11 replies to this topic

[Saber123316]

Getting back into MWO

I currently have the following mechs

Hunchback 4P and a Victor Dragon Slayer.


My build for the hunchie is 3 sm pulse lasers in arms and head and shoulder is 6 medium lasers. I don't know my whole build I am at work but I can keep it cool and that 6 pack when it hits it hits hard.

Atleast it did...then I met my first clan mech and got melted.

So... I come to you guys to get a few decent ideas of what I can do with these chassis's to grind out some cbills and get back into the game and build up my mech collection.

[knight-of-ni]

Be patient with the Victors. Victor's are great mech's, but most find them very sluggish until you master them.... which means you will need to pick up and grind two more of them.

You can build the Victor's many different ways. Here is what I was running the last time I dropped in a Dragon Slayer:
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...4714479c1d59bf1

I'm sure there are many others that will give you some tips on the hunchbacks. I have three of them, but I never liked them near as much as some of the other mechs I have.

[JC Daxion]

I'd start with the HBK's.. stick a STD260 engine in it, and 3 ML's and 4-6 Small pulse,, Or just go with 6-9 ML's depending on how many upgrades, endo, double heatsinks, ect.. group into a few different groups, arms, then hunch+head if you want, then a full group of all on single fire,, this will hep you manage heat..

though you might just want to go with an STD250, as it is way more flexible for the other HBK builds..


as you save money, Might as well buy 2 more HBK's.. they are great mechs..

the 4G is the AC-20 monster, but it is short on ammo, and lasers,.. So to me it is a more experienced mech pilots mech, i actually love the mech with only 21 shots, dual Machine guns, and 3 SML's.. the thing is a total shreader at 150m.. the 3 ML with 28 shots, is a bit easier to play, but i find it just not as fun.

the 4H, it is AC-10, and has more laser points.. better for when you run out of ammo, and holds more rounds on your AC. A very good starter mech.

4SP, one of my favorite mechs, Run SRMs 6's and ML's,, You can even run an XL in them with good success, and run SRM's with LL's Pretty fun that way as well, but harder to play.

4J, the LRM10 monster with laser back up.. I really need to pick this one up.. Plays like i played my wolverine pre-quirk.. (pair of 10's and lasers)


Pick 2, and work on getting them to master where mechs really come to life By the time you unlock masters on all 3 you should have a good idea of what you like.. aka Lasers, missiles, or ACs, and enough money to decide if you want to invest in victors, Or pick something else.. But this should bring you to well over 200 drops, so at that point you will be much father along, and understand the game lots more before you go into something else.

good luck!

[Saber123316]

Actually I just checked and I have a Centurion Chassis as well.

CN9-AH

Edited by Saber123316, 02 January 2015 - 01:35 PM.

[luxebo]

Saber123316, on 02 January 2015 - 01:33 PM, said:

Actually I just checked and I have a Centurion Chassis as well.
CN9-AH

The CN9-AH was actually due to having paid for the Victor Dragon Slayer. Remember that both the DS and the AH get a 30% C-bill bonus, use em wisely in the grind for more mechs. You also should take use of smurfy as knnniggett has given.

As other have said, three variants per mastering chassis. Also, you do have CGB tag, but only IS mechs. IS mechs are only runable in IS factions, while Clan factions have access to Clan mechs in CW, so beware of that (get back in the flow of MWO first though before engaging CW.) Hopefully you didn't pick permenant on CGB so you can decide later on what you choose (maybe even getting Clan mechs if you like).

I would say, which trials did you like? Go run em a few times and get back to the mechs. If you liked the Hunch/Cent (I think you do like the Hunch yes?) then do that. I will say that the AH has AC20 quirks, and the Hunchie has ML quirks. Are you torso twisting in these two mechs? The Dragon Slayer I will say that the negative quirks got removed now, so it will work wonders with lots of builds (Don't load an LRM boat on it though I will say). But overall choose as you desire, just remember quirks do make a difference and can change the mech a lot.

JC Daxion pretty much mentioned the bulk of what I would've wrote on the HBK. It is really reliable and does well. Remember to torso twist, and also remember to use 46-2 armor for front and rear of the right torso (besides 4SP) so you can tank more damage on that hunch.

