Ilya Muromets (Cataphract Hero Mech) Dual Gauss Sniper Build

With the recent patch discouraging PPC and AC/20 boats, Cataphracts have been struggling to find new builds. If you are running you a 2X, you can build a brawler following this Cataphract 2X brawler guide. A more popular variant is the Ilya Muromets, the Hero Mech. A friend of mine at the Hell’s Black Aces Merc Corp showed me a build which has quickly become popular amongst competitive gamers. An Ilya Muromets build which is equipped with dual Gauss Rifles, Medium Lasers, and a Machine Gun. High alpha strikes, way above average dps and no heat issues what so ever make this Mech a fearsome opponent.

AMS + Machine Gun for critical hits and survivability

Higher movement speed version with AMS

Higher movement speed version without AMS but 3rd Medium Laser

•  Cataphract plus XL-engine makes you very susceptible to frontal damage. If you come under heavy LRM, AC or PPC fire from the front, take cover immediately or you will die in seconds.
• Always use your Gauss Rifles together. The pinpoint damage will make short work of what ever component you are targeting.
• When at close range, keep those Medium Lasers and the Machine Gun fire buttons held down! It is almost impossible to overheat with this build.
• Your damage output is easily focused on one point, and the damage per second at close surpasses most other builds currently in the game. If you are entangled in a brawl, keep firing all the time. Your enemies will most likely underestimate your firepower and only turn around, when it is already to late.

This build was brought to my attention by Smeg of the Hell’s Black Aces Merc Corp. Check out their web page!

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Premium Time vs Hero Mech

What do Premium Time and Hero Mechs have in common?

Premium Time and Hero Mechs have two things in common: 1) They will cost you Mechwarrior Credits ( or simply “mc”). 2) They will provide you with a bonus to your c-bills earned from each match played. The bonus is really huge, and you will see up to 250,000 c-bills in a great match being pushed to your account. The bonuses even stack if you have both active at the same time resulting in close to double c-bills earned.

Where do Premium Time and Hero Mechs differ?

Apart from the 50% vs 30% c-bill bonus, there are some other differences which cannot be compared as easily. Everybody has to decide for themselves, which of these things he/she cares more about.

Premium Time	Hero Mech
Lasts a fixed amount of days.	Lasts forever.
Will expire, whether you play or not.	Does not care if you play or not.
50% c-bill bonus.	30% c-bill bonus.
50% more xp and GXP gained.	No bonus to xp or GXP.
No Mech or other items provided.	Unique variant.
No cosmetic bonuses.	Unique skin.
Works on all Mechs you play.	Works only on the Hero variant.

The following graph illustrates when the smaller, but permanent, Hero Mech bonus surpasses a 30 day premium time package. Assuming you are playing almost every day of your 30 day premium time, the Hero Mech will surpass the Premium Time package after roughly 50 days. However, this also requires, that you played your Hero Mech variant only. The amount of XP and GXP gained during 30-50 days of continuous play with premium time active is also quite significant. Using premium time will boost your GXP quite heavily and unlocking upgrades on your new chassis was never that easy.

Which Premium Time Package is the best?

 Premium Time vs Hero Mech is a very personal decision. If you don’t care about the Mech itself and play MWO constantly, getting Premium Time is usually the better choice when looking at time frames of a few months. The most practical (and arguably best) Premium Time package is the one for 30 days.

If you want to play hardcore for a weekend or so, get the 3 days pack. Its value is better than the one for only 1 day. If you want to go crazy on your free week, get the 7 days package. The 7 days package is worth more if you play at least 6 of the 7 days. On to the 30 days package: This package is so awesome because you only need to play 15 out of the 30 days to make it worth your money. The bigger packs 180 and 360 days are not worth it in my opinion. You would need to play 163/180 or 288/360 days respectively in order to achieve the same C-Bills to MC ratio as the 30 days pack. If you are actually considering getting the 180 or 360 days pack, consider buying a Hero Mech instead or at least purchase the time in multiple 30 days packages. You will have the same effect, but with more flexibility and more value. Maybe PGI will adjust the larger packages at some time in the future.

TL/DR

What premium time to get? 30 days premium time is the best value for almost all situations.

