10 replies to this topic

[FENIXAS5]

Hello

Im a new player. Reading these forums i found that there is Clan and IS mechs. Now is there any guide on these mechs, that would explain why i should choise one or another side, and based on what criteria?

Thank you in advance

[Leone]

It's dangerous to go alone.
Take this.

~Leone.

Edited by Leone, 23 December 2015 - 12:35 PM.

[Koniving]

This is a bit complicated.

There are 4 factions on the invading Clan side, and 6 factions (7 actually present but only 6 playable) on the Inner Sphere.

I'm sure individual mechs will get lots of guides or praise... but for generic purposes I'll give you this quick tidbit.

Clan lasers are hotter with longer range.
IS lasers are warm but their range is kinda bleh.
Clan Ballistics have more variety and fire in bursts.
IS ballistics have a lot of umph, though certain mechs use them better than others (quirks).
Clan and IS missiles are very similar, though Clan LRMs have no minimum arming range. As a downfall, Clan LRMs are easier to shoot down due to their 'streaming' nature via Anti-Missile Systems (AMS).
Clans do have a better selection of Streak missiles with better range, but their reload speed is horrifically slow.
IS has superior SRMs (Short-range missiles) (superior damage-wise), and range is identical for both Clans and IS here.

Clan equipment is lighter but usually more expensive.
IS currently only has Battlemechs. Customize everything except hardpoints.
Clans have mostly Omnimechs (customize hardpoints, not much else), though it currently has 4 Battlemech chassis released this month.

IS has loads more territories, but more infighting between them. Clans have little territory to begin with and some infighting but much of the focus is outward at the IS.

IS lights are often much faster than Clans by way of MWO's setup. Clans and IS tend to have equal footing on mediums. Clan heavies are faster than IS heavies most of the time, but IS assaults are often faster than Clan assaults.

Clan mechs tend to have more surface area to pulverize, making them larger targets, their cockpit hitboxes are also HUUUUUUUUUGE!
But, Clan mechs with XL engines (which is almost all of them) can survive losing one side torso. IS mechs with XL engines cannot.

....The list goes on and on and on. And that's just the generics.

Here's a video primer on the two sides.
The name "Aleksander Kerensky" should stick. Birth of the Clans follows him.
IS.

Clans.


Welcome to MWO.

[Koniving]

(For clarity: The unplayable IS faction that is in MWO is Comstar; PGI plays as Comstar.)

[TheCaptainJZ]

FENIXAS5, on 23 December 2015 - 10:15 AM, said:

Hello

Im a new player. Reading these forums i found that there is Clan and IS mechs. Now is there any guide on these mechs, that would explain why i should choise one or another side, and based on what criteria?

Thank you in advance

Yeah so in addition to the above, general rule is Clan tech generally deals more damage and each mech can carry more items because they weigh less, but that is offset by more heat and longer time to deal the full damage of weapons. Customization between the two techs is also different as noted above.

[Rogue Jedi]

TheCaptainJZ, on 23 December 2015 - 08:24 PM, said:

Yeah so in addition to the above, general rule is Clan tech generally deals more damage and each mech can carry more items because they weigh less, but that is offset by more heat and longer time to deal the full damage of weapons. Customization between the two techs is also different as noted above.

while not wrong that is misleading

Clan weapons tend to have 2 of the following advantages compared to IS weapons, longer optimum range, lighter weight, more potential damage output

Clan weapons tend to have the following disadvantages compared to IS weapons, higher heat, longer discharge time ^{(meaning harder to focus all your damage on a single component, and they have to stay exposed for longer)}


compared to IS Mechs Clan Mechs tend to have the following disadvantages, more surface area, less durable ^{(many IS Mechs get extra armor/structure thanks to quirks)} less available tonnage ^{(due to large fixed engines hence higher top speed compared to many IS Mechs, and other fixed equipment)}
compared to IS Mechs Clan Mechs tend to have the following advantages, higher top speeds ^{(most heavies some mediums and some assaults)} if they have jumpjets they usualy jump higher ^{(due to the fact that in most cases you do not have the option to remove jets for extra tonnage)} the Clan XL engine ^{(superior to the IS XL because an IS XL dies to one side torso loss, the Clan XL needs to loose both)}

Edited by Rogue Jedi, 24 December 2015 - 03:45 AM.

[Wolfways]

If you intend going into faction warfare I'd suggest joining a good unit if playing clan or you will rarely see any wins.

