36 replies to this topic

[MechWarrior Daddoo]

Thanks for that link and the explanation. Now I know my enemy and know how to avoid ghost heat.

Edited by MechWarrior Daddoo, 16 February 2018 - 10:40 AM.

[Metus regem]

MechWarrior Daddoo, on 16 February 2018 - 10:38 AM, said:

Thanks for that link and the explanation. Now I know my enemy and know how to avoid ghost heat.

Easiest thing to do, is play around in http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab

As you work on different builds, watch the weapon numbers, if they go from blue to yellow, you know you are going to take ghost heat if you fire everything.

Another good part of Smurfy, is this page here: http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/equipment

about half way down, you get to a chart that shows you heat per weapon, and what happens when ghost heat takes effect.

For instance, 1 AC/20 is 6 heat, so by that you would think that 2 AC/20's would generate 12 heat, yet due to ghost heat it generates 23.5 heat

[Horseman]

MechWarrior Daddoo, on 16 February 2018 - 04:32 AM, said:

Thank you everyone again for the advice/suggestions/insights. I was away for over a week so I missed most of the recent events. I finally finished the first 25 matches. I now own a Nova and Stormcrow Prime. I found out that you cannot panic on Tourmaline and fire 12 er small lasers. I did that with the Nova and somehow blew off both of my own arms. It kept saying "OVERRIDE SHUTDOWN!" I didn't know what to do. I watched my mechs damage indicator change colors while under cover and not taking fire. I spent the last half of the match following my team and sharing my 2 AMS until we lost.

1. Don't play with override on (O key, you will see a giant red "OVERRIDE ENGAGED" flashing on the top of your HUD) until you've learned to manage your heat better. If you go over 100%, your mech will start taking internal damage until you cool back to under 100%. Override is used in situations where it's preferable to take internal damage than turn yourself into an easy kill for the enemy.
2. In the mechbay loadout screen, you will see a yellow alert in the top left if any of your weapons are above the Ghost Heat threshold (note that some weapon types are linked with each other, eg Gauss Rifle counts for PPC ghost heat).
3. Group your weapons so that no single group can trigger Ghost Heat.

[MechWarrior Daddoo]

Thank you both. Would it be better for me to add an er medium to each arm for more damage? It would do more damage but I would lose my 2 AMS to keep more heatsinks. I usually stay with bigger mechs so the missile protection seems beneficial.

[Metus regem]

MechWarrior Daddoo, on 17 February 2018 - 07:24 AM, said:

Thank you both. Would it be better for me to add an er medium to each arm for more damage? It would do more damage but I would lose my 2 AMS to keep more heatsinks. I usually stay with bigger mechs so the missile protection seems beneficial.

For now, keep the AMS, as you play more, you will learn the tricks for making LRM's a non issue, then you could drop the AMS.

As for the armament, try it out and experiment.

[WrathOfDeadguy]

For the purposes of ghost heat, every Clan small and medium laser is linked for the same penalty. If you combine ER medium and ER small lasers, and you fire more than six combined at once, you will still incur a penalty- and it will apply the penalty for firing more than six ER medium lasers. Ghost heat always smacks you with the harsher penalty any time you've fired several linked weapons together.

You can fire up to six combined C-ER small, C-ER medium, Clan medium pulse, and Clan small pulse lasers before incurring ghost heat. You can only fire five heavy smalls, and you can only fire four heavy mediums.If you add even one C-ER small laser to a group of four heavy medium lasers, the game will react as if you had fired five heavy medium lasers and apply that penalty to you. Likewise, if you add a single heavy medium laser to a group of five C-ER smalls, the game will behave as though you had fired six heavy medium lasers and slap you with a massive heat penalty spike.

If all that sounded confusing, well... it kinda is. Some of the linkings appear arbitrary, the damage limit of the groupings is wildly inconsistent (the limits yield 40 damage with 4 heavy mediums, but 48 with 6 C-ER mediums or 6 Clan medium pulse, 30 with 6 C-ER smalls and 30 with 5 heavy smalls, but only 24 with 6 Clan small pulse, a pitiful 19.2 with 8 C-ER micro, and 21.6 with 8 Clan micro pulse... and they're all in the same ghost heat group), and the game does a frankly terrible job of explaining its own inner workings.

If you see that warning appear in mechlab, check which weapon put you over the line, and which weapons it is linked with on the heat penalty table I linked in my last post. Whichever weapon is hotter, that is the one you're going to get the penalty for, even if the cooler weapon was the one which put you over the limit. Some weapons only incur a token penalty, but others will straight up end you.

