63 replies to this topic

[Cataphractos]

So I'm starting a new thread, tying together some conversations I've been having in the "Why Do New Players Quit" and "Who Uses Ravens" threads. Hopefully it will be useful to other new players like myself. In any event:

Hello!

First, a review of what I've learned so far.

1. The MWO Portal is broken: download and play through Steam. By doing this, I've reduced my crashes/disconnects from "over half my games" to "between 1/3 and 1/2". Still not great, and not something I can sustain for more than a month or two, but a definite improvement.

2. Lower the mouse sensitivity settings. Consider dialing down the visual settings too. In this game, once the shooting finally starts, you can't afford a second's delay.

3. Remember your cadet bonus money won't last forever. Be careful about which Mechs you buy, and just as importantly, which engine upgrades you buy.

4. There are three different kinds of experience: XP, GXP, and SP. SP (the red one) is what actually matters; it's used to upgrade your Mech. Both XP (the purple one) and GXP (the orange one) only exist to buy SP. Hey -- I didn't design this game. Anyway, you're not going to get a lot of SP, so you have to be careful where you put it; take a look at this website.

http://metamechs.com...es/skill-trees/

5. Two or three tons of ammo per weapon will suffice. Battles aren't long enough for four+ tons, but they last too long for just one ton.

6. NARCs and TAGs are worthless. Yes, there are a lot of missiles flying around; no, your NARC/TAG will not significantly improve their performance.

7. Any weapon with under 20-shots-per-ton is worthless. That includes the AC-20 and its variants, every Gauss Rifle except for the "Light" version, and...probably all the missile weapons. Leave these weapons to veteran players, who are much better at aiming than you.

8. A light Mech that runs slower than 100 k.p.h. is worthless. (Possible exception: the infamous Urbie, which I haven't actually tested yet.) Any other Mech that runs slower than 70 k.p.h. is also worthless. Because...

9. In practice, combat occurs at ranges between 100 and 300 meters. Especially for new players, the only successful tactic is a concentrated frontal assault, which means you need to close in quickly and then dash back and forth between hills, rocks, buildings, and/or Assault Mechs. But the key word is "concentration": if your team is spread out over multiple grid-squares on the map, you are going to lose.

10. You want your heat management score to be somewhere between 1.5 and 2.0...but you also want to use trial Mechs as long as possible, and their heat management is usually not great. Shoot two or three times, then wait a few seconds to cool off, then shoot again. "Spray and pray" is suicide.

11. If you must buy a Raven, be very careful both with assigning skill points, and with the gear you remove. Specifically, never remove the BAP.

12. Never chase a Mech that's faster than you. Even if it's a weak model like a Locust or Spider. You'll waste a minute or two running after it, you won't catch it, and then you'll get picked off before you can get back into cover/formation.

[Cataphractos]

Okay, so I'm closing in on the 5-6 million credit range again, and I've hit a conundrum. Bearing in mind that I still don't seem to be very good at hitting things, should I buy a Raven-3L and try the "supporting Light Mech" role again? Or should I buy a Heavy -- obviously a Cataphract, because a "Cataphractos" without a Cataphract is just silly, and obviously either a 2X or 4X, on account of the price -- and tweak it for close-range brawling?

[Peter2k]

nice you made a thread

Cataphractos, on 17 February 2018 - 07:55 PM, said:

"Cataphractos" without a Cataphract is just silly, and obviously either a 2X or 4X,

or
you look in your messages and try to run the Ebon Jag I've send ya

while you grind for some more c-bills at least
some build options, as its an Omni mech (means can switch out arms, torso and so on, all but the CT)
https://mwomercs.com...on-born-builds/


the 4x I guess, bit slow in today's world (was already kinda slow when there weren't any clans) but I'm guessing it could be a fun brawler

Cataphractos, on 17 February 2018 - 09:00 AM, said:

1. The MWO Portal is broken: download and play through Steam. By doing this, I've reduced my crashes/disconnects from "over half my games" to "between 1/3 and 1/2". Still not great, and not something I can sustain for more than a month or two, but a definite improvement.

