46 replies to this topic

[Colonel Jaime Wolf]

Metus regem, on 11 January 2016 - 08:20 AM, said:

An option, if you are willing to put some money into MWO, would be to buy some MC, to buy a mastery pack, those come with a champion, normal and a hero mech of that chassis, this isn't a bad deal as it gets you everything you need to master that chassis, as well as a C-bill earner in the hero mech (30% more C-bills), as well as three mech bays and some premium time.

I completely agree. When I was new to the game (I'm a Founder, so I had MCs to spend), I made the big mistake of buying an Atlas chassis by MC.

The very best MC purchase you could make are from mastery packs. By the time you've used up your premium time plus the CBill bonus from the hero mech, you would have made millions.

The next best are mech bays. Other than those two and maybe a few well-chosen colors and maybe a camo scheme or two to decorate my mech I try to be real miserly about my MC spending.

Cbills quickly evaporate if you use modules. tell you honestly you can ignore them until you have about 30 million cbills and spending 6 million per module won't hurt so much.

Again, you don't need modules. really. get em when you're filthy rich okay? focus more on refining your playstyle, teamwork, and having a great time. In the end, you will have more fun if you play it your way :-)


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the Maulers are solid, and the variants all have their own specifif play style that can suit whatever mood you're in. the Misery stalker is a solid mainstay. I enjoy the Banshees for their extreme battlefield endurance, the Atlas is a sentimental favorite, but all of my variants for this chassis are short range brawlers. There are other really good assaults too. No mech is really useless. you can find a way to run them well if you give it enough thought.

Edited by Colonel Jaime Wolf, 12 January 2016 - 02:36 AM.

[Sensei Aaron]

All those tips helped a great deal. What I was doing wrong was being way too agressive, technically playing like a medium mech. I take it easier now, and it works better. I look where most of my team is holed up and that's where I go, and I wait for my teammates to secure an area before I move there. What I mainly do is scare off people who try to push us, if someone flanks us and I see it I'll blow them half to death with my dual AC20s before they can retreat, and I prevent the enemy from taking ground by blasting them with the dual PPCs if they peak out from safety.

It seems to work most of the time, it's just difficult when the teams split up and don't form a clear front line. When that happens I have to move through dangerous territory as well, and my absolute weaknesses are long range missiles and flanking. Those aren't much of a problem in a group, but when I'm alone they become hell. I try to find buddies to cover my flanks but people are more focused on being as aggressive as they can, and I can't keep up.

Oh, and I checked out those sites with good mech builds and for a few million I transformed my mech into a good one. I went for a really heavy dual AC20 dual PPC build. It gets a little hot sometimes but I learned to deal with it. I got all the basic skills on it plus some pilot skills. It's a good mech, I like it.

Edited by Sensei Aaron, 13 January 2016 - 05:00 AM.

[Sensei Aaron]

Oh and by the way, the difference between Clan and IS is just based on lore? For example, a mech with extra zoom and sniper rifles and fancy stuff would be the newer Clan tech, but an old school nothing fancy about it King Crab like mine would fall under IS? I can use whatever I please and they're all just as strong?

Lastly, I got all three crab varieties but obviously the one I sunk money into is way better than the rest... Am I now forced to use weaker mechs for a bunch of rounds just so my main can get better?

Edited by Sensei Aaron, 13 January 2016 - 05:06 AM.

[Fobhopper]

Sensei Aaron, on 13 January 2016 - 05:04 AM, said:

Oh and by the way, the difference between Clan and IS is just based on lore? For example, a mech with extra zoom and sniper rifles and fancy stuff would be the newer Clan tech, but an old school nothing fancy about it King Crab like mine would fall under IS? I can use whatever I please and they're all just as strong?

Lastly, I got all three crab varieties but obviously the one I sunk money into is way better than the rest... Am I now forced to use weaker mechs for a bunch of rounds just so my main can get better?

Modules act the same on all mechs, regardless of faction. But certain mechs are better at certain things compared to others. Like the Dire Wolf is much better at PPC's and Laser boating than the KGC, but likewise the KGC is vastly superior when it comes to AC weapons and Missiles. If you are doing just standard play (assault and conquest) then it doesnt matter so much as to what you pilot. BUUUUUUUT if you are going to do faction warfare (dont do it until you have multiple mech chassis of different classes elited), which faction you choose to play as will have a massive effect on which mechs you can take into faction warfare. So if you go play ball for the clans, you cant use your KGC's in faction warfare drop decks.

Yes, you are going to have to sink some time into all of the chassis in order to unlock elite masteries, and have full mastery. Its really worth it. As you saw in my previous post about games played with each atlas/KGC variant, there is one KGC variant that I my best K/D/R and W/L ratio. While the other variants have much fewer games played. That doesnt mean that I dont like those mechs or dont use them, I just prefer piloting that specific version more.

