12 replies to this topic

[K O Z A K]

Hi all,

Sorry about the essay below, please ignore if you're short on time

I have some questions about using the timberwolf effectively.

To give some background, I used to play some MW3 and a lot of MW4mercs when I was a kid, and when MWO first came out I played for about a month and then other things took over my free time. Have some more time to kill now and decided to give it a try. So a few weeks ago logged into my old account with my old rusty Cat K2 and a few million c-bills and started playing. Having a blast so far.

Now I've watched a bunch of top teams gameplay videos and read about loadouts to try to suck less at the game since it has obviously become quite a bit more complicated in the last few years. Started at the bottom of tier 5 (maybe something with my old games), and in about 3 weeks moved up to about mid way through tier 3.

So far I only played pugs and some group, but now I'm starting to think about trying CW and possibly joining a unit. But before I do I wanted to master out the 4 mechs I'd need for CW (and generally get better at the game first).

The first new mech I bought was a stormcrow, and now I have 3 fully upgraded (2 are LPL+ML and one is a streak crow) and they are awesome. I spend a lot of time fighting from cover, poking, re-positioning and if needed don't shy away from a push as long as there is something heavier with me. With the laser setups I usually do very well, averaging around 600dmg, 300 on a bad match and 900ish on a good one (streak crow is higher but we all know why). Now to bring these 3 to CW I end up with 75 tons of space for a 4th mech.

I've done some research and decided to go with the Timber Wolf (currently finishing my 3rd one). I've tried a lot of different weapon configurations and ended up with a similar setup as my crow (CLPLs and CERMLs). But for some reason I just can't get it to work. I end up averaging like 200-300dmg, with less than 100 on a bad match and barely 500 on a good one. My problem is that with just slightly more firepower than the crow and a bit more armour, it just feels so horribly slow and sluggish in every way by comparison. The jump jets are really nice and give me some new tactical options, but they just don't make up for how much slower it's torso/arm movements are and how poorly it accelerates/stops/turns when compared to my mediums, not to mention that I loose a lot of the ability of quickly relocating to more advantageous firing lines. Just about the only thing I like about it is the TBA high mounted laser pod. When I try to poke with the TW, I end up just not putting out enough damage, and I feel like I'm not contributing to the team sufficiently given how much tonnage it takes up, nor is it very good at it because of the slow acceleration/braking/torso twist. But when I try to be more aggressive in order to support the team with it's armour I end up getting just totally wrecked every time before I can put any damage out. It seems even on the open field my survivability is a lot higher in the crows because of their smaller size, maneuverability and speed.

I would really appreciate any input from heavy pilots on how to effectively use this mech. I'm obviously doing something wrong as many people seem to think it's one of the better heavies. Or is it hopeless and I should just stick to mediums (maybe lights)?

Thank you in advance

Edited by Hazeclaw, 15 March 2016 - 07:38 PM.

[Ace Selin]

4xSRM6 4xSML PLS, bunny hop everywhere, get in close and kill and move
2xUAC10 3xERML, have cover to fall-back to if you get jammed, peak shoot and get back in cover
2xLPL 5xERML, use LPL most often, reposition now and then and only alpha every now and again if something that will hurt you gets in your face
3x LPL, fire 2 and 1 a sec later, try to keep range and focus weak points

Other than that try to find what works for you.
Heck ive even used 2xERLL 4xSRM4 to good effect in CW, ERLL for distance and SRMs for anything getting close.

[Audacious Aubergine]

People aren't wrong when they say it's one of the better heavies, but therein lies your issue - you're so used to piloting something 20 tonnes lighter and 15-ish km/h faster that you're not sure how to move. What I've found works is really just knowing how much space you need to change directions, and/or making a conscious effort to just keep moving forwards until you're behind cover before changing directions. Compared to most other heavies I've used (most of which have been IS ones) the TBR is blazingly fast.
As far as builds go, I've not had much luck with SRMs of either variety but that's mostly because I'm horrid at aiming torso mounted weapons while running around and if I stand still while in SRM range then I'm standing still within brawling range of mechs that generally have a much higher close range damage output than I can survive. So laser vomit is (sadly) a pretty good bet

[K O Z A K]

Thanks for the replies,

I've tried the SRM setup which I found difficult to use on many maps and ok on some. And the 2xLPL 5xERML is what I was using for a while, but heat management is really difficult in a mech that once committed to a fight cannot easily pull out, so I dropped 1 ERML for a heatsink and had a bit more success. Didn't try the UAC-10s, will try, but if kind of worries me how much I have to "stare" at the enemy to put out damage with ACs.

FreebirthToad, maybe you're right and I need to play around in testgrounds with the limits of my turning at speed. I've tried to commit to fighting from cover to cover, but it seems I always die before reaching the next cover point. My move usually goes like this: I run from cover, fire 2MLs, then 2LPLs, then 2 more MLs (fast sequence) and as I torso twist I usually get an alpha to the CT...I take some more shoulder/Side Torso fire as I'm shielding, as I'm reaching the next cover point I turn for an alpha and sometimes before it, sometimes after, the mech just drops (I'm guessing from another CT hit, unless there are way more ppl who can do headshots than I thought). This means if I commit to a run in battle 4/5 times I seem to end up dead. And usually this is from 1-3 enemies, I'm not talking about running into a firing line here.

