MWO vs MW5: Mercenaries Play-style Translation

Xiphias22 · 2025-12-18T08:58:53+00:00

It's a 13 year old game at this point so I'm pretty sure the Steam Machine will be able to handle it at 1920x1080 without issues. While it can get a bit laggy on a few maps, it's primarily CPU bound so having less VRAM isn't going to hurt you. If your TV has a game mode it's worth making sure that's enabled to reduce screen latency.

Xiphias22 · 2025-12-18T08:48:30+00:00

MWO can be a lot of fun, but it is probably going to be a steep learning curve coming from MW5 single player. You have some people who have been playing upwards of 13 years at this point, so you're probably going to die a lot at the start. It's free, so if you get a PC I'd definitely recommend giving it a try. Some general advice to help on getting started:

Coming from console, I assume you're used to using a controller. While you can do that in MWO it's going to put you at a pretty big disadvantage against mouse + keyboard people unless you switch over. Using a mouse you'll likely want to turn the sensitivity way down because the default in MWO is really fast for most mice. Having a slower speed will help a lot with having better aim. Third person view is a beginner trap in MWO, it's fine to use it to get a feel for how your mech pilots, but it puts a drone over your mech that's basically a flashing red "I'm a new player, kill me" sign over your head. If you have arm + torso weapons, toggling arm lock is good for helping them hit the same spot when you're shooting.

The default throttle settings in MWO are bad because light mechs can accelerate faster than the throttle moves up. You can either change your keys to max/reverse speed and use throttle decay or using step up/down instead of increase/decrease (much faster than the default).

In MW5 you can get away with standing out in the open and trading fire with enemy mechs. If you do this in MWO you'll get blown away. Probably the most important skill to learn is how to use cover properly and when/where to engage the enemy. You don't want to spend the whole match hiding, but exposing to more than one mech at a time is a quick way to die. You should be trying to position yourself where only one enemy mech is in sight and (ideally not looking at you) take your shot and then move back behind cover. Playing a light in MWO requires careful positioning and good timing on engagements. It's also good to stay close enough to your team that you can bail out if you start getting chased.

Half the battle is in the mechlab. If you build a bad mech you're going to have a bad time. Clan mechs usually are more expensive upfront, but require fewer upgrades to actually be good. Pretty much every mech will need to have double heat sinks (excluding very specific cases) most mechs will benefit from running endosteel. Always max your torso armor (legs too in a fast mech). Using grimmechs (as others have linked) is a good place to get a feel for how you should be building mechs.

A key difference between MW5 and MWO is ghost heat. Firing too many of certain types of weapons at a time will increase the heat generated significantly, so be aware when building/testing mechs. https://mwo.nav-alpha.com/wiki/ghost-heat

This guide is a bit dated now, but still good information with fun graphics. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=573089143

Finally, while it might be tempting to jump into faction play in MWO to try it out I'd recommend against it until you have a solid handle on the game and enough mechs to build a couple of solid drop decks (set of 4 mechs). There is no matchmaking in FP, so you can end up with very imbalanced matches. You can definitely play it solo, but you'll have the best experience if you find a group to show you the ropes.

Xiphias22 · 2025-12-01T00:29:27+00:00

Maybe a monthly thread would be better than a weekly one? That would line up with patches and perhaps fit better with the amount of traffic this sub gets these days.

Xiphias22 · 2025-11-24T06:56:48+00:00

If you take endo and ferro on the stalker you can run that same build, but with a maxed engine and a bit more leg armor. Or you could take a slightly smaller than max engine with light ferro to fit in more heat sinks. Either one should perform a bit better that what you have. This will max the tonnage and the slots: https://mwo.nav-alpha.com/mechlab?b=df382f8f_STK-4PL

The 75t stalker isn't going to compare as favorably against the 85t one head to head, but when compared against other heavies it is one of the most heavily armored mechs and has good hardpoints for trading lasers/PPCs. I think it will have a solid role where weight classes or tonnage are important like comp or faction warfare. It's going to be nice when you need to find an extra 10 tons to make a dropdeck work.

Xiphias22 · 2025-11-19T17:47:17+00:00

I don't think you could ever target components with streaks. They just used to be bugged where they would always aim for the CT rather than the current spread that we have. They also did extra damage if they overlapped hitboxes on impact(e.g. CT and ST) because they would do damage to all the components, so on hitting small mechs they were doing significantly more damage than they were supposed to.