well running the game in full windowed is helpful mostly
Particles is a performance killer especially

maybe you could post the specs of your RIG again

Cataphractos, on 17 February 2018 - 09:00 AM, said:

2. Lower the mouse sensitivity settings. Consider dialing down the visual settings too. In this game, once the shooting finally starts, you can't afford a second's delay.

absolutely, at least to values that actually work for you (and your setup, like depends on the mous sensitivity/DPI and windows settings as well)

Cataphractos, on 17 February 2018 - 09:00 AM, said:

3. Remember your cadet bonus money won't last forever. Be careful about which Mechs you buy, and just as importantly, which engine upgrades you buy.

personally I haven't tried it yet, but I've seen stated that you can build mechs in the store without buying them first
like you could try building a 4x config you like before spending all those c-bills

also smurfy is your friend
http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab

Cataphractos, on 17 February 2018 - 09:00 AM, said:

6. NARCs and TAGs are worthless. Yes, there are a lot of missiles flying around; no, your NARC/TAG will not significantly improve their performance.

well if the c-bill bonus would be actually good it might do something for you, but yes its wasted
unless you absolutely want to run it, for maybe trolling others or such

but that is something you might want to do when your getting better and have more c-bills

Cataphractos, on 17 February 2018 - 09:00 AM, said:

8. A light Mech that runs slower than 100 k.p.h. is worthless. (Possible exception: the infamous Urbie, which I haven't actually tested yet.) Any other Mech that runs slower than 70 k.p.h. is also worthless. Because...

a light, absolutly

other mechs, well it depends, but faster also means its easier for you
the slower the mech the more positioning matters and the less mistakes you can make as escaping is obviously more difficult in a slow Mech

Cataphractos, on 17 February 2018 - 09:00 AM, said:

11. If you must buy a Raven, be very careful both with assigning skill points, and with the gear you remove. Specifically, never remove the BAP.

was not sure the first time, but maybe you mean the ECM?
as BAP can be equipped by any Mech anywhere as long as there is room and tonnage, but the ECM only goes into the section of the Mech that has that hardpoint for it

Edited by Peter2k, 18 February 2018 - 02:19 AM.

[Horseman]

Cataphractos, on 17 February 2018 - 09:00 AM, said:

7. Any weapon with under 20-shots-per-ton is worthless. That includes the AC-20 and its variants, every Gauss Rifle except for the "Light" version, and...probably all the missile weapons. Leave these weapons to veteran players, who are much better at aiming than you.

1. AC20 and Heavy Gauss are meant to be used at very close ranges. You're supposed to use your energy weapons first and reserve the ammo-based ones until you can line up a good shot.
2. Use them at close to face hugging range. Anything that gets hit by AC/20 or HGR will regret it.
3. SRMs and MRMs are generally used as critseekers.against weakened / exposed components.

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8. A light Mech that runs slower than 100 k.p.h. is worthless. (Possible exception: the infamous Urbie, which I haven't actually tested yet.)

Not exactly worthless, but heavily disadvantaged, mainly because you don't have all that much armor. Lights are not a good investment for a newbie pilot, fast medium mechs are advised instead.

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Any other Mech that runs slower than 70 k.p.h. is also worthless.

Yeah, no. Learn better positioning - in a slow mech, you should be heading to where the engagement will be - advantageous positions, mission objectives, the main heading of enemy force - rather than where it is now . You might also benefit from packing a few longer-ranged weapons on your mech.

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10. You want your heat management score to be somewhere between 1.5 and 2.0...but you also want to use trial Mechs as long as possible, and their heat management is usually not great. Shoot two or three times, then wait a few seconds to cool off, then shoot again. "Spray and pray" is suicide.

Above 1.6 is excessive. 1.4-1.5 is fairly good balance, 1.3 is manageable and under 1.2 is painful.
Your cooling efficiency is not accurate if you're using any UACs (it doesn't take double-tap into account) or Rocket Launchers (they're one-shot, the efficiency counts them as sustained fire).
What I usually do is take my mech into Testing Grounds on Canyon Network, see how the heat management works out in practice and adjust based on that.

