32 replies to this topic

[AJBennett]

Hello everyone,

I'm new to MWO and just wanted to shout out to the community, I'm looking forward to either teaming with or playing against everyone. See you out there!

[Koniving]

Mmm...
Fresh meat.

Huh? Oh, just made some steak.

Welcome to MWO, might see you sometime.

In the mean time, be sure to check out the academy for basic training (there are tiny glitches associated with 'switching mechs' in the academy and they can be solved by powering off [P] and powering on again [Also P]. They are primarily HUD-related.) The "Trial mechs" are [C]ommunity made versions of regular mechs that are given MWO-friendly loadouts. You can 'buy' them to own and tweak them but my personal advice is don't; you can get the regular mechs and just spruce them up yourself for without spending any money.

By the time you do 25 matches you should have enough to buy almost any mech in the game. But go a little longer before you do so you have plenty of money on the side to customize with, too. It's a learning process.

You can always check back here for advice; though I'll tell you right now the generic recommendation is the Hunchback (not the IIC versions) and the Huntsman. If you really don't know how you want to play, those two work wonders for figuring that out since they can do 'almost' anything. If you do know how you want to play by then, let us know and you'll get more specialized answers for your first 'Mech.

With a lot of past knowledge about Mechwarrior games of the days of yore, it took me 2 weeks to get my first kill. So don't get discouraged, this game can be brutal until you learn the ins and outs. One of the things that attributed to it was that I believed you'd get bonus damage for shooting into exposed internal, like into the shoulder of a mech with its arm blown off -- this is wrong; you will actually encounter 60% damage resistance. So uh, it's good to know that. You do get bonus damage for shooting into exposed internals -- but not the visually exposed ones; just the sections where the armor is gone... which stops giving bonus damage when the body part no longer shows on the damage display (and then gets 60% damage resistance before it transfers to the next body part).

Here's how to net your good kills.

• Headshots? Super quick, but the spots to net them are so hard to hit and you must get about 35 damage to guarantee the headshot to kill. Not worth it. Don't bother.
  
• Legs? Legs like to break. Slows down fast things, makes them limp, and this helps out a lot if you're quick. Or if they're too quick, broken legs don't run very fast. Just remember which one you destroyed and then break the other... if you forget, you might end up wasting your time or dying after a very angry mech complains about you interrupting his walk on the beach -- using his big guns to do the talking.
  
• The "side" torso. Some mechs die to this. But not all. It depends on if they're using an Inner Sphere XL engine. If their lasers are pink or yellow, don't even bother doing this because those are Clan mechs. Clan mechs need to lose both side torsos to die. Unless it's about to break, then do it because you'll probably remove half of their weapons -- and that's worth doing.
  
• The "Center" torso. Kills anything. It's usually the hardest way to kill anything since it has a lot of health. Unless you do it from behind.... But if you really, really, REALLY need something dead and you're the center of attention, go for the upper groin. He can't block it, he can't protect it, and it's center torso. It's cheap, it's desperate, but it works.

Good luck.

Oh, one more thing...
Until you do know what you're doing and you're confident in it... Remember this creed:
"The first one in is the first one dead."
Never be the first one into battle. No need to rush to the coffin.

Soften the enemy before committing close in.

[AJBennett]

Thanks for the advice Koniving, I bought the basic IS Locust as my first "real" mech...its inexpensive, and was my first mech in Battle-Tech (tabletop), so its a nostalgia thing too!


"...in the 31st century life is cheap, Mechs aren't."

Edited by AJBennet, 17 July 2017 - 06:42 AM.

[Koniving]

Oh, a quick tidbit about the HUD.

At any time you can hit Escape and see a list of stuff on the bottom left. Ignore that for now, instead find elements of the HUD and click on them; you'll get information.

Still, a quick rundown of the most important stuff:

This is after a brutal 3 on 1 battle against a 35 tonner, a 90 tonner, and a 65 tonner as an 85 tonner.

On the bottom left, you can see I'm all jacked up. Limping, no arms, I'm in bad shape. The "Outlines" are armor. You can see I have almost none left. The "Filler" is structure, your internals like bones and guts.

Speaking of guts, see the weapons display on the right? I've been "gutted." I have a single functioning weapon and 7 shots left in it. Everything else has been destroyed either from limb destruction or internal damage.

