10 replies to this topic

[Heigel]

Hi. New player here and I'm thinking about getting a mech in each weight class initially instead of 3 variants of one. While the mech bonuses are important I think I'll benefit more in the long run by learning how to pilot various weight classes, weapons, and play styles first. I already picked up the HBK-4P on sale last weekend and I've been enjoying it's champion version quite a bit. Maybe this is a bad idea, so let me know.

Lights - I've been piloting the raven and adder more and doing pretty well. I enjoy the scout poking quite a bit. I've also been using the jenner to get around enemy lines rather effectively. Lastly, I haven't done so well with the arctic cheetah, but i feel like the knife fighting light setup is something that will really help my skills in the longrun.

Medium - Already have the HBK-4P and have had most of my best games on the champion trial mech. I've run the others some, but really haven't felt as comfortable or been nearly as effective with them.

Heavy - Only piloted the catapault and Ebon jaguar. Catapault was quite effective and I enjoyed LRM boating. I did less well with the ebon jaguar, but I've only played one match.

Assualt - Primarily been using the king crab and been enjoying the range on it. I've had mixed results with the atlas and direwolf but that is mostly because of positioning errors I think. Haven't really tried the executioner.

I'm really hoping to find a good mix that I can try in various roles e.g., Brawling, Sniping, LRM Boating, Midrange, poke builds, etc. I'm also hoping for a mix of energy, ballistic, and missle hardpoints to familiarize myself with the various weapon setups. Also I would prefer IS for starting FW, but if you think there's a better combo of clan mechs let me know. Thanks

Edited by Heigel, 17 January 2016 - 06:33 AM.

[Ingga Raokai]

I'm gonna say, still get 3. The skill bonus will really help the ovreall performance.
Meanwhile, HBK it self have 3 different style, laser boat (the p variant), lrm-semiboat (but good enough because of its quirk), and ballistic-power (classic ac20).

Also plan your build with this website, we used it a lot to post build and stuff. (that thing is just a sample I took of one of my tab)

Speaking of Heavy, that EBJ is quite OK, tecnically you can dishout high dmg by the end, if you land most LRM, that is, and keep UAC+SRM together at SRM range. It was OK, but ammo is definitely issue if battle is too prolonged, but usually it would be over before ammo.

[Rogue Jedi]

as you mentioned Faction Warfare I will stick with IS Mechs

for an assault as you say you like the King Crab, and that is a pretty good Mech, you can absolutely get one of those, if you want more speed look at the Banshee or Battlemaster.

for a Heavy, if you want an LRM boat the Catapult is probably your best option and you say you like it already so there is no reason not to go for a Catapult as they are the best IS Heavy for LRMs, I would recommend the C1 (4 Energy and 2 Missile hardpoints) or C4 (2E and 4M)

for the Light that depends on what you want,
the Raven makes the best sniper or a pretty good scout/spotter,
the Firestarter is the best harasser due to its high firepower and good durability,
the Spider is lightly armed but fast and can be very durable if you know how to spread damage, it makes a good scout or harrasser,
the Jenner is faster and more agile than the Firestarter at the cost of reduced firepower, however it does have high mounted hardpoints making it well suited for peaking over hills to fire without exposing much of the Mech.
the Wolfhound is comparable to the Firestarter but does not have Jumpjets.

as far as Faction warfare goes, if you go for the heaviest Mech in each weight class assuming drop deck tonnage is not reduced you would be at maximum tonnage, so assuming you are after 1 Mech in each weight class at the moment you do not need to worry about tonage but that may change in future.

[John1352]

http://mwomercs.com/...f-select-mechs/

This sale is a good time to get any of those mechs. From the IS side, Firestarter, Blackjack and maybe QuickDraw are the ones I'd recommend.

Firestarters are awesome knife fighters like the Cheetah, but can easily be configured for midrange poking. They will be expensive to upgrade, but if you have mechbays to spare, it's worth getting 3.

As you have a hunchback already, blackjacks may be a bit redundant, especially as you're new.

Quickdraws got some awesome quirks (heat, range bonuses) and are very strong at the moment.

Other mechs will likely be on sale soon, hunchbacks are one of the best for trying all weapon types.

[Leone]

My thoughts on weight classes.

Assault; KGC-000B (That's the default load out, but has enough hard-points to let you try a healthy mix of weaponry. May be a bit of a cbill sink at first, but it sounds like what you want. Not considered the best mech to run LRMs, at least you can arm yourself for upfront confrontations.)

Heavy: JM6-DD (Again, default build, seriously in need of tweaking. The case alone is a waste of a tonne. Quirked best for uacs, this mech can brawl, or snipe, dependent on what you equip. Will let you test out all the ballistics.)

Medium; You got one already! the HBK-4P is a laser heavy build, so you've already gotten to play with those,

Lights: This I would suggest getting last. By this time you should have gotten to play with missiles, lasers and ballistics, know what you like an know whether or not you'd prefer a brawly light or a snipey light. From here further suggestions can be made. (Get a locust! They're awesome and unforgiving as an NES game at first. Nothing better to learn on than the least armoured little mech out there. But then, that's me. Personally preferences may differ.)

If your just getting the one of each, focus on the hardpoints they bring to the table, as that'll let you test the fullest capacity of that chassis.

~Leone.

Edited by Leone, 18 January 2016 - 06:06 PM.

[epikt]

Leone, on 17 January 2016 - 11:15 PM, said:

Get a locust! They're awesome and unforgiving a an NES game at first. Nothing better to learn on than the least armoured little mech out there. But then, that's me. Personally preferences may differ.

