29 replies to this topic

[Not A Real RAbbi]

WildVector, on 23 April 2016 - 08:01 AM, said:

Some people will bash at me, BUT even so I can't let you commit to a big mistake.

DON'T RUSH a triple purchase JUST to master a single chassis type, ESPECIALLY IF YOU ONLY HAVE 4 MECH BAYS.

It can be pretty boring to be stuck with a single game play type AND not being able to have fun.

Also a very simple manner of having diversity, fun and training all at once is investing in a chassis with different quirks. Example the Jaeger A, you can either go ballistic or missiles or both (with high bonuses) xD

Also that Ebon Jaguar is a very intuitive and affordable first mech, I can't recommend it enough.

I myself enjoy 'mobile turrets' and medium-long range peaking so I got a Blackjack, then a Jaeger, then my beloved Urban and finally a Stalker (different weights of the same concept). But that suited my play style like a charm.

Eventually those 4 made me hyped enough that i got a full resistance 2 pack and some special clan to test, Hunchback 2c, triple ams kitty fox, etc.

What I'm trying to pass here, is that you don't need to force/limit yourself to fully master a single chassis type and lose the fun and diversity of the game because of a mere 5-10% overall upgrade IF you do master it fully. There's more to the game in mean time than that.

My hardcore c-bill farmer is currently a LRM15 Mauler.. 1200-1400 damage on good matches and 450 damage on matches where I'm rushed and lose the match.. it's ideal for high latency games like when i partner with european friends.

There isn't a single way to play this game, so i suggest you try to have the most fun as possible and remember to ALWAYS tweaking the recommended builds to your preference.

NOT gonna bash this at all, but rather give it a LIKE.

It underscores the reason that trial mechs exist in the first place. They're there for you to TRY. See what you like, what grabs you by the short-n-curlies. Now, it USED TO BE that the trials were all stock configurations, and those were almost universally AWFUL. But now we have the Champion mechs that are all built to a configuration that was proposed by community members and voted on, and they're usually decent builds. Some are even, dare I say, REALLY GOOD. Give 'em a whirl.

The problem THEY run into, is that you can only trial ONE build on a given chassis through the trial mech system. And most likely, those builds aren't going to change. Might not even be on the chassis you want to try out (JR7-F(C) is the one Jenner with NO missile hard points, for instance). At the minimum, though, you'll get an idea of what the chassis is capable of, what it's strengths and weaknesses are, and you can decide from there and the abundance of opinion on the internet, whether it's right for you.

SOLID advice above, @WildVector.

[Stan the Trashman]

Wow. Go away for a couple weeks and all heck breaks loose. I'm disappointed that I missed this Community Warfare event... and the extension! Oh well, such is life.

I did finally make up my mind about a mech. Next time I log on, which should be this week (hopefully), I'm buying an Ebon Jaguar. But which one?

According to Smurfy (what a great resource!) and my limited understanding of omnipods, it looks like the EBJ-PRIME(C) was cobbled together with an EBJ-PRIME as the base mech (obviously) with RT and LT omnipods from an EBJ-A. With appropriate weapon swaps/upgrades. Correct?

How do these builds look?

Champ Wannabe EBJ-A.

Streak Brawler EBJ-C. I have no idea if this would work or if it would be a sad train wreck. Should I swap the Streaks for regular SRMs or just go with ACs for brawling?


-Stan

P.S. Again, I'd like to thank you folks for your input. This is fine community.

Edited by Stan the Trashman, 16 May 2016 - 06:36 AM.

[S 0 L E N Y A]

^ first build is ok. I would cut some of the armor in the arms and upgrade the small laser to a medium.

The next one is frankly pretty lousy.
Streaks are best for hunting lights. The EBJ is not what I would consider an ideal light hunter. If you want to brawl with the ebj use regular SRMs and augment with medium or small pulses
I have also seen 1x UAC20 and a lot ot small pulses used for brawling EBJs.
Personally I dont think the EBJ is best suited for brawling at all and prefer to run it as mid-long range poking

The ebj has no unique CTs, so start with whichever has the most ideal omnipods to you.

Edited by Boogie138, 16 May 2016 - 06:46 AM.

