66 replies to this topic

[Ozric]

Airoge, on 30 December 2012 - 12:49 PM, said:

So if I wanted I could buy say the Ilya to get the cbill boost then a cata and a dragon or a diff heavy and be fine

From what I can gather so far Ilyas are pretty nice as it has 3 gauss I think it was so Im guessin they are nice snipers

Im willing to throw down 20 bucks are so if its a real nice mech

The hero mechs are not better than normal, but some do have a good set of hardpoints. The cbill bonus is nice of course, but in the end it is not that much and only really adds up over the long term. The important thing is to find a chassis/variant that you like and focus on it. If there happens to be a hero version of that mech with a loadout you like then great, but otherwise you would probably do better sticking with something that fits. Make no mistake, hero mechs are very pricey and MC is better spent elsewhere, so only consider buying one if your sure you are going to get on with it.

Edited by Ozric, 30 December 2012 - 12:57 PM.

[Wizard Steve]

In order to unlock all the pilot efficiencies for a mech, you'll need three different variants of the same mech, not three different mechs.

Hero mechs are nice (I have all four) and are yours for keeps. Premium time is a bigger boost (+50% CBills and XP) but only lasts for as many days as you buy.

[sgt scout]

Gaab, you say efficiencys double if you get 8/8 on all chassie varrients ? i have 3 atlases and have unlocked all bassic, elite and master but my 7.5% hasnt changed to 15% on heat dissipation. Wher did you get your info from? can you link ?

[Wizard Steve]

It's the big "X2" next to your basic efficiencies that's the clue. It still reads 7.5% but now you're getting it twice.

[Aym]

Cat's are great, but so are Atlai.

[Airoge]

still wish it was possible to try out say an atlas as well as a cata and a few others before committing to buying em lol

I was runnin around with a dragon test mech and had a stalker pretty much 2 shot me which obviously I didnt like lol so on one hand Id love to have the firepower of say the atlas not to mention the durability however when Im runnin around in the test stalker its so so easy to get surrounded by bad guys

The centurion on the other hand is a blast to run around in since its hard to hit however it dosent have the firepower to bring down half the mechs out there lol


ugh should have a trial period with a new mech where you can return it for a full refund lol

[Airoge]

that and the stalker is so damn easy to over heat I feel like Im not getting the proper experience with assaults

Edited by Airoge, 30 December 2012 - 02:02 PM.

[Remorse]

If you havent already bought your first mech, I would suggest you to buy the Centurion with 3 missileslots (CN-9A).

Now why do I recommend you to to buy a mech I have never owned or piloted myself?

Here are some of the reasons:

1. Mediums are are the most forgiving class with reasonable mobility and still some armor.

2. Mediums are not favored by the 'premades' at the moment as much as the other classes so you'll have better chance of not meeting one in the game.

3. 3 missileslots is the most any medium can fit. So you will be able to fit as many, or more streaks as any other medium or light mech. Using streaks is a must so you'll as much of the as possible.

4. Its fairly cheap costing less than 4 million cbills. In fact you can propably buy the streak launchers and ammo for them and still stay under 4millions.

5. It has a beam slot for a tag so when someone tries to jam you you can still keep firing those streaks.

6. You said you liked Centurions

Now what to do with it? Strip all ammo and weapons excuding one medium laser. Replace them with streaks and a tag. Put he ammo in the legs (dont buy more than fits). Make sure leg and torso armor capacity is used fully. Lastly fil rest of empty tonnage with heatsinks.

In game put mlaser and tag to same weapon group and streaks to another. Press W when the countdown reaches zero and keep pressing it till you die, or you have won. Consentrate on the smallest enemy mech you can reach (range 270m). Keep moving sideways to maximise your lagshield.

When you get more cbills first buy better sturcture and then bigger engine cause speed is everything.

Oh and as I wrote earlier, I have never owned nor piloted a centurion so take this advice only if you feel its worth the risk.

[Mahws]

I second the Centurion-A, it's an excellent mech. Not so much the advice on how to use it though.

