25 replies to this topic

[Nightmare1]

Void Angel, on 04 June 2015 - 12:35 PM, said:

Oh! Er, well - congratulations! Your overquirked monstrosities will not disappoint.

My only advice at this point is to make sure you have your Throttle Decay - and Arm Lock - turned on. Many players will turn these off (I used to do so myself) but you cannot get the most out of your 'mech's acceleration and deceleration unless you have decay on - and it's more ergonomic to point all of your guns pointed at one spot and just use the keybinding to free your arms if you need to.

I disagree about decay. I don't use it at all. Arm lock is another thing that you probably should not toggle on in Options, particularly for Mechs that have lots of weapons in the arms. It's better to temporarily lock your torso by holding down the SHIFT key. This has the same effect as torso lock, but only lasts for as long as you hold down shift. By releasing it, you can reclaim the full targeting versatility afforded to you by your arms.

For Mechs that do not have many arm-mounted weaponry, like the HBK, simply tap LCTRL once. That will lock your torso for the entire match. Tap LCTRL a second time to release the lock.

As for Throttle Decay, I've found that it hurts more than it helps. Think of it as the difference between an automatic and a manual transmission. The automatic is easier to drive because it does more for you, but the manual is more versatile and allows you to do things the automatic cannot. You might need to start with Decay on, but I would wean myself off of it as soon as possible if I were you, OP.

Spleenslitta, on 04 June 2015 - 12:19 PM, said:

Oh....let me throw in some more weird advice.The majority of the players think MG's are useless.
Try loading a mech with 3-4 MGs and go to the testing grounds. Strip armor of a target mech with lasers or some other weapon and use only MG's on the exposed internals.
Watch the targets weapons becoming red reaaally fast. An exposed AC20 in an exposed spot is destroyed as soon as the MG's touch it.

Here is one of my weirdo builds so you can understand what kind of a madman i truly am.
It's not a trollbuild either...i really use it with sincerity.

Kit Fox 1 ER laser of every size(small, medium and large), ECM, 6JJs and 4 MGs with 2 tons of ammo.
In the later part of a match 3-4 MGs is just plain.....lethal.

MGs have a very high crit modifier as well as a high crit value. While they cannot crit through armor, and deal only negligible damage, their ability to crit components is truly outstanding! That being said, there are a couple of caveats to keep in mind:

1) MGs are hit-scan weapons like lasers. Do NOT lead with them! Simply fire them like you would lasers.
2) MGs project a cone of fire from their muzzles. Think of it like a rapidly firing laser that's invisible. The tracers are for visuals only and are not related to hit detection at all. That being said, hitting with them is a bit random due to the cone. Close the distance to have the best chance of striking the targeted component consistently.
3) The only way to kill a Mech is to headshot it, destroy both of its legs, or to destroy its engine. Engines cannot be critted though. Thus, do not make the mistake of thinking that just because the CT is open, you will quickly crit the engine and kill it. The only way to kill a Mech's engine is to destroy the component (components for Clans) in which it resides. MGs are best used for stripping components out of a Mech, but are not particularly useful for actually destroying the engine component itself.

[IraqiWalker]

Nightmare1, on 04 June 2015 - 12:52 PM, said:

I disagree about decay. I don't use it at all. Arm lock is another thing that you probably should not toggle on in Options, particularly for Mechs that have lots of weapons in the arms. It's better to temporarily lock your torso by holding down the SHIFT key. This has the same effect as torso lock, but only lasts for as long as you hold down shift. By releasing it, you can reclaim the full targeting versatility afforded to you by your arms.

For Mechs that do not have many arm-mounted weaponry, like the HBK, simply tap LCTRL once. That will lock your torso for the entire match. Tap LCTRL a second time to release the lock.

As for Throttle Decay, I've found that it hurts more than it helps. Think of it as the difference between an automatic and a manual transmission. The automatic is easier to drive because it does more for you, but the manual is more versatile and allows you to do things the automatic cannot. You might need to start with Decay on, but I would wean myself off of it as soon as possible if I were you, OP.



