43 replies to this topic

[BigDaddyGG]

Hi all, i just started playing, read the forums a little, and by advice i bought 4SP and have abaut 1.500.000 CB. But today i realised what i want: i want HUGE and HEAVY mech that carries ENORMOUS firepower, but most importantly, that can stand way back and fire rain of huge *** rockets/lasers/whatever. I kinda like the lock-on thing, kinda like mech-fighter plane, fire and forget if possible. I absolutely HATE gamestyle of running around and being agile to survive and shooting water pistol (im older player with reflexes of dead horse + i just hate that ). I want stationary HUGE mech with BADASS armor and badass weapons. If possible shooting over hilltops/buildings...where enemy isnt even in sight.

I would really appreciate help since i only play for 3 days now. Which mech should i save for? i can also sell 4SP? Also can you give me loadout please?

I really think my "demands" are not all possible, but bring me as cloase as possble to "my dreams". I realise i have to play many rounds with my SP4 now to get more money, which im affraid will be pain, but i want to build my dream mech with your help...

Thanks

[MadPanda]

Well, an assault mech obviously. Have you noticed that every mech has max tonnage? Your 4SP hunchie for example has max tonnage of 50tons. Atlas has 100tons means you can fit in a lot bigger and more weapons on him. So bigger max tonnage equals to bigger and more weapons. The two biggest mechs currently are the Atlas (100tons) and Stalker (85tons), both meet your requirements.

[Tolkien]

In addition to what Panda said, even if you have a big mech that can fit a large number of long range heavy hitters (Gauss, LRM20, Large Lasers) you will find that the maps are laid out in a way which provides a great deal of cover if you or your enemy want it.

Also LRMs and other lockon weapons can be disabled by a mech with ECM covering their team (can be countered with TAG) or getting close to you (can only be countered by another ECM).

For this reason you might want to start out with medium range brawling in your hunchback - don't be the first in, and get practice with hitting fast moving targets with Medium lasers or SRMs (not streaks necessarily since they need lock to work).

Also you might want to try piloting a light as the freedom and easy of maneuver in these mechs is great. Personally I find piloting an assault mech feels like you are wading through waist deep syrup.

Edited by Tolkien, 14 January 2013 - 04:59 AM.

[BigDaddyGG]

So basically assault is the way to go for me? Heavy is faster and lighter? Also, can somebody give me loadout for those two, will it take lots of time to get it complete? Im free player. Any other opinion?

Thanks

[Sunnova]

Judging from what you wrote, the assault mechs are right up your alley. Specifically the Atlas or the Stalker.

Both are slow as hell and carry a ton of firepower. However in my personal experience the Atlas had a tendency to overheat less than the Stalker. That being said, the Stalker's hardpoints allow it to carry a **** ton of lasers and missiles compared to the Atlas, but it lacks any ballistics.

There are other guides on other people's opinions about which Stalker or Atlas variant to choose from, but for now aim to get a Stalker or an Atlas.

[knight-of-ni]

Best thing right now would be to just continue to grind. However, I recommend that, in general, not to ever sell anything back. You get a fraction of what you originally paid for it. Just spend a little extra time grinding instead. If you change your mind a couple months from now, you will still have that Hunchback sitting there waiting to be used again.

Note that you can strip the useful parts out of your mech and use them in other mechs.

At the moment there are only three assault mechs in the game: Awesome, Atlas, and Stalker. There are differences between the way the various models perform. Sometimes the differences are subtle. I recommend you read up on them and ask questions in the forums to find out which one suits your play-style the best.

My play-style is the inverse of yours so I'll let someone else talk further details about the big and slow models.

Edited by knnniggett, 14 January 2013 - 05:09 AM.

[Flapdrol]

Stalker 5M is what you want.

tag, 4x LRM15 (and maybe an extra lrm5 in the left torso, second launcher only has one hole so launches one by one). could put in a few small lasers as backup, they weigh nothing.

the 5M is also a brilliant large laser boat.

Edited by Flapdrol, 14 January 2013 - 05:22 AM.

[Clideb50]

Judging from your requests I see three mechs that fit your style. Before I get into them there's a bit you should know about missiles.
1)Missiles are not fire and forget you must maintain the lock even while they're in the air. If lock is lost, they'll keep flying to where the mech was last. If you reacquire the lock, they begin tracking the target again.

2) LRMs and StreakSRMs lock. Regular SRMs are dumbfire rockets. Think of a shotgun spread except with missiles instead of pellets, fragments, etc. The number after each missile also determines how many it'll fire. LRM 5 will fire 5 for example.

with basics covered now for the mechs themselves.

1)The Catapult heavy support mech. If you like being a missile rain type, this is a classic mech. Standard fit is two LRM 15's, and 4 med beams for close combat. bit weak on the armor but it makes up for this is with manuverability, and jumpjets. You'll be able to quickly get into position, fire a few volleys, and move to another. Another key advantage is the 270+ torso twist.