Note on weapons: Red is destroyed. Black is ineffective (if you aim to far beyond it's range, it turns black letting you know you will do no damage). Yellow is sub-optimal damage, anything from 0.01 damage to just barely below what it should be doing will be yellow. Green is full damage.

(Note: This display is temporarily not functional and I hope that PGI fixes it, in the meantime it features some goofy animation instead) on the far left monitor is a heatsink display. That's the heatsinks in my mech (note: Engines come with heatsinks that you don't see; a 250 engine has 10, 225 has 9, 200 has 8, etc. 275 gives a slot for an 11th heatsink; the engine itself will never come with more than 10). Note that most of those heatsinks are also fried. As heatsinks become destroyed, firing the same weapon will be hotter and hotter and take more time to cool off (the weapons themselves don't get hotter but your maximum allowed heat decreases, so the percentage of heat generated to maximum heat goes higher for each heatsink lost).
(Ammunition screen on the right's been broken for a while; it also does a fancy but pointless graphic instead)

The enemy damage display has its left/right reversed as if facing you. It will be in the upper right. You will also get his weapon list.

Center bottom display: Minimap. To the left is the throttle (between them would be jumpjet timer if you have any jumpjets). To the right is heat. (Between them is "Coolshot" amount if you have any of the coolshot consumable).

Quick tidbit on weapons:
Smaller weapons have short range, larger ones have long range. EXCEPT Autocannons and Missiles (which have identical ranges for all versions of their individual type "SRM" is short "MRM" is medium and "LRM" is long. "ATM" is all 3 but does more damage at close and little at long.

There's a reason autocannons have short range for big guns but it isn't apparent in MWO since PGI favored "Big tank cannons" instead of the lore proper "airship giant machine guns" in terms of the autocannon aesthetic. This does set autocannons apart from the Rotary autocannons, though. So there is that.

[Koniving]

AJBennet, on 17 July 2017 - 06:41 AM, said:

Thanks for the advice Koniving, I bought the basic IS Locust as my first "real" mech...its inexpensive, and was my first mech in Battle-Tech (tabletop), so its a nostalgia thing too!


"...in the 31st century life is cheap, Mechs aren't."

Then you know that thing can die very, very easily. Be very careful, don't be afraid to funnel almost all the armor forward, and until you're confident (and fill out the mobility tree) it might be pertinent to fight at range.

On a side note... This video meant for someone else and Hunchback 4Hs has a scene in which a Locust finds me, and between fighting the Locust and going head first into 6 mechs that are BIGGER than me, I chose the 6 mechs as I felt I'd have a better chance against them. So that might tell ya something for the long run if you are willing to stick with it.
(Link is shortcutted to the build up right before him.)

[Koniving]

Oh, be sure to grind some stuff today.
https://mwomercs.com...ts?t=201707loot
It's the last day of this event. If you get a match score of 100, check back on that site within 2 to 15 minutes after that match and you should be able to reach into the loot bag for free stuff.
The cbills are very handy, equipment you can sell; and sometimes you'll get MC, GXP, etc..

I would have you team up with me, but then we'd get into the group queue. You can check this thread for an idea of how brutal that was (there's little to no balancing for skill there and tiny groups have only the advantage of weight, nothing else.)

Edited by Koniving, 17 July 2017 - 07:11 AM.

[AJBennett]

Thanks for the heads-up, got...

Cockpit Item : Hanging Duct Tape

Consumable : C-bill Artillery

<o

[Koniving]

Duct tape is super handy.
It was required to slap this AC/5 on my Locust.


(Just kidding.)

That reminds me.
Artillery and other consumables must be equipped in the mechlab before you can use them. It's one of the home/end/insert/delete/pageup/pagedown buttons; look in the options menu).
It will go, out to 2,000 meters (reliably; must be something you can see) and will create a red smoke. Strike happens soon after. It will land where you place the "o" crosshair. If the + and o crosshairs are in the same place it just goes where you aim. If you change where the "o" crosshair is pointing, it will go there... (To use the o independent of +, you must have armlock off and can use left CTRL to take full control; Locusts don't get much if any benefit from this however).

Edited by Koniving, 17 July 2017 - 08:41 AM.

[HIGH LORD KIT FAWKS THE WATCHFUL]

My first mech back when I started was a Locust, I mained Locust for a very long time. It is definitely the school of hard knocks when it comes to developing technique, but it is absolutely worth the effort.

