15 replies to this topic

[Fenris Krinkovich]

So I'm returning after about a year's hiatus, and grinding up on my newly acquired Firestarters has reminded me that I'm not a great player. I have a few friends who have expressed interest in big stompy robot action, but they're in the same league as myself. What mechs would you recommend to a new crop of mediocre players? Bonus points if they're available as a bundle for MC, we're not the really grindy type. Basically what I'm looking for are mechs and loadouts that are relatively simple to use and that are pretty good out of the box (such as the Hunchbacks, my personal favorite.) We'll be doing public matches and maybe some CW one day if hings pan out. Thanks for the input!

Edited by Fenris Krinkovich, 20 February 2015 - 10:00 PM.

[Nik Reaper]

Oki, If you are in to cheper IS mechs, go with BJ and Jagermechs , if you like the clans go with the stormcrow and hellbringer.

BJ-DC build http://mwo.smurfy-ne...f5f6689e8d7e3ef
Bj1 http://mwo.smurfy-ne...b508314d9a7168f
Bj3 http://mwo.smurfy-ne...4389ee2a8faac48
Any Jaggermech http://mwo.smurfy-ne...25f2898ca4507f8
Any Stromcrow http://mwo.smurfy-ne...b01e84679bba4d5

As a newby-ish player focuse on shorter burn pulse lasers and fast traveling point damage weapons as ppcs, ac5, uac5 ( for IS ) .

Edited by Nik Reaper, 20 February 2015 - 10:27 PM.

[Rear Admiral Tier 6]

Centurion,its tankiness forgives lots of mistakes,and by torso twisting you can soak impressive amount of damage.

you can do pretty much anything with it

[Marvyn Dodgers]

Moving to new player help subforum

Edited by Marvyn Dodgers, 21 February 2015 - 04:03 AM.

[General Solo]

Jaeger with the 3 x UAC5's, DD I think

Edited by OZHomerOZ, 21 February 2015 - 08:50 AM.

[Coralld]

Pretty much what every one else have already said. Black Jacks, Hunchies, Cents, Jags, these guys are a good place to start for new players.

I Just cannot suggest the Stormcrow, the hit detection on those things are horrible and will teach you very bad habits. Same thing for the Firestarter. Just flat out bad hit detection on them.

[SethAbercromby]

Centurins and Hunchbacks are very easy to get used to. The Hunchback is the perfect beginner 'Mech due to it's extremely variend variants, a high mounted primary weapon that can hit just about anything you can see, a head-mounted laser for zombie builds...

Start with the 4G if you want AC20 brawling, the 4H can fight at slightly longer range with an AC10 and has more backup weapons, the 4J is a very capable LRM 'Mech, the 4P can be tuned into the infamous Laserback (see the trial 'Mech for what I mean) and the 4SP is a decent SRM skirmisher.

[Rogue Jedi]

the Blackjack mastery bundle (5,035 MC, $29.95 for 6,500 MC) has 2 Mechs which are pretty good stock, the BJ1(c) has an AC20, 4 tons of ammo, 1 jumpjet and 2 Medium Lasers, the BJ-A has 6 machine guns, 2 Medium Lasers and 1 Large pulse laser stock.

the Hunchback Mastery Bundle and Centurian Mastery bundle also have Mechs which will work stock, and also can be purchased with $30 of MC most of the other packs do not have many Mechs which are effective without some modification.

if you are not too adverse to messing around in the Mechlab then the following packs all have some Mechs with great potential

Spiders are fast jumping Mechs, 1 variant has ECM, Spiders carry mostly energy based weapons, lightly armed but make great scouts and are in my opinion the most fun Mechs to play currently in game, however they are quite fragile so prehaps not the best choice for new players 4325 MC ^{($29.95 for 6,500 MC)}

Shadow Hawk one of the most versatile Mechs in the game, all variants have a mix of hardpoints but can be configured for a variety of roles, all can fit JumpJets 5750 MC ^{($29.95 for 6,500 MC)}

Cicada, the smallest and fastest of the Mediums, they handle like Lights and there is an ECM varient included with the pack as well as some large XL engines which explain the price of 5795 MC ^{($29.95 for 6,500 MC)}

Cataphract a good heavy Mech which can serve as long range fire support or a brawler, 8220 MC ^{($49.95 for 12,000 MC)}

Stalker probably the best IS assault for a player to learn on, 8785 MC ^{($49.95 for 12,000 MC)}

Edited by Rogue Jedi, 21 February 2015 - 09:28 AM.