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11. If you must buy a Raven, be very careful both with assigning skill points, and with the gear you remove. Specifically, never remove the BAP.

If you must buy a Raven, buy the ECM variant and skill it for ECM first. Note: BAP loses its' counter-ECM properties if paired with an ECM (all you get is the sensor range boost and ability to detect shutdown mechs).

Edited by Horseman, 18 February 2018 - 05:07 AM.

[Horseman]

Cataphractos, on 17 February 2018 - 07:55 PM, said:

Okay, so I'm closing in on the 5-6 million credit range again, and I've hit a conundrum. Bearing in mind that I still don't seem to be very good at hitting things, should I buy a Raven-3L and try the "supporting Light Mech" role again? Or should I buy a Heavy -- obviously a Cataphract, because a "Cataphractos" without a Cataphract is just silly,

CTF-0XP. LFE300, ECM, 4xMPL, UAC-20. Wrecks face.

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and obviously either a 2X or 4X, on account of the price

They come with with Single Heat Sinks (1500 K to equip) and no Endo-Steel (700 K to equip). That means you should add 2.2 mil on top of their base price even before you go into engine (1.8 mil for STD300 or 3.7 mil for LFE300, but the latter is worth the price) and weapon changes (another 1.5 mil or so can go into that) - a 0XP decked out like described above runs at around 14 million total, and that's without accounting for the 4 million you need to fully skill it out.

Edited by Horseman, 18 February 2018 - 02:27 AM.

[Peter2k]

Horseman, on 18 February 2018 - 02:20 AM, said:

CTF-0XP. LFE300, ECM, 4xMPL, UAC-20. Wrecks face.

right, I forgot about that ecm variant


but ahh upgrading an IS Mech

is there a build on the 0XP that he can use until he has the c-bills for an LFE?
edit:
he could just run the build with the std 280 until he could afford the LFE

Edited by Peter2k, 18 February 2018 - 02:30 AM.

[Horseman]

Peter2k, on 18 February 2018 - 02:23 AM, said:

is there a build on the 0XP that he can use until he has the c-bills for an LFE?
edit:he could just run the build with the std 280 until he could afford the LFE

Yes, he can run it with AC/20 (if he has one in inventory) or UAC/20 (4 tons of ammo same as the build I mentioned) and 4xMPL. This still requires Endo-Steel, DHS are obviously recommended.

[Koniving]

Its off on some things.
TAG is useful to help accelerate your missile locks and give you Artemis-style accuracy without the extra weight Artemis needs (for LRMs anyway). Also if you have a ranged shooter, the TAG laser can help you find (and avoid shooting at) invisible walls.. which are defects on some maps. You'll find them most often near pillars, buildings, crash sites and really wild mesh terrain.

NARC is only handy if you have LRMs, Streaks, or friends with the same.

Why not remove the BAP? Only real reason to keep it is if you're dealing with ECM enemies while using lockon weaponry...

I have a lot of mechs slower than 70 kph; they are far from useless. However it is all about not being in front of the enemy or the center of attention. Come in from the side or behind if possible, if you must attack from the front, don't do it alone.

Good luck.

[Kin3ticX]

Cataphractos, on 17 February 2018 - 09:00 AM, said:

So I'm starting a new thread, tying together some conversations I've been having in the "Why Do New Players Quit" and "Who Uses Ravens" threads. Hopefully it will be useful to other new players like myself. In any event:

Hello!

First, a review of what I've learned so far.

1. The MWO Portal is broken: download and play through Steam. By doing this, I've reduced my crashes/disconnects from "over half my games" to "between 1/3 and 1/2". Still not great, and not something I can sustain for more than a month or two, but a definite improvement.

2. Lower the mouse sensitivity settings. Consider dialing down the visual settings too. In this game, once the shooting finally starts, you can't afford a second's delay.

3. Remember your cadet bonus money won't last forever. Be careful about which Mechs you buy, and just as importantly, which engine upgrades you buy.

