313 replies to this topic

[Shaemus Shadow]

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.

[mailin]

What he meant was to use your arms as shields. If you don't have weapons in your arms they can absorb some hits for you. To do this, once you fire turn to the side so that your arm is facing your enemy. The arm will take the brunt of the damage. Then turn once your weapons recharge. The downside to this is drivers with experience will hold off on firing until your center is facing them. Sort of negating the whole arm shield thing.

And welcome to MWO!!

[RazorbeastFXK3]

He probably meant you need to unlock your arms so they don't just follow the direction your torso is facing. Go into 'Settings' and disable 'arm lock' I believe the default ingame function to toggle your Arm Lock on/off is the Left Shift Key.

The only dumb question is one never asked. I'd rather someone ask a "seemingly dumb" question and get an answer than to have them forever wander aimlessly in the dark.

[Phobic Wraith]

Welcome to the game! Glad to have you.

I'd answer a bit more in depth, but I'm at work and I have to make it quick. Your arms can target things separately from torso mounted weapons. Go to options and de-select arm lock. It increases your targeting speed and range for arm mounted weapons, but makes it just a little more complex to learn the game.

Edited by Phobic Wraith, 25 October 2014 - 04:38 PM.

[Hoax415]

You are already at the average pilot's level when he's 35 games in.

Like others have said, you want to get yourself to the point where you either play with your arms unlocked and hit and hold a key to lock them or you can play with them locked and hit and hold a key to unlock them. Player preference.

But you want to be able to use both modes on the fly for defensive and offensive reasons.

Also torso twisting is a great thing to get in the habit of doing early.

Edited by Hoax415, 25 October 2014 - 04:43 PM.

[Lucky Noob]

welcome to the game of the hard ones

Do not fear... we all played several to hundred games till we got our first Kill.

Shooting on that what your teammates shoot is great for start.

The Arm is already explained as well as we love to answer all Questions here.

Even our forum trolls are friendly and helpefull . Best comunity Confirmed

Have fun, dont spend your C Bills before consulting the Forums, Train hard, and get used to get rolled, then you will have fun

[3xnihilo]

Just wanted to add that arm weapons aim with the "o" reticle and torso weapons aim with the "x" reticle. Also in settings you can set shift to toggle arm lock on off so you don't have to actually hold the shift key down the whole time you want your arms locked/unlocked.

[Shaemus Shadow]

OOOOHHH. Thanks for the helpful tips. I was wondering why my aim was moving so slowly. I thought it was because I was using a big mech. I am going to have to practice twisting my torso to use my arm as a shield. I noticed guys were shooting then immediately getting behind cover. Do I torso twist right after shooting while backing behind cover?

[RazorbeastFXK3]

Some pilots torso twist while waiting for their weapon systems to recycle 'cause there's not much sense in exposing your Cockpit/CT(Center Torso) to your opponent when you can't keep them under constant fire.

As for twisting while ducking back behind cover, that's a good tactic as well as it also minimizes the risk of taking damage to your Cockpit/CT(Center Torso)

Shaemus Shadow, on 25 October 2014 - 05:04 PM, said:

Do I torso twist right after shooting while backing behind cover?

[Shaemus Shadow]

I really don't want to waste your posts but my last question today.....Is it best to toggle arm lock on and off, or just uncheck it altogether? Thanks again for all of the tips.

Reason for edit.....the question seems like an opinion issue. Loaded question. No need for a reply. Thanks though.

Edited by Shaemus Shadow, 25 October 2014 - 05:26 PM.

[Tarl Cabot]

Shaemus Shadow, on 25 October 2014 - 05:19 PM, said:

I really don't want to waste your posts but my last question today.....Is it best to toggle arm lock on and off, or just uncheck it altogether? Thanks again for all of the tips.

Reason for edit.....the question seems like an opinion issue. Loaded question. No need for a reply. Thanks though.

There will be times when it is best to have the lock active, other times to have them unlocked. So the best of both worlds is to set it to toggle on/off. Previously the game only allowed you to set it off or on by default then HOLD down the left shift key to do the opposite. PGI has since added the ability to toggle off/on with the hit of the button without the need to HOLD it down.

[Phobic Wraith]

I'm an arm lock off kinda guy. I find that focusing fire with all weapons mounted in arms and torsi happens less often than needing to hit a pesky light or medium on a ridge. Not only that, but it only takes a split second for your torso reticle to catch up with your arms to get that pinpoint damage.

