16 replies to this topic

[Veracor]

Hi all, I picked this game up a week ago at my brother's insistance. The only Mechwarrior game I've played in the past was Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries about 20 years ago so I don't remember it well. Anyways, I seem to be doing decent in unorganized solo queue and have done some research, but I still have some questions that I haven't figured out on my own:

1). If I'm flanking to spot for my team's LRMs (let's assume Polar Highlands was chosen like usual), which enemies should I be pinging in particular? Which enemies should I be NARCing or Tagging if I have them?

2). I do not enjoy sluggish mechs at all. I started with a Stormcrow Prime at some recommendations and I hated how slow it was to turn and accelerate. I'm on an Arctic Cheetah and a Pirate's Bane now and I like them a lot. I'm looking through the list of bigger mechs for ones that don't sacrifice mobility and it seems like the Linebacker and Quickdraw might be the heavies for me due to their max/accel/turn speeds. Is this a correct assumption?

3). How often does stuff that is important for budget players go on sale? Mech Bays and the sort.

4). Sometimes the cockpit flashes blue when running around, both in and out of combat. What does this mean?

5). What kind of situations would you ever use LBX over AC?

6). Faction Play looks complicated so I haven't tried it yet. From what I've gathered, I need to own 4 mechs from one side first and then should go mercenary. Can the career be easily changed later? Should I be fighting for, or joining factions that have minimal/maximum territory? What are some pitfalls in this mode that a fresh player could run into?

7). What's the deal with airline food?

[Cyrilis]

Mkay lets go through point by point...

1) Mark those that you can reach. Stay alive, a dead scout is a useless scout. Mark (NARC) few targets at the same time to concentrate fire. If you have the choice, go for slow targets that have no cover.

2) yup, Linebacker is your mech of choice. Have also a look at those that cam equip a MASK (I favor the CTF-3L and the WRV-7D

3) Sales schedule is not very predictable, sometimes there are 2 comparable sales within 3 months, we also had the case not to have a mechbay sale for more than a year. You just need to keep your eyes open.

4) I only know a red flashing that always comes up when you are 'critically' damaged. I am not aware of a blue flash.

5) if you can put the barrell right up in his face, especially when a component has no armor. (Google critical hit and LBX for more info)

6) thats a big one... there are three career options. Freelancers can fight for both IS and Clan free of contract. Mecenaries need to take a contract for a certain time period for one faction and get raised pay for that time. Loyalists can only fight for one faction. You can always change, but if you break loyalty or a running contract, there will be a fine.
IF YOU ARE NEW TO FW: make sure not to wander in alone. Best go to the recruiting section and find yourself a ew guys that pick you up and explain the details.
You can do it alone, but it will be blood sweat and tears. I seriously recommend you to team up with other players!

7) say no more...

Edited by Cyrilis, 07 September 2017 - 01:45 AM.

[Daggett]

Basically what Cyrilis wrote, but i have some remarks:

2). The Linebacker is indeed a very fast and agile mech for a heavy. I can't look up the numbers right now, but i doubt that it will be much more agile than the Stormcrow, which is a medium mech. So you could be disappointed, you will find no heavy or assault which is comparable to a light mech.

There are some Mediums however that are as agile as an Arctic Cheetah, for example the Viper or the Assassin. I guess those could make you more happy than a fast heavy.

4). Do you have any Radar Deprivation nodes unlocked in the Sensors Skilltree? Radar Deprivation flashes in your Cockpit whenever an enemy loses a lock on you. This flashing is very useful when you want to remain undetected because it tells you that your plan has failed and at least one enemy knows where you are.

5). I'm an LBX-fan because of their crit damage. This makes them better in close-range brawls than normal ACs. They also have no ghostheat, which means an assault can fire four LB10-X at the same time without heat penalties.

Edited by Daggett, 07 September 2017 - 02:29 AM.

[Burning2nd]

Veracor, on 07 September 2017 - 01:20 AM, said:

Hi all, I picked this game up a week ago at my brother's insistance. The only Mechwarrior game I've played in the past was Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries about 20 years ago so I don't remember it well.

have can you have forgotten the best game of all time scrub!


you have some good questions... and ive got some good suggestions.. First off thank you for coming back to mechwarrior,
your choice in mechs is good.. As a dedicated light pilot with 2 pirate bane's you have picked one of thee hardest mechs to use, Its fast its nimble... but its a glass ship... the cheeta is much more beefy... Dont let anyone tell you your mech choice could be better if you did this.. or that... I regularly get 700-900 damge and 300k+ cbills a round out of a 19.9 ton mech,

ok for the specifics

narc targets that are in the open...
or fast movers that are going to flank you (take that shot if you can) narc is not just about missiles its about information

as a retired lrm boat'er (one that would only carry lrms and nothing but lrms) i can tell you that i personally paid no attention to narcs and tags... they where just a tool for tactical info 90% of the lrms id put on a narc's or tagged target wouldnt connect.. because my command module and quarks on my lrm boat were better then the quarks of the tag and narc it self...

