49 replies to this topic

[NiceDad]

Hi Everyone

My son and i just start playing MWO recently and we really like the game. We watch some youtube vidoes for guides on mechs for beginners. But I can't find anywhere mentioning what should we consider when buying a mech and what key features consitute a good mech. Can you good fellow enlighten us what to consider and also which are the "Best Mech" in each class. I'm willing to spend some money buying Hero mechs thus will like to know that catageory of mechs too. We hope that with your guidance, we can "save" some MC & C-bills for not buying "not-so-good" mechs. May I request the answer to be in the following format (if possible):

What key features constitute a good mech?

Top 3 Light Mech (Non-Hero)
Top 3 Medium Mech (Non-Hero)
Top 3 Heavy Mech (Non-Hero)
Top 3 Assault Mech (Non-Hero)
Top 3 Light Mech (Hero)
Top 3 Medium Mech (Hero)
Top 3 Heavy Mech (Hero)
Top 3 Assault Mech (Hero)


Thanks again for your helpfulness and wish everyone stay safe and good health.

Good Luck
Have Fun

[CFC Conky]

Welcome to MWO NiceDad & Son.

This game offers a huge number of options when it comes to customization to match one's play style so I won't get into specific mechs but one generic feature that is useful on almost all mechs are weapon hardpoints located high up on a mech's chassis. This allows you to expose less of your mech when getting into a firing position.

You will notice that Clan mechs are much more expensive than their IS counterparts. This is because they are usually pre-upgraded with things like XL engines, double heat sinks, endo-steel structure and ferro-fibrous armor.

Clan mechs come is two flavours, Omnimechs which have fixed engines, structure and armour type, and Battlemechs, where these can be modified. You can however swap out Omnipods on these mechs, allowing for different weapon load outs.

At the moment, all IS mechs are Battlemechs. You don't need all the upgrades on an IS mech but usually, players upgrade them with at least double heat sinks (1.5M c-bills) and endo-steel structure (min ~500K c-bills).

All Battlemechs have fixed weapon hardpoints.

When it comes to engines, there is an important difference between Clan and IS XL mills. With Clan XL engines, you can lose a side-torso and survive whereas IS mechs are destroyed when they lose one. To survive a side-torso loss, IS mechs must be equipped with either standard (STD) or Light Fusion (LFE) engines.

Since you are new to the game, it can be useful to purchase mechs that can share engines and weapons systems, at least until your match earnings improve. This will limit you to IS mechs or Clan Battlemechs, at least at first, and you can still build a respectable fleet of mechs without Omnimechs.

Then again, you should play the game as you like.


Good hunting,
CFC Conky

Edited by CFC Conky, 18 January 2021 - 09:22 PM.

[ImperialKnight]

Define "best". There are mechs that do things other mechs can't. It's meaningless to rank the mechs unless you tell us what your "best" is? firepower? mobility? damage farming? brawling? tanking? fire support?

[Aidan Crenshaw]

Some of the higher profiled players put together a nice database:
https://grimmechs.isengrim.org/
I don't think it's the be-all-end-all of builds, but surely is a good starting point. Especially with the build guides. Note that some designs require a high skill ceiling or a certain environment to work, so your mileage may vary. But it's a good point to start from in my opinion.

[NiceDad]

Thanks CFC Conky, you help to clear my clouds on what is the difference between IS & Clan mechs, their advantage & disadvantage. Your explanation also teachs alot of basics of mech which I don't even know how to ask.

ImperialKnight, from the limited games I played, I feel that in order to contribute to the team, I need to survive and dish out damage to enemies so that our team can win. Thus I thought "best" mech would be able to survive and deals damage. Please correct me if I'm wrong so that I can understand the game better. Can recommend which are the mechs which can accomplish that?

Aidan, thanks for the link and I believe it will be useful for new players like me to have some reference before we start buying more mechs.

Edited by NiceDad, 19 January 2021 - 02:21 AM.

[Gagis]

The differences between the best and the worst mechs for any role are so dramatic that it absolutely makes sense to ask which ones are best.

The grimmechs tier lists are a bit outdated, tho Tarogato has said he is about to start updating them to current metagame. Even about a year out of date, they are still fairly accurate, since the game hasn't changed much.

My personal recommendations based on which ones come to mind first, so some obvious answers might slip my mind:

Lights (Inner Sphere Medium Pulse Lasers are metagame-defining):

• Wolfhound 2 with 6MPL or 5MPL+1ERSL
  
• Urbanmech K-9 with 5MPL (Hero)
  
• Flea 17 with 6SPL+SL or 2MPL+5SL

Mediums:

• Vapor Eagle with 3ERPPC
  
• Vulcan 5T with 5MPL
  
• SHD-2D2 with LB10+4SRM4 is personal favourite, but not popular
  
• Huntsman Pakhet gets honorary mention as most versatile Hero for newbros

Heavies:

• Warhammer 6R with 2Gauss + some ERML is a classic for a reason
  
• Hellbringer with 2LPL+4ERML or 2HLL+4ERML
  
• Orion IIC C with 2LB10+3ASRM6

Assaults:

• Cyclops Sleipnir is probably strongest Hero mech in the game with various loadouts
  
• Annihilator 2A with various loadouts
  
• Mad Cat II B for 2UAC10+2UAC5

Edited by Gagis, 19 January 2021 - 01:24 AM.