Ooh, important note - pinpoint damage is key. What that means is your ability to put all damage reliable on the spot that will kill your enemy. Realistically, all shots that don't contribute to damaging the component that kills the enemy is wasted damage. Yeah you can disarm opponents and even leg them to slow them down, but the kill is the ultimate goal. I'll even take pot shots at armor stripped components, but focus on center torso or both legs for reliable kills. Very few exceptions to that rule. XL engines fit in that category, but knowing when to go for those... that'll come with experience.

[Lucky Noob]

The max Posts only counts as long as you dont have played your 25 first matches, after that youre free to makes 1k Posts or more if you like

[dragnier1]

Shaemus Shadow, on 25 October 2014 - 05:04 PM, said:

OOOOHHH. Thanks for the helpful tips. I was wondering why my aim was moving so slowly. I thought it was because I was using a big mech. I am going to have to practice twisting my torso to use my arm as a shield. I noticed guys were shooting then immediately getting behind cover. Do I torso twist right after shooting while backing behind cover?

Speed of lateral (sideways) movement is dependent on torso twist speed and arm movement speed, something that has been prefixed by developers. Removing arm lock allows you to move your mech's arms sideways thereby increasing the arc/radius from which you can fire arm mounted weapons.

+ for torso mounted weapons
o for arm mounted weapons

It might get confusing, i still get confused once in a while especially if my previous ride had armlock or didn't have "lower arm actuator". The lower arm actuator is the one that provides the arm with lateral movement, while the upper arm actuator provides the arm with the vertical movement.

Lastly, you can increase torso twist and arm movement speed by spending xp on them. Upon completion of the full elite tier skills of your owned mech (unlock elite tier by completing basic tier for 3 mechs of the same chassis, ie. 3 shadow hawks) you get 2x of all basic tier skills for that mech. That means more torso twist and faster torso and arm movement.

[Lily from animove]

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.

yes you will be lost a lot. play the game, watch what loadouts other use, how others in you class play. Read some newbie guides. nd then play play play, the only way to get better.

[Redshift2k5]

Welcome aboard! I've played for almost three years and I still have the occasional embarrassing loss. We've all been there! You will have bad matches but don't let it shake you.

If you stuck to your team and shot who they shot, you're off to a great start!

Shooting and returning to cover is a basic tactic, since MWO is all about attrition. When you cant' get behind cover, you can fire and then quickly turn your body to the side so the enemy has more trouble hitting you in the CT. This will be more difficult in a bigger mech since they turn slower, but it's a good skill to work on for any pilot.

[Elizander]

Just be careful about popping and shooting. If there are about 8 guys waiting to shoot you from a predictable position and some LRM boats at the back even if you spend 2 seconds to go out and shoot you might end up battered beyond repair by the time you get back under cover.

It's mostly safe if there are a lot of you shooting since the enemy usually won't be able to focus fire in the solo queue.

[RazorbeastFXK3]

It's best to have it unmarked at all times in the settings.

In the Keyboard Settings there is a way to toggle Arm Lock on/off so if you drop in a match with weapons mounted on your arms, you can just hit a button in battle to toggle them on or off instead of hitting Esc, unmarking the Arm Lock function then return to battle hoping you didn't come under fire while you were switching Arm Lock modes.

I have mine set to the Left Shift Key button so it's easy to hit 'cause if you don't have weapons mounted on your arms, you can just hit that button to lock your arms again 'cause sometimes that tiny flying circle that shows where your arms are pointed is annoying.

Shaemus Shadow, on 25 October 2014 - 05:19 PM, said:

I really don't want to waste your posts but my last question today.....Is it best to toggle arm lock on and off, or just uncheck it altogether? Thanks again for all of the tips.

Reason for edit.....the question seems like an opinion issue. Loaded question. No need for a reply. Thanks though.

[Shaemus Shadow]

The arm lock toggle makes sense. If my arms get blown off I can toggle arm lock on to easier aim my torso weapons before my mech gets gutted lol. Thank you to everyone for the helpful tips, it makes the game more appealing for newer people like me. If I see you online in the pick up games.....give me heck for any rookie mistakes I make lol. I will be practicing these tips in my rented Victor-9S(C)

I will be trying to stay with the pack and if my lance mates go down...I will fall beside them like Custer!!! or more likely I will fall before my more experienced lance mates lol.

Edited by Shaemus Shadow, 26 October 2014 - 06:20 PM.

[Koniving]

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

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.

I was about to say "Armlock" is probably what he meant. But it seems the others covered it while I was at work.

Welcome to MWO btw.

Here's a bit of arm-aiming.

From 5 minutes in, the action begins. When the Centurion tries to circle me, I'll use the arms and fire (watch the "o" reticle). Then the Hunchback tries it later only to meet the same fate.

This one switches back and forth quite a bit between Armlock on and off.