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Tips For Beginners: Going From Beginner To Average

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#1 Tokkar

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Posted 14 November 2016 - 02:31 PM

In 3 weeks I went from beginner pilot to average pilot. I mostly finish in top 5 by damage done. Sometimes 1st or second place. Average 400-600 dmg per game. I want to share tips that will help you out if you are still struggling in that 200 dmg/game zone.

TIPS:

Hardware/FPS. I am satisfied with 50 fps stable with drops to 37 fps ocasionally. That is minimum that makes me happy. Install FRAPS and check your FPS. FPS are very important for your aiming and aiming is very important in this game. Go to Academy and run around city between buildings (in medium mech), do sharp turns and watch your FPS, do this for at least a whole minute. Then if FPS are not enough lower some graphic setting and see how much FPS you gained and how it affects game's beauty. Some settings lowered give bigger fps boost but visual difference is very small. So tune down those things you don't much care about. I am playing this on intro level gaming laptop so hardware requirements aren't that steep.

Arm Lock. Go to Settings->Game and disable Arm Lock. It is enabled by default. I really recommend this. This way you can look around much faster, aim faster, etc. Practice in Academy how to aim now. While you at it you might want to disable "Enable Cockpit Monitors". Hopefully it will give you additional FPS, though I have not tested how much. On my mechs I uncheck "Lower ARM actuators". You can remove these actuators (in some mechs only I think) in MECHLAB. You can test the difference with actuators and without in Academy of course.

Use lower mouse sensitivity settings. Two times lower compared to other shooting games. I play all other games with double DPI (my mouse can change DPI) of what I use in MWO. It's not convenient to navigate MECHLAB with sensitivity I use for when I am in a mech on the battlefield. It's not so much about being able to turn sharply at slight mouse movement but more about being precise. You have to be able to keep those lasers steady on moving target. You can practice that also in Academy by shooting stationary objects with lasers while running. My settings are: 6th tick in Windows mouse settings (middle), acceleration disabled, MWO settings at default, mouse at 450 dpi. It takes half my mousepad width (and I have a wider one) to turn torso at 90 degrees. I will tune that some in future (for mech that can turn torso more than 90 degrees) so those numbers are just reference of what I am using now.

If you need a mech that is easy to play this video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=VT3hzjtgIms. This mech is awesome for beginners because it has only 1 type of weapon, it does not overheat fast and it has ECM. ECM is excellent when you are tired of seeing this "Incomming Missiles" message. Also less chance that you become everyones target when they see you on the radar. Simply you can't be target unless someone jamms or TAGs you.

Don't go alone. But also don't stand too close. You don't want your visibility and firing line blocked by friendly mechs. There is no need for everybody to stand around that single pass. If the good place is taken just find another one. Ideally I think you should see something other people are not seeing. But do not go far away from others. Do not rely solely on radar to learn where enemy is. They can be standing just behind you and you won't see them on your radar.

When going around that corner or going over that hill slow down. Just take a peek first. When you do not see what is behind obstacle go very carefuly. You don't want to run at full speed into 3/4 enemy mechs. I died multiple times to this. If you go slow you still have chance to reverse back before it is too late.

In certain maps with poor visibility use Heat Vision (H). I play 100% time with HV on in "HPG Manifold" map. Also I play these maps with HV: Forest, Bog, Mining Facility. The drawback is that you can only see mechs at 600 meters max. So HV is useful at day time as well.

Torso twist. I like mechs where all good stuff is on one mech side. That way I can shield myself with the other side and if they destroy my arm or even torso I still have all my weapons. When you just fired something that recharges slowly, in example lasers, you can turn away from enemy that is shooting at you, until you get those weapons charged again. So shoot, turn your torso, shoot turn your torso. Well of course if nobody is shooting at you maybe you don't need to do that Oh and btw I saw video where it explained that even if your torso is destroyed it still shields your CT from damage. CT gets damage reduced. So if you have one side destroyed and the other side has all weapons you still may want to shield with destroyed side. Protect your CT with your sides. The best way to learn torso twist is keep playing asymmetrical mech. The one that has something very important in it's arm. After a lot of loosing of that arm and that precious device in it (i.e. long range lasers) the game will force you to learn this technique which is useful in all mechs.

And that is it. I believe if you follow this then you will very soon be out of that dreaded 200 dmg/game zone and make your teammates happy and your enemies sad.

Edited by Tokkar, 14 November 2016 - 02:45 PM.


#2 Tarl Cabot

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Posted 14 November 2016 - 06:46 PM

Quote

Arm Lock. Go to Settings->Game and disable Arm Lock. It is enabled by default. I really recommend this. This way you can look around much faster, aim faster, etc. Practice in Academy how to aim now.


I would suggest changing Arm Lock in keyboard settings to Toggle Arm lock. Your torso still turns at the same speed but your arm-mounted weapons can be on target quicker but only to a point. Toggling Arm Lock allows you to switch it off and on, as there will be many times that you want to make sure your torso-mounted weapons hits the mech section you are aiming for without having to jerk your arm-crosshairs around in an attempt to line up the target.


Quote

Hardware/FPS. I am satisfied with 50 fps stable with drops to 37 fps ocasionally. That is minimum that makes me happy. Install FRAPS and check your FPS. FPS are very important for your aiming and aiming is very important in this game.


Agree with this. And for some players, creating a user.cfg and adding sys_MaxFPS = 45 / 50 / 75 extra to rein in the FPS highs/lows helps them by reducing the max FPS load on the GPU, keeping it and the CPU from hitting thermal thresholds which then drops the GPU/CPU clock speeds.

Also, for a steadier aim, change the game's mouse sensitivity from the far right to the far left, setting it around 0.15 +/- 0.5.

#3 LMP

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Posted 15 November 2016 - 07:00 AM

View PostTokkar, on 14 November 2016 - 02:31 PM, said:

Hardware/FPS. I am satisfied with 50 fps stable with drops to 37 fps ocasionally. That is minimum that makes me happy. Install FRAPS and check your FPS. FPS are very important for your aiming and aiming is very important in this game. Go to Academy and run around city between buildings (in medium mech), do sharp turns and watch your FPS, do this for at least a whole minute. Then if FPS are not enough lower some graphic setting and see how much FPS you gained and how it affects game's beauty. Some settings lowered give bigger fps boost but visual difference is very small. So tune down those things you don't much care about. I am playing this on intro level gaming laptop so hardware requirements aren't that steep.



You can look at your FPS by pressing F9, no FRAPS needed.

#4 TooDumbToQuit

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Posted 15 November 2016 - 04:55 PM

Was Russ kidding when he said that Tier 6 was just for me or are there other players in it?

#5 Tarl Cabot

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Posted 15 November 2016 - 06:38 PM

View PostLikeUntoGod, on 15 November 2016 - 04:55 PM, said:

Was Russ kidding when he said that Tier 6 was just for me or are there other players in it?


:)





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