313 replies to this topic

[CSHubert]

This was kind of the same help I was met with when I restarted MWO so, in my book, this is what we do: Share ideas and knowledge. You yourself will proberbly share when you get into it. And thats the MWO community spirit.

[Koniving]

Sorry about my absence. Lots of work accompanied by, well... I opened up my Steam and started playing some of the 280+ games I never touched (bulk developer sales with dozens of games for the price of one, accumulated over a number of years).

Btw I highly recommend the free game "Only If" on Steam. If that indie developer ever produces a full game for cash, I'll buy it instantly. Best mind-screw I've ever endured in a psychological game. I kid you not, after being taught through the game that typing responses actually yields results, I found myself typing in questions to see if I get answers. I played it through in one sitting and I was thoroughly impressed. The only thing that could have made it better is having an Occulus Rift. Again, "Only If" is not a free to play game, but a Free Game. Short, but wow...just...wow.

So, that said...

Shaemus Shadow, on 28 October 2014 - 03:29 PM, said:

I have been using the Highlander trial mech...I like the range it had but I prefer the maneuverability of the Victor. I do like the er large lasers and ac5. Would it be feasible to make a good ranged fighter out of the Victor with erll ac5 ssrms? I hate the thought of wasting all of the experience I have built up with the Victor.

Yes, you can. You wouldn't have as much armor, but since you would be smaller you wouldn't have as much of an issue.
Currently though that's soon to change, the Victor, Highlander, and Atlas all have the same torso twist speeds for whatever size engine you plug in. This will change and the Victor will have a faster twist, followed by the Highlander then the Atlas (which will remain the same).

Keep in mind, while the Highlander's weapon setup isn't bad, I'm not particularly a fan. The ER LLs are not well suited. Though their range is solid.

This is my Highlander.
(Though the somewhat light-hearted commentary includes a lot of first/second reactions in MWO's U.I. 2.0 while I transfer an engine from one mech to another, skip to 5 minutes in for the [meaningful] start of the match).

Yes, it's a Heavy Metal. I favorite the Heavy Metal because of the arm-mounted lasers, it's like a Victor, but 90 tons instead of 80 tons with more armor. It sports an XL (extra light) 330 engine, max armor, and is built as a DPS king.

Here it is again, much earlier on. This time skip to 5:55. Here, after the stair simulator joke, I'm taking command of the team (as my lance had 8 trial mechs where the enemy only has two, meaning I'm at a huge disadvantage). From there, I start distributing commands and mowing through enemies.

(If this was Battletech, and I kept running my heat like that, I'd have exploded five ways to Sunday).

This rig can be built on any Victor with ease, though the engine size will be different. It's very easy to reproduce this speed on a Victor, while this is slightly faster than most Highlanders (about 2 or 3 kph faster for a kinda hefty weight increase). A Victor version won't carry as much ammo, however. That's an AC/2 + LB-10x, 2 streaks, and 3 medium lasers.

Now, as for mediums... I'm fairly good with Centurions, but I genuinely prefer Hunchbacks. Most will say Shadowhawks. Of the 55 tonners, I actually like the Wolverines most, Griffins and Kintaros (both) second, and Shadowhawk is something I'd like to dump into the garbage can. (Lack of agility compared to the others; primarily in torso twist range and speed; blindspots in attacking something at its feet, tallest of the 55 tonners, no peripheral vision at all).

People might call this heresy, but I prefer a Blackjack over the other mediums. XL 180 engine, twin UAC/5s. Can't go wrong with that.

Then there's a fast BJ, too.


Fun little things. Can't take much damage, but that's okay shift the armor forward and try not to let anything get behind you.

But honestly.. Hunchback, in my opinion, is still one of the best mechs to start with. They can play to any style, suit any way of playing. It can even fight like a Clan mech.

Enjoy: Soundtrack is the Total Annihilation OST. (That's with almost the weakest weapons you can slap on one).

[Shaemus Shadow]

Yeah, I bought the Shadow Hawk 5M. I love it so far. I ran it as is for the first match then took off the lrm20, changed uac5 to ac5 on left torso (other people on the forums recomended that), tried erppc on right arm but suck with it, some guys I played with last night recommended erll instead of erppc so that's on now. I haven't figured out Smurfy yet lol but here is what I have going on..... I have Ssrm2 on head and right torso firing together - ac5 in left torso- erll on right arm - full armor - 5jj - bought 1 extra dhs to help control heat with the erppc.

