Martini Henrie, on 14 January 2013 - 07:07 AM, said:
Keep your fight separate guys, they have very little to do with the thread.
As for armor, I would recommend keeping at least 20-26 points on the rear centre and around 18-20 for sides. It gives you enough time for a team mate to scrape off the offending mech off your back. I agree that a medium mech is the best place to start, best would be a Hunchie, or as you have tried Cents one of them will do well.
26 rear is a silly amount, and won't change anything. That's almost a fourth of your armor total for a location you never want anyone in, because if they're there, you're dead, anyway.
I recommend using 6x ML 4x Ssrm2 (3 tons of ammo) and the rest all in shs, untill u can afford dhs and a 300 engine (imo wait till u can afford both before upgrading).
Once you have dhs and 300 engine, the build i enjoy is 2 LL (1 per arm for greater range of motion and easier "sniping" over terrain) 4 ML, 4 Ssrm2's (4 tons of ammo-in legs...could do less but u dont really have the slots to do anything else...maybe once BAP has more uses and/or is a soft counter to ECM, you could do 2 tons of ammo and a bap) rest all in dhs (lower leg armor to 57 per).
Alternative would be 275 engine, 4 LL, 4ssrm with 1 less dhs than the previous build (because 1 less fits in to the engine) and whatever ammo you can fit (i think its about the same). This build in general would have easier heat management and better range stopping power at the cost of slightly lower alpha dmg, lower top speed and turn speed (i think engine power effects turn speed, just not sure if its torso turn and/or mech turn, but i think its mech turn only...if someone knows for sure lemme know plz).
In general with limited space from packing everything with as many dhs as u possibly can, i reckon AMS does more harm than good (if its 1 dhs vs ams, i pick dhs because heat is a much larger problem for me than non ams lrms are).
Other than that, it looks like ur getting the hang of mwo quite nicely and im pleased you're starting to enjoy yourself.
*edit* As far as front/rear armor distribution goes, i found that even in a stalker 3f i very rarely die from rear breaches, so i usually only put around 16-18 (2-4 less on side rear) in the central rear and the rest in the front (esp important on stalker side torso, because its front side torso if FAR more exposed than its rear side torso is).
This thread is remarkably interesting for a couple reasons.
First it documents the new user experience... you do take a pretty thorough drumming on the road to your first mech ( which is bad ). It seems bizarre she could play 20+ matchs, and only have one victory, which was a base cap. In that period of time, she should have been matched up with a premade, or a couple really good players and even if she died 10 seconds in, there should have been a few occasions where the team carried the day... but there wasnt. A huge number of matches and all but one a loss. Something is off here. Truth of the matter is, one player doesn't really carry the day either way, unless that player did downright exceptional. It isn't reflective on Athena's skill, it just seems remarkably lopsided the results.
Then... she buys a mech and witness what happens. She is certainly improving, but she isn't posting damage or kill numbers that would carry the day yet. But look at the win/loss results. Suddenly she is winning a ton more.
It makes me wonder if PGI is actually grouping trial mechs/ cadet bonus players together on the same side. The results certainly indicate that something is up. My god I hope PGI isn't THAT stupid.
This thread is remarkably interesting for a couple reasons.
First it documents the new user experience... you do take a pretty thorough drumming on the road to your first mech ( which is bad ). It seems bizarre she could play 20+ matchs, and only have one victory, which was a base cap. In that period of time, she should have been matched up with a premade, or a couple really good players and even if she died 10 seconds in, there should have been a few occasions where the team carried the day... but there wasnt. A huge number of matches and all but one a loss. Something is off here. Truth of the matter is, one player doesn't really carry the day either way, unless that player did downright exceptional. It isn't reflective on Athena's skill, it just seems remarkably lopsided the results.
Then... she buys a mech and witness what happens. She is certainly improving, but she isn't posting damage or kill numbers that would carry the day yet. But look at the win/loss results. Suddenly she is winning a ton more.
It makes me wonder if PGI is actually grouping trial mechs/ cadet bonus players together on the same side. The results certainly indicate that something is up. My god I hope PGI isn't THAT stupid.
I've been telling you all just how bad trials are for the longest time. They're so bad, they degrade their team's overall performance, and it's a cruel joke to put new players in the easy-bake ovens.
