By Kerenskys shiny bald head, I had not realised that you can mix and match omni pods! Thank you for that alone and I'll definitely try the s-laser disco :)
I loved using the Stock 50 Ton Black Hawk (Nova) in the Table Top game years ago, nothing like jumping behind an Atlas and using all 12 ER Lasers to the Rear Armor destroying your Target, and then shutting down for a turn.
Boy am I glad I stumbled upon this video, this helped me come up with a really good build which is just decimating all the enemy Mechs. I can't wait for you to make a build video for the Timber Wolf, because that Mech is an iconic part of my childhood. I'm going to recommend this video to my friends.
I haven't downloaded this game yet but I was a Battletech player of old and I still remember the feeling of "HOLY SH*T!" when it was revealed that the Clans were the heirs of Kerensky. Michael Stackpole's brilliant trilogy of novels fleshed out the mythos via its story of Phelan Kell's journey from merc to bondsman to Clan mechwarrior Phelan Ward. Players now know the mythos and probably know more of it than I ever will, but they'll never be able to equal the mixed joy and shock of learning what the Clans were way back then. It was a real *MOMENT* for Battletech players at the time. I expect I'll get this game soon enough. Smoke Jaguars are bastards, though.
I just swapped out two lasers on each arm for small lasers, and replaced one on each with a Medium Laser. So 6 Medium Lasers, 2 Medium Pulse, 4 Small Lasers. Less Firepower, higher dps with a constant fire rate. I'm also very new, it's just what made sense to me. All Medium Lasers on Primary Fire group, with Medium Pulse + Small Lasers on secondary Fire group.
Somehow, I came up with this exact loadout independently before coming here to find a better one, and it took a while to figure out. It really is a DPS monster. Really appreciate the work you put into these!
My entire team died, I lost my arm, my status is 46%. I'm on a shadow cat with one big laser spinning between two heavy mechs with pps. every blow to me could be the last. after a 10 minute battle I was left alone. I could literally smell the sweat and burnt wiring. I felt so alive. Perez said that he would soon go into battle again. My strength is not enough for such battles and something needs to be changed. With nova I was done with the entire mission in less than 5 minutes. no repairs after the battle, no attacks to the rear, just two volleys at a time. I almost feel sorry for my enemies.
I just wanted to pop by and say "Thank you!" for this supremely dirty and criminally unfair build, haha! I'm running a Star of five Novas, all with the same loadout, and it's just extremely unfair. For the enemy 🤣 There's nothing that we haven't been able to handle with 60 ER S Lasers 😁😁😁😁 It's filthy, absolutely filthy. I'll be checking out the DireWolf build for the end of the game and expert runs, haha! Thanks again!
The best part of these Nova builds is that it frees up space for the rest of the Star to mount up in heavier mechs. On the later missions, having your Star move forward to act as the main battle line mechs while you maneuver to backstab priority targets with massed laser fire is a fantastic way to clear missions with minimal difficulty. I do kind of miss the hilarity of becoming a second sun and exploding after two alpha strikes while piloting the Nova prime though.
I immediately thought of throwing in ersmalls when I got this mech. I love it, buffs help with the range, I have 14 of them, and I can even throw out 4 alpha strikes before I overheat this mech is my favorite so far
Loving the return to the selection of classic clan mechs looking forward to recreating a great many of my mechwarrior 3 configs. All the ones I loved tinkering with in mech3s mechlab , taking them into battle Vs other fellow mechwarriors. Good times, MSN Gaming Zone you are sorely missed.
The 12 er medium Nova prime is actually quite fun in its stock loadout for some missions. The trick is to use water to your advantage when available and just unload like crazy with no heat issues what so ever =).. If you are replaying the missions and want to use "stock loadouts" to hit one of the extra mission parameters then any of the standard omnipod versions will work for that though. Hehe.. @6.40 "That little ehhh...little thing" lol. On a serious note though AMS rocks in this game, probably because none of the enemies have figured out how to boat the "skill". 2-3 ams across your lance will keep almost all lrm's off you which is very helpful in the later missions.
I should have subscribed earlier. Really like your insight into builds and strategies. Great stuff. Looking forward to more MW5 Clans videos. Keep up the good work brother!
If you aim for the head of the mech, the cockpit, you'll kill them off much quicker. The cockpits usually have less armor than the rest of the mech. Not all mechs have this weakness but it's good to know and it's a tactic I used to use to get mechs in mostly good condition in mechwarrior 5 mercenaries.
MInor issues: 1) Most 'Mechs are moving, which makes this more difficult. 2) A LOT of 'Mechs have wonky hitboxes that register 'head' hits as 'CT' instead
@ThatPianoNoob it's difficult to get headshots with sniper weapons gauss and ppc for some odd reason, you'd think they'd be more precise. I mean if you ran this nova build with the 14 lasers or 12, can't remember, I've been using it before I came across this video and it just kills enemies within seconds when hitting the cockpit. I still got my medium aim assist so I aim just slightly above their head and most of the time, it kills just the pilot. Just wish mercenaries logic worked, would've had a roster of mechs ready to go if it did. Aim assist with lasers is extremely overpowered.
Thank you very much. Tough missions turn into a walk in the park. I prefer to use only one type of mech in my star and I hope that my entire team of nova Specialis with fully upgraded mechs can defeat the entire campaign.
7 ER Meds, plus double heat sinks and added armor. Also, 14 ER Smalls, AMS, armor and double heatsinks. I pilot the first one and let Ezra pilot the second variant. His energy range and cooldown compliments it well.
