27 replies to this topic

[shippy]

Looking for some vet advice,
I went through the cadet games and ended up buying a Catapult K2. I enjoy it so far but spend most of my play time on a T-bolt and Griffin for the PHX event. Starting to get the hang of it, still pretty terrible but looking for a good pack/bundle to buy. Resistance 2 looks like a winner, I love Black Knight and Crab from Battletech days. I play FS in faction but haven't tried that yet, (see above I'm terrible) but don't really have anything against clan mechs either.
I prefer Meds or heavier. Not quite good enough for lights yet.

I'm looking for bang for the buck, quantity is better than min/maxing for my play style. also don't care about FOTM.

Thanks!

[Gagis]

The mastery packs are generally really good value for MC, but right now I'd take the Resistance II pack.

Might go for the Crab package myself.

[Banditman]

Pick a mech. Get three of them. Get them completely elited. Do not jump around. Thunderbolts will serve you well if you like them.

If you're buying with cash, and you want something now, Resistance II is not for you. It doesn't release until late summer / fall. Clan Wave II is pretty good (except the Gargoyle), but you'll end up wanting Stormcrows and Timbers.

[shippy]

Thanks for the replies, does it matter which 3? several mechs have more than 3 variants?

[Darwins Dog]

Banditman, on 19 May 2015 - 11:23 AM, said:

Pick a mech. Get three of them. Get them completely elited. Do not jump around. Thunderbolts will serve you well if you like them.

If you're buying with cash, and you want something now, Resistance II is not for you. It doesn't release until late summer / fall. Clan Wave II is pretty good (except the Gargoyle), but you'll end up wanting Stormcrows and Timbers.

That's a really good point. Resistance II has a lot of bonus stuff for preorders, but you won't get it for a while. It is probably the best value right now if you can stand the wait.

All of the mastery packs are worth the money if you like the mechs in them. Hunchback, or SHD are both good mediums. Orion is kinda close to the t-bolt.

EDIT:

shippy, on 19 May 2015 - 11:30 AM, said:

Thanks for the replies, does it matter which 3? several mechs have more than 3 variants?

As long as you have 3 different variants, then you are good to go. You also don't have to stop at 3 if you like more than that. Start with the one you like most, then use the time to look at the other two you like.

I should note that champion variants (like the HBK-4P (C)) counts the same as the regular variant.

Edited by Darwins Dog, 19 May 2015 - 11:34 AM.

[Wildstreak]

shippy, on 19 May 2015 - 11:30 AM, said:

Thanks for the replies, does it matter which 3? several mechs have more than 3 variants?

Depends, if you can provide a list of chassis you are interested in and if you wish to pay by C-Bills only or willing to spend real cash. Also do you have a preference of Faction (Clan vs IS, looks like Davion), role, weapon types.

[shippy]

Thanks for all the help!

I would say my general play preference is brawler, and energy based weapons more than ammo dependent ones. Second preference is long range sniping with Gauss/ERLL and ERPPC. I usually play Inner Sphere and prefer fedsuns (I know they're AC heavy..I do plan on trying ACs out). I want to make a cash purchase because I'm enjoying the game tremendously. but I do need to control the ol' budget.

[JC Daxion]

Mastery packs, that are a great value for new players.. the centurion pack. it has a great brawler in the hero with an AC-20, and you can stuff an XL engine in it for the fast AC-20 in the game. The champion comes with an XL-300 considered by many the first XL engine you should buy as it is used so often.. (to me it's a toss up between that and the XL-280 as most used XL) to round it out, ya get a decent missile mech.

over all, mediums are a great place to learn, and the cent pack is a great value for what you get..

centurions are great brawlers, but can also range if you want.. the AH (though not in the pack is one of the best brawlers in the game too) So if you are enjoying them, it is an easy buy to grab it and run it to master when you are done with the first 3..

[Wildstreak]

When they soon come out for CB, Enforcers are good, they can brawl some, mix Energy & ballistic, have good speed, JJs, take damage well and are Davion favored. I would say buy them for cash unless you do not want the Panthers you would get too or sell the Panthers for more MechBays.
JagerMechs can do some brawling and sniping. Triple UAC DD, dual ACs, dual Gauss, if you buy the Firebrand or get the JagerMech Mastery bundle for cash, you can try mixing a Gauss & LL/PPC on it.
Cataphracts also, have a Mastery bundle, Ilya is considered a good Hero.
Hunchback 4G, 4H and 4P, you can also pay for the Grid Iron that is Gauss crazy. If you do not mind a Missile version, there is the Hunchback Mastery pack that can be bought with cash. 4J & 4SP, you can run them as pure Energy ignoring the Missile ports, others have done it.
BlackJack is a Davion Mech, no Gauss but has done LL/PPC.
Some others maybe but I do not have all of them to say for sure.
Not much does Gauss but ACs are good.

Edited by Wildstreak, 19 May 2015 - 12:32 PM.

[shippy]

This is tremendously helpful! thank you I think I will lean towards a hunchback or Centurion mastery pack!

[JC Daxion]

You know.. i messed up a bit, the centurion champion has an STD-275, but another mech in the pack the D, has the XL-300. But that mech is quirked for an LBX, it is kinda a shot gun. the mech is decent, but not my fav of the set.


