23 replies to this topic

[sour_drops]

Hello,

I currently own only one mech (Catapult C4), and intend to master the Catapult and Raven chassis.

Right now I am about 500k C-Bills short for a Cat K2, plus 600K ish for equipment.

My question is, would I be better off buying a Raven now (with lots of money to outfit it) to make my mechbay more varied, or should I stick with the Cat chassis for now ?

Also, I've heard that you can earn mechbays during events and CW. How often does that happen ? I may consider buying a couple, only good use of MC I can think of, that and camo.

Thanks in advance.

[Torezu]

CW, you can get a fairly large number of mech bays with just Rank 2 in each faction (10 total I think). If you stick with each long enough to get Rank 6, you get another bay. Any ranks after that are progressively much more difficult to get.

Personally, I'd answer your first question only if I knew whether you really liked piloting a Catapult or not. That Raven may take quite a bit more than you'd think to outfit, especially if you have to buy an XL engine for it. If you really enjoy the Catapult, I'd get 3 variants and Elite them at least, and use them for your money-makers.

[Totem1]

its a difficult one to advise... sure is best to max out the skills tree on one chassis but also good to have a look at what the other types of mechs give you.... would be good to get your opinion on what you like about the game?

[bad arcade kitty]

mastering a chassis makes it significantly stronger

outfitting a raven is a very expansive task, it can cost more than 13 mln, you can buy your 3rd cats for those money which you need to buy a top xl engine and upgrades for the raven (+ the cost of the mech)

it's a kind of trap, just because the mech costs 2.5 mlns it doesn't mean it will be even comparable to a trial light, trial lights have all the upgrades and a way better engine than the stock

compare the trial spider sdr-5k(c) http://mwo.smurfy-ne...b#i=104&l=stock
the stock spider sdr-5k which costs just 2.45 mln http://mwo.smurfy-ne...ab#i=53&l=stock
and how much it would cost to buy and outfit the stock spider as the trial one, 9.3 mln (!) http://mwo.smurfy-ne...2fc143a680bcb22

now for raven
rvn-3l(c) has this loadout (a pretty good one except you need less back armor than that, like the spider above has or a tiny bit more) http://mwo.smurfy-ne...b#i=228&l=stock
rvn-3l costs 5.9 mln stock http://mwo.smurfy-ne...ab#i=33&l=stock
to buy it and to fit as the trial one you need to pay 13.2 (!) mln http://mwo.smurfy-ne...612896f6c609ca5

i would master cat first, if you want to play raven you can run the trial raven meantime, that exp will be stored till you buy raven 3l yourself so you can instantly basic it if you get enough exp

Edited by bad arcade kitty, 15 August 2015 - 03:09 PM.

[mailin]

Master your Catapults first.

[Chados]

I concur. That's what I'm doing. And I have all five variants. I'm working on eliting the three missile carriers first and by then I hope to have enough l33tness that I can drop and not embarrass myself in the K2 and Jester, LoL.

[IraqiWalker]

WazzleDazzle, on 15 August 2015 - 02:20 PM, said:

Hello,

I currently own only one mech (Catapult C4), and intend to master the Catapult and Raven chassis.

Right now I am about 500k C-Bills short for a Cat K2, plus 600K ish for equipment.

My question is, would I be better off buying a Raven now (with lots of money to outfit it) to make my mechbay more varied, or should I stick with the Cat chassis for now ?

Also, I've heard that you can earn mechbays during events and CW. How often does that happen ? I may consider buying a couple, only good use of MC I can think of, that and camo.

Thanks in advance.

It takes around 10 million C-Bills just to outfit a raven fully. Maybe more for the RVN-3L. I would personally recommend you get three catapults (remember to always add 1.5 Million C-Bills to their price, right off the bat, for the Double Heat Sinks (DHS) Upgrade.)

Also, the Catapult is a 65 ton mech, which means you can put 3 of them in your drop deck for CW, quite comfortably, and have the 4th be either a trial mech, or whatever you decide to use later. The A1 is terrible for CW, but the C4, C1, K2, and Jester are all solid in CW.

