68 replies to this topic

[DrSlamastika]

Macksheen, on 17 March 2015 - 03:51 AM, said:

Man I remember the first kill I got like it was yesterday.

You are lucky, I cannot remember mine first kill

And for Nerethis, take somethin heavy or medium for start.

[Dawnstealer]

The general rules are this:

• Know the Ranges. Your weapons are listed over on the lower right of your screen. There's a little number to the right of the number. That's the effective range, in meters, of your weapon. In most cases, the effective range of a weapon is WAAAAAAY closer than you think it should be. There are exceptions to this (ERLL, PPC, Gauss), but the majority of the time, you just aren't doing damage.
  
• Survive, Observe, Target, Hit, Aim. So this is the best policy for leaning this game in the order you should learn it. Especially if you're new, be a little tentative.
  
  • Survive. You don't, and shouldn't, cower in a corner, but you definitely should stay with the pack and probably near the back of it. Shoot at what everyone else is shooting at, don't shoot your teammates, see how other people are playing, use cover. You'll eventually learn it's better to do 5 points of damage and pull back, than do 10 points of damage and die.
    
  • Observe. You WILL die, especially if you're new to this game (even if you aren't). Do not exit out of the match. Click through and watch how other players are playing. I remember one new player observed me fighting in my Banshee and said my play-style made him dizzy, but that's just torso-twisting and I learned how to do it by watching another more experienced player do the same.
    
  • Target. This one's the easy one, hit R. KEEP hitting R. Everytime you shoot at someone, you should have them targeted. Do this until it's second nature. Even if you're in a brawl with three enemy, Target them as you shoot at them. Why is this important?
    
  • Aim. As you get better, you'll learn to aim your shots. When I first started, I would have to do 400+ damage for one kill. Nowadays, I can usually do it in 100 to 150 (depending on the mech). You get a lot better at taking out vulnerable areas. Of course you can only figure out what's vulnerable on a target by hitting that R key.

As others have said, this game has a steep learning curve. Stick with it, have fun.


Himself, above, had a great point about playing this game in Conquest. You can select that mode by going up to the drop-down arrow next to the "PLAY" button, and then deselecting "Assault" and "Skirmish."

Edited by Dawnstealer, 17 March 2015 - 06:49 AM.

[p4r4g0n]

All good advice but have your actually gone through the guides in the Guide / Tutorials section of this forum?

Some players have put up a lot of great stuff, much of which is geared towards new players. You might be better off spending a day or two browsing that to get a theoretical understanding of the game and its mechanics before actually dropping in a match to be honest.

Once you do start dropping in a match, video it if you can, think about what you did right and wrong then try again.

Forget about factions and houses. Until you have built a drop deck of 4 tricked out mechs for Community Warfare, I would strongly advise against playing in that game mode.

If you have Teamspeak, google for the connection details of Comstar NA and NoGutsNoGalaxy TS3 servers which are open to the public. There are many other community run TS3 servers but that list seems to have gone missing.

Lastly, VOIP is now in game so feel free to use it.

[YCSLiesmith]

SnagaDance, on 17 March 2015 - 05:18 AM, said:

You probably mean the Shadowcat. To the OP, the Shadowcat is a medium clan mech coming with the newest Clan wave 3 package. Which means you can only pre-order it atm (for real money) and it isn't out yet (you'll have to check the release date in the announcement thread. After it has come out in the game it will probably be ~2 months before you could buy one with C-bills.

haha yeah the shadowcat, my bad. I just remember looking at the whole setup for it and the cauldron born and saying damn these are some sweet new mechs with great weapon placement

[zeta44]

the game takes some practice, when i was starting out i was happy just to do 50 damage in a CTF-4X, i have improved since then, but i'm getting of topic. figure out your play style, obtain a mech that fits that, practice, and maybe you will look like this

JUMP SHOT!!!!! (im talking about the catapult in the picture)
good luck

Edited by zeta44, 17 March 2015 - 07:22 AM.

