7 Things new Mech pilots probably don't know - Mechwarrior Online Beginner Tutorial

[@paganarchy]

If an enemy is cored-out and torso-twisting, shoot them in the crotch. No joke: The "crotch box" on most 'mechs is part of the CT hitbox, but it doesn't twist when the torso does. Works really well from behind to get those rear-CT cores on a fleeing light.

[@ryvrdrgn15]

A lot of people don't know this so I get away with my side torso/arm armor getting shaved off instead of back armor even when in full retreat (running with torso twisted 90 degrees to avoid backshots).

[@NeoRocket001]

thx!

[@71Dana]

Pfft torso twisting. Mate, I mainly play lights, an angry look from an Atlas will bypass my armor and my XL engine will blow up from fear alone. Speed and adrenaline is my armor.

[@stonewall286]

Hey Dana we played today and won. GG

[@Jylakir]

As Medium and Light pilot I can feel with you!

[@shayminthedoctor9663]

Wow, you're getting killed by Atlases in a light? How far are you from them? Because if you get in close and can maneuver fully your basically untouchable. I've killed Heavies alone and weakened Assaults in my Locust and I've only been playing for about a month. You just rush them from behind and run circles around them while they desperately try to tack you and eventually fall from chip damage. Just... try not to overheat... That's just embarrassing and has happened to me twice because I got too excited

[@guywilliams2288]

Ya, when I am in my Atlas (and other big Assault mechs) I cannot shoot a Locust hugging me. He is too short to see. If I do not kill him on approach, I am hosed, even when I back into a wall.

[@shayminthedoctor9663]

The best strategy for playing aggressive light 'Mechs (I call them Light Assaults because they can finish what assaults can't) is to wait for a heavy or assault to break off from their lance and quickly close the gap. The less ground you have to cover the better. And NEVER engage multiple 'Mechs at once. That's a death sentence.

[@mikalemadden1762]

I've been playing a long time and I hadn't realized the number of missile tubes actually made a difference. Thanks!

[@NeoRocket001]

Check Smurfy's mech building section. They list in parenthesis the tue number. It helps!

[@eezaak21]

Explanation of the destroyed component damage transfer was great. I just assumed it was a flat 50% damage reduction

[@Holret]

I have been playing MWO since it launched as an alpha.. I learned 5 things today. Pretty amazing, I know damage was transferred to the next component but never knew that only 40% was actually being absorbed.

[@Baradul]

Yeah, great that I could help :)

[@Revelation6_7-8]

+1 for the Filth Pig cover.

[@sovietalex]

Number 8: Default mouse sensitivity is way too high. Reduce it to maybe half to improve accuracy.

[@Swolecoffee]

Depends on your mouse, I got mine at max and it's still slow

[@kloppanator]

The last bit about damage transference through the damaged side will be "very" useful. I was mistakenly under the impression it would go straight through a destroyed component with no reduction.

[@killerra]

Nice vid for new players, sir. I'm an old vet at this point, but I wanted to chime in to say that it's good that you're helping the community.

[@sloppyhead5739]

I chime in with a havent you people ever heard of

[@robau84]

I only recently got aware that a ppc hit disables ecm for a short while.

[@ryvrdrgn15]

I think it's 4 seconds, same as the CD for the PPC.

[@nashan13a]

i didnt know that before. cool! time to go ecm hunting.

[@ferkeap]

ppc wil also disable teammates narcs permanent, even with normal-ppc up close, less then 90m.

[@robau84]

pretty sure thats not actually the case, but i heard jokes about that in relation to justifying friendly fire. "you had a narc beacon there!"

[@vicegealgood]

I've been playing for 4 years. I only clicked on this video to laugh at the noobs. I sit corrected. I learned 2 new things from the video. so thanks. keep it up

[@joskarifinaukr6503]

I learned the missile one the hard way yesterday when I threw two LRM15 launchers into a Thunderbolt and every salvo out of the second launcher took two waves to complete. Another perk to having your launchers match the tube count is that one larger mass of missiles is harder for an AMS to handle than multiple smaller masses. No missiles from the 2-tube hardpoint would hit an AMS-protected target, but several from the 10-tube hardpoint would likely get close enough to deal damage. Another handy trick when it comes to reducing damage is to twist to expose your back to the hostile. You have a separate set of armor on the rear of the torso components. If your frontal armor is shredded, showing your back can buy a bit more time to escape or get another strike in.

