13 replies to this topic

[Heavy Petting Zoo]

I have almost made 10M c-bills and am on my 15th cadet bonus. I wan't to build my own mech soon. I tried most of the loaner mechs and here is my conclusion.

Clan mechs are freakin hot!! So is that Banshee! I couldn't stop shutting down. Then I die. What should I start with? I kind of like light and medium mechs. The speed is nice when you overheat. I can get away from enemy fire while I cool down. I like being able to poke from cover and hit targets so I'm thinking long to medium range weapons for my load outs.

I don't know anything about lore but I played MW1@2

I used the Awesome a lot in those games and the Timberwolf. I remember the Mad Dog and Kodiak were also my favorites in those games. In this game I seemed to do the best in the trial Raven, Quickdraw, Victor and Stormcrow.

So... what do you guys suggest?

[Anunknownlurker]

Do you mean choosing a side as in for CW or do you mean choosing your first mechs? Sort of different questions I think. Unless you really want to participate in CW, whether you choose Clan or IS is pretty irrelevant and I would concentrate on which chassis you enjoy the most, that way you'll probably learn more quickly.

My chosen route was: Raven -> Hunchback ->Nova -> Stormcrow -> Timberwolf -> Thunderbolt -> Cicada (all mastered now).

As you say you enjoy both the Raven and Stormcrow then either of them would be a good starting point (remember that if you buy the same model as the trial you already have all the exp saved up to get basic, and probably elite, skills

I sort of regret spending time on the Timberwolf and Thunderbolt (I don't seem to be a natural heavy pilot) and am having a lot of fun in the Cicada and that seems to be the mech for me until the Shadowcat arrives!

Hope that helps?

[Wintersdark]

First, learn to not overheat Watch your heat, fire weapons in appropriate groups (don't just alpha all the time), learn how much heat firing given groups gives you. This is probably the most important aspect of play to learn, because generally speaking if you shut down once you get beyond newbie Elo, you'll die. It's really, really important to learn to play where you only shut down from overheating when you intend to.

As to picking a side? Well... That's a lot tougher. Clan mechs tend to be a little more expensive, but while the price difference looks huge it's actually quite small - Clan mechs come equipped with all the upgrades they can use, while most IS mechs have none of them and require things like Double Heat Sinks (1.5m cbills), Endosteel (another ~300,000-500,000 cbills) and new weapons, etc. IS lights in particular get pricey when you start using XL engines (several million cbills, buying and outfitting an IS light will run you around 11m cbills).

IS mediums tend to be a fair bit cheaper though, because most can use Standard engines very effectively, keeping the price low. Hunchbacks, once the go-to starter mech, fell out of favour for a while... but the 4G and 4J are both really excellent mechs again, and can be run very cheaply. The 4P and 4SP are both quite usable as well, if not quite as amazing these days.

On the Clan side, Stormcrows are both very strong mechs (one of the best in the game) and (for clan mechs) not tremendously expensive.

[Rogue Jedi]

I would suggest Hunchback as your first Mech, they have a variety of roles in the variants so you can get a variety of playstyles in the same Mech while working towards elite, the Hunchies work well with Standard engines so you do not need to save for an XL engine, but bear in mind you will still need 2-3 million for double heatsinks, Endo Steel (and a larger engine for the first one, can be swopped for later varients)

[TLX]

LRM mechs 4tw!!!

[Chaos Strike]

Unless you are planning to get into Community Warfare (CW) real soon, it does not matter which "side" you choose. You can own both Clan and IS Mechs.

Raven 3L with 2 ER LLasers is a decent mobile sniper. The Raven 2X is a decent ranged fire support with 3 LLasers.
As I do not have any of the others you mentioned, I do not feel qualified to comment on them.

Just remember that you will need 3 differant variants of a chassis to do the Elite skills These skills are worth the effort and CBills.

If you plan to get into CW soon, then you will be limited by the Faction you choose, on which types of Mech you can use (Clan or IS). You will need 4 Mechs with a total weight of 160- 240 tons for your "Drop Deck".

I started with Novas, then Thunderbolts, Ravens and Hellbringers. With these, I can have a Drop Deck for either Clan or IS.