[Stan the Trashman]

Boogie138, on 16 May 2016 - 06:40 AM, said:

The ebj has no unique CTs, so start with whichever has the most ideal omnipods to you.

Hi Boogie138

Could you clarify this statement? Do you mean that all of the EBJ variants are identical except for their omnipods (hard points)?

-Stan

[TercieI]

Stan the Trashman, on 16 May 2016 - 06:45 AM, said:

Hi Boogie138

Could you clarify this statement? Do you mean that all of the EBJ variants are identical except for their omnipods (hard points)?

-Stan

Since you can swap all the omnipods between variants, it's only the CTs (and possibly quirks) that distinguish between variants of omnimechs. All EBJ CTs are identical (no hardpoints, identical quirks) so the variants are essentially meaningless.

[S 0 L E N Y A]

Stan the Trashman, on 16 May 2016 - 06:45 AM, said:

Hi Boogie138

Could you clarify this statement? Do you mean that all of the EBJ variants are identical except for their omnipods (hard points)?

-Stan

That is precisely what I mean. Unique CTs come in two formats. Some will have weapon hardpoints or fixed equipment. The other form is quirks that specific to the CT.
None of the above are applicable to the EBJ. Thus whatever build you come up with on a prime (for example) could be 100 percent replicated on any other EBJ variant.

This tends to be true for most of the top tier Clan omnimechs. The notable exceptions are the Timber and Dire.

[Metus regem]

Hello and welcome!

As to your question about TImber Wolves, they are an Apex mech, perfect blend of speed, firepower and armour, also helps that they are a poster child mech for BattleTech and MechWarrior since the 90's.

All that being said, there are some mechs I highly recommend, even if you don't keep them long term, they have some extremely important skills to teach, not to be confused with xp mech skills....


Locust:

The Locust teaches the important skill of not getting hit, as well as map knowledge. Being one of the fastest mechs in the game, while also the smallest (in terms of weight and height), means you will rely on not being hit to make it to the end of the match.


Centurion:

The Centurion teaches the skill of Torso twisting, due to this mechs solid hit boxes it is both Standard and XL engine friendly. These solid hit boxes also allow the mech to roll damage across it very reliably extending your survival rate by as much as 500%. (note: for such results you need to be using a standard engine and roll damage from Left Arm, Left Torso, Center Torso, Right Torso and Right Arm, till all you have left is your Center Torso, head and a leg.)


Hunchback:

The Hunchback family really teach the importance of good Gunnery, as the 4G has a B.F.G. in the form of the AC/20, being a 50t chassis with such a big gun means you have to learn to place your shots effectively and consistently. The second skill this mech teaches is how to use a shield side, another important skill in extending life span in a match.


Dragon:

This mech acts more like a medium than a Heavy, this is due to it being a 60t mech, meaning that for it Speed is highly important. This mech also has a fairly easy to hit Center Torso, meaning that you need to learn how to protect it, forutantly I have yet to find a better mech at teaching the skill of protecting a weakness better than the Dragon.


If you can master the skills these four mechs have to teach, you will find that you will be an effective pilot no matter the mech you use.

[Jables McBarty]

Stan the Trashman, on 22 April 2016 - 09:06 AM, said:

Hey everyone, thanks for the replies. I was going to hop on early this morning to check out the new patch, but I was having connection issues. Looks like I wasn't the only one.

Anyway, I appreciate all the suggestions. It'd be silly to try to reply to each, so here's a big "Thanks!" to everyone. You got me thinking about a few things I hadn't considered, like CW weight limits changing. I guess my 4 Ebon Jaguar plan is pretty much shot if 250 tons is the new limit. That said, when I next get the chance to play, I think I am going to pick up an Ebon Jaguar and start working on it.

Can someone link me to a good guide on Omnipod quirks, please? I'm not sure I get how they work. Do you need all the Omnipods to be the same variant to get the bonuses or is it piecemeal or do you more/better bonuses when you have a set?

By the way, if anyone wants to send me an invite in-game, I'll be glad to add you to my friends list.

See you on the battlefield, MechWarriors!


