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[BWS2K]

The ancient strategist Sun Tzu says: To see victory only when it is within the ken of the common herd is not the acme of excellence. Neither is it the acme of excellence if you fight and conquer and the whole Empire says, "Well done!" One could say this aptly describes the key motivation of a true Mist Lynx pilot. Our victories are harder fought because they are not easy and, thus, they are unexpected by the unworthy - and all the more glorious because of it. Underestimate us at your peril. (Lynxolution Battle Manual, p.1)

My first mech was technically a Hunchback but I ditched it after a few matches for a Mist Lynx. I hadn't done much research into what the 'best' mech was for a new player so most of my learning in MWO was in it. I found the near universal disdain for my beloved Light confusing - had these other players actually piloted a Lynx? Surely they weren't as terrible as all that! Imagine my surprise, then, when I discovered the relative ease with which the more popular mechs were piloted - running faster, carrying more weapons, heavier armor, etc. I was amazed at this.

Because I could destroy them all.

Obviously exceptions exist but I've learned one key strategy on how to run a Mist Lynx, and that is simply this: Nobody expects you to do well. I have around 350hrs in MWO. Around a third of that (103hrs, 3min, 46s) is with my three Lynxes, with which I have a 1.3 average Kill/Death ratio and a 1.19 Win/Loss ratio. I ran some custom loadouts in the beginning, using omnipods to give myself two small pulse lasers and two medium pulse lasers but recently decided to tackle the challenge of running pure variants. It's been a blast tearing off limbs and components, leaping over Assaults only to rain down machine gun fire on their faces and rear torsos, and dominating Scout matches against mechs twice my tonnage. I've carried my team to victory, last man standing, on more than one occasion.

Please don't misunderstand me. I'm not here to boast. I'm here because there's a lot of new pilots on the battlefield and I want them to know that they're going to hear a lot of advice about what a new pilot should purchase and why. I'm simply suggesting alternate advice: start with a Light, start with one that isn't 'easy', force yourself to become a better pilot... then savor your victories all the more.

I don't have a great deal of technology at my disposal but I've put up a couple videos on YouTube about Lynx strategy. When I learned that the latest Quirk pass was buffing the arms on the Lynxes (in addition to weapons-related bonuses), I began a little project recently. It's based on a hunch I have that we're going to see a lot more Lynx pilots around here, and I want them to know they aren't alone. I started a little series, semi-satirical but with some good tactics on display, to sort of document this movement.

I call it the Lynxolution and you can view the series starting here. Enjoy!

((Our top researchers assure me they've finally learned the secret to achieving proper resolution in pilot cam recordings, so the quality of these videos will get better!))

[Requiemking]

Heh, the first mech I bought was the MLX Prime, and by was I having fun with it. Recently, I played around with the D, and the LB2X+2ERSL build is terribly fun.

[BWS2K]

I just bought an MLX-D actually but haven't taken it for a spin outside the testing grounds yet. I also spent some of my precious MC to get a Smoke Jaguar camo and then used basic red for the primary, fitting the 'Mechmas theme. <3

[Requiemking]

BWS2K, on 17 December 2016 - 10:26 AM, said:

I just bought an MLX-D actually but haven't taken it for a spin outside the testing grounds yet. I also spent some of my precious MC to get a Smoke Jaguar camo and then used basic red for the primary, fitting the 'Mechmas theme. <3

Use the LB2X build I used. The LB2X is basically a slug gun with the critting power of the LBX AC.

[BWS2K]

I haven't posted any videos yet, but I've recorded every match with my MLX-D. Last night I spent all the XP to unlock the Basics and grabbed the cooldown module for the SERLs. I'll swap out the AC tonight.