89 replies to this topic

[DylanCheetah]

Hello everyone. I have been playing for about a few weeks and I have been learning many things here. However, I have some questions to ask now:
1. My best strategy is attacking from a distance with a light mech, which medium mechs would also be suitable for this? I was considering Shadow Cat and Vapor Eagle. I tried an assault mech, and did pretty poorly with it.
2. I tend to stick to the back or middle of my team, but there are times when the enemy sneaks up on me. Any advice about spotting them sooner?
3. What should my plan be when my allies are all going off on their own or not working as a team with a plan?

[Tarl Cabot]

Konnichiwa(,



1. For beginners, I would suggest either medium or heavy, decent firepower and speedier than an Assault. For lights, the most important feature is speed and agility, making one difficult to hit. My preferred light is the Wolfhound with ECM (not stealth) and erML. As for Shadow Cat and Vapor Eagle, not my preferences. I am more of a Shadow Hawk, Huntsman and Wolverine type of player.

2. Location.. Learn the maps. A light can bleed a team, while also pulling mechs out of position to go "squirrel" chasing, others may ignore a light to their detriment, then squirrel chasing.

3. Since the PSR reset, this means you are in Tier 3 for the time being. It will be a hit/miss at times. When it happens, just make sure the enemy pays for it

[Horseman]

DylanCheetah, on 03 July 2020 - 04:40 AM, said:

1. My best strategy is attacking from a distance with a light mech, which medium mechs would also be suitable for this? I was considering Shadow Cat and Vapor Eagle. I tried an assault mech, and did pretty poorly with it.

Which exact weapon are we talking about?

Quote

3. What should my plan be when my allies are all going off on their own or not working as a team with a plan?

Conserve your mech, put damage on anything that is busy with your bigger teammates and not paying attention to you.

Edited by Horseman, 03 July 2020 - 07:39 AM.

[DylanCheetah]

Horseman, on 03 July 2020 - 07:39 AM, said:

Which exact weapon are we talking about?

The best mech/loadout combination I have used so far is:

Arctic Cheetah (ACH-C)

Left Torso:
ECM x 1
C-ER Lrg Laser x 1

Right Torso:
C-ER Lrg Laser x 1


And I basically try to hide and snipe enemies that are busy with my allies. I just bought a Griffin (GRF-1S) to complete one of the July 4th challenges though. But I haven't used it other than to complete the BBQ challenge.

Edited by DylanCheetah, 03 July 2020 - 04:57 PM.

[Horseman]

You'll probably want the Shadow Cat, Hunchback IIC A or Vapor Eagle 1. SHC is the fastest (and also has ECM), VGL is more for ERPPC builds, the HBK can pack a LOT more cooling (and therefore output a lot more damage before its' heat output becomes a problem).

Edited by Horseman, 04 July 2020 - 12:29 AM.

[Horseman]

S e 7 e N, on 04 July 2020 - 12:38 AM, said:

I would be worried if this, managed to get behind my kodiak...

ACH-C

Pure harasser build. Very fast, turns on a dime, and has jumpjets.

30 dmg alphastrike at close quarters, faster recycle rate on the lasers.
Target computer mk2 (optional) clan active probe. decently cool.

-x se7en x-

TC and BAP are useless in that build. That's close to 10% of your tonnage down the drain. Taking Prime pods, 4xERSL+2xSRM4 is reasonably cool and has better burst damage than your build, although I prefer to do 4xERSL+2xSRM6 which is kinda toasty but has even better burst potential.

Edited by Horseman, 04 July 2020 - 03:58 AM.

[DylanCheetah]

Horseman, on 04 July 2020 - 12:28 AM, said:

You'll probably want the Shadow Cat, Hunchback IIC A or Vapor Eagle 1. SHC is the fastest (and also has ECM), VGL is more for ERPPC builds, the HBK can pack a LOT more cooling (and therefore output a lot more damage before its' heat output becomes a problem).