The bigger the mech the slower its gonna get... if you can pilot a pb right now and you like it.. your not gonna like anything else... your just gonna end up finding larger lights to pilot... so save your money

despite what all the haters say.... PGI is very very generous with giving stuff away and having sales over the past 5 years ive put maybe 60$ in totally.. but i have 49 mech bays, and dozens of heroes, champs, and specials which is why im able to pull so much money....

Ive never had my cockpit flash blue... check your cables from and to your monitor

lbx is a shot gun ac is a cannon ball... they are basiclly the same but serve what you want them to do.. a lot of this comes in to your aim... some people say this and that.. but its personal preference

and stay away from faction play, It comes with a group of people who are emerged in lore, large groups or recognized players and some cheating... because you'll end up die'n and waiting for games to launch more then actually playing

*it still has problems

and the airplane food is crazy expansive because of scalping from the hurricane *has nothing to do with taste)

Ill leave you where you left off Being told your worthless and not capably of doing anything



Welcome back mechwarriror

Edited by Burning2nd, 07 September 2017 - 03:39 AM.

[Cyrilis]

Daggett, on 07 September 2017 - 02:21 AM, said:

4). Do you have any Radar Deprivation nodes unlocked in the Sensors Skilltree? Radar Deprivation flashes in your Cockpit whenever an enemy loses a lock on you. This flashing is very useful when you want to remain undetected because it tells you that your plan has failed and at least one enemy knows where you are.

seriously?!? I need to check that, I had no Idea!

[The Basilisk]

Veracor, on 07 September 2017 - 01:20 AM, said:

[...]
4). Sometimes the cockpit flashes blue when running around, both in and out of combat. What does this mean?

5). What kind of situations would you ever use LBX over AC?

6). Faction Play looks complicated so I haven't tried it yet. From what I've gathered, I need to own 4 mechs from one side first and then should go mercenary. Can the career be easily changed later? Should I be fighting for, or joining factions that have minimal/maximum territory? What are some pitfalls in this mode that a fresh player could run into?

7). What's the deal with airline food?

4.) Blue or white flashes are your passive radar warning that came once with radardeprivation module. Since that module isn't anymore or better always build in you just have to skill it.

Everytime this thing flashes a Radarlock on you is broken or activated. It is the optic equivalent on your side to the "plip/ plyp" sounds the enemy gets when a mech enters the radar map or leaves it.

5.) For light hunting or together with other extreme close range weapons for killshots on wounded mechs
Also there are some people out there that just can not react that fast and precise....so LBX can actually be a boon for them due to fast projectile spead and spread negating the need to aim exactly and lead that much.

6.) Don'T do faction play untill you have at least a thousand matches under your belt and a group you drop with regularely. If you can't wait until that get ready to get *****.

7.) Consumables me thinks is what you are refering to. Those can be a boon to you and your team.
- UAVs are eyes in the sky with a certain view radius canceling ecm and line of sight.
- Cool shots are refreshment coolant to flush your overheated heat dissipation system to quickly reduce heat.
- Air strikes are bombing markers for friendly aircraft causing a carpet bombardment line from the marker onwards along your current line of sight.
- Artillery strikes are artillery markers causing an artillery bombardment around the set marker.

Edited by The Basilisk, 07 September 2017 - 04:13 AM.

[Daggett]

Cyrilis, on 07 September 2017 - 03:45 AM, said:

seriously?!? I need to check that, I had no Idea!

Like many things it is an undocumented feature, it's about time for some in-game descriptions to be revised...

For reference, i found a video:

Edited by Daggett, 07 September 2017 - 04:18 AM.

[arcana75]

Hi, I'm also a newbie, and like to read and learn from others' questions and answers too. Also, if I may contribute...