[@DustinBKerensky97]

Many (all?) weapons have an audio queue when the cooldown ends and you can shoot again so you don't have to look at the cool down bar or constantly mash buttons until something dies. Test out a new build in the testing grounds before taking it into a game and fire off weapons 1 at a time to get used to the sounds it makes (and to get an idea of how hot your alphas are).

[@mcchuggernaut9378]

Wow, never bothered to do the tutorials when they were implemented because I was a veteran player. Seems I might need to do them for a quick few million C-bills.

[@brendangarvey1496]

Mcchuggernaut ... Plus you get to be instructed by veteran Mandalorian warrior, Canderous Ordo... (Knights of the Old Republic reference)

[@JDBriceProductions]

Excellent guide. I think one tip I might add would be head efficiency. Sometimes it is worth dropping that extra laser for a heat sink. Sometimes being able to keep firing is better than the massive alpha strike. Those few seconds your Mech powers down to reduce heat leave you vulnerable. High heat efficiency is also nice on hot maps.

[@ryvrdrgn15]

I'm guessing what could be added in your next guide is more meta. Crit-padding to minimize crit damage on important weaponsand as someone mentioned, explaining critical hits. LRMs can be fired without lock and will hit where crosshairs are aimed so if there is a non-moving mech you can still LRM it even if it's under ECM (you can also aim at the ground so that a walking mech runs into lrms). Airstrike consumable to hit mechs behind a wall. How to know when you can shoot down a UAV (by looking at the range indicator to know it's right on the dot, otherwise it'd be too far or infinite if aiming at the sky). Clan mechs can achieve similar to IS velocity bonuses for PPCs/ACs (for easier long-range shots) with the appropriate Omnipods/Tarcom combination. Arranging fire groups for optimal side peeking/hill cresting without firing more weapons than necessary.

[@ferkeap]

good text, needs to be broader in explanation for pugs though. like the above video did.

[@kl0wnkiller912]

Nice trick about the range indicator. Been playing for years and never figured that out!

[@elennai6374]

Thanks for making this guide. Few things I didn't know in there. Something I do know though... I'm in a mercenary group and when you sign a contract with a faction any faction war battles that you fight will earn you mercenary rank *not* rank with the faction that you are contracted too. You still get rewards on the mercenary rank tree but to farm the low rank faction rewards from the houses/clans you would need to be loyalist and then deal with whatever the costs are of bailing on your faction and joining another one.

[@WookieeRage]

Thank you! As a new player there are a number of things I'm trying to learn. I played the table top version of this game when it was Battletech (plastic bases and folded card board figures). MechWarrior Online is exactly what I imagined that game to be! The community is really awesome and a lot of fun. Still learning, with a long way to go. Thank you for making the journey a little easier and more fun.

[@terrymcgowan7739]

Battletech Box Set, Citytech Box Set, Aroetech Box Set. I played Battletech from 1985-to now.

[@WookieeRage]

@@terrymcgowan7739 I miss those days when the game first came out. Some of the best tabletop I've ever played.

[@FunkyBaconArts]

Wow, your voice has really changed a lot. xD (for the better ofc. ;P )

[@seb2750]

Yeah, why is that? Changed mic?

[@philferrara5990]

When scanning for enemy UAVs, be aware that you can drop artillery on them to hit the ground directly below. This is helpful for flushing clustered enemy mechs from cover or just doing some damage when you don't have line of sight.

[@oogalook]

Great guide, man! Thanks!

[@Baradul]

No problem man :) Feel free to share it. That would help out the channel a ton.

[@oogalook]

+MoltenMetal Sure will.

[@daveinjapan]

One of the best MWO new player tutorial videos I've seen. Really well presented. Also, since I play only qp, I didn't know about getting free mechbays for playing fp. Thanks very much

[@Baradul]

Thanks a lot :) However, switching factions easily doesn't work anymore.

[@SigmarSich]

Oh dear, i didn't knew about damage transfer to neighbour component and its reduction. And i'm a founder. Thanks for the video!