Ironically, 2 of those are already on the list of mechs I intend to buy:

Arctic Wolf (ACW-A)
Shadow Cat (SCH-B )
Timber Wolf (TBR-S)
Vapor Eagle (VGL-1)
Wolverine (WVR-7K)


What are your thoughts on the other 3 in my list?

Edited by DylanCheetah, 04 July 2020 - 06:12 AM.

[Horseman]

1. You want the ACW-1, not the ACW-A. The -1 is a battlemech, and can do something like 121 kph .

2. Timber Wolf... playable but not great. They are iconic mechs though.

3. I own a 7K, don't play it much. From what I understand it gets used as an SRM bomber. Mileage may vary, Assassin 21 or 23 might do the job with a bit more speed.

[DylanCheetah]

What are the pros/cons of IS/Clan mechs? I currently have one Clan and one IS. I've noticed that the IS mech has more customization options like the armor type, structure type, heat sink type, and missile system type.

[Horseman]

DylanCheetah, on 04 July 2020 - 08:42 PM, said:

What are the pros/cons of IS/Clan mechs? I currently have one Clan and one IS. I've noticed that the IS mech has more customization options like the armor type, structure type, heat sink type, and missile system type.

Clans have lighter weapons, their energy weapons are more powerful and their XL engines are more compact (no death from losing a side torso). That comes at the expense of more heat, longer weapon cycle times, less quirks (where any) and not gaining as much cooldown/heat gen reductions from the Firepower skill tree.

What you've been actually comparing is an Omnimech to a Battlemech. While all Inner Sphere mechs are battlemechs, some Clan mechs are Omnimechs.

An Omnimech:
* Has locked engine
* Has locked structure, armor and heat sink type
* Has pre-allocated armor, structure and heat sink slots on the chassis (which may make fitting bulkier weapons difficult)
* Has interchangeable arm, side torso, leg and head omnipods which can be exchanged for those of another variant of the chassis
* Each omnipod comes with its' own hardpoints and sometimes also quirks
* Running a full set of pods of the same variant as your Center Torso rewards you with a Set of Eight bonus, which can vary from just a small XP boost to something that makes the given variant narrowly better for a particular role or build than the other variants of the chassis

Arctic Wolf is unique in that some of its' variants are omnimechs and some are battlemechs.

Edited by Horseman, 04 July 2020 - 11:14 PM.

[DylanCheetah]

I just tried out a new strategy and I think it's working better:

Arctic Cheetah (ACH-C)

Head:
Armor (22)

Center Torso:
Armor (37/12)

Left Torso:
Armor (23/9)
Clan ECM x 1

Right Torso:
Armor (23/9)
C-Laser AMS x 1

Left Arm:
Armor (32)
C-LRM 5 x 1
C-LRM Ammo (1/2) x 1
C-ER Med Laser x 1

Right Arm:
Armor (32)
C-LRM 10 x 1
C-LRM Ammo x 1
C-ER Med Laser x 1

Left Leg:
Armor (23)

Right Leg:
Armor (23)
================================================================================

Also, how's my loadout spec look?

[CFC Conky]

Do you have any extra slots? You might be better off replacing the laser ams for the ammunition-based system since laser ams generates a lot of heat. Also, while ecm can hide you, ams will give your position away, but it's your mech so by all means run it the way you want.

Good hunting,
CFC Conky

[DylanCheetah]

Yeah. I have tried with just ECM or just AMS before too. I feel like AMS doesn't always shoot down all the missiles coming at me, but sometimes it does really well. And what I do mostly is hide and use the LRM unless the enemy gets too close. So I primarily use the LRM and I've never had any overheating. It may be because I chose cooldown on the skill tree every time it was available.

I know that if I run like 6 med or small lasers or even something like 1 large and 2 med then I do have overheating issues.

Also, I feel like the enemy always manages to find me even with ECM, but I think it does help some.

But thanks for the advice, I may try something like a targeting computer in place of AMS to see if that helps more.

Edited by DylanCheetah, 07 July 2020 - 07:00 PM.

