42 replies to this topic

[xSleeZyx]

Hello!

New player here!
I'm interested in buying my first real mech as i've made 19mil cbill now, which i think is enough?
I played all the trials in training grounds and i found that i kinda liked the playstyle of ebon jaguar trial.

Done some matches with it, whilst my stats are far from impressive i realy enjoy the supportive playstyle of the trail loadout anyway. (LRM/SRMS)

The only thing i find annoying is i find myself lack of ammo after awhile, partly due i might overuse them. And sort of lacking in close combat encounters.

So that leads me to the first question:
If i buy an ebon jaguar, will i be able to load on a lazer on it aswell for backup/brawling encounters?
Or do i have to choose what they come with in the stock settings?

I'd realy like combining LMR for supporting the team/cheezing, and lazers for those close encounters.

Second, is ebon jaguar recommended for me as a newbie? Or is it realy unfriendly for newbs like me?
Or is there other similar ones? Reasonable fast and easy to manuver whilst having missiles. I found the speed on this mech quite perfect for me, as the others were either way to slow or kinda to fast.
And so far i find myself liking the more supportive side than "in your face" fights.

I've tried googling some decent info about ebons, but i didn't realy find anything that answered those questions.
And say if i do decide on ebon jaguar, is there any "must knows" about them?
Thanks in advance!

[Prof RJ Gumby]

In short - yes.

Ebon Jaguar is an omnimech. Omnimechs (as opposed to Battlemechs) cannot change upgrades or engine BUT they can swap whole limbs, called omnipods instead. (e.g. you can buy an EB-J Prime, then change the right arm for the arm from the EB-J A).

So, you can do maaany things with an Ebon Jaguar once you buy it. Ebons have all possible hardpoints (energy, missle, ballistic) and enough weight for you to be able to put almost any weapon configuration on them. LRMs and lasers included.

The trial you use is a stock mech (loadout taken from the lore). Stock mechs usually have not enough ammo for their weapons (In original tabletop battletech they used up much less than they do in MWO). if you want to use LRMs, have as much ammo as you can squeeze in until you notice you don't need more or you literally can't squeeze in any more. Also, try to put in a CAP (clan active probe) and tag laser to improve locking and disable enemy ECM (equipment preventing getting locked on).

One word of warning: LRMs are a niche weapon and they noticeably loose effectiveness on higher tiers (against better enemies). You shouldn't worry about it for now, just remember that when you rank up some time in the future, it will become gradually more challenging to do well with lurms that it is with most other weapons, due to many countermeasures to LRMs that veteran players know and use well (ams, ecm, knowledge of good spots to hide on maps etc.)

[Digital_Angel]

While I own mostly IS mechs, I've had good luck in the EBJ trial mech as well. My only real complaint against it is the same that you have; I dislike not having at least 1-2 back-up weapons that are not ammo dependent on any mech.

Remember that all the clan mechs currently purchasable in the game for C-Bills are Omni-Mechs. That means you can change side torsos, arms, legs, and head between variants to change your hard points. So yes you can run an EBJ, even an EBJ-C (I think that is the trial variant) with energy weapons on it.

[Rogue Jedi]

I agree the Ebon Jaguar is pretty good, it is an Omnimech which means ^{(in MWO anyway)} you can take the arm, side torso, head or leg Omnipod (hardpoints and fixed equipment) from another version to make pretty much whatever weapon load-out you want provided another variant has that hard point, you can buy the Omnipods in the Mechlab so it does not matter if you own the variant or not.

this is the stock EBJ Prime
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...8e9a5f483b9e505
now we can swap out hardpoints from other variants making it a laser boat
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...e820281b2a8b6d2
yes, I know that would be a really bad load-out but I am just doing it to prove a point

the only omnipod you cannot change is the Center Torso.

before buying anything have a play on Smurfy, the site I posted the builds on, that site is your best freind when it comes to planning builds, because it allows you to figure out exactly what something will cost ahead of time and allows you to play around and figure out exactly how things work without owning the Mechs.
Also it has a lot of information on this game on that site. the information is always accurate the day after the patch because they take it direct from the game files, usualy within an hour of a patch

try to get a variant with as many of the Omnipods you want as possible first, to reduce refit costs


there is a good chance someone will come along and say the Timber Wolf could do most of this better, and they will not be wrong, however the Timber gets a lot more attention than the Ebon Jaguar, thus I think the EBJ is better than the TBR for a new player

Edited by Rogue Jedi, 07 January 2016 - 06:42 AM.