That said, pubbing in this game is almost guaranteed to result in losses, even if you're the best player ever, in the best mech ever. Some days, I'll have 75% losses, just from being matched up with bad mechs or trials, and others, 100% wins. It's just how the game is.
Though i mostly think Vassago is an *** (sry, just my personal opinion), i have to say that he has been really helpful in this thread even if i dont agree on every point. I wish there were more people helping the new guys the way he did here.
It makes me wonder if PGI is actually grouping trial mechs/ cadet bonus players together on the same side. The results certainly indicate that something is up. My god I hope PGI isn't THAT stupid.
If they are, they aren't doing it on purpose since the current MM only takes in to account weight class and nothing else. I do wonder sometimes if there is something about the "random" selection process that skews team creation, but there is no way of knowing.
Some helpful game play pointers:
- Get comfortable with Zoom. I noticed on some of your early videos that you were shooting LLs at a long range target without using zoom, which essentially equates to guaranteed miss.
- Know your weapon ranges. Shooting a ML outside of 270M will "hit" and cause a damage visual, but I doubt its really doing much actual damage. I also tend to form two primary weapon groups and key them to my left and right mouse buttons.
Build pointer:
- SSRMs are great for lights... but most lights have ECM, making SSRMs useless. Try SRM6's with Artemis. It's a lovely shotgun blast of missile death. Otherwise, SSRMs do have a quirk that they always hit the torso so damage is more focused.
Hi Athena and thanks for sharing your first experiences. Even tho you have played many MW titles before, there really is a steep learning curve in MWO. Especially learning the heat management. First thing, there is a penalty for alpha striking similar weapons for heat and a bigger penalty for alpha striking weapons that are in the same location.
Example: My Jenner with 4 medium lasers, two in each arm, I fire one in tandem with another from different arms, saving heat penalties and staying more efficient. Double Heat Sinks are not really double but are 1.4 for balance issues. Plus when combined with either XL or Endosteel take up lots of critical spots so be wary before combining two or three of those, especially in a stalker.
As for trial mechs, they rotate them out rather frequently so in a week or so there will be 4 different ones.
Since you have a much bigger clan background it may take you some time to adapt back to Inner Sphere mechs and the problems they have with heat management.
If you need some light training or coaching and walk thrus, there are many merc corps that do not mind having new players join them for drops. There are also many Team Speak 3 servers where MWO is played. No Guts No Galaxy is one of those, plus NGNG also has weekly podcasts about all things Mech Warrior related including MWO, MWLL, MWTactics and MWTacticalCommand.
If you need company on drops send me a friend request and when I am on, send me group invites any time you want. Sure we can figure out how to communicate and I will answer any questions you or your friend have about MWO. I have been playing since early closed beta. I am also sure that many in this community would be willing to help you and your friend if you just asked.
Thanks for taking on this project it has been a very good read.
@Dukarriope
XL Engine is not an upgrade I would put in my Stalker. I tend to lose a side torso before losing my center fairly often.
@Orzorn
Thank you. Nice that you noticed. I fixed that grouping in the next game. I really dislike being unable to set my weapon groups in mech lab like in the old games. Having to set them up in a game is terrible.
@Vassago Rain
What do you do with the short ranged medium laser + SRM stalker to get in range if there are long range stand offs? This happens on the hill on one of the snow maps lots of playing peekaboo and shooting LRMs, Gaus or PPC poping over the hill or out behind buildings.
@Murku
Thank you. Heat generation being different on desert versus snow maps is throwing me off a bit. I'm a bit skeptical about the short range builds. I seen one video and its really great if you get in range but worried about long range stand offs which happen from time to time. I also am used to playing Clan mechs with good range ER PPCs in previous games so the short range only mech like a Hunchback that gets shot up by a Timberwolf before it can use its AC20 in the Mech Commander intro is perfect example.
@Johnny Morgan
Thank you. I not all that concerned with getting kills myself but I would like my team to win more often. Just seems we just get pounded more often then we win.
ECM seems to be a big factor I am noticing that without enemy ECM I can more easily assist by seeing the shaded triangle which indicates someone else has the enemy targeted and I know where my team mates are at a glance in relation to enemies so I know not to over extend. ECM just takes out the radar and targeting and then you have to do everything by eye and pan around to see and its easy to over extend without knowing positions at a glance from radar. Not to mention your LRM and Streaks don't work. Hence I want to try a direct fire build.