1). Don't ping mechs with AMS. Ping slow mechs and light mechs imo. From a distance you can mark 1 eyeball them but if you have sensor lock you can ID mech sizes from the icon on your HUD. A diamond is a light, a diamond with a vertical line is a medium, a horizontal line a heavy and a X an assault. NARC and TAG are nice but have their own pros and cons. NARC is ammo based (12 per ton), has a shorter range 600ish, fires like an SRM, lasts 20 seconds, but you don't need to maintain visuals. TAG has 700ish range but has no ammo and requires you maintain the "laze" on target.

2). Most of the non-light mechs at the start are slow, but once you earn enough money & XP to upgrade, buying bigger engines and activating skill nodes related to speed and turning, things change. I've seen players on videos push a 70 ton Warhammer to 89.4kph. Also, heavier mechs even with speed, are big targets and I don't think the speed will save you from a bad movement mistake compared to a small 130kph light mech.

3). MechCon is in 90 days and Black Friday sooner. Based on previous years they will have stuff happening. Plus there's the ongoing stuff for pre-order mech packs.

6). For you to play FP, you must be in a Unit. Unit membership is based on invite only (or make your own), but you can join GROG it's a casual group the only requirement is to join their discord channel and chat abit (check the forum thread). Once you join you won't be in leadership, so you simply follow the contract your unit's leadership has chosen. Contracts last 7 days then the unit can change or renew the contract. If you're a merc unit, the unit can freely switch between IS and Clan. And yes it's IS vs Clan, no mixing. You don't need to own 4 mechs cuz u can use trial mechs but your deck must have 4 mechs. It's tougher since they aren't optimised (eg non-maxed armour) especially the lighter mechs, and you don't earn XP in trial mechs. There are two modes Scout and Invasion. Scout influences Invasion, as successful Scout missions fill a bar that gives the winning side additional capabilities in Invasion mode eg a full map satellite sweep to show enemies on radar or map-wide radar jam. Scout missions are a 4v4 Light/Medium (most field Mediums) match where one side steals intelligence from data pods scattered around the map (think checkpoint race) and reach the escape drop ship, and the other side prevents this from happening. Most of the time it ends up a 4v4 skirmish. Invasion is a 12v12 match where each player has 4 mechs so it's a huge battle. When you die you load up another mech from your deck and drop in after a counter expires (think respawn in a different mech). The invasion has objectives which are the only objectives for victory and some unique maps/modes like Siege (destroy/defend an orbital cannon), or if it's skirmish then it's over when one side's 48 mechs are all dead. FP Invasion is tricky if you're working for IS cuz Clans have better ranged weaponry and most players like to just snipe and IS players don't realise they'll lose if they just snipe. To balance this, IS invasion decks allow 265 tons, Clans 240, so the IS team has a theoretical 300 tons advantage. But if you look at the IS map, the Clans are steamrolling over the IS. Also because of this, you'll be hard-pressed to get a FP match going cuz people don't want to play FP as much as QP and CP. Partly due to the 4 mech deck which is a hurdle for new players.

Don't let others dissuade you from trying Invasion even with trial mechs. During the recent weekend's event I tried Invasion. I started with 1 owned mech and 3 trials then bought a 2nd. During the event I managed to get 12 extra crates from the FP rewards, most from team victories. BTW an invasion win means 325k CBills bonus from the win itself which is a fat paycheck, and as a newbie, rewards via XP and CBills via this mode are less reliant on individual skill and more on teamwork compared to Quick Play.

7). You're flying the wrong airlines. Some carriers eg ANA, Emirates, SIA, Qantas, all have wonderful food on their international flights.

Edited by arcana75, 07 September 2017 - 05:36 AM.

[Koniving]

You can improve acceleration and turning speed in the skill tree.

There are numerous scenarios for using an lbs over an ac in mwo.

In some instances they are colder. Good for hotter builds.
In some cases (the Clans) they are better. Why shoot a burst of 4 shots which might land in different places when you can fire one and hit one place within a certain range?
https://youtu.be/xrAjOaIvFZM
In some cases you do it to take advantage of superior damage over range. (Acs always have 2x range. Lbx has bounced back and forth at 3x range.)
Some gamble at the dice. Ac 10 for example on the I.S. fires and is either a crit or not a crit. Then if it crits picks 1x 2x or 3x. A single check on each hit. Lb10x checks 10 times and can be many yeses or many noes. Each crit does 15% of its crit damage as extra structure damage. Lbx also now does double damage to crits. So a 1x crit of ac10 does 10crit damage a perfect 1x10 Lb10x crit does 20 crit damage.

[Veracor]

Daggett, on 07 September 2017 - 02:21 AM, said:

2). The Linebacker is indeed a very fast and agile mech for a heavy. I can't look up the numbers right now, but i doubt that it will be much more agile than the Stormcrow, which is a medium mech. So you could be disappointed, you will find no heavy or assault which is comparable to a light mech.