[@LostBelowLife]

Heres a tip, for newcomers you probably have seen people jumping up and shooting, dont fire while the jumpjets are active, wait till just when you start to fall to take your shot, and try to line up the shot as you are going up.

[@greyfox37]

That's really cool how into it you are, calling new players new Mech Pilots in the title. Passion for games ftw.

[@Pricklyhedgehog72]

Very informative Molten. There is a lengthy article in the forums on heat management and single vs. double heat sinks. The article goes into considerable depth on the calculations and how double vs. single heat stack up in different environments, and your reference to internal vs. external is really spot on.

[@hechla]

yup I have 48 single heat sinks that do much better than if I switched to doubles

[@kl0wnkiller912]

Just goes to show you learn something new everyday. I've been playing for around 3 years now but never realized the reduction in transfer damage. Great video!

I have been playing this game for one week today. I love it but I really find it difficult to learn, even the basics. Please go on and create more content like this video. They really help us, newbies. Thanks a lot.

[@badgerbrowncoat5433]

Metal - this is Mercier - used to run the new player training ReSeRVes unit - this would have saved me a ton of explanation - nice, handy, succint. Wish I'd seen this way back when

[@commanderlemming7450]

Joining a merc faction only gives merc faction points, if you want the rank 2 mechbays from factions, you need to be a loyalist now. Also, teaching new players about crits would be helpful, since they are difficult to figure out.

[@bkingtz1]

Explain about crits?

[@Nyuuguy]

Crits are when your armor is fully removed and your components in that section such as weapons or ammo are destroyed by continued fire in that location. Machine guns rapid fire has the highest critical chance cause each bullet is calculated individually. Ammo can explode if crited which can blow up killed you instantly if it's in a required to live slot like the center torso. Many times blew up a mech with ammo in the CT or legs. gauss rifles always explode when destroyed, to counter this. Equip that slot with C.A.S.E. to prevent the damage from spreading from the explosion

[@ciddax754]

That damage translation ratio explains so much! Thanks a lot, I did not knew it.

[@TripCatProductions]

This just popped up on my list of videos. Well done, I have been playing for a year and this was still good information - Thank you

[@jdemars]

thanks a bunch. there were a couple things including the damage transfer mechanism I was not aware of

[@Gigasnipe2]

Awesome video! ive just started playing MWO about two weeks ago and your videos have been a great help! keep up the awesome work

[@larshthecasualmechwarrior4123]

Great video! I've been playing for about a year and a half, and I didn't know about the extra heat reduction in engine vs non engine, armor quark math, and the reduced dmg from side torso even when a component is destroyed.

[@AfferbeckBeats]

I didn't know that about the damage transfer on destroyed components. That must be why I survive for ages in the Centurion.

[@MonoKabi]

I knew about damage transfer, but not the stacking. Explains why torso twisting isn't just a good strategy, it's a great one, especially once they have stripped your side torso and you have one of the mechs that their CT is almost completely hidden by the ST. Damage soak for days.

[@monkey4soul]

BARADUL. MY FRIEND. I wish I had this when I was learning to torso twist. This is obe of the best newbie guides on youtube aimply because you told everyone the part of torso twisting that nobody else did: the damage reduction

[@hareonair6868]

Really helpful, especially the bit about damage transfer. Thanks!

[@strixin79]

Been playing this game for over a year, and still did not know all these. thanks for the video!

[@MrkBO8]

Good vid, some tips, retreat from fair fights, you will prob lose as soon as you get target locked by the lrm's, always attack when you have an advantage, retreat when you dont, when dodging lrms break line of sight first and then change position in relation to the flight path so they miss to the side and stick with the team, alone you will die and your death will be dishonourable.

[@JarnBjorn72]

Moltenmetal, I just wanted to tell you that I watch your videos as often as I can at home on my television. You come across as a genuinely nice and honorable guy, and are easy to like, my friend! Plus your commentary is amusing as you play both MWO and Battletech! Thank you for making life nicer for me, my friend! ;-D

[@TheDanielstclair]

great video, up to tier 2 as a player and only just fully understand the last 2 points fully with you're explanation. thanks man

[@poetcooper5495]

Hey MM, Thank you, this video really helped me. I've been playing for a month, and wondered why I didn't get many kills while getting a ton of damage. Working on finding better places to shoot and tightening up where I deal damage. Great video!