[Elizander]

I'd also like you to at least be aware that there are some mechs/playstyles that suit some players better than others. While a mech may be the best if played with a specific loadout and playstyle, it might not be the most fun or the most effective for you. There are a lot of options though so I do hope you find what you enjoy the most.

[letir]

Good 'Mechs consist of acceptable number of hardpoints, good hardpoint placement and non-awful hitbox. Adequate agility and ECM add good points.

You can at least try loadouts in the training room to see actual gun placement, and there is hitbox pictures on site.

[Aivazovsky]

https://grimmechs.is...ts?list=general - S,A-tier is da best

Edited by Aivazovsky, 19 January 2021 - 06:39 AM.

[NiceDad]

letir, on 19 January 2021 - 05:20 AM, said:

Good 'Mechs consist of acceptable number of hardpoints, good hardpoint placement and non-awful hitbox. Adequate agility and ECM add good points.

You can at least try loadouts in the training room to see actual gun placement, and there is hitbox pictures on site.

When you say hitbox, can you enlighten what is it?

[Gagis]

NiceDad, on 20 January 2021 - 02:17 AM, said:

When you say hitbox, can you enlighten what is it?

https://mwomercs.com...localization-2/

The differences in that geometry account for significant differences in how some mechs peform. For example, the missile boxes on the Side Torso components of a Timber Wolf make its sides extremely easy to pinpoint, the head hitbox of the Marauder II is notoriously large, the Center Torso on a Banshee is so large you might as well run an XL engine since the sides won't get destroyed before CT either way, some mechs have such large arms they can be used to shield the sides or such large sides they can be used to shield the CT and so on and on.

Mechs known for having especially good hitboxes include the Assassin, the Crab and the Annihilator.

Edited by Gagis, 20 January 2021 - 02:45 AM.

[Mister Maf]

Broadly speaking, you're looking for mechs that have:

• Good hitboxes, or adequate survival quirks to compensate for poor hitboxes
  
• Good hardpoint selection
  
• Favorable hardpoint location (the higher up they are and the closer to the center line, the better)
  
• Good agility so that you can maneuver in fights to avoid taking damage
  
• ECM is always nice to have

So basically, you're looking for the Bushwackers and Hellbringers of the roster. Generally speaking, the more quirks a mech has, the weaker the chassis is intrinsically. For example, the Warhawk is quirked to hell because it has basically none of the above. That said, the Warhawk is also a good example of a mech whose quirks adequately compensate for its shortcomings if you know how to take advantage of them.

Broadly, these are some of the mechs I would look at as a new player for being easy to configure and pilot:

• Bushwackers are durable IS mediums with flexible hardpoints and good agility; look for variants that let you put all your weapons in the torsos while dropping all armor from the arms, such as the 1X or 2X
  
• Roughnecks are extremely durable IS heavies with flexible hardpoints and reasonable agility
  
• Hellbringers are highly modular omnimechs that can accept just about any build you want
  
• Cyclopses are agile IS assaults with great hitboxes and good hardpoint setups
  
• The Madcat MKII-B is incredibly easy to pilot with 2xUAC10 and 2xUAC5
  
• Urbanmechs are probably among the easier lights to pilot just because they are slower and more durable

Finally, this is a bit of a controversial recommendation, but I would suggest picking up a Centurion. Not because it's high-tier, but because it teaches good habits. One of the key skills you'll need to learn to succeed in this game is the technique called "damage spreading"—strategically rotating your mech in battle to absorb hits evenly across its chassis. This is vital for surviving as it helps you keep your mech together in one piece rather than letting the enemy easily focus weak sections. The Centurion is unique in that it has a dedicated shield arm that doesn't mount any weapons. Piloting it is all about maximizing your burst damage output, and then using your fast torso rotation speed to spread incoming damage while your weapons cycle for the next shot. First absorb hits with your shield arm, and when that's gone, rotate around to spread the damage as evenly as possible everywhere else. When you get good at this, the Centurion can safely mount an XL engine, which is when it really starts to shine since you can use its speed to flank and dodge hits entirely.

Edited by Mister Maf, 20 January 2021 - 08:02 AM.

[TheCaptainJZ]

^^This is really a great response.

The Centurions also have an acceptable mix of hardpoints that you can use to experiment without going crazy. But the Cent's shield arm isn't the largest thing in the world and you can probably have much of the same experience in a Bushwacker now. Don't have an actual shield in an arm but either one is big enough that it will absorb hits and you don't have to put anything in it. They're also quirked with more armor since the geometry is larger. The Shadowhawk can be used in a similar way too. Try them out in the testing grounds and see if you like the movement and weapon placements. This includes things like firing over terrain in partial cover because when you have arm mounted weapons, you may have a great shot lined up and just shoot into the ground at your waist.