@Orzorn
Trial Dragon is pretty terrible from my experience. Will have my review of it up tonight or tommorow night time permitting.
Now a fast heavy that goes 80+ kph but has a decent armament like some large lasers, maybe some medium lasers with SRMs for close up with enough heat sinks might be worth trying.
@VonRunnegen
I'm finding that many times the team will all try and kill a light mech or two who show up first and go chase the lights and often splitting up to just blasted badly when the enemy main force shows up losing the match.
@Vassago Rain
I'll have to give the lower rear armor a try and see. I do get lights and fast mediums who shoot me in the back.
@Kushko
Builds look interesting but how often are your Streaks negated by ECM? I'm noticing its more often then I would like sometimes.
@Serapth
I been noticing that buying a mech made a night and day difference. You can fire more often and thus do more damage.
@Moridan
I'll admit I'm a little trigger happy and just shoot if I have a good shot from what I see don't always check the range. I was told the cross hair turns red when you hit so it seems to do damage beyond the stated range.
Can't afford Artemis yet. I was told it costs cbills to take off Artemis if you don't want it? Might give SRM4s a try for a bit. I was told the spread on them is smaller then the SRM6.
@wwiiorgre
Thank you nice to see people appreciate the project. I will be looking for a Merc group eventually. I was mainly doing it for a few real life friends who want to see what the experience is like.
Athena Pryde, on 14 January 2013 - 11:35 AM, said:
Thank you everyone for being so helpful.
One thing to keep in mind when looking for advice/taking suggestions on these forums is that some things that work well when you are grouped with friends work a lot less well when you are pugging alone, everyone is giving advice from their own viewpoint.
A good example of that would be the suggestion to lower your rear armor; that's fine if you have a partner watching your 6, but it could bite you in the literal *** when you do not. Same goes for a lot of build ideas, they may work in as part of an organized group and fail when you aren't on coms. So everything with a grain of salt.
Athena Pryde, on 14 January 2013 - 11:35 AM, said:
@Vassago Rain
What do you do with the short ranged medium laser + SRM stalker to get in range if there are long range stand offs? This happens on the hill on one of the snow maps lots of playing peekaboo and shooting LRMs, Gaus or PPC poping over the hill or out behind buildings.
You sit around doing nothing. If you are in a brawling mech and it gets into a sniping fest, stay out of it. On Caustic, circle around to the nearest edge and watch for flankers. If they are good, they will send flankers around eventually.
Another thing to keep in mind, even though medium lasers have an ideal range of 270m, they still do damage outwards to @500m. It's reduced damage of course ,but if you've got enough of them you will still do reasonable damage at 400m, which is about the span of the cauldron. Sometimes though, you just have to accept that your mech isn't ideal to the situation and move to a position where it will be ideal. Eventually the sniping ends, and thats when you step in with your pristine condition bruiser. The key is to play your mech at its ideal range in the ideal position, if you can help it.
Quote
ECM seems to be a big factor I am noticing that without enemy ECM I can more easily assist by seeing the shaded triangle which indicates someone else has the enemy targeted and I know where my team mates are at a glance in relation to enemies so I know not to over extend. ECM just takes out the radar and targeting and then you have to do everything by eye and pan around to see and its easy to over extend without knowing positions at a glance from radar. Not to mention your LRM and Streaks don't work. Hence I want to try a direct fire build.
This is where your brawler config shines. A SRM storm is nothing to sneeze at, even for lag shielded cheese Ravens. Since all your weapons are close range and line of sight, you suffer less than an LRM boat for example, when ECM is a big factor.
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Trial Dragon is pretty terrible from my experience. Will have my review of it up tonight or tommorow night time permitting.
If I recall, the trial dragon is the 5n, which is easily the worst model. Again, Trial everything suck, especially in the medium/heavy configs. Too little ammo, bad heat management, too many weapon groups. There are two Dragons you can mount 4xLL on ( Flame and... I forget the other ), and with an XL ( which isn't a hindrance in a Dragon, like it is in a Stalker or Hunchback ), a Dragon can roam at 100km/h. They are viable, regardless to what some people tell you. There are some terrible hardpoints on two of the dragon variants though, so exp grinding them is a bit annoying.