The Centurion is also neat, it sports the CN9-D (expensive but well worth with dual acs or an LBX10, can go very fast and sports a very good XL engine for further use), CN9-AL (I prefer LPL so I can shield arm the mech, but it's quirks rely on LL, your choice), and CN9-A (I run it like the trial, take a look at that mech too). Once again torso twist is needed to survive well.

Lastly, the Victor is a maneuverable assault, more like a heavy than anything. A lot of mech pilots prefer it as a brawler like both the Cent and Hunch, but it's up to you. I haven't seen much use as a poptart/sniper though, but some might recommend that style of play. (Once again I'd stay away from LRM boating due to the missile ports not having enough tubes, or an AMS will chew your missiles.) Some people like assymetric builds, but don't attempt em till you got a good grasp with how the Hunch/Cent works or how the torso twist does well on any mech.

Hope I helped, good luck on the field!

[Koniving]

CN9-AH, a mech removed in closed beta for a time, was awarded to anyone who ever bought MC.

Though it will be available for cbills "someday undetermined," for now it is a fairly exclusive thing. Enjoy it! It's kind of like a Hunchback 4G, but with 3 missiles instead of 3 lasers.

The CN9-AH will have half a ton extra armor on the left arm beyond what you can manually put on, and underneath the armor on the right arm is 16 points additional structure (equal to a half ton of armor though high crit weapons will do bonus damage against that). There's other quirks, too, including 12.5% more range and 12.5% faster firing for missiles, and for ballistics there's 10% faster projectile speed and 10% faster reload. Of course the ballistics double on both accounts for an AC/20.

I personally run an LBX and 2 MGs on mine, accompanied with several LRMs or SRMs depending on CW or regular play.

(Of course, the HBK-4G's quirks for the AC/20 (25% opposed to 20%) are slightly better than the CN9-AH (4G fires every 3 seconds and the CN9-AH fires every 3.2 seconds; both cases without unlocks), and lasers are lighter than missiles. So don't go thinking it's a pay to win thing).

Edited by Koniving, 02 January 2015 - 11:58 PM.

[Saber123316]

Played and got the AC20 hunchie that thing is a little tank.
However I find the Clan Mechs seem to be a bit... too much to deal with with such limited selections.

[Barkem Squirrel]

The clan mechs are OP to a point, but with some of the quirks some of the IS mechs are also OP. Try the 4J Hunchback with Chainfire LRM 10's. It fires the LRM 10s almost every 0.5 seconds. EVen the AC 20 hunch can fire the AC 20 at a very high rate of reload due to the quirks.

An intersphere brawler can compete with a clan mech at close range, but it is still advisable to hit them from the sides or back with friends. Most clan mechs do over heat and have to watch their heat after a bit. IS missile boats are still better, but clan can carry more larger launchers. There are trade off, and I do not think that PGI is done tweaking the clan or IS mechs yet.

And welcome Back.

Edited by Barkem Squirrel, 03 January 2015 - 10:43 AM.

[Koniving]

Fighting Clan mechs or fighting as Clan mechs?

I ask because Clan Ghost Bear.

Here's a tip. You're using Inner Sphere mechs. Screw Clan honor. Fight dirty. Go for the legs, go for the arms.

When fighting IS mechs, the best route is to take out a CT or ST then the CT.

When fighting Clan mechs, the torsos are a bad choice. Their oblong bodies have greatly exaggerated side torso hit-boxes that count as entirely front, meaning they can pool most of their armor to the front. A Timber Wolf, thanks to this, can do 2 armor on the back with little to worry, and have more armor on the front than the typical Victor could even risk doing.

What you must do instead, is disarm them literally. Their arms are very easy to remove, crippling much of their firepower in most cases. Take out an arm and/or a leg. Then finish the job.

Now, of all the Victors... The Dragon Slayer is often the favorite. In my case it's the worst of them all. It doesn't fit with my playstyle and it's impaired because of it. Many use the entire left side or right side as a shield, and put all their weapons on the opposite side and use torso twist to protect it and increase their lifespan. I, on the other hand, play DPS builds (and do well in Clan mechs because of that, but prefer IS mechs). So here's what what I do. LBX-10 + AC/5 (Victor; Dragon Slayer would only get away with LBX-10 + AC/2). Either way throw on some streaks, a bap, 60+ kph or better, 12 rear armor and the rest on the front, lots of ammo and heatsinks as possible and be relentless.

