First Mech Advice (after quirks)

A friend of mine will be starting his mwo career and asked me to help him out (haha, what a fool).
I know there used to be a detailed breakdown (by blagg?), stating the hunchback as the "best" mech for new pilots, due to its low cost (std engine), simple loadouts and good damage potential.
I guess this has not changed with the quirks, as the hunchback and its trademark builds got buffed a lot. For me personally, the low range of hunchbacks seems difficult for a new player, but I will let him decide on his own by playing the trial mechs.

As a heavy mech, I was about to suggest a thunderbolt. It has std engine, packs a punch and offers pretty straightforward loadouts and quirks, even has a variant with JJs.
Any thoughts/advises ?

 

Heavy advice
Thunderbolts are good for starters, gives a range of options. For more specialized desires there's ballistics for Jagers and Cataphracts or missiles for the Catapults. Those three are good for new players IMHO.

Orions is not my cup of tea but I have seen ppl play them well.

Quickdraws pretend to be heavy but feels more like a medium, same with the Dragons (5t difference between them and the top mediums) Summoners are fun but have a low weapons tonnage loadout, not recommending either of these three as a first heavy.

Timberwolves if he's made of IRL money or if he has no life to earn the required 15 mil per variant.

 

It's hard for a veteran to give advice regarding the best starting Mech. Everybody has it's personal fav.
When I started there weren't many options.... as a matter of fact there were only 4.

The Hunchback is still (or again) a solid Mech. But... the best way to find out which Mech(-class) your friend feels the most comfortable in, is to run the different trials. They are not the best regarding loadout, but he sure will see the difference in handling.
I highly recommend a swift moving brawler medium for a beginner. The Shadow Hawk and the Hunchback are pretty good beginner Mechs. As well as the Centurion with it's "zombiability". If your friend is more into SRM'S he might alsop want to try out the Kintaro.

 

One word of caution, the second pass of these quirks is bound to moderate the brutal 5SS. So we can't promise that it is going to stay as good as it is today.

Obsoleting Catapults? I disagree, TDR's only have 2x 10 tubes or in one case a 20 and a 10 tube. The Cats go way higher then that with C1 dual 15's, C4 quad 10's or A1 hexa 5's - all quirked up.

 

I was actually more aiming to moderate my own advice and emphasize your warning "for the moment" in agreement.

The Thunderwub is not going to last, enjoy it while it is there.

 

Running the trial mechs of course is the first step for a decision.

The Timberwolf is way too expensive, I don't think he will pay real money right away.

I don't "need" it but I guess nobody would be mad at you ... Perhaps this could lead into a sticky thread with a short list of pros and cons for typical beginner mechs, as this questions comes up quite regulary?

 

I'd echo TDR's as even if they tone down the MPL range bonus on the 5SS its still got a lot of very solid builds and they use STD engines so are relatively easily affordable. Endo and double heat sinks are needed though. Make sure if they're going for a trio at the start to include the jump capable version so they can experiment with JJ's.

Centurions and hunchbacks are also very solid choices atm and they can learn to pilot them using STD engines while deciding if to risk XL engines.

 

Enough for a single variant with the cadet bonus, and TBR being among the best chassis will make grinding much easier.

 

It depends on your friends dedication to the game?

If he is willing to invest, purchasing a hero mech to use in conjunction with his Cadet bonus will net him much more C-Bills to hit the ground running.

Also according to some parts of the internet you get a free day of premium time. If he could use the 24 hour premium time to play all his Cadet Bonus games he will have more than enough for a single Timber Wolf.

 

I would base your advice off his playstyle as well...if he's a "twitchy" player in shooters (ie, fast reactions, run'n'gun style), he may do better with a light as well; more methodical mindsets may want to aim for a TBR or assault. Shadowhawks are still solid choices post-quirk, and the DRG-1N is a beast (but requires some good learning to work).

 

I'm surprised to read advices for the Thunderbolt.
What builds are you using? I plan on getting a wubwub because I love the wub, but I struggle HARD to make the other variants work, I really don't have fun with them and am not effective in a fight.

 

I'd say wait at least for a first review if you want to advice IS mechs, many mechs might get nerfed. Anyway I'd go with clanners, more universal and hotter so at the same time he learns heat management too.

I'd start with a SCR, fast, and this is very important for a newbie, and can play all the roles and all the weapons, while learning map without JJs and ECM. I started with Jenners and the loss of JJs was dramatic when I picked my second mech.

Perfect starter imo.

Let's also not forget that timberwolves are primary target while crows can get away with being targeted 2nd or 3rd, also it's always better is a new player brings in 55 tons instead of 75

 

I thought of the SS as wubwub, second mech I'm not sure and third one the SE with 3xLPL + 2ML or 4xLPL and a XL as stepping-stone for the next mech that could potentially use a 280/300XL. But I have not thought that through

I'm actually pretty excited about his choice after he tested the trial mechs. My bet is not on a light, as far as I know him. He considered getting some premium time at the start to get things rolling (lots of money with cadet bonus). I might even play some first games for him today, so he has the achievement after he logs in again on the weekend.

 

No he has not played yet.... I might have written that wrong (perhaps a bit of german/english grammar mixup ) : I'm already excited for his choice and impression of the trial mechs.

Is the 3 day premium time award still running on the upcoming weekend? That was the one I planned to give him.

edit: Just saw it ends today

 

I'll check when I get home.

 

The 9SE is probably my favourite of the bunch, running with 4xLPlas and 1 JJ. The problem with this build is that it needs an XL engine, so you do lose some of the survivability of the chassis.

My 5S is kinda silly with 1xLRM20+1xLRM10+2xLLas+Tag. I just have it this way since its the only +30%Cbill mech I have that can be run effectively as a LRM boat which I like to keep in my stable if I want to switch things up a bit. I had also tried it out with a 4x LLas loadout, but it wasn't working for me.

 

Is it just me liking the CPLT-C1? It fields big LRM launchers, up to 4 MLs and has tiny side torsos,... I would guess that to be a very newbie friendly mech? (I actually still play my founder's regularly and it even sports one of my best W/L and K/D ratios)