2) The Stalker assault mech. This one is new to me, so my knowledge is limited. Standard fit is two LRM 10's, 2 SRM 6's, 2 Large Lasers, and 4 Medium Lasers. I've seen people pile on the missiles into these monsters. I know they can carry up to 5 SRM packs, but LRMs are a lot heavier. You'll live a lot longer compared to the catapult, but you'll move like a 400lb person trying to jog on a jogging track.

3) The Atlas assault mech. Often considered the king of assault mechs at 100tons. The standard loadout is 4 medium lasers, AC20, LRM 20, and SRM 6. This mech could easily be refitted for missile support. The D has 2 missile hardports, but easily the tonnage to support 2 LRM 20's with plenty of ammo. The D-DC has 3 ports, and ECM (I feel assault mechs shouldn't be allowed ECM but eh different topic.) Down side: Slow, everybody recognizes the Atlas as a "OH **** IT'S AN ATLAS! FOCUS FIRE!", and the most expensive of the 3 at the 10 million c-bill mark.

Sorry for the wall of text, but there was a lot of info to get out. I hope this helps, and Welcome to MechWarrior! Hopefully an expert in this field can help more. I'm a Centurion/4G hunchback driver with a Atlas-D that I occasionally drive for fun so very different style.

EDIT: Rereading your post, I'm definitely going to have to say Catapult.
http://youtu.be/5k7jP5ajh3k

Edited by Regulus1990, 14 January 2013 - 05:46 AM.

[Broceratops]

what you want is a catapult with lrms or gauss. MWO does not need more assaults way at the back doing nothing most of the game while their counterpart on the other side rips up the front lines.

[BigDaddyGG]

Thanks all, you all helped a lot. But now im kinda confused. Isn't catapult less armored? All i want is to get on nice position and rain down missiles from FAR. So maybe best is to equip a lot of LRM's and maybe one or two medium lasers for close situations?? Im thinking here as a complete noob. I dont care if i move slow, i want to stand far and fire rain of missiles. I know that if i get surrounded, then im in deep....you know what.

So any specific builds, or just go with much LRM as i can? Im confused here. What abaut motors and heat sinks? I want to be hard to kill, so high armor is a must.

Thanks again

[Ragor]

BigDaddyGG, on 14 January 2013 - 04:38 AM, said:

OP

IMO you simply want a Stalker.
Stalker is a 85t assault mech, most of the variants have 6 enery slots (4 in the above the cockpit mounted arms -> you can shoot above terrain) and 4 missile slots. The frontal armor is really hard to penetrate, the drawback is its huge flanks and Stalkers have a hard time to defend themself when caught up close by a fast brawler. And no Stalker has any ballistic slots.
And all Stalkers have a very limited torso turn radius of 64° to each side (exception the F: 84°).

But the 5S for example has 2 AMS slots.

For me the Stalker is the BT equivalent of the WoT tankdestroyer class.

Edit:

MadPanda, on 14 January 2013 - 04:42 AM, said:

(...)
The two biggest mechs currently are the Atlas (100tons) and Stalker (85tons), both meet your requirements.

IMO the Atlas does not meet the requirements since the Atlas lacks the ability to shoot over terrain since the weapons are mounted around the weist.

Edited by Ragor, 14 January 2013 - 06:43 AM.

[Clideb50]

BigDaddyGG, on 14 January 2013 - 06:31 AM, said:

Thanks all, you all helped a lot. But now im kinda confused. Isn't catapult less armored? All i want is to get on nice position and rain down missiles from FAR. So maybe best is to equip a lot of LRM's and maybe one or two medium lasers for close situations?? Im thinking here as a complete noob. I dont care if i move slow, i want to stand far and fire rain of missiles. I know that if i get surrounded, then im in deep....you know what.

So any specific builds, or just go with much LRM as i can? Im confused here. What abaut motors and heat sinks? I want to be hard to kill, so high armor is a must.

Thanks again

Yea the catapult is a 65 ton compared to the Assault class mechs, but it is designed for exactly what you want to do. Stand off the front line and rain death from afar. i'll see if I can dig up any recommended fits for a catapult.

[Pastor Priest]

I will second the Stalker. I saw a 5M yesterday with 4 LRM 20s. The only downfall is you need to partner up to make it effective. Without a guard and someone with TAG or a counter ECM, you will likely struggle. He was partnering with a couple of Ravens, one of which was running counter ECM to allow him to target. One volley from that turned my Hunchback to scrap.

[Riddler9884]

I am also recommend you go Stalker, and to a lesser extent a Catapult (just because i have never played one). I would not however dismiss the Atlas, I mastered the D, D-DC and the RS, They have their place. Both the Stalker (just started one as LRM support)and the Atlas are a stick in the mud, but that's not a problem for you.

As for LRM boating, I will repeat some advice you already heard and some you haven't.

1. Bring TAG ( I personally bind it to group 6 and wedge a business card to keep it firing continuously)

2. In the first 3 - 4 min of the match you will get a lot of bad locks, dont waist your LRM unless someone confirms the guy is out in the open.

3. Only let loose when you see the enemy fighting someone else otherwise you become the fight, and after devoting so much weight to LRM your short range might not be able to fend off the enemy Mechs closer than 180m.