I don’t want premium time, I want a Hero Mech! All things considered, the Dragon (C), The X-5 and Pretty Baby have the best values.

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Fastest Way to Get C-Bills in Mechwarrior Online

One of the most frequent questions on the (Mechwarrior Online) internet is: What is the fastest way to get c-bills in Mechwarrior Online? There is no easy answer to this, but there are certain things which can be easily optimized. Depending on what chassis’ are available to you, you can focus on doing certain things during the matches. The following sections will provide you with everything you need to know in order to maximize the c-bills you squeeze out of each match played.

Killing Blows – Difficulty: high – Reward: high

Let’s start with the most obvious one to get more c-bills: get more killing blows. Killing blows reward you with extra c-bills and you will usually receive some “Component Destruction” bonuses as well. If you are having trouble getting killing blows, we recommend looking at guides which use high pinpoint damage weapons and or bursty load-outs. Such weapons include the AC/20, (ER)PPCs, Large Pulse Lasers, and SRM4/6s. Since builds are changing constantly, no specific guide is shown here. However, you will quickly find one to your liking by navigating the above menu via “by Role/Weapon”.

Kill Assists – Difficulty: medium – Reward: high

Kill Assists reward you with a similar amount of c-bills, comparable to actual killing blows. The C-Bills for a killing assist are not related to the amount of damage you have dealt. Thus merely brushing an enemy will provide you with a killing assist once the enemy goes down. A very good weapon for this is the (ER)Large Laser. When you see an enemy for the first time, try to hit him with the Large Laser, then start fighting like you would normally do. Smaller caliber auto-cannons (AC/2, AC/5 and UltraAC/5) are also a decent choice since they can fire over very high distances. (ER)PPCs are possible but much harder to hit and definitely a commitment on your build if you choose to wield one. At the beginning of the match use these weapons to leave your mark on an enemy, before engaging in the brawl. On this link everything you need to know about casinos from myth, and why they belong in the fantasy aisle.

Spotting Assists – Difficulty: easy – Reward: medium

You receive a smaller amount for spotting assists than for killing blows, but they can happen more frequently. These kind of assists are also very useful for getting a lot of experience. Spotting assists are awarded if an ally’s missiles hit your target and you targeted it as the first player. In order to maximize the amount of spotting assists you receive in a match do the following:

1. Whenever you see a red rectangle, press R to target it.
2. If you see the incoming missile symbol above your target, do not change your target until the missile symbol disappears again and/or you start to receive spotting assists.
3. Profit!

Final note on spotting assists: if you can spare the slot, equip the module “Advanced Target Decay”. It will greatly increase the duration of your lock. This will ensure more spotting assists when your target dodges behind covers and allied LRMs are incoming.

TAG Assists – Difficulty: medium – Reward: high

A TAG counts as an energy weapon and is a kind of a laser pointer. Assign TAG to a separate weapon group which is easily accessible (e.g. group 1). You must keep the TAG pressed down in order to successfully tag an enemy. An active TAG is indicated by a red bullseye/crosshair symbol over the enemy Mech. Important: TAG must be active on the target at the moment the missiles from your allies are impacting on the enemy. If you TAG an enemy, your team’s LRM boats are firing and you lose the TAG shortly before the missiles hit, you will receive no c-bills!

• You can lose the TAG while missiles are still in the air, but you must reestablish the TAG contact before they impact. Otherwise no TAG assist is awarded.
• SSRM2s also award TAG assists so don´t hesitate to activate TAG while brawling with allies.
• Aim your TAG at enemies which are untargetable (due to the ECM protection). They will be targetable as long as you keep the TAG active. Your team will thank you for that and you will receive even more TAG assists.