My two Cent-A builds:
AC5
SSRM2x3
Med Pulsex2
Double Heatsinks

The AC5 is handy in that it has decent range and damage, and most importantly the lowest damage to heat of any ballistic that doesn't weigh 15 tonnes. Use it to harass larger mechs at range or compliment the damage of your pulse lasers at short range. The 3 SSRM are an effective damage dealer and will make any unshielded light think twice before coming anywhere near you. You could swap out a pulse for the TAG, but honestly you're better off trying to hit with the pulse lasers than trying to keep in the 90m window of effect that TAG+SSRM gives you against an ECM light. On any other mech I'd take the TAG, but on the Cent-A you'll want the extra laser more.

Med Pulsex2
SRM6x3
Double Heatsinks
This turns the Cent-A into a pretty damn intimidating close range brawler. Stick with the assaults and when the melee erupts rush in to smack the enemy in the face with a combined 45 points of missile damage.

I've also seen it run as a LRM boat. Can't testify to the effectiveness of that myself, but it seems to work quite well.

The Cent-AL is also a great choice if you prefer energy weapons to ballistics. One less missile hardpoint, but that doesn't really limit your options much.

Long story short, it's easily one of my favorite mechs, capable of a wide range of builds and effective at whatever you build it for. I'd definitely recommend it as one of your first mechs. One caveat however is that you shouldn't expect to get three variants to unlock Elite skills unless you really, really like it. The developers got rid of the AH variant to increase sales of the Yen Lo Wang, so unless you're willing to put down real money for the Wang (which isn't a half bad mech, but like all Hero mechs is pretty damn expensive) you're going to have to save up for the Centurion D, which at 8 million might take quite a while. That being said it does come with an XL300 and Artemis which are nice, especially if you want to use a mech in the future that would benefit from an XL engine build.

Edited by Mahws, 30 December 2012 - 08:18 PM.

[Zappz]

I'm not trying to hijack the thread but I'm curious on the differences between the stalker and the other assault class mechs, I also am very new and luckily I read this thread before starting very far... I added time to the premium account thing and it seems to add to the cadet bonus as well so I'm flying through the cb....

But from what Ive found up to this point... Im really enjoying the stalker... as long as I stay close to my team they seem to be a 1 man wrecking machine... if enemies are foolish enough to ignore me and go for my other team mates I can sit back and rain missiles on em and if they come at me (assuming I have someone covering my back) I can demolish em with my heavy lasers

Im not about to say Im the best player or even a mediocre player yet just this seems to be what I enjoy and Id like to optimize it when I can look to buying a mech

So how to the other big mechs compare? So far my only complaint which goes with the territory with this size mech, I cant turn fast enough to kill the lil buggers. And I seem to take heavy hits at times so sometimes the armor seems lackluster but then again it could simply be because I didn't get out of the way fast enough when I saw incoming missiles and such.

ECM would help in the future as well Id imagine but trial mechs don't get ECM

[Wraith05]

Airoge, on 29 December 2012 - 11:20 PM, said:

so far out of the trial mechs Im liking the centurian followed by teh stalker if that gives you any idea of my style... tthe centurian can take a hit or 2 and the LRM + artemis, whatever artemis is I like it lol

it seems to do better then the other LRM mechs in the trial list

Sorry to say didn't read through all 3 pages so I apologize if I repeat what someone already said.

If you like the centurion the heavier version of it would be a dragon. All but the hero one has at least 1 ballistic hardpoint in the arm. All can equip some missiles and usually 2-3 laser hard points.

The atlas is a fine mech, heaviest one you can get. Think of it like a stalker but instead of all those missles, it has energy slots in the arms. Right torso ballistic slot or 2. Left torso usually has 1-3 missle slots and center torso typically has 2 laser slots. The dragon also tends to be able to take a hit and still move quickly.

With the atlas it can pack a huge punch but is SLOW. Meaning the faster mechs can and will run circles around you and if they are good you won't get a targetting reticule on them. Also means once they close in on you, there is no running. Fight or die.

As for your weapon style. If you like staying back and pelting enemies from a distance I'd suggest LRMs (with artemis for quicker locks and closer missile clusters) with some lasers as backup weapons.

If you prefer more direct fire weapons then a guass rifle, but be warned once the armor is gone chances are that baby will blow and take whatever section it was in with it.

Can do AC2s also, they have good distance and fast firing speed but do only 2 damage a shot. So you'll have to pelt the target (chainfire 2 of them in a group and you'll have near nonstop fire)

PPCs work well for range if you can get the hang of aiming them and heat management.

And a decent medium range weapon is the large lasers.