One thing I noticed: The Dragon Slayer is like a Highlander... just look at the hardpoint arrangements. The Heavy Metal, which is the highlander hero, is a 90 ton Victor. Just look at the hardpoint arrangements.
Now check this out.
On both videos skip to 6 minutes.


Works very well even today. The design was made specifically for fighting 6 PPC stalkers in early-early 2013 and have gone completely unchanged for almost two years now. When I converted it for use on my Victors with an AC/5 instead of an AC/2, I was in shock and awe at how not only did it run better, but even the heat issues disappeared. Not to mention AC/5 + LBX pellets fly at almost the same speed (unlike AC/2 rounds and LBX).

[Saber123316]

Ok so I did not fully understand what the clan deal was, hence the bear. I did not pledge loyalty just a 7 day contract.

NOW some battle reports.

So my 9 laser hunchie tank is outfitted with 3 med lasers and 6 sml pulse lasers in the hunch.

My tactic is to sit behind our bigger assaults as they walk up to the main engagement point and then run around back and flank.

Once I get in close I like to take on the biggest baddest one of them in the group. My last engagement it was a King Crab.

I came in close, and opened fire at 80km/h movement speed I was able to dodge around... I was in the middle of a fray of three enemy mechs, a Crab, Cataphract, and a raven.

The raven is running around trying to hit me and could not aim, the crab is twisting in circles and the cataphract cant track my movements to use his ballistics.

I damaged the both the cat and crab enough to allow our teams other mechs get in position and open fire with large lasers / ppcs / gauss and LRMs and they were torn apart, from there the rest of them were split apart and lacked communication and tactics I ended the match with 2 kills and 4 assists.

the 4p is almost done for basic leveling. will move onto the 4g later today My issue with the 4g is range it has no range and stock is slow as molasses.

[KuroNyra]

Saber123316, on 02 January 2015 - 12:55 PM, said:

Atleast it did...then I met my first clan mech and got melted.

Clans Mech run hotter, have longer beam duration and thus. It is much more easy to spread the damage they can inflict. You still do not want to face a Clan Mech in a one vs one. Especially against a Stormcrow or a Timber Wolf.

[Koniving]

Ah, the old school design!
Back when I ran something similar. Though uploaded in 2013, it was a 2012 video with closed to early, early, early open beta footage. And man, the Hunchback was HOT. And even then it was incredibly good, even with repair and rearm in the game back then. Second match is our 4 man against a highly organized group that we suspect was an 8-man.

Later, a 4P alongside an HBK 4SP in a split-screen dual-video, in a 4-man HunchPack. 7 Small Pulse + 2 ML again.

Good, solid classic.

Far as range, it has a range of somewhere around 350 or so with its weapons if I'm not mistaken. Not nearly as short as small pulse lasers (which used to be 90 meters). You can, of course, trade the AC/20 for an AC/10 for about double that range (and use some MGs as backups for additional firepower). You lose about 15 damage per 10 seconds, and gain 16 damage per 10 seconds (when you tack in the MGs too) while gaining some range with the AC/10.

Far as dealing with a stock speed... Here's a 4P with the stock armor (in my own personal configuration) with a stock engine, before the quirks that made it into a walking tank. It includes a moment where I'm shut down in front of a Jager, but pop back online and escape despite only being 64 kph (+5% speed tweak).


But, for general slowness in a medium, perhaps I should let you in on a bit of Hunchback lore. These things are typically assigned in guard duty roles or hard hitting workhorses. They stick to the cities where tall buildings can compliment their already strong bodies and make up for their lack of speed. Even when they are not in cities, they will use other mechs as if they were buildings to soak up fire, or fight in forested areas. Anything and everything that can provide them with visual and physical cover. A Hunch in the open is a walking coffin. Tanking only does so much. Play to its strengths. So far it sounds like you have a good start.

Next time you're in your 4G, figure out where the Assault Mech lance is, and go directly to them.