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(added 11-23-12) Veterans! If there's something you can add, please do so. I'll try to squeeze it into the main text.
A: The very basics.
You probably know some of these already, but lets recap.
1. The mouse moves your torso and arms. The cross in the center of your screen is for torso weapons. The little circle is for arm weapons.
2. WASD controls movement. A and D turn left and right. W slides your throttle forward. S slides it backwards.
3. The X key is your friend. It throttles instantly to zero. Mechs don't stop immediately, they usually take a few steps first. So keep this in mind. Get in the habit of using the X key to stop. It's very easy to throttle down too much and start going in reverse. Just hit X and get your bearings.
4. The R key is very, very important. It targets a mech. When you hit R, a red square will outline the target. It will eventually give you detailed information about the mech, but we'll cover that later. I can't stress how important it is to get into the habit now of targeting a mech.
5. When an enemy mech is within spotting range of your sensors, a red triangle appears above his head. When you target him with R, it turns into a solid red triangle. This tells your team that you are probably going to shoot at this target, and hopefully, they'll help you take him down. Conversely, if you see a mech with a solid red triangle that you haven't targeted, it means a teammate has targeted him and you should help him take that mech down.
6. The minimap is something you should glance at a lot. It tells you where you're teammates are at. And where the enemy is at. I also found this the best way to figure out my torso orientation. It has a visual representation of what direction your torso is facing in relation to your mech. So, whenever you get stuck against a boulder or building, just glance down.
7. Stay with your team. If you're pugging, this is very difficult to do because they tend to scatter to the four winds. My advice is to pick a teammate and try to stick with him. Shoot at whomever he shoots at. Hopefully, he's a skilled player and isn't just charging out into the middle.
8. Trial mechs stink. They overheat easy, and usually aren't well armored. My advice to new players is to pick the Catapult. The smaller mechs are way too fast for someone trying to learn to pilot. The Atlas has lots of armor and firepower, but it's weapons are spread out into 4 very different types and it's a very slow easy to hit target, only veterans should try to control that. The Catapult has two weapon types, medium lasers and LRM missiles. Two lasers are on your left mouse button (weapon group 1), two lasers are on your right mouse button (weapon group 2), the LRMs are set to weapon group 3 (just hit the #3 on your keyboard, or reassign weapon group 3 to your middle mouse button like I did).
9. How to use the Catapult's LRMs. Your primary role at the beginning of a match is to launch LRMs. To do this, hit X to stop moving (you can fire while moving, but lets keep it simple for now). Make sure there is nothing blocking your missiles (ie. big rocks, buildings, or your teammates!). Hit R to target an enemy mech that is in the open. Make sure he's under 1000 meters (max range for LRMs, minimum range is 180 meters), the red square tells you the range to the target. Center your crosshairs on the target until the circle turns red. Now tap your "3" key or middle mouse button. If you lose the target lock, the missiles will probably miss. Keep in mind, you don't have to wait for the first volley of missiles to hit before firing the second volley.
10. How to use the Cat's medium lasers. Lets say you have an enemy in close range. First, you'll want to start moving. This makes it harder for them to hit you, very important in close range combat. Don't forget to target him by hitting "R". Aim at the mech and click your left mouse button. With lasers, you have to keep your reticle on the mech the whole time to do all of the damage. Wait a second or two and click your right mouse button. If he gets behind you, completely change directions and torso twist to the other side. This will almost always get them in your sights again.
11. (added 11-23-12) Keep in mind that if you run in to a friendly mech you will do damage to them.
12. (added 11-23-12) HEAT! Forgot to mention heat. Each weapon generates heat. Energy weapons are the worst for this. If your mech overheats, it will shut down. Giving your enemy an nice easy shot to your head. So, when you get that warning on your screen that you're overheating, back off on the trigger.
That's enough to get you started. Now go out and play 10 or 20 battles, get the hang of piloting, targeting, and shooting, then come back for the next part. Just assume you're going to die a lot, because you will. I was dead in my first battle in about 45 seconds. Charged ahead in a scout mech.