4. There are three different kinds of experience: XP, GXP, and SP. SP (the red one) is what actually matters; it's used to upgrade your Mech. Both XP (the purple one) and GXP (the orange one) only exist to buy SP. Hey -- I didn't design this game. Anyway, you're not going to get a lot of SP, so you have to be careful where you put it; take a look at this website.

http://metamechs.com...es/skill-trees/

5. Two or three tons of ammo per weapon will suffice. Battles aren't long enough for four+ tons, but they last too long for just one ton.

6. NARCs and TAGs are worthless. Yes, there are a lot of missiles flying around; no, your NARC/TAG will not significantly improve their performance.

7. Any weapon with under 20-shots-per-ton is worthless. That includes the AC-20 and its variants, every Gauss Rifle except for the "Light" version, and...probably all the missile weapons. Leave these weapons to veteran players, who are much better at aiming than you.

8. A light Mech that runs slower than 100 k.p.h. is worthless. (Possible exception: the infamous Urbie, which I haven't actually tested yet.) Any other Mech that runs slower than 70 k.p.h. is also worthless. Because...

9. In practice, combat occurs at ranges between 100 and 300 meters. Especially for new players, the only successful tactic is a concentrated frontal assault, which means you need to close in quickly and then dash back and forth between hills, rocks, buildings, and/or Assault Mechs. But the key word is "concentration": if your team is spread out over multiple grid-squares on the map, you are going to lose.

10. You want your heat management score to be somewhere between 1.5 and 2.0...but you also want to use trial Mechs as long as possible, and their heat management is usually not great. Shoot two or three times, then wait a few seconds to cool off, then shoot again. "Spray and pray" is suicide.

11. If you must buy a Raven, be very careful both with assigning skill points, and with the gear you remove. Specifically, never remove the BAP.

12. Never chase a Mech that's faster than you. Even if it's a weak model like a Locust or Spider. You'll waste a minute or two running after it, you won't catch it, and then you'll get picked off before you can get back into cover/formation.

1. The MWO Portal is broken: download and play through Steam. By doing this, I've reduced my crashes/disconnects from "over half my games" to "between 1/3 and 1/2". Still not great, and not something I can sustain for more than a month or two, but a definite improvement.
Steam has a better patcher, but otherwise they should both work equal. I use steam ever since steam launch.

2. Lower the mouse sensitivity settings. Consider dialing down the visual settings too. In this game, once the shooting finally starts, you can't afford a second's delay.

Good. the default of 1.0 is about 5x too high. I am using ~.2 but it also depends on your DPI. Mine is 1200 and adjustable.

3. Remember your cadet bonus money won't last forever. Be careful about which Mechs you buy, and just as importantly, which engine upgrades you buy.

Yes

4. There are three different kinds of experience: XP, GXP, and SP. SP (the red one) is what actually matters; it's used to upgrade your Mech. Both XP (the purple one) and GXP (the orange one) only exist to buy SP. Hey -- I didn't design this game. Anyway, you're not going to get a lot of SP, so you have to be careful where you put it; take a look at this website.

http://metamechs.com...es/skill-trees/

I dont think metamechs has been refining his skill tree info since the tree launched. You may want to check out
https://mwomercs.com...ence-guide-wip/ (but i havent finished it yet) or hunt down tarogatos guide.


5. Two or three tons of ammo per weapon will suffice. Battles aren't long enough for four+ tons, but they last too long for just one ton.

Sounds about right

6. NARCs and TAGs are worthless. Yes, there are a lot of missiles flying around; no, your NARC/TAG will not significantly improve their performance.

Yeah those hardpoints are better served holding a weapon that does actual damage that doesnt depend on other players

7. Any weapon with under 20-shots-per-ton is worthless. That includes the AC-20 and its variants, every Gauss Rifle except for the "Light" version, and...probably all the missile weapons. Leave these weapons to veteran players, who are much better at aiming than you.

This would be very incorrect

8. A light Mech that runs slower than 100 k.p.h. is worthless. (Possible exception: the infamous Urbie, which I haven't actually tested yet.) Any other Mech that runs slower than 70 k.p.h. is also worthless. Because...

