29 replies to this topic

[Krazy Kat]

The HBK-4SP is really nice for a first mech, but if you want to get 2 other Hunchbacks for the elite upgrades it might not be so easy. I have little experience with the Cent. It might have better variants for getting the elite upgrades.

Anyone who has both? Please comment.

[Elizander]

Krazy Kat, on 08 December 2012 - 07:19 PM, said:

The HBK-4SP is really nice for a first mech, but if you want to get 2 other Hunchbacks for the elite upgrades it might not be so easy. I have little experience with the Cent. It might have better variants for getting the elite upgrades.

Anyone who has both? Please comment.

The HBK-4P is great for just getting through the elite grind. Replace all the torso/head Medium Lasers with Small Lasers and you'll have constant firepower (21 point alpha) even with single heat sinks. You don't need Endo Steel on it, just DHS and it uses up no ammo. DHS isn't even necessary if you can manage the heat with SHS, but DHS will allow you to upgrade the engine to move faster, otherwise you are stuck with the standard engine due to needing more tonnage to SHS. Normally you will have 2x Medium Laser and 7x Small Laser. DHS is only required if you want to upgrade the engine, otherwise it will do fine on heat if you don't fire the Mediums with it.

The HBK-4H is a good ballistics platform because it allows you to carry 5 lasers unlike the HBK-4G. It only has one big gun in the right torso but it has a lot of medium lasers to back it up due to the extra energy hard points. I know you can easily put in AC/20 or Gauss + 5 Medium Laser if you go DHS.

The HBK-4G can still work. I've recently started using 3x Medium Lasers + 3x AC/2s (ammo for AC/2 is dirt cheap) for high DPS, but you are stuck with the standard engine unless you go XL (not advisable). It's great fire support if you stick with the big guys.

The HBK-4J is mostly LRM support. The HBK-4SP can toss the same amount of missiles as the 4J, but the 4J throws out 20 at a time while the 4SP can only throw a volley of 6-6-6-2 per launcher (if we're talking LRM20) or 6-4 single / 12-10 dual (if we're talking LRM10s). This means that while the 4SP can lob missiles, it staggers into 2 or more volleys which allows AMS more time to shoot them down. The 4J can throw 20 missiles at once and give AMS less time to react. I don't have any numbers on how much more effective it is, but there should be a small difference in damage output against AMS targets.

If it were me, I'd go with the 4SP, 4P (cheap stuff), and the last would depend on preference. 4G (3x Mediun Laser, 3x AC/2), 4H (5x Medium Laser, 1x big ballistic gun), 4J (1x LRM20 or 2x LRM10, 5x Medium Laser).

The 4SP benefits well from a 245 standard engine which you can toss on your 4P as well (though a small laser 4P can go with a 260 standard). The 4H, 4J, 4G will most likely use the stock 200 standard engine if you want to maximize the hard points.

All of them will probably do good with DHS. Don't put any Endo Steel on the 4P, but the rest are good with it. Most of them also run okay as stock if you don't want to upgrade them. Upgrading them makes them 1) run cooler, 2) move faster with bigger engines, but they can fight as they are with a little heat management and sticking with the group (cause they are slow).

Disclaimer: I don't own a 4H or 4J at the moment.

I hope this helps.

Edited by Elizander, 08 December 2012 - 09:39 PM.

[Pariah Devalis]

If it helps, I personally just got an SP, myself, and I have gotta admit I was quite surprised.

The stock loadout is already pretty vicious, but with a little tweaking you can make the heat more controllable by dropping the small laser and going DHS, and the SRM cluster can be tighter with Artemis. A big enough standard engine to hit 79+ KPH is incredible on it. It really, really lets you close range, hit hard, and scoot away if things do not look favorable. The laser placements in the arms are also fantastic, since you can very easily shield a torso while shooting sideways with them or hit mechs at otherwise totally impossible angles. It is also a fairly nimble machine, as well, which lets you double up as an anti-light mech.

Even with half a mech, as said, it hits pretty hard, though you are fast enough and well armored enough that you can almost control where the enemy hits you. If you can get the jump on someone, you can also hit them for a 50 damage alphastrike, which hurts regardless of who you hit.

[DrTeath]

Personally I love my 50t mechs.
I currently have 3 hunchbacks (4G, 4P and 4SP) and 1 centurion (CN9-AL) in my mech bay.

The advantage of the hunchback.

Weapons are mostly in the right torso, which is rather heavily armoured

Weapons tend to be focused on close range combat, giving it one hell of a punch.

