92 replies to this topic

[FACEMAN187]

I'm new and didnt want to create a whole post to ask this, i want to buy an assualt that can brawl pretty well and looked at the Highlander IIC-C(C). I watched a baradul video on it but obviously i dont play as well as him. Is this a good first assualt for a newcomer? Im trying to decide before my free premium expires.

Beastly Highlander IIC Build - Mechwarrior Online The Daily Dose #951 - YouTube

[martian]

FACEMAN187, on 16 December 2021 - 01:35 PM, said:

I'm new and didnt want to create a whole post to ask this

Welcome to the forums!

You can always ask in this section: New Player Help
The right question can save you a lot of money, time and effort. So do not be afraid to ask.

[FACEMAN187]

martian, on 16 December 2021 - 01:59 PM, said:

The right question can save you a lot of money, time and effort. So do not be afraid to ask.

Yeah learned that the hard way trying re create a mech i had been playing in MW5. Those cadet bonus games were nice to start, didnt hurt too bad.

[martian]

FACEMAN187, on 16 December 2021 - 02:05 PM, said:

Yeah learned that the hard way trying re create a mech i had been playing in MW5. Those cadet bonus games were nice to start, didnt hurt too bad.

Try this online 'Mechlab to design your 'Mechs before you spend $, or .
MechDB 2.0

[Bud Crue]

FACEMAN187, on 16 December 2021 - 01:35 PM, said:

I'm new and didnt want to create a whole post to ask this, i want to buy an assualt that can brawl pretty well and looked at the Highlander IIC-C(C). I watched a baradul video on it but obviously i dont play as well as him. Is this a good first assualt for a newcomer? Im trying to decide before my free premium expires.

Beastly Highlander IIC Build - Mechwarrior Online The Daily Dose #951 - YouTube

I certainly don't see a lot of Highlander IICs in game, and there is likely a reason for that. I would humbly suggest that for a new player, an Atlas, Fafnir or Blood Asp (2 UAC10s, and a 20) is better for assault brawling than a Highlander. The Highlanders torsos hit boxes are just too easy to focus. The hero is pretty good (2LBX20s, 4A+SRM6s), but you can do the same build sans jump jets in the hero Marauder IIC.

[Teenage Mutant Ninja Urbie]

I'd say that the HighlanderIIC is a good mech with good options, ONCE you know what you're doing.
to get to that point however, there's some clear choices that either do better or are easier to pilot correctly, or simply often both.

I suggest you try a MadcatIIB or a BloodAsp; if you're very fresh and cbills are a concern go for the BAsp as you can do many different builds on it, while the MCB is 'fixed' on ballistics+X.

oh, and if you've seen the news, you'll get 2 more assault mechs over xmas - FOR FREE. both of them are quite capable, so you might even sit it out till then and spend your cbills on sth else

[FACEMAN187]

Bud Crue, on 16 December 2021 - 02:16 PM, said:

I certainly don't see a lot of Highlander IICs in game, and there is likely a reason for that. I would humbly suggest that for a new player, an Atlas, Fafnir or Blood Asp (2 UAC10s, and a 20) is better for assault brawling than a Highlander. The Highlanders torsos hit boxes are just too easy to focus. The hero is pretty good (2LBX20s, 4A+SRM6s), but you can do the same build sans jump jets in the hero Marauder IIC.

I did consider an Atlas with the 50% off pricing but wasnt stoked on any of the variants really. I still might grab one just to fill a bay on sale. The marauder i think is a free one with the christmas event so i'll give that a try also.

[FACEMAN187]

Teenage Mutant Ninja Urbie, on 16 December 2021 - 02:21 PM, said:

I'd say that the HighlanderIIC is a good mech with good options, ONCE you know what you're doing.
to get to that point however, there's some clear choices that either do better or are easier to pilot correctly, or simply often both.

I suggest you try a MadcatIIB or a BloodAsp; if you're very fresh and cbills are a concern go for the BAsp as you can do many different builds on it, while the MCB is 'fixed' on ballistics+X.

oh, and if you've seen the news, you'll get 2 more assault mechs over xmas - FOR FREE. both of them are quite capable, so you might even sit it out till then and spend your cbills on sth else

I did see the freebies, thanks for the reminder. I have 8 days left on the cadet premium, im hopeful the stockstuffers event will maybe score me some free premium as well. I'd like to level the assualt while i had the bonus C-bills from prem because consumables are kinda steep for me as i rarely earn 300k+ a match. I may decide its worth spending a little during the event but i wanted to stay free to play for longer than 3 weeks.

[Scout Derek]

If you're not great at the game, yes, your assumption is correct for the most part.

If you're decent at the game, no, your assumption is wrong.

Ways to get better;

Ask for advice from actual known good players.

Watch/request videos on Youtube on where to go/where to not go, etc.