-Stan

In case nobody has brought your attention to Smurfy's Omnipods:

http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/#omnipods

^Lists the hardpoints for each omnipod. Per what Boogie was saying, you can swap out anything except the CT. With the EBJ, all the CT's have the same hardpoints (that is to say, none), so no difference on that front.

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...irks_heavy_clan

^Lists quirks by Omnipod. Omnipod quirks move with the pod. In game, when you mouseover the 'mech in Select Mech, you see ALL quirks for that 'mech as it is built. If you go into MechLab and mouse over the pod's name (either in the paper doll or in the OmniPods equipment section of the Warehouse), the special quirks will show up in green text (all will also have the "Complete Set: +2.5% EXP" quirk, which is usually greyed out unless you have a complete set)

Looks like EBJ has no quirks at all, so again, a non-issue if you go with that chassis. But to give you an example from one of my favorite 'mechs, here's a MDD-PRIME build I started running the other day (note, this is not necessarily a "good" mech, I mostly put it together from Omnipods and weapons I had lying around):

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...0fb43491e098f02

MDD-Prime CT: Accel/Decel Rate +25%; Torso Angle +15; Torso Rate 40%; Add'l Structure +7RT/LT
MDD-Prime HD: [no quirks]
MDD-Prime LT: Missile CD +10%; Missile Velocity +10%
MDD-Prime RT: Missile CD +10%; Missile Velocity +10%
MDD-A RA:[no quirks]
MDD-C LA: Additional Armor +20LA
MDD-Prime LL:[no quirks]
MDD-Prime RL:[no quirks]

^These are the quirks you'd get, no others.

Conversely, with a more "meta" build that I also run:

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...973b4f34d6819b9

MDD-Prime CT: Accel/Decel Rate +25%; Torso Angle +15; Torso Rate 40%; Add'l Structure +7RT/LT
MDD-Prime HD: [no quirks]
MDD-A LT: [no quirks]
MDD-A RT: [no quirks]
MDD-B RA:[no quirks]
MDD-B LA: [no quirks]
MDD-Prime LL:[no quirks]
MDD-Prime RL:[no quirks]

^You'll note that I swapped out the -Prime side torsos for -A side torsos, and both arms for -B arms. As a result I've lost the missile velocity/cooldown and additional armor quirks that went with the -Prime STs and the -C arm. I still keep the Prime's movement quirks because those are tied to the CT. I could rebuild this entire 'mech using a MDD-C center torso, and would have the same set of hardpoints but a different set of CT quirks (in this case, better Accel/Decl (+60%) for reduced torso angle and turn rate).


TL;DR: OmniMech quirks move with the omnipod. Because CTs can't be moved between 'mechs (they are the 'mech), choose your CTs carefully based on hardpoints and quirks. Use Smurfy's and in-game mouseovers to discover which quirks are tied to which pod, as the Select Mech mouseover summary show quirks at the 'mech level.


EDIT: How did I tell that the EBJ has no quirks? You'll see it listed in the Mech Quirks - Heavy (Clan) on Smurfy's OmniPods page right underneath MDD-C RA, to show that it was not omitted from the list, but that it has no quirks. Likewise the Hellbringer has no quirks. Note that 'mechs are listed here by tonnage first (MDD (60t) then EBJ (65t)) then alphabetically (EBJ then HBR within 65t).

Edited by Jables McBarty, 16 May 2016 - 12:44 PM.

[TooDumbToQuit]

My Hellbringer is wonderful.

It carries ECM and AMS, And right now an AC20 and a PPC.

[S 0 L E N Y A]

LikeUntoGod, on 16 May 2016 - 12:50 PM, said:

My Hellbringer is wonderful.

It carries ECM and AMS, And right now an AC20 and a PPC.

hmmmm, sounds like a close cousin to the summoner.
Try replacing the PPC with an array of medium or small lasers (er or pulse, your call).

This is my personal favorite load out for the HBR. Not very exciting I know, but stupid effective as mid - longish range peeka-boo master.
Boogie's Meta Lazor Vomit HBR

Sometimes I will ditch heat sink and either upgrade to a MKII TC or for max armor on the legs and little bit more armor on the dead arm.