14 replies to this topic

[Grimbloodz]

This is my attempt to help new players, I hope you all find this a good read! Please don't be too critical guys, I'm trying to help!

If you would like to know more, you can reply here, or check out www.sarna.net which has a huge archive of Battletech information

I'm posting this, because throughout many battles, players are asking many questions. Some of us are newer than others, and its very hard to type and fight at the same time.

Background

MWO is set in the "Battletech" Universe, around the year 3050. Human kind has colonised many worlds, and large groups of these worlds are ruled by Feudal Houses (Please look at your profile and google the factions if you want to know more)

Human kind travelled because of the invention of the jump engine, a space folding device that allows near instantaneous travel between star systems, and Jump ships need to recharge after each jump with the help of a large solar sail.

Attached to these "Jumpships" are "Dropships" - mostly egg-shaped large landing craft, carrying personnel, supplies, battlemechs and ground vehicles. And these ships leave and dock with the Jumpships whilst they recharge, travelling to the colonised planets in the star systems.

That's where we come in. As you are aware, in MWO we are "Mechwarriors" or 'Mech-jocks who fight in a company against another company of players from all around the world, this means its 12 'Mechs against 12, in 3 "Lances" of 4 mechs.

This is not MW4 or the older games. We are fighting each other, not the AI, and the missions are simple; destroy the enemy team, or capture resources.

At this point I suggest you watch the Video tutorials to help you feel more confident in your first battles.

After that, you start fighting, but what 'Mechs and why? Good questions, but I have a piece of advice first.

I remember some great advice from an old mechwarrior game (MW2 Mercs) "In real combat, speed is life - you go slow, you die" so as a general rule - never stand still if you are being shot at!

You have mechs that can perform many roles, and the trial mechs are not bad for a start, and in the first 25 battles you receive c-bill rewards so that you have enough cash after these battles to buy your first chassis.

The mechs are in categories according to weight.

Light 20-35 tons
Medium 40-55 tons
Heavy 60-75 tons
Assault 80-100 tons

Basically as a general rule, as mechs get heavier, they get more armour and weapons, but get slower and are easier to spot.

In your mechlab I suggest you hover the mouse over each chassis on trial to see what weapons it has, so you know what role it can play on the battlefield, but basically there are 3 different roles.

1) Slugging/Brawling is a reasonably close range fighting session (Normally under 500m) where mechs take pot shots at each other. This may be mostly medium to assault mechs, ofc there are exceptions.

2) Direct fire support, mostly these mechs stand a little back of the brawlers and offer support from weapons that shoot in a straight line, Auto-cannons, Large Lasers etc, this role is very important, and arguably these mechs (Like the Jagermech) are liked by newer players. This range is best described as 500-700m

3) Artillery mechs are armed with mostly long range weapons and LRM's and fight best at 700-1km in range. These are a safer option for those who are less confident, and the trail mechs have a Catapult and Kintaro that perform well here.

All I can say to you all is read this, feel confident, ask questions, and get a feel for the mechs so you know what you want to buy after 25 battles.

Happy Hunting

Grim.

[Grimbloodz]

Those links are awesome, many thanks

[Koniving]

Video by Wauweli, an impressive video content creator.

For more background info, this link "They're Here"is primarily about the Clan invasion but has the factions and such as well as the background as to what the Clans are, why the Factions are fighting each other, and why the Clans themselves are fighting everyone else.

It also has another fantastic video by Wauweli which uses visuals and a bit of FreeSpace dialogue to tell a story.

From those alone you can learn a lot more than a few hours on http://www.Sarna.net though Sarna can give lots more specifics.
So take a solid 15 to 20 minutes, watch some videos.

[Koniving]

On dropships:

This video is set after 3058.

We are currently in 3049.

