59 replies to this topic

[Ten Penny]

Tried to convince a friend to play this game, only to run into 4 consecutive wipes (0-12) matches. Needless to say, he was not impressed.

Need advice on a beginner mech that performs well despite limitations of team. Or maybe just best beginner weapons.

I have never really cared about consecutive wipes - however, it does convince some players that the general skill level of the community may be beyond their ability to catch up.

[Y E O N N E]

Hunchback IIC.

Big firepower potential.

Big cooling potential.

Decently fast.

Enhanced mobility with JJs.

Decently survivable (because cXL).

Use the laser vomit. I'd start off with 6x cERML and as many heatsinks as you can fit with a cXL 275 and two JJs. Just keep shooting at anything and everything within range.

A worthy alternative is the Hellbringer.

[Bud Crue]

I guess I'd recommend clan mechs first an foremost. Then probably something with range but not PPCs (unless your friend has good FPS skills) and certainly not LRMs.

Honestly, I don't know. And as a terribad I probably shouldn't be offering advice. I came to this game for the nostalgia and got pulled in by the community. If I came to this game cold, without any past dedication to the MW/BT games of my youth, I am pretty sure I would not put up with the BS of this game, its devs, and their seeming hatred for the NPE. So I guess I just don't know. LPLs?

Edited by Bud Crue, 03 October 2017 - 06:42 PM.

[El Bandito]

Hellbringer. ECM and high mounts. Use lasers (easiest too use weapon) and make your team your meatshield.

[chucklesMuch]

Prolly clan and something that compliments what ever you are dropping in. When I first started a couple of friends were already playing and initally we all dropped in different mechs with different range weapnos and so we all wanted to be in different places on the map. Would have been more fun to work together.

HBK IIC, Hellbringer...

[MischiefSC]

MADIIC, 9MPLs. 4 on the left, 5 on the right. Simple, tanky, good firepower.

[Fox With A Shotgun]

HBR. It's a good jack-of-all-trades mech that has ECM to protect him from all those ebil LRMs. Also got good cooling and good hardpoints, what's not to love?

[Hobbles v]

Hellbringer. Have him get the upgraded ecm skills first. He will be a kiing in tier 5 when no one can lock him for lrms outside 250m.

Edited by Hobbles v, 03 October 2017 - 08:13 PM.

[MadRover]

MischiefSC, on 03 October 2017 - 07:25 PM, said:

MADIIC, 9MPLs. 4 on the left, 5 on the right. Simple, tanky, good firepower.

No thats bad advice Mischief lol

A good beginners mech and I'll list both spheres is

For IS: MAD-3R. Gotta protect that RT though but the 3 AC5 build is really good.
For Clan: HBR 3MLs and 2LPLs with ECM. 'Nuf said that mech runs and lives by lasers.

[Lykaon]

MadRover, on 03 October 2017 - 08:29 PM, said:

For IS: MAD-3R. Gotta protect that RT though but the 3 AC5 build is really good.

Another Marauder to look at is the 5D

heavy PPC
2 MRM 10
4 medium pulse
2 jumpjets
17 DHS
Endo steel
305 LFE
Strip a smidge of armor from head and legs

The advantages is it can engage over several range brackets meaning it can be relevant in more circumstances

Teaches trigger dicipline because it's fairly cool but can over heat from indiscriminate spamming.

Teaches target leading with missiles (MRM) and projectile (Hvy PPC)

Has a durable frame that keeps you in the fight long enough to recover from an error

Teaches weapon group juggling with three distinctive weapons on three groups (not super complex but complex enough)

Remains in the fight even after losing a side torso (unlike the 3R if it's right side is blown off the 5D still has those MRMs) allowing a new player to continue to perform dispite and early mistake that could have cost them most of the firepower on a more "one sided" build.

Has jumpjets


My take is if the mech is so simple a monkey can pilot it then a new player will quickly adapt to playing with the easy one or two button masher build and not really develope meaningful piloting skills.

But the MADIIc medium pulse boat does have it's merits as a button mashing easy to use starter mech.

