19 replies to this topic

[Pangolin Paladin]

I've been playing since open beta. I've got a full Battalion of 'mechs in my hanger. I've got my favourites, and the ones that sit in the corner getting dirty looks. I have over 50 mechbays and a spare 100M CB.

So, clearly the obvious thing to do now is create a new account, and start it all again!

I'm planning to build a full Clan drop deck, from scratch, for C-Bills. Mad? Probably. Pointless? Certainly. But where's life without a fresh challenge?

On a serious note, I'm intending to log my progress in the hope that it might provide some guidance for new players. Just how long will it take me to earn enough CB for a Clan 'mech? Let's find out!

I'd also like suggestions as to what 'mechs to go for. To start with, I'm aiming for a 2+2 drop-deck, so I only need to level 2 chassis (I am planning to get 3 variants of each.) My preference is for mediums and heavies. On my main account, I already own Stormcrows and Hellbringers, so I'd like to opt for something new. Just to complete the picture, making a really terrible decision and buying Novas and Summoners has some appeal!

[Mycrus]

Pangolin Paladin, on 08 August 2015 - 09:08 AM, said:

I've been playing since open beta. I've got a full Battalion of 'mechs in my hanger. I've got my favourites, and the ones that sit in the corner getting dirty looks. I have over 50 mechbays and a spare 100M CB.

So, clearly the obvious thing to do now is create a new account, and start it all again!

I'm planning to build a full Clan drop deck, from scratch, for C-Bills. Mad? Probably. Pointless? Certainly. But where's life without a fresh challenge?

On a serious note, I'm intending to log my progress in the hope that it might provide some guidance for new players. Just how long will it take me to earn enough CB for a Clan 'mech? Let's find out!

I'd also like suggestions as to what 'mechs to go for. To start with, I'm aiming for a 2+2 drop-deck, so I only need to level 2 chassis (I am planning to get 3 variants of each.) My preference is for mediums and heavies. On my main account, I already own Stormcrows and Hellbringers, so I'd like to opt for something new. Just to complete the picture, making a really terrible decision and buying Novas and Summoners has some appeal!

Sockpuppet... burn it with fire!

[Appogee]

Adders and Warhawks would go together well. Or swap the Adders for Kit Foxes for the ECM.

It's a shame MWO doesn't yet feature a more elaborate meta game, so that you wouldn't need to create your own challenges to keep things interesting.

Edited by Appogee, 08 August 2015 - 09:16 AM.

[Greenjulius]

I can

Appogee, on 08 August 2015 - 09:14 AM, said:

Adders and Warhawks would go together well. Or swap the Adders for Kit Foxes for the ECM.

Or the outrageously overpowered Cheetos.

[Pangolin Paladin]

Mycrus, on 08 August 2015 - 09:11 AM, said:

Sockpuppet... burn it with fire!

Better be watching out for those FS9's then!

Seriously, my main account handle is RavensScar. :-)

[Mcgral18]

2 Lokis and 2 Crows makes for a fantastic deck.

Nova's can be acceptable in CW, while Summoners are less great.


If you want something different, I guess that works. You don't need to go full Meta.

Edited by Mcgral18, 08 August 2015 - 09:31 AM.

[Pangolin Paladin]

Appogee, on 08 August 2015 - 09:14 AM, said:

Adders and Warhawks would go together well. Or swap the Adders for Kit Foxes for the ECM.

It's a shame MWO doesn't yet feature a more elaborate meta game, so that you wouldn't need to create your own challenges to keep things interesting.

I get on particularly badly with light 'mechs, so I suppose it certainly meets the 'challenge' requirement!

Completely agree regarding the meta game. Then again, I'm also one of those weird gamers who actually really likes early-game content! There's something I find really engaging with having to 'make-do' with whatever kit you have available.

[Pangolin Paladin]

Mcgral18, on 08 August 2015 - 09:26 AM, said:

2 Lokis and 2 Crows makes for a fantastic deck.

Nova's can be acceptable in CW, while Summoners are less great.


If you want something different, I guess that works. You don't need to go full Meta.