A build with which TAGging is quite easy can be found on this very page: Raven 3L TAG Build with ECM

Hero Mechs – Difficulty: requires MC – Reward: high

All hero Mechs provide a “30% c-bill boost”. This means that every c-bill you earn from a match in which you pilot a hero Mech variant will be multiplied by a factor of 1.3! If you played well, it is easy to break the 200.000 c-bill mark. Playing other Mechs will not provide you a bonus from just owning a hero Mech. The c-bill bonus only applies to rounds where you pilot the hero Mech. The big downside is that hero Mechs may only be bought for MC (Mechwarrior Credits) which you only get for real hard currency. If you don’t want to spend real money on this game it is no problem. If you can afford to pay 20-50 dollars for a hero Mech, you will most certainly enjoy a unique variant with an awesome paint job and a time saving 30% c-bill boost. If you don’t know which hero Mech to buy, click here for a complete listing of all hero Mech builds available on mwo-builds.net. View all Hero Mech builds

Premium Time – Difficulty: requires MC – Reward: very high

Apart from getting an insane bonus to c-bills earned, no matter what Mech you choose, you will also receive a ton of (G)XP during that time. If Premium Time and Hero Mechs are good for you depends on your playtime and style. A short guide can be found here. Guide: Premium Time vs Hero Mechs

And finally a screenshot of one of my best rounds ever (c-bill wise). Played on a Misery with active Premium Time from my Project Phoenix early bird bonus:

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It has been a few weeks since the Jagermech made its splash in the MWO scene. Sporting easily some of the best ballistic hardpoint setups available, it has quickly become a very beloved (and hated) chassis. Especially the Jagermech dual AC 20 builds have risen in popularity due to their ability to quickly kill people in PUG matches. This guide works with every variant of the Jagermech. The last patch nerfed dual AC/20 builds alpha strike potential. However, your overall damage per second is still the same. More on this in section Playstyle below. To see which variant is best for you (apart from building a dual AC 20), check out the following list:

• JM6-S : The most versatile of all the variants. Used in tournament play.
• JM6-DD : Offers the most ballistic slots. Fun chassis for ballistic weapon freaks (dakkadakka!).
• JM6-A : Has missile hardpoints, which the other chassis don´t.
• JM6-Firebrand : Hero Mech. If you don´t mind the MC price, this will be a comfortable tool to farm huge amounts of c-bills in no time at all.

As mentioned above, this build works with every variant. If you want more armor/lasers, tune down the engine to an XL 260.

• Be aware of the latest MWO patch! You will overheat instantly when attempting to fire both AC/20s at the same time. Set them to chain fire (default hotkey BACKSPACE) and click twice slowly. If you overheat, you have clicked too quickly. This will reduce your pinpoint damage, but overall damage output will still be the same.
• Aiming is key! You will deal a lot of damage by just firing randomly at your enemies, but you will kill them in seconds if you aim for the right parts.
• You are very fast and agile (for your weight class and armament). Use this to quickly flank, flee, engage or whatever it needs to get into a good firing position.
• Shoulders, rear Center Torso and Legs should be your primary targets. If your enemy is holding still, aim for the cockpit.
• Do not try to hit enemies further away than a couple hundred meters. If your ammo is expended or you overheat, you are a worthless to your team.

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If you know of an excellent build, resource, or guide, submit it and maybe it will be featured on mwo-builds.net and seen by thousands of players. You can submit builds by sending us an e-mail, post it in the official looking-for-builds thread, or send us a private message via the official forums. You can also submit guides and builds via Facebook or Twitter (see below). Join hundreds of other Mechwarrior enthusiasts and like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. Receive the latest guides and the best MWO builds directly to your favourite social platform!

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This guide has been created by Vechs and I got his permission to post it here. Only minimal changes have been made where stuff was outdated or badly formatted. With the latest patches from November 2012 the effectiveness of this build has been slightly reduced, but you will still make a lot of money easily.

” You guys go on ahead… I’ll be back here… with LRMs… and also snacks “

Oh man. First we have delicious Zombie Wang, and now a Fatlas? He’s so fat! He waddles around and just burps up LRMs on everything. Don’t worry though, he’ll make you tons of money.

… and the LRMs are free.

Yes, I’m totally serious.

Fatlas is short for Founder’s Atlas. But here’s the thing– this guide works for any Atlas. Your lasers might be in different spots, but who cares, that’s not what this guide is about.

Alright, now let’s get down to the real business — maximizing the C-Bill income of your Fatlas.

Mechwarrior Online allows you to choose not to repair and reload your mech. If you do this, you’ll get free rudimentary repairs, and 75% of your max ammo loaded for free. This is pretty awesome, and allows certain builds to get by and be totally combat effective with cheap repairs.