No matter what you build I would suggest at least 1-2 medium lasers as your backup weapons (pref cent torso) so you have something you can shoot if your heat is burning you up or your other weapons are blown up.

Hope this helps, enjoy the game and don't give up!

[Wraith05]

Zappz, on 30 December 2012 - 09:06 PM, said:

I'm not trying to hijack the thread but I'm curious on the differences between the stalker and the other assault class mechs, I also am very new and luckily I read this thread before starting very far... I added time to the premium account thing and it seems to add to the cadet bonus as well so I'm flying through the cb....

But from what Ive found up to this point... Im really enjoying the stalker... as long as I stay close to my team they seem to be a 1 man wrecking machine... if enemies are foolish enough to ignore me and go for my other team mates I can sit back and rain missiles on em and if they come at me (assuming I have someone covering my back) I can demolish em with my heavy lasers

Im not about to say Im the best player or even a mediocre player yet just this seems to be what I enjoy and Id like to optimize it when I can look to buying a mech

So how to the other big mechs compare? So far my only complaint which goes with the territory with this size mech, I cant turn fast enough to kill the lil buggers. And I seem to take heavy hits at times so sometimes the armor seems lackluster but then again it could simply be because I didn't get out of the way fast enough when I saw incoming missiles and such.

ECM would help in the future as well Id imagine but trial mechs don't get ECM

Atlas has a more balance loadout for hardpoints. (4 lasers, 1-2 ballistic, 1-3 missle). Typically more armor also and arm weapons.

Stalker doesn't have arm weapons, more focused on missles or lasers. Harder to shield torsos via twisting.

Awesome is similar to stalker. Though I'd say more laser focused but some varients have 2-4 missle hardpoints. With arms/profile easier to guard torso via twisting.

Hope that helps.

[p00k]

right now, mediums are garbage. there is nothing, absolutely nothing, a medium can do that either a heavy or a light can't do better.

1) want to be a fast hit & run mech? take a light. you'll have a more favorable hitbox profile and better lagshield than mediums, for only slightly less armor (and the lagshield more than makes up for the armor difference). basically making cicadas and the big engine config centurions worthless

2) want to be a hard hitting medium? well, sadly the heavies can pack even more firepower than mediums, move comparably fast (unless you're a medium pretending to be a light, in which case see point 1), and have more armor. basically making the slower centurions and the hunchbacks worthless.

[Zappz]

I see one of the atlas's have 2 AMS hardpoints.... why would you need 2 ECMs? I assume that's what AMS is for

[Vassago Rain]

Zappz, on 30 December 2012 - 10:10 PM, said:

I see one of the atlas's have 2 AMS hardpoints.... why would you need 2 ECMs? I assume that's what AMS is for

AMS shoots missiles down. ECM prevents missile locks in the first place, unless you get TAG'd. The double-D has ECM, K has double AMS.

[Zappz]

oh I see.... how effective is the AMS?

[p00k]

Zappz, on 30 December 2012 - 10:29 PM, said:

oh I see.... how effective is the AMS?

not very

1 ams system will shoot down somewhere between 5-10 missiles per incoming volley. so if one enemy is launching an lrm5 at you it should get them all. if they're launching an lrm10 (from a big tube) some will get through

only thing is, people who run lrms nowadays usually vomit up 30-60 at you. you could argue every little bit helps, but i would argue every little bit of extra heat dissipation/armor/speed helps even more.

if you're running one of the mechs that can carry 2 ams, then it might be worthwhile, but the atlas k also happens to be the worst of the atlases. not sure about the stalker

[Sebesto]

To OP: Atlas' have their benefits and disadvantages. They do have quite a bit of armor but they need that armor because they are slow as all heck. Getting a DDC would be your best Atlas to get, stick an AC/20, 3x SRM6s and a couple medium lasers and your good to go.

Personally for a starting mech, get a HBK-4SP. You can put a 260 standard engine on it, 2x SRM-6's and 4x Medium Lasers. It will be fast and have quiet a bit of firepower for it's size.

[Zappz]

ok so why don't you recommend a assault as a starter, I seem to be excelling at the trial stalker. Or was that more the the OP who seems to do better in smaller mechs?

[Airoge]

ugh so premium time adds to the cadet bonus too ugh sucky lol dont suppose theres a way to reset your account lol