64 replies to this topic

[Nightmare1]

People see a T-Wolf and immediately prioritize it because of its lethality. Your best bet is to wait until the main battle is joined and both sides are heavily engaged. Pilots are less likely to focus fire on you if they have already become occupied with a threat. Then, poke out and dole out the damage. You could also try LRMs, although I personally dislike them.

Here are two vids for you to watch. They employ different tactics, chassis, and builds:

1000+ damage round using CLRMs and CERLLs.




Match come-back after being down five pilots (900+ damage match using mixed build, no LRMs):

[Prince Peter Davion]

TBRs get focused down alot, be cautious in that you need to stay near cover, and know that you can backup into cover when needed. Standing out in the open gets you dead, rushing ahead by yourself gets you dead. The TBR has the same problem that the Catapault does, they have large cone shaped fronts that stick out for all the world to CT Crit you.

[JC Daxion]

This thread is a prime reason why many vets say DO NOT get a timber as your first mech and why playing meta mechs to start is always a very bad idea. There is nothing more disheartening than to see a timber on your team dead in the first min and pulling around 100 damage.

Now, pull 200 in a commando with a kill or two and a bunch of assists is a different story.


Your best bet is to switch mechs, I really suggest the HBK's for their variety and cost, But really any IS medium is a really good idea. I say this because if you start with a stormcrow, you are falling into the exact same trap.


People have gone into enough about the trappings of the timber, But heck, the thing is the size of a barn, even people with bad aim can hit the thing. In the hands of a great player they are pretty deadly, but learning or not so great, you are just asking to get yourself wasted in the first few mins of the match.

[Tim East]

Mechs by order of quality with an eye toward newbie utility.

Clan lights. They have most of the disadvantages of IS lights (low armor capacity and firepower) coupled with far less ability to dodge. Not a place I'd recommend newbies to start.

IS assaults. They have the ability to use a lot of armor, but if you take any mobility at all, you're either sacrificing survivability or firepower. Different chassis have different uses, which makes these a bit trickier than clan mechs. Not a place I'd recommend newbies to start.

Clan (except Dire Wolf) assaults. They tend to be a bit more customizable than IS assaults, with the exception of some fixed equipment, most notably a fixed engine. Still, that's a better thing for a newbie, since they don't have a choose the engine ideal for their build and shell out a ton of c-bills for it. Most of the fixed stuff in these is at least not useless, unlike the flamer in the Adder. Not a great place to start due to high cost of entry, but reasonably ok.

IS (non-meta) lights. These will teach you a good many useful skills while being both non-threatening enough that if you aren't alone you almost certainly won't be the first target, but good enough that you can actually help your team a little bit. Inexpensive to buy, but expensive to optimize. My own personal starting point, coincidentally. Recommended for newbies, though not as much as most medium things.

Clan (except Stormcrow) mediums. These tend to have problems, like overheating, being undergunned, or slower than their weight-class counterparts, but overcoming those can be a useful learning experience. Just make sure you don't go alone, so that the enemy focuses on someone other than you. Recommended.

IS mediums. These are probably the best place to begin as a mechwarrior. You can get by with a standard engine on a lot of builds, and there is a mech of this class for literally any weapons system you could want to try. Hunchbacks in particular are popular because you can get a boat of each type of weapon system on a single chassis type, allowing you to experience mastery while still trying different things. Highly recommended.

Clan (except Timber Wolf) heavies. These give a decent mix of firepower, speed, and durability. The non-TW ones are less prone to getting insta-ganked, but still tend to be fairly high priority targets. Recommended more for their properties than their place in the meta.

IS (non-meta) heavies. Pretty much in the same boat as clan heavies. They tend to be a bit slower than their clan counterparts, but are otherwise just about the same in terms of firepower and armor. Recommended with similar caveats to the above.

Meta anything. Firestarters, Jenners, some variants of Ravens, Stormcrows, Cataphracts, Jagermechs, Timberwolves, ECM Hellbringers, King Crabs, and Dire Wolves. Maybe some others, but these are the ones I think of right now. These are things that are powerful for their weight class, or just plain powerful, and will consequently attract a good deal of attention. Not recommended until you've driven first a mid-quality mech and a low-quality mech. They'll teach you bad habits if you let them.

So, in summary, start with a chassis toward the middle of the list, then master one near the beginning, then and only then, take a meta mech. You'll benefit greatly from easing yourself into the game first with an IS medium or something, and then training hard in a light of some brand. When you do end up getting a meta mech, you'll feel awesome, since you'll know how to twist, dodge, sneak, focus fire on weak components, skirmish, squirrel, and possibly even tank a little bit, if you decided to go with assaults instead of lights as your second mech.

Edited by Tim East, 02 April 2015 - 02:46 PM.

[Peter von Schleier]

First of, nice thread.

Just want to chip in, and advise you to not trying to increase maximized damage output but survivability of your timber.
Try an asimetric build, where you can use one side of your mech to shield via torso twisting. The Timber can be very tanky this way, even against multiple opponents.
In addition, i think an average of 375 damage is really nice for pugging. You will have, as others said, have bad days.