[Nerethis]

Thanks for the answers again guys. I am truly amazed at the great response so far.
Opinions on my playstyle so far - i tried all the trial mechs there are, but did not find a clear favourite. What i did discover, though is:
Sniping is a no for me. I tend to dislike it across games, and this was no exception. I... suppose i would prefer something that can get into medium range via flanking and take on few people from the backline that stand there and spam rockets - is that... a thing? Again, i am not sure whether a heavy/medium would be good for this (lights seem a bit too... weak? for this, at least based on my few attempts) - i did see a lot of praise towards the Hunchbacks, though, although i will admit i am hesitant to try one without seeing it first.

[Kazzun]

Hunch may be good, but to flank maybe a bit slow (and it has a hunch ) 275 engine cap means about 100 kph and in order to achieve max speed u have to trow away weaponry.

If it must be an medium i would rather go Stormcrow, may be bit costy (11 mil.) but u have already a fast xl engine, double heatsinks built in.
With the omnipod system u can configure it how u like whereas an IS chassis has fixed hardpoints and if u choose the wrong variant u would not be happy with.

Thats also the second point against IS, u have mainly no upgrades already built in.
But on most chassis u need Endosteel (500k bills+) and Double Heatsinks (1.5 mil) and for ex on the hunch a faster engine, between 225 and 275 rating (1.3 - 1.6 million) that sums up to the chassis cost.

On the other side u can actually reutilize those engines on other chassis, it may be handy.

Its up to u...

[ShinVector]

Nerethis, on 17 March 2015 - 07:38 AM, said:

Thanks for the answers again guys. I am truly amazed at the great response so far.
Opinions on my playstyle so far - i tried all the trial mechs there are, but did not find a clear favourite. What i did discover, though is:
Sniping is a no for me. I tend to dislike it across games, and this was no exception. I... suppose i would prefer something that can get into medium range via flanking and take on few people from the backline that stand there and spam rockets - is that... a thing? Again, i am not sure whether a heavy/medium would be good for this (lights seem a bit too... weak? for this, at least based on my few attempts) - i did see a lot of praise towards the Hunchbacks, though, although i will admit i am hesitant to try one without seeing it first.

Did someone say lights and rockets ?
Something like this ? Risky as hell though. *Ignore the crazy people in the background.


Should be up in an hour.

Edited by ShinVector, 17 March 2015 - 08:33 AM.

[Koniving]

Welcome to MWO.

(Put vids as links instead.)
Check this out. Gives you an idea of what a light (medium built to behave like a light) mech can do.

The computer voices are inserted (with the native voice muted), however the voices will point out a LOT of information you might not know about in regards to the hud and what is going on.
Note: You can make a video larger by clicking on the "Youtube" button, which will open it in its own window where you can bring it to full screen. Set to the highest resolution if possible -- between what I say and the twin computer voices (the faster, snootier one is basic computer, the slower softer one is a mockup of a battle/targeting computer), you will get a lot of information.

As you might notice there is sectional health. Each limb has its own health. Sometimes taking out side torsos can kill, sometimes it won't. Headshots always kill but you have to get in up to 35 damage on the head to make that kill so it can take several shots and usually is too difficult.

Nerethis, on 16 March 2015 - 11:21 PM, said:

Title. I have started playing about yesterday, and, well, so far i feel like i am not doing anything in matches, my best game so far was basically ignoring the enemies and running around the map capping points/getting some chip damage on people. Is there something i should see/know so that i can actually start, well, not being a detriment to my team?

Before anyone asks/considers, i am only using trials so far, no idea what to buy as my 1st. Advice on that front would be very much appreciated as well.

I'd like to know more about what in particular you are using. I'm jumping in to have a look at the trials right now, but just a heads up -- In less than 20 minutes the game servers will shut down for a major patch.

So here are the variants I could see before this patch. We'll know when you see this whether or not the mechs changed.


Yes, it says before the patch I had 168 bays with 12 empty (so 156 mechs). It's now 9 mechs larger, so 165 mechs with 177 bays. Yay. Anyway.