Cougars are just too slow for what they are but the Urbanmech isnt THAT bad, ive seen people pull off crazy stuff in them. Slow lights are supposed to play like glassy mediums but sometimes they end up being both bad at being a light or a medium. Lots of people prefer traditionally fast lights like Wolfhounds and Arctic Cheetas etc.

Saying any mech slower than 70 kph is worthless is just flat out wrong.

9. In practice, combat occurs at ranges between 100 and 300 meters. Especially for new players, the only successful tactic is a concentrated frontal assault, which means you need to close in quickly and then dash back and forth between hills, rocks, buildings, and/or Assault Mechs. But the key word is "concentration": if your team is spread out over multiple grid-squares on the map, you are going to lose.

Hmmm, id say most of the fighting happens at midrange, not 100 meters. You just dont want to yolo in and die right away but you also dont want to hang back soo much you are not sharing armor and are straight up hiding. Just try to keep firing and get good trades, find good places to shoot from.

10. You want your heat management score to be somewhere between 1.5 and 2.0...but you also want to use trial Mechs as long as possible, and their heat management is usually not great. Shoot two or three times, then wait a few seconds to cool off, then shoot again. "Spray and pray" is suicide.

between 1.5 and 2.0 is way too undergunned. This heat rating number has lost value over the years because it doesnt take cooldown quirks, heat quirks, skill tree skills etc into account. It needs a lot of kentucky windage now since they havent updated it. But, generally between 1.2 and 1.4 is a good starting place, and then tweak from there as needed. Brawlers tend to need a bit more cooling and attrition builds tend to be able to tolerate more heat. 2.0 straight up means your mech will NEVER overheat, which means you probably dont have enough guns (unless its a dual gauss mech or a machinegun boat or something).

11. If you must buy a Raven, be very careful both with assigning skill points, and with the gear you remove. Specifically, never remove the BAP.

You only need the BAP for firing Streaks or LRMs through ECM. I forget the range but I think it cuts thru ECM out to ~300-360 meters or something.

12. Never chase a Mech that's faster than you. Even if it's a weak model like a Locust or Spider. You'll waste a minute or two running after it, you won't catch it, and then you'll get picked off before you can get back into cover/formation.

Sure, don't get baited into their bigs, don't overcommit and close your window of escape back to friendly support (unless you are a really stealthy player and can take extra risks getting those sweet backshots)

Edited by Kin3ticX, 18 February 2018 - 02:55 PM.

[Horseman]

Kin3ticX, on 18 February 2018 - 02:50 PM, said:

6. NARCs and TAGs are worthless. Yes, there are a lot of missiles flying around; no, your NARC/TAG will not significantly improve their performance.

Yeah those hardpoints are better served holding a weapon that does actual damage that doesnt depend on other players

TAG is worth it if you have your own lock-on missiles (LRMs, SSRMs, ATMs). And yes, it does substantially improve performance of LRMs..

Quote

11. If you must buy a Raven, be very careful both with assigning skill points, and with the gear you remove. Specifically, never remove the BAP.

You only need the BAP for firing Streaks or LRMs through ECM. I forget the range but I think it cuts thru ECM out to ~300-360 meters or something.

Increases sensor range by 25% and prevents enemy ECM from jamming your locks up close. How far away you can detect ECMed mechs depends on their ECM skill nodes (which together with ECM system reduce the range at which the mech can be detected).

Edited by Horseman, 18 February 2018 - 03:42 PM.

[Dragonporn]

I was sure this thread is about Cataphracts, oh well...