[NiceDad]

I have been reading guides on builds and really appreciate you guys giving VERY helpful and constructive suggestions. 1 thing puzzle me is some of the builds in the "GrimMechs" showing builds with 3 or 4 PPC and they are in either the S or A tiers. I imported their builds into the MechLab move to the training grounds to test them out. Some builds will result in immediate shutdown when I do alpha strike, some will makes me wait for long time for the mech to cooldown before I can fire again without shutting down. I understand that if firing more than 2 PCC together the ghost heat penalty is HUGE, so why do they build with 3 or more PPC when we can't fire them effectively? Or am I firing the weapons the wrong way?

Thanks in advance for enlightening me.

Cheers
Have Fun
Stay Safe

Edited by NiceDad, 25 January 2021 - 04:40 PM.

[Elizander]

NiceDad, on 25 January 2021 - 04:40 PM, said:

I have been reading guides on builds and really appreciate you guys giving VERY helpful and constructive suggestions. 1 thing puzzle me is some of the builds in the "GrimMechs" showing builds with 3 or 4 PPC and they are in either the S or A tiers. I imported their builds into the MechLab move to the training grounds to test them out. Some builds will result in immediate shutdown when I do alpha strike, some will makes me wait for long time for the mech to cooldown before I can fire again without shutting down. I understand that if firing more than 2 PCC together the ghost heat penalty is HUGE, so why do they build with 3 or more PPC when we can't fire them effectively? Or am I firing the weapons the wrong way?

Thanks in advance for enlightening me.

Cheers
Have Fun
Stay Safe

They don't fire them at the same time. PPCs have a limit of 2 being fired at the same time or else you get a massive heat penalty. They fire PPCs 2 at a time to avoid the heat penalty. You need to wait like 0.5 seconds between firing each pair.

This is what players call Ghost Heat, but the game will warn you in the mechlab if you have more weapons than you can fire at the same time.

Edited by Elizander, 25 January 2021 - 05:15 PM.

[NiceDad]

Elizander, on 25 January 2021 - 05:14 PM, said:

They don't fire them at the same time. PPCs have a limit of 2 being fired at the same time or else you get a massive heat penalty. They fire PPCs 2 at a time to avoid the heat penalty. You need to wait like 0.5 seconds between firing each pair.

This is what players call Ghost Heat, but the game will warn you in the mechlab if you have more weapons than you can fire at the same time.

So the correct way to play Mechs with PPC are fire them (inbetween at least 0.5 sec gap if more than 2 PCC) and go into hiding to wait for the cooldown and then come out of hiding and fire again?

[Gagis]

NiceDad, on 25 January 2021 - 05:33 PM, said:

So the correct way to play Mechs with PPC are fire them (inbetween at least 0.5 sec gap if more than 2 PCC) and go into hiding to wait for the cooldown and then come out of hiding and fire again?

Correct.

[ImperialKnight]

You don't have to hide. The advantage of front loaded damage weapons is reducing exposure time. You could move and shoot, but twist away from the enemy after firing. If you just keep hiding when your entire team has moved, you're going to get eaten by light mechs that underrun you, or demolished by the enemy team if they are pushing the position

[NiceDad]

ImperialKnight, on 25 January 2021 - 10:23 PM, said:

You don't have to hide. The advantage of front loaded damage weapons is reducing exposure time. You could move and shoot, but twist away from the enemy after firing. If you just keep hiding when your entire team has moved, you're going to get eaten by light mechs that underrun you, or demolished by the enemy team if they are pushing the position

Thanks for the advice, will keep up with the team when they are pushing and will try to remember to use the torso twisting to distribute the damages (though still learning to do so effectively).

I'm thinking of investing more time on Heavy Mechs as I felt that though Assault Mechs has more armor & weapons, but if in a noob's hand, I will deprive someone else to operate an Assault Mech more effectively and bring victory to the team. With Heavy mech, the weapons & armor I felt comfortable and now trying the different type of weapons to find which of them suits my play style.

I have a QuickDraw IV-4 and just love the MRM burst damage, thus I'm looking for another Medium Hero Mech so that I can swap them to earn more C-Bills. I'm afraid that if I keep playing QuickDraw I might start to lose interest in MWO. Any recommendation which Heavy Mech should I invest?

I have the following mechs, or which of them I should spend more time & build it up for fun (please recommend what type of build):

1) JR7-IIC-FY
2) LCT-1V(S)
3) UM-K9
4) SHD-2H(S)
5) VGL-A
6) HBR-F
7) QKD-IV4
8) BAS-RA
9) CP-S
10) MAD-IIC-SC
11) SNV-A
12) WHM-IIC-ML



Thank You
Have Fun
Stay Safe

Edited by NiceDad, 26 January 2021 - 01:43 AM.

[Mahotsukai]

CP-S with dual heavy gauss + 3 MLas is quite fun, really like it for HUGE frontload and killing ability. Drawback is range, on Polar Highlands it can do slightly above nothing.