Running the stock prime, I'll chain fire all three weapons groups (including the melee so it doesn't try to swing both arms at the same time) and dive into the thick of any sized brawl I can find. Archer in the backline? Lazor spam! Dragon jumping out at you from behind the local bank? Lazor spam! Getting hot? Take a breath between Lazor spam! Whether you're spreading damage between multiple foes to get their attention, or drilling down waves of heavy and assault mechs, this mech out of the box is such a beast its ridiculous! :D
I started small lasers on launch because i noticed the stats were absolutely jacked for no reason. You basicslly get 5 damage for small and 7 damage for medium, but smalls are a half ton so you can easily take all mediums and reserve the rest of the space for heatsinks and armor. For the Nova i usually put all 6 heatsinks in my side torsos, 1.5 tons of ferro in each arm, and then as much as possible in the CT. Have had 2 of my ai running novas the entire campaign because no other mech can top its dps except maybe a direwolf running er s lasers. Guessing they are gonna get nerfed pretty hard at some point just so they arent so busted. At this point i replaced all my laser hardpoints on my mechs with small lasers just because they are so broken. Not to be a braggard but I'm pretty sure I started the ER S NOVA meta in this game because literally 2 hours into the launch, I joined a coop lobby and I started messing around with the small lasers and from that point, everyone's been dittoing and spreading the knowledge XD. Not sure if I started a laser plague but i'm all for it.
I use the pulse lasers a lot. They weigh a pound more but, fire faster and cooler... The trade seems to work out for me.... the Nova is where I started using them... lol just traded out the 12 for 6 ✌️
Switch all the lasers to the lightest model, drop the 6th altogether, add heat sinks and armor, it can go hard as possible in the desert without heating up (while being pummeled with lasers and flamers nonstop too). My first time fielding this build was mission: pirate king, and it owned. I'm considering playing with pilot affinities to max this further but I'm not ready to commit. I haven't experimented with torso weaponry yet, the goal is to drop some armor and a heatsink from above, add (low heat) pressure up close and fish for easier head popping and melee opportunities (it's not face tanking trades if they blow up within 3 seconds). I assume a flamer would push someone over the top with all that laser heat but IDK (it worked in mercs but that was mercs). I default to machine gun batteries for this purpose when possible but this mech can't support it, IIRC I can get a flamer and MG torso mounted for 1.5-2 tons though. If that's effective then it is a tankier viper without the mobility. Tertiary idea: downgrade some lasers to lightest, disregard armor and heatsinks, add targeting computers to get those lasers ready for sniping (and the heavier ones capable of 700ish meters cockpit popping?). The laser heat generation wouldn't be crazy and the firing schedule would be reduced as a stationary turret that drops things fast with pinpoint accuracy. Worthless when pressured without assault mech support, would also benefit from a paired missile buddy (missile and laser adder seems appropriate).
I remember that one mission where you have to fight two (maybe three) of these mechs' and scared the beejesus out of me whenever they turned towards me. Thankfully their armor is nothing like in this video, so removing their arms is a godsend.
With the changes to shutting down I have just been running 12 lasers and had no problem, just a drive by machine. From my experience all you need to do is alpha strike, overheat, and run away. For almost any mech 12 ML to core, two bursts before you overheat, and its over. If you do overheat just run away, since you can. I'm up to 350 TON missions and still run this 12 ML every single missions, its broken.
even better is one hand has ERSLx6, the other ERMLx6. add a couple DHS and armor. give it to Mia or Naomi with the increased heat reduction. try it. you still have some medium range punch while also having better dps and sustainability.
Yeah ; it seems Mechwarrior 5 Clans is similar to Mechwarrior 5 Mercenaries; the DPS on weapons is a stat you shouldn't or can't ignore ! Even though higher Damage weapons are Great for shooting turrets or Tanks at long range ; there is no denying the fact heat build up and dissipation greatly slows your ability to keep hitting targets .Even before I watched this video; I started with 2 ER Large and I think 4 To 5 ER mediums ; realising ; not enough tonnage left for decent armour and overheating issues. Then I switched to 11 ER smalls, thinking I will give it a try! Went into a mission and couldn't believe the devastation I was causing . I practiced long ago in Mechwarrior 5 Mercenaries to hit the Cockpits as much as possible on the enemy. However ,when I came across a 100 ton mech in the Nova Mech I was in , with Mechwarrior 5 Clans with my ER small lasers ; I was sceptical as to whether I was going to survive , let alone kick its butt. One salvo of laser fire to its head and it was over . I am glad it's still possible in Clans. I am now working towards a Heavy Mech build with similar laser setup as I don't know if I can continue my good fortune in the Nova in the final missions. Time will tell.
Of course the biggest trade off you're making for the DPS build is range, coming in at like half the range of the ER mediums. In my experience the missions usually promote some very long range combat.
Do you have time to talk about our lord and savior the ER small laser? Seriously, the first thing I did when I unlocked the Nova was drop the ER mediums to smalls, added extra armor pods and some heat sinks. It is a knife fighter for sure but with its speed it can quickly turn an open field into a dark back alley for basically whatever mech it wants to remove the spleen from. xD
The CERSL is VERY good in this game, almost impossible to build heat with it. With all the upgrades/skills it has 450m range on Jayden too. Without armoring up the Nova's arms though they fall off if someone even sneezes at them.
