10 replies to this topic

[Scum of the Earth]

Greetings MechWarriors.

So, I have been playing MW since the late 80's. I have enjoyed playing the many incarnations over the years. Even in early 2000, I enjoyed playing the beta of MPBT3025 which I enjoyed a lot... until EA scraped it at 98% finished... >_>

So, I was a little surprised that this version escaped me for over a year until recently when someone told me about it. I have been enjoying playing it the past week but I have noticed a few things but I am still confused on a few other things.

I see that all the armor has been doubled for mechs. Even from the data record sheets, each mech can support 2x the normal armor allowed in those areas. I would imagine that it is of course to prevent people from using 1 gauss rifle to win the game as soon as a match has started. However, what about the internal structure? Are all structure points doubled too (i.e. the head has 6 internal points instead of the normal 3)?

After the daily reset and each mech you have has the "2X" on it, what is being 2X's? EXP, c-bills...? As soon as you win a match with that mech it goes away. However, if you have a losing match, do you get 2x the match losing EXP + c-bills until you finally win? I know for bought mechs you earn EXP for dropping it and you get 0 EXP for using a Trial mech. If you have a 2X on a Trial mech, does it give you 2X the c-bills then; is it worth using a Trial mech once you have a purchased mech?

I see they have kept weapons true for the most part to P&P BT, even the minimum ranges of PPC's and LRMs. As a mercenary, can I have a stable (bought mechs, not trials) made up of both house and clan mechs? Can I sign a house contract and use a clan mech and vise versa? I see that I can't mix techs together though (no clan weapons on an IS mech).

I am still confused as to how Community Warfare works. Is there a guide somewhere about it? I would rather not lose a planet for my faction due to my inexperience. I don't understand why I select four mechs to launch with. Do I play all 4 of them; one at a time until they blow up in 1 match until the objective is made of failed? Is it still 12 vs 12 for a match?

I read some older posts and there was mention of being a new player getting 1 free day of premium time to start with. However, I joined when there was a Christmas special of 7 free days. I was not sure if those 7 days replaced the 1 day or if I was supposed to get 1+7 free days. I know I never did get my 1 free day and I looked everywhere on the launcher for the redeem button people mentioned. Is this something that I should bring up to a GM?

Thanks guys. I'm sure I'll have more questions down the road but these are the only ones that come to mind at the moment. Thanks for reading and any help you can provide.

[Basskicker]

http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab

That website there will allow you to see internal HP and total armor as well as play around with builds to see what works without sinking cbills into something you might not like to play.

2x beside the mech means 2x the normal amount of XP generated. Pretty sure it applies to all types of xp. General or mech specific.

Currently if you plan to drop in Community Warfare you can only use the mechs specific to that faction. Clan only on clan side IS only on IS side. Also there is currently no blending of the techs as of yet. Clan weapons on clan mechs IS weapons on IS mechs.

In CW you pick a drop deck of 4 mechs. They can be any combination of weights up to the 240 ton weight limit. You will have access to each of these mechs by a respawn feature that drops you back into the match via dropship.

As for your concerns about losing a planet due to inexperience dont worry about it. There is nothing you can do by yourself to lose a planet this is a team game after all

However I would suggest sticking to the public queue until you get your legs beneath you and/or check out the recruitment section of the forums and join a group. They can teach you the nuances of MWO.

[SnagaDance]

Yes the x2 refers to a double experience bonus. You only get that once/day, when you win a game with that mech (so not during a losing 'lead up' to that win).

And you actually do get XP when playing a trial mech, you just can't spend it (all trials play as having all Basic skills unlocked btw). But when you actually by the same mech variant as a trial you've played, you'll immediately have xp to spend on skills. A nice boost.

You could even start playing a Trial you know you'll want to actually buy later, just getting that daily x2, so you get a nice head start once it does finally becomes your property.

Btw, you'll find the Redeem button at the top of the forum page here, as long as you're logged in. It's not present in the actual game. Poor integration between the website and the game if you ask me. Buying MC on the website, but only being able to spend them in game is another example.