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@Serapth
I been noticing that buying a mech made a night and day difference. You can fire more often and thus do more damage.
While the mech certainly improved your statistics, the part I find most shocking is how much it improved your allies statistics. That result is troubling.
There are some terrible hardpoints on two of the dragon variants though, so exp grinding them is a bit annoying.
I assume the two you're talking about are the 5N and the 1C. The 5N is pretty much the worst variant of the Dragon, although it has some niche uses, but unless you're cramming 3 ballistics on it, youre probably would be better off with a 1C if you only wanted 2 ballistics.
The 1C is the other variant you're likely talking about. I admit, I used to talk major crap about it, but I discovered a build that works pretty darn well and its the one I've been talking about that lets me take some enemies down in a few salvos:
2 medium pulse lasers (can be swapped for 2 medium lasers to add more ammo, more heatsinks which are not likely needed, or a bigger engine)
2 SRM 4s w/ 2 tons of ammo (this is where those 2 missile hardpoints come in handy)
1 Gauss Rifle w/ 3 tons of ammo
1 AMS w/ 1 ton of ammo
XL 300 engine
Endo Steel
10 DHS
Max armor except for legs.
But basically, if you aren't using the two missiles, the 1C is pretty useless. The 1N is easily the better variant, along with the totally awesome Flame.
Regardless of all that, Serapth is correct Athena, in saying that pretty much all trials are garbage compared to the what you can do with custom mechs. When it comes to judging mechs, hitboxes, hardpoints, hardpoint locations, max engine size, lower arm actuators, arm angles, and torso twist angles are pretty much the most important factors when it comes to determining what mech is best for you and what you want to do.
Athena Pryde, on 14 January 2013 - 11:35 AM, said:
@Kushko
Builds look interesting but how often are your Streaks negated by ECM? I'm noticing its more often then I would like sometimes.
Its true that about half the fights im in ecm prevents me from using ssrms effectivly. But the beauty of the stalker is that its armed to the teeth and that its largest dps limitation is the heat buildup. Meaning that if im not using ssrms i'm still doing a ton of dmg with 2LL&4ML and still producing more heat than my heat sinks can handle, so all in all me not being able to use the ssrms does not lower my dps, just removes some utility, while on the other hand if i am not being ECMed, i can make short work of lagshield mechs.
An alternative would be to swap to srms, but the only upside of that would be a larger point blank alpha strike, which is almost as situational as ssrms are and only changes focus from anti lagshield utility to larger brawl apha strike (with equal overall dps due to heat limitations).
I do use srms from time to time (mostly for fun), but i find i get more benefit from ssrms.
Well I said I would try the rest of the trials and I did. here are my findings.
Game 24 Centurion 9D Trial
Trying out the Centurion Trial. Promised I'd try this out so I did.
Video
Results
Fraps crashed so I had to alt tab out and start it again.
LRMed while I could then moved in for some back shots. Not very good at shooting on the move quite yet. Moved in too soon and got shot up.
This mech is another toaster oven especially on desert and I over headed and stood still to get shot up. Died because I lost a side torso. XL engine is indeed bad.
Trial mechs leave a bad taste in my mouth. Stalker time.
Game 25 Stalker 3F
Video
Results
Getting better at shooting lights but still not good at it. Over extended and ran right into the whole enemy team oops. Still not used to the desert heat levels.
Game 26 Stalker 3F
Video
Results
I think I was doing find till I advanced to far and got myself in over my head against most of the enemy team. I need to hang back more.
I said I would review the trials so here we go again.
Game 27 Dragon 5N
Video
Results
Wasn't the brightest idea to run into the enemy team but they were all there I would have thought someone went tunnel. Just run and gunned like I think your supposed to in this mech although I probably should have hung back and LRMed more. Ultra AC Arm got blown off after I lost a good chunk of my LRM ammo so used what I had left and I had 1 peewee laser left. This mech really didn't seem that good and didn't do much damage but wow managed to tag 6 people who died.