There are some Mediums however that are as agile as an Arctic Cheetah, for example the Viper or the Assassin. I guess those could make you more happy than a fast heavy.

I'm fully aware that none of the heavies are going to match a light for mobility, but I do need to branch out my mech selection. I've had my eyes on the Viper too.

Daggett, on 07 September 2017 - 02:21 AM, said:

4). Do you have any Radar Deprivation nodes unlocked in the Sensors Skilltree? Radar Deprivation flashes in your Cockpit whenever an enemy loses a lock on you. This flashing is very useful when you want to remain undetected because it tells you that your plan has failed and at least one enemy knows where you are.

I had a feeling it had to do with enemy lock-ons, but was assuming it was me getting called or tagged by an enemy. Both of my mechs have the Sensors tree almost entirely allocated (entry level solo queue has a lot of LRMs and radar deprivation helps with that).

Daggett, on 07 September 2017 - 04:18 AM, said:

For reference, i found a video:

Yup, that's exactly it. Not sure if I thought it was blue because of peripheral vision or if its the cockpits of the mechs I'm using, but that's the flashing and sound I've been confused about.

Koniving, on 07 September 2017 - 07:33 AM, said:

Lbx also now does double damage to crits. So a 1x crit of ac10 does 10crit damage a perfect 1x10 Lb10x crit does 20 crit damage.

Ah there it is, the mechanical reason to use LBX over AC. They should put that in the item stats somewhere otherwise it looks like AC is strictly superior (to newbies like me), even after trying them both in Testing Grounds.

Thanks everyone for your responses, I will begin messing around with Linebacker builds and will stay away from Faction Play until I have a group to play with. Still having fun with Quick Play antics, so no rush.

[MechaBattler]

The Wolverine has really good agility for a medium. Probably due to the fact that it's an otherwise unremarkable mech. I think it's actually the most agile medium mech above 45 tons.

[Husker Dude]

1. If you're tagging/NARCing, the primary targets should be the CM mechs (Hellbringers, Shadowcats, and so on). If you NARC a mech and they move next to an ECM mech, your NARC will be cancelled.

2. The Dragon is also pretty strong for a mobile heavy; I thought it had a higher engine cap than the Quickdraw, but they're actually the same.

5. Beyond any crit chance, the IS LBX-10 is a ton lighter and one crit spot less than the standard AC10. I believe this was a popular reason to take an LX over a standard AC in the past.

6. You don't have to be in a unit to sample FW, but I'd advise against trying the solo experience as a new player. Teamwork is the most important aspect, without it matches are very lopsided. Most of the factions will have their own central Teamspeak hubs (the FRR/Kurita one is especially good), and you can usually find a FW looking-for-group channel where you can get picked up by a partial team. It makes the biggest difference in the FW experience.

[Xaat Xuun]

give Faction Play a try, just a taste. it'll give you an idea what and where you need to go for Mech choices.

but, those choices can vary between Map and Mode, So you really need more then just 4 mechs.

[Cyrilis]

Daggett, on 07 September 2017 - 04:18 AM, said:

Like many things it is an undocumented feature, it's about time for some in-game descriptions to be revised...

For reference, i found a video:

Check! thanks for the vid!

[mailin]

There is also a chirp that accompanies the loss of an enemy lock. The flash is for when the lock is acquired.

As far as which mechs to narc or tag, don't waste either on fast mechs. ALWAYS narc and tag assaults and mechs with ECM first. You could add Timberwolves to that list as well. Once they are taken out then keep moving down the food (weight) chain.

[Damnedtroll]

1) One of the big thing about Narc and tag, don't go to far ahead because if you narc them and your team is over 1000m away, it worth nothing to risk your life for it.

Narc or tag target that your team can shot and be able to run for your life back to your team if your spotted because two fast light can take you down fast even if you have a fast heavy.

5) LBX is really good for crits and the bullet is a lot faster than regular ac. You can practically put it in the same group than laser below 300m and for long range, good with erppc that will it just before the lbx pellet volley and can open the way trough the armor. I replaced most of my IS build ac with LBX gun. Love the sound of them but they scare less the enemy.

Edited by Damnedtroll, 09 September 2017 - 12:22 PM.

[Xaat Xuun]

didn't think of it at the time I replied earlier , but for Faction Play, take a look at this
A "quick" Overview Of Fp From An "experienced" Merc Pilot