[@Baradul]

Cheers Cooper! Glad that I could help clarifying some things :) Welcome to the MWO community!

[@poetcooper5495]

So, tonight I got 6 kills in an urbanmech. Lol. That was crazy. Mostly headshots on already damaged folks poptarting over a ridge.

[@VictorSteiner]

Played this for 3 years now but didn't know about the 2x 60 % less damage if you shoot through a destroyed arm and side torso. THNX!

[@psychocop33]

And if you press [escape] twice in the drop preparation \ ready-up screen before the start of the match, you will remove the blurriness. So you can actually see where you are located.. Unless you are in a dropship of course.

[@Barbaros357]

Playing Faction Play for the 'mech bays would be a good idea if there was a viable FP mode, but there isn't. All factions but JF are empty and there's little to no action other than defence against JF, in which you lose. Other than that, good guide. The part about LRM tubes really helped.

[@Twuggus]

It has been a few years since I played. This video has given me a few great tips! Thank you!

[@ferkeap]

When you use jumpjets, you won't cooldown. Slowing down your speed will also cool you down quicker. X and R give you a big improvement. HELPING YOUR TEAMMEMBERS TO SURVIVE WILL GAIN YOU MORE XP/C-BILLS. Also the same with using uav's and arti/airstrikes.

[@ProfPressure]

Thanks for the video, I'll be watching it a few times

[@rippermodean3014]

Thank you for the tips! MWO needs more of this if they ever want new people to play the game.

[@stompyrobotguy4376]

One of the first thing I teach anyone new to the game is the minimum range for IS LRMs and IS PPCs!

[@rocketsocks3116]

Wow I know I'm really late to this but I never would have guessed about the reduced damage part, logically you'd think shooting into an open hole on the side of a mech would do more damage than shooting the armor plating.

[@ursulbekbakiev2618]

A couple moments I didn't know, thanks!

[@Ashmodai]

should have added ghost heat. it's a tough concept to grasp for new players.

[@gishathosaurus6828]

Indeed.

[@whiskizyo2067]

ghost heat - fire too many of same wep and get extra heat. pretty straight forward concept - it's the details of amount of weps of different types and sizes that's confusing.

[@dannyfubar3099]

I have always told New MW' players with questions, to subscribe to your Channel. Thank you for Sharing.

[@Artificer1911]

Sometimes KZbin suggests a really old Bara video, so I take them up on it to appreciate just how different his presenting voice is now.

[@mcculfja]

I would like it if you gave a full video dedicated to where you should be aiming when targeting enemies.

[@quadsatv]

Thanks for uploading this! i knew all of them except for the 7th one i knew damage transferred but not at a reduced amount.

[@psychocop33]

Another beginner/moderate tip for mechwarriors, try to use the command wheel (E button) to spot an enemy.. I know the voice is annoying as hell. (m4j35t1c hates it :P) But if you spot a target that will drop out of radar range, the spotting rectangle will follow the target. Even when he is no longer locked. So this way you can anticipate his movement.

[@FuzzyNova]

You know something...I never really caught on to the last tip you gave. After blowing off the awesomes Arm you kept firing in the same spot and the mech was literally taking no more damage. Torso twisting really does save your ass sometimes.

[@andrewgriffin4528]

Your English has come so far baradul! Wow! You sound so great these days and it shows

[@Hodi99]

Oh wow, i'm not a new player by any means, but i didn't know about the exact system of destroyed components o.o Always thought that the damage would be transfered completely to the next component... I would love to see another XY things, maybe next time for advanced players, for example the critical hit system, never really understood it. Like: is it better to split up gauss ammo in half tons? Does equipment like heatsinks protect other equip from crits? Which weapons can actually deal crits by now? Anyways, really good tips! Always nice to help new pilots.

[@SickocrowAU]

Yeah it does benefit to split the non-explosive gauss rounds to 'pad out' a component. Same with heat sinks. You can only crit the equipment in the component, and if that explosive gauss rifle has more inert stuff packed around it, it has less chance of being critted.

[@stonewall286]

In MechWarrior 3, the damage went 100% to the next torso.

