What's Your Favorite Ride?

[PherdnutChiken]

Single Player in Mercs seems a lot easier than I remember Vengeance being, but it's still fun to experiment. Think I'm going to play through with the last couple of Merc groups before getting online though. Anybody have builds they can recommend? It's hard to resist the temptation to slap Clan Ultra AC 20s on everything at the first opportunity because it just seems to work so damn well.

I've also been stearing cleer of the dodads and hickeys for guns and armor. Are any of these really all that effective to warrant the space? Jump Jets in particular seem like a waste as shooting 'mechs while slowly floundering in the air seems easier than trying to shoot them while they're behind a rock.

[Anonymous]

Single player and multiplayer are two completely different worldz. In the downloadz forum you will find a link to the variantz of gladiator. I recommend that you get thoze variantz and put them in your VariantsMercs folder.

Jump Jetz are a huge part of the online gaming experience. I would recommend that you learn to play in 3rd person view az well, becuz it will help you with certain thingz, including enemy sniperz.

There'z a lot to the game that you will never know about until your first experience online.

[PherdnutChiken]

Pretty much the case with most multi games outside of standard FPSes I guess. A lot HW2 kiddies think they can do alright from having played skirmish games against the AI.

I expect range is a much bigger part of the multi game.

Already play in 3rd constantly so no prob there :)

[DirtPoorChiken]

Jumpjets are vital. Take it from someone with zero jumping ability. I have spent countless hours (ok I guess years now) developing counters to jumping mechs because I lack the skill to do it myself (I probably should have just spent the time learning jumping :D).

I did the whole Mercs single player in a Nova, and then in a gladiator (which should be called a executioner, its true clan name which fits very well). Like Graceful mentioned there is no comparison between the single and multi. First off 90% of the multi players are coming at you with modified mechs, and they have a purpose (to kill you and stay alive) as opposed to the single players AI purpose (kill you, don't worry about remaining alive). As you guessed range is a huge factor as well. You can have whole battles at 700+ meters and never use any short range weapons. RAC, L Gauss, and ERPPC's reign supreme, while small and medium pulse, and flamers on the light mechs are common.

Just head on out to the zone. Sooner the better.

[Fanatic]

BAWK!

I like to argue against JJs being vital, take it form an expert anti-jumper :). JJs are not useless either (if mastered well), but are by no means a neccesaty for every player to master them. It realy is a tradeoff and most maps don't require the enhanced mobility of JJs. If all it is used for is jump sniping, then it is a waist of tonnage for most maps IMHO.

Assaults loose quite some tonnage by using JJs, tonnage that can also be spend on other more multi-functional extra's, like a speed upgrades and heatsinks. In addition Jumpers require more armour and equipment overall, which makes it even more of a costly choice.

I do without JJs all these years now and have learned to deal with enemy Jump Snipers quite well. Most often beating them by letting them use their precious JJs against themselfs. I usualy focus on HS's and maximised firepower myself. Depending on the map I add one or two speed upgrades. Staying alive is what I do by taking favourable positions and moving my torso a lot to spread damage, while keeping operational with maximised power.

Fanatic

[Anonymous]

Make sure when you are jumping with JJs, you do not jump to high, for your death will come swiftly.

most of the time

[Anonymous]

Az I just love to argue with Fan, I prefer JJ on lighter mechz and to jump while moving horizontally, which makez it really funny watching fan miss me so much. :D

[PherdnutChiken]

Are there many people who specialize in Small and Medium 'Mechs? I could see myself getting a bit bored of heavies and assaults after a while.

[Fanatic]

LOL @ Grace,

Thats because you got a very low bandwidth connection, and I have a very fluctuating one. Makes you warp in small steps over my screen at variable speed, and a hell to hit indeed!

Fanatic

[Anonymous]

Yes, there are lots of light mech specialists. I specialize in anything but an assault. I like the speed and maneuverability of the lighter chassis. It gets boring for me to plod around for 2 minutes looking for a fight, get in one, kill the guy and walk another minute to fight someone else. I'd rather take a medium or heavy, get in the fight, move around doing a hit and run gig and keep the fight fluid.

Jump jets are essential. DirtPoor and Fan are specialists without them, but with more and more people learning them, it's absolutely essential that they be a skill that you include in your array.

[Anonymous]

Just call me the all around n00b

[PherdnutChiken]

Cool to hear Inno. I really like the Shadowcat. Lots of goofball potential with that little monster. Guess I'll have to start using those JJs. I don't even know what the controls are yet and I've beat the game twice, but if I can manage Armored Core like a pro, I'm sure 'Mechwarrior shouldn't be too hard. I'll see you guys sometime this week hopefully. Doing gaming of an even geekier variety with some friends tonight so maybe tomorrow.

[Papa Theif]

I alway liked the couger, then again I also like taking enemy mechs apart piece by piece

[Anonymous]

The shadow cat requires a very experienced driver. You'll find that out very quickly in multiplayer. They die in 2 shots to the side torso from an ERL bk.

[DirtPoorChiken]

My old team used to take Scats a lot. It was the goto medium for league matches in vengenence and BK, but you need to practice a lot to drive it right like Innocent mentioned. I remember taking light gauss in the scat and just sitting at range plugging away. I remember on one drop we used all scats. It was hilarious to see eight scats running around and the other team was totally confused. Fun stuff...

Wardog from Dark Rift was probably the best scat driver I ever saw.

[LoogieChiken]

I am a dedicated Scat pilot and always play it a particular way.