In CW, take up contracts with each faction, and play until you reach loyalty tier 2, then switch to another faction, and do the same. A week long contract should more than do it. Might even get you to tier 4 or 6 depending on how heavily you play.

You will get a few mechbays that way for free. A match in CW is conducted as such:

Youo will create a drop "deck" you must bring 4 mechs to the match, trials are allowed, but highly advised to not use them, since they have no efficiencies on them, and you can't adjust their builds.

You are restricted by a minimum tonnage limit (so you can't bring a deck of just 4 lights.), and a maximum tonnage limit of 240 tons total (so all 4 of your mechs have to total up to 240 tons. which is why a 65 ton heavy is such a sweet spot. You can get 3 of them, and still have 45 tons free to use for other things.

You will drop into the match with one of those 4, depending on which one you selected for your first drop. When that mech explodes, you can select another of your remaining three, and keep going through your mechs, until you run out of the 4, or the match is done.

EDIT: I should also mention, CW is really not a good place for new players. Your mechs don't have their efficiencies, you have no modules, and you still barely know how to pilot a mech. You will be out-gunned, and out-skilled. It can be a true baptism by fire. However, it offers variety, and can be loads of fun if you communicate, and coordinate with your team.

Edited by IraqiWalker, 15 August 2015 - 10:28 PM.

[Chagatay]

I'd recommend mastery over variety at least initially. You can go either IS or Clan and both work well. If you go IS get and master the 4 Thunderbolts (gets you right to the 240T mark and all are solid and cheap STD engines and only Endo/DHS for the most part). But seeing how you have started with Catapults I suppose you can go that route (3xCata with Raven).

If you go Clan (more expensive), 4 Stormcrows is pretty solid even though it is under tonnage.

Best part about going the CW route is you can level them all together at the same time. Once you get another 4 mech bays (pretty easy if you just get 2 then switch factions and get another 2) you can repeat the process and slowly build your collection.

Edited by Chagatay, 16 August 2015 - 01:48 AM.

[sour_drops]

Thanks a lot for all those replies !
I might have underestimated the Raven's cost then. I'll stick to the Cats for now, it shouldn't take too much time before I get the K2

[Rogue Jedi]

the K2 will end up costing about 14 million if you want to put in an XL engine, the Raven will depending on variant cost about 10 (2x, 4x) to 13.5 (3L) to get it combat effective.
Lights usualy cost a total of about 4 times the initial purchase cost to buy and fully upgrade

not sure if you know this or not but an XL engine is about half the weight of a standard engine, so allows your Mech to use a bigger engine and still have more available tonnage compared to using the stock standard engine, the down sides are that it takes up 3 crit space in each side torso and if you loose ether side torso the Mech goes down,
in the case of the Catapult the center torso is so big it is extremely unlikely you will loose a side torso, and Light Mechs need every half ton they can get as well as high speed so an XL is almost always a good idea for a Light Mech and is usualy close to half the total cost

I strongly recommend against purchasing a light Mech until you have the money to do the upgrades, as a stock Light Mech is going to be painful to learn on.

I would definitely get the other 2 Catapults first ^{(I would recommend C1 or, if you do not mind spending real money, Jester for the last)} a stock Catapult K2 is not that bad ^{(but you will definitely want Double Heat Sinks, costing 1.5 million)}, fully upgrading the K2 including an XL engine ^{(I would usualy recommend the XL300, probably the most useful engine in the game, unless you are after dual Gauss)} Double Heat Sinks and Endo Steel Internals will cost a total of about 14 million, if you already have the XL engine you can just remove that from your C4 saving you about 5 million.