4. Test the waters with 2 LRM 20's or lesser launchers and don't launch with less than 4 tons of ammo. (I have a stalker with 2xLRM 20'S and 2xLRM15's, when it connects with the enemy its devastating, but when I miss I just waited 70 missiles). With LRM weight is key and you don't want to waste it.

5. Certain maps work better than others for LRM. So learning when to follow your team and when to break off to get enough room to use your LRM is also very important.

A final note about ECM, the current implementation is unbalanced. The Dev's know it, we know it, and it gets abused A LOT. TAG mildly will help you lock on to targets under 750m, but if an enemy Mech stands next to you with it, then he is too close to fire upon and the ECM wont let you lock on to someone else farther, get used to it.

[Hex Pallett]

I like your playstyle. Too bad such style won't last for long because ***** like you are the favorite dish for flankers/snipers like me. Seems like you wan a LRM build? I can't even remember last time I got killed by LRM. Noob+LRM=ooooooh free cheesecake

Mean, right? Exactly. Either I tell you that right now or you suffer later with a terrible KDR.

Lastly, if you're going LRM, DON'T carry anything more than two LRM20. You chew through your LRM ammo way too fast otherwise, and every miss would be a huge waste. Also, carry your own TAG.

[Lucky Noob]

il prefer an Awsome for that playstyle.

Has enough Missleslots has some Laserslots, Hell of Armor, and he is able to cange Position faster.

Even the Stalker has a bit more firepower, he will simply only overheat too fast.

Having an Tag in your Head , 2 Lrms in your shoulders and lasers in the ARm is an good loadout for an Misslemech.

Edited by Braddack, 14 January 2013 - 09:51 AM.

[Regrets]

LRM boat stalker is definitely a nice 'rain death from above'. If you run the 5M then maybe you can run like LRM55+ SSRM4 to help with lights. Definitely take TAG or you are going to have lots of problems in the current metagame. Stalkers are nice with the number of hardpoints, because you can just stack like TAG+4ML for very little tonnage. If you can fit a LL in the center torso of a 5M it is definitely recommended. If you run just LRM, then xl engine will be nice eventually when you can afford it. Don't run XL in a Stalker if you every plan to be within 500M of opponents. The side torsos of Stalkers go out quite often which is literally death with XL engine.

Braddack, on 14 January 2013 - 09:50 AM, said:

Even the Stalker has a bit more firepower, he will simply only overheat too fast.

At range a LRM stalker will never overheat with DHS. It is one of the few Stalker builds where I drop a few heatsinks

17 DHS is sufficient.

[Eisenhorne]

I know you want to fire at enemies not in sight... unfortunately, there is no weapon in the game that allows you to do that effectively. In my experience, LRM's are best used at 400-500 meters, where the enemy is in line of sight, and tagged (usually by you). Any further away, they can easily dodge them. If you don't have line of sight, then they can pretty easily duck behind cover to avoid them.

I think you'll have better success with a direct fire support mech, relying on long range heavy weapons, just fire directly. You have 3 real choices here as to what you want to bring.

1) - Atlas. You can use an AS7-RS to fill this role very nicely. If you want to go all direct fire, you can take 4x Large Lasers and a Gauss rifle. Very punishing long range fire, you can blow through enemies pretty quickly. If you want to try LRM's, you can drop 2 large lasers and a few heatsinks, and go for 2 large lasers, 2 LRM15's, a Gauss, and TAG. Gives you SOME indirect fire, but you really shine when you have a clear line of sight to an enemy 400-500 meters away.

2) Stalker. A huge array of options here. One of my personal favorites is the 4 PPC stalker... you can sit back at 500-600 meters behind the fight, and just blow things apart with energy blasts. A lot of fun, but requires some pretty good gunnery skills. Alternatively, you can run Large Laser heavy builds with a few LRM's.

3) Catapult. The venerable Gaussapult is still a king of direct fire support. Long range, no minimum range, can fire constantly without worrying about heat, and excellent damage. While other builds may do higher damage, its hard to beat a pair of Gauss rifles. You can also go with a more non-standard build on a C1 Chassis, with something like 2x PPC and 2x LRM15. Gives good direct fire, and gives you missile options as well.

[Pastor Priest]

Helmstif, on 14 January 2013 - 09:43 AM, said:

I like your playstyle. Too bad such style won't last for long because ***** like you are the favorite dish for flankers/snipers like me. Seems like you wan a LRM build? I can't even remember last time I got killed by LRM. Noob+LRM=ooooooh free cheesecake

Mean, right? Exactly. Either I tell you that right now or you suffer later with a terrible KDR.

Lastly, if you're going LRM, DON'T carry anything more than two LRM20. You chew through your LRM ammo way too fast otherwise, and every miss would be a huge waste. Also, carry your own TAG.

This. I love nothing more than smashing LRM boats. If you get the drop on them, they are in for trouble. That's why you need to team up with close range mechs.

[BigDaddyGG]

Thanks guys you are all awesome. But i have 2 questions: 1 what is ballistics? LRMs? Lasers? and 2. which type of those three options should i get? Like for catapult i guess C4? And for stalker?

Also, please give me some loadouts for my playstyle for those two...and if anyone have any other advice please tell me.


Thanks guys again.