18 replies to this topic

[W Ventilator]

Hello fellow mech heads!

My callsign should be .W.Ventilator, however that wouldn't take. As it is, how's the critical slot system in this game? If it's pods dropped in without much concern for such, would I be able to get a T'Wolf and go with four ER Med Lasers and the rest heatsinks, and just alpha strike all day like I could back in Mechwarrior 2? If not, I have some learning to do!

Otherwise, here's a hearty hello to my fellow stompers!

[Cyberiad]

W Ventilator, on 20 November 2014 - 12:19 PM, said:

Hello fellow mech heads!

My callsign should be .W.Ventilator, however that wouldn't take. As it is, how's the critical slot system in this game? If it's pods dropped in without much concern for such, would I be able to get a T'Wolf and go with four ER Med Lasers and the rest heatsinks, and just alpha strike all day like I could back in Mechwarrior 2? If not, I have some learning to do!

Otherwise, here's a hearty hello to my fellow stompers!

Clan mechs have set engines per chassis so if all you took were 4 lasers and heat sinks, you would be 12 tons underweight. If you use a timberwolf, you are stuck with the XL 375 engine.

[Alaskan Nobody]

Even then - in mech2(31st) you were stuck using multiples of your mech's weight for engines.
(dunno about the others, only played 31st)

375 would have been the biggest he coulda fit anyways.

[Phobic Wraith]

W Ventilator, on 20 November 2014 - 12:19 PM, said:

Hello fellow mech heads!

My callsign should be .W.Ventilator, however that wouldn't take. As it is, how's the critical slot system in this game? If it's pods dropped in without much concern for such, would I be able to get a T'Wolf and go with four ER Med Lasers and the rest heatsinks, and just alpha strike all day like I could back in Mechwarrior 2? If not, I have some learning to do!

Otherwise, here's a hearty hello to my fellow stompers!

The way the game has worked out clan mechs is a little bit of a compromise. Critical slots and omnipods on clan mechs are a little more complicated. First, the clan mechs use a hardpoint system just like the inner sphere chassis do. The omni system allows you to swap specific parts on your omnimech. For example, you have the prime variant of your Mad cat, but want jumpjets, easy fix - exchange the side torsi for the S-variant torsi and you get locked in jumpjets with an extra ballistic hardpoint or two. The Uller has ECM on its left arm, so you can swap that arm onto any other variant, and the list goes on. Engines, heatsinks, structure type, armor type and jumpjets are all locked onto the chassis and cannot be removed.

edit: the smurfy is your friend. http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab

Edited by Phobic Wraith, 20 November 2014 - 12:49 PM.

[W Ventilator]

Silicon Life, on 20 November 2014 - 12:39 PM, said:

Clan mechs have set engines per chassis so if all you took were 4 lasers and heat sinks, you would be 12 tons underweight. If you use a timberwolf, you are stuck with the XL 375 engine.

Shar Wolf, on 20 November 2014 - 12:42 PM, said:

Even then - in mech2(31st) you were stuck using multiples of your mech's weight for engines.
(dunno about the others, only played 31st)

375 would have been the biggest he coulda fit anyways.

It was an otherwise stock T'Wolf, and had JJ's (5), 4 ER Med Lasers, and then maxed armor and full Slots of DHS everywhere else. It was a bit light, but man, alpha strike all day without jumping, by and large!

Anyway, how are you all doing these days? I am looking forward to getting some time to dive back in!

[Phobic Wraith]

W Ventilator, on 20 November 2014 - 12:46 PM, said:

Anyway, how are you all doing these days? I am looking forward to getting some time to dive back in!

We're always glad to have someone back to the game. I can't speak for anyone but myself, but the game is in pretty good shape. Aside from the glacial progress towards community warfare everything seems to be going well, sure there are missing things that would help the game, but the community by and large is looking forward to major content and the devs are delivering. Balance seems to be pretty fair... aside from LRMs they range on a scale from utterly useless to pretty OP depending on the equipment going with them.