I prefered the cougar when you could fit 3 erls on it.

Scat has some nice characteristics...

- Relatively low tonnage which allows scoring bonus, good speed and tight turning circle
- Good torso twist speeds but it is a little resrtictive on the arc of the torso twist, be careful not to get caught out with it
- Enough energy slots for 3 erls, this is the snipers choice although it is possible to strap on a light guass and sacrifice manouevaribility and heat sinks
- Low profile. This allows you to use much smaller terrain for cover than the larger mechs can, so a slightly rolling plain which, for a mad cat, is essentially flat becomes an area with alot of hiding potential.
- JJs. Essential for any budding sniper since the chances are you run hot and if you take a shot and shutdown then you want to be behind cover. You cant do this if you are running in open ground.

These characteristics match my play style which is to stay at range ( 800m ), attract attention and switch position. This usually leaves me with a side shot on the opponent since they usually go in the direction of my last position or if the battle goes on ( and even if they kill me ) they are left wildly out of position. My favourite mark for this is the heavy slow mechs - eaasier to out manouver and they suffer the greatest from being dragged out of position as it can take precious minutes for them to get back to the action.

As I have said in the past, before a game ( match or open server ) choose a play style and match a mech variant to it. Once in game stick as close to your chosen play style as possible. If you don't then you end up trying to eat soup with a fork.

If the situation doesnt match your play style then manipulate the situation till it does.

[Anonymous]

Loogie said it really well. He'z a great light/medium specialist where I'm more of a heavy/assault specialist, and one of the thingz I've taught myself to do iz to move away from the little guyz, not toward them. The very thingz he mentioned are the reazonz I try to keep my teammatez between me and the flankz when I'm in a slow mech.

[Anonymous]

Im kinda a Medium guy, i prefer Shadow cats and Ryokens because they are exelent snipers that can take alot of damage for being a little small besides lights.

Ryoken I think is very powerful and easy to snipe with but controling heat and speed is a little difficult. It is also a little big but its center torso is pretty hard to hit to lots of people.

Scats are fast and have good fire power for its tonnage. There are alot of different configs for it too.

[CosmicChiken]

Master them all and you'll maximize your ability to contribute to your team. :bong:

One of the best all around mechs is the Thor. It can carry a good punch, has pretty good armor, speed and jump jets. Many of the Chikens as well as some of the top pilots in the game either started or at one time specialized in the Thor. It can brawl, support (LRM) or snipe with just about the same effectiveness as most specialized mechs.

As you progress and get more comfortable with each mech, I suggest learning how to glance, and shoot while glancing. If your center torso is critical, you don't want to expose it to the bad guy. If you keep your mechs upper torso perpendicular to your opponent and take a glance shot, you can put them away without getting killed yourself. It is also helpful if you are on top of a wall or cliff and someone is below you. If you glance down (as opposed to bending down) you can still shoot them and they often can't return fire. This ability isn't easy to learn, or to be really good at and there are very few current players out there who can do this well. But for those that can, it often means the difference between living and dying.

Favorite Mechs?

Veng: Cougar
BK: Uller
Mercs: Raven

Veng: Scat
BK/Mercs: Royo

Veng: Thor
BK/Mercs: BK or Nova

Although very rare...I do enjoy a couple of Assaults

Veng: Daishi
BK/Mercs: MKII

Coz

[Anonymous]

If we're going to run it down like cosmic, I have a couple of changes for that list. And by the way, the glance shots are fun.

Lights

Veng: Cougar
BK: Uller
Mercs: Wolfie


Mediums:

Veng: Uziel
BK: Ryoken
Mercs: Ryoken or Hunchie


Heavies:

Veng: Thor
BK: BK (just cause it was new to me then)
Mercs: BK or Thor


Assaults:

Veng: MKII
BK: MKII or Kodiak
Mercs: Victor or Highlander

The Victor, like the Thor is a good multi-purpose mech. Beware of the catchall with the Templar. It carries a good amount of firepower, and is a great brawler, but has horrible convergence. This makes it a terrible sniper, even though it will carry good sniper weapons.

[crazyjose]

Why are jump jets so important? In the single player elite sloaris matches ive managed to jump ontop of enemy mech and it deals very respectable damage.

Is the thanatos a common mech, cuz its my fav.

I like to put a Clan gauss with 2 er Lg laser and maybe Lrm 20. The 360 torso also saves me all the time.

I think this is the anywhere mech, its got everything except PPCs.

Ive got a few more questions about online play cuz in the next month or 2 im gonna be looking at cable or dsl, the one thing i want in broadband is free installation tho.

[Festus-OMO]

The 3 ERL Cougy.

Running terrain, popping over slight rises and nailing your target, then dropping back over the ridge before he can return fire.

Changing speed, and varying your approach as you come around for another shot with those 3 HOT ERLs and tin foil for armour.

OH........nevemind, they cut one of its cojones off in Mercs.

Bastiges! I loved that mech and I will never forgive them.

EDIT-- Got all nostalgic and dug this thread up from along time ago. If you've been playing awhile you should remember a lot of the names.

Memories (http://www.mw4online.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2047&highlight=The+Greatest+Mech+Pilot+of+All)

[LoogieChiken]

Hehe nice thread, alot of names - some still around too :)

[GladiatorChiken]

bawk

that was interesting. some names there i had totally forgoten.

[Anonymous]

ROFLMAO

I see one of Scowler'z old namez in that thread! And otherz saying he waz good!

Way to go sweetie. :D