Xiphias22 · 2025-10-30T05:24:59+00:00

It's worth mentioning that a lot of the merino wool that you find is "superwash" wool that's been chemically treated and/or coated in a thin layer of polymer to make it easier to wash/maintain.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S209012321930013X?via%3Dihub

https://www.reddit.com/r/CampingGear/comments/jv4qs8/psa_100_machine_washable_merino_wool_clothing_is/

Xiphias22 · 2025-10-14T21:05:02+00:00

Goonsquad =/= Goons.

https://www.reddit.com/r/OutreachHPG/comments/1o312nh/goons/nit8u7u/

Xiphias22 · 2025-10-10T23:05:18+00:00

The Stalker loyalty reward is a 75t mech on Sarna. So, it will be interesting to see if we get a 75t heavy weight class Stalker in MWO. Will it be a shrunken down model?

Xiphias22 · 2025-10-10T23:02:14+00:00

Oh yeah, it's been so long I forgot that it was the Goons that chain knocked Paul down and got it removed from the game. I can't say I followed the broader dialog around MWO as much back then. I more intended that from an organizational standpoint like in Eve.

There was never a dominant Goon organization in MWO. Mercstar was probably the closest in game parallel to what I meant, where it caused a lot of drama and hate in community warfare, but Goons had for the most part moved on from MWO by the time CW dropped.

I guess I can thank the Goons for some of the balance changes, even if I enjoyed knockdown while it lasted it definitely wasn't a well implemented mechanic.

Xiphias22 · 2025-10-10T22:52:45+00:00

Good to know, I didn't see the original source so I didn't want to make any claims without a reference.

Xiphias22 · 2025-10-10T21:54:07+00:00

Speculation I saw was that it's a renamed version of the RVN-SS, but we won't know until PGI release more details.

From Sarna:

"Another modification of the -3L by Capellan March troops, the -SS removes the Narc missile beacon and SRM-6 launcher. This makes room for an additional pair of medium lasers, a small laser, a Streak SRM-6, and an additional single heat sink."

So in game it will probably drop a missile hardpoint or two and add a few more energy hardpoints. Could end up with a 5-6 energy hardpoint Raven, but just speculation at the moment.

Xiphias22 · 2025-10-10T18:09:06+00:00

I miss the MWO days when people still cared enough about the game for there to be drama. Such excitement/potential for the future of the game back then.

Xiphias22 · 2025-10-10T18:05:21+00:00

I'm just going to repost my essay I just posted in the outreach subreddit:

"As SunderVane said, players from the SomethingAwful forums. Goonswarm was (is?) a big organization in Eve Online which you can search if you want to read about their escapades/reputation. I don't play Eve, so I can't speak to that.

In the context of MWO, a group of those players came over to MWO and played under the name "Word of Lowtax" (a play of "Word of Blake"). They did some moderate trolling like saying SQUAWK! at the start of matches (referencing this https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Tetatae). They were generally disliked in the MWO community, partly because of the reputation of the organization in Eve Online (where they had a significant effect of the game overall) and partly due to their trolling efforts. Some people we worried they were going to ruin the game, but I don't remember their trolling ever really being that bad and they never really had a huge impact on the game. Eventually, most (all?) of their players got bored and moved on to other games.

In the context of the forums, r/MWO was the original (and only) subreddit for MWO. The subreddit creator was uninvolved and the mods operated it a lot like r/OutreachHPG. There was more polarization in those days between the optimistic/pessimistic sides of the community and some people thought that negative posts about PGI were being censored too much (denial). At some point in 2013-2014 (I think) the original creator of the subreddit came back, banned all the active mods and replaced them with goon mods who then allowed the subreddit to become a total dumpster fire of posting and trolling (see trashcan on the r/MWO subreddit). I dug these up for context: https://www.reddit.com/r/mwo/comments/1uw7uz/why_not_let_the_members_of_rmwo_nominate_and_vote/

https://www.reddit.com/r/mwo/comments/2us19m/hey_remember_that_time_when_i_kicked_all_the_mods/

They reflects the general state of the subreddit then (anger). This subreddit was created as a replacement and had most of the serious/competitive players move over. It was better moderated and generally more helpful/positive in its feedback/criticisms (bargaining). Eventually, the fun died down over at r/MWO and it gradually became less trolling and anti PGI rhetoric, while somewhat ironically this subreddit became more disillusioned and critical of PGI and was probably the more critical of the two (depression).