[W Ventilator]

Phobic Wraith, on 20 November 2014 - 12:56 PM, said:

We're always glad to have someone back to the game. I can't speak for anyone but myself, but the game is in pretty good shape. Aside from the glacial progress towards community warfare everything seems to be going well, sure there are missing things that would help the game, but the community by and large is looking forward to major content and the devs are delivering. Balance seems to be pretty fair... aside from LRMs they range on a scale from utterly useless to pretty OP depending on the equipment going with them.

I'll keep that in mind; I take it LRM's don't auto lock like they did in MW2? They were Streak LRM's for some reason, sure made the game a great deal easier, but if I gotta TAG and maintain it to guide the missiles in, that would make more sense.

As it is, I am about to go on lunch, so this should prove interesting to retest out my mech skills after so long!

Glad to hear the game and community are doing so well, too. I've always loved this genre; it's going to get fun soon for me, that's for sure.

[IraqiWalker]

W Ventilator, on 20 November 2014 - 01:01 PM, said:

I'll keep that in mind; I take it LRM's don't auto lock like they did in MW2? They were Streak LRM's for some reason, sure made the game a great deal easier, but if I gotta TAG and maintain it to guide the missiles in, that would make more sense.

As it is, I am about to go on lunch, so this should prove interesting to retest out my mech skills after so long!

Glad to hear the game and community are doing so well, too. I've always loved this genre; it's going to get fun soon for me, that's for sure.

LRMs work like IS LRMs. Basically streak LRMs. However, clan LRMs have 2 features that make them balanced against IS LRMs:

1- They have no minimum range (they deal reduced damage up until the 180 meter point where they are dealing full damage, and guidance under 180 meters is not super effective, but it helps)

2- They fire as a stream, instead of one giant block like IS LRMs. It makes it easier to deal with them than IS LRMs.

[Phobic Wraith]

Missiles lock on, but the lock takes time. TAG gives you a faster lock, and so does artemis, but only if you have line of sight (TAG too, obviously). Both make your missiles swarm closer together so the damages is more focused on single components. The effects of both systems stack. NARC allows all members of the team a lock on the NARCed 'mech for 30 seconds. ECM can negate this I think (That might have been changed recently). ECM blocks all targeting on the 'mech (farther than 180 meters I think, I don't run any ECM 'mechs) carrying ECM and all friendlies in their "bubble." BAP and C-AP disrupt ECM and increase your sensor range out to 1000 meters.

yeah, it gets complicated.

[W Ventilator]

It may get complicated, but it's going to be loads of fun to try out!

Thanks for all the help, Phobic Wraith, you have been a big help to me with all this information, that's for sure!

[Gauvan]

Welcome back, MechWarrior. These guides might help bring you up to speed on the basics.

[Redshift2k5]

If you want to know what you can or can't build, I suggest you visit a mech builder like Smurfy

Here I have made an approximation of your build idea, a Timberwolf S with 4 ERMLs and the rest heatsinks

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...3a9635149db84ff

As you can see, it's not ideal. It's got over 8 tons of leftover weight and the overall damage could be much better! so technically yes, you CAN build this exact build (the game will let you drop with a mech that is underweight) but you can probably do better!

Of course, more firepower is not always better, efficiency is very important and a mech with fewer weapons but an ability to fire them non-stop has some considerable advantages.

[HlynkaCG]

07

Always good to see a fellow old timer. The other guys seem to have you covered so see you on the battlefield Can-born

[RazorbeastFXK3]

Nope, they're not as straight-forward, nose-to-tail launching in mwomercs as they were back in Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries. Would be awesome if they did though.