OK, so now that I've gotten a bit farther into the campaign, I can say I'm OK with how they designed the mech lab. I get it. The first thing I suggest people do after the first mission is unlock missile boat omnipods for every mech lol. I was able to unlock 4 out of the 5 after what I believe was the first mission. Then I unlocked the last one I wanted after the second mission. It was the ppc one. There's only one that comes with it I believe. I was having trouble with the second mission, kept losing a mech, so I loaded the autos Ave after the first mission and went into the mech bay and started configuring for missile boats. Missile boats are hyped for a reason. Every starter mech has a missile boat omnipod except 1 I believe, but thats OK because that one has a ppc omnipod. After switching omnipods and going with what I knew, I got through the mission without losing a mech or even a component on expert. Im also focusing on learning the controls and being more tactical and precise in my movements and strategy. God I love Mechwarrior lol.
This is pretty similar to the laser vomit viper I used at the beginning, it is only running 9 er smalls and that was already more than enough to massacre anything under a heavy.
I can run an entire star of timbys but still use four novas in my star because they melt everything on expert mode. For my mech I tend toward the most durable one I can run at the level and tonnage because the AI will focus the player the most of the time.
This 12 ER small laser makes for a punchy nova. Just built a mad dog that is fun to use. Only problem is lack of srm ammo which should be buffed with the update next week. Mad dog prime with -A torsos 2 L Pulse 2 ER small 6 srm4 4 tons srm ammo 2 double hs 3 tons extra armour
I would think that going with Pulse would ramp up the DPS while increasing accuracy. Now, admittedly, I'm using tabletops as a reference point, but the only advantage the ER Small Laser has over a stock Medium Laser is tonnage. So if the available ranges for a battle facilitate using Smalls, go for it.
er smalls also recharge faster than er medium lasers in the video games, giving them a higher dps for half the weight. pulse lasers in the games dont increase accuracy any because the lasers just shoot where youre looking, but i think they get an even higher dps at cost of range. id have to double check
I run 14 er smalls, ams with 1 ton ammo, targeting comp, rest of weight double HS. I used the same composition in the board game. Though I put all the lasers in the torso in the board game couldn't do that in the game.
Early game path that is super easy. 5 vipers, 5 small pulse 4 machine guns. They can rip apart any mech in like 10 second. Switch to 5 novas as fast as possible. Mass er medium lasers rips apart everything short of an awesome. From there whatever heavies and assaults you want to use.
i have mine full S pulse lasers, character is full energy range and tech is lvl 2 range and CD in pulses, so real max range is like 600m almost to no heat and very fast reload, i have all laser on cycle firing so the light show is incredible xD
I ran this build wayyy back in 31st Century Combat. Couldn't wait to unlock the Nova for this very reason. My custom build has 700 armor, 12 er smalls.
I actually didnt even use one. Keept my star of 5x shadowcats until i replaced it with some hbr anf mdd. I tend to use the Hbr with 2xppc and 3x erML and more armor. The others got erLL stormcrow, erLL + Lrm15 Mdd, 6x srm6+4xerML Mdd, Lbx10 Shadowcat (will replace it now with summoner).
I'm not much of an expert on mechwarrior lore. I mostly remember the TV show in the 90s with the terrible CGI. But I never got why the clan mechs were supposed to be so much more powerful. Until i got the nova. A medium mech that has as many lasers as a Mauruader 2? I can see how that would make the great houses mess their pants.
tldr: Clan Slasers are better than Clan Mlasers if you have a lot of hard points, especially if you don't have a lot of tonnage. If you're lacking in hard points, or you have a lot of tonnage, go bigger - but only if you can cool it.
I think there might be more than a hundred build videos if you guys keep watching them :) My Mechwarrior Online build series is way past 1000 episodes.
I learned how to chain fire pretty late into the game after I stopped using the Nova but now I’m replaying some of the missions and now I’m curious about setting the Nova’s lasers to chain fire sure you lose the burst damage but but heat becomes more manageable and you get better sustained damage.
You don't get better sustained damage. What you mean is you could sustain trickle fire of single ER Medium hits which helps with taking down multiple softer targets. That does not mean you get better sustained damage on actual mechs though. It means that you will be fighting for longer times, taking extra fire in the process. There is no benefit in enemy mechs being alive for a longer time, only drawbacks.
@@TTBprime is there some extra ghost heat and such things in this game? does it make a difference if you shoot them in one group, 2 groups, 3 groups? (like, provided that all of them will be shooting as soon as their individual cooldowns finish)
The best approach is generally to use all identical weapons and fire them together. This gives you the highest chance to instantly destroy mech parts, reducing their damage output or killing them outright. Chain-firing or using weapons with different projectile speeds or cooldown times vastly increases the chance that you'll smear damage all over instead. Medium Pulse Lasers are the best for this. Better heat efficiency than ERSL or ERMLs, bursting all their damage in less time than ER lasers, and reaching out to ~900m fully upgraded.
100 alpha is overkill, drop some lasers off and get armor on the arms and CT, bots like to target those parts allot, research IR laser upgrades and maybe add a small targeting computer to gain extra damage in close combat, you can put 3 ams on the mech but 2 is just enough to surive half of the missile carriers in the game,
The x12 small laser is so broken; I am finishing the game with this build alone while my bots have the assault and heavy Mechs, I am also maxed out on all laser buffs. Thanks.
