39 replies to this topic

[De La Fresniere]

I *want* to tinker and try a bunch of stuff.

However, there's not many mechs with hardpoint configurations that suit my tastes. Also, my favorite mech has one build that's far better than any other, and every time I try anything else I'm thoroughly disappointed.

Right now there's just not much I can mess with. Perhaps if some of the new chassis have interesting hardpoints I'll be able to toy with one for a while, it's a lot of fun.

[PropagandaWar]

My least tweaked mech is my most played and thats my Hunchy-SP Yeah gave him endo a bigger standard engine and DHs but aside from removing his head laser he's pretty much the same weapon wise.

[kragmoor]

I make my build and use it until I am either done with the mech or it is no longer viable, if the latter happens I make the build viable again, when ecm came out I stripped my mechs of their streaks and put standard srms on them.

[Drakenn]

To me, tweaking with the 'mechs is what makes this game continue to be so enjoyable. If they just had stock 'mechs like Mech Assault, I don't know if I would still play it. I like the customization and the ability to make your 'mech your own.

[Ialti]

De La Fresniere, on 07 February 2013 - 03:30 PM, said:

I *want* to tinker and try a bunch of stuff.

However, there's not many mechs with hardpoint configurations that suit my tastes. Also, my favorite mech has one build that's far better than any other, and every time I try anything else I'm thoroughly disappointed.

Right now there's just not much I can mess with. Perhaps if some of the new chassis have interesting hardpoints I'll be able to toy with one for a while, it's a lot of fun.

Don't be picky, run out and grab a mech and start tinkering! The point is to tinker, not try to guess what'll suit your tastes... who knows, you might be surprised.
And don't give up after one or two disappointments, either. Different loadouts require massively different playstyles, and can take time to master. All makes you a more skilled player. Keep at it, yeah?

[Loc Nar]

I play MechlabWarriorOnline until I come up with builds I really like. I try them out, perhaps refine them, sometimes discard them. I have a rather large list of loadouts by now that are built in smurfys and saved, so when I want to change it up at least I have a complete map, down to armor distribution. Nice to see what works out and what does not in that mechlab environment, since you do not have to buy anything, download anything, sign into anything, etc and it's easy as heck to use plus makes saveable URLs. All weapon stats, dps max/sustained, etc, so yeah, tweak (often) in the mechlab and let darwin decide, particularly after any buffs/nerfs.

[Vassago Rain]

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...444c0a11ee7bb26

I made this for Big Al a liittle while ago, and have been playing with it since. I'll probably try gauss and a single UAC5 on him later, or something else.

The only two mechs I own that I don't tinker with endlessly is my 1B and double-D atlas. Actually, I tinker with those, too...

[Leslie Haywood]

I always try different sets (obvious bad ones too) when I buy a new Mech to find one I like so much that I won't change it. After finding such a build the only big changes are replacing SRM with LRM or vice versa. Over the weeks and patches I find my most comfortable builds in about 4 to 6 matches now.

[Rift Hawk]

I generally find I build I like and stay with it. Though that in itself takes tinkering.

Too bad the builds most people end up going with are the ones that take the least amount of thinking. Such as 6 PPCs or 6 SRM6s.

[INSEkT L0GIC]

Alistair Winter, on 07 February 2013 - 02:18 PM, said:

The point is that according to TT veterans, the Battletech lore suggests that most mechs in the Inner Sphere are stock mechs, so it's weird that in this game, about 99% of the mechs are customized. It's a common complaint in computer games, like how Star Wars fans complain that there are too many double bladed light sabers in The Old Republic, or whatever.

Stock mechs ARE the majority according to the lore, because a majority of the units in play are among Successor House regular military / regimental units.

However, Mercenary Lances, Solaris Jockeys, and Special Forces Units are retrofitted and customized to the nines all the time. Those units are where a majority of the unique variants & hero mechs come from, and I see MWO mostly drawing from them at this time as well.

Response to OP: I am constantly playing with builds all the time like a bad habit, much to my C-Bill wallet's detriment.

Edited by INSEkT L0GIC, 08 February 2013 - 01:20 AM.

[Zylo]

While I do work on mechs almost every day in the mechlab, each individual mech won't be changed each day unless I see a serious performance problem with the build.

Generally I look at with rate with a mech, kill counts and overall damage and once I'm happy with a design I tend to leave it alone until I see performance start to drop a bit. Then I look at the mech types that have been giving me the most trouble in fights and will make adjustments or switch to another mech type to develop an effective counter to the most troublesome enemy builds at the time.

Mech designs need to constantly evolve based on changes to mech and weapon balance.

[Mycrus]

Mechlab is the major draw... Without it... Well...

[Stormwolf]

The lack of a stock mode has unfortunately forced me to reconfigure my mechs into cheese builds.
Hopping around in a splatapult is fun for the first couple of games, afterwards it becomes boring.

[Psikez]

I tinker constantly and generally have 3-4 builds on a particular variant I like to run. I have enough mechs and equipment to make a bloody house out of the periphery

[Knobby]

For me messing around in the mechlab is definitely a big part of the appeal of MW.

[MustrumRidcully]

Vassago Rain, on 07 February 2013 - 10:30 AM, said:

I play more in the mechlab than the game itself.

Just like in every other mechwarrior game.

This. The Mech Lab is half of the game. It always has been IMO, since we started having mech labs in Mechwarrior titles.

[Wizard Steve]

Alistair Winter, on 07 February 2013 - 11:39 AM, said:

I don't understand. Why do upgrades stop you from tweaking?

They don't stop me from tweaking but I need to do it less. Without upgrades, I could feel the difference when switching from a ton of ammo to a heatsink (or vice-versa). With upgrades, I can load up on speed, armor, cooling, ammo, weapons. Like I said, everything is up to 11.

If you have a fast, durable, cool mech with loads of firepower and sufficient ammo for a 15 minute game, why bother tweaking?

[zraven7]

For the little time I TT gamed with a Battletech, we all preferred custom builds. Maybe it was because we all were D&D players, but we like tweaking loadouts, messing with things. They were always within weight-class, and had proper hard-points and slots, but it was just more fun that way.

[Rotaugen]

I spend more time in the Excel version of the Mech Lab outside that game than I spend in the game or online Mech Lab. I have literally hundreds of saved versions. I put them together in Excel, go to the game Mech Lab, put them together, then run them in the game to see how well they work.

[Wintersdark]

Yeah, I get bored playing the same configuration regularly, so I tend to change up my loadouts a couple times per day.