But yeah, you lock onto your target (whether it's by Line of Sight or assisted lock-on through a team mate and it has to be within the targeting box of the target) then instead of having to adjust your sights before launching, the LRMs will auto-adjust their firing arc (up and over, not side to side) to go over any obstacles that are between you and your target (within reason as the LRMs don't go straight up and out at 90 degree angles I think the max arc is 70 degrees but not too sure)

Innersphere LRMs fire in one-strike salvo where they fire all at once or if you have an LRM20 mounted in a missile hardpoint that only allows 10 missiles to be launched at a time, you'll fire two salvos/groups of 10 missiles. They also have a minimum range of 180 Meters so any target within that range will not receive any damage.

Clan LRMs fire rapidly in a one-by-one nose-to-tail motion so I don't believe their hardpoints have any effect with how they are launched. They have a minimum range too where they won't deal 100% damage within 180 Meters but they will still deal damage within that range but much less than 100% as the target gets closer to the launcher.

TAG would be used if your target is under the protection of Enemy ECM.

W Ventilator, on 20 November 2014 - 01:01 PM, said:

I take it LRM's don't auto lock like they did in MW2? They were Streak LRM's for some reason, sure made the game a great deal easier, but if I gotta TAG and maintain it to guide the missiles in, that would make more sense.

Edited by RazorbeastFXK3, 20 November 2014 - 06:26 PM.

[InspectorG]

Welcome!

[Kali Rinpoche]

Welcome to the fun!

[Sadistic Savior]

W Ventilator, on 20 November 2014 - 01:01 PM, said:

I'll keep that in mind; I take it LRM's don't auto lock like they did in MW2? They were Streak LRM's for some reason, sure made the game a great deal easier, but if I gotta TAG and maintain it to guide the missiles in, that would make more sense.

As it is, I am about to go on lunch, so this should prove interesting to retest out my mech skills after so long!

Glad to hear the game and community are doing so well, too. I've always loved this genre; it's going to get fun soon for me, that's for sure.

The main difference IMO is that physical geometry in the game blocks missiles just like it would in the real world. The computer does not cheat. If you fire a swarm through a mesh of girders, the girders will block some of them. So your LRM 20 will be reduced to 12 missiles because some hit the girders. Collision detection in this game is way more accurate than in previous MW games.

Line of sight is literal. It is not measured from your eyes to the target, but from the weapon to the target. You can fire at and hit stuff you can't necessarily see. It will feel more intuitive. For this reason I prefer high-torso mounted weapons (like the Battlemaster and Catapult K2 and Jaggermech). Because I can generally hit whatever I can see. On my Nova, it is annoying, because the arms are WAY out away from the cockpit...so Unless they are close or I am out in the open, I will have my shot blocked by surface geometry.

Line of sight is needed for locks. Locks are only needed for missiles to home. You can dumb-fire missiles without a lock...they will aim at wherever you place your reticle as you fire them. Lots of things can affect locks. You can target anything you can see that is not covered by ECM, and you can target anything your allies have locked. But as soon as they lose lock, you will too (unless it is line of sight by then). It is more intuitive than it sounds.

Clan mechs are not better than IS mechs. They are just different. Ironically, they have fewer options than IS mechs, so if you like to customize a lot, you will be frustrated with Clan mechs. You cannot remove/replace stuff like Jump Jets and Engines in Clan mechs and you cannot switch between double/single heatsink or endosteel or ferro fribrous. They are hardwired into the mech and cannot be changed. You can swap out Omipods (which will let you customize hardpoints, but only to a limited degree).

In exchange, Clan mechs get access to better weapons (in some cases). Clan autocannons, for example, fire in bursts (like pulse lasers) and not single-point damage. Clan missiles are faster and (IMO) more accurate, but fire in a stream instead of a swarm (making them easier targets for AMS).

In earlier MW games, Clan mechs were considered superior in most ways. Thats how it is supposed to be in Lore as well. But that is not the case in MWO. For balance reasons they are analogous to IS mechs. And maybe a little bit worse at the moment since IS mechs get quirks now.

Edited by Sadistic Savior, 24 November 2014 - 11:08 AM.

[Danghen Woolf]

Welcome.

[Shaemus Shadow]

Welcome to MWO! Hope to see you on the battlefield.