2 large pulse, 2 pulse meds, 2 srm 4, 4 srm 6, 4 tons of ammo. 35 dps, 136 fp.. 89 speed with chas upgrade. You can also drop the srm 4 for hs or ammo. It will over heat after the second shot.. but 2 is normally all you need to take down assault mechs upclose and aimed for legs or shoulders.
@@TheStrandedSavant i was using ER PPC lasers on mine and basically two shotting everything. It blows through armor like its made of paper. I use it to finish off large targets or clean up smaller ones. I removed everything else and then loaded it with heat sinks.
Replay each mission while beating certain challenges, e.g. being under tonnage or not losing components. Finish the research tree and skill out your pilots. And start another fresh playthrough but this time choose the other path :) This game was fun enough for me not to have any doubts I'll replay it a couple of times.
When you command a single member of your star one of the options is to swap mechs. So command wheel, choose individual star member, choose the swap mech option (the symbol has two circular arrows around it).
what is the a reason the 12 SL build has 345m optimal range, and the 14 SL build has 405? im slightly confused tbh (Edit: nvm i figured it out *facepalm* - Pilot skills, and since it is different pilots in different mechs, ofc there is differences lol)
ok am i dumb or blind because i can't find the firing range anywhere, how do i get to it? Never mind i was just blind i fond it 3 secs after posting this >.
It probably is for some. I play MW2, but mostly Battletech games. I bounced off MW5 because of the random generation stuff, but I'm having fun in clans.
If I equip any ai with all short range weapons they will run ahead of the group straight into a mob and die instantly. The time and cost of repairs are rough. Fun build. but expensive and yer mech will die alot
Nova under normal conditions: If you Alpha Strike - you shut down. Nova with research updates, upgrades and a Pilot focused on Heat Efficiency: You can Alpha Strike TWICE and take out an Inner Sphere Assault Mech without even shutting down. Clan mechs at the start of the campaign: About as balanced as in MWO, great but nothing living up to the meme about them of the era from the invasion. Clan mechs after all research and pilot upgrades: One Medium Mech can solo a mission and finish with 50% armour still intact. Also, you're right about the "knife fighting isn't really in this game", it has melee only because the engine it is built on comes with it by default, so may as well include it and the Inner Sphere mechs you do fight are into doing melee. Melee isn't really a thing the clans do, they'd rather sit at max range and spam lasers and PPCs at legs and if they can't see you, they will bombard you with LRMs. If you're in close range, the Clan mechs will back off and the Elementals will take over. The only clans that bother fighting in close range are Ghost Bear and Jade Falcon because their Mechwarriors are nuts.
By Kerenskys shiny bald head, I had not realised that you can mix and match omni pods! Thank you for that alone and I'll definitely try the s-laser disco :)
Having a firing range to test is so nice
yeah where do you get that?
@@sheilaolfieway1885The sim pod in the barracks.
@@sheilaolfieway1885 Sim pod in the barracks -> training missions -> shooting range
@@ShrimpOfDeath Holy dang thank you! I've been in the sim pod a bunch but never noticed before. There's so much this game fails to tell you...
Too bad you cant test weapon/build variations without paying for them first.
I loved using the Stock 50 Ton Black Hawk (Nova) in the Table Top game years ago, nothing like jumping behind an Atlas and using all 12 ER Lasers to the Rear Armor destroying your Target, and then shutting down for a turn.
Boy am I glad I stumbled upon this video, this helped me come up with a really good build which is just decimating all the enemy Mechs. I can't wait for you to make a build video for the Timber Wolf, because that Mech is an iconic part of my childhood. I'm going to recommend this video to my friends.
Glad I could help!
I haven't downloaded this game yet but I was a Battletech player of old and I still remember the feeling of "HOLY SH*T!" when it was revealed that the Clans were the heirs of Kerensky. Michael Stackpole's brilliant trilogy of novels fleshed out the mythos via its story of Phelan Kell's journey from merc to bondsman to Clan mechwarrior Phelan Ward. Players now know the mythos and probably know more of it than I ever will, but they'll never be able to equal the mixed joy and shock of learning what the Clans were way back then. It was a real *MOMENT* for Battletech players at the time.
I expect I'll get this game soon enough. Smoke Jaguars are bastards, though.
Battletech was great back then.
I starting reading the books and playing in the mid 90s.
I just swapped out two lasers on each arm for small lasers, and replaced one on each with a Medium Laser. So 6 Medium Lasers, 2 Medium Pulse, 4 Small Lasers. Less Firepower, higher dps with a constant fire rate. I'm also very new, it's just what made sense to me. All Medium Lasers on Primary Fire group, with Medium Pulse + Small Lasers on secondary Fire group.
Somehow, I came up with this exact loadout independently before coming here to find a better one, and it took a while to figure out. It really is a DPS monster. Really appreciate the work you put into these!
I just cheesed through 10 missions on expert with an all Nova star. ER lasers are great for picking components apart. Even going against beefier mechs
My entire team died, I lost my arm, my status is 46%. I'm on a shadow cat with one big laser spinning between two heavy mechs with pps. every blow to me could be the last. after a 10 minute battle I was left alone. I could literally smell the sweat and burnt wiring. I felt so alive. Perez said that he would soon go into battle again. My strength is not enough for such battles and something needs to be changed. With nova I was done with the entire mission in less than 5 minutes. no repairs after the battle, no attacks to the rear, just two volleys at a time. I almost feel sorry for my enemies.
Thank you, sir! Appreciate your videos and build ideas. Gonna try this one in-game with friends, in our co-op campaign! ✌
Hope you enjoy it!