[Lootee]

You forgot the part about the great houses of the Inner Sphere nuking themselves back towards the stone age for 300 years. So even though the game is set far far into the future, BattleTech DOESN'T have:

phasers
teleporters
force fields
targeting computers capable of aiming your guns for you that never miss
space battleships (except for the Clans, who didn't nuke themselves for 3 centuries)
mech healing nanomachines
matter replicators
automated factories churning out millions of disposable mechs
<insert whatever mechanic from whatever other universe that isn't BattleTech that some igmo thinks should be in the game>

So even though the game is set 1000 years in the future, the technology is still crude because there's very few people alive that understand how it works. Mechs are so valuable that families pass them on as heirlooms for generations and salvage is supposed to play a big role. Scavengers scour the battlefields looking for any mech that can be repaired, especially ones no longer in production.

Edited by Lootee, 17 August 2014 - 02:31 PM.

[Koniving]

Technically... They have force fields (shields actually, they come in 3070's), space battleships (they do have them and had them for a long time, but combat in space is so deadly and pointless that there are actually agreed upon laws preventing most space combat), and automated factories.

Technically, most people don't actually know how to build half of the mechs that exist. o.O; The actual knowledge is lost. But thankfully the factories make them on their own. The issue is the materials, costs, and travel expenses.

Also the Clans have said targeting computers. But in this game they don't work as targeting computers but magical range enhancement or bullet speed increasing tools. (Inner Sphere have them as well, they are simply called target control software, and for certain mechs like the Thunderbolt, they are able to independently track and hit up to 2 targets at the same time without penalty. It's right on its Sarna page).

This basic Inner Sphere tank, with a slightly advanced target control software, was able to hit 4 out of the 5 targets. Of course this is in a 10 second period.


Of them, one became crippled (Gyro) and was never able to stand again by LRM-5. Another's pilot was killed via an LRM-5 to the cockpit (it was already damaged; it's the prone immobile one). Another took some missiles to the leg despite being between 60 and 90 meters away (the south-most one). The fourth target, the northern-most was exactly 60 meters, but the turn was too sharp for the front-mounted LRM-5s to hit and thus was a miss. And finally the twin AC/10s on the turret instantly killed the Atlas.

The Catastrophic engine failure that ensued after the critical hit on the Atlas's engine killed the Enforcer that I could not hit. (It would have killed the Commando too, if the custom-made Atlas didn't just use 4 LBX's on it to shred it).
Why? Because BattleTech tanks are awesome. Even if the damn track does break easily! (The first 4 LBX's I took shredded my track and it was never safe to send the crew out to fix it, so I kept blasting things in this 3 team fight).
-------
But yes, they do keep bringing themselves into the stone ages.

This except from the Kintaro is a good example of it:

Quote

Unfortunately, the Succession Wars saw the last known Narc factory destroyed in 2792, and the advances made during the Star League era became lostech. The loss of Narc beacons rendered the Kintaro's role unnecessary, and it became just another missile-armed 'Mech. By the Third Succession War the Kintaro was nearly extinct, but in the end was saved when General Dynamics rebuilt a Kintaro factory on Ozawa, though they could only produce the downgraded KTO-18 variant. ComStar however maintained a number of original Kintaros which they used to outfit their Com Guards. They also produced their own slightly-downgraded variant, the KTO-19, which they gifted to the Draconis Combine as part of Operation Rosebud. Concentrated among the Ghost Regiments and certain Sword of Light regiments, the superiority of these 'Mechs over their Federated Commonwealth cousins caused an overreaction during the War of 3039 as they were targeted for destruction more than necessary, leaving other units free to fight

A campaign was literally launched specifically to wipe out all NARC technology. There were others to wipe out entire battlemechs from existence -- one such campaign almost wiped out the Ravens, if I'm not mistaken the last factory is supposedly either destroyed or captured by the Davions.

The discovery of the Helm Memory Core, which was a central database, restored a lot of lost technology.

Electronic Warfare and by extension ECM was specifically built to counter Artemis (and ECM fully became the focus and creation to counter NARC beacons), though in MWO they counter missiles altogether and NARCs counter ECM. Of course, AMS was so effective in Battletech that they shifted into a trend of Mech Mortars (and ECM was largely ineffective against standard LRMs in BT).