[CSHubert]

Shaemus Shadow, on 30 October 2014 - 03:40 AM, said:

Yeah, I bought the Shadow Hawk 5M. I love it so far. I ran it as is for the first match then took off the lrm20, changed uac5 to ac5 on left torso (other people on the forums recomended that), tried erppc on right arm but suck with it, some guys I played with last night recommended erll instead of erppc so that's on now. I haven't figured out Smurfy yet lol but here is what I have going on..... I have Ssrm2 on head and right torso firing together - ac5 in left torso- erll on right arm - full armor - 5jj - bought 1 extra dhs to help control heat with the erppc.

And now you are a full blown MWO warrior. Congrats mate. The UAC5 can be hard to control, so as the others I would say you did the right thing in ditching it. The extra heatsink will not help you as much as you think as the DHS excels in dissipating heat, not absorbing it. So youre alpha heat tolerance is not any better, but you will cool down faster. Here I will advice you to get the efficiencies "Cool Run" and "Heat Containment" asap.
You say you suck with the ERPPC. How do you suck ? Is it because you cant hit with it? The traveltime for the blast is annoyingly long and makes it really hard to use. - But as with all things this take time to master and once done the ERPPC is a potent weapon... Stay at it mate! (and dont go for the Wolverine even if Koniving say so! Its bigger than Elvis and will get hit by every enemy gun pointed at your general direction)

[Koniving]

Here's what I'm picturing...

For random comparison, a Hunchback with a similar build.
If you're wondering on the ammunition placement, all ammo in the CT is used up first; with it only being a half ton it'll be gone very quickly. You will notice the RT has almost as much armor as the Shadowhawk's CT, this is because the Hunchback's RT is roughly the same size. The extra heatsinks pad and protect the vital ammunition stores, reducing the risk of them being harmed. Ultimately it's speed is considerably higher considering that it has the exact same engine. However, it lost the streaks (which is why people favor the Shadowhawk, all 3 weapon systems on hand).

Now, for a truly similar Hunch build... This of course required the Hunchback hero mech.
It has flaws, but what it makes up for is twist range. (Shadowhawk 5M: 90 twist, 35 vertical angle.) (Hunchback 4G, 125 twist, 40 vertical angle.) (Grid Iron hunchback hero, 125 twist, 40 vertical angle).

Just for future thought.
Though for now you should focus on 3 Shadowhawks, getting the elites unlocked, and choosing your favorite one to keep.

[Shaemus Shadow]

I can't say this enough.....Thank you guys. Learned a great deal from your comments, the videos, everything. Koniving your video showed me how to change my weapon order on the battlefield which helped when I first got the mech and forgot to look before the match. I did not like the default. Hubert, I will give the erppc some more time and practice...thanks for the support also.

[Bront]

Shaemus Shadow, on 25 October 2014 - 04:26 PM, said:

Hello to everyone on this forum. I downloaded MechWarrior Online and I have mostly been running around the training grounds out of fear of getting manhandled and being embarrassingly lost. I have played MW4 but just played my first game online in the Victor-9S(C) and mostly followed a couple of lance mates around and shot at whatever they shot at, lamely poaching a couple of frags from them. (Sorry guys) I have a newbie question to ask you guys---One of my deceased teammates helpfully chatted "Use your arms Sha" but sadly, I am clueless what he meant.

1) Welcome to the game.
2) Following lancemates around is a good idea till you get a clearer view of what you need to do. Honestly, it's better to have a bad plan as a team than a good plan and be working solo, and lone mechs are the prey of the other team. Unless you're in a super fast light, you won't have the speed to get out of a bad situation either.
3) The Victor-9S(C) is a good starter assault. Decent build. Try a few others, but if it works for you, stick with it.
4) Arm Lock i likely what he meant. You have 2 targeting reticles. The Crosshairs are your torso, the circle is your arms. You can unlock your arms from your torso and aim with them. For the victor, the Balistics and Energy weapons are on the arms, the missiles are on the torso, so it's fairly straight forward. You can temporarily unlock it using left shift, or permanently unlock it from the settings menu by unchecking "Arm Lock"

Again, welcome to the game

[Bront]

Of course, now I see you got the Shadowhawk 5M. Good starter mech choice.

I had a fairly cheep build that was the UAC5 and 2Large Lasers that was very effective for a new player that I've run. It's a little hot, but it teaches heat management, gives you some ranged engagement opertunities, and puts out enough damage to be deadly. And yes, it's pretty simple, put in the UAC5 with 2-3 tons of ammo, and 2 Large Lasers, raise up the armor a bit (stock armor is low), 2-3 JJs, and then as many HS as you can fit. otherwise, leave it stock. Given you have most of the equipment already, it's under 500,000 to outfit, and LLs are useful in general.

