7 replies to this topic

[1stimpact]

So as some thread viewers now me for my questions about in game when beta opened -that means I am new!- And now as I start getting a better amount of cash I will be investing in my first mech to purchase. Now I don't need to be told what to buy, but I have questions regarding the garage HUD and some specs for mechs. But first can I ask a very demanding question? I have viewed the in game garage a few times and have no true knowledge of what everything means. So I ask you.

Can you explain the specs in the garage for me?

I mean what is tonnes going to do for me, the fire power, heat efficiency -and the red bar-, and Armor (which mine is standard. Does that change?). And how the meters relate to in game use. Also a run down on INFO, ARMAMENTS, EQUIPMENT, and HARDPOINTS.

I hope that I get some answers that will also help other players in the future.

[RFMarine]

firepower is how much damage all your weapons will cause if all fire at once (called an alpha strike) and all hit

tonnes is the weight. each chassis can only weigh as much as X tonnes. The smallest mech, the commando is in the 20 ton class so everything on it, the chassis or skeleton, the engine, the armor, weapons, ammo, heatsinks, etc all must add up to 20 tons

there is an argument in another thread here if the "ton" is actual metric tonnes or is just a game convenient way to measure a mech's fighting potential. Contemporary tanks weigh in at 60+ tons and they are much much smaller than a 60 ton mech so a mech looks ludicrously low density. That's an argument with fanboys on both sides and i'd rather change the subject. discuss it on that thread if you want to

depending on the model, a mech will have maxed out or non maxxed out armor. If not maxxed out you can throw something out and use up the remaining tonnage by adding more armor

for the heat efficiency, I usually don't like to go below 1.3 because that severely limits the number of times I can fire my weapons. I don't like long cooling periods

[Keramane]

Generally speaking most of the mech-bay stuff won't mean a whole lot until you get your own non-trial mech, since you can't customize a trial mech really. However, all of this is good to know.

[Redshift2k5]

Note there is a training grounds video here which explains a lot of concept unique to Mechwarrior:Online

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zBpmhGWgvxI

for charts of weapon stats and mech properties, check this out: http://mwomercs.com/...s-excel-inside/

Edited by Redshift2k5, 03 November 2012 - 04:36 AM.

[IceSerpent]

1stimpact, on 03 November 2012 - 03:19 AM, said:

I mean what is tonnes going to do for me, the fire power, heat efficiency -and the red bar-, and Armor (which mine is standard. Does that change?). And how the meters relate to in game use. Also a run down on INFO, ARMAMENTS, EQUIPMENT, and HARDPOINTS.

Tonnage is the actual weight of the mech - the heavier it is, the more stuff (i.e. weapons, ammo, heatsinks, etc.) you can put on it, but heavier chassies are also slower and less maneuverable.

Firepower is how much damage your alpha strike does. This may or may not be useful, depending on the ranges of your weapons. I.e. LRMs and small lasers are generally not fired all at once, so in this case firepower bar won't tell you anything.

Heat efficiency is how hot / cool your mech is. The higher the number - the cooler it runs. The best range is between 1.3-1.7 (although it also depends on a loadout) - if it's lower than that, it becomes difficult to manage heat and if it's higher, you have too many heatsinks and too few weapons (i.e. your loadout is not effective).

You can change armor to ferro-fibrous, but that makes your repair bills to skyrocket and in most cases is not a good investment. In other words, if you are not absolutely, positively sure that you know what you are doing, keep it standard.

Some more info about equipment, hardpoints, etc. can be found here (there some other very useful guides in that section of the forums too).

[Taiji]

Weapons weigh tons, do damage and cause heat build-up.

The meters in the mechlab aren't really a helpful indication of the mech's capabilities.

Learn to build mechs which suit your playstyle by playing the game and learning what things do and then working out what will compliment the playstyle you like.

If you want to, and you have a microphone, then you can come get some help on on MWO's popular europe based unofficial TS server. There's usually someone in the education channel who will enjoy helping you if you have any questions about playing the game.

Edited by Taiji, 03 November 2012 - 06:21 AM.

[n3um3th0d]

-Tonnage tells you how much of your available weight you have used. The top number is your current weight, and below it is your maximum allowed.

-Firepower is simple the sum of all of your weapon damage, your Alpha Strike. It doesn't take into consideration cooldown or anything like that, so can be misleading.

-Heat Efficiency is a little buggy at the moment, but the idea is your mechs ability to dissipate the heat generated by its weapons and engine. I generally aim for 1.2 and up, buy your play style may allow much lower, or require much higher.

-Armor is your total points of armor. This also varies greatly on your play style. Standard means standard, the other option being ferro-fibrous, which is lighter but takes up 14 slots in your mech.

-Structure is the skeleton of your mech. Standard weighs 10% of the total tonnage from above, Endo-Steel only weighs 5%, but take up 14 spots in your mech.

-Below that you have the option to automatically rearm and repair your mech after matches.

-On to the right side: Class refers to the weight class of the mech: light, medium, heavy, or assult.

-Armament gives you the mechs current load out, weapons and quantities.

-Equipment is any non combat item on your mech, currnetly heatsinks, engine, jumpjets, and case.

-Hardpoints lists the total number of each weapon type you can load onto your mech.

Hope I didn't miss anything!

Edited by n3um3th0d, 03 November 2012 - 06:35 AM.

[1stimpact]

Thanks for the answers! I can understand it all much better now. Until I read the last comment, the hard points meant nothing in that guide. But now it is helpful. Thanks guys~