My 2 cents on some points:
1. Whenever I can get client though non-steam I always going for it, and so far MWO portal works perfectly well. I think there might be rare cases of people having issues with one thing or another, but I wouldn't generalize anyway. Choose whatever you like more.
5. Highly depends on specific weapons loadouts. I doubt if you boating tons of LRMs, you can get away with couple of tons.
6. NO! Narcs are a gift from the gods. If player wants to try scout role and learn to provide support for the team, having Narcs is literally invaluable.
TAG is extremely useful as well, but there could be cases when it's somewhat less useful, like your energy hardpoints are somewhere near ground. If you can stick it somewhere high and comfortable, always go for it. It helps other dudes with missiles and you can even heavily damage or outright wreck brawlers hunting for you if you are in decent position and know how to move.
7. Again, depends. I'm pretty sure some people would feel comfortable with AC-20s, and any Gauss Rifles are pretty easy to use, while they can be very efficient. Several times I managed to 1 hit kill some light mechs with single Gauss shot (engine kill).
8. Assault can barely push past 70, seriously, not every mech needs speed, especially not walking firing fortresses...
9. Highly depends on map and other different factors like team general loadout, etc. I had handful of matches where 100-300 meters was a cleanup, and game won/lost while we still were at long range.
10. Can't speak for others but for me trial mech builds are simply abysmal... I'd recommend any new player to buy any first mech and start levelling it ASAP. More fun and much more profit.
11. What's so special about the Raven? It's flexible, not the most fragile in lights, relatively fast (with top XL taht is) and why the hell anyone would need BAP for x2 ER Large sniper f.e.?...
12. But if you manage to leg it during chase and then slowly and painfully kill it, making it feel how fragile and helpless it is, that so much fun to be had...

[Cataphractos]

Peter2k, on 18 February 2018 - 01:47 AM, said:

you look in your messages and try to run the Ebon Jag I've send ya

Sure, if you want to do it the EASY way. I won't be taking it out for a test drive until...this coming evening, probably? Maybe tomorrow evening. Anything I should know about Ebon Jaguars and/or gift Mechs before then? As far as I can tell, you're supposed to use them like direct-fire Mad Cats. (Yeah, I know they're "officially" Timber Wolves, but I was introduced to BattleTech through MC2 and MW4, so they'll always be Mad Cats to me.)

Quote

well running the game in full windowed is helpful mostly
Particles is a performance killer especially

I'll try full-window, thanks!

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also smurfy is your friend
http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab

I'll take a look. I've noticed "Smurfy" gets mentioned a lot here on the forums, so it's clearly something I should look into.

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other mechs, well it depends, but faster also means its easier for you

the slower the mech the more positioning matters and the less mistakes you can make as escaping is obviously more difficult in a slow Mech

Gotcha. I'm operating under the assumption that I'll be making a lot of mistakes, and that other new players will too.

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was not sure the first time, but maybe you mean the ECM?
as BAP can be equipped by any Mech anywhere as long as there is room and tonnage, but the ECM only goes into the section of the Mech that has that hardpoint for it

Oh, no, I definitely mean the BAP. At one point, I stripped everything out of my herpy-derp Raven, and the BAP still refused to install anywhere. So I screamed "the BAP is the whole reason I bought the 3L!" and in a fit of noob rage I just sold the whole kit-and-caboodle.

[Cataphractos]

Horseman, on 18 February 2018 - 02:06 AM, said:

AC20 and Heavy Gauss are meant to be used at very close ranges. You're supposed to use your energy weapons first and reserve the ammo-based ones until you can line up a good shot.

The trick is surviving until you get to "very close ranges". At this point in my own development, and especially based on what I've seen from my fellow Tier 5s...I don't have much confidence about this. Which is why I said "leave these weapons to veteran players" -- I'm sure somebody can use them, just not me and the rest of the noobs/PUGs.

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Above 1.6 is excessive. 1.4-1.5 is fairly good balance, 1.3 is manageable and under 1.2 is painful.

Hmm. I haven't personally experienced a plateau at 1.6, 1.7, etc. But thinking back, I can see I was relying a lot on continuous fire in those first 20-30 games -- in order to balance my inaccuracy -- which is probably bad practice in the long run. Okay, I'll stick to 1.4-1.6.

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If you must buy a Raven, buy the ECM variant and skill it for ECM first. Note: BAP loses its' counter-ECM properties if paired with an ECM (all you get is the sensor range boost and ability to detect shutdown mechs).

Really? I mean, I'm sure you're correct, but that seems...well...dumb. Massively dumb. Once again, I didn't design this game, but...what is the point of having an EW device that doesn't work when it's paired with a second EW device? Who would invent something like that? Who would approve it? And why? "That's right, General, our electronic warfare measures will have no synergy with each other whatsoever! In fact, we're working on a prototype that, if you so much as turn it on, your whole squad explodes!" "Brilliant, Professor, the enemy will never expect that! Keep up the good work!"