[Bront]

Here, 2 LL, 1 UAC5
It's actually cool enough you could put all 5 JJs in there for 1 less HS. Or mount ERLLs if you want more range. It is however a good basic build that's fairly easy to play and packs a good punch.

[Phobic Wraith]

Shaemus Shadow, on 30 October 2014 - 05:30 AM, said:

I can't say this enough.....Thank you guys. Learned a great deal from your comments, the videos, everything. Koniving your video showed me how to change my weapon order on the battlefield which helped when I first got the mech and forgot to look before the match. I did not like the default. Hubert, I will give the erppc some more time and practice...thanks for the support also.

Sorry it took so long to get back to you! I'm sure everyone has some great ideas for builds, and honestly I'm no expert, but if I wanted to use both those ballistic hardpoints, I'd go with something like this...
SHD-5M
Armor to taste, of course. I tend to run light on ammo, a fault of mine, but you can add more by lowering armor or removing jumpjets. I honestly just threw the tag in there because right now the game is rewarding a LOT of money for TAG assists. You could switch that out for another laser

Oh, also Koniving is your new hero. He understands the game a little better than most of us, and honestly he's given you some pretty good advice, as well as given me some new ideas for my Hunchbacks...

Edited by Phobic Wraith, 30 October 2014 - 07:45 AM.

[Shaemus Shadow]

Thanks Bront. Wraith, I am going to try that loadout. I can use all the c-bills I can get with a tag. Thanks for putting the work into it and sharing it.

[zudukai]

i do not recall if endo steel comes with the 5m, so you will want that before you get too far building your loadouts, iirc it is an extra 3 tons for a medium @~ 300k CB.

[Phobic Wraith]

zudukai, on 30 October 2014 - 10:33 AM, said:

i do not recall if endo steel comes with the 5m, so you will want that before you get too far building your loadouts, iirc it is an extra 3 tons for a medium @~ 300k CB.

The 5M comes with endo.

[zudukai]

Phobic Wraith, on 30 October 2014 - 10:37 AM, said:

The 5M comes with endo.

ok thank you, that is prefect for a first mech then, do remember that the others will need it too.

[Shaemus Shadow]

Sweet. What what about the ferro-fibrous armor upgrade? Is it better?

EDIT...dumb question. If its an upgrade, it's better. *Blush*

Edited by Shaemus Shadow, 30 October 2014 - 02:01 PM.

[Koniving]

Shaemus Shadow, on 30 October 2014 - 01:55 PM, said:

Sweet. What what about the ferro-fibrous armor upgrade? Is it better?

EDIT...dumb question. If its an upgrade, it's better. *Blush*

Actually, not so much. It's lighter, but you still have the same limit and it takes up 14 slots.

Back when the game had repair and rearm (which it may again in the future), Ferro is boatloads cheaper to fix / repair than Endo Steel, but it's weight saving benefits are about half of what Endo Steel would save you for the same number of slots.

If you have the slots for it, it can get you a few extra tons.
If you don't, no point putting it on right now.

[CSHubert]

Shaemus Shadow, on 30 October 2014 - 01:55 PM, said:

Sweet. What what about the ferro-fibrous armor upgrade? Is it better?

EDIT...dumb question. If its an upgrade, it's better. *Blush*

Nope... Ive only got ferro-fibrous on my lights. It doesnt fit any other mechs. It takes a buch of your slots...

[RazorbeastFXK3]

With Endo Steel you get a greater weight reduction.

With Ferro Fibrous you get a smaller weight reduction.

So.. if you have a build with the x14 extra unused slots after adding the endo steel and you don't have full armor, go ahead and throw on the ferro fibrous.

Shaemus Shadow, on 30 October 2014 - 01:55 PM, said:

Sweet. What what about the ferro-fibrous armor upgrade? Is it better?

EDIT...dumb question. If its an upgrade, it's better. *Blush*

[Napoleon_Blownapart]

just thinking ahead ,are you aware of xp and gxp?use xp to earn skills in your chassis type (not gxp) gxp is used to unlock modules which you then have to buy with cbills.i would recommend the radar deprivation module to help vs missiles.it will take a while earning xp and gxp but mudules can make your weapons more effective by weapons shooting faster or farther or by increasing lock times and other things...im sure koniving will have a link or video to better explain modules.

[Shaemus Shadow]

I finally got the last cadet bonus. I was looking around at the skills tab and wasn't sure which to unlock first but I think I am going to try using different weapons before I start upgrading them to see which ones I will use the most. I don't want to sound needy but should I go for cooling, torso twist upgrades and such or straight to weapon upgrades? I know once I spend the xp I can earn more but a first bad step could lead me down a long, rough road.

Thanks.