Yes, that’s right, if you choose to never pay for ammo again, you’ll always have 75% of your max ammo. Not bad? Personally, I’ll fully repair and reload for faction battles, but for random matches, I’m thinking I kinda like free ammo.

So for the Fatlas, your valuable asset is your LRM rack. Sure, your Center Torso is important, but that gets expensive to repair. Here’s the deal: As an LRM boat, if enemies have killed your front line, and are in your face, most times you’ve lost already. A bit more health on your CT is very rarely going to make a difference.

So, just repair your Left Torso (or wherever your LRMs are). This is very, very cheap, and because your LRMs are the only reason you’re on the field, it works pretty well. You’re not a brawling build in the first place, and if your team has died, even a full-strength LRM boat is not really going to be able to hold out without teammates.

If your mech just happens to have the LRMs in the center torso (Jenner, Dragon, etc.) then congratulations, you can be a Zombie LRM Boat. (In this case, store the ammo in your legs and head. If either of those locations die, you’re screwed anyway.)

The Build:

Fatlas (Similar builds work for any Atlas, and even other LRM-capable mechs)

2 Medium Lasers – Center Torso
2 Heat Sinks – Engine Slots

1 Medium Laser – Left Arm
1 AMS – Left Arm
5 LRM Ammo – Left Arm
1 AMS Ammo – Left Arm

1 Medium Laser – Right Arm
5 LRM Ammo – Right Arm

2 LRM20 – Left Torso
2 Heat Sinks – Left Torso

3 Heat Sinks – Right Torso

1 Heat Sink – Head
4 Heat Sinks – Left and Right Legs

Engine – 300 Standard

560 Points of Armor (Strip from legs)

Standard Everything – No fancy equipment. (DHS, FF, Endo, XL Engine, etc.)

If you can fit it (for example by removing some ammo), sponsor yourself some Artemis. This will greatly improve your damage, but also costs you a considerable one-time fee.

Battle Performance:

Unlike the Zombie Wang, the Fatlas can totally carry your team. Twin LRM20 launchers means an incredible amount of damage every few seconds. This will shred enemy mechs. As an LRM boat, all you have to do is stay towards the back of your group (You are in a group, right?) and shoot.

Even if your team derps off and you don’t have cover, you still ought to be able to dish out a lot more damage than other mech builds.

The Fatlas and your Bank Account:

Fully repairing and Atlas is expensive. It makes no sense to attempt to use an Atlas to make money if you’re actually going to repair the thing. Just use some duct tape and welfare ammunition — an LRM boat doesn’t really need more than that to do its job. I believe this is the only way a Founders Atlas can actually make use of the cash income bonus it has. Because repairing it cripples your income.

You can have the kinds of income above while having this for your repair bill:

Or, you could be hilariously inefficient at making money and have this for your repair bill, and livemaybe 3 seconds longer when your team dies and you get focused on:

Okay Vechs, you’ve convinced me to be a waddling, cute, little Fatlas… now what?

To help out your team, try doing any of the following:

• Stay behind your teammates. This is LRM Boating 101. You are support. You’re not Rambo, you’re not a hero, you’re just a walking waddling artillery turret. Your only purpose in life is to vomit LRMs en-masse onto the enemy mechs.

• Protect your Left Torso (Or other LRM location). The only reason you exist is to carry your LRM racks and LRM ammo onto the battlefield. WIthout them, you’re useless. You’re a big, useless fatty. That’s what you are. If a scout gets to you, twist your torso to let him munch on your arms first. Get your team to help get rid of them. Even with reduced armor, you’re still fairly tanky.

• Having the LRM ammo in your arms eliminates the need for CASE. If you lose one arm, oh well, you still have more ammo in the other. If you’ve lost both arms, the fight should have gone on long enough for you to use up most of your LRMs and cause your fair share of damage. Good job, you can die now.

• If you use up all your LRM ammo (Good job, by the way.) Then waddle out to the front lines and put your modest armor to use. Four medium lasers and reasonable heat sinks mean you can blast out 20 points of damage with good frequency. Especially if it’s late in the match and the enemies are injured.

Original forum post: http://mwomercs.com/forums/topic/66906-guide-why-you-should-love-fatlas-a-c-bill-grinding-guide-for-the-atlas/

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