6 replies to this topic

[Weeble]

I haven't played for 18 months. I don't know who's who on the forums anymore so I can't tell what posts I should ignore and what I should take as gospel. I'm looking for a "recommended reading" list of forum posts. I'm working my way through the pinned topics but it's slow. Since I'm re-installing Windows (and everything else) on my my gaming machine, I'm using my phone for forum access.

I've seen posts indicating older mechs aren't competitive anymore. Currently viable builds would be very helpful. I used to play primarily mediums or heavies but I like to have a nice selection so I can fill any role.

*edit
It's a "new to me" feature but I assume the mechs listed in my profile are correct. Yes, I did keep 2/ K2 Cats fully armed so I could switch them out quickly between drops.

JR7-D(F)
JR7-F
JR7-K

RVN-3L
CN9-A
CN9-D
CN9-AL
TBT-7M
HBK-4G(F)
HBK-4P Lunchback
HBK-4SP
CPLT-C1(F)
CPLT-K2 Ballisticat
CPLT-K2 Energy boat
CPLT-C4
CPLT-A1
CTF-3D
CTF-1X
AS7-D(F)
AS7-D-DC
AS7-RS

Edited by Weeble, 03 January 2015 - 09:34 PM.

[Rogue Jedi]

Koniving, Redshift and Shar Wolf are worth listening to above all others but there are a lot of helpful people in new player help who will assist you with your problems and questions provided you ask nicely.

a few months back the Inner Sphere Mechs received a quirk pass designed at making them all relatively competitive, this took the form of weapon improvements based on a tier list assembled by a group of players. the good news is that most of your Mechs received some major positive quirks, for a in depth list look here:
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...ght_innersphere
scroll down for the other weight classes or just hover the mouse over the Mech in the Mechlab.

of the Mechs you listed the Hunchbacks and Jenners are considered to be near the best in their weight classes.All should still be playable but it may be best to rebuild your Mechs to take advantage of the quirks,

Many weapons have been adjusted, the Gauss rifle now has a charge up mechanic, hold the fire button down for 0.75 seconds to charge it, then release to fire, if you have not released within 2 seconds of starting charging it will loose the charge requiring you to release the buton and press again however the Gauss slug is now much faster. the ACs nos only do damage out to double range and all have had projectile speed rebalanced. the PPC bolt is now much slower.

the Graphical User Interface has received a major overhaul, this was not an improvement over the original, however PGI have said they will give it an overhaul early this year.

Clans and Community warfare are now in game, PGI did a pretty good job of balancing the Clans, Clan weapons need to be held on target longer than comparable IS weapons to deal full damage, but are effective at longer range only the Timber Wolf (Mad Cat) and Stormcrow (Ryoken) are overpowered compared to the top IS Mechs

as a Legendary Founder you should have received some new Mechs a CN9-AH(L), AS7-S(L) and King Crab KCG-000(L) from the loyalty program, these each come with a 30% cbill earnings bonus, and the Founders Mech bonus has been upgraded to 30%.

[luxebo]

Seems like you do have a good selection of mechs for CW and all that. I will suggest though to finish mastering all mechs and whatnot though, since I see a Cataphract partly mastered (unless you just sold the other mechs), Raven, and Treb. This is the best reference for which mechs are best and those that are less good: http://metamechs.com/ (Though even if it's lowly rated you can make it work if you know how).

Now, CW. Remember that IS factions (I assume you know the lore, FRR and factions marked with "House") can pilot IS mechs only. Clan factions (marked with "Clan") can pilot Clan mechs only. I will suggest therefore to sign up a contract (your choice from lore/past units, etc) for an IS faction of your choice, since that benefits the best on your part due to your mech stable. Also remember drop decks require separate modules per mech (your choice on this), and each 4 (must be 4) mechs must at least be 160 tons max (i.e. 4 Cicadas) and at max be 240 tons (i.e. 4 Dragons/Quickdraws).

Just from those mechs though (Remember quirks are WIP but they did buff certain mech chassis to many leagues ahead of before, so for example a RVN-2X does marvelous with dual or 3 LPL, look em up at smurfy: http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab), I will say that:

Oh, before I do that, you do have CN9-AH (I think you do if you had spent a bit of MC, and yes it did come back), AS7-S (beastly zombie version of the DDC with CT points and 4 missile ports), and the lovely lovely King Crab that at this point overlapped the role of the Atlas in most cases (I believe it is the variant with 6 ballistics). But others may argue that the KGC didn't take Atlas's role (it's my opinion).