[Chados]

I think that Catapult Mastery is a good deal too, again if you don't mind spending about 30 dollars. You get the Jester, K2, and A1C, three mech bays, and 30 days of a premium account. At the price you're basically getting the Jester and the premium time for free vs. buying the mechs all separately. Plus the A1C comes with an XL 255 and Artemis already installed, which is a tremendous savings. You can swap the XL into other mechs to build them while you skill them up, but that takes one mech out of rotation if you want to use Catapults for CW. But then, you can only take three anyway because of the stupid drop tonnage restriction; for the IS I'd like to see that at 260 to offset Clan tech superiority, and if it was I might play CW once in awhile. As it is I have to take a trial Raven as one of my mechs and trial builds aren't as fun. And I suck at lights.

[Rear Admiral Tier 6]

mastery is not really necessary,just plow through the elites.

you wont really need that extra module slot early on in your career.

[Rogue Jedi]

Cookiemonter669, on 16 August 2015 - 07:08 AM, said:

mastery is not really necessary,just plow through the elites.

agreed, for someone at your stage completing Elite would get you a much bigger boost than completing Master.

I have been playing for 3 years, and have completed elite on at least 1 variant of about 3/4 of the chassis in the game, however I have only got the Mechs I use a lot to full Mastery, and in most cases it was just a case of me noticing that I had accumulated more than 21,500 XP, I rarely use modules (except the UAV, the occasional artillery/air strike, and Mechs in my CW dropdecks).

[dragnier1]

Cookiemonter669, on 16 August 2015 - 07:08 AM, said:

mastery is not really necessary,just plow through the elites.

you wont really need that extra module slot early on in your career.

While that may be true, the cbills earned while working towards mastery of each mech could be saved for other mechs; in OP's case the ravens.

OP, since you'll need 13 million cbills for the 3L and about 8 for the other two each (minus the engine cost since they can share) i suggest using the catapults as your "cash cow".

Edited by dragnier1, 16 August 2015 - 08:30 AM.

[JC Daxion]

Your gonna want an XL engine anyway.. Catapults really need one if ya ask me. So it would be easy to swap it from your cat's to ravens, ect...


My best advice in a nut shell, You may just wanna skip the K2 for now, And grab a 55 toner with the XL-275, then you can save for your K2 or Raven 3L.. Now you will have 3 different classes, and styles and really start to understand what kinda play styles you like most. Then you can start saving for the extra 2 chassis, starting with the class you like most! My recommendation is the Wolverine 7K for cost, and just fun..



For a longer explanation of my thinking... and just more detail over all..

For the most flexibility, i would really recommend going with an XL-265 to start. It will give you a bit more space in your cat's for not much speed loss. It's the engine i run in my c4, Though i do use XL-280's in my K2 and C1, my jester runs an XL-325.

BUT, when you level ravens, the others have an engine cap of 275, So that means buying even more XL engines, and at the cost of over 5m a pop, they add up quick. The reason why i say an XL-265, is because it is a very flexible engine, for lots of builds. I personally run them in many mechs, Catapults, Ravens, centurions to name a few.

You do have a couple other options though, You could pick up a raven 3L champion for MC, so a short cut with cash to get a really nice engine, and another mech, that also has an XP boost, to help with the GXP grind. It comes with an XL-295, to me they are a bit heavy for a bunch of cat builds, and you would still need to buy a smaller one for the other ravens.. So an option, but perhaps not the best for a new player.

My best advice for a new player just starting out is get one of the 55ton mediums that comes with the XL-275. For one, you get to try another class, and mediums are great starter mechs.. And, let's not forget that the Shadow Hawk, Griffin, and Wolverines are all great mechs.

Shadow hawks are the most flexible, the Griffins Run the most missiles, and have an energy boat Hero, along with an ECM mech, so they are pretty popular for that reason, The wolverines, are a bit more nitch, but if you follow quirks, they are great mechs, they are really tough as well, with darn good hit boxes. and you can stuff in huge XL engines, for one of the fastest mediums on the field, outside of the 40 ton cicada's which are really Fat lights..

Griffin 3m, Shadow hawk 5m are both close to 8.2m But the the wolverine 7K is right around 7.5m and is one of my favorite mechs a pair of SRm6's and some lasers, with a big XL and it is a very fun mech!.. For the new player just starting, Getting a mech with an XL, is a great way to go, you don't add much cost in the end, and get a whole new mech to play with.