Locust are awesome indeed.
And by "awesome" I mean not only they feel great to pilot, but they also can cause serious pain (at least the -1E, which is much better than the other variants).

But to begin with Locusts is certainly to embrace the hardcore mode.

(since OP seam to like poking, for a first light mech I'd recommended the Raven ; 2X and 4X are the best in their categories)

Edited by epikt, 18 January 2016 - 02:34 AM.

[Heigel]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I think I'm settling on the Catapult - C1 for lrming and am torn between banshee and king crab for an assualt. The banshee seems better for damage spreading, but the king crab has a less restrictive weapons setup.

For lights, I'm looking at either the firestarter or locust. I don't mind hard mode and the locust seems to have more varied weapons, but the jump jets and extra punch from the firestarter is tempting. I've thought about taking the raven, but I feel like the play style is a little to similar to my hunchback.

[epikt]

Heigel, on 18 January 2016 - 09:05 AM, said:

the locust seems to have more varied weapons

The hardpoints may lead to think this, but it's not really true. Missiles are very heavy for a 20 tons mech, that makes the 1M and 3S variant not really practical: in the end, the only weapons you'll use on a Locust are lasers, simply because lasers have the best damage per ton ratio. And when you're that light, this ratio is the first thing you're looking at.

Still, the Locust will give you the opportunity of a long(ish) range mech (1V with and ERLLas or a LPLas), while the Firestarter is not really known for its long range builds (it's still possible I suppose). So maybe, just a little, more variety. Though I would certainly not take my decision for this reason.
(especially because, but that's only my personal opinion, I think that ERLLas/LPLas Locust-1V is rubbish - the 1E is one of my favourite mechs, easily top 3, but the 1V, beurk)

I'd say the strong roles of Firestarter and Locust are basically the same: close/mid-range poker (with MLas or MPLas) or knife-fighters (with SPLas). Both are really aggressive mechs, even if of course a Locust must be sneakier. The locust is more of an hill-poker (high mounted weapons) while the Firestarter is more of a corner-poker (asymmetrical builds). Of course, the Firestarter can take more damage, and packs more firepower. And has jets, which can be life-saving. On the other hand, the Locust is much faster and more nimble, and in my opinion much more pleasant to pilot.

tl;dr: Firestarter is the easy mode, Locust is the hard mode ; but both are strong choices.

[MadCat02]

Lights -well I think Artic Cheetah is the best light mech. Its just the matter for you to master it . PGI's version has 6 small lasers . Try 2 medium+4 small+ECM so you have more range. 3Medium+3Small+ECM works even better for me (had to lower armor a bit for that one but its working extremely well )

Few other lights to consider are Jenner and Fire Starter .

Mediums-Blackjack is one of the best mechs in game because of ridiculous energy range boost with Jump Jets. Good choice for CW mediums . Hunchback is ok for close range brawl but I think his hitbox is just suicidal .

Heavies-Madcat(Timberwolf) is versatile but I think he tends to be a bit clumsy because of weapon locations . You need lots of experience to play them . Catapult and Jagger are easy to play because of high hardpoints .

Assaults- For IS I definitely think Battlemaster and Stalker are top tier . Very good for laser builds and easy to use .

Edited by MadCat02, 18 January 2016 - 03:07 PM.

[John1352]

Before you buy a locust, here are a few things to put you off. It has one of the worst cockpits in the game in terms of being able to see out the window. Low torso armor (and no structure quirks) means you will be killed in one shot fairly often. As epikt said, you simply don't have the free tons for running a decent amount of missiles or any ballistic other than the machine gun (sensibly).

Edit: For varied weapons, the Ravens may be what you're looking for.

Edited by John1352, 18 January 2016 - 04:33 PM.

[Leone]

Heigel, on 18 January 2016 - 09:05 AM, said:

Thanks for the advice everyone. I think I'm settling on the Catapult - C1 for lrming and am torn between banshee and king crab for an assualt. The banshee seems better for damage spreading, but the king crab has a less restrictive weapons setup.

So true. Personally I feel the BNC-3E to be the better mech for tanking and enjoy it more'n the King Crab, however, would suggest the crab over the BNC just based on the fact that you can try all the ballistics on the King Crab. Seriously, I love me my Banshee, but your build options are a lot more limited. You've got a mech for missiles an a mech for lasers, the ballistics are next. I feel it would be wrong to steer you towards a chassis that couldn't accurately let you test em all out.

Heigel, on 18 January 2016 - 09:05 AM, said:

For lights, I'm looking at either the firestarter or locust. I don't mind hard mode and the locust seems to have more varied weapons, but the jump jets and extra punch from the firestarter is tempting. I've thought about taking the raven, but I feel like the play style is a little to similar to my hunchback.

So, for missiles I've found the srm 2 works for locusts, but my tiny rocket mech, while gloriously vicious, has a rather limited lifespan. Even should I survive I'm usually running dry fairly quickly. That said, unless you wanna take the FS9-H and strip everything to put a gauss rifle or something in the one ballistics hardpoint, the Firestarter's all energy. I do feel the locust has more variety, and I personally have more fun in em, but I find it hard to argue with the efficiency of an eight small pulse laser FS9. I do consider the firestarter a better mech because I love to brawl.

That may be important. I'm a brawler. My thoughts, advice, and suggestions come from a vicious 'don't expect to survive the match, but go out in a blaze of glory,' school of thought.

~Leone.