Wee!

Edited by Koniving, 17 August 2014 - 03:13 PM.

[Lootee]

But there's no shields like Star Wars or Star Trek that absorb tremendous amounts of damage no matter what the source. The Blue Shield only works against PPCs and doesn't absorb all the damage, only half.

Even with a targeting computer in your tank you still had a chance to miss if you rolled badly enough. Except on that prone immobile guy, you might have had a modified to-hit number of 2 on him if your crew had a really good gunnery skill. There's no merit in this argument you see all the time: "Well if a M1 Abrams tank can hit a moving target now, 1000 years in the future they must have aiming computers that never miss!". That's simply not BattleTech.

Edit: LOL, wuts the deal with all the Enforcers in that battle. 4 of them? Someone really likes Enforcers

Edited by Lootee, 17 August 2014 - 03:23 PM.

[juxstapo]

FedRat

[Grimbloodz]

I can't thank you all enough for the links and info. I didn't go into any detail about the Great Houses, succession wars etc, as I like people to look them up, hopefully to help players find who they want to represent. There is a lot to learn in battletech lore.
Please keep it coming, and be proud, the MWO community is really good for feedback and help. This is what makes the game so good.

Also please be careful of the links you add, its fine to add links to external private sites, but sourcebook material, and even some videos may have a copyright attached to them, please bear that in mind

- Im also wondering, will we get Clan enhanced imaging........... probs not

Edited by Grimbloodz, 17 August 2014 - 06:41 PM.

[Koniving]

Lootee, on 17 August 2014 - 03:03 PM, said:

Edit: LOL, wuts the deal with all the Enforcers in that battle. 4 of them? Someone really likes Enforcers

Comstar training crew. Nothing but 8/8 pilots. (Oh and there was 8 of them.)

They ultimately won.

I fully agree though the targeting computers weren't perfect. I view them as akin to the Star Citizen targeting computers. "Shoot here to hit." Combine it with being able to tell it you want to hit the enemy at this place, and it'd tell you about where to lead the shots.

Edited by Koniving, 19 August 2014 - 01:11 PM.

[Kin3ticX]

Koniving, on 17 August 2014 - 02:47 PM, said:

This except from the Kintaro is a good example of it:

Unfortunately, the Succession Wars saw the last known Narc factory destroyed in 2792, and the advances made during the Star League era became lostech. The loss of Narc beacons rendered the Kintaro's role unnecessary, and it became just another missile-armed 'Mech. By the Third Succession War the Kintaro was nearly extinct, but in the end was saved when General Dynamics rebuilt a Kintaro factory on Ozawa, though they could only produce the downgraded KTO-18 variant. ComStar however maintained a number of original Kintaros which they used to outfit their Com Guards. They also produced their own slightly-downgraded variant, the KTO-19, which they gifted to the Draconis Combine as part of Operation Rosebud. Concentrated among the Ghost Regiments and certain Sword of Light regiments, the superiority of these 'Mechs over their Federated Commonwealth cousins caused an overreaction during the War of 3039 as they were targeted for destruction more than necessary, leaving other units free to fight

Pretty sure the Kintaro-20(the one with the CT Large Laser, but has FF and DHS) was gifted to house Kurita to be used against Davion, not the 19(which includes NARC).

Edited by Kin3ticX, 19 August 2014 - 10:00 PM.

[Koniving]

Kin3ticX, on 19 August 2014 - 09:58 PM, said:

Pretty sure the Kintaro-20(the one with the CT Large Laser, but has FF and DHS) was gifted to house Kurita to be used against Davion, not the 19(which includes NARC).

I didn't write the Sarna entry.

[Kin3ticX]

Koniving, on 19 August 2014 - 10:01 PM, said:

I didn't write the Sarna entry.