[@navyman4]

Been playing 3yrs and didn't know two of those!

[@icenhorn4744]

Some of these are new and good to know, and the rest I knew but not why, so thank you for explaining in such simple detail. You Sir, are Awesome. thank you for this video =D

[@LosRes]

Great Vid...damn useful info

[@Baradul]

Glad that I could help

[@KijiroBugboy]

That German accent is music to my ears. Sorry, just had to point that out.

[@HighPriestofLemuria]

A lot of people that are new don't seem to realize that chain firing drastically reduces the heat your heat sinks have to deal with, and that not every volley needs to be an alpha strike. In fact, in some cases it is better not to alpha, since sustained damage output will also transfer to other components. But, I see a lot of pilots AS'ing and shutting down due to heat, and despite the impressive alpha they can not keep the DPS up. They wind up getting cored while on cool-down as a result, having dealt meager damage.

[@kistuszek]

Chain firing really decreases your heat, but it usually also drastically reduces your dps. Also the concentration of damage is much lower usually so you are wasting heat to damage that will not contribute. Not to mention your survival suffers, since you have to "stare"! New players are better off alpha striking and learning to aim and time the shots better than chain firing all the time. (except lrm and such) The best practice is to group fire of course. You need 3-5 groups usually. Group weapons that will be fired in the same situation (peaking l/r, range, ammo vs energy...) i especially like to make a cooldown group of my highest dmg to heat ratio weapons, this group is slightly under my heat dissipation amount so that even firing it continuously will lose some heat.

[@HighPriestofLemuria]

+kistuszek I disagree, the number of shutdowns I witness, and often take advantage of, make the benefits you outline meager at best. Plus, learning to apply damage without leaving your fro t torso constantly exposed is a skill they must learn eventually. Might as well learn it in the context of fire and movement, and learning to alpha strike at opportune moments, instead of just spamming alpha strike until the inevitable shut down and have no choice but to stare.

[@tanotoscano7579]

Thanks for the info....I've just started to play the game because of your channel :P ... It is a mess at the beginning and I'm still stuck with trial mechs. Can you advice a good trial mech for noobs? Right now I'm using the Stalker because of the LRM's.

[@gnarcher]

Wow, did not know a few of them. Great work and thanks for the intel!

[@xXJayeDuBXx]

Awesome video! Keep up the great work!

[@TheChriztian13]

good to know some of those facts, and what do you think about lasers weapons on the new topic of energy bar?

[@nebuias2008]

Excellent information! Thanks for your help.

[@pikkyuukyuun4741]

another tip is by abusing jump jets & torso twisting at the same time, a medium brawler is able to 1v1 an assault with minimal damage

[@kamadeva5121]

That is true but you need to be a very experienced pilot to be able to pull it off, I love it when a cheeky medium tries this only to be swatted mid air.

[@pikkyuukyuun4741]

Nah, if you run an SRM20 shadow hawk. Things change

[@Robloxman01]

Running that many SRMs on anything turns the game from a mech combat simulator to a puppy kicking simulator. You can kill most everything with a stern look.

[@gishathosaurus6828]

That's always great... as long heat isn't an issue of course.

[@sim.frischh9781]

I´m not new, yet i still learned a lot of things. Especially about the damage reduction during hit area location transfer. Did i get that right? If i shoot the destroyed arm, only 40% reach the side torso and again only 40% the center? 4 IS medium lasers do combined 20 dmg, so 8 dmg hits the side torso and only about 3 the center (just as an easy to follow example, mlas are popular).

[@DIREWOLFx75]

Small note, make a difference between Location and Component when you describe things. Components(weapons, heatsinks etc) are what you place in Locations(Center Torso, Head etc).

[@Baradul]

Actually, not. Components are the parts of the battlemech (arms, legs, etc.) Whenever you destroy one of these, you get the "component destroyed" notification.

[@Baradul]

At the end of the game watch your "component destroyed" count - that is the number of limbs you tore off the enemy.

[@DIREWOLFx75]

Well, that´s how it works in the boardgame the game is based on. And it was somewhat confusing in the video how it was used.

[@kravmagan]

Not really a new player, but I learned something as well :) Great tips!