[Rogue Jedi]

Scum of the Earth, on 06 January 2015 - 10:52 PM, said:

Greetings MechWarriors.
1) I see that all the armor has been doubled for mechs. Even from the data record sheets, each mech can support 2x the normal armor allowed in those areas. I would imagine that it is of course to prevent people from using 1 gauss rifle to win the game as soon as a match has started. However, what about the internal structure? Are all structure points doubled too (i.e. the head has 6 internal points instead of the normal 3)?

2) After the daily reset and each mech you have has the "2X" on it, what is being 2X's? EXP, c-bills...? As soon as you win a match with that mech it goes away. However, if you have a losing match, do you get 2x the match losing EXP + c-bills until you finally win? I know for bought mechs you earn EXP for dropping it and you get 0 EXP for using a Trial mech. If you have a 2X on a Trial mech, does it give you 2X the c-bills then; is it worth using a Trial mech once you have a purchased mech?

3) see they have kept weapons true for the most part to P&P BT, even the minimum ranges of PPC's and LRMs. As a mercenary, can I have a stable (bought mechs, not trials) made up of both house and clan mechs? Can I sign a house contract and use a clan mech and vise versa? I see that I can't mix techs together though (no clan weapons on an IS mech).

4) I am still confused as to how Community Warfare works. Is there a guide somewhere about it? I would rather not lose a planet for my faction due to my inexperience. I don't understand why I select four mechs to launch with. Do I play all 4 of them; one at a time until they blow up in 1 match until the objective is made of failed? Is it still 12 vs 12 for a match?

5) I read some older posts and there was mention of being a new player getting 1 free day of premium time to start with. However, I joined when there was a Christmas special of 7 free days. I was not sure if those 7 days replaced the 1 day or if I was supposed to get 1+7 free days. I know I never did get my 1 free day and I looked everywhere on the launcher for the redeem button people mentioned. Is this something that I should bring up to a GM?

1) Structure has indeed been increased with the exception of the head (15 structure regardless of the Mech) all sections get structure equal to half the maximum armor that component can carry unless the Mech quirks state otherwise

2) as others have said the 2x is double XP for your first win of the day in that Mech, and trial Mechs do earn XP you just cannot spend it until you own the Mech.

3) in the 3 non CW game modes you can use any Mech at any time, however in Community Warfare you can only use Inner Sphere Mechs if you are contracted to an IS faction and only Clan Mechs if you are contracted to a Clan.
to join a faction without being part of a unit go to the faction tab and select the faction you want, the longer contract you take the more loyalty points you will receive per match with permanent contracts offering the highest payout, but this means you are stuck with that faction and have to pay a penalty to change faction.


4) for CW you first need to take a contract with one of the factions or join a unit which has, then you chose 4 Mechs with a combined weight between 160 and 240 tons, select which to use first.
find a planet to ether attack or defend, you may need to wait a long time for a match to form (I have been waiting more than 30 minutes before, the wait is much shorter if with a 12 person group),
if you chose defend you may end up doing a "counter attack and if you chose attack you could be defending against a counter attack).
if you are attacking (or counter attacking) your job is to first kill a generator to open a gate to the base, then destroy some generators protecting the orbital Gauss rifle, then destroy the orbital guns power source.
if you are defending your job is to stop the attacker from destroying those objectives and kill the attackers
when 1 Mech is destroyed you can chose the next, available reinforcements drop every 30 seconds, if you have not selected a Mech in time for the second reinforcement drop after your previous Mech is destroyed 1 will be selected for you.
at the end of the day (I think this is midnight eastern time but I am not certain) if the attacker holds more than half the "zones" they take the planet.

I advise against entering CW until you own 4 Elited (elite skills finished) Mechs, as the elite skills and doubled basic skills give you a big improvement in Mech handling and there is no matchmaking in CW so a group of 12 individuals could be put up against an elite 12 man with voice comms, you will need every advantage you can get (again a good reason to join a unit yourself)

look for a unit under these links:
http://mwomercs.com/...s-inner-sphere/
http://mwomercs.com/...factions-clans/
http://mwomercs.com/...ons-merc-corps/
naturally if you only want to fight for e.g. house Liao then look in their recruitment threads, if you want to work for a variety of factions then look at Merc Corps, I strongly suggest looking at multiple units web sites before joining.
joining a unit is not essential for CW but it will make things easier also you cannot join a unit if you are already under contract to a faction or another unit.