How about Timbies and Fridges? Or Timbies and Scats? The Shadow-Cat will probably be out for CB by the time I've got the 45M required for 3 Timber Wolves!

[Aresye]

These are my favorite dropdecks. They don't all conform to your 2x2 plans, but perhaps some will spark some ideas:

- TBR/EBJ/EBJ/ACH
- TBR/HBR/HBR/ACH
- WHK/EBJ/SHC/SHC
- TBR/SCR/SCR/SCR
- DWF/SCR/SCR/ACH
- WHK/NVA/NVA/NVA (PEE PEE SEEEEES!!!!!)
- SMN/SMN/NVA/NVA (POPTARTS!!!!!!)

The last 2 are REALLY FUN if you've got a full 12man doing it

Edited by Aresye Kerensky, 08 August 2015 - 09:43 AM.

[Mcgral18]

Pangolin Paladin, on 08 August 2015 - 09:40 AM, said:

How about Timbies and Fridges? Or Timbies and Scats? The Shadow-Cat will probably be out for CB by the time I've got the 45M required for 3 Timber Wolves!

SadCat might be CW compliant, because high mounts and long range are worth a fair bit there. Fridge can run 142Kph with 5 ERMLs.

Timbies are naturally one of the best choices (for Cbills) and that A-LT pokes like a boss.


An expensive, but effective choice.

[Aresye]

Mcgral18, on 08 August 2015 - 09:44 AM, said:

SadCat might be CW compliant, because high mounts and long range are worth a fair bit there. Fridge can run 142Kph with 5 ERMLs.

Timbies are naturally one of the best choices (for Cbills) and that A-LT pokes like a boss.


An expensive, but effective choice.

I was wary taking 2 non-elited Scats in my dropdeck for the purposes of leveling them up. I went with a TBR/EBJ/SHC/SHC dropdeck so I could fall back on the TBR and EBJ if things went south.

Never had to though. The Scat is very well suited for CW. It's jump capability, MASC, ECM, high energy hardpoints, and slight (but noticeable) CERLL quirks make it very good for poking, and can take advantage of terrain most other mechs can't utilize. I wouldn't take it on Sulfurous or Giant Blue Sun Map due to the lack of good terrain and close engagements, but it's an absolute monster on Boreal, Hellebore, and Emerald. I was averaging 2k damage and 5-10 kills each game with just the 2 Scats.

It's sort of like the STK-4N in terms of viability. It's perfect for CW, but has a lot of drawbacks in the public queue.

[Appogee]

Greenjulius, on 08 August 2015 - 09:18 AM, said:

Or the outrageously overpowered Cheetos.

But he said he wants to grind the CBills for them ... and they're not available for CBills yet.

[Pangolin Paladin]

Appogee, on 08 August 2015 - 01:14 PM, said:

But he said he wants to grind the CBills for them ... and they're not available for CBills yet.

To be fair, they probably will be out for CB by the time I've finished one chassis!

At the moment, I'm thinking a Mad Cat / Sad Cat drop deck could be a lot of fun. A really strong heavy paired with a fast ECM medium seems to tick all the boxes.

The Scat is released for CB on 6th October, so I guess the question is whether I can buy and level three Timber Wolves in two months.

[J0anna]

Greenjulius, on 08 August 2015 - 09:18 AM, said:

I can
Or the outrageously overpowered Cheetos.

And yet its rather simple to setup a firestarter that can equal or exceed it...Doesn't that make the firestarter "outrageously overpowered" too?

[Appogee]

Moenrg, on 08 August 2015 - 01:47 PM, said:

And yet its rather simple to setup a firestarter that can equal or exceed it...Doesn't that make the firestarter "outrageously overpowered" too?

Let us know how you put ECM on those Firestarters of yours.

I have both Firestarters and Arctic Cheesers... and the Cheesers are just better, thanks to ECM, the improved survivability of Clan XLs, and the availability of more Jump Jets vs similar Firestarter builds.

Firestarters are no slouch, but the Cheesers are simply better.

Edited by Appogee, 08 August 2015 - 02:22 PM.

