24 replies to this topic

[Agent005]

I'm close to finishing my first 25 matches in this game (would have finished them a lot sooner but I started a new job plus I was helping relatives move). I've spent quite a bit of time poring over the store, looking at different mechs and tinkering with setups, but there's so many mech chassis to choose from that it makes my head spin after a while. Right now, I'm finding myself leaning more towards an assault or heavy mech - one made for fighting on the frontlines, basically. I'd like one with a decent amount of speed, but I can settle for a slower mech if it has good hard points and good quirks.

[Kali Rinpoche]

Agent are you thinking Clan or IS?

If thinking Clan (which are more expense C-Bill wise) The Timberwolf is a solid first choice for a heavy.

On the IS side
Thunderbolts are solid first heavies which can run both standard an XL engines successfully. The King Crab is a solid Assault Mech but its slow until you unlock speed cap.

[Dirty Starfish]

I'd definitely go for an IS heavy if you are new. They are fairly forgiving as a class and the IS mechs are far cheaper so you won't get tired of the grind. I play mostly lights myself but the Black Knight seems to be very popular (and meta) right now. Just load up lots of lasers and go for it! Have fun!

If you decide to go for clans, I would buy a stormcrow. They were (and IMO still are) the kings of the medium class and you can put a very wide variety of shooters on them.

[WildVector]

I have to discourage against the heavy simply for far longer queues, and the fact that some mediums and assaults dable well into the heavy pool.

GO over again the free mechs and verify if you prefer a brawl, sniper or support build.

If you are still determined on heavy or swap your goal i suggest on initial investments to go to chassis series witch offers DIVERSITY. Having the option to alternate or mix and match different weapon types and game approaches increased both the fun and longevity factors a lot.

Since it will be your opening of the mastery system i HIGHLY recommend a model where you can alternate play styles, else it can get real old real fast.

Just keep it in ind as it's hard for newbies to commit hardcore to master a chassis threefold with only 4 mech bays..

[Starbomber109]

I actually think heavy mechs are a solid investment, they're the most popular class and fairly newbie friendly. The Thunderbolt is a solid choice for beginners. The Quickdraw is awesome but less newbie friendly, the Jagermech is also awesome but most of the good Jager builds require an XL engine (Which is a LOT of C-bills) The BlackKnight and Grasshopper are some of the best mechs in the game, but again, you'll need to shell out credits for an XL engine to make the most of their mobility.

I guess it all depends on what you wanna do though, because the Banshee and Battlemaster are arguably just as good at the same job as the Grasshopper (Laser Vomit) but Banshees/Battlemasters aren't as fast, so they aren't as preferred in Faction War. They're still good, but also you'd have to run some mediums as well to make your dropdeck fit, whereas you can run 4 thunderbolts and still be in tonnage. If you're not worried about faction war at all, the Banshee and the Battlemaster are solid choices.

For the clan side, the Timberwolf is probably the most popular because it can do anything. It's not as tough as the Black Knight but it's got a stronger alpha at a similar range. Hellbringer is also popular (ECM yo) and can do different roles similar to the Timby, but it's strongest builds are CMedLas spam and Gauss Vomit. I can't recommend any of the clan assaults to a new player, they aren't very friendly to new players (Dire Wolf especially.)

I also recommend Metamechs. It's a cool site for builds and advice.

[MadCat02]

I would generally recommend mech's with high arms for beginners . Saying that Jagermech if you want AC5 Brawler or Stalker if you like Lasers .

That way you never have to worry about elevation which is what many new players are struggling with .

Edited by MadCat02, 17 April 2016 - 01:08 PM.

[Lil Thumper]

Thunderbolts(heavy) are good/durable

Stalkers(85 ton assault) are a good choice for either SRM, LRM or Laser loadouts depending on the variant(I prefer the 4N and 5M variants).

I know you mentioned assaults or heavies...but I have to mention the IS hunchbacks(mediums) they are always a good choice. (and will not break the bank)

[Bloody Tier]

I know that this is the wrong topic for my question, and I apologize for that. Is the someplace I can go to discuss how to make teamspeak work in my MWOL games.