[Natred]

Assassin or javalin.. quick nimble srm builds. Make sure they never stop moving.. and try not to run in a straight line.. go for back shots ... profit. Hunchback 4p is pretty forgiving.

Clan side huntsman are pretty decent. Ebon jags, hellbringers.. maruader iics.. anything alpha friendly new players tend to struggle with heat management.

[Dark Wooki33 IIC]

+1 HBR

6Erml or 6mpl, ecm and a **** load of dhs.
A new player can experiment with arm mounts, alpha all the time, will have the first shot in lower tiers and the mech will stay usefull later on.

Wouldnt recomend an IS Mech at first, they are more for seasoned players that know how to build mechs.

[Dogstar]

HBR with ECM is ez mode, practically doesn't matter which lasers you boat just use at least six hardpoints and fill the rest of the mech with DHS

[Jay Leon Hart]

I have to agree with the suggestion of a Hunchback IIC (HBK-IIC-A) or Hellbringer (HBR-Prime, may as well start with the best Left Torso OmniPod and build from there). They are suggested frequently because they are solid performers and rather forgiving. Many new players (or players new to Clantech) have been had these suggested since the Skill Tree change and I've seen a good number of thank you posts for how well they performed.

That said, I have to offer an alternative for both weight classes. You should also consider the Huntsman (HMN-P is a good start, all the OmniPods are useful) or Ebon Jaguar (EBJ-A or EBJ-B are both good starting points).

The HMN loses ~8kph to a max-engine HBK IIC. Strip the arms on both and the HMN has ~1 ton more than a max-engine, 1 JJ HBK IIC or ~1 ton less if you don't strip the arms on the HMN.

The EBJ goes as fast as the HBR and trades space for tonnage, ~5 tons (max armour) or ~4.5 tons (strip the arms) for 14 slots. EBJ also lacks ECM and the tightly clustered torso mounted weaponry, instead gaining a better frontal profile and (some) higher torso mounts.

[Vellron2005]

Ten Penny, on 03 October 2017 - 06:33 PM, said:

Tried to convince a friend to play this game, only to run into 4 consecutive wipes (0-12) matches. Needless to say, he was not impressed.

Need advice on a beginner mech that performs well despite limitations of team. Or maybe just best beginner weapons.

I have never really cared about consecutive wipes - however, it does convince some players that the general skill level of the community may be beyond their ability to catch up.

Always and forever - Timberwolf.

By far the most versatile mech in the game, and despite significant nerfs, still awesome and flexible. Able to carry any build and with good speed, easily a great starter mech.

Also, this is a team--based game, so forget about "not being dependent on your team". You are always dependent on the team, no matter what mech you bring.

Don't be one of those "leroy jenkins lone wolf types" right off the bat..

[Wil McCullough]

Hellbies are flimsy. A trait that can be bypassed with torso twisting and good peeking, but those are learned traits and come from experience.

For a completely new player, imo something like the linebacker is great. Works fine out of the box, easy to tweak, straightforward and packs enough armor and speed so you don't die when you make a bad decision or if a light catches you alone. A simple mpl boat loadout also packs a drcent punch with enough heatsinks to make heat management a doddle in sustained firefights

Most importantly though, it's nimble as hell. A new player would spend less time wrestling his mech and have more focus to dedicate to fun things like beating up enemy robbits.

[Tarl Cabot]

1st.. have him change his email on the current account to use it on a new account, if he has a preference of emails. This way he can restart his Cadet bonus if that is something he may wish to do and before he makes any major purchases, be it with RL cash or in-game currency.

Make sure he completes the Academy and then most of this 1st 25 matches in Solo queue instead of being Group queue. Group queue basically does not have a MM and number of the groups do not always bring near the max tonnage available for their group size.

Premium time is no longer needed so you both could drop in Private matches to practice. No funds are generated but it can help him to get a handle on things after going through the Academy.

Move mouse sensitivity in game to the far left, 0.1-0.3.

Edited by Tarl Cabot, 04 October 2017 - 03:28 AM.