@@TTBprime What's not to love? I got my Official TTB German Engineered Nova! haha
Amazing build. I've been sleeping on ER small lasers, and you opened my eyes.
Great tips for someone who isn't up on clan mechs, having a simple out of the box build that's so powerful, is great, and it's easy to do.
Nova was my jam in Mechwarrior 2. Love this
I love the Battle Zone style in-game movement commands you can give other mechs. Great video for laser fans!
I just wanted to pop by and say "Thank you!" for this supremely dirty and criminally unfair build, haha! I'm running a Star of five Novas, all with the same loadout, and it's just extremely unfair.
For the enemy 🤣
There's nothing that we haven't been able to handle with 60 ER S Lasers 😁😁😁😁 It's filthy, absolutely filthy. I'll be checking out the DireWolf build for the end of the game and expert runs, haha! Thanks again!
I'm so glad my favorite mech from MW2 is back and doin great.
Same! Just love that little bugger
Love it - I look forward to more. Thanks!
The best part of these Nova builds is that it frees up space for the rest of the Star to mount up in heavier mechs. On the later missions, having your Star move forward to act as the main battle line mechs while you maneuver to backstab priority targets with massed laser fire is a fantastic way to clear missions with minimal difficulty.
I do kind of miss the hilarity of becoming a second sun and exploding after two alpha strikes while piloting the Nova prime though.
We can always hope for the Supernova.
I immediately thought of throwing in ersmalls when I got this mech. I love it, buffs help with the range, I have 14 of them, and I can even throw out 4 alpha strikes before I overheat
this mech is my favorite so far
Loving the return to the selection of classic clan mechs looking forward to recreating a great many of my mechwarrior 3 configs. All the ones I loved tinkering with in mech3s mechlab , taking them into battle Vs other fellow mechwarriors. Good times, MSN Gaming Zone you are sorely missed.
Love it, definitely something i'll use to speed up achievement farming in the combat sim. thanks TTB
i have been playing novas and linebackers with 10 er medium lazers since mechwarrior 2, couple with all fire and you are unstoppable.
The 12 er medium Nova prime is actually quite fun in its stock loadout for some missions. The trick is to use water to your advantage when available and just unload like crazy with no heat issues what so ever =).. If you are replaying the missions and want to use "stock loadouts" to hit one of the extra mission parameters then any of the standard omnipod versions will work for that though. Hehe.. @6.40 "That little ehhh...little thing" lol. On a serious note though AMS rocks in this game, probably because none of the enemies have figured out how to boat the "skill". 2-3 ams across your lance will keep almost all lrm's off you which is very helpful in the later missions.
I should have subscribed earlier. Really like your insight into builds and strategies. Great stuff. Looking forward to more MW5 Clans videos. Keep up the good work brother!
Welcome aboard!
If you aim for the head of the mech, the cockpit, you'll kill them off much quicker. The cockpits usually have less armor than the rest of the mech. Not all mechs have this weakness but it's good to know and it's a tactic I used to use to get mechs in mostly good condition in mechwarrior 5 mercenaries.
MInor issues: 1) Most 'Mechs are moving, which makes this more difficult. 2) A LOT of 'Mechs have wonky hitboxes that register 'head' hits as 'CT' instead
Kill the meat. Save the metal.
@@ThePyrusKnight yea I've used a double Gauss loadout just dishing out headshots but nope.. mostly counted as CT which was incredibly disappointing.
@ThatPianoNoob it's difficult to get headshots with sniper weapons gauss and ppc for some odd reason, you'd think they'd be more precise. I mean if you ran this nova build with the 14 lasers or 12, can't remember, I've been using it before I came across this video and it just kills enemies within seconds when hitting the cockpit. I still got my medium aim assist so I aim just slightly above their head and most of the time, it kills just the pilot. Just wish mercenaries logic worked, would've had a roster of mechs ready to go if it did. Aim assist with lasers is extremely overpowered.
Thank you very much. Tough missions turn into a walk in the park. I prefer to use only one type of mech in my star and I hope that my entire team of nova Specialis with fully upgraded mechs can defeat the entire campaign.
7 ER Meds, plus double heat sinks and added armor. Also, 14 ER Smalls, AMS, armor and double heatsinks. I pilot the first one and let Ezra pilot the second variant. His energy range and cooldown compliments it well.
Running the stock prime, I'll chain fire all three weapons groups (including the melee so it doesn't try to swing both arms at the same time) and dive into the thick of any sized brawl I can find. Archer in the backline? Lazor spam! Dragon jumping out at you from behind the local bank? Lazor spam! Getting hot? Take a breath between Lazor spam! Whether you're spreading damage between multiple foes to get their attention, or drilling down waves of heavy and assault mechs, this mech out of the box is such a beast its ridiculous! :D
I started small lasers on launch because i noticed the stats were absolutely jacked for no reason. You basicslly get 5 damage for small and 7 damage for medium, but smalls are a half ton so you can easily take all mediums and reserve the rest of the space for heatsinks and armor. For the Nova i usually put all 6 heatsinks in my side torsos, 1.5 tons of ferro in each arm, and then as much as possible in the CT. Have had 2 of my ai running novas the entire campaign because no other mech can top its dps except maybe a direwolf running er s lasers. Guessing they are gonna get nerfed pretty hard at some point just so they arent so busted. At this point i replaced all my laser hardpoints on my mechs with small lasers just because they are so broken. Not to be a braggard but I'm pretty sure I started the ER S NOVA meta in this game because literally 2 hours into the launch, I joined a coop lobby and I started messing around with the small lasers and from that point, everyone's been dittoing and spreading the knowledge XD. Not sure if I started a laser plague but i'm all for it.