Front load your armor, leave 3-4 armor in all the "rear" slots. Load out with double heat sinks, endo, and an X190. Mainline energy weapons like Medium Pulse, Medium, or Small pulse, or Small laser. I recommend medium lasers or medium pulse to give yourself range.

If you happen to like being a total *** to the enemy team, I like the Locust PB which carried ECM. Very good for making mechs hate you in lower tiers. If you favor more energy get the LCT with the most energy hardpoints (I'm forgetting its name), and learn to "Boom n' zoom" (driveby runs) your enemy in the rear before disappearing. The 1v carries a very nice perk, put a LPL on it and you will fire nearly as fast as if you'd had two on it, seriously a fun poke mech.

If you find yourself tempted to burn your money on mechs, don't. Master the type you have, learn from it, then move on but only after mastering the one you have. The only real way to learn how to position, fight, and move is to stick with it for a long time an get it right.

BTW

If you ever feel like seriously goofing off, the LCT and the UM are the two most fun chassis you can have in this game while still wearing clothes. Nothing will get the pulse running more than being the last light standing, weaving in between enemies to make them shoot one another, blindsiding their STs and RTs or Legs as you run, no armor left and someone locking you with missiles. THAT is high stress, and it is fun. UM is all about being that "RESPCT MAH AUTORITAH" mech, carrying an absurdly large gun you shouldn't be, and making people regret underestimating you. Play smart in both and they are just as effective as any mech in the game. Play drunk in both and by my own God King blood you will have a hoot of a time

[Rogue Jedi]

AJBennet, on 17 July 2017 - 06:41 AM, said:

I bought the basic IS Locust as my first "real" mech...its inexpensive, and was my first mech in Battle-Tech (tabletop), so its a nostalgia thing too!


"...in the 31st century life is cheap, Mechs aren't."

outfitting the locust will not be cheep ether, it may just cost 2 million to buy but outfitting will probably cost an extra 4+ million to get it to anything like its best ^{(that is a general rule with most Light Battlemechs, budget double the purchase price to outfit, however Light Omnimechs are a lot cheeper to outfit)}.

if you want the Locust to its best you will want an XL engine, probably an XL190 my opinion is the bigger engine the better for a Locust as speed is its armor, it does not realy have physical armor, as you require 10 heatsinks to use a Mech and engines get 1 heatsink for every 25 of engine rating upto 250 (and a slot for an extra heatsink from 275) the 175+ rated engines need an extra 3 heatsinks, 150-170 require an extra 4, 125-145 need 5 and 100-120 need 6 extra sinks, you will also want Endo Steel internals ^{(weight savings in exchange for 14 slots)}, Double Heat Sinks ^{(physicly larger but the built into engine sinks are almost twice as powerful as singles, however removable heatsinks are only about 30% better)} and maybe also Fero Fibrus armor ^{(less weight saving than endo for 14 slots, always take endo first and only add fero if you have enouth slots left over to do something useful with after putting on all you can)}if you have the free slots, that gives 6.5 tons for weapons and other equipment with the 85-190, 7 tons with the 175-180 and 7.5 tons with the 150-170 and near max armor, although the 170 would only leave 5 slots free if you take fero.
something like this should be a good starting point for a Locust build on any varient,
I designed that build on Smurfy's, that site is a realy useful tool, not least because it allows you to figure out what you can do with a Mech and how much it will cost before buying anything, but also because it has detailed information about each Mech and piece of equipment.

[Kaethir]

Koniving, on 17 July 2017 - 07:11 AM, said:

It's the last day of this event. If you get a match score of 100, check back on that site within 2 to 15 minutes after that match and you should be able to reach into the loot bag for free stuff.

One thing of note - the page only updates once an hour at (give or take) about 10 minutes after the hour. So 2 to 15 minutes is a little misleading. But yes, get your loot bags!

[Koniving]

Kaethir, on 17 July 2017 - 09:49 AM, said:

One thing of note - the page only updates once an hour at (give or take) about 10 minutes after the hour. So 2 to 15 minutes is a little misleading. But yes, get your loot bags!

I manage to get my updates within minutes of a match.
<.<

[AJBennett]

Koniving, on 17 July 2017 - 08:30 AM, said:

Duct tape is super handy.
It was required to slap this AC/5 on my Locust.


(Just kidding.)