5) click the download now button, you will be taken to a screen where you can claim that free premium time by clicking on something, sorry I cannot be more precise

many edits: all to improve readability

Edited by Rogue Jedi, 07 January 2015 - 10:42 AM.

[Rushin Roulette]

Scum of the Earth, on 06 January 2015 - 10:52 PM, said:

I read some older posts and there was mention of being a new player getting 1 free day of premium time to start with. However, I joined when there was a Christmas special of 7 free days. I was not sure if those 7 days replaced the 1 day or if I was supposed to get 1+7 free days. I know I never did get my 1 free day and I looked everywhere on the launcher for the redeem button people mentioned. Is this something that I should bring up to a GM?

As all of the other questions have already been answered I guess ill go for this one. I think you mean the free premium day for downloading the first time. If the offer is still active, then you can still get it followign these instructions (even if you already downloaded the game already);

1: Deactivatre your Addblocker (If you have one)
2: press the blue button at the top right of this website
3: Press teh Download button
4: Cancel the download (as you aready have it on that PC, so no need to download again)
5: There are 3 pictures on the newly opened page. The left one should be for the free premium day. Just press this picture. (note, this part may have changed over time as these instructions are quite old)
6: Reactivate your Addblocker if you have one.

You can check up if it has been added to your account through the following page
http://mwomercs.com/profile/redeem

You should have a point in the list with "Free Premium Day for Downloading".

[Jody Von Jedi]

I don't really have anything more to add to what's been posted above. My Rogue brother and others have covered it nicely.

Although I like to offer you a hardy welcome to MW:O.

There are a lot nice people here in the new players forum ready and willing to offer you great advice.

[Scum of the Earth]

I wanted to thank everyone for their help in answering my questions. I appreciate the time you put into them. I would also like to add...

Rushin Roulette, on 07 January 2015 - 01:48 AM, said:

1: Deactivatre your Addblocker (If you have one)
2: press the blue button at the top right of this website
3: Press teh Download button
4: Cancel the download (as you aready have it on that PC, so no need to download again)
5: There are 3 pictures on the newly opened page. The left one should be for the free premium day. Just press this picture. (note, this part may have changed over time as these instructions are quite old)
6: Reactivate your Addblocker if you have one.

Thanks a lot. I of course was using an ad blocker and never saw the three window buttons open. Once I disabled it and followed your instructions... *BOOM*! there they were. Thanks for pointing that out for me.

Good luck out there Mechwarriors and happy hunting.

[Revis Volek]

Rogue Jedi, on 07 January 2015 - 01:32 AM, said:

Stuff

...... you may need to wait a long time for a match to form (I have been waiting more than 30 minutes before, the wait is much shorter if with a 12 person group),

I advise against entering CW until you own 4 Elited (elite skills finished) Mechs, as the elite skills and doubled basic skills give you a big improvement in Mech handling and there is no matchmaking in CW so a group of 12 individuals could be put up against an elite 12 man with voice comms, you will need every advantage you can get (again a good reason to join a unit yourself)

More Stuff...

Actually there is no reason to wait more then 15 minutes....if you and you have a full 12 you missed your chance for a ghost drop and you are in fact waiting for other to get out of their games. No reason to sit there for thrity minutes or more while waiting for people to finish there matches. Use the numbers next to the planets. If the queue says 48/48 there is a chance you will never get a game there as a SOLO player. Even a unit with less then 12 has no gurantee of a match on that planet because the queue are full and even.

If it said 60+/48 then yes drop in defense of that planet. There are people waiting in the MM for you to queue up. Maybe on both sides. But do not take this advice...no offense Rouge Jedi but if you are waiting that long it best to go try another planet or do PUBLIC drops until the queue get more peeps, another Planet starts to fill up or you get 12 in your Unit Group.

I have never waited more then 15 minutes....and that's for ghost drops. There is no point in waiting in queue and wasting your time when you KNOW someone is locked in a 30 minute battle. Go do a 15 minute PUBLIC drop and come back....