[Scyther]

For mechs and normal play, you don't actually have to 'choose' one side or another: you can easily own mechs from both IS and Clan sides. You can play either sides 'mechs at any time in regular play, alternate between them whatever you like.

Where 'side' limits come into play is in 'Community Warfare', also known as CW, FW, Faction Warfare. This is sort of the 'advanced mode' of MWO, where the training wheels and skill-based matchmaking get tossed out and the big boys roll in their 12-man pre-organized mech-coordinated teamspeaking drops. (There are still *plenty* of solo players forming PUG/pickup groups however.)

In Faction Warfare, you take a contract with a specific faction (one of 6 IS or 4 Clan factions) for a specific time period, and during that contract when you fight *in FW battles* you can only use mechs from the same side (IS or Clan).

Normal match play (Quick Play) is unaffected by these contracts, you can still go into battle with any mech from any side. If you enter Faction Play, you will need to set up a 4-mech 'drop deck' using only mechs from your factions side.

Early on, it is useful to select short (7-day) contracts from each faction on both sides and play a dozen FW battles or so - you get decent C-Bill and free mechbay rewards for this.

Later, you may decide to 'permanently' join a faction, which may leave you feeling that some of you mechs from 'the other side' are wasted. Fear not! You can still use them in normal play, and you might even cancel or change your contract later.

Some players run two accounts for this, an IS account and a Clan account, so they can play either side of FW at any time.

Edited by MadBadger, 24 December 2015 - 05:43 PM.

[Johny Rocket]

Quote

IS lights are often much faster than Clans by way of MWO's setup. Clans and IS tend to have equal footing on mediums. Clan heavies are faster than IS heavies most of the time, but IS assaults are often faster than Clan assaults.

The bit about Mediums is not correct, almost any IS mech of any size can out run a clanner of the same size.

IS mech can change engines between Standard and XL and different sizes of each while clanners have locked engines, what you get is what you get.
The outliers are a few IS mechs with ridiculously low max engine rating.

[Rogue Jedi]

Tractor Joe, on 26 December 2015 - 09:54 AM, said:

The bit about Mediums is not correct, almost any IS mech of any size can out run a clanner of the same size.

IS mech can change engines between Standard and XL and different sizes of each while clanners have locked engines, what you get is what you get.
The outliers are a few IS mechs with ridiculously low max engine rating.

most Medium or Light IS Mechs can be faster than their Clan equivelent, that is true but it is not true for most heavy and half the assault Mechs.

most IS Heavies (exceptions Dragon and Quickdraw) have a max engine rating limiting them to slower speeds than the Clan Heavies,
no assault can go faster than the Gargoyle, the Warhawks closest match is the Stalker, which is significantly slower, the Highlander and the Highlander IIC have the same engine cap the Banshee can be faster than the Executioner without MASC but the EXE is faster using MASC, and the IS 100 Tonners can be faster than the Dire.

[Not A Real RAbbi]

Yeah, apparently IS lights were swarming in the first two waves of the Clan invasion. Fastest Clan light before the Arctic Cheetah, was stuck at 113-ish km/h I think? Even the ACH is only ABOUT as fast as a RVN-3L with max engine, and still outrun by a lot of IS lights. So there was that difference. Now, along come the Clan IIC mechs. With the introduction of the Clan battlemechs (as opposed to OMNImechs), we get regular battlemech construction rules with Clan tech. That means, for instance, that the Clan JR7-IIC-x can outrun its IS counterpart because of a higher engine cap (315, to the IS Jenner's 300).

Now, that brings its own unique problems. Clan ER Small Lasers put out the same damage as an IS Medium Laser, but they have a shorter max range. Count in the IS mechs' quirks, which are pretty significant in some cases, and the Clanner would have to bump up to ER Medium Lasers to keep up for range. The Clan ERML outranges even some pretty heavily quirked IS MLs, and it also throws a lot more damage (7 points optimal, to IS 5, which is a 40% increase). But it also tosses a lot more heat at the mechwarrior, which means more heat sinks to handle it, which cuts back on available tonnage for jump jets, larger engine, secondary weapon, and so on.

It's a slightly different set of considerations. You'll get generally faster heavies and mediums with Clan, faster lights with IS. You'll get cooler alphas with IS and faster firing, but longer range (and with energy weapons, higher damage) with Clan. IS battlemechs have a lot more variety of builds in some ways, Clan omnimechs in others.

I say, play with trial mechs from both in the public solo queue, and see what feels right to you. Go from there.