14 replies to this topic

[Cstriker]

Long time Mechwarrior fan ever since MW2 and Mercenaries and once they announced this, I have been watching videos and salivating over the game. Alas I am married and have kids so F2P is the way for me it seems! So, I played my first few matches and the Trials SUCK, I tried all 4 (Dragon, Awesome, Centurian, and what ever the light was) for this week. Well, as a World of Tanks player too I know that I would have to grind up to bigger and better things. That being said, I plan on suffering a while as I do NOT want a crappy light mech and will aim for one of the following; Hunchback or straight to Catapult...later I plan on grabbing an Awesome.

Now, between the two can anyone give some adice on loadouts, models to get (besides the Gaussapult), and tactics with either of these?

It's been so long since I played any of the games, I'm flying blind again.

Also side note, I am now looking at getting into table top Battletech....I feel the inspiration!

Edited by Cstriker, 31 October 2012 - 08:10 AM.

[AcesOnHigh]

I suggest going with the Hunchback 4SP. It is the one without the big shoulder cannon. It is flexible with, 5 energy hard points, one in the head and two in each arm, and two missile hard points, one in each shoulder. I run it as a close range brawler. I got rid of the small laser in the head, put 4 medium pulse lasers in the arms, and two streak srms in the shoulders. I do pretty decently with it, too! At the end of the round, I'm usually one of the higher ones on my team in regards to damage. I usually get 1-2 kills or a lot of assists.

Another great thing about the 4SP is that there isn't a giant cannon to shoot off. The problem with the other hunchbacks, is everyone knows where your main damage dealer is, and shoots your shoulder until it pops off. Then you are almost useless. I had to deal with that in closed beta. The 4SP is in my opinion the best Hunchback.

Catapult I can not tell you from personal experience, I like mediums as I can not seem to run the heavies at a profit. But if you do run a Cat you can run it as a LRM boat and stay behind the main lines. Or you can try to cheese a bit with a whole bunch of streak SRMs or regular SRMs, and get right up close in the action. Those streak Cats tear my hunchback up because I have to be close to do much damage, and they do a lot more when up close.

Edited by AcesOnHigh, 31 October 2012 - 09:26 AM.

[Zerikin]

HBK-4SP is definitely the best medium.
If you go heavy stick with a catapult variant.
If you go assault get one of the atlas a D or a D-DC are the best first picks.

[Skull Leader2]

Hi Aces. I get about the family, kids etc. Its F2P for me too. I've been playing a lot of Closed Beta and tried a few different mechs. Honestly which mech is best is personal taste. I really like the Catpult because of the fire support it can offer. The LRM versions are nice but my personal favorite was the Catapult K-2. I modded mine with a 255 XL Engine. Replaced PPCs with ER Lg Lasers and put a Gauss Rifle in the torso then Maxed armor on main body. Double Heatsinks help but are not necessary. This mod allowed me to bang away from a good distance with the lasers and gauss without sacrificing armor or speed. I could keep up with brawlers speed wise and could hold my own in a pinch, just had to watch the heat.

The Centurion CN9-AL (i think) is also nice for a cheaper starter mech but I used mine as a scout hunter and killer. Switched the XL engine from above into it and it was faster than a stock Raven. Dropped AC/10 to Ac/5 for range. Replaced LRMS with Streak SRMs and allowed me to lock on and hunt those squirrely light mech batards. Lastly, had Lg Laser in torso for some punch. I had a lot of fun taking out lights and circle strafing some of the bigger heavies. This was mostly a skirmisher/raider though.

I know the XL engine is expensive but if you are going to go Fire support its really nice to open up some tonnage for weapons.

[slayerkdm]

I would agree also on the 4SP, the strongest and most versatile of the Hunchs. I play mine as a pure brawler with slas and 2 srm6's, but you can go lots of ways. Even if loaded out with just lasers of any type, it is nearly as good as the 4P. I just rebought mine last night. Running it stock, I immediatly doubled the damage output of my Founders Hunch in what is the best configuration for me.

[BertyBargo]

Everyone has great advice on mech buying. Hunch is a solid choice.

But since you've got a bit of a grind ahead of you, I'll try to offer some advice. The trials really arent that bad- I have been rolling with the Awesome and I've been real pleased with it. I didn't play too much yesterday, but out of 6 matches my team won 4. I got at least one kill per game.

I saw somewhere on these forums that, when piloting that specific Awesome, you want to hang back until you spend -all- of your LRM ammo. Once you do that, start moving up and engaging at medium range.

Go slow, and make sure you have a clear shot with your missiles- wait for the target to slow down before launching a salvo. I see a lot of players in these videos spraying and praying with their missiles and it seems like quite a few salvoes are flatout wasted on a fast moving target. Stay in cover! Buildings and tall cliffs are your friend. So long as you can back up in a jiffy to avoid a cloud of enemy missiles, you'll be just fine.