[Lances107]

Op if you care about your friend, DO not recommend clan mechs. While many IS pilots do not know this, I will share this info with you. First and foremost a clan mech loses a torso, it loses speed, and heat control. The second complication with clan mechs, is nearly all of our weapons are tagged with excessive ghost heat. So being a clan pilot requires strong understanding, and grasp of heat control. The only advantages we have is our crit space, which mostly has been negated by ghost heat mechanics. Also many pilots know how to take apart a hellbringer or tbr. The exception the torso rule is the IIC variants due to the fact you choose the engine, but heat will still play a major part. Almost forgot clan mechs come with solid speed, but in a fight, where your poking it hardly plays a role. Survival in a clan mech is a tough proposition.

IS mechs lack the abundance of crit space clan mechs have, but run a hell of allot cooler, and they do not get tagged with ghost heat for stacking certain weapons. They also have the best large laser in the game, the er large laser, due to lack of duration. Most IS mechs have some sort of solid quirk that works in favor of survival. They are allot harder to cripple and destroy opposed to clan mechs. I would suggest you get him in a solid IS medium. Medium mechs are not mega survival trait mechs but they come with solid firepower, and the speed to get the hell out of the way. As for what IS medium, I have very little experience running IS medium mechs. I am sure a solid IS pilot could suggest one for your.

Edited by Lances107, 04 October 2017 - 05:23 AM.

[Verilligo]

Lances107, on 04 October 2017 - 05:21 AM, said:

Op if you care about your friend, DO not recommend clan mechs. While many IS pilots do not know this, I will share this info with you. First and foremost a clan mech loses a torso, it loses speed, and heat control. The second complication with clan mechs, is nearly all of our weapons are tagged with excessive ghost heat. So being a clan pilot requires strong understanding, and grasp of heat control. The only advantages we have is our crit space, which mostly has been negated by ghost heat mechanics. Also many pilots know how to take apart a hellbringer or tbr. The exception the torso rule is the IIC variants due to the fact you choose the engine, but heat will still play a major part. Almost forgot clan mechs come with solid speed, but in a fight, where your poking it hardly plays a role. Survival in a clan mech is a tough proposition.

IS mechs lack the abundance of crit space clan mechs have, but run a hell of allot cooler, and they do not get tagged with ghost heat for stacking certain weapons. They also have the best large laser in the game, the er large laser, due to lack of duration. Most IS mechs have some sort of solid quirk that works in favor of survival. They are allot harder to cripple and destroy opposed to clan mechs. I would suggest you get him in a solid IS medium. Medium mechs are not mega survival trait mechs but they come with solid firepower, and the speed to get the hell out of the way. As for what IS medium, I have very little experience running IS medium mechs. I am sure a solid IS pilot could suggest one for your.

This is not great advice. Ghost heat should not be an issue because you should not be triggering large amounts of ghost heat. Clan weapons are lighter, smaller, often more damaging, and have better range than IS weapons. Clan DHS are also smaller, meaning you can cram a lot more into the same space, resulting in MUCH better cooling than IS mechs can boast. Heat control is still a major factor, but it's a major factor for nearly every mech in the game. It also isn't as if IS mechs don't lose half their cooling ability when losing side torsos with an LFE. The only mechs that don't are ones with standard engines... which is just the same as with Clan mechs with standard engines, it's just that nearly no Clan mechs ever run standard engines.

As to the OP, I would definitely suggest the Hellbringer. ECM with 4 ERML and 2 HLL or, alternatively, with 3 ERML and 3 ERLL. The first build keeps same range bracket so you can alpha strike easier, but does require a little more facetime. The second one requires some finesse with the ERLL to not trigger ghost heat, but even if you do the amount won't be tremendous.

[Khobai]

hellbringer is a good choice

summoner is also good starter mech I think if you want something a bit more agile.

ebon jaguar is a good choice too if you want something that can bring ballistics, although its not as easy as the hellbringer

Edited by Khobai, 04 October 2017 - 05:50 AM.