[Koniving]

Bet you are suffering some info overload just from the responses.

Let's simplify it a bit. What weaponry do you feel most comfortable with?

Would you be interested in more than 2/weapon groups or to keep it simple?

Do you use both cross hairs or just the main one?

You said front line but that can be a lot of things. How close to the enemy do you want to get and how quick?

[Rogue Jedi]

bleedingbilbo, on 17 April 2016 - 01:44 PM, said:

I know that this is the wrong topic for my question, and I apologize for that. Is the someplace I can go to discuss how to make teamspeak work in my MWOL games.

are you talking about the in game VOIP which is TeamSpeak based, in which case you need to hold down Caps Lock to talk, or out of game TeamSpeak, which is a program you download, you then have to find a TeamSpeak server, most units have one or you can try to find a public TeamSpeak, I know the NGNG servers used to be popular but I am not sure if that is still the case.

here are details I found for the NGNG TeamSpeak, I am not certain they are still current.
address = voip01.n1585.hypernia.net:9992
password = mechwarrior

for the record the short question short answer thread would have been more appropriate for this, or you could have started your own thread, I think there are more servers listed in the "need help, looking to teamup, look here" thread, again I cannot guarantee they are current

Edited by Rogue Jedi, 17 April 2016 - 02:47 PM.

[Rhavin]

Heavy clan mechs Timberwolf, Ebon Jaguar, and hellbringer are great mechs. if you are going to play a heavy mech on the clan side there is no reason not to choose one of these three mechs. The biggest factor when choosing a clan mech is free tonnage, followed closely by omnipod variety and these 3 mechs have both these in spades.

Timberwolf is tough, fast, and can reasonably boat any weapon type. You can even make it jump. It's downside is people know all this, and respond accordingly by telling everyone on thier team where to find you and then shooting you at the same time. However this mech is effectively a better assault mech than most assault mechs. It can brawl with ballistics, srms, lasers of all types, it can peek, poke, snipe, and flank at any range with incredible speed and armor for its 75 tons. Can be built symetrical or loaded out to sidepoke. . There is a reason it's an icon and the clans would go on to make assault and medium mechs based off of its design in lore, and that reason is it is a beast.

The ebon jaguar is also excellent, it's fast, has great hardpoint variety and placement with a low profile. It has so much free tonnage it can out gun even the timberwolf even if it can't take as much damage. It can boat anything but guass rifles. Pure laser vomit, check, pure SRM spam, check, straight dakka , check, LRMpocalypse. ..check. However you want to build it , it can pretty much be done.

Hellbringer, not as tanky as the previous mechs, doesn't have the variety of hardpoints either, or the armor, but this baby has somthing it's competition doesn't. That is ECM , combined with its speed it is the key to this mechs power. Doesn't Excell at missle play, but can bring big ballistics and lasers effectively to the field. Builds are typically loaded to the ECM torso which has 3 energy points in it. This leaves a shield side to twist towards damage , and it leaves that ecm side as a target for anyone who knows about it.

Now don't get me wrong, all of those mechs are expensive, but they are all good, no upgrades needed because they come upgraded at purchase. Unlike innersphere mechs. Which in general are deceptive in price.

Black knight. Arguably the best heavy mech in game, no heavy clan mech or innersphere mech has the amount of armor this guy does. Designers watched Monty Python and took the it's just a scratch phrase and applied it liberally here. Even to the point of makeing it extremely XL friendly. However it's need for double heat sinks, endosteel and ferro upgrades and a big 320 or 340 xl engine make it as expensive as any clan heavy to be successful. Also it's laser vomit only makeing it tend to run hot and it's hardpoints are low low making it not such a great sniper. The best thing this monster does is trade at large pulse and medium pulse laser ranges. It does it extremely well cause that big xl you bought makes it fast and twitchy.

Thunderbolt, before the black knight came out this was the innersphere workhorse heavy. Now it just lacks compared to the Black Knight. Still a great mech though, and much cheaper to make effective. You will still be upgrading to DHS endosteel and ferro, but expensive xl engines are not necessaries here. Still the best builds are energy based so not alot of variety. At 65 tons there are quite a few faction warfare drop decks that are 4 thunderbolts still.