Try to slow your mech down a little/stop completely when you whip out your large lasers (so long as the situation allows). The less you move, the less heat you have to deal with.

Good luck with the grind! It goes faster than you think.

Edited by BertyBargo, 31 October 2012 - 09:55 AM.

[ApheX]

I'd recommend the Catapult C1. I currently have two large lasers, two LRM 10's, ferro armor and double heatsinks with a 280 standard engine. It's a beast of a mech with long range support, but having the speed to get close with the lasers.

The Mech variant lets you balance support weapons with missiles to your own tastes.

[Lootee]

The HBK-4P is not bad either. 9 medium lasers ftw.

You can get it moving at 81kph without an XL engine too.

[EDMW CSN]

Centurions are decent mechs,
The CN-9AL and CN-9A come to mind, just that people will shoot that arm of yours first.

On the flip side, they can carry streaks and coupled with everyone trying shoot that dang arm off, a pair of medium pulse lasers in the CT and 3 streak SRM2s will make them pay the longer they try to take out that arm.

[AcesOnHigh]

Yeah, the Centurion kind of suffers the same thing as the Hunchback, everyone shoots the Centurion's arm and the HunchBack's shoulder. With the Hunchback-4P I had, if I was able to focus fire on the Centurion's arm, it was gone in one alpha strike. It was great when the Centurion pilot accidentally overheated and then restarted without his cannon.

To add to BertyBargo's advice on trial mechs. The best one for me was the Raven. I didn't go for kills, just damage. I'd run around my teammates and shoot at the enemies that weren't shooting at me. When they did take notice I skedaddled on out of there. Did pretty decent. Didn't get that many kills but still made decent cbills as I was getting a lot of damage in with those medium lasers and the large laser. Not so much with it's srm6s. Just got to watch the heat on it.

[Niwantaw]

The trial centy is pretty good. Remember you've got a left arm full of armour and that's it so don't be afraid to turn that big hunk of metal to block any incoming fire. I tend to get cored long before they manage to take off the right arm thanks to doing both that and keeping the whole chassis moving except for when I'm firing making keeping damage on that arm rather difficult.


alternatively snipe. LLs aren't too bad for medium/long range shooting.

[Diverso]

Well, i'm not an expert in mediums, but i rolled in heavies quite a bit during CB: so here's my suggestion.
if you're new and don't really know how to play yet i would suggest the ssrm cat a1, just stuff 6 ssr2 in it and you're ready to go, since this build has very little skill requirments and a bane to every light medium and heavy you see.

If you want some fast paced and intensive combat i would suggest getting yourself a dragon: It's fast and furious, packs hell of punch and kind of hard to kill if you know what you're doing. i would suggest 1C variant with an ac/10(the best beginner variant.) and an xl engine 300 since it has as much armor as an awesome and 2x the speed in stock., or the 3 ballistic harpoint variant with 3x ac/2, since it's fun and hilarious. the main problem here is that you have to grind quite a bit and get at least an xl engine since dragons with stock one don't have the weight to play around with loadouts.

Edited by Diverso, 31 October 2012 - 02:54 PM.

[Shalune]

HBK 4SP is definitely a very versatile build to go with first if you like the energy and missile combo.

That said there are few to no bad mech variants in this game. It's all a matter of playstyle and if it matches yours. Hunchbacks in general can field the kind of close range firepower you'd expect out of an assault mech. The hunch is an easy target, yes, but proper piloting and/or a good engine help with this immensely to almost completely negate the disadvantage. In fact the Centurion's setup is actually very good specifically because of this. You can twist between shots to place your shield arm to face your enemy and soak up a lot of damage. The Centurion's main advantage is the ability to use heavy ballistics with solid backup weapons. As an example I've seen people field a gauss, 2x med lasers, and 3 SSRM2s. Unless you really love the arm or hardpoint layout then, yes, the energy Centurion is going to be worse than a HBK 4SP or 4J.

[MagicHamsta]

Cstriker, on 31 October 2012 - 07:54 AM, said:

That being said, I plan on suffering a while as I do NOT want a crappy light mech and will aim for one of the following;

D:<
You will rue this day when a Jenner takes apart your med mech with lasers of doom.
^('-')^

[Goregrimm]

MagicHamsta, on 31 October 2012 - 09:34 PM, said:

D:&lt;
You will rue this day when a Jenner takes apart your med mech with lasers of doom.
^('-')^

I was going to say something similar. I run mostly Centurions and I usually score a kill or three but I have seen some light mechs rack up impressive kill numbers from their speed and strafing.