[Cataphractos]

Horseman, on 18 February 2018 - 02:20 AM, said:

...a 0XP decked out like described above runs at around 14 million total, and that's without accounting for the 4 million you need to fully skill it out.

On the one hand: aw, balls. On the other hand: doesn't the "if you want this to actually be playable, you'll have to spend more money than the sticker price" argument apply to every Mech in the game? I honestly don't know.

[Peter2k]

Cataphractos, on 18 February 2018 - 11:36 PM, said:

On the one hand: aw, balls. On the other hand: doesn't the "if you want this to actually be playable, you'll have to spend more money than the sticker price" argument apply to every Mech in the game? I honestly don't know.

PGI usually follows lore builds, means IS Mechs are usually all old tech, single Heatsink no endo/ferro, std engines

Clan techs come lore wise with upgraded tech


So basically there is a reason why clan Mechs are more expensive, they come with double Heatsinks and so on


Now the ebon Hero
You click on the link in the message to get to the "redeem" page, copy and paste the code and redeem the thing
Usually on the next login it should have arrived


It's an Omni Mech, means you can swap out all Mech parts (sides, arms,...) except the center torso

So basically
If you want to run ballistic with the hero you can, wanna use more lasers, that works, a more missile centric build? Can make that work
Without having to buy and level up another Mech
As IS Mechs are battlemech, means the hardpoint they have is what you get

On the downside an Omni can't change the engine, and a few other things
While BattleMechs can change the complete loadout

I'd say for a new player a single omni Mech is probably better until you got some matches and plenty of c-bills going

Edit:
A hero also comes with a paint job and a boost to all c-bill earnings (30%)
But what makes clan Omni hero Mechs stand out is that you can put on basically any kind of loadout (well within reason) while IS hero's are boxed into the hardpoint choices that they come with

So I imagine the ebon Hero to be more useful

Edited by Peter2k, 19 February 2018 - 01:11 AM.

[Cataphractos]

Koniving, on 18 February 2018 - 09:05 AM, said:

Its off on some things. TAG is useful to help accelerate your missile locks and give you Artemis-style accuracy without the extra weight Artemis needs (for LRMs anyway).

Sure...if you have missiles. It seems to be a matter of dogma that new players shouldn't, and based on my experience, that dogma is fully justified. My own accuracy is poop, and I don't see anyone else in Tier 5 shooting much better. While I was spectating, I once saw a player fire a full salvo of LRMs into a rock...and then, 4 or 5 seconds later, they fired a second full salvo of LRMs into that same rock. I'm not sure that TAG would help in those circumstances.

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I have a lot of mechs slower than 70 kph; they are far from useless. However it is all about not being in front of the enemy or the center of attention. Come in from the side or behind if possible, if you must attack from the front, don't do it alone. Good luck.

True...if you're a player who knows what he or she is doing, and on a team who also knows what they're doing. From what I've seen, that's not the case for Tier 5. (And maybe not for Tiers 4 and 3 either.) That's why I emphasized the importance of the frontal assault. We're not talking about tactical geniuses who can pull off double-envelopments and feigned-retreats: we're talking about people who shoot their LRMs into rocks. Totally agree on the "not doing it alone" bit, though, which is why I also emphasized concentration of force.

[Horseman]

Cataphractos, on 18 February 2018 - 11:36 PM, said:

On the one hand: aw, balls. On the other hand: doesn't the "if you want this to actually be playable, you'll have to spend more money than the sticker price" argument apply to every Mech in the game? I honestly don't know.

Absolutely. The 4 million is something you'll have to spend on any mech over a period of time to buy the SP (and you may end up spending more if you decide to change your Skill Tree nodes for optimization or to match a different build you've changed to)

Cataphractos, on 18 February 2018 - 11:23 PM, said:

The trick is surviving until you get to "very close ranges".

