Good changes, and I hope these tutorials are worth a damn. I love Battletech, but feel absolutely hopeless as a pilot, and if I could at least figure out how to point my damn weapons at something, I'd feel a bit better about giving the game another shot.
Is there something in particular you're having trouble with?
Here's a rundown of what I consider the basics of MWO:
- Use the arrow keys and R Ctrl to set your weapon groups. These are bound to 1-6, or some of your mouse buttons. These are very important to manage your heat. For example, you put a ballistic weapon in weapon group 1, 2 lasers in WG2, your LRM's in 3, WG fires all your ballistics/lasers, etc.
- When you move your mouse around, you have both a circle and a cross reticle. The circle represents your arm weapons, and the cross is your torso weapons. Since your arms are faster and can turn wider, there'll be times when the two will not converge. Set your weapon groups accordingly. Eg. Your have a gauss on your arm, and lasers on your torso. You turn sideways to shoot a mech with the gauss. 1 second later, your torso converges at the same location, and you can then fire your lasers. Timing is essential.
- Weapon limitations: LRM's can only fire btw 180-1000 meters. PPC's have a minimum range of 90 (ERPPC have no min). You need a lock on before firing LRM's (and someone in your team needs to maintain a visual on the target before the missiles hit, otherwise the missiles won't track anymore. Streak(homing)SRM's also need a lock before firing.
BTW, updated weapon stats based on the latest patch (improved firing rate and ammo for some ballistics)
- General overview of the weapons:
Small, medium, large lasers. The bigger they are, the longer range, but also the more heat they generate. Pulse variants = more heat, heavier, but deals the damage in less time (thus allowing you to slip into cover if need be); worth considering if you're hit-and-run, or if you have so many heat sinks so as to not care about heat efficiency and just want to deal more damage efficiently.
PPC are massive energy cannons. They're not laser beams that last a while, rather they're single shots that deal the damage as soon as they hit. Heavier, more heat, more range, more tonnage than lasers.
TAG laser is a direct laser tag that will help allied LRM's home onto your target more easily.
Autocannons-2, 5, 10, 20. Ballistic weapons, uses ammo. The higher the number, the more damage, the more heat, the more tonnage, the LESS range. Variants: LBX-10: like an AC-10, but more spread (shotgun). Ultra-AC5 = slightly faster (heavier) than AC5, but can also fire while it's reloading (thus double the firing rate), though doing so risks it jamming. The advantage over lasers is that it makes less heat, the disadvantage is that it requires ammo (instead of more heatsinks).
Gauss rifle. Long range ballistics with very little heat.
SRM's. Short direct-fire missiles. No target lock required. SSRM's = streaks which home onto the target, but require a lock, and are great against fast targets. LRM's = indirect long-range missiles that need a lock.
NARC missiles are direct-fire missiles that stay on the target for a few seconds, during which LRM's will hit it more efficiently. I find these pretty underpowered presently, especially compared to TAG.
AMS: Anti-missile system. Machine-gun system that automatically shoots enemy missiles within a certain radius.
*Note: if you lose a mech part that carries ammo (ballistics or missiles), that part may explode and damage surrounding parts. You can counter this by putting a CASE in that mech part, a casing that envelops the ammo and prevents it from exploding onto the rest of the mech.
- Movement is basically tank controls. W and S are throttle. It's not just instant walk forward and backwards at the press of the key. You increase or decrease (down to reverse values if need be) the throttle as you hold the keys. X sets the throttle to zero. A and D turn your legs left or right.
- Your mouse aim moves your arms and your upper torso. Independently of your legs. You can walk in one direction and fire in another.
- Press 'R' to highlight a target. This is the only way for teammates without direct line of sight of a target to be able to highlight the same target if only you see it. The longer you maintain this target acquisition, the more details you get on the mech itself (upper right of the screen). This includes weapons and mech integrity/damage.
- Your own mech damage status is at the bottom left. Notice you have a center torso, a right and left torso, right and left arms, right and left legs, and a head. The side + center torsos also have BACK armor (which is generally a lot less). If you lose your center torso or your head or BOTH your legs, you are dead. If you lose a side torso, you lose the associated arm. It is very important to keep an eye on which areas are damaged. Defend those areas. If your torso is about to get destroyed, use your arms to shield it (turn sideways before you think the enemy is about to shoot you). If your front armor is almost depleted, it might be wise to turn your back to the enemy while trying to reach a teammates (you might have less armor to begin with in the back, but it'll keep you alive for a bit, maybe). If your main gun is in your right arm, use your left arm/torso to shield it from incoming fire.
- This also applies for the enemy's mech status. See where the enemy is weakened and go for that part. Some mechs have their main weapons usually placed in specific spots, eg. the hunchback has its main arsenal in the right torso ('shoulder'). If you see it with a AC-20 aimed at you, you need to take out its right torso ASAP.
- XL engines are special lighter engines. It allows mechs to carry higher-capacity engines (due to the lighter weight), which allows for faster speeds, or just put it more weapons/armors/heatsinks. The downside is that the engine takes space in both side torsos and the center torso. What this means is that even if one side torso is destroyed, the mech blows up. If you see a mech with faster speed than usual, or more weapons than expected, it might be an XL engine! Blow up its side torso and laugh at it. They're expensive to repair too, so that's twice the laughs.
- Last but not least (this is the most important aspect of mech combat) = the vertical bar right of your radar. This is your heat level. Don't overheat! Spread out your shots, set up your weapon groups properly, don't overfire! Shutting down just means free shots by your enemy into vulnerable spots that you can't dodge.
Oh gosh, I started rambling on and completely lost my train of thought. I think that's most of it, anyway. Hope it helps!
Oh yeah, just a random tidbit: in some maps, heat vision is really helpful when the enemy is too far away. H by default to activate it. N is nightvision, but I haven't found that too helpful yet. Oh, right, also remember to use zoom when shooting enemies at a distance!