B: My First Mech.
You've probably noticed that in trial mechs you can't tinker with any of the mechs innards. This is one of the funnest parts of the game, but to get to that you have to buy your own mech. You're first mech is a very important decision, because that is where the real grind begins. Oddly, you make the most money playing trial mechs because you don't have to do repairs. After you've bought a mech, income drops dramatically. So, if you're really wanting to play an Atlas, then keep playing the trial mechs till you can afford one. Also, you should be good enough to try the other trial mechs to get a feel for them. This might help you decide what mech class you want and what types of weapons you like (ballistics, lasers, missiles).
1. Before picking a mech, check out Ohm's guide. It lists all the data you need to know on hardpoints, weapons, engines and pilot skills: http://mwomercs.com/...s-excel-inside/
2. Another great guide that helped me is this one by Prosperity Park: http://mwomercs.com/...or-new-players/
2.5 (added 11-23-12) A great guide for figuring out what's on your screen, and lots of useful advanced tactics by Archsight: http://mwomercs.com/...e-field-manual/
3. After buying that first mech, my advice is to take all the weapons off and max out the armor. Then add the weapons that you like, or want to try. Armor is cheap, and dramatically increases your survival. When you get to a point where you want to squeeze something on, then reduce your armor. Resist the urge to reduce it too much.
4. Since money is tight, you might want to consider turning off "Auto Re-load Ammo". The game will still reload you 75% of your max ammo. Ammo tends to be expensive.
5. Avoid buying Ferro-Fibrous armor. It's extremely expensive to repair. Endo-Steel is the better option for freeing up space. Buying either one of these will take up 14 critical hit slots. These are free-floating, so you can drop something on them, and they will automatically move somewhere else. Take note, they can't be critically hit though, so you don't have to worry if some end up in your arms.
6. Don't forget to spend XP on your mech effeciency skills. These skills increase the performance of your mech dramatically. (Click on Pilot Lab, then Mech Trees, then select your mech variant on the right panel).
7. (added 11-23-12) My rules of thumb for mech speed: Light mechs need to go AT LEAST 100kmh. Mediums at least 80kph. Heavies at least 60kph. Assaults at least 45kph. I think the biggest mistake medium pilots make is trudging around at 50-60kph trying to be a mini-Atlas. A medium has one advantage, and that's speed.
8. (added 11-23-12) SPEED! How fast your mech can go is important because it affects two important things besides just going fast and being hard to hit. It affects how fast your mech can turn AND how fast your mech's torso can twist.
9. (added 11-23-12) Another tip on the mechbay. Don't sell a mech until you've stripped everything off of it first. Just pick up the item, then drag and drop it in the right side panel. Especially engines! They're expensive to buy. If you keep all of your engines, even the ones you don't think you'll use, you'll have many more options later.
10. (added 11-23-12) If you're having trouble aiming, that's ok. You can still enjoy this game. Consider using Guided weapons, LRMs and SSRMs. All you need is the red circle lock to fire. Or, consider using a sniper build. So far, the Gauss is king for long range sniping, but there are advantages to ER Large Lasers, AC/2, AC/5, and PPCs Just stay behind your team, stop your mech, and take careful aim. Turning on Infrared (by tapping "H"), will allow you to shoot at targets that are out of range. You can barely see them as light blue heat signatures.
C. Advanced piloting and targeting.
This is the meat of this whole guide. I've sat in spectator mode after almost every battle and watched. I learned a lot from watching good players, but I think I learned more by watching the bad ones. Mechwarrior Online is a game that rewards skill and precision. Brute force will sometimes get results, but not nearly as well as skill.
1. The "R" button. Use it. Here's why. When you target a mech, in the top right of your screen will appear an image telling you what type of mech you're fighting, how much damage the mech has sustained, AND to the left of that, what weapons he's using. Everything you need to know to kill him, and to not get killed yourself.