Get a better PC (Yes, this is for those who still play on a vanilla computer with no upgrade components in the last 2 decades and play at an awful 25 frames per second).

[Bud Crue]

FACEMAN187, on 16 December 2021 - 02:36 PM, said:

I did consider an Atlas with the 50% off pricing but wasnt stoked on any of the variants really. I still might grab one just to fill a bay on sale. The marauder i think is a free one with the christmas event so i'll give that a try also.

Just to be clear, the free Marauder IIC we are getting is NOT the hero (Scorch), and that brawl specific build I was referencing (2lb20s, 4ASRM6) is only possible on the hero variant of the Marauder IIC.

[1453 R]

FACEMAN187, on 16 December 2021 - 02:40 PM, said:

I did see the freebies, thanks for the reminder. I have 8 days left on the cadet premium, im hopeful the stockstuffers event will maybe score me some free premium as well. I'd like to level the assualt while i had the bonus C-bills from prem because consumables are kinda steep for me as i rarely earn 300k+ a match. I may decide its worth spending a little during the event but i wanted to stay free to play for longer than 3 weeks.

Don't feel like you have to bring and use consumables every match, especially if you're struggling to afford 'Mechs and upgrades. The stocking stuffer event should give you a few, and it will give you premium time unless the gods align against you, but early on nobody's expecting you to dump hundreds of thousands of c-bills in consumables every match.

Baradul's Highlander-IIC is a good midrange build but not a 'brawler'. Brawlers are designed to deal huge damage in close combat with short-range weapons and need to be overwhelmingly durable. Highlander-IICs are not that. The Atlas is a decent assault brawler and one of the toughest 'Mechs in MWO with its overwhelming durability quirks. The Annihilator is a premier offensive sledgehammer, but it can be very rough to learn how to pilot. Unfortunately, most of the really top-end assault-weight brawlers are Hero 'Mechs like Scorch, Sleipnir or Spirit Bear. Fafnirs can work, but they're often held to be intermediate to pilot at the best since they're incredibly slow and very easy to pick apart.

One neat option I found on Grim is this sucker: 'Volume of Fire' Brawl. Lets you throw an absolutely gobsmack ridiculous number of missiles at your target, which can accomodate less than perfect aim through blasting out over sixty missiles in one go with no ghost heat, and Stalkers are good at surviving with minimal twisting. Waggle the nose around and you're good. Will run very hot, but Stalkers are also pretty flexible 'Mechs that can do a decent variety of builds, and they're not as WTF-am-I-even-doing-here sluggish as the hundred-tonners. Might be an idea, and frankly sounds like a lot of fun to run. Bury your foes under an AVALANCHE OF KABOOM.

[FACEMAN187]

1453 R, on 16 December 2021 - 02:57 PM, said:

Don't feel like you have to bring and use consumables every match, especially if you're struggling to afford 'Mechs and upgrades. The stocking stuffer event should give you a few, and it will give you premium time unless the gods align against you, but early on nobody's expecting you to dump hundreds of thousands of c-bills in consumables every match.

Baradul's Highlander-IIC is a good midrange build but not a 'brawler'. Brawlers are designed to deal huge damage in close combat with short-range weapons and need to be overwhelmingly durable. Highlander-IICs are not that. The Atlas is a decent assault brawler and one of the toughest 'Mechs in MWO with its overwhelming durability quirks. The Annihilator is a premier offensive sledgehammer, but it can be very rough to learn how to pilot. Unfortunately, most of the really top-end assault-weight brawlers are Hero 'Mechs like Scorch, Sleipnir or Spirit Bear. Fafnirs can work, but they're often held to be intermediate to pilot at the best since they're incredibly slow and very easy to pick apart.

One neat option I found on Grim is this sucker: 'Volume of Fire' Brawl. Lets you throw an absolutely gobsmack ridiculous number of missiles at your target, which can accomodate less than perfect aim through blasting out over sixty missiles in one go with no ghost heat, and Stalkers are good at surviving with minimal twisting. Waggle the nose around and you're good. Will run very hot, but Stalkers are also pretty flexible 'Mechs that can do a decent variety of builds, and they're not as WTF-am-I-even-doing-here sluggish as the hundred-tonners. Might be an idea, and frankly sounds like a lot of fun to run. Bury your foes under an AVALANCHE OF KABOOM.

I try and be conservative with the consumable use, mostly my spider eats them up with double uav and double artillery. They really can make a difference just showing the enemy flanking us in some games and really i want to win more than make money.

Part of my grievance with the Atlas was the durability quirks, i would rather pick those up in skill points and have more damage focused quirks. I think I'm going to try one on sale anyways and see it does sound fun. Ive seen some Fafnir and know i probably wont enjoy it, the Annihilator cockpit drives me crazy i just cant do it. The Scorch has been recommnded twice now so i'll double check that one as well. Thanks for replying

[Teenage Mutant Ninja Urbie]

FACEMAN187, on 16 December 2021 - 03:21 PM, said:

I try and be conservative with the consumable use, mostly my spider eats them up with double uav and double artillery. They really can make a difference just showing the enemy flanking us in some games and really i want to win more than make money.