320 Points of standard armour.

The disadvantage.

The right torso hit box is rather large and a smart team will focus fire to knock out your fire power. Leaving you will very little fire power.

Armour tends to be heavily focused on the front of the mech, meaning getting shot in the back will hurt a lot if you get flanked.

A large number of heat sinks are needed to achieve good heat efficiency and will take lots of your space and tonnage.

The advantage of the centurion.

A good mix of lasers, ballistic and missiles. which make it an effective combatant at any range right out of the box.

Two medium lasers in the centre torso means that you can keep fighting (all be it poorly) even with both side torsos and both arms blow off completely.

Highly customisable weapon load out.

The disadvantage.

The main weapon is in its arm, which is relatively lightly armoured and your fire power will suffer significantly if you lose your arm.

While you do have weapons capable of engaging at any range, you lack concentrated punch at a specific range.

The CN9-A, CN9-D and the CN9-WLY all have about 60 points less armour than the hunchback. The CN9-AL only has 6 points more armour than the hunchback.

If you are just starting out buying your first mech, then you want something cheap and easy to run, with low repair costs, good fire power and versatility. Both mechs are a good choice, but with heavier armour and an all energy variant, I would suggest that the Hunchback 4P might be more forgiving as a starting mech. With no missiles or ballistic weapons, you will never have to pay for ammo. However its strength is also its weakness, lots of lasers make lots of heat, meaning you cannot fire continuously without risking overheating very quickly.

Despite the fact that it only has energy weapon hard points, you can still customise your load out a fair bit. I have a couple of different configurations that I run on my 4P (blatant self promotion) which you can find a few here, that will allow you to fight at any range. Keep in mind that these are just a few of the possible configurations.

EDIT: Formatting

Edited by DrTeath, 08 December 2012 - 10:44 PM.

[Wove]

Maverick41, on 08 December 2012 - 07:00 PM, said:

Hello, I am new to this game, I have played some battles and have earned about 2,000,000. How much do you need to earn before you can start buying mechs? The store icon is greyed out and I can't click on it.

The 'Store' tab isn't working yet.

Click 'Owned Mechs' (Bottom left corner of the lab), then click on an empty mechbay, then click on 'Create New Mech'.

Edited by Wove, 08 December 2012 - 11:19 PM.

[Suicidal Idiot]

I recommend picking one, and power grinding it through at least long enough to finish all the first level pilot skills. You're going to lose a lot, but so what. Just keep hammering, and you'll learn plenty.

Good luck.

[Tex Arcana]

Suicidal *****, on 09 December 2012 - 02:54 AM, said:

I recommend picking one, and power grinding it through at least long enough to finish all the first level pilot skills. You're going to lose a lot, but so what. Just keep hammering, and you'll learn plenty.

Good luck.

I bought the 4SP first and hammered the game until I had enough to buy the P.
By that time the 4SP had enough XP piled up that it had to wait for the P, and J to get Elite wrapped up.
-The SP ended up with 7k XP "banked" for when Master opens up.
It was very nice to be able to just click-off all the Elite abilities without one Match in the SP and still have XP left lol.

[Tex Arcana]

BigJim, on 06 December 2012 - 02:28 AM, said:

C:\Games\Piranha Games\MechWarrior Online\User.cfg

Add the following lines & save;

i_mouse_smooth = 0
i_mouse_accel = 0
cl_sensitivity = 0.16
the "0.16" can be adjusted to taste, the default iirc is 1.0, this should help with your aim by reducing the mouse sensitivity.

This worked like a charm.
I set the sensitivity to 0.5: Perfect.
Thanks again !

[Spectre999]

For me, the choice between HBK and CNT boild down to whether I'd like to pack 3x SSRM, or do I prefer to have 4 laser slots on my arms.

[Kraven Kor]

Centurion is better as a mobile striker, as it can get away with an XL engine a bit easier, and has the more nimble arm mount. However, that same arm mount often means your primary guns are easily removed.

Hunchback is more durable and works great as a flanker or direct brawler; but the hunch is a giant target and houses most of your weapons. It has more armor than the Centi's arm, but is a bigger target.

The CN9-AL is my fervrite of the Centi's, with the arm mount letting me be a surgeon with dual Large Lasers (well, until it gets blown off...)

The HBK-4SP is my fervrite of the Hunchies, as the weapons are a bit more widely distributed, and because SRM's own face.

Edited by Kraven Kor, 10 December 2012 - 12:38 PM.