The TL;DR is this: when it comes to ghost heat, err on the side of caution until you are well acquainted with the game mechanics. The inner workings of the ghost heat system are pretty convoluted and absolutely merciless.

[MechWarrior Daddoo]

WrathOfDeadguy, on 17 February 2018 - 08:48 AM, said:

For the purposes of ghost heat, every Clan small and medium laser is linked for the same penalty. If you combine ER medium and ER small lasers, and you fire more than six combined at once, you will still incur a penalty- and it will apply the penalty for firing more than six ER medium lasers. Ghost heat always smacks you with the harsher penalty any time you've fired several linked weapons together.

You can fire up to six combined C-ER small, C-ER medium, Clan medium pulse, and Clan small pulse lasers before incurring ghost heat. You can only fire five heavy smalls, and you can only fire four heavy mediums.If you add even one C-ER small laser to a group of four heavy medium lasers, the game will react as if you had fired five heavy medium lasers and apply that penalty to you. Likewise, if you add a single heavy medium laser to a group of five C-ER smalls, the game will behave as though you had fired six heavy medium lasers and slap you with a massive heat penalty spike.

If all that sounded confusing, well... it kinda is. Some of the linkings appear arbitrary, the damage limit of the groupings is wildly inconsistent (the limits yield 40 damage with 4 heavy mediums, but 48 with 6 C-ER mediums or 6 Clan medium pulse, 30 with 6 C-ER smalls and 30 with 5 heavy smalls, but only 24 with 6 Clan small pulse, a pitiful 19.2 with 8 C-ER micro, and 21.6 with 8 Clan micro pulse... and they're all in the same ghost heat group), and the game does a frankly terrible job of explaining its own inner workings.

If you see that warning appear in mechlab, check which weapon put you over the line, and which weapons it is linked with on the heat penalty table I linked in my last post. Whichever weapon is hotter, that is the one you're going to get the penalty for, even if the cooler weapon was the one which put you over the limit. Some weapons only incur a token penalty, but others will straight up end you.

The TL;DR is this: when it comes to ghost heat, err on the side of caution until you are well acquainted with the game mechanics. The inner workings of the ghost heat system are pretty convoluted and absolutely merciless.

I think I saw this come into play on my Stormcrow. I've been running 2 er larges in the torsos and 4 er mediums in the arms. I have one more er medium in the head. I fire it in a third group when/if I remember it's there. I tried firing the arms and torsos at the same time -- 6 er lasers in my mind -- but I failed to take the ghost heat of the larges combined with the mediums and almost shut down with one shot. Thank you all again for the advice. I have been applying it in matches and it has helped me.

Edited by MechWarrior Daddoo, 17 February 2018 - 10:53 AM.

[Kin3ticX]

MechWarrior Daddoo, on 05 February 2018 - 04:01 PM, said:

Is there some sort of guide on how to play medium class mechs? I have mainly been following the heavier mechs and firing all 6 lasers at whatever enemy they fire at. I have more kills than I should just from staying around them. When I get a little adventurous I die horribly.

this is a premade canned answer

New medium ‘Mech pilots often mistakenly use their higher speed to get into trouble early and die right away. Mediums can start to pack the big boy guns but lack the raw firepower and protection to solo fresh heavys and assaults head on. Don’t stray too far from your teammates but try to find new angles of attack without beelining into the enemy. Their high versatility makes them great workhorses when used properly.


It sounds like you already have the right idea.

Edited by Kin3ticX, 17 February 2018 - 07:42 PM.

[MechWarrior Daddoo]

Kin3ticX, on 17 February 2018 - 07:17 PM, said:

this is a premade canned answer

New medium ‘Mech pilots often mistakenly use their higher speed to get into trouble early and die right away. Mediums can start to pack the big boy guns but lack the raw firepower and protection to solo fresh heavys and assaults head on. Don’t stray too far from your teammates but try to find new angles of attack without beelining into the enemy. Their high versatility makes them great workhorses when used properly.


It sounds like you already have the right idea.

Thanks for saying that. I have done exactly what you said about getting too aggressive. I got into a bad position and died early. One of my early cadet match teammates even recommended I un-install the game. That pissed me off a little and drove me to learn to play smarter and get better. I've really learned from watching my buddy play, even though he only plays assaults. I've been trying to follow the tips i've been given here. I've also learned a great deal from watching MWO videos/streams. What I like the most about medium mechs is that I can avoid being the focus of the enemy. So long as I stay with bigger mechs. I can then step up to share armor -- and take the focus off of them -- after they've taken a beating.

[Kin3ticX]

Yeah twitch is a good place to hang just to osmotically soak in info without hitting the pitfalls yourself. Sorting through the bad and the good information out there can be a problem but that comes with practice.