There's a fairly even mix of Inner Sphere and Clan mechs (more on that in a minute).

• The lights in this list, IS lights focus on harassment, Clan lights have a mix (firepower Kitfox, harassment Mist Lynx). I'm not sure if I could say which side wins out here.
  
• The mediums, IS mechs have a mixed focus (Trebuchet 1 sniper weapon, some close weapons and Griffin all close range). Clans have a light-mech-wanna-be (Ice Ferret) and the Stormcrow (hunts, but equipped well enough to take on larger things too). Its a draw here.
  
• Heavies, IS has a Treb-imitation in the form of a Thunderbolt (Tanks better, is slower) and a Quickdraw (IS version of Stormcrow; though this one's built as a sharp shooter). Clans have the same weights available with the Hellbringer (paper thin armor, nasty weapons) and Mad Dog (Mixture of weapons but on the light side, more armor). Clans win out of this combo but it is close.
  
• Assaults.. IS have this one in the bag. Clan Dire Wolf and IS Victor are comparable in terms of what they could do but in this case the Victor has the Dire Wolf by the sack. Banshee versus Gargoyle? Similar function (G against lights/mediums, B against heavies/mediums), Gargoyle is faster but Banshee simply trumps here.

For the first 10 minutes to half hour the forum servers will also be down (you can do anything but log in or post).

Nerethis, on 17 March 2015 - 02:55 AM, said:

Few more questions:
1) What is the difference with/between clans? I did not touch them yet, since, well, i do not want to **** something up, but do they have some things i should know about them?

2) Okay, this will sound stupid... but what is ECM? I saw/heard this term around a lot, but i am really not sure what it actually refers to/how to use it.

3) Would it be possible to get a rundown on what the individual mech classes can do in a match/some good examples from them? Or, in fact, something like a basic guide on how the whole loadout/outfitting business works?

1) First and foremost... Factions is a better term for teams. This is because the term "Clan" is used by the invading forces (and clan Davion -- but that's an inside joke tied between Davion [Federated Suns] and Kurita [Draconis Combine]).

That said.. Here you go. Nothing can possibly explain it better than these two videos.
Inner Sphere factions, "The Houses."
Invading factions, "The Clans."
Bonus optional video.

Spoiler

Mentioned in the second video, Kerensky's Exodus -- this message may not reach Terra (Earth) for 1,000 years after the Exodus. It's intercepted in a timeline beyond our current one. Anyway, here are the words as to why the events happened.
Clearly Kerensky's children (The Clans), have twisted his intent.

It is sad to note the Clans are misrepresented in MWO, the big essence of their invasion is that the IS has to tie together to repel their invasion. Given that this is a game, it'd mean that Clans would be blatantly superior in every aspect with only their honor (to send as little as possible, bidding against each other for minimalist use of resources) keeping them from wiping everything out.

Here things are more balanced.

This is what you'd need to know for MWO:
Clan mechs are heavily DPS oriented in an attempt to encourage their combat mentality, (Zellbrigen being among them). That is to say one to one fights or one against several others. Clan mechs of the heavy category especially are well-played as aggressive, relentless fighters. In general Clan mechs have superior range but require a lot more time out in the open to deliver their damage.

The mass deathballs that we see are actually very in Community Warfare is very un-Clan-like.

Here's some specifics on Clan mechs.

• You can tell a Clan mech apart from an IS mech when you are driving it by the color of the HUD and different style of cockpit.
  
• Clan mechs generally have superior visibility through their Transplast™ translucent metal alloy cockpit armor.
  
  • They pay for this by having much easier to 'find/hit' cockpits. Some Clan mechs even have 'weakened' head armor.
• Clan ACs fire many shots rapidly but each individual shot is only a fraction of the damage that IS ACs deliver.
  
• All Clan mechs suffer reduced arm movement with arm-mounted ballistic weapons (also includes Particle Projection Cannons, but excludes machine guns).
  