MGs have a very high crit modifier as well as a high crit value. While they cannot crit through armor, and deal only negligible damage, their ability to crit components is truly outstanding! That being said, there are a couple of caveats to keep in mind:

1) MGs are hit-scan weapons like lasers. Do NOT lead with them! Simply fire them like you would lasers.
2) MGs project a cone of fire from their muzzles. Think of it like a rapidly firing laser that's invisible. The tracers are for visuals only and are not related to hit detection at all. That being said, hitting with them is a bit random due to the cone. Close the distance to have the best chance of striking the targeted component consistently.
3) The only way to kill a Mech is to headshot it, destroy both of its legs, or to destroy its engine. Engines cannot be critted though. Thus, do not make the mistake of thinking that just because the CT is open, you will quickly crit the engine and kill it. The only way to kill a Mech's engine is to destroy the component (components for Clans) in which it resides. MGs are best used for stripping components out of a Mech, but are not particularly useful for actually destroying the engine component itself.

Throttle decay works really well on lights. When I'm driving a fast, and nimble mech, decay helps me accelerate, and decelerate much faster. It does require more micro management than no decay. On anything bigger than a cicada, I have it turned off.

[Void Angel]

I got my Ace of Spades in a Light - a Spider, no less, with the highest damage in the match. You want throttle decay on. If you do not have it, you are not getting the most out of your machine - period. You simply cannot accelerate and decelerate at the Battlemech's actual capabilities. You can learn to pilot around this limitation, but the inescapable fact is that you are limiting yourself.

Arm lock is similar. Lights, even the "slow" models, are agile. Agility is what they do. If you have to use your arms independently, it's something you can choose to do - but if you're having to wait for your arms and torso to line up as you fire, you're losing the benefit of some of that agility.

In any case arm lock is a preference - Throttle Decay is an advantage.

[Flak Kannon]

Hi Sam,

First off, welcome back.

20,000 MC is alot. The first post that said play a bit to get a feel for the games state is a solid idea.

But here's a few tips.


No other mech chassis in the game is as tanky as the Stormcrow. It's a Clan mech.

No other Hero mech is a wicked as the Raven Hero - Huggin. It can shoot dual SRM4s in chain fire so fast, some mechs don't even know what hit them. Just make sure to 'unlock' and then 'buy' the modules for SRM4 range and cooldown. It's DPS is only rivaled buy the Dragon chassis 1N.

Jump jets on mediums are very useful, but avoid them on assaults for the most part. The Griffin and the Wolverine are great mediums that can fly well, are mobile, and can pack a SRM punch.

I still love my IS Hero Cataphract, Ilya Muromets. It can boat 3 UAC5's, so that a good use of MC if your interested in using the MC for mechs...

You can use the MC and buy Premium Time which really accelerates your Cbill earning power, thus allowing you to try more mech chassis over time because you will have more resources to spend.

I pretty much ALWAYS run premium time, as its only $15/ month which isn't alot of money, but you have so much MC you could drop half your MC for a whole year premium time, and still have 8,000+ MC... I like the extra 30% cbills.

Or.. you could buy a TON of mechs bays... I think they are like 350 MC each...


Or.. your could go to town and buy a bunch of custom colors.. but I believe colors for the cost they are are the biggest waste of MC.. that's just my opinion... 500MC and 1000MC PER COLOR...

[Rogue Jedi]

with regards to the "best light Mech" discussion, there is no such thing.

the Firestarter is the best light for fighting at close range, brawling or harrassing, the Kit Fox makes the best support/umbrella light, the Spider makes the best scout (but is still competent as a sniper or harasser) and one of the varients is the most mobile Mech in the game with 170KPH and 12 JJs, the Raven makes the best ECM sniper/harasser.
the other lights all have positives and negatives, and each of them has something which no other can do.

so with regards as to which is the best it all comes down to what you want to use it for.

For me the best light Mechs are the SDR-5D, SDR-5K and FS9-E none of which are currently considered "top tier", they just work well for me.

[PFC Carsten]

Quick advice from my POV: Don't waste MC on regular 'mechs. Buy packages or better yet heroes, using the grind for regular stuff to level up your other 2 'mechs of that chassis to master your hero-mechs faster.