I've played nearly all of my first 25 matches, won some, lost more, secured about as many kills as I've died and averaged about 155-160 damage per drop. Now I'm getting interested in buying my own 'Mech with the 20,000,000 C-Bills I've gathered to personalize and think "I made this," when I play a good match. However, while I'm starting to make sense of everything, a lot of it is still numbers on a screen. Due to that, I can't make an informed decision on which 'Mech to buy. Now, I know Google and Youtube guides can tell me what does what but some of the information could be inaccurate or not up-to-date. On top of that, it's very hard to find guides and recommendations for people that play exactly the same way you do. So, my goals with this post are to find out what 'Mech(s) to look more closely at, find out what the differences between the different variants of each 'Mech you can buy are (primarily the ones recommended to me) and to hopefully get a little help improving my ability to shoot baddies while avoiding death.
Of course, saying that without telling you about how I play isn't exactly going to help, so I'll try to give a brief description and focus on key points of how I play. I admit, I only tried 3 of the trial 'Mechs. Specifically the ones that don't use ECM because I have no clue what it is or how to use it. Two of them, I didn't like at all. One was very prone to overheating and kept dying in 1-2 shots and the other one just kind of... Didn't work for me. The Commando, however, which is also the only one I remember the name of, sorry... was pretty fun. I liked harassing, flanking and brawling with the enemy. The limited range was kind of frustrating until I found out that the number in the bottom-right is NOT the maximum range. My general method of play was to poke out, empty my weapons into my target then retreat and relocate if I either noticed an enemy aiming at me or took a hit. Alternatively, if I took a major hit then I'd panic for a couple of seconds then run away and put a few bigger teammates between me and the big scary 'Mech that just punched a huge hole in my armour. The Commando was a lot more sturdy than I expected a light 'Mech to be so I could get away with getting close to an isolated enemy and even helping the bigger 'Mechs brawl which was fun. However, the limited firepower I had meant that if I was too far forward and an enemy thought "Ooh, a light 'Mech," and rushed me, there would be no way to defend myself besides running away which only works against slow 'Mechs. It's kind of annoying having to rely on the bigger 'Mechs to fight for me but flanking/harassing enemies and securing kills on damaged enemies has been pretty fun to do so far so I don't want to sacrifice too much speed. However, speed was useful when it was me and another Light vs a Heavy and we both kept outrunning him and capturing all the points to guarantee victory. It's also fun to slam the brakes and watch enemy 'Mechs go careering past you and give you a free shot at their back.
So, considering everything, while I know next to nothing other than the words, I think it would be best for me to stick with either a Light or more likely a Medium 'Mech. So, which 'Mech(s) would suit a flanking/brawling playstyle while being at least fast and/or sturdy enough to forgive me for a couple of mistakes? Also, ballistic weapons don't seem very popular compared to lasers from what I've seen. Are they not good or is it a preference thing? ...Or are there even many ballistic weapons in the game? I don't know the difference between Inner Sphere and Clan 'Mechs but apparently they cost a somewhat similar amount to fully upgrade and gear up so there's no factor involving them... I think. I don't know what the meta is but please don't factor that in either. Let's have some fun instead of worrying about maximum competitiveness!
So, to sum it up (With a couple of other questions):
1. What are the commonly-shared differences between 'Mech variants?
2. What can I do to improve general damage? Is 155-160 average per game good for a Commando or have I not played it as well as I could have?
3. I should probably ask. What is ECM and how is it applied?
4. Are there many ballistic weapons? Is there a 'Mech that I can use that can equip them?
5. Are there set "best builds" for 'Mechs or is it possible for your own build of parts and armour distribution to be just as viable?
6. The golden "Recommend a 'Mech to me!" newbie request.
I know a lot of you will probably want to reply with "You can google most of this," or "It's simple," but I figured I'd instead get the information from people who are currently playing the game and know what's what.
I look forward to what replies I'll get and thank you for your time.