[Audacious Aubergine]

One thing to keep in mind with using autocannons, particularly the burst-firing clan ones, is screen shake. Sure you might need to stare someone in the face for a while but if you keep landing hits with a UAC10 then you have a good chance that they'll be too disoriented to return fire very well

[Rogue Jedi]

Hazeclaw, on 15 March 2016 - 09:22 PM, said:

FreebirthToad, maybe you're right and I need to play around in testgrounds with the limits of my turning at speed. I've tried to commit to fighting from cover to cover, but it seems I always die before reaching the next cover point. My move usually goes like this: I run from cover, fire 2MLs, then 2LPLs, then 2 more MLs (fast sequence) and as I torso twist I usually get an alpha to the CT...I take some more shoulder/Side Torso fire as I'm shielding, as I'm reaching the next cover point I turn for an alpha and sometimes before it, sometimes after, the mech just drops (I'm guessing from another CT hit, unless there are way more ppl who can do headshots than I thought). This means if I commit to a run in battle 4/5 times I seem to end up dead. And usually this is from 1-3 enemies, I'm not talking about running into a firing line here.

the Timber Wolf is one of the best Mechs in the game, and everyone knows it, that is why you are having trouble surviving, a Timber Wolf is a priority target for most experienced players because we know how good it is in the right hands and do not want to have a Timber fully functional in the later stages of the game so if multiple Mechs see you they will shoot you before almost anything else.

it sounds stupid because the Timber is rather durable and very powerful, but in that Mech you need to be cautious because it cannot win against 2 enemies ^{(unless you are a far better pilot than the 2)} and if 4 Mechs are firing on you at once you will often go down inside 10 seconds, it the whole enemy team are firing on you, you will usualy go down inside 5 seconds

when your Mech goes down your "paper doll" damage readout should still be visible letting you see how you died, along with a list of hits that caused recent damage, it seems to list a single hit from each weapon type because many times I have gone down to "gauss rifle" from fresh in a Light with no ammo to explode and at least 21 hit points on all critical components, Gauss is only 15 damage so it must be 2 or more Gauss hitting simultaneously.

[S 0 L E N Y A]

Like Rogue said, one of the biggest challenges to the timby is its reputation.
The knife cuts two ways as well. Sometimes being in a timby gets to your head and you think you have become a god.
Try to make sure you are always with at least one competent pilot (preferably your whole lance and team) and dont feel compelled to always be the tip of the spear just because of the reputation of your mech.

[aGentleWarrior]

I have 2 TBR similar described to the ones by Ace Selin
TBR.-S 4xSRM6 4 MPL:
That one runs a little hot but on CW it sometimes shines. I run into crippled mechs at chokepoints, Alpha -> KILL, retreat and cooldown
On PUGs that mech is somehow ... average, there are not as many chokepoints on PUG maps.

TBR-C 2xUAC10 3xERML:
this one shines in PUGs, especially when you get to 1:1 fights, (mining collective favourite map for that) however when you encounter multiple enemies you will get always much attention and will be out of order fast. On CW that mech is situation dependent and has the problem of longer times being exposed - exactly as already stated...

Edited by aGentleWarrior, 16 March 2016 - 04:11 AM.

[K O Z A K]

Thanks everyone,

It's interesting how it being a good mech ends up becoming somewhat of a disadvantage in pugs because it gets focused a lot. I imagine in an organized team it wouldn't matter as much because when all the enemies would be shooting at me, all my teammates would be shooting the enemies.

I will definitely try out the UAC10 setup, thank you.

[Khereg]

Hazeclaw, on 16 March 2016 - 07:02 AM, said:

It's interesting how it being a good mech ends up becoming somewhat of a disadvantage in pugs because it gets focused a lot. I imagine in an organized team it wouldn't matter as much because when all the enemies would be shooting at me, all my teammates would be shooting the enemies.

In CW, you can pretty much count on not being the only TBR on the field either. Even if the other team is focusing TBR's, there's so many running around, they may not be focusing you.

If you're running decent builds, the painful truth is that the Timby's performance (or lack thereof) comes back to how you are using it. No other way to make it work than to keep working it... Good luck.

Edited by Khereg, 16 March 2016 - 08:10 AM.

[Flak Kannon]

Those that listed Dual UAC10, 3 ERML builds, can you post a link to a Smurfy build to show me how you run yours?

I built it up and have to shave ALOT of armor, I mean ALOT of armor just to have a couple/few tons on ammo. I am using the 2 S side torsos.. so I think that's 4 Tons... I guess I could 'NOT' run S side torsos, JJ are so valuable tho..

[Khereg]

Here's mine - deadside the left arm to strip the armor and you only need one S side torso. You're not poptarting, you just need it to climb hills.

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...c7a531be55a9e46

Edited by Khereg, 16 March 2016 - 03:41 PM.

[Not A Real RAbbi]

Khereg, on 16 March 2016 - 03:29 PM, said:

Here's mine - deadside the left arm to strip the armor and you only need one S side torso. You're not poptarting, you just need it to climb hills.

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...c7a531be55a9e46

You could also run that on the TBR-S with the TBR-PRIME RT omnipod, and move some of that ammo inboard, if so inclined. One less JJ, but also one more ton not locked into equipment, so you could ALSO try a TCompI. ONE JJ ain't much, but it still beats ZERO JJ.