I love this build, close range monster.
I use the pulse lasers a lot. They weigh a pound more but, fire faster and cooler...
The trade seems to work out for me.... the Nova is where I started using them... lol just traded out the 12 for 6 ✌️
Switch all the lasers to the lightest model, drop the 6th altogether, add heat sinks and armor, it can go hard as possible in the desert without heating up (while being pummeled with lasers and flamers nonstop too). My first time fielding this build was mission: pirate king, and it owned. I'm considering playing with pilot affinities to max this further but I'm not ready to commit.
I haven't experimented with torso weaponry yet, the goal is to drop some armor and a heatsink from above, add (low heat) pressure up close and fish for easier head popping and melee opportunities (it's not face tanking trades if they blow up within 3 seconds). I assume a flamer would push someone over the top with all that laser heat but IDK (it worked in mercs but that was mercs). I default to machine gun batteries for this purpose when possible but this mech can't support it, IIRC I can get a flamer and MG torso mounted for 1.5-2 tons though. If that's effective then it is a tankier viper without the mobility.
Tertiary idea: downgrade some lasers to lightest, disregard armor and heatsinks, add targeting computers to get those lasers ready for sniping (and the heavier ones capable of 700ish meters cockpit popping?). The laser heat generation wouldn't be crazy and the firing schedule would be reduced as a stationary turret that drops things fast with pinpoint accuracy. Worthless when pressured without assault mech support, would also benefit from a paired missile buddy (missile and laser adder seems appropriate).
Nova is such a beast that every heavy mech other than the Timber Wolf is a downgrade.
I remember that one mission where you have to fight two (maybe three) of these mechs' and scared the beejesus out of me whenever they turned towards me.
Thankfully their armor is nothing like in this video, so removing their arms is a godsend.
With the changes to shutting down I have just been running 12 lasers and had no problem, just a drive by machine. From my experience all you need to do is alpha strike, overheat, and run away. For almost any mech 12 ML to core, two bursts before you overheat, and its over.
If you do overheat just run away, since you can. I'm up to 350 TON missions and still run this 12 ML every single missions, its broken.
The small laser build reduction in damage only affect an alpha strike. Chain them all on 1 and enjoy non stop carnage
even better is one hand has ERSLx6, the other ERMLx6. add a couple DHS and armor. give it to Mia or Naomi with the increased heat reduction. try it. you still have some medium range punch while also having better dps and sustainability.
Yeah ; it seems Mechwarrior 5 Clans is similar to Mechwarrior 5 Mercenaries; the DPS on weapons is a stat you shouldn't or can't ignore ! Even though higher Damage weapons are Great for shooting turrets or Tanks at long range ; there is no denying the fact heat build up and dissipation greatly slows your ability to keep hitting targets .Even before I watched this video; I started with 2 ER Large and I think 4 To 5 ER mediums ; realising ; not enough tonnage left for decent armour and overheating issues. Then I switched to 11 ER smalls, thinking I will give it a try! Went into a mission and couldn't believe the devastation I was causing . I practiced long ago in Mechwarrior 5 Mercenaries to hit the Cockpits as much as possible on the enemy. However ,when I came across a 100 ton mech in the Nova Mech I was in , with Mechwarrior 5 Clans with my ER small lasers ; I was sceptical as to whether I was going to survive , let alone kick its butt. One salvo of laser fire to its head and it was over . I am glad it's still possible in Clans. I am now working towards a Heavy Mech build with similar laser setup as I don't know if I can continue my good fortune in the Nova in the final missions. Time will tell.
Of course the biggest trade off you're making for the DPS build is range, coming in at like half the range of the ER mediums. In my experience the missions usually promote some very long range combat.
A lot of the harder levels have water sources you can stand in to get your heat cooled almost instantly
Do you have time to talk about our lord and savior the ER small laser?
Seriously, the first thing I did when I unlocked the Nova was drop the ER mediums to smalls, added extra armor pods and some heat sinks. It is a knife fighter for sure but with its speed it can quickly turn an open field into a dark back alley for basically whatever mech it wants to remove the spleen from. xD
The CERSL is VERY good in this game, almost impossible to build heat with it. With all the upgrades/skills it has 450m range on Jayden too. Without armoring up the Nova's arms though they fall off if someone even sneezes at them.
Looking forward to the pulse laser build
The 3rd Nova is exactly how I'm using mine, my entire star is using this variant and it's op as hell, everything just melts lol
OK, so now that I've gotten a bit farther into the campaign, I can say I'm OK with how they designed the mech lab. I get it. The first thing I suggest people do after the first mission is unlock missile boat omnipods for every mech lol. I was able to unlock 4 out of the 5 after what I believe was the first mission. Then I unlocked the last one I wanted after the second mission. It was the ppc one. There's only one that comes with it I believe. I was having trouble with the second mission, kept losing a mech, so I loaded the autos Ave after the first mission and went into the mech bay and started configuring for missile boats. Missile boats are hyped for a reason. Every starter mech has a missile boat omnipod except 1 I believe, but thats OK because that one has a ppc omnipod. After switching omnipods and going with what I knew, I got through the mission without losing a mech or even a component on expert. Im also focusing on learning the controls and being more tactical and precise in my movements and strategy. God I love Mechwarrior lol.