Game 28 Dragon 5N
@Dukarriope your favorite song came up in my playlist
Video
Results
25 Rounds for the UAC is terrible. I ran out of ammo right behind that Awesome when I got to his internals seeing components blow up. Are you kidding me. If only I had more ammo. This should have at least 50 rounds of UAC ammo swaping 1 ton of LRM Ammo. I had plenty of LRM ammo that I couldn't really use effectively because the battle was now a brawl. I keep hitting 3 for missle thinking I had streaks from my Stalker my bad. After I ran out of ammo I had one peewee laser joy. I am done with this garbage mech.
Game 29 Centurion 9D
Video
Results
Checking the tunnel by myself wasn't the greatest idea. Probably should have tried to run away back towards my team instead of trying to run around and getting my leg blown off and dead. Would be really nice if they had a short cut key for Help with my location like they did in World of Tanks.
Game 30 Centurion 9D
Video
Results
Running and gunning would actually be fun if I didn't keep overheating. This mech runs pretty hot on the desert map. Can't shoot as much as I would like. Shut down a bit too much. Got 4 assists
Game 31 Centurion 9D
Video
Unfortunately had another FRAPs crash would have been nice to have this game on video
Results
Boo hiss FRAPS crashed so I don't have the video of this game. I did some decent damage using my LRM hanging around the main group till I ran dry and then ran in after the enemies were damaged. Running and gunning with 2 medium lasers and shotgun was actually pretty fun on ice world where heat wasn't a problem. Got a kill and 5 assists nice.
Game 32 Raven 2x
Video
Results
Ooops I fell into the Canyon against several mechs. Tried to get out but didn't know how. I want a training room where I can just run around the map. Not exactly great with a light but this seems bad already as don't have the speed to run away. Chalk that game up to user error.
Game 33 Raven 2x
Video
Results
Tried to scout a head slightly not to far because I wasn't too fast got a few back shots. Armament isn't too bad but doesn't have the heat sinks to support it. Could have done without the SRM6 or double heat sinks. Why couldn't the dragon have this weapon set up with more heat sinks. I overhead too often and was pretty much dead once I lost my leg. Don't like this mech.
Game 34 Raven 2x
Video
Results
Really don't like the night level. Night vision is worse then actual modern night vision. Heat vision has its limitations but is actually better for spotting enemy mechs.
This mech just runs too hot. Have nice juicy back shots and shut down.
Centurion 9D Trial Mech Review
This actually surprised me in it was not quite as bad as I thought and I had one decent game in it. It does have big heat issues on especially on the desert level once you heat up you take a long time to cool down which is just terrible. I did have a decent run on the snow level. The XL Engine really does decrease your life expectancy significantly. Speed is nice but I am not sure it is worth the XL Engine liability.
LB10X - the shotgun isn't nearly as bad as I thought it was the Centurion has the speed to get up close to get good shotgun blasts in for good damage. The damage being spread out is not ideal but if your close enough it doesn't matter much. It being torso mounted makes it a little harder to line up shots but less likely that it gets blown off. Really should be able to fire slugs and cluster rounds like table top. Cluster rounds have limited usefulness in hitting fast movers easier then a solid shot since this isn't table top with random hit locations where the cluster round shines. 2 tons ammo is sufficient to not run out to quick.
2 medium lasers do alright as a back up weapon. Heat is an issue and you can't just fire them every time they cycle.
Single LRM10 isn't very good. PGI's Wonder ECM makes it worthless without a TAG. AMS seems to shoot down half or more of your missles too.
Centurion 9D is generally pretty bad with heat issues, XL engine decreasing your survivability and requiring to get up really close to do good damage which is a bad place since you have an XL engine and optimized brawler mechs will hurt. LRM is unreliable. If you get that match up where the opponents have no ECM and you can use your LRM a bit before the running and gunning it can be decent but thats a big if.
Dragon 5N Review
I hate this mech. After two games I was done with it.
Ultra Autocannon 5 with only 25 rounds is just bad. If I did not run out of rounds, I get my arm blown off. It is not exactly easy to hit with the auto cannon while running around at full speed either. I got behind someone and held down the button for ultra fire and it jammed . Not something that I would want to devote 10 tons to as a primary weapon and only have 25 shots. Couple Large lasers would be much better here for 10 ton investment if only you had double heat sinks.
Single Medium Laser is a pretty bad as your only back up weapon. Two like on the centurion is barely enough.
