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First off; Battlemech control;
If you're coming here from a typical shooter, then the movement might seem a little weird to you at first. You're accustomed to pressing W to go forwards, S to go backwards, A/D to strafe, or a combination of two in order to move in a certain direction, be it diagonal or otherwise.
This is not true in MWO. W and S control your 'Mech's speed. You don't need to hold W to be moving forwards, just press it until you're moving the speed you like, and it essentially moves into a "cruise-control" sort of mode. (Side note, you can press the X key to stop moving entirely; IE - Move speed to ZERO).
Your weapons are assigned to groups. Unfortunately, these cannot be set in the Mechlab for some reason yet (-.-) and needs to be done in-game. This can be done using the right control key with the arrow keys. Weapon groups should be assigned in a way that is most accessible and comfortable for the pilot; that'd be you. The number of weapon groups you're using will depend on how many weapon systems you have, and your style of play. NOTE; there are two separate "groups" within the weapon group window. The top part, before the partition (read; blank space) are the weapons on your ARM, controlled by the circular reticule on the screen, not the crosshair.
Miscellaneous other control functions include H for thermal vision, N for night vision, C to center your torso to your legs forward direction, and if I'm not mistaken, either Z or Left Alt to zoom (I'm not home writing this, so I can't check if I remapped mine xD).
Secondly; Battlemech Combat
Being a newer player, you're likely in a trial 'Mech or some version of light/medium chassis. This is not entirely a bad thing. Don't let the more skilled, or "elite" players fool you, trial 'Mechs have their purpose, you just cannot fire all the time. That is the biggest mistake I see people make.
TRIGGER DISCIPLINE IS KEY.
You need to be able to stagger your fire. I play solo almost 100% of the time I'm online, and I have maintained a Kill to Death ratio of ~2.10. This is because, through the course of five months or so in this game, I've managed to find out what exactly to do, and I've seen the mistakes people make in combat situations.
Here's the biggest one you can make; overheating in front of something. Anything. Even overheating in front of a Commando. A trial commando at that. If you power down in your big ol' Atlas, and you didn't make him at least take SOMETHING in exchange, he's going to run right behind you and shoot off your side torso in that five seconds you're powered down. There is literally NEVER a time it's worth overheating. Even if you're the last guy on your team, there's one guy on theirs, and he's got no weapons left, about to be cored; you don't want to overheat. It's bad practice.
Never expose your back. I cannot tell you how many times I've cored heavier 'Mechs than my Yen-Lo-Wang simply because they decided to ignore me and turn their juicy back armor to me. Most players don't spread their armor evenly between front and rear (I seem to be the exception to this rule, but don't follow my example:3), so when someone goes from an Atlas with 90 front torso armor (roughly seven AC/20 shots to core him) to ~20? (Roughly 3-4 shots to core him), I take advantage of it as QUICKLY as possible.
When you're in a 'Mech that's slower turning like a Hunchback, Atlas, or Awesome, don't try to rotate WITH a light 'Mech as they run in circles around you. I cannot tell you how much I laugh at people trying to do this, because you simply won't catch them. What you do is follow them until they're outside your reticule, then turn the OPPOSITE direction, and by the time you're done turning from left to right, they'll be in front of you again! You get way more opportunities to shoot someone this way.
These are just some, like I said, tips I don't see handed out often. I really hope anyone who takes the time to read all of this appreciates it