[Koniving]

Scum of the Earth, on 06 January 2015 - 10:52 PM, said:

So, I was a little surprised that this version escaped me for over a year until recently when someone told me about it. I have been enjoying playing it the past week but I have noticed a few things but I am still confused on a few other things.

It escaped you for 3 years actually. Six if you count "Mechwarrior 5", the abandoned project.

Quote

I see that all the armor has been doubled for mechs. Even from the data record sheets, each mech can support 2x the normal armor allowed in those areas. I would imagine that it is of course to prevent people from using 1 gauss rifle to win the game as soon as a match has started. However, what about the internal structure? Are all structure points doubled too (i.e. the head has 6 internal points instead of the normal 3)?

Internal structure is also doubled. The actual reason was unlike all past mechwarriors, you can rapidly fire all weapons at rates faster than ever done in any mechwarrior game, and very easily fire even different weapon groups at the push of a single button (rather than Mechwarrior 3's three button minimum necessity which could be greater if you had even more groups).

Also instead of the typical 40 threshold or 60 in MW4, MWO has heatsink threshold tacked in addition to mech threshold (so 30 + heatsink value), and this is a threshold for any single instant in time.

So that Dire Wolf in TT Basic that could do 70 heat in 10 seconds and sink most of it with little consequence other than movement penalties and maybe causing ammo to explode? The same one that in TT with Heatsink Taxing rule applied, would have melted 6 of its heatsinks easily and guaranteed to have blown its own arm off due to ammo explosion?

In MWO it can do 70 heat in a single shot, and be just fine. In fact...
Take this comparison where TT has the heatsink taxing rule -- which gives heatsinks a threshold of their own in addition to cooling... versus MWO's pooled cooling with Ghost Heat!

Spoiler

Weapons fire for Daishi (Dire Wolf) Prime (Lordred)
ER Large Laser at King Crab KGC-010 (Koniving); needs 5, rolls 2 : misses


ER Large Laser at King Crab KGC-010 (Koniving); needs 5, rolls 3 : misses


Medium Pulse Laser at King Crab KGC-010 (Koniving); needs 3, rolls 8 : - Direct Blow - hits LA
King Crab KGC-010 (Koniving) takes 8 damage to LA.
26 Armor remaining.


Medium Pulse Laser at King Crab KGC-010 (Koniving); needs 3, rolls 8 : - Direct Blow - hits CT
King Crab KGC-010 (Koniving) takes 8 damage to CT.
38 Armor remaining.


Ultra AC/5 at King Crab KGC-010 (Koniving); needs 5, rolls 7 :
King Crab KGC-010 (Koniving) takes 5 damage to RA.
29 Armor remaining.
fires a second burst in ultra mode.
Ultra AC/5 at King Crab KGC-010 (Koniving); needs 5, rolls 7 :
King Crab KGC-010 (Koniving) takes 5 damage to LL.
36 Armor remaining.


ER Large Laser at King Crab KGC-010 (Koniving); needs 5, rolls 2 : misses


ER Large Laser at King Crab KGC-010 (Koniving); needs 5, rolls 3 : misses


Medium Pulse Laser at King Crab KGC-010 (Koniving); needs 3, rolls 11 : - Direct Blow - hits LT
King Crab KGC-010 (Koniving) takes 9 damage to LT.
23 Armor remaining.


Medium Pulse Laser at King Crab KGC-010 (Koniving); needs 3, rolls 4 : hits CT
King Crab KGC-010 (Koniving) takes 7 damage to CT.
31 Armor remaining.


Ultra AC/5 at King Crab KGC-010 (Koniving); needs 5, rolls 8 : - Direct Blow -
King Crab KGC-010 (Koniving) takes 6 damage to RA.
23 Armor remaining.
fires a second burst in ultra mode.
Ultra AC/5 at King Crab KGC-010 (Koniving); needs 5, rolls 5 : - Glancing Blow -
King Crab KGC-010 (Koniving) takes 2 damage to LA.
24 Armor remaining.