One last option, you could go for a Jager DD, that mech comes with an XL-260, which will work in all the ravens, and still a nice engine. It will also let you get started on playing around ballistics, though with a K2, you can already start doing that, so at this point, that could be a bit redundant.


Let us know what you decide! and Happy hunting!

Edited by JC Daxion, 16 August 2015 - 11:42 AM.

[Lanzman]

I mastered my Griffins before moving on to Blackjacks, so . . . but I'm still pretty much a noob. YMMV.

Edited by Lanzman, 16 August 2015 - 01:27 PM.

[TheCaptainJZ]

I played a few matches in my catapults this weekend. Even loaded up the old boom cat for some fun !

[Night Thastus]

While mastering a chassy does make it stronger, I think it's the wrong way to look at it.

Variety is key to a good Mechwarrior. And after all, it's the pilot, not the 'Mech that wins the battles.

I have 44 'Mechs. Most of them aren't duplicates. My only duplicates are on my Urbanmechs (Bought a pack) and my Clan Wave III (3 of each).

It's given me perspective about how each 'Mech handles, what it's weaknesses and strengths are, when and when not to engage, hitboxes, etc.

Being well-rounded, well-informed and well-versed in a variety of 'Mechs is really key to getting good, even if some pilots won't admit it.

Run nothing but "meta" builds and spend all day eliting chassy after chassy, and you'll have a very narrow perspective of the ways you can fight, and be fought in this game.

That's all I have to say on the matter.

[IraqiWalker]

Night Thastus, on 16 August 2015 - 07:14 PM, said:

While mastering a chassy does make it stronger, I think it's the wrong way to look at it.

Variety is key to a good Mechwarrior. And after all, it's the pilot, not the 'Mech that wins the battles.

I have 44 'Mechs. Most of them aren't duplicates. My only duplicates are on my Urbanmechs (Bought a pack) and my Clan Wave III (3 of each).

It's given me perspective about how each 'Mech handles, what it's weaknesses and strengths are, when and when not to engage, hitboxes, etc.

Being well-rounded, well-informed and well-versed in a variety of 'Mechs is really key to getting good, even if some pilots won't admit it.

Run nothing but "meta" builds and spend all day eliting chassy after chassy, and you'll have a very narrow perspective of the ways you can fight, and be fought in this game.

That's all I have to say on the matter.

You're not wrong per se, but you've got a few things off. For example, yes, learning about more chassis is important, and very useful. However, running mechs with only basics is a figurative form of shooting your self in the foot, or binding an arm behind your back. A new player NEEDS at least one fully elited mech, so mastery is more important early on, instead of variety. After you get a couple of mechs in full elites, you can branch out, and get other chassis.

[Night Thastus]

IraqiWalker, on 16 August 2015 - 07:29 PM, said:

You're not wrong per se, but you've got a few things off. For example, yes, learning about more chassis is important, and very useful. However, running mechs with only basics is a figurative form of shooting your self in the foot, or binding an arm behind your back. A new player NEEDS at least one fully elited mech, so mastery is more important early on, instead of variety. After you get a couple of mechs in full elites, you can branch out, and get other chassis.

I really don't like your attitude. A new player doesn't NEED to have "at least one fully elited 'Mech". I didn't get my first elited 'Mech until a month or two ago, and I've been playing since closed beta. What new players NEED is experience. They can't get all they need from playing just one 'Mech.

As well, what if a player happens to choose a 'Mech that they just plain don't like? Or one that doesn't suit their playstyle? It's good to experiment around at first so you can find what really works for you. Some players might start out in an assault and end up being a dedicated light pilot, some might go the other way. If you feel forced to stick with one 'Mech, go all the way through with it and elite it and you hate doing so, it's a really great way to scare newer players away.

Without playing a variety of 'Mechs earlier on, they'll get scared off, assuming that all 'Mechs play like theirs do, and just f*cking quit.

If they mess around, try different chassies, perhaps they'll find one they like and keep playing.