[Jody Von Jedi]

I enjoy all mech classes, but to me, the Mediums are the most enjoyable. Many a match can be won by a well positioned Medium mech. I prefer the hit and run/sneak attack strategy. I play fast mediums and lean my skill tree heavily towards the survivability and maneuverability nodes as I enjoy jumpy brawlers.

Best advice I can give you is: Keep moving, don't stay in one place too long. Use your speed advantage to out-maneuver your opponent.

If you grow tired of Mediums and want to start playing with Heavy mechs, I'd suggest the QKD as it has the speed and handling of a 50-55 ton Medium, but greater capacity for armor and weapons. The 5K is my personal favorite loaded with 6 MPL.

Enjoy the much maligned Medium class, I know I do!

Jody

[Metus regem]

Along with Jody's recommendation of the Quickdraw, the Dragon is another heavy that plays like a medium... Clan side the Linebacker players like am up armoured Stormcrow... I find that the magic weight when Heavies become small assault mechs is around 70/75t for IS and 65/70t for Clan.

[MechWarrior Daddoo]

Thanks again.

[Spare Parts Bin]

Wow that is an amazing amount of knowledge in one spot. Thanks to the many posters that asked good questions or shared hard won experiences.

[Metus regem]

Always happy to help out with a little knowledge, even if some of it may be old, and forgotten by current players...

To someone that wants a challenge, I recommend learning to pilot ride a Dragon, they teach a couple of skills that are not really taught by newer mechs these days... and I will admit, it will be a painful process.


Dragons really teach how to work with less than great hit boxes, as they have an easy to hit CT/ST from almost any angle thanks to their nose. To help mitigate this, they are extremely agile, like more agile than some medium mechs, so if you can learn how to twist to spread damage (the Centurion is a fantastic teacher of this skill), you can mitigate this down to make the mech viable. The second skill they teach is a bit harder to get down, but it is using your arms to shoot behind you, when you are being chased (as a cavalry mech, this will happen). The trick to it, is to have your FoV setting back far enough that you can use your side windows and have arm lock off, if you can get this skill down, it really helps on mechs like the Bushwacker (if you use that RA ballistic and LA missile mounts) and the Storm Crow... but again those two mechs don't really stress this skill, as they are very strong as head on mechs.

[Horseman]

Metus regem, on 20 February 2018 - 09:11 AM, said:

To someone that wants a challenge, I recommend learning to pilot ride a Dragon, they teach a couple of skills that are not really taught by newer mechs these days... and I will admit, it will be a painful process.

Dragons really teach how to work with less than great hit boxes, as they have an easy to hit CT/ST from almost any angle thanks to their nose. To help mitigate this, they are extremely agile, like more agile than some medium mechs, so if you can learn how to twist to spread damage (the Centurion is a fantastic teacher of this skill), you can mitigate this down to make the mech viable. The second skill they teach is a bit harder to get down, but it is using your arms to shoot behind you, when you are being chased (as a cavalry mech, this will happen). The trick to it, is to have your FoV setting back far enough that you can use your side windows and have arm lock off, if you can get this skill down, it really helps on mechs like the Bushwacker (if you use that RA ballistic and LA missile mounts) and the Storm Crow... but again those two mechs don't really stress this skill, as they are very strong as head on mechs.

All C-Bill Dragons (haven't tried either hero variant) have pretty mad weapons quirks. The 1N does well with 2xAC5+2xML (although you could switch to 2xAC5+2xSRM4 if you prefer; tried that, not a particular fan). The 5N can do either a 3xUAC2 dakkaboat or UAC10+2xLL(or LPL) build thanks to its' UAC Jam Chance and Laser Duration quirks (have you ever seen LPLs with duration of a SPL? you can do that on this mech). The 1C fits a UAC10+4ML loadout with LFE280... not the brawliest mech ever, but the firepower and mobility both help a lot.

[Metus regem]

Horseman, on 20 February 2018 - 12:32 PM, said:

All C-Bill Dragons (haven't tried either hero variant) have pretty mad weapons quirks. The 1N does well with 2xAC5+2xML (although you could switch to 2xAC5+2xSRM4 if you prefer; tried that, not a particular fan). The 5N can do either a 3xUAC2 dakkaboat or UAC10+2xLL(or LPL) build thanks to its' UAC Jam Chance and Laser Duration quirks (have you ever seen LPLs with duration of a SPL? you can do that on this mech). The 1C fits a UAC10+4ML loadout with LFE280... not the brawliest mech ever, but the firepower and mobility both help a lot.

This has been my DRG-5N since the tech update, I run her as a hit-and-run mech / squirrel chaser.