LRM 10 at King Crab KGC-010 (Koniving); needs 5, rolls 8 : - Direct Blow - 6 missile(s) hit (w/ +2 bonus).
King Crab KGC-010 (Koniving) takes 5 damage to LA.
19 Armor remaining.
King Crab KGC-010 (Koniving) takes 1 damage to CT.
30 Armor remaining.




Daishi (Dire Wolf) Prime (Lordred) must make 1 piloting skill roll(s) (20+ damage).
The base target is 4 [4 (Base piloting skill)].
Roll #1, (4 (Base piloting skill) + 1 (20+ damage)); needs 5, rolls 7 : succeeds.

King Crab KGC-010 (Koniving) must make 1 piloting skill roll(s) (20+ damage).
The base target is 5 [5 (Base piloting skill)].
Roll #1, (5 (Base piloting skill) + 1 (20+ damage)); needs 6, rolls 9 : succeeds.

Heat Phase
-------------------
Daishi (Dire Wolf) Prime (Lordred) gains 73 heat, sinks 44 heat and is now at 29 heat.
Daishi (Dire Wolf) Prime (Lordred) needs a 5+ to avoid shutdown, rolls 9 : avoids successfully!
Daishi (Dire Wolf) Prime (Lordred) needs a 8+ to avoid ammo explosion, rolls 5 : fails to avoid explosion.
*** LRM 10 Ammo EXPLODES! 110 DAMAGE! ***
Daishi (Dire Wolf) Prime (Lordred) takes 110 damage to LT.
SECTION DESTROYED,
LIMB BLOWN OFF Left Arm blown off.
remaining 89 damage prevented by CASE.
Critical hit on LT. Roll is 6; no effect.

Pilot of Daishi (Dire Wolf) Prime (Lordred) "Bryan Otsuka" takes 2 damage.
Pilot of Daishi (Dire Wolf) Prime (Lordred) "Bryan Otsuka" needs a 3 to stay conscious. Rolls 6 : successful!

Pilot of Daishi (Dire Wolf) Prime (Lordred) "Bryan Otsuka" needs a 5 to stay conscious. Rolls 7 : successful!

Daishi (Dire Wolf) Prime needs a 6+ for coolant failure, rolls 8 : fails.
Daishi (Dire Wolf) Prime's coolant is now less effective.
King Crab KGC-010 (Koniving) gains 25 heat, sinks 20 heat and is now at 5 heat.
King Crab KGC-010 needs a 10+ for coolant failure, rolls 5 : avoids successfully!

So that was heatsink taxing, and as you can see everything was fired over the span of 10 seconds.
Now here's firing all that at once.

Spoiler

At 17 seconds.


The same fight from the Atlas's perspective, for fun.

So yeah... Double armor/structure sorta became necessary.

Quote

After the daily reset and each mech you have has the "2X" on it, what is being 2X's? EXP, c-bills...? As soon as you win a match with that mech it goes away. However, if you have a losing match, do you get 2x the match losing EXP + c-bills until you finally win? I know for bought mechs you earn EXP for dropping it and you get 0 EXP for using a Trial mech. If you have a 2X on a Trial mech, does it give you 2X the c-bills then; is it worth using a Trial mech once you have a purchased mech?

2x experience until your first win. Which I think is somewhat stupid, considering you could in theory farm it. But the amount you get for losing versus winning is quite abysmal.

Quote

I see they have kept weapons true for the most part to P&P BT, even the minimum ranges of PPC's and LRMs.

I wouldn't quite say that. For example the PPCs was an accuracy "To hit" penalty when the target is too close, due to PPCs needing to charge up before firing or the 'barrels can't twist' explanation (that is also used for the minimum range on torso mounted autocannons). However, it is simply at 90 meters you do zero damage in MWO. LRMs was also an accuracy issue, since LRMs were fired upward at ballistic launch angles (but like PPCs, a second explanation is not being armed until 180 meters which I believe is in TacOps; depending on which fluff you want to follow).

Now, to mention it... IS weapons are 1 shot = rated damage.
Clan weapons are the more lore appropriate 1 use = rated damage. Huge difference here. A use could be anything from 2 shots to 5 shots in MWO, though in BT it's supposed to be anything from (for the IS) 4 shots (Chemjet Gun, 185mm) to 100 shots (Pontiac 100, 30mm), etc.