Single LRM10 isn't very good. PGI's Wonder ECM makes it worthless without a TAG. AMS seems to shoot down half or more of your missles too.
This Dragon is just plain bad. You zip around but you don't really do much damage once your Ultra Auto Cannon 5 clicks empty or gets blown off. It also jams randomly. Running around firing a single medium laser till someone finally wants to kill you just isn't very effective. LRM usefulness depends on if your opponent has ECM or not.
Raven 2X Review
This light isn't fast enough to scout the above medium and heavy are fast enough to catch you. Should do 110kph at least. Another Oven that just overheats to quickly to be of much use. Large laser should have been an engine upgrade or more heat sinks.
Large Laser might be ok if you had double heat sinks but you don't. Heats you up pretty darn fast only able to fire 2 times.
2 Medium Lasers is decent. 10 single heatsinks not so much.
SRM6 is ok but the spread unless point blank is hard to concentrate damage on one spot. Decent for hitting lights.
Way too hot and no speed. Just bad.
Stalker 3F trial Review (recap from before)
I like that it has weapons for all ranges.
This runs a bit hotter then I originally though.
LRM 10s really don't seem to be that good in comparison to the twinks with 4 large LRM launchers. Would like to try upgrading these to LRM 15s. Their effectiveness varies. You tend to lose locks if you don't have direct line of sight. LRMs are also sometimes rendered useless by PGI's wonder ECM and you don't have a TAG to get around the wonder ECM at range.
Large Lasers are good but very hot. 8 heat for 8 damage isn't very good ratio but they have good range.
Medium Lasers are the staple but 4 of them does heat you up significantly. Something tells me it isn't quite right. Shooting 4 mediums heats me up more then the larges or am I looking at the percentage gauge wrong?
SRM6's the spread seems pretty bad beyond 100 meters they scatter all over the mech. I need to use these more as they are low heat.
Stalker turns pretty slowly is the annoying part being used to Jump Jets letting you turn faster or jump to get a better angle in previous games. Hoping this gets better with piloting skills.
Heat is the big issue with the Stalker 3F trial. 20 heatsinks just isn't enough. Maybe when I get to customize it and add more heatsinks and upgrade to double heatsinks it will be better.
----
Next time will be running my Stalker more and buying double heatsinks. Trial mechs are pretty bad period but I found it can be somewhat fun to run and gun if your not overheating all the time.
Some replies now
@Serapth
Thank you. I will need to save up for the brawler stalker and try it out and give you feed back.
@Kushko
Thank you will keep the streaks for now.
Edited by Athena Pryde, 15 January 2013 - 09:55 AM.
Nice thread aside from the usual bitching between certain individuals. In general great feedback, though.
If you every need a pilot or group to drop with with, feel free to toss me a PM or any of the other members of Horizon. We had a lot of fun in the Trial by Fire tournament (Trial Mechs Only) while pairing up with House Marrik to win the tourny.
You're reviews are fairly spot on with how we ran our setups (3 Stalkers, 2 Ravens, 2 Centurions). The teamspeak servers are great to just drop in 4 or 8 man games or even just chat with other pilots. Almost everyone is extremely friendly and willing to help out newer players. Granted there are a few jerks, but they are few and far between.
Keep up the good content and good luck with your matches!
Athena Pryde, on 14 January 2013 - 11:35 AM, said:
@Dukarriope
XL Engine is not an upgrade I would put in my Stalker. I tend to lose a side torso before losing my center fairly often.
It's risky. Very risky, with the hindenburg's giant side torsos. But with some proper torso twisting (you can actually do that on a Stalker, the 3F more so), you can distribute the damage and even block with the arms. I'll admit my Stalkers typically go boom via the side torsos (probably 90% of the time) but my weapons loadouts combined with keeping fairly close to the pack has generally enabled me to avoid the bulk of fire. The six medium lasers and streak missiles generally afford me hundreds of damage (600+) and few 'mechs survive long enough to severely damage me. Since they have forty heatsinks, heat's not exactly a problem either. I don't die as much as I expected with the XL engine in place. Remind yourself, the Stalker is best when supported and directly facing its target.
