14 replies to this topic

[sosegado]

I have been playing this game badly for the last ten years.

Nothing leads me to believe that I'm going to suddenly learn how to build good mechs.

There are legends in the forums surrounding these things called Meta Mechs.

Before the game goes under for good I would love to pilot these unicorns!

Can someone please give me an example of a Meta Mech in each weight class?

Thanks in advance!

[martian]

Stab Wound, on 15 December 2022 - 02:08 PM, said:

I have been playing this game badly for the last ten years.

Nothing leads me to believe that I'm going to suddenly learn how to build good mechs.

There are legends in the forums surrounding these things called Meta Mechs.

Before the game goes under for good I would love to pilot these unicorns!

Can someone please give me an example of a Meta Mech in each weight class?

Thanks in advance!

Check this page: GrimMechs

However, there are two things that you should know:

1) You play for fun, not for the stats.
It is better to use 'Mechs and builds that you enjoy rather than 'Mech and builds that do not bring you fun. For example, ER Large laser assault sniping can be efficient tactic, but personally I do not consider it to be fun.

2) Some 'Mechs really shine in the hands of elite players, not so much when used by a normal player.

[sosegado]

martian, on 15 December 2022 - 09:15 PM, said:

Check this page: GrimMechs

However, there are two things that you should know:

1) You play for fun, not for the stats.
It is better to use 'Mechs and builds that you enjoy rather than 'Mech and builds that do not bring you fun. For example, ER Large laser assault sniping can be efficient tactic, but personally I do not consider it to be fun.

2) Some 'Mechs really shine in the hands of elite players, not so much when used by a normal player.

Thanks Martian!

I have no illusions that I'm going to snap out of some fugue state and suddenly become elite.

But I also know that my horribly bad mech builds aren't helping.

Looking at what constitutes well designed mech builds can't hurt me at this point.

[martian]

Stab Wound, on 16 December 2022 - 06:06 AM, said:

Thanks Martian!

I have no illusions that I'm going to snap out of some fugue state and suddenly become elite.

But I also know that my horribly bad mech builds aren't helping.

Looking at what constitutes well designed mech builds can't hurt me at this point.

Do not be afraid to modify those 'Mechs according to your personal play style.

Edited by martian, 16 December 2022 - 07:08 AM.

[sosegado]

martian, on 16 December 2022 - 07:07 AM, said:

Do not be afraid to modify those 'Mechs according to your personal play style.

See, that's the part that has left me with dozens of mechs in my stable that go unused.

Why? They aren't bad mechs. I've seen them used on the battlefield to great effect.

But when I put them together the way it 'looks' like they're supposed to, i.e. here's a missile slot put a missile, here's a ballistic point put a ballistic, etc. I end up with a Frankenstein mech that is only really good at attracting incoming fire. (I have a lot of those!)

I have no battle tech background and no table top background and so I've just been winging it.

Hopefully the site you listed can help me fix a bunch of my broken mechs so I can get them on the battlefield and have fun with them instead of trying to decide which of them I'm going to sell to create an empty mech bay.

[PsionicMantis]

Generally when I build a mech, im looking for weapons that have a similar optimal range. Also I try to avoid mixing weapons that require alot of facetime with weapons that are more for shooting and twisting.

Although, i have a preference towards brawling mechs.
These are 3 of my all time favorite builds.
cn9-ylw
ebj-b
on1-iic-c

[sosegado]

PsionicMantis, on 16 December 2022 - 09:39 AM, said:

Generally when I build a mech, im looking for weapons that have a similar optimal range. Also I try to avoid mixing weapons that require alot of facetime with weapons that are more for shooting and twisting.

Although, i have a preference towards brawling mechs.
These are 3 of my all time favorite builds.
cn9-ylw
ebj-b
on1-iic-c

Thanks for that great advice.

These mechs look really cool.

I'll try these this weekend.

[sosegado]

PsionicMantis, on 16 December 2022 - 09:39 AM, said:

Although, i have a preference towards brawling mechs.
These are 3 of my all time favorite builds.
cn9-ylw
ebj-b
on1-iic-c

Ok, I re-tooled the 2 chassis I had from this list: the ebj-b and the on1-iic-c but since I didn't have a cn9-ylw I didn't test that one. After testing the other 2 I'm very encouraged and maybe I'll pick up the centurion after all.

So my thoughts on the on1-iic-c are that this was the best build I've ever used for this chassis and once I got the timing down I used it moderately effectively. I need more time with it.

The ebj-b....Wow! This mech was so freaking fun! You'd be proud of me, I only overheated it once!

I look forward to driving these some more next weekend!

Thanks!

Edited by Stab Wound, 24 February 2023 - 03:23 PM.

[PsionicMantis]

The on1-iic-c has been one of my best mech to use. Its carried me quite far. If any of my other builds come to mind, Ill post them here.

Also, i find on the on1-iic-c, it seems better to chainfire the Lb10x, that way you can keep constant pressure on your opponent.

Edited by PsionicMantis, 18 December 2022 - 11:08 AM.

[sosegado]

PsionicMantis, on 18 December 2022 - 11:07 AM, said:

The on1-iic-c has been one of my best mech to use. Its carried me quite far. If any of my other builds come to mind, Ill post them here.

Also, i find on the on1-iic-c, it seems better to chainfire the Lb10x, that way you can keep constant pressure on your opponent.