That reminds me.
Artillery and other consumables must be equipped in the mechlab before you can use them. It's one of the home/end/insert/delete/pageup/pagedown buttons; look in the options menu).
It will go, out to 2,000 meters (reliably; must be something you can see) and will create a red smoke. Strike happens soon after. It will land where you place the "o" crosshair. If the + and o crosshairs are in the same place it just goes where you aim. If you change where the "o" crosshair is pointing, it will go there... (To use the o independent of +, you must have armlock off and can use left CTRL to take full control; Locusts don't get much if any benefit from this however).

This roll of duct tape will make me INVINCIBLE in battle!

[TripleEhBeef]

Welcome aboard. Have fun piloting the Lolcust!

Koniving also recommended the IS Hunchback as a good starter mech, and there's quite a few reasons why.

First off, they're cheap to buy and upgrade. At a bit over 3 million Cbills for a stock mech, one won't eat into your cadet bonus too much, even with Endo Steel and Double Heat Sinks. Then, all you need to do is swap the stock STD 200 for a STD250 and you're pretty much good to go. That single STD 250 can be shared across almost everything in the Hunchback line.

The second advantage is that they're easy to manage. You only need about two or three weapon groups for your hunch gun, arm lasers, and head laser.

Third, most have good quirks to their main weapon and to armour or structure, making them reasonably survivable for their weight class. And the STD 250 gives it a top speed of 81 kph. That's slower than your Locust, but quicker than most heavier mechs.

The 4G and 4SP are probably the best to climb into, though I do love the 4P's laser show. Got some builds right below for them.

HBK 4G

HBK 4SP

[Koniving]

At work till tomorrow. Good luck man.

[AJBennett]

I want to give a big THANK YOU to Koniving, Rogue Jedi, and everyone else for all of the great advice you have given me. Its fortunate that rookies have people like you in the community.

Edited by AJBennet, 18 July 2017 - 07:27 AM.

[Kaethir]

Koniving, on 17 July 2017 - 10:25 AM, said:

I manage to get my updates within minutes of a match.
<.<

You can!*

*If your match ends right about the end of an hour.

Seriously, none of their event pages ever updates faster than once an hour. Ever. This has been true for as long as I've been playing. Once the page updates, the in-game account injection usually happens within minutes, but the event page itself, once an hour.

[Koniving]

Kaethir, on 18 July 2017 - 07:44 AM, said:

You can!*

*If your match ends right about the end of an hour.

Seriously, none of their event pages ever updates faster than once an hour. Ever. This has been true for as long as I've been playing. Once the page updates, the in-game account injection usually happens within minutes, but the event page itself, once an hour.

Are you... refreshing the page or just letting it sit? I refresh the page, and usually within 15 minutes of a match ending it updates for me. They used to go out of their way to say that we need to allow at least 15 minutes for the page to update (back in 2014).

I tend to churn 3 to 8 matches within an hour (depending on how I die) and check shortly after each. Sometimes I go through 2 matches before it updates, but on those sprees I usually get at least 3 updates within an hour.

Edited by Koniving, 18 July 2017 - 08:06 AM.

[Koniving]

AJBennet, on 17 July 2017 - 05:54 AM, said:

Hey there. Wanna help me out in turn? Help me pick out a color?

Suggest two or so, since I'll have a choice for two.

Also welcome pattern/mech suggestions. (No Dazzle; it's a terrible pattern).
(For Locusts, I already have 3 patterns; Buccaneer [Pirate], Mountain Line and Sherman)
(Edit: Also have... Urban block, Dazzle [....why? I don't know], Woodland, and Hotrod. Will take pics tomorrow if you want... but basically will take pattern suggestions for mechs other than Locusts. )

Edited by Koniving, 18 July 2017 - 08:59 AM.

[Doctor Dinosaur]

All those words and nobody cared yet to tell you about the most OP feature you have to use to be a really good player...

Press the R key. Lock on targets, you can't overstate the importance of this.
- You get a paper doll of the enemy mech. Shoot at where the armour is already gone.
- You get the weapons of that mech shown besides the paper doll. There are some advantages of knowing them (some weapons have a minimum range for example)
- Your teammates can see the marked target on their minimap. Maybe someone will move to your position to help you out?
- Teammates may help you by firing their LRM (and soon ATM) at your target. Removing armor and adding cockpit shake might help you out a lot.
- And of course, if you happen to have LRM or Streak missiles you might want to lock targets anyways.

Good hunting
Doc