The only other 2 innersphere heavys I like are cash only buys right now, those would be the warhammer and Maurader. Each is solid and in my opinion it is worth the 20 dollar investment to buy the bundles outright from the web store instead of for MC or waiting for a CBILL release. Both are ballistic/energy combo workhorses that are objectively better than the thunderbolt.

[ImperialKnight]

HBK-IIC-(A/B/C)

Goes fast, punches hard, survivable, jump capable, good positioned hardpoints (mostly concentrated around cockpit), allows you to practice all major weapon systems in the game (laser/missile/ballistics).

By the time a beginner finishes the cadet bonuses games using the Trial mechs, as well as the tutorial, s/he can afford all 3 variants and a Clan XL275 (shared by all 3 variants). This will allow unlock of Elite skills.
Start from the A-variant and go 6x ERMLas laserdrill. It's simple (2 weapon groups, alpha and chainfire), and teaches a beginner to torso twist (full shield arms)

You really can't ask for a better starter mech, IMO

[Rogue Jedi]

knightsljx, on 18 April 2016 - 03:31 AM, said:

HBK-IIC-(A/B/C)
By the time a beginner finishes the cadet bonuses games using the Trial mechs, as well as the tutorial, s/he can afford all 3 variants and a Clan XL275 (shared by all 3 variants). This will allow unlock of Elite skills.

you are mistaken, 3 HBK-IICs with the XL275 will cost about 26 million, the average new player who has completed the Cadet Games and tutorial will have 18-20 million.
buy 2 and by the time they are basiced them the new player may possibly if you do well have the cbills for the third.

I do not disagree that the HBK-IIC could be a good choice but no way is a new player who has just finished the first 25 games going to be able to afford 3 HBK-IICs and the cXL275 engine

[ImperialKnight]

Rogue Jedi, on 18 April 2016 - 03:58 AM, said:

you are mistaken, 3 HBK-IICs with the XL275 will cost about 26 million, the average new player who has completed the Cadet Games and tutorial will have 18-20 million.
buy 2 and by the time they are basiced them the new player may possibly if you do well have the cbills for the third.

I do not disagree that the HBK-IIC could be a good choice but no way is a new player who has just finished the first 25 games going to be able to afford 3 HBK-IICs and the cXL275 engine

i stand corrected for the CBill numbers. but the recommendation remains

[Rear Admiral Tier 6]

i would go with 4 thunderbolts,you can experiment with lasers,ballistics,missiles and ppcs,also cheap to equip since no expensive xl engines are needed or even wanted in the thud

also in the faction/community warfare they are good

[Zirakss]

Update: In the last patch, they lowered the tonnage for a drop deck. From 260 to 250t. Before the patch, you could simply take four mechs with 65t and be done with it. There are people in my unit with four thunderbolts of the same model. One advantage of four identical mechs: You don't have to adapt your playstyle, when you choose the next mech during a clan war.

Now I would go with two pairs of 60t and two pairs of 65t. In the moment, I got two marauder, one thunderbolt and one firestarter for my drop deck. It works but it's not perfect.


What side to choose?
In the original tabletop game clan mechs were clearly superior. But in this game, they are adapted a little bit and the inner sphere is buffed some. The clans still get XL engines, which only take two spaces in a side torso. Making the mech A lot more surviable. Their weapons are lighter, have more range and do more damage. But you have to stay longer on target. Their AC fire fast burst and not huge procetiles, damaging only one zone as in the inner sphere. Their laser burn a lot longer, compaired to their inner sphere counter parts. The inner sphere get the better quirks on their mechs. Those quirks are boni, which makes their mechs better. Sometimes a lot better. All in all I would say it's a matter of personal preference, what side do you prefer.

Inner Sphere
The thunderbolt is already often mentioned in this thread. It's a very solid choice. The Jaegermech is a good mech too. Especialy when you like AC and gauss rifle. If you like LRMs a lot, just take a look at the catapult.

Clan
The hellbringer was already mentionend and this thing is often seen in CW for a reason. One of it is ECM.