Part of my grievance with the Atlas was the durability quirks, i would rather pick those up in skill points and have more damage focused quirks. I think I'm going to try one on sale anyways and see it does sound fun. Ive seen some Fafnir and know i probably wont enjoy it, the Annihilator cockpit drives me crazy i just cant do it. The Scorch has been recommnded twice now so i'll double check that one as well. Thanks for replying

okay, some "serious" advice:
a) don't do a ton of consumables on a spider, unless you have WAY too many cbills (like most vets )
b.) don't do a spider in the first place if you wanna earn cbills.
c) easiest and best route to get cbills: do damage and kill stuff. a spider can't do both properly. lots of other "spider-like" mechs however, can. try those

Edited by Teenage Mutant Ninja Urbie, 16 December 2021 - 04:51 PM.

[FACEMAN187]

Teenage Mutant Ninja Urbie, on 16 December 2021 - 04:51 PM, said:

okay, some "serious" advice:
a) don't do a ton of consumables on a spider, unless you have WAY too many cbills (like most vets )
b.) don't do a spider in the first place if you wanna earn cbills.
c) easiest and best route to get cbills: do damage and kill stuff. a spider can't do both properly. lots of other "spider-like" mechs however, can. try those

Thanks for the heads up! I started in a grasshopper 5h i think and that was fun laser sniping for like my first hundred games, then i grabbed the spider to try something faster. my my match score is about 250-300 with either usually. sometimes maybe good sometimes maybe shi

[Moldur]

Assaults are not outmoded. They are beholden to their team in QP though. The more of an outlier they are as far as speed in a match, the more likely they are to be left behind to die underutilized, especially if their teams are low SA and unwilling to accept the realities of their team composition. If your team loses 3 assaults while rotating, and each assault barely get 200 damage out, it's the team's fault for putting their assaults in a position to get run over to begin with.

It is frustrating to see players get irate about assaults because in their eyes assaults do nothing but get left behind and die. It's like owning a miata and an F-250, then using the miata to tow a brick shithouse and the F-250 for autocross and getting mad that they both suck. If you were patient enough to just bring your assaults when it was time to pummel the enemy's face, you'd have a lot more firepower to bear instead of giving the enemy team 3 free kills that your team was completely in control of.

Assaults can't move very fast, and they can't peak freely to gain information and situational awareness. You're running with blinders on, hoping that your foresight and teammate's information gathering is good enough that when you do engage, you are precisely where you need to be. In other words, the only time the enemy sees an assault should be when the assault is committed to dropping the hammer on them. Of course, the line gets kinda blurry. There's faster assaults that play more like heavies, and assaults with enough agility to peak as skirmishers.

As a solo player, there are times where you will just be SOL as a slow assault. You can't control your teammates over rotating. You can tell them to stop, and try to keep up, but there's no foolproof way after dropping to ensure you don't get ouroboros'd first.

[Saved By The Bell]

Atlas is very good. Daishi is great too. Both of them are able to fight with any type of enemy, including lights.

Just remember you dont have to run for your team, you are not for marathon here.

Edited by Saved By The Bell, 16 December 2021 - 10:51 PM.

[PocketYoda]

If you aren't getting at least 700 damage and 2 kills a match with an assault you are not doing it right.

[martian]

MechaGnome, on 16 December 2021 - 11:11 PM, said:

If you aren't getting at least 700 damage and 2 kills a match with an assault you are not doing it right.

Farming damage is not the most important thing in the game.

The key is to kill enemy 'Mechs as quickly and efficiently as possible. The shorter they live, the less time they have to harm your team.

After all, if some Assault 'Mech oneshots a light 'Mech, there is not much damage in it.

[justcallme A S H]

Abisha, on 16 December 2021 - 10:10 AM, said:

really you doing your self a disfavor you not carry more weapons, you are the fly on paint on the minimap, your eat airstrikes all day, your left alone most of the time and you always slow.

so embrace your new overlord "Heavy the new assault"

And yet Assaults are still the best performing weight class.

Just another sensationalist/clickbait thread from you without any actual proof to back up your claim.

[Maddermax]

Assaults are empirically the best performing class. Trying to imply they’re struggling is like a billionaire lamenting how no one has sympathy for his money problems.

If you’re struggling in Assaults, take out some lighter mechs for a while, skirmish in a medium, or try some different heavies - perhaps you’ll find a more mobile damage dealer suits you. If the lack of mobility is getting you down, trade some armour and firepower for some speed, or jump jets. The purpose of the game is to have fun, so if waddling around in a 100ton mech isn’t doing it for you, change it up a bit.