As for the Dragon debate... b-but it's the only heavy 'mech that can run at 97.2km/h!!!!!!! ;;
Athena Pryde, on 14 January 2013 - 11:29 PM, said:
@Dukarriope your favorite song came up in my playlist
PS: I would not say that's my favorite song, but I'm surprised you didn't get hit by a copyright notice for using it also, why would you do that ;;
Warrax the Chaos Warrior, on 14 January 2013 - 11:44 AM, said:
One thing to keep in mind when looking for advice/taking suggestions on these forums is that some things that work well when you are grouped with friends work a lot less well when you are pugging alone, everyone is giving advice from their own viewpoint.
A good example of that would be the suggestion to lower your rear armor; that's fine if you have a partner watching your 6, but it could bite you in the literal *** when you do not. Same goes for a lot of build ideas, they may work in as part of an organized group and fail when you aren't on coms. So everything with a grain of salt.
I pub in these mechs. They're so heavily optimized because I only have myself to rely on for 90% of all my matches.
I find I have a preference for a minimum of 15 rear armor. And at least thirty five-ish armor a leg. Less on the Light 'mechs of course, given their limited armor levels. My Raven for instance has 14/10/10 on the rear. My main Stalker on the other hand has a fairly generous amount of rear armor (28/15/15).
Athena Pryde, on 14 January 2013 - 11:29 PM, said:
Update: Trial mech reviews.
Well I said I would try the rest of the trials and I did. here are my findings.
Game 24 Centurion 9D Trial
Trying out the Centurion Trial. Promised I'd try this out so I did.
Video
Results
Fraps crashed so I had to alt tab out and start it again.
LRMed while I could then moved in for some back shots. Not very good at shooting on the move quite yet. Moved in too soon and got shot up.
This mech is another toaster oven especially on desert and I over headed and stood still to get shot up. Died because I lost a side torso. XL engine is indeed bad.
Trial mechs leave a bad taste in my mouth. Stalker time.
Game 25 Stalker 3F
Video
Results
Getting better at shooting lights but still not good at it. Over extended and ran right into the whole enemy team oops. Still not used to the desert heat levels.
Game 26 Stalker 3F
Video
Results
I think I was doing find till I advanced to far and got myself in over my head against most of the enemy team. I need to hang back more.
I said I would review the trials so here we go again.
Game 27 Dragon 5N
Video
Results
Wasn't the brightest idea to run into the enemy team but they were all there I would have thought someone went tunnel. Just run and gunned like I think your supposed to in this mech although I probably should have hung back and LRMed more. Ultra AC Arm got blown off after I lost a good chunk of my LRM ammo so used what I had left and I had 1 peewee laser left. This mech really didn't seem that good and didn't do much damage but wow managed to tag 6 people who died.
Game 28 Dragon 5N
@Dukarriope your favorite song came up in my playlist
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Results
25 Rounds for the UAC is terrible. I ran out of ammo right behind that Awesome when I got to his internals seeing components blow up. Are you kidding me. If only I had more ammo. This should have at least 50 rounds of UAC ammo swaping 1 ton of LRM Ammo. I had plenty of LRM ammo that I couldn't really use effectively because the battle was now a brawl. I keep hitting 3 for missle thinking I had streaks from my Stalker my bad. After I ran out of ammo I had one peewee laser joy. I am done with this garbage mech.
Game 29 Centurion 9D
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Checking the tunnel by myself wasn't the greatest idea. Probably should have tried to run away back towards my team instead of trying to run around and getting my leg blown off and dead. Would be really nice if they had a short cut key for Help with my location like they did in World of Tanks.
Game 30 Centurion 9D
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Running and gunning would actually be fun if I didn't keep overheating. This mech runs pretty hot on the desert map. Can't shoot as much as I would like. Shut down a bit too much. Got 4 assists
Game 31 Centurion 9D
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Unfortunately had another FRAPs crash would have been nice to have this game on video
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Boo hiss FRAPS crashed so I don't have the video of this game. I did some decent damage using my LRM hanging around the main group till I ran dry and then ran in after the enemies were damaged. Running and gunning with 2 medium lasers and shotgun was actually pretty fun on ice world where heat wasn't a problem. Got a kill and 5 assists nice.
Game 32 Raven 2x
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Ooops I fell into the Canyon against several mechs. Tried to get out but didn't know how. I want a training room where I can just run around the map. Not exactly great with a light but this seems bad already as don't have the speed to run away. Chalk that game up to user error.