[MechWarrior849305]

Pangolin Paladin, on 08 August 2015 - 09:08 AM, said:

I'd also like suggestions as to what 'mechs to go for. To start with, I'm aiming for a 2+2 drop-deck, so I only need to level 2 chassis (I am planning to get 3 variants of each.) My preference is for mediums and heavies. On my main account, I already own Stormcrows and Hellbringers, so I'd like to opt for something new. Just to complete the picture, making a really terrible decision and buying Novas and Summoners has some appeal!

Just get 4 stormcrows, it will be 1 chassis

Edited by DuoAngel, 08 August 2015 - 02:35 PM.

[J0anna]

Appogee, on 08 August 2015 - 02:20 PM, said:

Let us know how you put ECM on those Firestarters of yours.

I have both Firestarters and Arctic Cheesers... and the Cheesers are just better, thanks to ECM, the improved survivability of Clan XLs, and the availability of more Jump Jets vs similar Firestarter builds.

Firestarters are no slouch, but the Cheesers are simply better.

The highest dps builds for the ac use the "c" left torso, so no ecm on those. The six small pulse varient w\ecm has nearly the same heat efficiency and dps as the fs9-a, but runs slower. The ac can jump better unless the fs9-a lowered it's speed to about that of an ac and puts on the extra jj's. The XL advantage will end when they release IS light fusion engines, but in reality how often do you lose a firestarter to a side torso loss as opposed to getting legged? The FS9 has an extra heat sink so can shoot a bit longer and cools off a bit quicker. I really doubt you worry much facing an AC in an FS9, his ecm won't effect your weapons and you've been around long enough to know to shoot the legs. In my battles against them it often comes down to who places his shots better, that for me means they are pretty evenly matched.

[Appogee]

Moenrg, on 08 August 2015 - 03:09 PM, said:

maths and stats

Interesting, but in the end, not the most important factors.

I have run both Cheesers and FireStarters. Solo and Group queues. Statistically, the Cheeser performs noticeably better in kills and in damage.

My guess is that the better performance is due to:

• ECM
  
• ability to fire Clan SPLs at longer range than IS
  
• buggy hitboxes

[aniviron]

I ran two HBR + two SCR for the longest time, and it was a fantastic drop dec. I ran both HBR with ECM, one with two ER LL + 4 ER ML, one with gauss + 4 ER ML. SCRs were the same, 2 ER LL + 2 ER ML and gauss + 4 ER ML.

After the SCR nerf I swapped to 2 HBR + MLX-C (ER ML + ER LL) and a WHK (quad LPL or ER PPC). If you're doing well enough that you don't have to use all four mechs, it's a superior dec, but if you need to actually use the MLX, well, sorry. The good news is that I'm generally good enough that if I have to take a fourth drop the game is already won or lost anyway, so if you're that kind of pilot this dec might work for you.

I'd probably switch back to the HBR + SCR dec again since the Crow got partially unnerfed, but I gave up on CW before then, so I can't say for sure if the burn times are acceptable in a CW game. The SCR also got significantly worse after the last round of HSR fixes as it can no longer exploit its crazy turn rate to make damage disappear.

The ACH is probably worth looking at as it's the hardest hitting mech in the game ton for ton right now, but it won't be out for Cbills for months, and OP was looking for CB builds.

[Pangolin Paladin]

Update:

So, after 40 matches, I'm sitting on almost 15.5M CB. Obviously the weekend challenge has helped quite a lot here - 2x 2M CB rewards, plus premium time offered quite a bit of a boost.

The numbers are quite interesting. My gamemode stats tell me I've earned about 5M CB from match rewards. Achievements, the cadet bonus, and challenge rewards have add added another 10M.

From starting afresh, I've earned enough in one day (of pretty intensive play) to buy almost any 'mech in the game. That actually doesn't seem too bad. Again, this is obviously biased by the fact I already know what I'm doing (well, I can pretend) and this weekend's challenge has offered a pretty nice bonus.

The other thing that did surprise me was how well some of the stock Clan 'mechs perform. I managed to get a 300,000 CB match in the SCR-C - which was particularly nice on Conquest.

However, from this point on, this seems appropriate:



But, right now, it's Timber Wolf time!