39 replies to this topic

[Huntsman]

A light scout will have its uses, as will a fire support mech, and a medium mech that tries to balance firepower, armor, and speed. At the end of the day however, what is most useful most often is the mech that brings the hurt, and among the Founder mechs, that’s the Atlas.

As a 17 year veteran of Mechwarrior games and mods from MW2 through to MWLL, I know that while there are spots where assault mechs can get eaten alive and be sub-optimal, these are the exception, not the rule.
If we are to not choose the legendary option and so have to select just one founder mech, and our highest motivation is to take the mech which will grant us the greatest c-bill boost while providing the most combat value to our team, then is there truly any choice other than the Atlas?

While I’m sure mechs will get a booster advantage and help their team from activities other than just dealing damage and destroying foes (a scout will probably gain from detecting a foe for instance) I think it’s a fair guess that damage dealing will be the most reliable way to put cbills together by far, and a team needs no more than a single scout. More than that and you’re giving up too much firepower in favor of information.

Personally I’m not a big fan of the Atlas, and I’d take the Hunchback, (or possibly the Catapult if I could swap in SRMs that are any good in this game), but I’d rather not do so if I’m giving up a Cbill advantage nor be unable to use my founder mech because it didn’t have a logical spot on the existing lance. What arguments exist out there in favor of a mech other than the Atlas as being optimal? Do repair costs hinder the Atlas’s cbill acquisition value perhaps? Will tonnage limits often restrict the use of the Atlas?

[Sidra]

What I guess is after the match say if you loose, you will make just enough cbills for your repairs plus a small tad thing of change. To keep epople from destroying all their mechs and having no way to repair them

[Roger Wildcat]

I just went with the Catapult because that what I think I will enjoy piloting the most of the 4 founder mech.

[Ranek Blackstone]

I like the playstyle of the atlas myself. It's going to be ruiniously expensive to maintain in all likely hood, but being able to simply wade into your fire and still give out a solid beating is always nice

[Demoned]

if i was going to buy just 1 of the founder mechs it be the Jenna (scout) it has the fire power
to do damage even to the Atlas, it has been stated that the Jenna light mech will the be bane
of the Atlas or heavy mech type, and if MWO follows other games of this style you'll earns more C-bills for hurting mechs bigger than your self, than you would say, the same damage done by a Atlas to an Atlas.
and the repair bill should be cheaper also what you dont spend = profit

[Dunne]

Demoned, on 07 July 2012 - 05:20 PM, said:

if i was going to buy just 1 of the founder mechs it be the Jenna (scout) it has the fire power
to do damage even to the Atlas, it has been stated that the Jenna light mech will the be bane
of the Atlas or heavy mech type, and if MWO follows other games of this style you'll earns more C-bills for hurting mechs bigger than your self, than you would say, the same damage done by a Atlas to an Atlas.
and the repair bill should be cheaper also what you dont spend = profit

"Jenner". Don't forget the "R".


I can sort of see this, if what I read about lasers are true. Since it's not a "one micro-second and you deal full damage to a location", and apparently has a need to keep your lasers on the target the whole time firing, light mechs may well have a good survivability curve.

...I still chose the Atlas, tho. *steiner fist-bump*

[Demoned]

Dunne, on 07 July 2012 - 05:27 PM, said:

"Jenner". Don't forget the "R".

noted Thank you

but yeah Atlas is still a valid point, i should of also said "if it was for pure credit grinding only" XD

[AlienInvader]

Huntsman, on 07 July 2012 - 05:03 PM, said:

If we are to not choose the legendary option and so have to select just one founder mech, and our highest motivation is to take the mech which will grant us the greatest c-bill boost while providing the most combat value to our team, then is there truly any choice other than the Atlas?
Do repair costs hinder the Atlas’s cbill acquisition value perhaps? Will tonnage limits often restrict the use of the Atlas?

Yeah I'm thinking repair costs and/or credit multipliers wll vary by type of mech. After all, there has to be some incentive for players to use other mechs and not just heavy/assault mechs all the time.

[Mandarb Warsmith]

Huntsman is correct, I paid the money you think I could get my favorite.Cataphract.

[Hive Rat]

I sure hope they balance the game correctly for all mech classes. While an agile 75 or 80 ton mech is my favorite (in TT, at least), I really like the idea of zipping around in a light mech spreading chaos in my wake.

[Tibs]

i went for a catty mech aka catapult mech i like it as a support mech

[Todd Lee]

I can almost guarantee that every founder will get bored of their founder mechs within a few weeks and then move on to something else. There's to large of a selection of mechs, better ones at that, to just stick to one the four (or the crazies that went Legendary, all four) that have been provided. While the 25% c-bill boost is nice, it's going to be almost negligible once clan mechs and more mechs become available. Over a long period of time, yes the boost is amazing, but there's no way someone is going to stick to those mechs for a long enough time to where it'll be worth it.

[Razorwind]

All I can say is I'm lucky my favorite (Catapult) was one of the 4 available. I might have chosen the Atlas if I didn't hate being so slow with a passion.

Now all that's left is to research loadouts that will surprise my opponents.

[Joe Mallad]

Todd Lee, on 07 July 2012 - 05:44 PM, said:

I can almost guarantee that every founder will get bored of their founder mechs within a few weeks and then move on to something else. There's to large of a selection of mechs, better ones at that, to just stick to one the four (or the crazies that went Legendary, all four) that have been provided. While the 25% c-bill boost is nice, it's going to be almost negligible once clan mechs and more mechs become available. Over a long period of time, yes the boost is amazing, but there's no way someone is going to stick to those mechs for a long enough time to where it'll be worth it.

and i bet you once the clans can be played, we will see a new set up for them just like we got for the founders packs here. i can see them giving us founders clan packs in the same way where just like here, if you take the legendary clan founders pack youll get the prime variants of a clan light, medium, heavy and Assault mech.