[xSleeZyx]

Prof RJ Gumby, on 07 January 2016 - 06:18 AM, said:

In short - yes.

Ebon Jaguar is an omnimech. Omnimechs (as opposed to Battlemechs) cannot change upgrades or engine BUT they can swap whole limbs, called omnipods instead. (e.g. you can buy an EB-J Prime, then change the right arm for the arm from the EB-J A).

So, you can do maaany things with an Ebon Jaguar once you buy it. Ebons have all possible hardpoints (energy, missle, ballistic) and enough weight for you to be able to put almost any weapon configuration on them. LRMs and lasers included.

The trial you use is a stock mech (loadout taken from the lore). Stock mechs usually have not enough ammo for their weapons (In original tabletop battletech they used up much less than they do in MWO). if you want to use LRMs, have as much ammo as you can squeeze in until you notice you don't need more or you literally can't squeeze in any more. Also, try to put in a CAP (clan active probe) and tag laser to improve locking and disable enemy ECM (equipment preventing getting locked on).

One word of warning: LRMs are a niche weapon and they noticeably loose effectiveness on higher tiers (against better enemies). You shouldn't worry about it for now, just remember that when you rank up some time in the future, it will become gradually more challenging to do well with lurms that it is with most other weapons, due to many countermeasures to LRMs that veteran players know and use well (ams, ecm, knowledge of good spots to hide on maps etc.)

LadyDanams, on 07 January 2016 - 06:22 AM, said:

While I own mostly IS mechs, I've had good luck in the EBJ trial mech as well. My only real complaint against it is the same that you have; I dislike not having at least 1-2 back-up weapons that are not ammo dependent on any mech.

Remember that all the clan mechs currently purchasable in the game for C-Bills are Omni-Mechs. That means you can change side torsos, arms, legs, and head between variants to change your hard points. So yes you can run an EBJ, even an EBJ-C (I think that is the trial variant) with energy weapons on it.

Thanks both of you for your help/input!
I'm going to play some more on the trail, but i think i've settled on the ebj as my first mech. I read some guide that did explain the clan vs IS thing and clans seem to appeal to me.

Should i buy one now or wait for abit more cbills? I was thinking that i'm "wasting exp" gains due not buying it now?
Or does that not realy matter?

Edit, this post just showed after i replied:

Rogue Jedi, on 07 January 2016 - 06:40 AM, said:

I agree the Ebon Jaguar is pretty good, it is an Omnimech which means ^{(in MWO anyway)} you can take the arm, side torso, head or leg Omnipod (hardpoints and fixed equipment) from another version to make pretty much whatever weapon load-out you want provided another variant has that hard point, you can buy the Omnipods in the Mechlab so it does not matter if you own the variant or not.

this is the stock EBJ Prime
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...8e9a5f483b9e505
now we can swap out hardpoints from other variants making it a laser boat
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...e820281b2a8b6d2
yes, I know that would be a really bad load-out but I am just doing it to prove a point

the only omnipod you cannot change is the Center Torso.

before buying anything have a play on Smurfy, the site I posted the builds on, that site is your best freind when it comes to planning builds, because it allows you to figure out exactly what something will cost ahead of time and allows you to play around and figure out exactly how things work without owning the Mechs.
Also it has a lot of information on this game on that site. the information is always accurate the day after the patch because they take it direct from the game files, usualy within an hour of a patch

try to get a variant with as many of the Omnipods you want as possible first, to reduce refit costs


there is a good chance someone will come along and say the Timber Wolf could do most of this better, and they will not be wrong, however the Timber gets a lot more attention than the Ebon Jaguar, thus I think the EBJ is better than the TBR for a new player

Yea i've seen that site, fiddled abit with it, however on the stock ebj i tried, i saw no lazers to put on hence why i decided to make this post to ask about that, and ofc the other questions.