BUT i was checking out the shadow hawk bundle. It actually is almost 1k MC cheaper, and comes with and XL-255 (a great XL engine for a few mechs, and a 4m+ cbill value) and the grey death has nice quirks, and comes with an XL-275.

the shadow hawk quirks are kind of generic, whcih really makes for a great starter mechs, as you can use energy weapons, missile, ballistics of any kind and get a bonus. Making this mech very flexible. For a long time shadow hawks were considered the best 55 ton mech, and they have jump jets.. Since quirks people kinda forget about them, but they are still darn good mechs.

with the MC you save, you can grab 2 extra mech bays! and we all need extra mech bays....

So i change my mind.. the shadow hawk is my new goto package for new players, for over all value, and how you can customize it.

the HBK's are nice, don't get me wrong, but the XL-200 you get in the grid iron is not the best engine, and the 4SP, and 4P, are mechs that only cost about 6 mill c-bills to buy and outfit, maybe 7m, still that is reasonable compared to many, so the value on MC is just not as good as the Hawk. (btw, the 4G and 4SP are some of my favorite mechs in the game) but still.

while the centurion's are still great but i think for cost, and customization the shadow hawk is the new Package bundle king. It's just so hard to argue against the XL-255 + XL-275, and for less MC! I will say the XL-300 is an engine used in more mechs, but hey, you won't be using it right away, and the XL-275 is cap in some mechs, like raven 2x and the XL-255 is the goto engine for some spider builds, and the 4 ac5 dakka Cataphract 4X

the centurions are a bit faster, with slightly better hit boxes. The shadow hawks, are slower, but have jump jets, which makes them more mobile and can be a good thing while players learn the maps, ramps, and such. Which is another part of me changing and saying shadow hawks. Less getting stuck on maps when you can't find the ramp.

And to think i never even noticed this before today..

Edited by JC Daxion, 19 May 2015 - 12:57 PM.

[shippy]

Okay that sounds good, reading the GDL novels hooked me on the universe!

[RiceCop]

The hunchback is a REALLY good newbie mech. It's got a lot of different play styles you can try out and there's a bunch of different flavors.

[RiceCop]

HBK-4G is a nasty mech if you get good in it

Edited by RiceCop, 19 May 2015 - 12:58 PM.

[Petard]

Hunchie 4G was my first mech in MWO, cos ac20, and nowadays, with 95 mechs in my hangar, it's still one of my favourites.

[RiceCop]

Petard, on 19 May 2015 - 01:06 PM, said:

Hunchie 4G was my first mech in MWO, cos ac20, and nowadays, with 95 mechs in my hangar, it's still one of my favourites.

Same here. Over 100 mechs and I still play the 4G often

[shippy]

This is gonna be a tough call!

[Crotch RockIt]

shippy, on 19 May 2015 - 12:47 PM, said:

Okay that sounds good, reading the GDL novels hooked me on the universe!

I can't remember if Shadowhawks have a Mastery pack yet, but the Shadowhawk hero mech (Gray Death) is a nod to the GDL novels.

[JC Daxion]

Yes it really is.. But keep in mind the 4G is not one of the ones in the pack, So that will be another purchase.

in a nut shell.. the HBK's are very flexible, and have many versions. They also get a nice armor buff to the hunch and in the case of the 4SP a buff to R&L torsos.. So they are now pretty darn tough mechs. before quirks, the hunch was a big liablity, now with the armor buff, you can actually soak some damage with it. Now you can hear from time to time, won't that blasted hunchback die!

all the HBK's generally use Medium lasers as back up weapons
4G, ac-20 it's weight means it runs limited ammo
4H ac-10 more shots, longer range
4J, dual LRM 10's great LRM skirmisher

the Pack,
GI, Gauss.. it's weight means it runs limited ammo
4SP, the goto SRM+ML bralwer. the mech runs hot but is a beast. run 4's or 6's
4P, the energy boat.. Runs hot, but good DPS and alpha


Cents' all cents can carry ML's in their center torso, so you can use an STD engine and still have weapons with both sides blown off, but most people run cents with XL's for max speed, which makes it impossible to zombie. You loose a side torso you are dead in an Inner sphere mech. So a big XL, and speed, and twist, and spread damage is the way to go with them

AH, one of the best brawlers in the game, ac-20 + dual SRM 4's it wrecks mechs
AL quirked for large lasers and missile back up

the pack
A, the AC-10 version, and has missiles
yen-lo-wang, fastest AC-20 mech in game, carries 2 ML's for back up
D, carries the shot gun LBX, not the best weapon, but some people like it, it is pretty good for shooting at lights especially good pilots that can dodge well, 2-3 damage is better than a total miss. But it also carries SRM's so up close you can get a pretty tight spread so it is like blasting big holes in mechs, Great for point blank shots on the big boys.


Shadow hawks, The engines are the biggest bonus,
i won't comment on them about what to use, because shadow hawks can really run everything.. the quirks are missile, energy, ballistics, and i've seen everything from gauss, to ac's 3 ac'2s, dual 5's, PPC+ac5, large lasers, LRM's, SRMs, streaks.. you name it.. the 3 variants, you can basically use every weapon in the game, and have a quirk to boost it.

perhaps someone with more interment knowledge of them can add more on the variants, outside of they don't twist as well as the HBK's or cents, but good JJ use can solve that issue with short jj turn twists, and the H gets an extra mech module which is nice.

Edited by JC Daxion, 19 May 2015 - 01:46 PM.

[TheCaptainJZ]

Shadow hawks are indeed flexible and you can run many similar builds on several different variants. However since they were designated as a strong mech before quirks they didn't get very many so most players migrated to mechs that got more. Still solid mechs and still a good choice to start with.