Edited by Zirakss, 23 April 2016 - 01:06 PM.

[Leone]

A good think to think of is preferred playstyles. answering Koniving's question's'll go a long ways to helping us narrow down your options.

If you want some more info to think about for build considerations, go over the first post here: http://mwomercs.com/...ting-thy-enemy/

It'll showcase how I consider my build options. Others think in different terms of course, so look into their responses too. In short though, what do you already like and want more of, play wise and weapon-wise.

~Leone.

[Agent005]

Quote

Bet you are suffering some info overload just from the responses.

Let's simplify it a bit. What weaponry do you feel most comfortable with?

Would you be interested in more than 2/weapon groups or to keep it simple?

Do you use both cross hairs or just the main one?

You said front line but that can be a lot of things. How close to the enemy do you want to get and how quick?

Sorry for not responding in a while. School and work had me pretty swamped for the past month and a half, but now I've had some more time to play. I've been playing the trial Orion lately and have had some pretty good success with it. I actually had two of my best matches so far last night with it. When it comes to weaponry, I find that I'm most comfortable with auto cannons and SRMs - basically, stuff that packs a punch up close. I tend to only use my torso crosshair for aiming, which has actually gotten me into trouble a few times when I forgot my lasers were arm mounted and shot the sky above my enemy's head, or spread my damage too thin across their components.

I think I have a pretty good idea of what kind of mech I want to play. The only thing I'm struggling with is that while I'd love to have the firepower and endurance of an assault mech, their slowness makes them rather unforgiving. If I start taking fire or someone locks onto me with LRMs, it's very difficult to change positions or get away without eating tons of damage. In a heavy mech, while I'm still fairly slow, I'm not completely committed to a position and can move or flank enemies if I need to, while at the same time I still have the endurance to trade blows with a larger mech if need be.

[WANTED]

The marauders are actually really good choices for a Heavy. Aren't they cbills now? Can't remember. Anyways, They have good XL friendly torsos. Just needs slight torso twist to throw off hits. I like the MAD 5D now with 3XLPLs and 2xMDL with Jump Jets.

[Koniving]

Agent005, on 27 April 2016 - 11:38 AM, said:

Sorry for not responding in a while. School and work had me pretty swamped for the past month and a half, but now I've had some more time to play. I've been playing the trial Orion lately and have had some pretty good success with it. I actually had two of my best matches so far last night with it. When it comes to weaponry, I find that I'm most comfortable with auto cannons and SRMs - basically, stuff that packs a punch up close. I tend to only use my torso crosshair for aiming, which has actually gotten me into trouble a few times when I forgot my lasers were arm mounted and shot the sky above my enemy's head, or spread my damage too thin across their components.

I think I have a pretty good idea of what kind of mech I want to play. The only thing I'm struggling with is that while I'd love to have the firepower and endurance of an assault mech, their slowness makes them rather unforgiving. If I start taking fire or someone locks onto me with LRMs, it's very difficult to change positions or get away without eating tons of damage. In a heavy mech, while I'm still fairly slow, I'm not completely committed to a position and can move or flank enemies if I need to, while at the same time I still have the endurance to trade blows with a larger mech if need be.

And with that, you've found out why the Orion is a good 'training mech' for those wanting to pilot Atlases.

Though the Orion (75 tons, heavy) and Atlas (100 tons, Assault) are both almost identical in hardpoints, the Orion can muster speed with smaller engines and mimic an Atlas's weapons (with less ammo or heatsinks and armor) to the point of giving you the 'feel' of an Atlas without the 'sloth' of an Atlas.

So some ideas of mechs to try:
Orion (IS - Battlemech)
Orion IIC (Clans - Battlemech)
Marauder (IS - Battlemech)
Timber Wolf (Clans - Omnimech).

For the IS ones, stick to STD engines to keep them dirt cheap. Get the ones already equipped with DHS. That's the M (Marik) variants. (Edit) Heh, kinda forgot. Marik Orions / Marauders come with XL engines, too. Heh.

Edited by Koniving, 27 April 2016 - 12:59 PM.