Edited by xSleeZyx, 07 January 2016 - 06:45 AM.

[Ingga Raokai]

xSleeZyx, on 07 January 2016 - 06:42 AM, said:

Should i buy one now or wait for abit more cbills? I was thinking that i'm "wasting exp" gains due not buying it now?
Or does that not realy matter?

Edit, this post just showed after i replied:

Yea i've seen that site,...

XP gain waste, that doesnt really matter, what really matter is get 3 mechs variant of the same chassi as soon as you can to complete the skill tree. XP gained in trial mechs also apllied to the regular variant. (the champion variant (c) or the normal one).

Basic skill total: 14250
Elite skill total: 21500

so roughly total of 36k of xp to complete the elite lvl.

Edited by Ingga Raokai, 07 January 2016 - 06:51 AM.

[Rogue Jedi]

xSleeZyx, on 07 January 2016 - 06:42 AM, said:

Should i buy one now or wait for abit more cbills? I was thinking that i'm "wasting exp" gains due not buying it now?
Or does that not realy matter?

you are not wasting XP, when you buy the EBJ-C ^{(the trial varient)} all the XP you are earning will be there, there is no need to rush, but on the other hand if you are sure you want the EBJ there is no need to delay.
you will probably eventually want to get 3 Ebon Jaguars so you can "Elite" the Mech, making it handle better ^{(the effectiveness of the Basic Mech skills is doubled when completing the Elite skills)}, so find out which has the most hardpoints that you want ^{(the B looks like it has the most laser hard points)}, get that first, then pick another when you can afford it and finally the C would be my advice

Edited by Rogue Jedi, 07 January 2016 - 06:53 AM.

[xSleeZyx]

Ingga Raokai, on 07 January 2016 - 06:48 AM, said:

XP gain waste, that doesnt really matter, what really matter is get 3 mechs of the same chassi as soon as you can to complete the skill tree. XP gained in trial mechs also apllied to the regular variant. (the champion variant (c) or the normal one).

Oh i see!
Also 3 chassis? So i need to buy 3 ebon jags of the same sort to lvl them up? Or just 3 diffrent Clan chassis?
And also good to know about the exp from the trail,

Rogue Jedi, on 07 January 2016 - 06:51 AM, said:

you are not wasting XP, when you buy the EBJ-C (the trial varient) all the XP you are earning will be there, there is no need to rush, but on the other hand if you are sure you want the EBJ there is no need to delay.
you will probably eventually want to get 3 Ebon Jaguars so you can "Elite" the Mech, making it handle better (the effectiveness of the Basic Mech skills is doubled when completing the Elite skills), so find out which has the most hardpoints that you want ^{(the B looks like it has the most laser hard points)}, get that first, then pick another when you can afford it and finally the C would be my advice

Sounds weird needing to buy 3 of them to master those Why is that so?
Also thanks for the suggestions!

Edited by xSleeZyx, 07 January 2016 - 06:53 AM.

[Ingga Raokai]

xSleeZyx, on 07 January 2016 - 06:51 AM, said:

in the client, navigate to the "Skill" tab instead of "Mehclab" (i think i put the correct tab names) you can see a lot of skill list. you'll understand once you see it.

[xSleeZyx]

Ingga Raokai, on 07 January 2016 - 06:55 AM, said:

in the client, navigate to the "Skill" tab instead of "Mehclab" (i think i put the correct tab names) you can see a lot of skill list. you'll understand once you see it.

I'll check soon as i get home!

