so you will have to be patient there, or pay more in MC. (Yes, you pay real money for the conversion of XP)

Current hero meta mech is the Victor Hero (Dragon Slayer ?) because of slimmer profile, it seems. Ilya has been top performer for a long time, but with the advent of clans I seem to have seen less of those in my ELO bracket. Misery can mount a AC 20 as a stalker, and is popular for that. Most hero mechs do not offer greatly increased earnings, as the loadouts are usually sub optimal, if unique (See Ivy Four Quickdraw). In my case I tracked avg earnings on what I have, and usually earned pretty much the same as my favourite non heroes in the long run. Note also I am at the lower end of avg in terms of skill, so YMMV.

Edited by Hammerhai, 03 August 2014 - 08:54 AM.

[chem]

Thanks for all the replies, guys. Some real good info there. Looks like I have plenty of time to grind C-Bills before the TWolf is released to public. Those mech packs were surprisingly expensive, I can't believe dudes are dropping $210 on a mad cat pack. I don't have much MC, like 1500, or GXP, so I'll have to watch out for special sales for things involving those.

All Hero and Champion mechs get C-Bill boosts during play in matches? Same bonus percent for all champs and heros (how much)? Are the hero Jenner or hero Catapult useful in any interesting way? Since I'm saying CB for new chassis types, I could imagine dropping some MC on one of those as I'm already skilled and geared up for those chassis.

[Modo44]

chem, on 03 August 2014 - 11:07 AM, said:

All Hero and Champion mechs get C-Bill boosts during play in matches?

Hero mechs have a 30% Cbill income boost. Champion mechs have a 10% XP boost (rather useless).

chem, on 03 August 2014 - 11:07 AM, said:

Are the hero Jenner or hero Catapult useful in any interesting way?

The champion Jenner is just the regular thing with all upgrades (including XL300). The Jester is the fastest Catapult you can get, and its dual AMS is great against LRM spam. It is not really better than the K2, just allows for a different (generally faster) playstyle.

[Turist0AT]

chem, on 02 August 2014 - 03:02 PM, said:

Do some champion/hero mechs that you can NOT get via c-bills have unique advantages, strictly better than their c-bill version?  If so, which mechs?

Thanks guys.

ILYA Muromets is the only IS mech able to carry 3 AC-10

Jester is a fast laser K2 with dual ams and JJ

Firebrand is the only Jäger with high Energy (and ballistic) hardpoints.

Misery is the only stalker able to pack a ballistic weapon

Heavy metal has a balistic arm, a laser arm and missiles in the torso, other highlander have only missiles in the left arm and energy in the torso.

Edited by Turist0AT, 03 August 2014 - 01:03 PM.

[chem]

I just bought the kitfoxes for c-bills and they're my first clan mech. Can someone explain omnipods? What do they do other than XP boost? Should I be changing those a lot? I'm running the default builds right now just learning the mech, but I know those are sub optimal.

[Blue Shadow]

chem, on 12 August 2014 - 05:13 PM, said:

I just bought the kitfoxes for c-bills and they're my first clan mech. Can someone explain omnipods? What do they do other than XP boost? Should I be changing those a lot? I'm running the default builds right now just learning the mech, but I know those are sub optimal.

Omnipods are basically an arm or side torso you can swap from one variant to the other, letting you mix n mach hard points. It's not a bad idea to make the most of each variant with default omnipods for the xp boost at least until you get the speed tweak, as you can't change out a clan mech engine.

[dragnier1]

Omnipods are parts of a mech (arms/legs/torsos/head) that can be changed with another within variants of the chassis. They come with quirks, some of which apply only to the mech they belong. As mentioned by blue, you can mix and match, plus you get xp bonus if all parts are the default pieces. Each pod (+ct) may also come with locked parts, which you cannot change (jj, dhs, etc). The torso omnipods of S also come with 1 jj slot each side (jj not included, except for S variant).

Edited for errors.

Edited by dragnier1, 15 August 2014 - 02:29 AM.

[Skexy]

Note that most popular builds of the kit fox will involve changing out the right arm for the C arm which is what allows for ECM.

-skexy

[n r g]

chem, on 02 August 2014 - 03:02 PM, said:

I haven't played in over a year but I'm giving this another try.

I have, at master level, Jenners and Catapults. I own Jenner -F -K and -D (not champions). I own Catapult -A1 -K2 and -C1 (not champions). My goal is to eventually own and pilot a good Mad Cat. What should I do?

I see a lot of modules that are "locked" but that cost c-bills, like "target info gathering" etc. Right now I have "adv. seismic sensor". I don't know what items the current metagame/balance favors. What advanced mech or weapon modules (not consumables) should I buy and what is the easiest way to farm them? I've never seen the weapon modules before.

With those Jenners and Madcats, can someone link good fits for the current meta? I own a XL280 engine in addition to STD245/260/315.

What's the best way to farm c-bills, still just winning matches and not dying? Does dying matter?

When is the Mad Cat coming out, or other clan mechs?

Do some champion/hero mechs that you can NOT get via c-bills have unique advantages, strictly better than their c-bill version? If so, which mechs?

Thanks guys.

I was in the same boat as you just about 1 month ago when I returned.

Well, Jenners are tier 1 lights mate, up with the ember, most would say the catapult is a joke, compared to things like the cataphract or, dare I compare it to the timberwolf (which crushes it, but clan maybe not a good comparison).

I know the modules may confuse you at first, it did for me, but it's rather simple . You see alot of "universal " modules being used on all mechs, i.e. cool shot 9,but others are more "role" and chassis specific. For example, a brawler loadout/build would greatly benefit from the seismic sensors, where as , adv. sensor range may benefit more long range builds to get the enemy on radar first and get the first few shots.

The Timberwolf AKA madcat is already out. "Meta" means nothing, since some players/teams literally have their own defintions of meta (CSJ was running the 4LL TW which we dubbed as meta, while other teams ran 2ppc1guass, and some teams even run a combo of medium lasers/LLs and guass and dub that "meta")

Yes, hero and champions boost your cbills/xp though I think HERO's are a greater percentage vs. champion mechs but I maybe wrong so someone can correct me on that.

[chem]

is there any point to owning more than one KFX chassis after you've mastered the skill tree? with clan omnipods, it seems like you could put all -S parts or whatever on a prime chassis, and not need to take up extra mechbays?

[MuonNeutrino]

chem, on 16 August 2014 - 02:09 PM, said:

is there any point to owning more than one KFX chassis after you've mastered the skill tree? with clan omnipods, it seems like you could put all -S parts or whatever on a prime chassis, and not need to take up extra mechbays?

You are completely correct. For a clan mech, unless some of the variants have hardpoints in the CT (which is the only part you cannot swap), there is no point in keeping all three once you're done with the skills as long as you save the omnipods when you sell them. Kit Foxes, Adders, Stormcrows, and Summoners all work this way. The Nova, Timber Wolf, Warhawk, and Dire Wolf all have at least one variant where the CT does something different, so you would want to keep more than one version of those.