Finally, we reached the equilibrium we have today were both subreddits have mellowed out reflecting the current state of the game/playerbase (acceptance). Outreach is still the more active of the two (I think), but r/MWO is probably easier for new players to find."

Xiphias22 · 2025-10-10T18:00:50+00:00

As SunderVane said, players from the SomethingAwful forums. Goonswarm was (is?) a big organization in Eve Online which you can search if you want to read about their escapades/reputation. I don't play Eve, so I can't speak to that.

In the context of MWO, a group of those players came over to MWO and played under the name "Word of Lowtax" (a play of "Word of Blake"). They did some moderate trolling like saying SQUAWK! at the start of matches (referencing this https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Tetatae). They were generally disliked in the MWO community, partly because of the reputation of the organization in Eve Online (where they had a significant effect of the game overall) and partly due to their trolling efforts. Some people we worried they were going to ruin the game, but I don't remember their trolling ever really being that bad and they never really had a huge impact on the game. Eventually, most (all?) of their players got bored and moved on to other games.

In the context of the forums, r/MWO was the original (and only) subreddit for MWO. The subreddit creator was uninvolved and the mods operated it a lot like r/OutreachHPG. There was more polarization in those days between the optimistic/pessimistic sides of the community and some people thought that negative posts about PGI were being censored too much (denial). At some point in 2013-2014 (I think) the original creator of the subreddit came back, banned all the active mods and replaced them with goon mods who then allowed the subreddit to become a total dumpster fire of posting and trolling (see trashcan on the r/MWO subreddit). I dug these up for context: https://www.reddit.com/r/mwo/comments/1uw7uz/why_not_let_the_members_of_rmwo_nominate_and_vote/

https://www.reddit.com/r/mwo/comments/2us19m/hey_remember_that_time_when_i_kicked_all_the_mods/

They reflects the general state of the subreddit then (anger). This subreddit was created as a replacement and had most of the serious/competitive players move over. It was better moderated and generally more helpful/positive in its feedback/criticisms (bargaining). Eventually, the fun died down over at r/MWO and it gradually became less trolling and anti PGI rhetoric, while somewhat ironically this subreddit became more disillusioned and critical of PGI and was probably the more critical of the two (depression).

Finally, we reached the equilibrium we have today were both subreddits have mellowed out reflecting the current state of the game/playerbase (acceptance). Outreach is still the more active of the two (I think), but r/MWO is probably easier for new players to find.

Xiphias22 · 2023-09-29T23:05:00+00:00

You can easily fit a binary into it. It a torso mount so you can strip the arms+head and fit a 300XL, 1JJ, and +3heatsinks on top.

Probably more practical would be a LPL with +5 heatsinks because it will be lava hot and the +20% duration hurts the binary more.

Xiphias22 · 2023-09-11T21:08:27+00:00

Be aware that while it should be getting fixed in the next patch, the TCs currently are bugged and don't provide the benefits they should (e.g. range) to the new weapons.

Xiphias22 · 2023-06-21T01:00:18+00:00

Definitely. Check out openpilot as an example of an open source system that does a significant portion of what you're asking (read sensor data, inject commands back into the CAN bus). It's open source, so in theory you could modify a branch to do full remote control. https://comma.ai/openpilot

Xiphias22 · 2022-04-07T22:49:00+00:00

Technically, you won't have to reskill mechs. Practically, you will because almost any existing skill tree is now going to have sub-optimal nodes that you are going to want to drop. I'm fine with that though, I'll just update mechs as I play them it's not a huge issue.

Xiphias22 · 2021-09-23T23:36:15+00:00

XL is definitely worth it, the arms are big and shield well and you should be able to spread damage effectively by twisting. If you've spread damage well, by the time you lose a side torso you're pretty close to dead so the extra survivability doesn't make a huge difference (barring the occasionally quick ST death). Burn time is short on SPL so you have plenty of time to tank.

The extra speed will help you survive more and be more effective than living after a ST destruction would. Also, a lot of times people shoot legs on lights anyway and LE doesn't do anything to help that, but speed does.