(Can't wait, i wanna play some more! i'm realy liking this game so far Coming from PoE which has huge diversity aswell, which this game also seem to have altho diffrent game-type but still )

Edit:

I've another question, but might be more appropriate to post in another subpart, but still.
Anyone knows why i can't run the game in full window? (not full window-ed)

I want to run true fullscreen, but if i use that setting the game just alt tabs itself out and keeps doing that when i try to reopen it, it's like it think the resulotion is to big for the screen or something. 1080p on a 1080p monitor so it shouln't be any problems. Reason why i want true fullscreen is due i get lower fps with windowed fullscreen.

Edited by xSleeZyx, 07 January 2016 - 07:08 AM.

[Koniving]

xSleeZyx, on 07 January 2016 - 05:52 AM, said:

Second, is ebon jaguar recommended for me as a newbie? Or is it realy unfriendly for newbs like me?
Or is there other similar ones? Reasonable fast and easy to manuver whilst having missiles. I found the speed on this mech quite perfect for me, as the others were either way to slow or kinda to fast.
And so far i find myself liking the more supportive side than "in your face" fights.

I've tried googling some decent info about ebons, but i didn't realy find anything that answered those questions.
And say if i do decide on ebon jaguar, is there any "must knows" about them?
Thanks in advance!

Welcome to MWO.

Ebon Jaguar is a fairly decent mech; I've tried it but I don't personally own one. They are among my favorites in tabletop. They haven't been available for cbills any time recently so that's why I don't have any yet. If you're saving up your funds, definitely snag one.

They are currently available for cbills. As such, check them out. Here's a Smurfy link which will let you experiment with building one.

Good luck.
(They favor armor to the front.)

[xSleeZyx]

Koniving, on 07 January 2016 - 07:06 AM, said:

Welcome to MWO.

Ebon Jaguar is a fairly decent mech; I've tried it but I don't personally own one. They are among my favorites in tabletop. They haven't been available for cbills any time recently so that's why I don't have any yet. If you're saving up your funds, definitely snag one.

They are currently available for cbills. As such, check them out. Here's a Smurfy link which will let you experiment with building one.

Good luck.
(They favor armor to the front.)

Oh this leaves me with another question, do they rotate what mechs who are available for cbills? As in i've only x amount of time to actually buy one before they go credits only? Or did i missunderstand you there?

Edit: And thank you for the welcome!

Edited by xSleeZyx, 07 January 2016 - 07:14 AM.

[Rogue Jedi]

xSleeZyx, on 07 January 2016 - 06:51 AM, said:

Oh i see!
Also 3 chassis? So i need to buy 3 ebon jags of the same sort to lvl them up? Or just 3 diffrent Clan chassis?
And also good to know about the exp from the trail,



Sounds weird needing to buy 3 of them to master those Why is that so?
Also thanks for the suggestions!

3 Ebon Jagurs need to complete Basic to unlock Elite, 3 Heavy Mechs need to complete elite to unlock Master ^{(an extra Module Slot, it should be a few months before you need to worry about that)} so the usual recommendation is to complete elite on 3 variants of the first Mech in a weight class you buy.

I think that is to prevent people from progressing too quickly, and thus encourage spending of real money
as a free to play game there has to be an incentive to spend real money, however you can get the vast majority of Mechs without spending real money, paid content is ether early access, cosmetic or time saving in nature.

Most new Mechs are released as a part of a pack containing 3-4 variants, and often 4 different chassis a few months before becoming available for Cbills, so PGI makes money by selling the packs, if you could unlock the full skill tree with just the one variant there would be less incentive to buy the pack after the Mechs are available for Cbills, so PGI would make less money, meaning they would not be able to have as many employees, meaning the game development would be slower.

that was not supposed to imply I have any problem with free players, we need all the players we can get and I am fine with the fact that some cannot or do not want to spend real money.

xSleeZyx, on 07 January 2016 - 07:13 AM, said:

Oh this leaves me with another question, do they rotate what mechs who are available for cbills? As in i've only x amount of time to actually buy one before they go credits only? Or did i missunderstand you there?

they do not rotate what Mechs are available but most are not available for cbills until 2-4 months after they are first released this is an incentive to buy the pack, when a Mech becomes available for cbills it stays available for cbills.