• Clan LRMs stream fire. This hurts them in that they are easier to shoot down with AMS (Anti Missile System), but benefits them because they can very easily focus the damage in one spot.
  
• Clan lasers have a longer duration which helps to spread their fire. They have superior range and slightly superior damage, don't let their lasers focus you down!
  
• Clan streaks outrange all other short range missiles of both Clan and IS origin. Careful; their slow reload doesn't matter much when they cannot miss.
  
• Clan ER PPCs are more dangerous than IS ER PPCs, try not to get hit.
  
  • ALL Clan Weapons (including some ACs) Are Insanely HOT!
• Almost every Clan mech has super weak rear armor.
  
• The easiest way to deal with ANY Clan mech is to take out its legs. Just for the love of all that is holy don't stand in front of them when you do it!

Meanwhile the Inner Sphere are less about personal glory and more about teamwork, many of their mechs are designed to work together and compliment each other. Through the use of tactics, coordination, use of cover and so on, they need to generally get closer to unload their vicious front-loaded firepower.

An example of this. The IS AC/20 delivers 20 damage in a single shot in MWO. Pop out, shoot, disappear. The Clan AC/20 fires 5 shots to do the exact same 20 damage, and takes 0.68 seconds from start to finish to deliver the pain.

2) ECM or electronic counter measures, is a field of 180 meters in diameter that in MWO behaves like a cloaking device causing you to have absolutely no signature to enemy sensors until too close or countered. Interestingly its countered by everything the source material's ECM is built to counter against! Basically it makes life more difficult against people. You'll know if ECM jamming is occuring when you see cell phone bars appear and the minimap reads "Low signal" with static.

3) It's very possible, but that covers hundreds and hundreds of possibilities due to the way customization works. In general just about every class is capable of everything (in moderation). The Shadowhawk in the source material is just a scout mech for example, despite being on the high end of mediums, and the Raven 4X is supposed to be a brawling light with its armor comparable to typical mediums. But that's source material. Here everyone does use max armor and a bit too much freedom.

Gargoyle is an example of a light hunting assault mech (Awesomes are great at this too even though it's not what they are meant for).

Hunchback is an example of an assault hunting medium mech (funny how that works out).

Lots of stuff. It's really a matter of the limitation of the weapons and engines than it is of the mechs themselves.
Edit: Broken link. Did some fixes.

Edited by Koniving, 17 March 2015 - 10:48 PM.

[Barkem Squirrel]

You are running around capping and learning to move, that is good. Remember learn to crawl, walk then run.

Watch some Youtube videos, maybe some live streams on twitch. I watched for two weeks before I played a game and could not control the mechs at all. Learning how to move forward while looking to the sides is one important thing. Also try the training grounds to run at full speed and fire at a target. sure it is not moving, but it will sharpen your skills.

http://www.twitch.tv...arrior%20Online

https://www.youtube....7fxeEoe8u6PONDA

You need to learn how to move.
How to shoot.
How to hit
then situational awareness, that is either natural or learned. After a bit you will have an idea where an attack will come from or where someone will move too.



One way to learn situational awareness is using an LRM boat. Since they are easyer to use, but very hard to use in the upper elo area, they are a great starting point.

Here is a guide to them. http://mwomercs.com/...guide-book-121/

[Neutron IX]

Everyone had already given just about all the tactical/how to practice tips I could have added myself, so I'll give you a small bit of "pep talk" stuff that really helped me out.

1). Set small goals for yourself within each match. Stuff like "do 200 or more damage in a match", or "get 1 kill". Then, as those goals get easier and easier to hit, make them harder. I found that what this did for me, was even when I died quickly, or lost match after match, I'd still feel like I was starting to accomplish things, and this kept me motivated to keep playing, and keep getting better.