2. Here's where the skill comes in. You're going to shoot specific parts of that mech. That's right, you can do that. What separates the mediocre pilots from the good ones is this right here.
3. Ok, so lets say you've targeted an Atlas about 500 meters in front of you, coming straight at you. His damage status pops up and you notice his center torso is yellow. Is it yellow with a solid yellow bar wrapped around it? That means he still has an ok amount of armor protecting his internal structure. Is it yellow with no bar wrapped around it? That means he has no armor protecting his internal structure!!! It also means his internal structure is already damaged. You can kill this Atlas!
(Side Note: The Damage Status icon confused me for a long time. I would see that his center torso was red, so I'd blast it. I'd then glance back at the icon and now his center torso is yellow. I didn't realize that the solid bar around the torso was for armor, and that the color changed depending on what was exposed... armor or internal structure. So, what was happening was, I was shooting the remaining armor off and exposing the relatively undamaged internal structure, thereby changing the color back to yellow.)
4. Now, let's kill this Atlas. First off, are you standing still? If so, start moving. Are you moving straight at him or in reverse moving straight away from him? If so, change direction, and start moving perpendicular to him. This makes you harder to hit, while still making it fairly easy to hit him. Now you're ready to shoot him. Here's what I do to make my shot as accurate as possible. I've got my mouse set to a fairly low DPI, you'll have to figure out what DPI works for you. Once I'm moving perpendicular to him, I stop turning with the A and D keys, and completely focus on aiming at his center torso. I prefer lasers for accuracy, and SRMs for close range armor removal. Now fire at his center torso, and make sure you stay on target for the whole duration of the laser.
5. Lets say your first volley didn't kill him. What you do next depends on what weapons he's using. Glance to the left of his damage icon and you'll see a list of his weapons. Are they a bunch of close range pain? Or are they more long range? If he's using close range weapons, you're going to do a 180 degree turn AWAY from him and try to do another volley running perpendicular to him. If he's using mostly long range, then go ahead and begin a circle strafe with him. If he has a variety of weapons, then just do what you're most comfortable with.
6. Now about your build.
a) Is it a brawler build with lots of close range weapons? You have to resist the urge at the beginning of the match to charge into the fray. Wait for the long range mechs to soften them up, or if an enemy mech gets close to your team, then engage.
Is it a long range build? Stay behind your team and soften the enemy. Try to avoid a brawl one on one. Don't waste your ammo.6. Use cover. Try to stay near large objects like boulders or buildings. This is the most effective way to avoid LRM barrages. Another tactic is to move out behind cover, fire, then return to cover.
7. Resist your survival instinct. Sometimes, you'll be in a huge brawl. And you and your teammates are focusing on a target, when you suddenly take damage. Your instinct is to turn and shoot at the person who just shot you. This is wrong. Stay on target. If you start taking a lot of damage, that means they're focusing on killing you. Your job now is to stay alive as long as possible by becoming a difficult target to kill. Torso twist your strongest armor toward the enemy, expose your rear armor if your front armor is gone, run up and down hills in circles.
8. My rule of thumb for killing a mech is to always go for the Center Torso, unless the targets right or left torso is heavily damaged, as in, no armor left. There's a chance they are using an XL engine, which destroying the torso would kill the mech. However, I prefer the sure thing of coring the center torso.
D. My current build.
I thought I'd throw this in here to give people an idea of what works for me.
Name: ROIDRAGE
Centurion CN9-AL
Structure: Endo-Steel
Double Heat Sinks: 14
Engine: 260XL
Right Arm: 2 ER Large Lasers
Center Torso: 2 Medium Lasers
Left Torso: 2 SRM 6
Armor: 336 total
It only runs hot if you're playing it wrong
That's it for now. I'm sure I'll add more stuff later, because I always forget things. Or maybe a veteran will provide a few tips.
Edited by BoomDog, 23 November 2012 - 10:53 AM.