Edited by Rogue Jedi, 07 January 2016 - 07:21 AM.

[Digital_Angel]

xSleeZyx, on 07 January 2016 - 07:13 AM, said:

Oh this leaves me with another question, do they rotate what mechs who are available for cbills? As in i've only x amount of time to actually buy one before they go credits only? Or did i missunderstand you there?

Edit: And thank you for the welcome!

When new Mechs are added to the game they are done as preorder packages (with extras thrown in) on the website for real $$.

Once they actually get added to the game, they become available for MC after 3-4 weeks and then another month or so later for C-Bills. The FAQ section of the forums will tell you on any new bunch of mechs the exact dates that they will be patched into the game as well as when they will be available for MC or C-Bills.

Once they are available for C-Bills, they stay available.

[xSleeZyx]

Rogue Jedi, on 07 January 2016 - 07:17 AM, said:

3 Ebon Jagurs need to complete Basic to unlock Elite, 3 Heavy Mechs need to complete elite to unlock Master ^{(an extra Module Slot, it should be a few months before you need to worry about that)} so the usual recommendation is to complete elite on 3 variants of the first Mech in a weight class you buy.

I think that is to prevent people from progressing too quickly, and thus encourage spending of real money
as a free to play game there has to be an incentive to spend real money, however you can get the vast majority of Mechs without spending real money, paid content is ether early access, cosmetic or time saving in nature.

Most new Mechs are released as a part of a pack containing 3-4 variants, and often 4 different chassis a few months before becoming available for Cbills, so PGI makes money by selling the packs, if you could unlock the full skill tree with just the one variant there would be less incentive to buy the pack after the Mechs are available for Cbills, so PGI would make less money, meaning they would not be able to have as many employees, meaning the game development would be slower.

that was not supposed to imply I have any problem with free players, we need all the players we can get and I am fine with the fact that some cannot or do not want to spend real money.




they do not rotate what Mechs are available but most are not available for cbills until 2-4 months after they are first released this is an incentive to buy the pack, when a Mech becomes available for cbills it stays available for cbills.

Oh i see, yea it makes sense!

I'm currently coming from PoE which has a 0 p2w aspect, yet manages great to incentive buying supporter packs / points (Kinda like mech packs but with cosmetics)
We'll see how much i'll play this game and if i decide to stick around for longer i'll definetly buy some pack for sure.
But i'm way to new/early in to decide that yet, i feel.

But so far i've been enjoying this game alot, and i've only done 27 online matches so far More to come!

Assault  13  8  5  1.60  10,388  979,519
Conquest  1  1  0  1.00  902  128,907
Skirmish  13  5  8  0.63  8,475  948,923

Edit, the formating got nuked...

Edited by xSleeZyx, 07 January 2016 - 07:34 AM.

[xSleeZyx]

Rogue Jedi, on 07 January 2016 - 07:17 AM, said:

...

I'll quote you, as i've a new question...

I ended up buying the mech cuz, why not. But i can't seem to be able to buy any lazor weapon for it? Any weapon i can see says "locked" Do i need certain level or something to be able to buy the weapons i want?

Also what should i priority the most to upgrade from stock mech?

[Rogue Jedi]

xSleeZyx, on 07 January 2016 - 08:50 AM, said:

I'll quote you, as i've a new question...

I ended up buying the mech cuz, why not. But i can't seem to be able to buy any lazor weapon for it? Any weapon i can see says "locked" Do i need certain level or something to be able to buy the weapons i want?