I was using uac-10's on my original build, which were ok except that the heat build up would limit me using the srm-6's.
And while they would double fire and do some good damage that pretty much gobbled up all of my heat bar and the the srm-6s were pretty much useless weight then.

I'll try the chainfire techniques if I can get a good safe face tank opportunity.

Thanks for the builds and the advice.

Edited by Stab Wound, 20 December 2022 - 06:54 AM.

[VeeOt Dragon]

there are a few general rules of thumb when building a mech. mainly try to focus on one or two weapon systems. so if a mech has say all 3 look at the quirks and see what ones the mech seems to focus more on and work from there.

for example the Orion-V (UAC jam chance 20%, UAC jam Duration 25%, IS UAC Heat gen 10%, Ballistic Cooldown 15%, Ballistic Velocity 15%, energy Cooldown 20%, Missile cooldown 15%, heat 10% with some armor buffs added in)

now looking at this the mech is Heavily Quirked towards UACs and other Ballistics to lesser degree. so looking at this in combination with its hardpoints (2 Balsitcs, 2 energy, 3 missile, 1 AMS) a UAC/20 would be a good starting point with a pair of energy weapons or even SRMs. UAC/10 with MRMs sync up well given their close range brackets though keep in mind using two different ammo dependent weapons will cut how much ammo you can take for each.

choosing all weapons in the same range bracket can be a good rule but not a hard one. also try to keep your weapon groups manageable. 2 is what you want to shoot for with perhaps a hird set up to chain fire if you are boating a weapon system (so if you are running something with a lot of SRM and a couple lasers then having a second fire Group with the SRMs on chain fire will help you keep your heat manageable without damaging yourself (in the case of override) or risking a shut down.)

another good tip is to front load your armor. the amount differs from mech to mech and from person to person. i like a little more than most but many stock mechs have WAY to much rear armor. i would say 9 pts for lights, 10 for Medium/heavies, and 11-12 for Assaults would be the max. (the more "elite" players will tell you to strip it down to just a couple points but i find this hurts your survivability if some light can one shot you from behind or an ally might not be paying attention to their outer weapons and get you in the back with an AC/10 (that or you are stupid and step in front of RACs while they are shooting.))

if you are uncertain of your abilities i would stay away from IS XLs and just stick to LEs.

also use the testing grounds often as you work on your builds. select a hotter map (i use Terra Therma) and test fire you weapons to test your heat management. that way you can add or remove heat sinks as needed. (i try to shoot for 1.40 heat management before things like L-AMS or JJs but this isn't a hard rule as some weapons like RACs just run differently.)

Edited by VeeOt Dragon, 26 December 2022 - 07:22 AM.

[Horseman]

VeeOt Dragon, on 26 December 2022 - 07:18 AM, said:

another good tip is to front load your armor. the amount differs from mech to mech and from person to person. i like a little more than most but many stock mechs have WAY to much rear armor. i would say 9 pts for lights, 10 for Medium/heavies, and 11-12 for Assaults would be the max. (the more "elite" players will tell you to strip it down to just a couple points but i find this hurts your survivability if some light can one shot you from behind or an ally might not be paying attention to their outer weapons and get you in the back with an AC/10 (that or you are stupid and step in front of RACs while they are shooting.))

Half that number is still more than enough (top players use 2-3 points). Remember that the front and rear share the same armor cap, so any points you're putting on the back are NOT going to go in the front (where most of the incoming damage will be).

Your amounts are actually huge in context. 9 pts for a light is nearly 50% of a 20-tonner's ST armor allowance before quirks. The most heavily armored light, the Urbanmech, gets 40 points after quirks - that means you are telling players to put a quarter of their armor allowance for side torsos in the back, where it won't be really useful other than on the off chance that they get cornered alone by a sneaky light mech.

You're basically advocating to use the armor as a replacement for tactical awareness. Better just be more mindful of what you're exposing your backside to.

[foamyesque]

The urbie is one of the very few lights that both can and *should* actually carry back armour IMO -- it has more armour than God ever intended a light to have, but it's still got the same fragile structure counts as any other stock light.

Lights I try to cover a double PPC shot from the back. Mediums and heavies I tend to skimp, and then assaults I go up to 6 or so, particularly if I've got torso ammo.

Edited by foamyesque, 11 February 2023 - 03:02 AM.

[VeeOt Dragon]

well the reason i put so much armor on a light is because the only light mechs i play are Urbies (anything moving over about 100kph gives me a headache to pilot)

also by actually have a bit of back armor i can get the hell out of dodge if i make a mistake without dying to a single back shot. i have lost track of how many times that little bit of back armor has saved me. hell i had 3 matches in a row the other day where i got hit in the back from friendly fire (once i think was an AC, the another was definitely clan LRM or ATM and the 3rd was most of a LL (likely an ER)). to many people don't watch where they are shooting or just want to use their allies as a shield.

since i almost never use XLs (i don't play clan mechs) losing a side torso isn't the end of the match. it has also taught me to be more careful. in the cases i die quicker than i should have i doubt a couple extra pts of frontal armor would have saved me.

Edited by VeeOt Dragon, 19 April 2023 - 07:21 PM.

[Storky]

PsionicMantis, on 16 December 2022 - 09:39 AM, said:

Generally when I build a mech, im looking for weapons that have a similar optimal range. Also I try to avoid mixing weapons that require alot of facetime with weapons that are more for shooting and twisting.

Although, i have a preference towards brawling mechs.
These are 3 of my all time favorite builds.
cn9-ylw
ebj-b
on1-iic-c

Great builds