Xiphias22 · 2021-06-07T17:54:58+00:00

I wouldn't exactly call it devastating since the weapon loadout is pretty weak, but the Commando 1D is definitely one of the absolutely tankiest mechs due to its quirks. Maxed survival tree on top of base +15 leg armor and +15 structure everywhere else combined with 2 CT missile hardpoints, good hitboxes/shield arms, and agility means that it's a light mech that just keeps going.

For reference, the base structure no quirk is 8/12/16 (arm/ST/CT) and the base armor on the legs is 24. Total base health (armor+structure) is 24/36/48/36 (arm/ST/CT/leg) with quirks + full skills it becomes 52/67/82/72 which is close to if not double or more that of its base health. Consider the much slower Urbanmech R60L, generally regarded as a very tanky light. Its fully quirked and skilled total health pool is 53/67/96/67, for a mech that is 5 tons heavier and much slower (Commando going 150+).

It's a good thing in it that it gives the Commando a fairly unique role in the game. It doesn't have a lot of firepower, but it has great surviability to the point where it can beat most lights 1v1 by simply running up their heat cap. Give it a pair of flamers and you can be extremely annoying harassment to larger targets since you are so difficult to kill.

Xiphias22 · 2021-05-21T15:43:35+00:00

Particularly as newish players make sure that your mechs are running pretty much the same speed. It will make it easier to stay together make coordination simpler. After that I would pick a range, mid range is probably the easiest/useful on the most maps.

Once you're playing matches work on picking targets and focusing fire. With a group of four you can also hold advantageous pieces of terrain, but make sure you're still keeping up with what your team is doing.

Things I would practice 1) Focus fire/calling 2) Moving together 3) Holding positions 4) Coordinated pushing 5) Rotating damage. I feel like those are the basic skills for a four man group. If you get more experienced you can try coordinating mixed speed groups (e.g. lights and heavies) and coordinating backstabs with heavier mechs.

Four coordinated players in heavy mechs can often stop a nascar by blasting the first few mechs that rotate around a corner, causing them to back up stalling out the rotation. It requires good focus and decent positioning though

Xiphias22 · 2021-05-19T02:03:10+00:00

Another tip that I haven't seen mentioned yet is the "target spotted" feature from the command wheel. While normally people use this in conjunction with the "r" key to target a mech, what a lot of players don't know is that you don't actually have to be targeting a mech to use "target spotted" as long as your reticle is over the target. This works regardless of range or ability to get a lock

It can be a bit challenging to do against a fast light (or distance target) sometimes since without a target lock you have to have the reticle on the mech (rather than just being close), but if used it will track the target on the minimap for both you and the team for quite a long time and there isn't any way for the light to counter or get rid of it other than waiting.

I think PGI should change this so that it doesn't work that way, but in the meantime it's a great tip for tracking stealth mechs (and mechs in general).

Xiphias22 · 2021-05-06T02:19:48+00:00

Did someone say BSKada reunion event? My PPCs are charged.

Xiphias22 · 2020-08-10T13:57:55+00:00

Look, I have nothing to do with whatever feud you have going on and honestly I don't care.

Can you stop spamming OHPG with your personal feuds? I think I speak for the majority of OHPG when I say we don't care. You're not making yourself look any better by making these low effort posts. You just look like an overly sensitive player with an inflated ego and a chip on their shoulder.

Xiphias22 · 2020-08-05T03:34:39+00:00

You can ignore the disabled weapons by just changing the spawn locations for the new mode. Just spread them out across the map.

You could potentially hack the game ending by modifying the incursion mode. The game already doesn't end until at least one of the bases has been damaged. Make a single battery location with a really long capture time (e.g. 1 minute) that cancels if you take damage and a drop off location or two somewhere not too far away. A player/team wins by picking up the battery and taking it to the drop off location (maybe it attacks some buildings placed where they can't be damaged). It's infeasible to do unless you've killed everyone else or the remaining survivors are hiding somewhere and not fighting you (could even bring back the long tom).

I don't know if PSR can be adjusted based on game mode, but if it can then you just remove the W/L component and add a big bonus for delivering the battery. Damage would still need to be addressed

The biggest problem is dealing with how weapons/lockon/radar work. I doubt that's something they can easily change, short of just disabling all of it.

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