10 replies to this topic

[DetroitRockFan]

I don't see where to get weapons, armor, heat sinks. Unlike Mercenaries and Black Knight in the MechWarrior 4 games. I want to change things like this in any of the Mechs available, for my happiness. I stopped playing MechWarrior, single player fps, since about 2007. I didn't purchase any Mech yet, just not content with what's available, because I want to change and add things for my personal advantage. Also, the UI is fast. I liked MechWarrior 4, also 3 and 2. I missed Pirates Cove, so far. I have been too busy working since 2007 to play. Going through a slow time to get work. Production stands still when sales are down. So, what's up? How do I get weapons, armor and Heat sinks to swap out. Don't tell me these things weigh more, I already know. I remove what I discern is unusable for me.

[Zoeff]

If you want to customize your mechs then you cannot use a trial mech, gotta buy one then customize it. If you've gone through the tutorial and played 25 matches then you should have enough cbills to buy a medium mech AND customize it.

[Mole]

Yes, you have to own a 'mech before you can customize it. Once you own a 'mech simply customize it in the 'mechlab the way you want and when you save the changes the game will automatically tally up the cost of the modifications and charge you and give you the items you put on your new 'mech. Assuming you have the correct amount of funds available that is.

Also, welcome to Mechwarrior Online. I hope you like it enough to stick around.

Edited by Mole, 19 April 2017 - 10:26 AM.

[SPencil]

You *can* modify builds of trials and mechs you do not own, but you can't save or use them on the battlefield. At that point it's experimentation before a purchase.

Starting with a medium or heavy mech is the the recommended path for new pilots: lights live fast and die fast, assaults are immediate focus-fire targets and take hits like brick walls.

[MechaBattler]

They seriously need to include a Mechlab tutorial in the MechWarrior Academy. A lot of the new player complaints I see in reviews refer to our mechlab as 'unintuitive'. Sure is at first. My brother can attest to that. But once you realize how it works, it's a breeze.

[Rogue Jedi]

to be clear, to customise a Mech;
first you must own a Mech, go to the store and buy one for Cbills.
before buying your own Mech I strongly advise completing the tutorial and the first 25 games which will get you enough cbills to buy and outfit any 1 Mech,
I also advise you to try most of the trial Mechs, to figure out what you like, if you like one of the trials buy a varient of that chassis, otherwise take notes and come back here to ask for advise
when you own a Mech go to the Mechlab and literaly just drag and drop componants onto the Mech,

Battlemechs allow you to change engines and has sliders for heatsink strocture, armor and missile guidance system types.
Omnimechs (if it has a prime varient it is an omni) have locked armor, structure and heatsink types as well as a locked engine and sometimes other componants but allow you to fit the omnipod with the hardpoints, for e.g. an arm, from another varient to get weapon hardpoints from that other varient

when you have finished customising to your taste click save/buy to save your loadout and buy any parts you did not already own.

there are also options to add decales customise the paint job, and add cockpit items, however most of the cosmetic stuff requires MC purchased with real money to buy/unlock

Edited by Rogue Jedi, 19 April 2017 - 12:18 PM.

[process]

For new players who haven't put hard cash into the game, you have a limited selection of trial mechs which you can pilot for free. The caveat is you cannot customize them or unlock skills with Mech XP, although you do accrue Mech XP while playing which you can spend once you've purchased that mech.

The idea is, as a F2P player, you get to sample a range of chassis and weight classes. Your first 25 matches will get you bonus Cbills, with which you can purchase your first mech that will then be fully customizable.

You should head over to Smurfy to see what builds you can create in-game: http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/

There's a lot more minutiae that isn't spelled out very clearly in-game, so ask as many questions as you need.

Edited by process, 19 April 2017 - 11:21 AM.

[762 NATO]

Welcome! Stick around! Read up on the "New Player Guides" that so many have made. I highly recommend the ones by Koniving and Nightmare1. Beware the salt and enjoy!

Cheers!

[Koniving]

DetroitRockFan, on 19 April 2017 - 09:51 AM, said:

I don't see where to get weapons, armor, heat sinks. Unlike Mercenaries and Black Knight in the MechWarrior 4 games. I want to change things like this in any of the Mechs available, for my happiness. I stopped playing MechWarrior, single player fps, since about 2007. I didn't purchase any Mech yet, just not content with what's available, because I want to change and add things for my personal advantage. Also, the UI is fast. I liked MechWarrior 4, also 3 and 2. I missed Pirates Cove, so far. I have been too busy working since 2007 to play. Going through a slow time to get work. Production stands still when sales are down. So, what's up? How do I get weapons, armor and Heat sinks to swap out. Don't tell me these things weigh more, I already know. I remove what I discern is unusable for me.

The "trial mechs" are a selection of mechs that you can 'borrow' or use. These also happen to be "Champion" mechs which are community designed... and sold by PGI with an experience bonus.

My advice -- don't buy champions. They're just pre-modified regular mechs with an XP bonus (which is about useless as more than a shortcut).

Under Store in game, you will find a collection of mechs. Like a lot of them. You will want to look at ones for cbills (which is almost all of them except Heromechs and Champions) and make a choice out of them for your first mech.

If you own a mech you can customize it as often as you please.

--

Side note: I have a new player guide?
Well I've made some things but I don't think I made a real guide. (Then again I've been around so long, who knows.)

[Rogue Jedi]

Koniving, on 19 April 2017 - 11:29 AM, said:

Side note: I have a new player guide?
Well I've made some things but I don't think I made a real guide. (Then again I've been around so long, who knows.)

maybe not a dedicated guide, but as with many of us long term new player helpers you have made more than a few very good "how to get started" posts

[SnagaDance]

As for tinkering with mechs before you decide to buy them, there's this great website:

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

Just click on a mech name and it will take you into it's 'mechlab', showing you the base lay-out which you have absolute freedom to change (within the rules of the game of course). You can subsequently save your lay-out as a weblink that you can use to recreate your build when followed (I personally have a Gmail thread with myself filled with MWO Smurfy builds).

The website is also filled will all kinds of other info like Mech quirks and weapon stats.

Check it out, it's great.