Jenners I have only trial experience. Thus far I am struggling on em but I think I will get the hang of em. I think they are competitive when you know what to do though.
Ravens I enjoy (and remember, the Raven 2X, 4X, and Huginn (hero mech Raven after you left) got lovely quirks, so they are better now).
Centurions are quite neat now, before mostly the CN9-A was well worked, but now YLW/AH/D are beastly. D is especially strong late game due to it's high DPS for cored targets with the LBX.
Hunchbacks are lots stronger too, all 3 of those variants are extremely strong, and others got huge buffs (4J has a neat LRM quirk, 4H has a partially neat AC10 quirk, Grid Iron I just never enjoyed at this point from testing it via test servers).
Treb 7M is now the hardest hitting LRM striker hands down (and 4J to some extent), since now it's quirks allow practically twice the firing speed. Others also got nicely buffed.
The Catapults have been awesome to drive recently due to their quirks. Especially the K2 (it's PPC quirks are almost as good as the 9S in my opinion), they have been buffed quite nicely.
The Cataphracts also have been buffed (except 3D got sadly left alone and given not a quirk). I've heard that (esp SRMs got fixed btw) the 2X is very brawly.
Now the Atlases. I've enjoyed the S and DDC a ton, but at this point they are tougher to drive (I guess D, BH, and RS aren't terrible, but I just can't find the niche for em sadly, though I did before). They did get buffed, but unlike other mechs I don't quite feel that they are the same level anymore compared to the King Crab. And Stalker took a lot of roles that the Atlas could (i.e. tanking, sniping, brawling, etc) It's you to decide of course.

Basically I think I have said everything, Rouge Jedi beat me to a lot, I couldn't participate in Closed Beta or even Open Beta for the most part, so I doubt you will recognize me, but hopefully this advice helps. As Rouge has said, Kon, Shar, and Redshift are awesome. Remember you decide what is great and what is not. I only am describing what I am feeling, but you might enjoy a certain chassis while I don't. Try em out once again to get the feel, and try out CW when you decide a faction.

[Weeble]

I may be missing a couple of mechs. I had mastered or almost mastered most of my mechs and I didn't usually sell chassis' but ??? maybe I did sell a couple. I also hoped to see the mechs from the loyalty program but maybe not logging in for 1 1/2 yrs isn't loyal enough

Thanks for the replies. Need to finish this OS install so I can get to some fun stuff.

[Koniving]

Edit: Stuff added (again).

Weeble, on 03 January 2015 - 09:27 PM, said:

First and foremost, never take anyone's words for gospel no matter who they are. What works for me isn't the same as what works for them and what works for them isn't the same as what works for you. Remember that. Advice, sure. Gospel? Not so much.
---
It seems Rogue Jedi already linked the same resource I was going to (the mech quirks). It can serve as a general guide and informative resource as each mech of the Inner Sphere has a number of traits that make weapons a little more unique on them.

I should note that "Red" on the Mech Quirk List on Smurfy does not mean bad, just 'different' from the norm, which sometimes actually reflects a good thing as usually different from the norm is better or higher values. (In MWO listings, red is bad, on Smurfy red is just 'different'.)

Example of a Smurfy red quirk...
K2: Torso Yaw: 110 ° Arm Pitch: 45 ° <--Both are listed as red instead of green.
Defaults: Torso Yaw: 120 ° Arm Pitch: 35 ° <--Notice that baseline torso yaw range is better, so the K2 got the short end of that stick. But also notice that baseline Arm Pitch range is inferior to the K2's range, so the K2 has merit there.
Yet both are listed as red on Smurfy. So red isn't necessarily bad, just "Pay attention" to it.

That said, "Ballisticats" are almost extinct. You can get +10% range, but ballistic ranges also apply to PPCs, which are lighter than ballistics and cooler for the K2 than it is for the typical mech (9 heat instead of 10). PPCs are generally slow to desync them from the Gauss + PPC meta that had been going since the Clans. The K2 puts them back to being pretty fast. (I really wish the K2 got an MG quirk.)
----
If you ever spent MC, which you probably have, you'll find a Centurion CN9-AH in your inventory when you log in. It's been long awaited for its return. Bask in its glory.

The Atlas S should be in your inventory when you log in as well. 4 missiles, 1 ballistic and 4 energy with a terminator head. Enjoy.

You will not have the King Crab, sadly. Requires a more recent package and I believe there was a dated condition for it. But they go on sale for cbills not long from now.

The new mechs should be instantly recognized by the Angels on the mechs. I think it was something about the Viking Goddesses or Valkries or some-such (Ask Bishop Steiner if it's important, he pointed it out to me).

(And you can tell I'm still waking up. *Deletes the ly from "Generally"* Yes, a Generally Guide.)

Edited by Koniving, 04 January 2015 - 05:42 AM.

[Weeble]

I just finished updating and checked out the new interface- verdict is still out on that.

I did have a King Crab along with a couple more mechs that must have been given to me. Plus, I discovered I still have some MC and about 32 million Cbills to play with. Party in my mech bay later today!

[Koniving]

Weeble, on 04 January 2015 - 05:29 AM, said:

I just finished updating and checked out the new interface- verdict is still out on that.

I did have a King Crab along with a couple more mechs that must have been given to me. Plus, I discovered I still have some MC and about 32 million Cbills to play with. Party in my mech bay later today!

Awesome. Guess it doesn't matter which package you acquired (had figured the Legendary Founder wasn't among them).

Open Crab Claws with the / key. No real point since they open almost instantly to fire anyway and better to keep them close for the armor buff they give... but if you wanna pinch, hit / twice.