Game 33 Raven 2x
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Tried to scout a head slightly not to far because I wasn't too fast got a few back shots. Armament isn't too bad but doesn't have the heat sinks to support it. Could have done without the SRM6 or double heat sinks. Why couldn't the dragon have this weapon set up with more heat sinks. I overhead too often and was pretty much dead once I lost my leg. Don't like this mech.
Game 34 Raven 2x
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Really don't like the night level. Night vision is worse then actual modern night vision. Heat vision has its limitations but is actually better for spotting enemy mechs.
This mech just runs too hot. Have nice juicy back shots and shut down.
Centurion 9D Trial Mech Review
This actually surprised me in it was not quite as bad as I thought and I had one decent game in it. It does have big heat issues on especially on the desert level once you heat up you take a long time to cool down which is just terrible. I did have a decent run on the snow level. The XL Engine really does decrease your life expectancy significantly. Speed is nice but I am not sure it is worth the XL Engine liability.
LB10X - the shotgun isn't nearly as bad as I thought it was the Centurion has the speed to get up close to get good shotgun blasts in for good damage. The damage being spread out is not ideal but if your close enough it doesn't matter much. It being torso mounted makes it a little harder to line up shots but less likely that it gets blown off. Really should be able to fire slugs and cluster rounds like table top. Cluster rounds have limited usefulness in hitting fast movers easier then a solid shot since this isn't table top with random hit locations where the cluster round shines. 2 tons ammo is sufficient to not run out to quick.
2 medium lasers do alright as a back up weapon. Heat is an issue and you can't just fire them every time they cycle.
Single LRM10 isn't very good. PGI's Wonder ECM makes it worthless without a TAG. AMS seems to shoot down half or more of your missles too.
Centurion 9D is generally pretty bad with heat issues, XL engine decreasing your survivability and requiring to get up really close to do good damage which is a bad place since you have an XL engine and optimized brawler mechs will hurt. LRM is unreliable. If you get that match up where the opponents have no ECM and you can use your LRM a bit before the running and gunning it can be decent but thats a big if.
Dragon 5N Review
I hate this mech. After two games I was done with it.
Ultra Autocannon 5 with only 25 rounds is just bad. If I did not run out of rounds, I get my arm blown off. It is not exactly easy to hit with the auto cannon while running around at full speed either. I got behind someone and held down the button for ultra fire and it jammed . Not something that I would want to devote 10 tons to as a primary weapon and only have 25 shots. Couple Large lasers would be much better here for 10 ton investment if only you had double heat sinks.
Single Medium Laser is a pretty bad as your only back up weapon. Two like on the centurion is barely enough.
Single LRM10 isn't very good. PGI's Wonder ECM makes it worthless without a TAG. AMS seems to shoot down half or more of your missles too.
This Dragon is just plain bad. You zip around but you don't really do much damage once your Ultra Auto Cannon 5 clicks empty or gets blown off. It also jams randomly. Running around firing a single medium laser till someone finally wants to kill you just isn't very effective. LRM usefulness depends on if your opponent has ECM or not.
Raven 2X Review
This light isn't fast enough to scout the above medium and heavy are fast enough to catch you. Should do 110kph at least. Another Oven that just overheats to quickly to be of much use. Large laser should have been an engine upgrade or more heat sinks.
Large Laser might be ok if you had double heat sinks but you don't. Heats you up pretty darn fast only able to fire 2 times.
2 Medium Lasers is decent. 10 single heatsinks not so much.
SRM6 is ok but the spread unless point blank is hard to concentrate damage on one spot. Decent for hitting lights.
Way too hot and no speed. Just bad.
Next time will be running my Stalker more and buying double heatsinks. Trial mechs are pretty bad period but I found it can be somewhat fun to run and gun if your not overheating all the time.
Some replies now
@Serapth
Thank you. I will need to save up for the brawler stalker and try it out and give you feed back.
@Kushko
Thank you will keep the streaks for now.
As bad as the dragon trial is, it's at least not an atlas K, or the old awesome M ultimate newbie oven deathtrap, that awards a gazillion money if you leg it. Both these assault mechs have XL engines.
5
Martini Henrie, on 14 January 2013 - 07:07 AM, said:
