[Mechwarrior Online] The Clans invaded, and melted our puny IS servers.

Nips · March 2014

Reactor...online. Sensors...online. Weapons...online. All systems nominal.

Greetings potential pilot, and welcome to the Mark 4 Mechwarrior Online OP, now with 200% more WubWub and 5000% more hyphens and commas!
It has been reorganized, and in some spots rewritten, to provide more relevant and concise information for our growing roster of pilots.
If you have anything you would like to see added to the OP, or notice any errors, please contact @Nips and I'll do my best to update the post.

Remember pilots, this is Battletech. Around these parts, common sense is Lostech.

http://youtu.be/ea3spOtjLmI

UPCOMING EVENTS
Oosik Bash 3 is set for July 19th.
Oosik Bash 4 is tentatively set for August 9th.
Want to help form a practice squad for future official tournaments? Fill out your availability on this sheet, and @Nips will try to coordinate some scrimmages!

UP TO THE MOMENT NEWS
Next Expected Patch: June 31, 2014
The Clan Invasion patch hits the servers like a brick, Jun-17
Jun-09: More news than you can handle: Targeting Computer/Command Console Clan Weapons Matchmaker Fixes Falling Damage Revamp Jump Jet Heat Revamp More SRM Fixes
Patch Notes for June 3rd! The new Blackjack Hero "Arrow", a Champion Shadow Hawk, Autocannon and A.Strike nerfs, SRM buffs.
Upcoming weapon balance changes, according to Paul Inouye: AC, SRM, laser, and Air/Artillery Strike tweaks abound. May-28
The PGI Ask The Devs VLOG #4 has been posted, with talk of Clantech, and how programming is hard. May-28
The May 20th Patch, with a Hero Trebuchet, a Champion Firestarter, an ass-ton of cockpit items, some bug fixes, and a semi-functional matchmaker.
The full timetable for the Clan Mech releases has been posted! May-16

NEWS ARCHIVE

Oosik Bash 2 is done! Check out the results here!
PGI held a tournament. The Oosiks went in strong, but sadly were eliminated in the first round. You can watch the Oosiks tournament match here!
The Clan Kit Fox preview! May-16
The Clan Summoner get its hot, hot, hot reveal!
The May 6th Patch Notes, with the new Quickdraw Hero, a new Trial Orion, and bugfixes.
Hot Mech-on-Mech footage of the first Oosik Bash, now linked from the Bash site! May-06
The Clan Warhawk preview! May-05
PGI is hosting a tournament for legit prizes. Check this link for more information!
@Kaboodles_The_Assassin‌ has formed a team! For Oosik glory! (Glory pending acceptance of our application our team making it past the first round)
A sneak peek at the upcoming Hero Quickdraw! May-05
Oosik Bash 1 is set for May 3rd! Send out the call!
The April 29th patch notes, with the new Launch Module for private matches!
The Clan Stormcrow preview! Apr-29
The Clan Adder gets a preview! Apr-23
Get five match wins between Apr-18 and Apr-22, and win a shiny new Thunderbolt TDR-9S with mechbay!
Patch Notes, with weapon tweaks, hit registration fixes, and other solid technical improvements. Apr-15
The April Technical Update, with loads of great explanation on hit registration, stability, and performance improvements. Apr-12
Patch Notes for April 1, including the new Raven Hero Mech and gameplay tweaks.
Get five wins for a free mechbay this weekend! Mar-29
Paul's making a tweak to LRMs, because the last patch made them a bit too fast.
PGI's Faction Challenge Tournament, the weekend of Mar-21
The March 18th Patch Notes, with Highlander/Victor/Locust changes, LRM/AMS changes, and ACHIEVEMENTS.
Oosik Operation 4-Of-A-Kind is confirmed for Mar-21! Get on Vent, and get in a lance!
A partial stats reset and a new Achievement system are both confirmed for the Mar-18 patch!
St. Patrick's Weekend Sale, 35% MC off select Hero mechs, and 50% off all the GREEEEEN colors you'd ever want.
The March Technical Update was issued, explaining performance issues and fixes of all flavors Mar-12

What is Mechwarrior Online?
Mechwarrior Online is a free-to-play, PC-based, online shooter produced by Piranha Games Interactive. MWO places you in the command seat of a heavily armed and armored walking battle machine that you pilot in team-based matches against other Mechwarriors. Your mech is very customizable and able to field a huge assortment of energy, ballistic, and missile weapons along with an array of modules and other utility items. At the end of each match you earn C-Bills, the in-game currency used to buy more items and mechs, and experience that is used to enhance the piloting abilities of your war machines. Between matches, you can customize your mech with a variety of engines, weapons, subsystem modules, and chassis enhancements until you have your chosen chassis tailored to your liking.

There are currently three game modes: Skirmish, Assault, and Conquest.

In Skirmish, your team is pitted directly against the enemy team in a battle to the death! The team with the last mech standing wins.
In Assault, you and your team attempt to capture the enemy team's base without losing your own, or eliminate the enemy team. But watch out for turrets that guard the bases on some maps!
Conquest is a traditional domination mode where you and your team are attempting to control resource nodes that generate victory points. The first team to reach 750 victory points, or that eliminates the opposing force, wins.

In the future, Community Warfare will be introduced that will pit player-based Mercenary Corps and PGI operated Houses against each other for control of entire planets and territory throughout the Inner Sphere.

Sounds good, where do I start?
1.) Download the client at http://www.mwomercs.com and install it.
2.) Before launching the game, Visit the Training Grounds online. Watch those videos to get at least an initial grasp of what to expect. This game has a bit of a learning curve to it and while it's not super-steep, it's definitely not just a jump-in-and-click-things-until-you-win sort of game. Be sure to watch the Weapon Grouping video as it'll do the most to help keep you alive. Chain fire is your friend, learn to use it.
2a.) Penny Arcade also did some Pilot Safety Posters and while they're humorous, they do have some good information in them.
3.) When you start the game you will have access to four trial mechs that rotate out for new mechs every month or so. These are non-customizable mechs, designed by PGI and the community for ease-of-entry into learning the game (except for the Stalker; that thing's a newbie death trap). Select a mech, and use the in-game Tutorial and Training Grounds to get a feel for how the game controls. Move around. Shoot your guns. Try overheating, then remember that overheating is bad.
4.) Jump into real matches! After each match you will earn some C-Bills, Mech XP, and General XP. C-Bills are the in-game currency used to buy everything except cosmetic items. At the end of each of your first twenty-five matches, you'll earn a Cadet C-bill bonus that you can save up to purchase your first mech. You'll also earn Mech XP, which is specific to the mech you earned it on and is used to buy piloting enhancements like faster torso rotation or better heat mitigation. You'll also also earn General XP that can be used on any mech, and can also be used to unlock modules and module improvements.
5.) Mech Credits (MC) are the in-game currency that you purchase with real money in order to shortcut your way to a new mechs and equipment. MC is also used to purchase premium account status and cosmetic items for your mech like new paint jobs, and items to put in your cockpit like bobblehead dolls.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheOosiks
Our anthem.

We play on the Penny Arcade Ventrilo server; it's dangerous to go alone, so be sure to take this!
http://www.ventrilo.com/download.php
Host: vent20.gameservers.com
Port: 4384
Password: Ask one of the thread regulars!

The Origins of the Oosik Irregulars

CycloneRanger wrote:

The Oosik Irregulars formed when the 2nd Oosik Regulars, while deploying to protect a critical steelworks on Twycross, "mis-calculated" a set of jump coordinates and arrived instead in orbit of Talisker IV. Apparently not realizing the mistake, the Oosiks took up defensive positions--which would later prove fortunate, as the planet was subject to a surprise attack by a combined-arms force of 'mechs and infantry in an attempt to take control of its HPG uplink. In the ensuing battle, the HPG uplink was swiftly destroyed (allegedly due to friendly fire), but the Oosiks--now out of contact with their command structure--elected to remain on Talisker IV. They dug in around the capital city--incidentally home of the sector's only Class 3 brewery--and prepared to fight an extended siege. In the following weeks, the Oosiks earned a reputation as one of the most obdurate and immovable companies in the Inner Sphere. According to contemporary accounts, they could be dislodged neither by any quantity of enemy fire nor by the direct, angrily-shouted orders of their superiors.
In the aftermath of the conflict, the Oosik Irregulars became a mercenary unit, claiming Talisker IV as their base of operations henceforth.

Who are the Oosik Irregulars?
We are a very loosely organized (and by loosely I mean not at all) mercenary corp that is open to anyone who wants to join. The Penny Arcade community frequently makes loose groups for new games just to make it easier to find people to play with, and while this started out as just another one of those it has grown into so much more. We formed under the banner of The Oosik Irregulars as a way to honor the great forumer @A Flock Of Walrus who brought us closed beta footage at the expense of his access to the game, and have since become a tightly-knit group of very active players.

We don't care about player skill levels or general MWO experience. Our primary goal is to have fun and help each other out, including brand new players. If this is your first time launching the game we'll happily drop alongside you. We have a lot of experienced community members more than willing to help you out and I can't think of a single person that would refuse to let you roll in a lance with them. If you're an experienced pilot already then you'll also find players looking to push themselves as hard as possible in this game, and who are constantly working to improve their game. There is something for everyone in the Oosiks Irregulars!

How do I join the Oosik Irregulars?
The good news is you already have! There is no application, no interview, no skill level check, or anything else involved. Just show up, start playing, and don't be shy in the thread. We mostly don't bite.

Do you guys stream matches at all?
We do at http://www.twitch.tv/theoosiks and while there is no set schedule for streaming, we will announce when we're going live via Twitter or in the thread.

Where can I get a sig from!?
PM @TOGSolid, @Kashaar, or @Nips

What's this I hear about Oosik swag? I'm an Oosik now, and I'm woefully swag-free.
Check out @Nips sig! He likes giving away freebies to underserved, swag-less Oosiks. Be sure to send him a PM, or he might not see your request!

The OBN Homepage: http://www.outreachnews.net
The OBN Mechlab: http://outreachnews.net/mechlab
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Outreach_News

Outreach Broadcast News is an offshoot of the Oosik Irregulars. Run by a dedicated group of Oosiks, it is pushing to become one of the premier fansites for Mechwarrior Online. Complete with its own Mechlab with features no other website has, articles about the game, and much more! We also have some very big things in store for when Community Warfare goes live that will be sure to excite everyone. One of the best parts about OBN is that it's open to the community to work on! If you have an idea for an article or wish to contribute you are absolutely welcome to! Just contact @Mvrck or @Kusmeroglu

The OBN Mechlab has several unique, powerful tools available to evaluate your potential mech builds. If you'd like to know how the heat scaling works, we have graphs for that! Want to see how your build will perform heat-wise with constant firing? We have a simulator for that! Want to know the cooldown rate for a Large Pulse Laser? We have charts and stats for that! Want to know the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow? Then you're a smartass! (though we're sure Petra will end up graphing that as well)

The OBN staff is very open to new ideas for the site and constructive criticism. This is a site for the fans, by the fans, and we want it to be the best it can be so don't be shy to speak up.

1.) Flanking is god.
If there is a primary battle line and you're not in a mech that needs to be holding that line then circle around and pounce the stragglers/high value targets like LRM boats. Jumping the LRM boats is an especially game-changing thing to do because once those LRMs stop flying PUG players get really emboldened and ballsy. Even if you die you will still be the big god-damn hero. Learning the maps is a huge part of this; use the terrain to your advantage to successfully jump and annihilate packs of targets.

2.) Learn your range bands and proper positioning.
If you are a brawler then that doesn't necessarily mean you need to get in ASAP. Allow the fight to evolve a bit and wait for targets of opportunity. Go off to the sides and see if you have open lines to approach on to catch your enemies unaware. Conversely, if you are sniper and can still freely shoot things then why move in if you don't have to? Obviously, if you need to reposition to take advantage of the changing battle lines then do so but moving in just to move in? Nah, don't do this. This also kinda applies to brawlers since this is how you end up with a giant clusterfuck of people all at 10 meters trying to get hits in.

3.) Learn your mech.
Trying to get into a hill humping contest with a Stalker while you're in an Atlas? Bad idea. Your guns are low slung and you have to expose yourself a lot to use them. Doing it in a Jager? Brilliant. That mech's hardpoints are tailor-made for this sort of thing. This also means using these hardpoints to your advantage and putting appropriate weaponry in them. For instance, don't put your big guns in the lowest slung points on your mech. Keep em high and you'll be able to take advantage of any hills. Of course, this depends on your mech but this goes back to playing your chosen variant correctly. Don't use the Cataphract CTF-4X as a hill-humper because all the big guns are super low slung. DO use it to keep people suppressed when you can and as a heavy fire support mech. Similarly, don't try to use a Victor as a frontline mech. You hit hard but don't have Atlas grade armor to absorb hits with. DO use an Atlas for that because it's a purpose-built party crasher.

4.) Play medium mechs a lot, even though the meta would make you think they're bad.
Yes, really. The better armor and firepower of a heavy or assault Mech is no replacement for good situational awareness and positioning. Pick a mech with a specific role to flesh out your skills in that area, i.e. if you want to be a better brawler then run a HBK-4G. You will die a lot, you will get your ass kicked, and it will make you a better pilot.

5.) Patience can help a lot.
There are just as many times when hanging back and waiting for the right moment is just as advantageous as crashing the gates and going nuts. This is especially true in the current meta where a lot of stuff out there that can vaporize you if you get too ballsy.
That said, there is a time and a place for coordinated, balls-out gate crashing. Going in with your buddies all at once can do amazing things to break the enemy's lines but it has to be done carefully and at the right time, which goes back to that whole fickle patience thing.

6.) Let the pubbies go first.
They tend to follow anyone that looks even remotely competent. Seeing as how we tend to love flanking maneuvers and speed we end up with a tendency to have the pubbies follow us when we're counting on them to blob to their usual locations. Wait a little bit at the start of the match before you strike out to do horrible things to the enemy's butts.

7.) Want some great fundamentals training? Don't be shy about taking your mech onto the training grounds and just cruising around checking out the maps to learn it.
While you're doing that keep moving at high speeds as you shoot up the dummy mechs to learn to move and shoot fluidly. Circle around them while keeping your crosshair on the target via torso twisting until you don't have to think about it. Practice popping up behind a hill, acquiring your target, firing, and hiding as fast as possible until it becomes second nature. The more skills you commit to muscle memory, the better a pilot you'll be. Remember, you fight like you train so train like you fight.

8.) Want some great aim training?
Pick up a copy of Unreal Tournament 2004 and setup a bot deathmatch with lightning guns only and the game speed mutator set to 150% speed. From here, practice getting headshots on the move in the training grounds. It's a hard target to hit in most mechs and it will help you fine tune your aim with MWO's weapons.

9.) Call your targets to aid in focus firing and for Kerensky's sake, press R to lock on to your targets!
With 12 vs 12 and the recent UI upgrades, we have more phonetic alphabet letters to learn to aid in target calling! For your reference here's the full list:

1.) A lot of times when emailing support they will have you run the official MWO repair tool located here: http://mwomercs.com/forums/topic/115147-mwo-repair-tool-public-release/ Try this before going any more in depth with trying to fix things!
2.) A reinstall can do wonders if you're having problems with the bootstrap launcher (the patcher thing that pops up before you get the login window). Sometimes the uninstall goes wrong (because of course), so go here if it won't reinstall.
3.) Try manually deleting the shader cache (MWO should do this automatically, but sometimes fails and it gets corrupted). The post in the link also gives steps to set up a batch script to force the deletion each time MWO loads.
4.) This is a weird fix, but some people found that moving the install directory to another physical drive solves crashes. Literally cut/paste the directory and update shortcuts manually. Not sure if moving to another partition on the same drive helps.
5.) Force your video card to stop power-save throttling and disable ambient occlusion.
6.) Force multi-threading, in case the game isn't using all available cores.
Tips from @Cabezone!
7.) I recommend people run the repair tool even with a new installation. I've had crashing after a fresh install fixed by the tool.
8.) Setting my PC to high performance also fixed an issue I was having where Mechwarrior was set to some low powered mode and the video card wasn't able to run full out.

GOOD HUNTING, MECHWARRIORS.

A big thanks to @TOGSolid‌ for the last OP, upon which this one is heavily based. Thanks Tog!

Nips · March 2014

The latest, hottest news from Twitter:

Russ on Twitter wrote:

To continue the tradition here is a quick run down of tomorrow's patch content. First off DX11 of course. Default setting will be DX9 but...
...those that have the machine for it may switch to DX11. Upon initial release you can use MSAA but not TXAA or 3D vision expect those to..
to come online likely in the following patch. Next we have the Banshee Hero Mech. Interesting name and theme which should stand out.
New Champion Trial is the Cataphract 3D(C)
All maps now have turrets in assault mode
series of JJ bug fixes and tweaks. Thrust and turning rate properly scaled for # of JJ's and mech size. Proper diff between full JJ and 1 JJ
A fix in UI 2.0 for "lists" most notably the social window loading but also other lists like inventory and mechlab should work better.
Weapon range modules now affect Artemis weapons. Testing grounds now impacted by player talents and mech efficiencies. Win 8 fixes.
That should more or less cover it.

Nice. I'm happy for more turret action.

tuxkamen · March 2014

Bullocktweets: Nothing. He said NOTHING.

<kicks a can>

Nips · March 2014

Why so salty, Tux?

tuxkamen · March 2014

You slipped the Twitter posts in before I did and I had to edit them out before the cool kids saw.

HydroSqueegee · March 2014

DAMN YOU NIPS!

https://twitter.com/russ_bullock/status/440637165236527104

https://twitter.com/russ_bullock/status/440637365413879808

https://twitter.com/russ_bullock/status/440637620968640512

https://twitter.com/russ_bullock/status/440638238965776384

https://twitter.com/russ_bullock/status/440638359266791424

https://twitter.com/russ_bullock/status/440638900990525440

https://twitter.com/russ_bullock/status/440639107073462272

https://twitter.com/russ_bullock/status/440639413463162880

tuxkamen · March 2014

...but now I don't feel so bad!

Nips · March 2014

If it makes you feel any better, Hydro beat me to the Twitter punch by having the full Tweets posted minutes before I got them here.

But I win, because new thread is new. (...I've got to figure out how to embed tweets. It looks really nice to have them embedded like that. Like, there's authenticity there that raw text doesn't convey. Or something.)

Back on topic, I'm super interested to see how the JJ's will work now. Some of my 1xJJ builds might need some tweaking....

Gnome-Interruptus · March 2014

Oh, here is something that you may or may not have known:

Nips · March 2014

Hot Oosik on Oosik action is highly anticipated.

Kusmeroglu · March 2014

Gah, tweeting large texts in chunks. Tweet: "New patch notes here: link, DX11 and Banshee!" Or something. Seriously.

Kaboodles_The_Assassin · March 2014

Continuing discussion from the previous thread:

m!ttens wrote: »

see317 wrote: »

m!ttens wrote: »

Heroth wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZzbig06TDw&feature=youtu.be

Pretty much says it all...

edit: I mean, its a pretty hilarious video and with my (very limited) play time recently i haven't ran into this too often but i mean... what made PGI think this is a great meta?

Look at all those PPC's... after how long of them being over-powered they are still the number one choice? wasn't ghost heat meant to fix that? oh wait, ghost heat fixed The deadly large laser and the even more deadly nine med laser hunchback! *bitter*

Although they've stated they are looking at Jumpjets again, right? so thats good... and the new weight matching is in before the Clans drop so you don't have to buy into them atleast before then so thats also good.

JagerXII was the silly goose who cheated during the one of the first tournaments PGI ran (can't remember exactly which one) so I expect nothing less than bullshit meta from him and his buddies.

Details on that? I haven't really followed the tourneys, but I do like to hear about people cheating.

Basically he was sync-dropping with his buddies (him alone and his friends as two separate groups of 4 each). Now remember, this is back during 8 man teams. So what would happen is he would be on a team of 5 (him and 4) against four of his friends on the enemy team. Random pubs made up the remaining 7 mechs on the field.

In the first tournament, I think damage and kills were the only scoring mechanisms, so what they did was have the 4-man on the opposite team not engage/only engage the pubs on JagerXII's team. Once the pubs have been destroyed, JagerXII would go up to all his friends on the enemy teams and dismantle them piece by piece (both arms, 1 leg, both side torsos [front and back armor], burn the head down to internals then core out the center [again, taking care to remove front and back armor]). The damage earned legitimately during the match coupled with this systematic destruction of 4 mechs caused him to easily rack up 1200-1400 damage matches.

Do we actually have any evidence of this? Who was the source of the original accusations? The Official Tournament Cheating Thread specifically states that sync-dropping did not occur.

imperialparadox wrote: »

Holy crap. Why are assaults so expensive? I'd like to try 4xAC2 in the torso. Wouldn't have range of motion like an arm, but it would be hilarious in a straight up fight. I wonder if this will dethrone the Atlas?

BTW, how do they come up with hardpoint layouts for a mech? If I look it up on sarna it shows what is essentially a stock loadout, but where do you get the information for possibilities of loadouts from? I'm probably blind.

The Atlas was dethroned long, long ago by the Highlander, which I don't think this Banshee will be able to top. There's not a whole lot you can do with 4 ballistic slots in one component. If anything it just gives the pinpoint snipers a fat, juicy target since that's where all of your firepower is located. Also, no Jump Jets.

Elbasunu · March 2014

Kusmeroglu wrote: »

Gah, tweeting large texts in chunks. Tweet: "New patch notes here: link, DX11 and Banshee!" Or something. Seriously.

Well, new patch notes aren't up. I think he's just trying to drive up interest on the greatest reaching platform he has.

Man...it's mind boggling how well twitter works at reach.

Gnome-Interruptus · March 2014

I wish that anything game related that comes out on twitter also made it to the front page of the MWO website. They have a twitter feed there but its filters seem loose.

Mvrck · March 2014

Elbasunu wrote: »

Kusmeroglu wrote: »

Gah, tweeting large texts in chunks. Tweet: "New patch notes here: link, DX11 and Banshee!" Or something. Seriously.

Well, new patch notes aren't up. I think he's just trying to drive up interest on the greatest reaching platform he has.

Man...it's mind boggling how well twitter works at reach.

Why PGI continues to not publish patch notes until the hour of the patch still boggles my mind.

shdwcaster · March 2014

Mvrck wrote: »

Elbasunu wrote: »

Kusmeroglu wrote: »

Gah, tweeting large texts in chunks. Tweet: "New patch notes here: link, DX11 and Banshee!" Or something. Seriously.

Well, new patch notes aren't up. I think he's just trying to drive up interest on the greatest reaching platform he has.

Man...it's mind boggling how well twitter works at reach.

Why PGI continues to not publish patch notes until the hour of the patch still boggles my mind.

If they're anything like one of the companies I used to work for, it's because the person responsible for the patchnotes (along with a bunch of other things that also aren't in her job description, usually) didn't have time to get them emailed over to the publishing team until 9pm the night before patch time, and the earliest that the publishing team can manage is 9am, maybe.

Kaboodles_The_Assassin · March 2014

Banshee Hero!

Details in spoiler:

Cattra Kell wrote:

Exclusive Look: Banshee Hero - La Malinche

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqaSS8g47aw

THE BANSHEE

Originally produced in 2445, the Banshee is a forerunner to most modern BattleMechs. Despite what some might consider its grandfather status, the Banshee continues to be a major threat on the battlefield.

The unique “La Malinche” variant is a powerful war machine, and with the Aztec-inspired art of old Terra, she is both as beautiful, as she is deadly.

Equipped with a massive arsenal of weapons, there is guaranteed to be something for every MechWarrior. Along with the capability to equip an Anti-Missile System, “La Malinche” comes stock with a Small Pulse Laser in the head, a PPC in the left arm, an AC/10 and Medium Pulse Laser in the left torso, an LRM15 in the right torso, and finally a Large Pulse Laser in the right arm.

Moving at a top speed of 64.8 kph with the aforementioned weapons loadout is not a problem thanks to its 380XL Engine, and staying cool in the heat of battle is no sweat thanks to 16 upgraded Double Heat Sinks. And how does she handle? Well you're in luck, as I just happen to have received the latest diagnostic results. The tests show that the torso can move 110 degrees to each side with a 20 degree angle pitch, though it appears that the range of the arc results in a 10% reduction in speed. The arms are capable of moving 20 degrees to each side, and 30 degrees up and down. All this, combined with an Endo-Steel Internal Structure, and over 17 tons of Standard Armor, makes “La Malinche” a force to be reckoned with.

HydroSqueegee · March 2014

So it will right away be customized with 2 PPCs, AC10, 2 ML, maybe missiles unless theyre dropped for 2 tons more armor and a few more heat sinks.

... Shit that things pretty quick for 95 tons. Try to squeeze in an XL400 and speed tweak. A true shock trooper.

Kaboodles_The_Assassin · March 2014

HydroSqueegee wrote: »

So it will right away be customized with 2 PPCs, AC10, 2 ML, maybe missiles unless theyre dropped for 2 tons more armor and a few more heat sinks.

... Shit that things pretty quick for 95 tons. Try to squeeze in an XL400 and speed tweak. A true shock trooper.

Eh... I dunno. This thing seems to have fairly large side torsos, and 75 kph isn't quite that fast.

HydroSqueegee · March 2014

75kph in a 95 ton mech sounds good to me honestly. I really cant stand anything below 65 or so, but 70+ is passable. Especially for the second heaviest mech in game. Its not really heavily armed enough for an assault, but ittl be like playing an oversized victor.

NotoriusBEN · March 2014

Also with the pop-tarting discussion on why its broken/OP/just-right:

Its been said before:
Pop-tarting is a broken skill. There is minimum risk associated with the tactic. You jump, blow your alpha wad, hide behind the hill. assess if you can do it again without overheating, and if you do, oh well, you are behind the hill again.

With someone watching a hill rise, they are taking an appropriate risk/reward themselves by exposing themselves, but they get a chance at the first shot.

To fight them, one would walk up to bring their weapons to bear. a---

I dunno what I'm talking about anymore. All I know is that poptarting gives an inappropriate amount of reward for the risk of doing it.
when the default tactic against poptarting is to poptart as well, that leads to stale tactics... there is no evolution of gameplay and that, along with a myriad other reasons along with pinpoint alphas and other things is the reason the old guard left.

That was part of the fun back in the early days, was figuring out how to push into that defensive position and break them apart. Back then it was the LRMs, but for the most part, we could reliable counter what they did. If they sat in the back field on caustic with 500yrds of open terrain, we'd cap. If they sat in the terrain in River city, we could expose ourselves, engage, and hide again, and push up for a proper scrap.

I'd like to see the fallout of putting PPCs at 180yrds and ERPPCs at 90yrds. make them long range, but still within a usable a band of range with most lasers.

Kaboodles_The_Assassin · March 2014

HydroSqueegee wrote: »

75kph in a 95 ton mech sounds good to me honestly. I really cant stand anything below 65 or so, but 70+ is passable. Especially for the second heaviest mech in game. Its not really heavily armed enough for an assault, but ittl be like playing an oversized victor.

The Victor can do what it does because it's got jump jets, decent hitboxes, and the ability to mount big ballistics on the arms. Jury's still out on the Banshee's hitboxes, but they don't seem particularly conducive to carrying big XL engines, and they don't have jump jets. The Boar's Head is in a similar position and can do 71.2 kph with speed tweak and a 400, but nobody actually does that because it's not very effective.

I guess we might find out tomorrow, if someone decides to spend 7125 MC on what looks like a relatively bland Hero mech.

I like the paintjob though.

imperialparadox · March 2014

Kaboodles_The_Assassin wrote: »

The Atlas was dethroned long, long ago by the Highlander, which I don't think this Banshee will be able to top. There's not a whole lot you can do with 4 ballistic slots in one component. If anything it just gives the pinpoint snipers a fat, juicy target since that's where all of your firepower is located. Also, no Jump Jets.

I guess I should have clarified...I meant with regards to the non-jumping assaults. I consider the Highlander and Victor to be in a different category.

Though apparently there are two Banshee variants that can jump? Doubt that we will see them though.

Heroth · March 2014

Docshifty wrote: »

There is some skill involved in poptarting. Mostly, knowing when you're overextending yourself and when not to fire, or when to risk the shutdown.

These are also skills involved with every other single style of play in the game, so really, it's less "poptarting takes skill" and more "basic mechanics of the game take skill"

(from last thread)

I agree with this %100... the problem is these guys think they are better than they are, they think poptarting is the epitome of mechwarrioring, they truthfully believe this is what mechwarrior should all be about and look down on anyone else with disdain while they sip brandy from a fancy glass... top-tier my ass, its not exactly hard to jump into the air and shoot.

Hopefully PGI don't listen to these guys (and by the Jumpjetting changes it looks like they aren't) and hopefully those new changes will be enough to stop this crap... i honestly wouldn't be sad for it to go away completely, just bring in code that stops mechs from firing while jumpjets are active over a certain weight limit (heavy and assaults).

Eat it You Nasty Pig. · March 2014

honestly the advice for new players to start with mediums is pretty bad

turrets on all maps will be nice, I enjoy them on the maps that have them

do we know yet what other banshee variant/layouts we get? The hero one doesn't seem that different from a battlemaster, at least based on that stock loadout

imperialparadox · March 2014

Eat it You Nasty Pig. wrote: »

honestly the advice for new players to start with mediums is pretty bad

I agree. Starting in a medium mech nowadays can be a recipe for frustration. I'd recommend a versatile heavy for a beginner mech.

NotoriusBEN · March 2014

legacy text from a golden era, gents...

Nips · March 2014

imperialparadox wrote: »

Kaboodles_The_Assassin wrote: »

The Atlas was dethroned long, long ago by the Highlander, which I don't think this Banshee will be able to top. There's not a whole lot you can do with 4 ballistic slots in one component. If anything it just gives the pinpoint snipers a fat, juicy target since that's where all of your firepower is located. Also, no Jump Jets.

I guess I should have clarified...I meant with regards to the non-jumping assaults. I consider the Highlander and Victor to be in a different category.

Though apparently there are two Banshee variants that can jump? Doubt that we will see them though.

It looks like the ones that could jump are custom jobs, which would have made for interesting Hero variants, but oh well.

It's doubly sad they won't use the canon customs here for variety. That -11X model looks freaking amazing; a build literally meant to tank? Yes please.

mellestad · March 2014

Nips wrote: »

The latest, hottest news from Twitter:

Russ on Twitter wrote:

To continue the tradition here is a quick run down of tomorrow's patch content. First off DX11 of course. Default setting will be DX9 but...
...those that have the machine for it may switch to DX11. Upon initial release you can use MSAA but not TXAA or 3D vision expect those to..
to come online likely in the following patch. Next we have the Banshee Hero Mech. Interesting name and theme which should stand out.
New Champion Trial is the Cataphract 3D(C)
All maps now have turrets in assault mode
series of JJ bug fixes and tweaks. Thrust and turning rate properly scaled for # of JJ's and mech size. Proper diff between full JJ and 1 JJ
A fix in UI 2.0 for "lists" most notably the social window loading but also other lists like inventory and mechlab should work better.
Weapon range modules now affect Artemis weapons. Testing grounds now impacted by player talents and mech efficiencies. Win 8 fixes.
That should more or less cover it.

Nice. I'm happy for more turret action.

I'm a bit conflicted about turrets. Honestly, with turrets on assault, it's just skirmish 95% of the time. Not that I'm complaining, since I play skirmish most of the time now because you never blow your 1st victory of the day bonus on a 4 minute cap-match with no kills or damage.

Still. What am I missing? Are people still assaulting the turrets, when it isn't a stomp?

Eat it You Nasty Pig. · March 2014

does sound like they might be getting a handle on assaults with jump jets though? Having to actually mount 3-4 of them would be a pretty big deal for assaults

HydroSqueegee · March 2014

ive had exactly 2 matches with turret maps so far. I'm not a fan since it kind of defeats the capping portion of assault.

nonoffensive · March 2014

Guys, guys! Its got a energy hardpoint in its mouth.

Elvenshae · March 2014

HydroSqueegee wrote: »

ive had exactly 2 matches with turret maps so far. I'm not a fan since it kind of defeats the capping portion of assault.

I've found them to be ridiculously resistant to damage. I was dropping AC/20 rounds into a turret, and the damn thing just would not die.

Eat it You Nasty Pig. · March 2014

they have 99% resistance if they aren't active and firing

once they pop up they die pretty easily

Nips · March 2014

Elvenshae wrote: »

HydroSqueegee wrote: »

ive had exactly 2 matches with turret maps so far. I'm not a fan since it kind of defeats the capping portion of assault.

I've found them to be ridiculously resistant to damage. I was dropping AC/20 rounds into a turret, and the damn thing just would not die.

Huh. I've killed a turret with only a few LRM and ML salvos. Maybe I'm misremembering, but I don't think they're that tough when they're deployed.

[Edit] If I found the right info, the turrets should have 150 HP. So I'm definitely misremembering.

imperialparadox · March 2014

I have the feeling that the jump jet nerf won't be much of a nerf. Poptarters will make minor adjustments and carry on, unless there is some nerf to targeting that hasn't been mentioned yet.

HydroSqueegee · March 2014

nonoffensive wrote: »

Guys, guys! Its got a energy hardpoint in its mouth.

Fuck. That seals it. Flamer here i come.

Xantomas · March 2014

nonoffensive wrote: »

Guys, guys! Its got a energy hardpoint in its mouth.

That's totally awesome, and fitting for a mech named Banshee. I want laserbreath!

Orogogus · March 2014

Nips wrote: »

imperialparadox wrote: »

Kaboodles_The_Assassin wrote: »

The Atlas was dethroned long, long ago by the Highlander, which I don't think this Banshee will be able to top. There's not a whole lot you can do with 4 ballistic slots in one component. If anything it just gives the pinpoint snipers a fat, juicy target since that's where all of your firepower is located. Also, no Jump Jets.

I guess I should have clarified...I meant with regards to the non-jumping assaults. I consider the Highlander and Victor to be in a different category.

Though apparently there are two Banshee variants that can jump? Doubt that we will see them though.

It looks like the ones that could jump are custom jobs, which would have made for interesting Hero variants, but oh well.

It's doubly sad they won't use the canon customs here for variety. That -11X model looks freaking amazing; a build literally meant to tank? Yes please.

The BNC-11X is way, way forward in the timeline, Jihad-era.

imperialparadox · March 2014

An infestation:

...if the Banshee let out a scream and an automatic bout of flamer breath on a kill I think I'd buy it...

Elbasunu · March 2014

imperialparadox wrote: »

Eat it You Nasty Pig. wrote: »

honestly the advice for new players to start with mediums is pretty bad

I agree. Starting in a medium mech nowadays can be a recipe for frustration. I'd recommend a versatile heavy for a beginner mech.

Nope. Medium mechs are still the best way to learn, and you're far less likely to spend money on an expensive mech you end up hating.

The HBK 4G and 4P are still very good mechs.

I'd recommend the BJ, but I really feel it requires an XL to be good, and that's obviously a new player gate.

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