Yes, which is something every one of us had to learn and which you also have to learn if you want to build for brawling ranges. Really, though, once you get the hang of it, it will help you at any range you fight in.
That's also why ECM is helpful (but remember to skill the ECM nodes ASAP, otherwise your ECM is half as effective as it would be otherwise)

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At this point in my own development, and especially based on what I've seen from my fellow Tier 5s...I don't have much confidence about this. Which is why I said "leave these weapons to veteran players" -- I'm sure somebody can use them, just not me and the rest of the noobs/PUGs.

If you want to brawl, it's essential that you learn it. There's no "but".

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Hmm. I haven't personally experienced a plateau at 1.6, 1.7, etc. But thinking back, I can see I was relying a lot on continuous fire in those first 20-30 games -- in order to balance my inaccuracy -- which is probably bad practice in the long run. Okay, I'll stick to 1.4-1.6.

Try to picture your DPS as a curve against time. In most mechs, high heat efficiency comes at expense of firepower - you deal consistent DPS, but have to stay exposed to enemy fire for longer, attract fire from more enemy mechs and as a result die earlier than you would if you dealt a burst of damage and broke off into cover / rotated with a fresher teammate while your mech cools down.
Does it make more sense now?

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Really? I mean, I'm sure you're correct, but that seems...well...dumb. Massively dumb. Once again, I didn't design this game, but...what is the point of having an EW device that doesn't work when it's paired with a second EW device? Who would invent something like that? Who would approve it? And why?

Design-wise it's most likely because your ECM already has a counter functionality and the designer wanted you to have to choose between one or the other.

Edited by Horseman, 19 February 2018 - 01:39 AM.

[Koniving]

Cataphractos, on 19 February 2018 - 12:24 AM, said:

Sure...if you have missiles. It seems to be a matter of dogma that new players shouldn't, and based on my experience, that dogma is fully justified. My own accuracy is poop, and I don't see anyone else in Tier 5 shooting much better. While I was spectating, I once saw a player fire a full salvo of LRMs into a rock...and then, 4 or 5 seconds later, they fired a second full salvo of LRMs into that same rock. I'm not sure that TAG would help in those circumstances.

Something a lot of players don't realize.. Missile flight path can only do so much. Fire on enemies out in the open, once they get into cover its time to find a new target. Also targets must be held, aim at a target to get the lock and hold the lock for the entire duration of the missile's flight, otherwise the missiles will stop tracking and be worthless.

For those using LRMs, I cover it rather extensively in the following two videos. In the first one, in a matter of less than two and a half minutes I rack up 500+ damage and disintegrate two enemies with practically zero effort. Mind you this is using a joke build with less armor than a stock Locust on a 65 ton mech. The point is they can be super effective.

In the second one, which admittedly is really long, I cover a lot of stuff for literally brand new players. Everything from weapon group, to when to engage and when not to, fighting retreats, positioning, just about everything one can possibly do within 2 long matches. The second match contains tips for less-than-new players. First match 598 damage, 4 assists. Last one to die though up to the very end I did my best to keep the other player alive for as long as possible. Pretty decent considering what I spent my time doing for teaching purposes. Second match 411 and 1 kill 2 assists. Third from last to die. (I'd like to think it was pretty good, since this specific mech was infamous for dying easily due to gigantic side torsos and an XL engine, most had called it the most useless trial mech to have ever been released which is why I did the video. This is also my first and second times using this trial...however I had a lot of Stalker experience.)

[Horseman]

Koniving, on 19 February 2018 - 01:49 AM, said:

For those using LRMs, I cover it rather extensively in the following two videos. In the first one, in a matter of less than two and a half minutes I rack up 500+ damage and disintegrate two enemies with practically zero effort. Mind you this is using a joke build with less armor than a stock Locust on a 65 ton mech. The point is they can be super effective.

However, they are also quite easy to be useless with and promote bad gameplay habit. I'd recommend getting some familiarity with different maps and modes before trying to use them.

[Yondu Udonta]

The only Cataphract I will recommend OP to buy is the Ilya. Ridiculous quirks on this monster; armor, cooldown, velocity, range. Load it with ballistics and watch it kill everything. Only problem with this mech is what it shares with all other Cataphract variants which is the low arm mounts.