Cataphract 2X Brawler Build

I am a great fan of the Cataphract chassis. I bought a 4X, 2X, and 1X right when they came out. However, the CTF-3D and the Hero Mech variant “Ilya Muromets” are much more popular. While those are really fun and powerful variants, I wanted to beat something with my 2X and 1X. So this guide came to life. See how a Cataphract 2X can easily deal as much damage as the more popular variants. People will only underestimate you until you blasted the second Assault Mech in their team to bits.

This build features everything you need. The Cataphract 2X brawler build is like the whole family fun package. A Gauss Rifle for long range shots and in order to add critical pinpoint damage while brawling. It can also be used in the rare case of running on high heat. Three Medium Lasers will serve as your all-purpose weapons. Finally, double SRM6 will be your melee range blaster. The recent MWO patch buffed their damage even further. Note, that all screenshots where taken before this patch and the damage values were already insanely high. Especially when encountering Assault Mechs, the SRM6s will provide the critical damage needed to take them down quickly.

• Although your Cataphract 2X is equipped with a Gauss Rifle, the most damage can be dealt at close range. Try to engage in brawls early on for maximum output.
• This build is very heat efficient. Do not fear to fire all weapons at all times. In the rare case of running on high heat, continue firing your SRM6s and the Gauss Rifle only.
• The combination of a Cataphract chassis and an XL-engine make you very susceptible to frontal attacks. Try to hug buildings, ledges, and cliffs at all times.

Note, that the following screenshots where taken before the recent buff to SRM damage. You should be able to easily reach or even surpass those numbers.

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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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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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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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Get Connected!

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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There is still no light Mech on this blog so let´s change it. Here comes one of the best Raven 3L builds. This Mech runs up to 150kph, has decent armament, has ECM and TAG equipped, full Ferro Fibrous armor and is heat efficient. Not possible? Well you are about to be wrong. Check out this guide by Draxa. Be sure to drop by his profile and leave him a thumbs-up (link at the end of the guide).

 

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Get Connected!

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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Another guide that as been kindly provided by Vechs to get this blog rolling. Enjoy!

So as MWO rolls out into Open Beta, one thing a lot of people are going to want is to make C-Bills… lots of C-Bills, as efficiently as possible.

A few strategies laid out here will work with any mech, but this guide focuses on the first Hero mech for MWO, the Yen Lo Wang.

First, let me define what a Zombie mech is. A “zombie” mech is one that just keeps going, and is still a threat long after it has taken a beating, and lost the bulk of its components. To build a good zombie mech, you need Center Torso and/or Head hardpoints. Excluding the relatively rare legging deaths, CT and Head are what players have to destroy to kill an enemy mech. Basically, you have all your weapons in your CT or Head, and therefore can keep fighting after losing arms, legs, and side torsos. You dish out the damage right up until you are totally destroyed.

A truly good zombie mech is also going to have a favorable hitbox and target profile. So not only do enemies have to kill your CT or Head, but the hit-boxes of those locations make them harder to hit, and you might have some extra protection from your arms and side torsos.

When you’re driving a zombie mech, you have to get into the mentality that your core is your mech, and your side torsos and arms are nothing but expendable additional armor. It’s actually very fun to play this way, because you avoid the frustration of losing weapons like you would on another build.

Are you a free player? Don’t want to spend MC?
You can use this exact same strategy on several mechs — just look for those precious Center Torso and Head weapon hardpoints! The Centurion and Cicada both have variants with Center Torso energy hardpoints, and both can make good use of an over-sized engine. If you scoff at the idea of grinding, and just want to save up for a great Battlemech to play “seriously”, then take a look at this Hunchback 4SP Guide.

Okay, with that out of the way, let’s focus on the real topic — making great income with your Zombie Wang!

Mechwarrior Online allows you to launch into battle with a damaged mech — and this is where the C-Bill grinding really favors a Zombie Wang, because you can manually repair your center torso for a lot less than it would cost to fully repair your entire machine.