This is pretty similar to the laser vomit viper I used at the beginning, it is only running 9 er smalls and that was already more than enough to massacre anything under a heavy.
I can run an entire star of timbys but still use four novas in my star because they melt everything on expert mode.
For my mech I tend toward the most durable one I can run at the level and tonnage because the AI will focus the player the most of the time.
Dont agro i use the star for a shield and shop enemy cockpits or go leg shopping
This 12 ER small laser makes for a punchy nova. Just built a mad dog that is fun to use. Only problem is lack of srm ammo which should be buffed with the update next week. Mad dog prime with -A torsos
2 L Pulse
2 ER small
6 srm4
4 tons srm ammo
2 double hs
3 tons extra armour
Forget the extra lazers. Forget the ammo. Just throw heat sinks everywhere and armor when you run out of space for hear sinks.
I would think that going with Pulse would ramp up the DPS while increasing accuracy.
Now, admittedly, I'm using tabletops as a reference point, but the only advantage the ER Small Laser has over a stock Medium Laser is tonnage. So if the available ranges for a battle facilitate using Smalls, go for it.
er smalls also recharge faster than er medium lasers in the video games, giving them a higher dps for half the weight. pulse lasers in the games dont increase accuracy any because the lasers just shoot where youre looking, but i think they get an even higher dps at cost of range. id have to double check
I didn't know House Steiner had a youtube channel. I'm going to check this game out. It must be stompy.
WELCOME TO ZE PARTY
I run 14 er smalls, ams with 1 ton ammo, targeting comp, rest of weight double HS.
I used the same composition in the board game. Though I put all the lasers in the torso in the board game couldn't do that in the game.
Early game path that is super easy. 5 vipers, 5 small pulse 4 machine guns. They can rip apart any mech in like 10 second. Switch to 5 novas as fast as possible. Mass er medium lasers rips apart everything short of an awesome. From there whatever heavies and assaults you want to use.
I miss the Mechwarrior 3 and 4 models. How many people remember the Microsoft Gaming Zone? I ran with UKM, KAx and Ravens back in the day...
I foresaw this build as soon as I saw it's default had 12 Medium ER; without being able to buy it yet.
i have mine full S pulse lasers, character is full energy range and tech is lvl 2 range and CD in pulses, so real max range is like 600m almost to no heat and very fast reload, i have all laser on cycle firing so the light show is incredible xD
Used to love this build in MWO
You could just slaughter guys in any match that wasn't long range pop tarts.
Story mode is about to get a little more interesting!
That first build belongs to TenFingers, and you had best put some respect on his name. WTAU
The Power of ER Light Lasers pray that you are on the Fire Button Side. ^^
I ran this build wayyy back in 31st Century Combat. Couldn't wait to unlock the Nova for this very reason. My custom build has 700 armor, 12 er smalls.
Did anyone else notice that the 2 "basic" Nova Prime builds are completely different before he starts adding the small lasers? Am I tripping?
awesome
I actually didnt even use one. Keept my star of 5x shadowcats until i replaced it with some hbr anf mdd.
I tend to use the Hbr with 2xppc and 3x erML and more armor.
The others got
erLL stormcrow,
erLL + Lrm15 Mdd,
6x srm6+4xerML Mdd,
Lbx10 Shadowcat (will replace it now with summoner).
I'm not much of an expert on mechwarrior lore. I mostly remember the TV show in the 90s with the terrible CGI.
But I never got why the clan mechs were supposed to be so much more powerful. Until i got the nova. A medium mech that has as many lasers as a Mauruader 2? I can see how that would make the great houses mess their pants.
tldr: Clan Slasers are better than Clan Mlasers if you have a lot of hard points, especially if you don't have a lot of tonnage.
If you're lacking in hard points, or you have a lot of tonnage, go bigger - but only if you can cool it.
OP with lasers 😆
What about pulse weapons or will that be another video? Great tutorial!!
I think there might be more than a hundred build videos if you guys keep watching them :) My Mechwarrior Online build series is way past 1000 episodes.
@@TTBprime I haven't play MW Online, are the loadouts basically the same? Also, thank you for getting back to me so quick
Here I am 27hrs in and just found out you could switch pods per section of the mech
Better late than never :)
Why can't this mech use ferro fibrous armor? Is there a lore reason?
I learned how to chain fire pretty late into the game after I stopped using the Nova but now I’m replaying some of the missions and now I’m curious about setting the Nova’s lasers to chain fire sure you lose the burst damage but but heat becomes more manageable and you get better sustained damage.
You don't get better sustained damage. What you mean is you could sustain trickle fire of single ER Medium hits which helps with taking down multiple softer targets. That does not mean you get better sustained damage on actual mechs though. It means that you will be fighting for longer times, taking extra fire in the process. There is no benefit in enemy mechs being alive for a longer time, only drawbacks.
@@TTBprime is there some extra ghost heat and such things in this game? does it make a difference if you shoot them in one group, 2 groups, 3 groups? (like, provided that all of them will be shooting as soon as their individual cooldowns finish)
The best approach is generally to use all identical weapons and fire them together. This gives you the highest chance to instantly destroy mech parts, reducing their damage output or killing them outright. Chain-firing or using weapons with different projectile speeds or cooldown times vastly increases the chance that you'll smear damage all over instead. Medium Pulse Lasers are the best for this. Better heat efficiency than ERSL or ERMLs, bursting all their damage in less time than ER lasers, and reaching out to ~900m fully upgraded.
why not use Pulse lasers over Regular ones ? and if TTB could do small series of Gun guides ??