[CFC Conky]

DylanCheetah, on 07 July 2020 - 06:58 PM, said:

Yeah. I have tried with just ECM or just AMS before too. I feel like AMS doesn't always shoot down all the missiles coming at me, but sometimes it does really well. And what I do mostly is hide and use the LRM unless the enemy gets too close. So I primarily use the LRM and I've never had any overheating. It may be because I chose cooldown on the skill tree every time it was available.

I know that if I run like 6 med or small lasers or even something like 1 large and 2 med then I do have overheating issues.

Also, I feel like the enemy always manages to find me even with ECM, but I think it does help some.

But thanks for the advice, I may try something like a targeting computer in place of AMS to see if that helps more.

Do you have all the ecm nodes activated? ECM is not very effective if you don't since you'll be spotted at longer ranges.

Good hunting,
CFC Conky

[DylanCheetah]

I don't see any ECM nodes available for the mech I'm using... Which category would they be in?

[Aidan Crenshaw]

Sensors is the place to look. And if you don't know about them, it's clear why you get so little benefit out of ECM. By default, ECM reduces the enemy sensor range against you by 30%. Each of the two ECM skill nodes increases this by 22.5 percent points.

Your Cheetah is also undersupplied with ammunition. 360 missiles before skills (414 with both missile rack nodes) won't get you any far in a game, even if there is no AMS on the field. Your two med lasers also do little but betray your position at mid range.
Speaking of betraying your position, your laser AMS does exactly that. Also one AMS will only be effective if you pair up with other AMS equipped mechs and that means you lose your most effective defense and the one thing you can't trade away, your mobility. Your mech has a decent speed and jumpjets, use these to your advantage.
Also I see you shaved armour off your legs. Don't do that on a fast light. Ever. People who know what they're doing will go for your legs to slow you down. Shaving your legs will get you killed faster.
Speaking of armour, your distribution should be more frontloaded, since that is where your enemy should be. Your values tell me you have invested into Survival skills. This is not very useful on lights, since they get little raw value out of a relative big skillpoint investment. Your skill points are better invested into Sensors, Miscellaneous(strikes and UAVs), Agility(!) and firepower.

Here's what I'd propose for the cheetah

Loadout (Link): ACH-PRIME
Loadout (import code): AS4D<:V0pJ04M7|l^|kBqJ02M7|m<2|kB|XRrA01M7|kB|;C|lRsA05M7|kB|;C|XRtL06M7uL07M7v600M7w202020
Skills (Link): https://kitlaan.gitl...f0703#s=Weapons
Skills (import code): ab733f30dfe0db75e0e0000008062101cf37f000000000050a7668c8f0703

[Horseman]

DylanCheetah, on 07 July 2020 - 04:12 PM, said:

I just tried out a new strategy and I think it's working better:
Also, how's my loadout spec look?

• Too much back armor. Like WAY too much. Move it to the front.
  
• LRMs on a light, srsly.
  
• Laser AMS is a poor idea on anything that isn't a dedicated AMS boat.

Aidan's build will work, personally I use something similar: one less heat sink to upgrade the SRMs to 6s, half a ton less ammo but filling out the arm and head armor - bit more punch, but kinda toasty.

[Ignatius Audene]

Warning the following are more tryhard advice.

Your weapons are far to mixed. Lrm esp. on lights are a bad idea because u dont have the tubes, cooling, ammo.............
The laser build were 2 hot for u? Good play an even hotter build! U don't learn heatmanagement in a cool fridge. Ride the heat scale!
Cheetah has lost a lot of its glory, but it can still teach u some basics. Lrm will prob teach u bad aim and positioning. Forget about the existence of laser ams (garbage). In general most lights don't have the free tons for ams. And u are fast enough to reach cover in time. Cover is is best ams.

https://mech.nav-alp...3ef1e_ACH-PRIME


https://mech.nav-alp...517b4_ACH-PRIME

Not the best, but can teach u a lot.