[wheN]

When choosing a founders mech take in to account the cost of the mech itself. From the unofficial wiki, http://mwowiki.org

Atlas cost: 9.4mil
catapult: 5.6mil
hunchback: 3.4mil
jenner: 3.1mil

The only really logical choice is to pick the atlas as its in game worth is significantly higher. You will be able to get all the other mechs at some point (without the 25% cbill bonus) so save yourself some money grinding and pick the atlas.

[xxx WreckinBallRaj xxx]

As a long time veteran of MechWarrior you should know that they've stated that the previous trend of "arms race" and "bigger is better" will NOT be continued in MWO. An Assault may have its uses but is not the best choice. In reality they will all have advantages and disadvantages. Due to skilled enemies simply circle strafing you, I doubt most will prefer an Assault at all. I predict Mediums+Heavies being the most popular types due to a more balanced mixture of stats.

So yes go Elite and pick Atlas if big+slow suit you, but know that here it will not give you the dominance in the battlefield that it did in previous games. Perhaps it will in the newb games where I'm sure enemies will stand around stationary or target the tank Atlas first but more skilled enemies down the road will simply run away from you and target your allies first with cover blocking your LoS to them. They will be able to take down your allies first while staying away your extremely slow Mech. I'm not saying an Assault is useless by any means, but as I've said, it won't have the field dominance you saw in prior games. In prior games you basically fought in the open and exchanged shots until someone died. Speed couldn't be properly implemented due to engine and environment limitations. Here in 2012 those limitations from 1990-2002 won't exist.

[xxx WreckinBallRaj xxx]

wheN, on 07 July 2012 - 06:05 PM, said:

When choosing a founders mech take in to account the cost of the mech itself. From the unofficial wiki, http://mwowiki.org

Atlas cost: 9.4mil
catapult: 5.6mil
hunchback: 3.4mil
jenner: 3.1mil

The only really logical choice is to pick the atlas as its in game worth is significantly higher. You will be able to get all the other mechs at some point (without the 25% cbill bonus) so save yourself some money grinding and pick the atlas.

Even if the cost is higher I don't see how it is the ideal logical choice if you don't even want the Atlas... If you have ONE Founder Mech, then you should logically choose the one you WANT to play and will ENJOY playing the most... because you won't be able to move that boost later. If you pick your Atlas like a "smart" guy then later go, "crap, I now have my boost stuck on a Mech I don't even want to use that much", that's not smart at all. If I was Elite I'd go with Catapult because it's the choice I'd enjoy playing the mind and never regret using to farm the boost on. The cost difference doesn't compare to that at all.

[Foolproof]

Todd Lee, on 07 July 2012 - 05:44 PM, said:

I can almost guarantee that every founder will get bored of their founder mechs within a few weeks and then move on to something else. There's to large of a selection of mechs, better ones at that, to just stick to one the four (or the crazies that went Legendary, all four) that have been provided. While the 25% c-bill boost is nice, it's going to be almost negligible once clan mechs and more mechs become available. Over a long period of time, yes the boost is amazing, but there's no way someone is going to stick to those mechs for a long enough time to where it'll be worth it.

I can almost guarantee that you are not correct, my founder mechs will see more play than anything else. Time will tell who is right.

[rhilir]

i think the hunchback will be cool with any area with short line of sights. Besides it looks good too.

[wheN]

Bluten, on 07 July 2012 - 06:10 PM, said:

Even if the cost is higher I don't see how it is the ideal logical choice if you don't even want the Atlas... If you have ONE Founder Mech, then you should logically choose the one you WANT to play and will ENJOY playing the most... because you won't be able to move that boost later. If you pick your Atlas like a "smart" guy then later go, "crap, I now have my boost stuck on a Mech I don't even want to use that much", that's not smart at all. If I was Elite I'd go with Catapult because it's the choice I'd enjoy playing the mind and never regret using to farm the boost on. The cost difference doesn't compare to that at all.

Firstly, most people have no played the game so any selection of a mech is an all in risk against how you perceive you will enjoy the mechanics of that particular mech. The atlas mitigates some of that risk by immediately having a bonus on how much it costs. The game is being designed in such a way that having multiple mechs will be almost required to have proper enjoyment so you will not miss out on playing your favourite.

Secondly, I believe the atlas will earn more cbills than other mechs based off its costs. MATHS! I'm assuming the repair cost of a mech is proportional to the amount of armour and weapons it has onboard. I also assume there is a base awarded income for playing at all as to not punish and bankrupt people who have a bad round/sneezing fit and get killed quickly.

Lets assume the atlas repair cost is 10,000 when fully destroyed.
For losing a match without doing much of anything we'll set a base income of 7000.

We'll assume a smaller, cheaper mech repairs for 6000 and has a base of 5000 credits for doing nothing.

Now the devs assign a value to doing things in game, such as damage, scouting, moving out of spawn (prevent afk farming). The atlas having more armour, more weapons and being close should fulfil more of these actions per round bringing its income up above the other mechs. Each mech gets destroyed fully in the game and turns a 5000 profit.

The cheaper mech makes 11,000 (11,000 - 6000 = 5000). The atlas makes 15000 (15,000 - 10,000 = 5000). This is balanced etc and shows each mech is worthwhile playing.

Now we take the founders bonus in to account. Giving the smaller mech a new profit of 7750. The atlas now makes a profit of 8750. A much higher relative increase.