[Wildstreak]

The Hundred Ton Herp, on 12 May 2015 - 10:24 AM, said:

Clan mechs are freakin hot!! So is that Banshee! I couldn't stop shutting down. Then I die. What should I start with? I kind of like light and medium mechs. The speed is nice when you overheat. I can get away from enemy fire while I cool down. I like being able to poke from cover and hit targets so I'm thinking long to medium range weapons for my load outs.

I don't know anything about lore but I played MW1@2

I used the Awesome a lot in those games and the Timberwolf. I remember the Mad Dog and Kodiak were also my favorites in those games. In this game I seemed to do the best in the trial Raven, Quickdraw, Victor and Stormcrow.

So... what do you guys suggest?

Some Mechs you name are not Light or Medium.
Victor - assault, has JJ.
Awesome - easy target in this game due to being so wide.
Timber Wolf - considered high quality.
Kodiak - not here.
Mad Dog - kinda ok.
Quickdraw - decent but larger in size like the Awesome.
Stormcrow - see Timber Wolf.
Raven - good, 3L is best.

Overheating becomes less of a problem when you build your own since you can build to handle heat better.

[mailin]

Smurfy is a great site for determining not only build, but the total cost of the build as well.

For IS lights, the Firestarters are some of the best for total damage output potential but these tend to have medium lasers, and it sounds like you want longer range than that. Although you could possibly put ER LLs in there. Otherwise Spiders and Ravens both have builds with sniping weapons (although I personally hate those builds) which I guess a fair mount of people have reasonable success with.

For mediums, IS has Hunchbacks, Centurions and Shadowhawks. Although the best Shadowhawk builds tend to run XL engines, but all are viable with the less expensive standard engines.

[Melon Lord]

Definitely go with the Raven. Lights are the most budget friendly mechs out there, and going fast is plain old fun. You will only need to buy 1 XL engine that you can swap between your 3 Ravens (if you choose to master it), which will save you lots of money. Plus the Raven line has some top quality builds.

Second mech you buy I would recommend the Stormcrow. It is a beast, but it is costly for newer players since you are basically paying for an XL and Endo/DHS for every Stormcrow. They pay of fairly quickly, but I wouldn't recommend it for a brand new player.

[Wintersdark]

Not Raven. IS lights are extremely expensive because you need large XL engines (and you DO need large XL engines).

Mediums and heavies are much more reasonable as both can run very effectively with standard engines and come with fairly gentle price points.

[Koniving]

I couldn't recommend lights as a first mech mainly because of the XL engine requirement, though I do agree that Ravens are pretty decent.

Of all the mechs, something between a Hunchback, Shadowhawk, Wolverine or a Centurion would be good starts. (HBK and CN9: 50 tons. SHK and WVR: 55 tons).

This coming from someone who at last screenshot owns:

179 mechbays - 13 empty = 166 'Mechs.

Hunchbacks are still my favorite with Wolverines being my second favorite.

[Koniving]

Enforcer (50 tons), once released for cbills, is also another excellent choice.

[Moldur]

I'd say go for an Innersphere medium or heavy for your first mech.

Clan mechs are fine, but I'd have a much cleaner conscious recommending you something for 5 million c-bills that you can play around with instead of something for 10 million c-bills that you are 'stuck with' before earning more c-bills to properly configure it, plus Clan mechs are a little different in some regards.

Koniving's suggestions are pretty spot on.

[Wintersdark]

Koniving, on 12 May 2015 - 05:55 PM, said:

I couldn't recommend lights as a first mech mainly because of the XL engine requirement, though I do agree that Ravens are pretty decent.

Of all the mechs, something between a Hunchback, Shadowhawk, Wolverine or a Centurion would be good starts. (HBK and CN9: 50 tons. SHK and WVR: 55 tons).

This coming from someone who at last screenshot owns:

179 mechbays - 13 empty = 166 'Mechs.

Hunchbacks are still my favorite with Wolverines being my second favorite.

This. As usual, Koniving just says it better.

I'm also a huge Wolverine fan. Its kind of a weird mech, but particularly post quirks its quite effective. Mean, decent hitboxes, agile.

All of those options are also good because each mech type has a good amount of variety in its variants. Typically, a good ballistic, energy, and missile version, so you can get three, get elite skills, and try out a wide range of builds. Much more effective than randomly buying one of one mech type, one of another, etc

Makes leveling the set of three a lot more rewarding too, something clan mechs suffer with as each different variant for clan mechs is essentially the same .