[DylanCheetah]

I see the ECM skills now. And I understand what you mean about moving the armor to the front. I feel like I don't get attacked from behind much anyways. However, for some reason people don't go for my legs. I usually lose by getting hit in the center torso. But I've been doing better by hiding and using LRM. I use my med lasers if the enemy gets closer. But when I tried to use all lasers before, I spent more time losing tbh. My strategy is more like a sniper basically. I do better with LRM or large lasers and attacking from a distance to support my allies. As for AMS, I spent more time playing without it tbh. I've never run out of missiles since I added that LRM Ammo (1/2). I think that my strategy may actually work better with a medium mech tbh. But yet I use my speed to get away if I get overwhelmed by group of enemies or if I need to get back to my team's base if it is under attack.

I have more trouble with getting an arm destroyed and the front armor on the center torso is already at its max. I just maxed out the front armor for both side torso parts like you suggested. And I reduced the head armor to put it on the legs. I have only gotten defeated by a head shot once.

When I was using an all laser strategy, I was only getting like 0 - 50 damage on the enemy over an entire match. But now, I'm getting more like 20 - 90 damage on them. And I do finish off some enemies with med lasers.

Edited by DylanCheetah, 08 July 2020 - 09:07 AM.

[AnAnachronismAlive]

Hey Dylan. First of all it is very nice to see new people in MWO who even find their way into the forums, so welcome around!

Furthermore I gotta add, that MWO has a somewhat harder learning curve than most of the other team-based tactical-sim-shooters on the market (if there are any), so please don't feel "lectured" by the advice more experienced players will try to give ye (humble way - regular feedback) and even more don't take folks too serious callin' ye a bloody potato in game (less humble way - rare, but happens).

To achieve decent results in MWO there are several fields to improve on first and to master later. First of all: realize what a mech is capable to achieve and what does not suit him very well. Since you have chosen a light mech with the Arctic Cheetah ye learning yer ropes on actually, be advised that most light mechs generally ain't very well suited for LRM-duty. Usually they lack the tonnage to mount enough LRM-racks to provide sustained and meaningful damage (since LRM do hit targets kinda randomly / spread and therefore ain't very well suited to weaken/finish off targets if not stacked and holding decent amounts of ammo). If you prefer sniping, ye better roam the edges of the battlefield finding advantageous angles (flanks or backs) on enemy mechs or isolated targets ... usually ACH can do a 2-ER-Large Laser build with 2 high mounts serving him well. Usually ye fire some shots into the enemies flanks / backs and then relocate using yer speed / jump ability to find another advantageous position.

Generally light mechs work this way: harass, flank and lure more tonnage away from the main fight than you bring in yourself.

Another valid option: if you are playing grouped up with some friends / people you know - ye can start to wolf pack. Havin 2-3 light mechs (usually with punchy short range weaponry) picking off or severely damaging heavier/slower enemies and then bugging out again before ye get catched.

Generally: if you are playing light mechs, ye play a very opportunistic style always watching for windows of opportunity. Killing lonely LRM-boats not being guarded by team-mates in the backline, finishing off open targets that are occupied with yer bigger buddies or scouting the enemies pathing for yer team while damaging / harassing as much as ye can (without being caught).

So what people are trying to tell you: don't waste light mechs by placing LRMs on em. Won't do yourself nor yer team any good in 90% of matches. Think of what ye wanna do, chose the suitable weapons (be it 2 ER-Large Lasers for constant range harass, or 6ER-Medium Lasers for decent punch on mid-range - hot though - or even go 4 HeavyMedium-Lasers and try to pop lotsa mechs instantly IF you are able to sneak into their backs undetected). Or pick the proposed SRM-racks for more punch close-range ... or ... if you really wanna do missile madness (I would not recommend that early in yer MWO-career) bring 2 ATM3s and some support ER-Mediums.

See ye on the battlefield and feel free to add some of the folks answering here into yer friends list. No better learning by grouping up with some veterans now n then.