2). Find what you feel is fun. Try different things, since what makes one person a stone-cold killer, another person might find incredibly boring, and vice versa. Since the point of a game is to enjoy it, find the way to play that makes the game most enjoyable for you, since odds are, if you find it fun, you'll tend to be better at it, or at least be more willing to work to get better at it in the beginning, and the better at it you get, the more fun you'll probably find it. It's a cycle that increases itself. I enjoy Lights and Mediums myself, and have become decent at both with this as my motivation.

3). Learn from losing. If you can do this, losing over and over (and most all of us get those type of losing streaks from time to time even still) is less of a frustration, and more of a fascination. Think over each match and consider how you could try something different next time. When you're killed, as I'm sure has been mentioned, don't just quit the match, find someone who is playing a mech like yours to observe, and study their habits and loadout. Or find someone who is playing a role that you enjoy, and see what you can learn from watching them. This will make you a better Mechwarrior.

4). Take a break from time to time. Sometimes, when I do have those losing streaks, or I'm just not on my game, rather than beat my head against my keyboard in frustration, I find it helpful to get up and go do something else for a little bit. When I come back, it's like a fresh start, and very often I'll find that little bit of a "breather" transitions into a string of wins, or at the very least, better performance on my own part in some of the losses.

5). Don't give up. For every jerk face out there who is mocking you for your loadout, or giving you grief for something in a match, there are 15 or 20 of us who are helpful, encouraging, and generally pretty awesome. This is a community that is chock full of some pretty great people, and we welcome you to it!

-Rip

[3xnihilo]

Everything Rip said, especially about setting small goals. When I started my goal was breaking 100. . . now it is trying to consistently break 350-400. If people are jerks to you in game, go here and complain about it. We will sympathize with you but seriously there are a lot of good people in the community who are happy to help you get through the horrible learning curve that is the new player experience around here.

[bayoucowboy]

Rocket spam.

Heavies - IS Catapult - fun chassis which can either be long or short range missile based, and can also carry some lasers for backup (I always like to keep a laser around) AND also has the K2 variant for PPC or Gauss Rifle fun. OR

Clan Mad Dog - also a fun chassis which should meet your "rocket spam" needs BUT twice as expensive C-bill wise due to clan tech (fixed XL engines etc)

Mediums - IS Kintaro, Trebuchet, Shadow Hawk, Griffin - again, can be either long or short range missile based, my recommendation would still be Shadow Hawks because of the variety in loadout/play styles possible but Kintaros and Trebs are more missile hard point heavy

Clan Stormcrow - the D variant stock is all about missiles - and again 2x as expensive as IS

As a beginner, I would recommend going heavy chassis - more armor for durability and still more mobility than an assault. Mediums tend to die quickly if you have either poor positioning or poor maneuverability

Again, welcome to Mechwarrior Online - we hope you stay!

[Mecha Buster]

It takes time Paduan, it took me a full year to start being good in all classes of mechs, and sometimes I still get destroyed after only doing 50 damage.

Personally, I have done my best in Orions and Thunderbolts. They are both tanks that can really dish out damage. Good luck and don't be discouraged, until you elite mechs out they run slow, overheat, and diddle around. Thank Paul for that. See you in the cauldron.

[YCSLiesmith]

Nerethis, on 17 March 2015 - 07:38 AM, said:

Thanks for the answers again guys. I am truly amazed at the great response so far.
Opinions on my playstyle so far - i tried all the trial mechs there are, but did not find a clear favourite. What i did discover, though is:
Sniping is a no for me. I tend to dislike it across games, and this was no exception. I... suppose i would prefer something that can get into medium range via flanking and take on few people from the backline that stand there and spam rockets - is that... a thing? Again, i am not sure whether a heavy/medium would be good for this (lights seem a bit too... weak? for this, at least based on my few attempts) - i did see a lot of praise towards the Hunchbacks, though, although i will admit i am hesitant to try one without seeing it first.

the firestarters are pretty much all fragile flanking mechs that excel at short or medium range and wreck missile boats.

[J Blue]

Welcome to Mwo!