I got this from sarna too....I guess we are screwed

• KTO-20 The KTO-20, used to good effect in the War of 3039, was the slightly downgraded version of the KTO-19 given to the Draconis Combine by ComStar as part of Operation Rosebud. The KTO-20 was nearly identical to its Star League era cousin, the only real difference being the loss of the Narc Missile beacon in exchange for a Magna Mk III Large Laser.^[10] It was equipped with double heat sinks. BV (1.0) = 1,081,^[11] BV (2.0) = 1,357^[12]

Edited by Kin3ticX, 19 August 2014 - 11:41 PM.

[Koniving]

Kin3ticX, on 19 August 2014 - 11:40 PM, said:

I got this from sarna too....I guess we are screwed

PGI level quality control? Or is it inherent in all Battletech fans?

[Pht]

Grimbloodz, on 17 August 2014 - 05:39 AM, said:

This is my attempt to help new players, I hope you all find this a good read! Please don't be too critical guys, I'm trying to help!

If you would like to know more, you can reply here, or check out www.sarna.net which has a huge archive of Battletech information

I'm posting this, because throughout many battles, players are asking many questions. Some of us are newer than others, and its very hard to type and fight at the same time.

Background

MWO is set in the "Battletech" Universe, around the year 3050. Human kind has colonised many worlds, and large groups of these worlds are ruled by Feudal Houses (Please look at your profile and google the factions if you want to know more)

Human kind travelled because of the invention of the jump engine, a space folding device that allows near instantaneous travel between star systems, and Jump ships need to recharge after each jump with the help of a large solar sail.

Attached to these "Jumpships" are "Dropships" - mostly egg-shaped large landing craft, carrying personnel, supplies, battlemechs and ground vehicles. And these ships leave and dock with the Jumpships whilst they recharge, travelling to the colonised planets in the star systems.

That's where we come in. As you are aware, in MWO we are "Mechwarriors" or 'Mech-jocks who fight in a company against another company of players from all around the world, this means its 12 'Mechs against 12, in 3 "Lances" of 4 mechs.

This is not MW4 or the older games. We are fighting each other, not the AI, and the missions are simple; destroy the enemy team, or capture resources.

At this point I suggest you watch the Video tutorials to help you feel more confident in your first battles.

After that, you start fighting, but what 'Mechs and why? Good questions, but I have a piece of advice first.

I remember some great advice from an old mechwarrior game (MW2 Mercs) "In real combat, speed is life - you go slow, you die" so as a general rule - never stand still if you are being shot at!

You have mechs that can perform many roles, and the trial mechs are not bad for a start, and in the first 25 battles you receive c-bill rewards so that you have enough cash after these battles to buy your first chassis.

The mechs are in categories according to weight.

Light 20-35 tons
Medium 40-55 tons
Heavy 60-75 tons
Assault 80-100 tons

Basically as a general rule, as mechs get heavier, they get more armour and weapons, but get slower and are easier to spot.

In your mechlab I suggest you hover the mouse over each chassis on trial to see what weapons it has, so you know what role it can play on the battlefield, but basically there are 3 different roles.

1) Slugging/Brawling is a reasonably close range fighting session (Normally under 500m) where mechs take pot shots at each other. This may be mostly medium to assault mechs, ofc there are exceptions.

2) Direct fire support, mostly these mechs stand a little back of the brawlers and offer support from weapons that shoot in a straight line, Auto-cannons, Large Lasers etc, this role is very important, and arguably these mechs (Like the Jagermech) are liked by newer players. This range is best described as 500-700m

3) Artillery mechs are armed with mostly long range weapons and LRM's and fight best at 700-1km in range. These are a safer option for those who are less confident, and the trail mechs have a Catapult and Kintaro that perform well here.

All I can say to you all is read this, feel confident, ask questions, and get a feel for the mechs so you know what you want to buy after 25 battles.

Happy Hunting

Grim.

Nice to see other people with the same idea!

If you want something of a touchstone to start learning from: http://mwomercs.com/...ore-start-here/

If you want to know everything about a battlemech you ever wanted to know, but were afraid to ask: http://mwomercs.com/...y-an-education/