Also word of advice from a fellow KGC pilot, get the Radar Deprivation module, and Seismic Sensor module on your primary KGC. You have no idea how useful they are until you have them. Also make sure you run an AMS and 1 ton of AMS ammo (preferably stored in your head), that will save you from most missile spam.

[Not A Real RAbbi]

Back to the AMS question real quick. On KGC, it's fairly important. Look at the mech's geometry, and realize that the LRMs generall come down on that saucer-shaped torso from above.

Also, I'm seeing a LOT more Clan LRMs lately in CW. Might be a good idea to get in the habit of keeping AMS aboard the big, slow mechs in your stable.

[Fobhopper]

TheRAbbi, on 13 January 2016 - 04:02 PM, said:

Back to the AMS question real quick. On KGC, it's fairly important. Look at the mech's geometry, and realize that the LRMs generall come down on that saucer-shaped torso from above.

Also, I'm seeing a LOT more Clan LRMs lately in CW. Might be a good idea to get in the habit of keeping AMS aboard the big, slow mechs in your stable.

In short, the heavier your mech is, the higher priority you should have an AMS on it.

Assault: Required on every mech except for the Atlas-D-DC (which has ECM). Even if you have radar deprivation (a fantastic module to have on any mech, but incredibly expensive), an AMS is recommended with 1 ton of ammo (you rarely need more than 1 ton of ams ammo).

Heavy: The majority of mechs in the heavy section should have an AMS on it. You can't out run the missiles, but you at least have a much better chance of moving out of their path compared to assaults. But if you have a mech with ECM, you dont really need the ams.

Medium: This is where things get gray. A lot of mechs in this category can go either way. More often than not you can outrun the missiles, and as tonnage gets tighter on these mechs, it becomes a question of what do you want out of the mech. Do you want more survivability against LRM's and SRM's, or will you want more of your tonnage going to weapons/ammo/heatsinks. Its up to your preference.

Lights: On the majority of these mechs, you shouldn't have an AMS. A lot of mechs in this class can have ECM, not to mention most of these mechs can outrun the missiles. And honestly with how tight tonnage is on these mechs, you would best avoid having an AMS as the tonnage is better used on armor, engines and a little more firepower.

These are just general guidelines, but you can get the idea. The lighter the mech, the less you need AMS because you have a better chance of getting out of their way. For those that cant outrun missiles, your next best bet is hoping your AMS shoots them down so you can get to cover and hopefully make the enemy lose tracking on you.

[Boulangerie]

Sensei Aaron, on 13 January 2016 - 05:04 AM, said:

Oh and by the way, the difference between Clan and IS is just based on lore? For example, a mech with extra zoom and sniper rifles and fancy stuff would be the newer Clan tech, but an old school nothing fancy about it King Crab like mine would fall under IS? I can use whatever I please and they're all just as strong?

Lastly, I got all three crab varieties but obviously the one I sunk money into is way better than the rest... Am I now forced to use weaker mechs for a bunch of rounds just so my main can get better?

Well, it's lore based, but they have different technologies available. They are a different faction than IS, so if you ever get into the Community warfare mode, you can only drop Inner Sphere mechs together or Clan mechs together. The clan mechs are usually Omnimechs, which means you can switch out your arms, legs and torsos for sections from other mechs of the same chassis. For example, you can take your Stormcrow A arm and put it onto a Prime torso. This lets you customize your hard point locations and number and type of weapons you can load on, but some other options are locked instead (engine, endosteel/ferro fibrous, and sometimes jump jets). You can usually tell if a mech is Clan before you buy it by clicking on the mechlab tab when you are in the store, then looking for the omnipod tab on the equipment tabs. Another way would be to google the mech chassis name and check on Sarna.

If a mech is Inner sphere, all variants will be IS and vice versa. The only exception so far are the IIC variants, which are special clan versions of some of the Inner Sphere mechs, but those aren't available for Cbills yet.

Clan mechs usually cost a lot more up front, but don't require new engines and other upgrades (double heat sinks) so they usually end up costing about the same in the long run. There are a lot of IS mechs you can outfit more cheaply however, so they are good for starting players if you want more mechs in the beginning.

The King Crabs are all Inner Sphere.

The Clans have better technology weapons that usually do higher damage and have better ranges than their Inner Sphere counterparts. They also weigh less usually, and produce higher heat when fired. To help balance this out, the Inner Sphere mechs have much higher Quirks to boost their offensive output, or high structure quirks to make them more sturdy than an equivalent tonnage Clan mech.

Quirks are subject to change at any time! So be careful if you decide to buy a mech now that has great quirks, because it could change in the future.