Additionally, MWO will give you free rudimentary repairs to your entire mech, so if you lose an arm and then launch without repairing, you’ll find the arm has been replaced, although it is badly damaged. This is great for zombies, because you are essentially getting free armor (your side torsos and arms) to protect your valuable CT.

If you try a Zombie mech build using ammunition, or AMS, you will also get 75% of your ammo refilled for free.(Thanks to Wizard Steve for that information!)

The Build:

Yen Lo Wang

2 Medium Pulse Lasers – Center Torso
1 Heat Sink – Head
4 Heat Sinks – Left and Right Legs
Engine – Your choice (I run a 260 280, allowing me to have great mobility)
AMS – Your choice, although I like it. Put the ammo in your head, and move the head sink to your torso.
Extra Heat Sinks – Left and Right Torsos, your choice. Heat is not a big issue for this mech.
Standard Everything – No fancy equipment. (DHS, FF, Endo, XL Engine, etc.)

Battle Performance:

You’re not going to be the star of the show (and if you are, then your teammates are baddies). But if you keep your crosshairs on target, and focus on moving and aiming, you will contribute to your team. Those dual medium pulse lasers are humble, but over time they eat away at any enemy.

Nobody on these forums can ever say a Zombie Wang is a detriment to the team. The entire point of this build is that you can be combat effective and do your fair share, while finding a way to cut down significantly on your repair costs!

The Zombie Wang and your Bank Account:

So even if you repair fully after every match, you’re going to make a profit. You put your Zombie Wang out there, and you’ll make money. But if you really want to min-max your grind, then just try to only repair the CT after every match. Use those free repairs for your other locations– remember, they only serve to act as expendable shield for your CT!

Repairing only the CT means really cheap operating costs. Look at the income from the screenshots above, and then factor in a 6,000 CB repair bill, and you can see why this is amazing for grinding out money:

If you fully repair, that extra ~25,000 is going to eat into your profits. After 4 matches, you’ve spent out 100,000 that you could have saved!

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Okay Vechs, you’ve convinced me to love the delicious Zombie Wang! So what exactly should I do during a match?

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

• Always use your “extra armor”. Remember, you don’t have to pay for your jury-rigged arms and side torsos. Use them up, use them as a shield for your precious CT. Turn your mech to make incoming fire hit your arms and side torsos first. This is critical to playing a zombie mech! Any weapons fire that you can absorb in a team fight is damage that isn’t going to your more vulnerable teammates. Tank for your team!

• Guard your base, or guard an LRM boat. Because of extra spare weight for your engine, you are much faster than normal. This means you can use your pulse lasers and over-sized engine to chase down scouts and shred them. If you are a good shot, try to destroy a leg– remember to always target the same leg! If you’re not comfortable with that, just aim center mass — any hit is better than no hit.

• Try to go for an early cap. You’re fast and well armored, and often times you can weave through a battle and get to the enemy base. Even if enemies come to contest you, just hold out as long as you can! Use terrain, your unusual speed, and again, your “extra armor”. Any enemy mechs that you can tie up are enemy mechs not shooting at your teammates! And if nobody contests, then congratulations on your easy win.

• Screen for your main force. You’re fast, and can easily act as a scout mech. While not the best scout, you are unusually tanky, and can potentially be more useful in a general brawl. Where other scouts have top speed, you have lasting power.

• You have good heat efficiency, so try to shoot any time you have the chance. Your goal should be to have that green stuff just spewing out of your Zombie Wang as much as possible! Cover your enemies in that green stuff! Rack up that damage, and make some extra money in the process!

Okay, that’s it for now. This is my first mech guide, so feedback is welcome! I hope it helps you, and if so, remember that little “Like” button in the bottom right.

Original forum post: http://mwomercs.com/forums/topic/65418-guide-why-you-should-love-zombie-wang-a-c-bill-grinding-guide-to-the-yen-lo-wang/

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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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