Spoiler

Single shots were a "Rifle" thing, and for a fun comparison the only Rifle I found in a BT book was 190mm for 9 total damage, though 6 against standard armor (BAR of 10). The Chemjet Gun is 185mm, and requires 4 shots to do 20 damage. 20 / 4 = 5. 185mm shot = 5 damage, 190mm shot = 6. Then add the recoil of a "slower firing burst" (compared to the 10 shot 150mm Crusher Super Heavy Cannon) which explains why the range is cut in half.

Then again, while it would solve a lot of front loaded issues in TT, who wants to make up to 100 rolls for a single AC use? I believe this is why all ACs are simply rolled once. Besides there are over 15 unique brands of standard AC/20s listed on Sarna, and then the ones I've found in books add another 11 unique AC/20s.... Just on Sarna alone there's 44 unique brands of medium laser. Imagine if you had to keep track of slightly different stats for each, where they did X damage, X heat, etc. in 10 seconds... that'd still be tracked like TT is... but then cut it down to 2.5 second or 4 second turns and imagine how different they would be...

Either way, I personally prefer the way Gauss Rifles were addressed. Instead of "at 60 meters Gauss Rifles do nothing," it is "Gauss Rifles require a charge-up." Now, try hitting something at less than 60 meters when it is traveling at any speed greater than 64.8 kph and you'll tell me how difficult it is. That's a good, solid way of doing it.

Quote

I am still confused as to how Community Warfare works. Is there a guide somewhere about it? I would rather not lose a planet for my faction due to my inexperience. I don't understand why I select four mechs to launch with. Do I play all 4 of them; one at a time until they blow up in 1 match until the objective is made of failed? Is it still 12 vs 12 for a match?

Essentially yes to all.
Each mech is delivered into the match via dropship. It takes X number of matches to turn over a planet, so one foul-up by one player won't change the fate of the entire galaxy.

Here is a winning match of Liao defending against Davion. I only got to use two of my four mechs, so do forgive me for surviving so well.

Quote

I read some older posts and there was mention of being a new player getting 1 free day of premium time to start with. However, I joined when there was a Christmas special of 7 free days. I was not sure if those 7 days replaced the 1 day or if I was supposed to get 1+7 free days. I know I never did get my 1 free day and I looked everywhere on the launcher for the redeem button people mentioned. Is this something that I should bring up to a GM?

There was one on the download page when you download -- though this may have stopped.
There was also one here. This also may have stopped.
Earning free premium time is pretty easy, however.

Quote

Thanks guys. I'm sure I'll have more questions down the road but these are the only ones that come to mind at the moment. Thanks for reading and any help you can provide.

Good luck.

Edited by Koniving, 07 January 2015 - 12:34 PM.

[Tim East]

Koniving, on 07 January 2015 - 12:24 PM, said:

2x experience until your first win. Which I think is somewhat stupid, considering you could in theory farm it. But the amount you get for losing versus winning is quite abysmal.

Are you sure about this? It doesn't seem right to me, since my end of match report doesn't show double XP on a loss.

Inb4 Koniving says he just doesn't lose, so of course he didn't know.

[Koniving]

Tim East, on 07 January 2015 - 12:37 PM, said:

Are you sure about this? It doesn't seem right to me, since my end of match report doesn't show double XP on a loss.

Inb4 Koniving says he just doesn't lose, so of course he didn't know.

Truth be told I stopped paying attention to it some time ago. I just remember that it keeps showing until I won, though I don't actually know if it delivers double on anything but that win. ...Yeah, actually I don't believe it doubles on losses. Lemme check.

---

According to a vid in November 2014, Nope. Doesn't give double for losing with a mech that has 2x on its icon. So only if you win.

(Which now I have to take back the "which is stupid" part when pointing out a possible exploit, since it doesn't exist and/or they actually thought of it beforehand. Darn it. They usually are late to the table when it comes to these things.)

Edited by Koniving, 07 January 2015 - 12:55 PM.