[MadLibrarian]

Clan mechs are easy mode. Pick one, slap on as many lasers as you can fit, ???, profit.
(kidding of course)

[Zuri Prime]

Hunchbacks, Shadowhawks and Griffins are nice new player mechs for the medium category and the latter two are XL friendly. For heavy, try the Cataphract and Thunderbolt. Avoid lights until you master a playstyle with a swift medium mech, then apply that to your Firestarters or whatever else you might bring.

[Kin3ticX]

https://docs.google....g7925b2718_3870

This is some of the stuff you will see used in CW.

[Icthelion]

To expand on this list... What is a good Assault class mech? I am pretty comfy with mediums, and I am just starting out with lights... but I dont have any big fish experience...

[Furry Fox]

Icthelion, on 22 February 2015 - 03:12 AM, said:

To expand on this list... What is a good Assault class mech? I am pretty comfy with mediums, and I am just starting out with lights... but I dont have any big fish experience...

My first and FAVORITE assault class 'Mech is the Banshee. It weighs 95 tons, has high-mounted weapon hardpoints, is very heavily armoured, and is very intimidating. Here are a few builds that I use when running them.

BNC-3S: 7xMPL, 1xAC/20, 1xML, AMS, STD 310 engine - This is my baby, and I love it. This 'Mech is literally my most played chassis!
BNC-3M: 8xMPL, AMS, STD 350 engine - I don't use this nearly as much as my 3S, but it's still good. Very heat efficient. Very deadly in a brawl.
BNC-3E: 3xAC/5, 3xLL, 1xML, AMS, STD 290 engine - A very good sniper that also happens to be capable of slugging it out in close-quarters. The three autocannons make it very fun to play.

[SethAbercromby]

The Stalker is very forgiving in what it does. Due to its blimp-shape its CT is very narrow when seen from the front and the STs make up almost the entire sides of the 'Mech (this means you can spread a lot of incoming damage without much twisting). Though this also results in the bottom and top areas to be almost completely CT, which makes it particularly vulnerable to LRMs. At 85 tons, a STD 300 gives it a decent amount of speed as well, so it won't be too difficult to keep up with the rest of the pack.

With it's laser and Missile focus, the chassis can't play all builds, but it's pretty easy to set up as a long range sniper, short range brawler, mixed range support or anything in between. The biggest downside of the Stalker as a chassis imo is that the variants aren't too much different from each other, so they all play kinda same-ish.

Edited by SethAbercromby, 22 February 2015 - 11:47 AM.

[Sadistic Savior]

I always recommend Catapults and Hunchbacks to new players, as they are cheap and versatile. They make really good starter mechs because you can experiment with a variety of playstyles in them.

A lot of people like Centurions...I personally never liked them much because of their emphasis on arm weapons (arms get blowed of easy, especially on medium and light mechs) and because their torsos are really easy to hit.

[InspectorG]

Hunchbacks - Mastery pack gets you a GI which is a Gauss machine gun. P is a nice lazerboat. J for LRM support.

Heavy i would say Thunderbolt for the quirks: 5SS with MPL is funsies. 9SE is good with 4LPL. 9S is still the erppc boat as far as i hear.

Stalkers for Assault. 5-6 LL builds, Splat builds, LRM...if you must.

Centurion is decent but lack variety, the Wang is good. (insert joke)
Quickdraws are getting some love but they seem more like a light in the fact they have to keep moving and dont do trades well, more run-n-gun.
Atlas got some buffs but they are kinda relegated to close range brawl. AC20+SRM is good.
Banshee is good, you get the E with the crazy Dakka, S which can do tons of lasers with NO UPGRADES(cheap) and the M for the Wubshee(i like the 400XL, but 350STD works too).