Also what should i priority the most to upgrade from stock mech?

no weapons should be locked, I think you may be looking at weapon modules, weapons are under the left most tab on the loadout page of the Mechlab.

as for what to upgrade first, I cannot tell you that without knowing which model you got, they will be labeled as EBJ-letter tell me the letter and I can offer better advise for cheeper upgrades.

what weapons did you like most on the trial Mechs you tried, or if not a weapon what play style did you like, do you like staying at a distance with Autocannons, Gauss Rifle, LRMs or ER Lasers, do you prefer getting up close with pulse lasers or SRMs, that sort of thing

[xSleeZyx]

Rogue Jedi, on 07 January 2016 - 08:56 AM, said:

no weapons should be locked, I think you may be looking at weapon modules, weapons are under the left most tab on the loadout page of the Mechlab.

as for what to upgrade first, I cannot tell you that without knowing which model you got, they will be labeled as EBJ-letter tell me the letter and I can offer better advise for cheeper upgrades.

what weapons did you like most on the trial Mechs you tried, or if not a weapon what play style did you like, do you like staying at a distance with Autocannons, Gauss Rifle, LRMs or ER Lasers, do you prefer getting up close with pulse lasers or SRMs, that sort of thing

I went with the C model, as i realy liked the LRMS, and sort of SRMs (I'm a sucker for missiles)
However i'd like to change the AC/2 (I believe it is? shotgun-like thing) For a lazer, of any sort. So i've something to fall back on & close quarter combat. The AC thing keeps jamming when it matters the most, i've came to notice.

Ideally i like to stay at range to support, but i'd also like to be able to defend myself somewhat in a brawl.

Also looking at the weapon tab it looks like this:


And yes i was probably looking at the modules...
Which one of these if any is lazers then?

Appriciate ur help alot!

[Ingga Raokai]

xSleeZyx, on 07 January 2016 - 09:12 AM, said:

I went with the C model, as i realy liked the LRMS, and sort of SRMs (I'm a sucker for missiles)
However i'd like to change the AC/2 (I believe it is? shotgun-like thing) For a lazer, of any sort. So i've something to fall back on & close quarter combat. The AC thing keeps jamming when it matters the most, i've came to notice.

Ideally i like to stay at range to support, but i'd also like to be able to defend myself somewhat in a brawl.

Also looking at the weapon tab it looks like this:


And yes i was probably looking at the modules...
Which one of these if any is lazers then?

Appriciate ur help alot!

You have to change/buy the pods, aka Omnipods that have Energy hardpoint(s) on them. then you can buy-equip the energy weapons (lazors/ppc/tag).

[Rogue Jedi]

xSleeZyx, on 07 January 2016 - 09:12 AM, said:

I went with the C model, as i realy liked the LRMS, and sort of SRMs (I'm a sucker for missiles)
However i'd like to change the AC/2 (I believe it is? shotgun-like thing) For a lazer, of any sort. So i've something to fall back on & close quarter combat. The AC thing keeps jamming when it matters the most, i've came to notice.

Ideally i like to stay at range to support, but i'd also like to be able to defend myself somewhat in a brawl.

Also looking at the weapon tab it looks like this:


And yes i was probably looking at the modules...
Which one of these if any is lazers then?

Appriciate ur help alot!

sorry but there is no such thing as a Lazer in MWO, there are however many types of Laser

The reason half those weapons show as locked is that you have no free balistic hardpoints, you also have no energy hardponits on that model,

I would advise you go to the omnipod tab and change both arms to arms offering E hardpoints, the A arms have 2 E and 1 B hardpoint, the B arms have 2 E hardpoints each

I would try something like this for LRMs, if you want you can easily swop out the MPLs for ERLLs to make it pure long range
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...adc0892d116af42

for if you want SRMs try something like this
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...d5bcf34556630a3
I used Artemus for the SRM6s because that tightens the missile spread

those are just rough suggestions, try a variety of builds until you find something you like the look of, again experiment on the Smurfy site I used for my links as that allows you to play around as much as you want without spending anything.

Edited by Rogue Jedi, 07 January 2016 - 09:29 AM.