As someone who is with Mwo since end of November last year, wich isn't that a long time, the one thing i can tell you is having patience.
Patience with yourself as it will take some time to find out how exactly everything in this game works and what playstyle/ wich Mechs suit you the best.
And patience with the kind of player you may (hopefully not) encounter during your road to victory that think themselfs the best ever happend to any team and going nuts about mistakes of others(or going nuts anyway).

As you can see there are a lot of friendly players here giving good advice and i can only recommend finding yourself a "noob"friendly unit via the various recruitment sections here in the Mwo forum.
That helped me a lot.

As for the Trial Mechs, they all tend to run a bit hot, so if one looks intresting to you take it for a run to the Testing Grounds
on a hot Map like Terra Therma or Turmaline Desert and have a look at it's heat mamagement.
This may save you in real combat with this Mech.

From the current set of Trials i like the Victor a lot.
It's an Assault, can take a bit of a punch, but is really agile compared to others and can dish out good without running to hot.

Wish you the best of luck and a lot of fun.

Edited by J Blue, 17 March 2015 - 11:25 AM.

[Nerethis]

...Wow. Again, thank you guys. Really did not expect this thread to blow up so much and to get so much positive encouragement and advice. I... feel like i am obliged to do and do well now. Losing really does not discourage me, since hey, i am new, i will do **** and lose. It is natural for me now.
I... suppose i am out of questions for now. See you guys on the field, and thank all of you one more time.
Also, Koniving, i think your links got broken at some point (i do not see any in your post)

Edit: I did recall one more question! How often do the trial mechs change?

Edited by Nerethis, 17 March 2015 - 11:35 AM.

[sycocys]

Personally I recommend either getting into Centurions or Hunchbacks to start if you are unsure. They are well balanced and effective with a fair amount of loadouts.

If you are really unsure and okay with a somewhat more rough learning curve (with a better payout skill-wise) - Get into Commando's. They are cheap to buy, plenty fast and they'll train you how to spread laser damage from the first match. Low armor and go down fast if you stop moving, but you'll be able to be in/out of the fight with ease and transfer your skills easier to most other mechs once you have them elite. By the time you are done with the Com units you'll have a great understanding of how to shoot while moving and hold lasers on target as well as aim/lead missiles and ballistics which takes care of most of the fighting curve.

[Koniving]

Gave links.

Nerethis, on 17 March 2015 - 07:38 AM, said:

Opinions on my playstyle so far - i tried all the trial mechs there are, but did not find a clear favourite. What i did discover, though is:
Sniping is a no for me. I tend to dislike it across games, and this was no exception. I... suppose i would prefer something that can get into medium range via flanking and take on few people from the backline that stand there and spam rockets - is that... a thing? Again, i am not sure whether a heavy/medium would be good for this (lights seem a bit too... weak? for this, at least based on my few attempts) - i did see a lot of praise towards the Hunchbacks, though, although i will admit i am hesitant to try one without seeing it first.

Jagermech flanker.
Cataphract flanker.

Flanky-type stuff. Both are chase cameras so you get to watch it from outside the mech. You may like these.

Far as a Hunchback. Chase cam of a Hunch. Hunchbacks, joining the fight, stealing all the kills.

I try not to spam vids like this, but talk can be cheap (plus eager to play this new patch). I'm patching at the moment, and have a few new mechs to look at. If you'd like I'll bring you in tow.

Spamming rockets is definitely a thing. Bit too much of a thing in my opinion.

Edited by Koniving, 17 March 2015 - 11:42 AM.

[DemonicDonut]

I would recommend the Wolverines. Buy the 7k first, it comes with double heat syncs and a XL engine. Stock with SRMS but you can run this build as a great back up to the front line. Also you can add Endo-Steel to free up an additional 2.5 tons for JJ's, armor back into the legs and ammo.

Later when you buy more mechs and might want to elite them, the 6R is quite fun w/ 2x AC5 and the 6K w/ 4x LL + ML in the head.

Edited by DemonicDonut, 17 March 2015 - 11:44 AM.