[@jamessilva1259]

LOL I know this video is over 2 years old. but watching this, hugely reminds why I haven't played this game for so many years. I have no clue why PGI has a huge problem for Light mechs loaded with 15+ DHS. to run cool. Yes DHS works much better now, improved from 0.15 to 0.22, should be 0.28, and it took them still OCT-16-2018. But at least it is tolerable for me to play again. On Battle Tech, I like playing Light/Medium builds with energy / ordinance. and for so me reason PGI has a weird anti Energy vomit or missile boat build. When I Quit playing I believe Standards were at 1.4 and double were only at 1.5. Hopefully when Mechwarrior 5 is released, I extremely hope PGI will Follow table top rules more. Not everyone wants to play Heavy/Assault ballistics, and their is more then one effective build.

[@luisbarahona8967]

knowledge is power!? i feel insulted coming from a mechwarrior game! remember guys INFORMATION IS AMMUNITION! now, getting for realisies, nice tips, already know some of them, but you know? it never hurts to dig some more, thank you for your time and keep up the good work!

[@robjohn4842]

great tips! i be been playing since 2013 and learned a few things.

[@Bag00ny]

Very informative. Thanks

[@phantomshotgun]

thankfully they changed the missile hardpoints, but I never knew that about the engine heat sinks.

[@Light-bearer]

Brilliant. Great deal of help!!

[@liamchu1858]

Wow MM, I'm not new but this was really great info!

[@mrbroeders]

Great video - very useful.

[@thorsten2311]

also wenn das mal keine nützlichen Tips für neue Spieler waren. Danke und bitte mehr davon!

[@SoCalStyles]

#2 can't rep grind as a merc unit anymore. One must be a loyalist in order to gain house rep.

[@harackmw]

MWO needs an official tutorial on how to manage cbill costs for new players.

[@wyattarthur5275]

I Thought I knew every thing already but damn this game is more complex than I thought

[@rongamblin2107]

Thanks alot , this is all good info. :-P

[@volodymyr3057]

Brilliant! Many thanks!

[@skycat1820]

Very helpful vid, thanks!

[@GregAtlas]

I don't know why this video got suggested to me, but it makes me feel old. XD

[@tayranno2840]

You don't have to be in the Thunderbolt to get gold on the maneuvering challenge, fyi. I got it second try in the default starting mech.

[@brugnolocalastrini9923]

Cool as always

[@Trifler500]

Just FYI, in case you're interested, it should be "don't know" rather than "didn't know". It would only be "didn't know" if you said "7 things Mech pilots probably didn't know when they were new".

[@Baradul]

Oh thanks for pointing that out. As a non-native speaker I screw it up sometimes :)

[@elsietacek4419]

Are you sure about that: a.k.a. "I did not know how to drive when i was two". Vs. "I do not know how to drive when I was two"?

[@Trifler500]

+Elsie Ptacek It is a matter of tense. Your example is incorrect because your second sentence uses the word "was". "Did" and "was" are past tense. "Do" is present tense.

[@Topa101]

Great Job Sir

[@JoshuaPritt]

Torso twisting seems backwards right? If the arm is missing wouldn't you be doing direct damage to the torso on that side? Crazy

[@shion980]

Mercenary units dont seem to get loyalist reputation.... least from the few times I've played in FP...... it seems to be all mercenary rep.

[@Baradul]

Wait...what? I played a few games some time ago with a Marik contract and leveld up...what witchcraft is this?

[@snaky115]

They changed Loyalists to be the only ones to get actual Faction levels. Anyone else falls under "Mercenary" in that faction list.

[@stevern94]

So what we 'mercenaries' will get now are only cbills and exp? Thats shame.

[@Baradul]

NooOOOoooo!

[@QuiteSpiffing]

Yep, they made changes to this couple months ago. I'm surprised you weren't aware of this Molten.

[@motivepigeon]

I honestly didn’t know how armor worked and I first started playing like 6 years ago. I also never touched faction matches…

[@DuckHunterVideos]

So would you recommend a new player to go as loyalist on faction play, or as mercenary?

[@AmbroseBoaBowie]

I did not know about the internal structure and the damage reduction. Using this knowlage will make killing my DDC nearly impossible in a 1 on 1 situation. I can already go head to head with the BH and King Crab, no mech is safe.