SPL weigh twice as much as ERSL and do less DPS while having less range. Not a good trade.
i'm using a nova with 2 L's and one arm just S Lasers.
No heat issues and great for headshots.
Do we know why with a max range of 600m listed in the Mech Bay the weapons list in the mech HUD shows a range of 345m ?
Optimal range
@@TTBprime Oh that explains a lot. Thanks!
100 alpha is overkill, drop some lasers off and get armor on the arms and CT, bots like to target those parts allot, research IR laser upgrades and maybe add a small targeting computer to gain extra damage in close combat, you can put 3 ams on the mech but 2 is just enough to surive half of the missile carriers in the game,
The x12 small laser is so broken; I am finishing the game with this build alone while my bots have the assault and heavy Mechs, I am also maxed out on all laser buffs. Thanks.
You can make something similar with the gargoyle.
Got any Mad Dog builds?
2 large pulse, 2 pulse meds, 2 srm 4, 4 srm 6, 4 tons of ammo. 35 dps, 136 fp.. 89 speed with chas upgrade.
You can also drop the srm 4 for hs or ammo. It will over heat after the second shot.. but 2 is normally all you need to take down assault mechs upclose and aimed for legs or shoulders.
Do one on the warhawk ..even with the dire wolf open i was using the war hawk in the last game missions
@@TheStrandedSavant i was using ER PPC lasers on mine and basically two shotting everything. It blows through armor like its made of paper. I use it to finish off large targets or clean up smaller ones. I removed everything else and then loaded it with heat sinks.
Hi there is there much to do in this game after completing the campaign?
Replay each mission while beating certain challenges, e.g. being under tonnage or not losing components. Finish the research tree and skill out your pilots. And start another fresh playthrough but this time choose the other path :) This game was fun enough for me not to have any doubts I'll replay it a couple of times.
How the heck do you swap mechs mid mission? I'm on PS5 and I don't see any button listed to do that. I can't find it in the command wheel either.
When you command a single member of your star one of the options is to swap mechs. So command wheel, choose individual star member, choose the swap mech option (the symbol has two circular arrows around it).
@@thecommuterzombie Thanks, I'll go check that tonight.
I'd use 2 ER L on shoulders instead for long range, 12 ER S is enough for short to mid range. 14 feels diminishing return...
I like 6 mp lasers better.
How do you switch mechs in the shooting range?
Z or Y on the keyboard.
@@TTBprime Thank you I am fairly a noob in mechwarrior universe. This is the first game I have played in the series.
what is the a reason the 12 SL build has 345m optimal range, and the 14 SL build has 405? im slightly confused tbh
(Edit: nvm i figured it out *facepalm* - Pilot skills, and since it is different pilots in different mechs, ofc there is differences lol)
Pilot skills, or range research :)
I think the second one is best, the third one you are sacrificing too much armour for only 2 more lasers.
I think I forgot you could mix the pod types. oops
wait how did you get a shooting range?
Simpod (TV) in the Barracks
LOL just sit in the water and you can fire without issues. You cool down super fast.
ok am i dumb or blind because i can't find the firing range anywhere, how do i get to it?
Never mind i was just blind i fond it 3 secs after posting this >.
Check out my newest build guide, I show it towards the end
@@TTBprime thanks TTB Love Your videos.
Geezus people are actually saying "nice mech, but runs hot" ya phookin' think?! Is this the first Mechwarrior game these people have ever played lol
It probably is for some. I play MW2, but mostly Battletech games. I bounced off MW5 because of the random generation stuff, but I'm having fun in clans.
stay awhile and listen... 🙂
Hello there Mr. Deckard Cain!
If I equip any ai with all short range weapons they will run ahead of the group straight into a mob and die instantly. The time and cost of repairs are rough. Fun build. but expensive and yer mech will die alot
Peh, there is a better build. Replace everything with flamers. Have fun!
i thought ferro armor pod was just better?
You get slightly more available tonnage, but you also lose 7 critical slots worth of space.
"It runs a bit hot with these 12 ERML" ...yeah, go stand in some water! XD problem solved.
Good thing you're always pulling one of those rubber paddling pools behind it. I should have thought of that!
Nova under normal conditions: If you Alpha Strike - you shut down.
Nova with research updates, upgrades and a Pilot focused on Heat Efficiency: You can Alpha Strike TWICE and take out an Inner Sphere Assault Mech without even shutting down.
Clan mechs at the start of the campaign: About as balanced as in MWO, great but nothing living up to the meme about them of the era from the invasion.
Clan mechs after all research and pilot upgrades: One Medium Mech can solo a mission and finish with 50% armour still intact.
Also, you're right about the "knife fighting isn't really in this game", it has melee only because the engine it is built on comes with it by default, so may as well include it and the Inner Sphere mechs you do fight are into doing melee. Melee isn't really a thing the clans do, they'd rather sit at max range and spam lasers and PPCs at legs and if they can't see you, they will bombard you with LRMs. If you're in close range, the Clan mechs will back off and the Elementals will take over. The only clans that bother fighting in close range are Ghost Bear and Jade Falcon because their Mechwarriors are nuts.
pretty much my build in mwo lol
See, I like this but 2 uac20s solid with max cool down? Mmmmm deletusechiswarrious
More like JAMMED 24/7 :)
@TTBprime hehehehehe funny ammunition sound go klunk
I just aim for the head and get a lot of instant kills.
too close batlle begun,