With the recent patch, the skill tree and engine desync have finally made it into the game, and with them, general confusion and mayhem. In an effort to help everyone pick up the new systems quickly and efficiently (both time- and gameplay-wise), I thought we could start a discussion thread with relevant info.
Swapping engines now only changes the maximum speed of a mech. Traverse, torso rotation speed etc. are now being rolled into the base stats of a chassis/variant. Mechs will no longer have quirks for those attributes, simply changes to the base stats. This is how overperforming mechs tended to be balanced, now PGI have more variables to play with. Some mechs got hit extremely hard (RIP brawler Raven), while other mechs maneuver well.
In addition, acc/dec/traverse curves that were previously tied to the maximum speed a mech could possibly reach are now tied to the maximum speed of the current engine in the mech, meaning that using a larger engine still provides some theoretical benefit to the mobility of a mech.
Example from the Dragon Flame:
With a 180-rated engine, the maximum speed of this mech is 48.6 kph without tweak.
With a 360-rated engine, the max speed is 97.2 kph w/o tweak.
The actual curves stay exactly the same, but the scale (speed) changes. This means that, with a larger engine, the mech will be more mobile at, say, 40kph, compared with the smaller engine. In practice, I doubt any of this will actually make a difference, except for very fast mechs which will now have to slow down to turn properly.
There has been a massive quirk pass in anticipation of the skill tree and newtech™ coming in July. Mostly nerfs, notable examples include the Summoner losing its speed quirk as per the mobility changes and the HGN-IIC variants having unified armor/structure quirks.
We'll simply have to see what they do with these, since many underperforming mechs lost their much needed quirks.
Warning, huge pdfs:
IS: https://static.mwomercs.com/downloads/05-16-2017%20Inner%20Sphere%20Quirks.pdf
Clan: https://static.mwomercs.com/downloads/05-16-2017%20Clan%20Quirks.pdf
There is now no need to buy 3 variants of a chassis to unlock second tier skills, or fill out that second tier on 3 chassis to unlock the module slot.
There is now a mech-specific skill tree with a load of new skills and options. Note, under the old tree, each mech you owned shared the XP pool of that variant. THIS IS NO LONGER THE CASE. Each mech has its own, dedicated XP pool and tree.
Modules are gone, their effects rolled into the skill tree.
The skill tree contains 237 nodes, 91 of which can be active at once. Each node costs 800 XP and 45 000 CB to unlock, nothing to deselect after being unlocked, and 400XP or GXP to re-select. Before saving your selections, no XP or CB are used. Total cost for unlocking 91 nodes is 72 800 XP and 4 095 000 CB (189 600 XP and 10 665 000 CB for the entire tree, but this is completely unneccessary).
Unless you are a completely new player, you should have received a number of refunds, visible in the Refund Ledger that pops up as soon as you log in to the game (also accessible from the Skills tab in the mechlab):
The SP tracking window in the Skills tab. Note the "add SP" and "view ledger" buttons. Historic XP can be transferred here, or directly used for SP in the "add SP" window. There are counters for available, unused SP, active nodes (or "used" SP - which changes to the mastery icon when all 91 SP are used) and a counter for total unlocked nodes.
Clicking on the "view ledger" button brings up the Refund Ledger, detailing nicely why we suddenly have millions of CB and hundreds of thousands of GXP.
Clicking on the "add SP" button in the skill tree opens the window where you can, well, add SP to the mech.
HSP can be used to unlock nodes for free on that particular variant. GSP can be used to unlock nodes for free on any owned mech.
If you have any HSP at all, use those first. They are free and can only be used on that particular mech anyway. After that, it's a choice between HXP or GSP - if you have C-Bills to spare, use up XP and HXP first. GSP can go into brand new mechs. Note that HXP is available to any mechs of that variant you purchase (for example, a second or third Shadowcat Prime), so using XP first is preferable.
So, now you've loaded up your favourite mech and in one way or another, transferred over 91 SP. Let's unlock all the things, right? NO!Play the mech for at least one or two battles. Speccing all-in to the firepower tree (or, even worse, the JJ tree) and then finding out that the mech handles like an 18-wheeler with asthma will just mean you are losing GXP or even CB to respec. Go into battle, play the mech like you normally would, and note the drawbacks.
NOTE: Certain values differ between IS and Clan mechs, with Clan nodes giving less of a buff than IS nodes in those cases. Certain nodes also give different bonuses depending on the tonnage of the mech. Where applicable, the values will be listed as (IS / Clan), and a range from 20 to 100 tons.
Values are for a single node.
The largest of trees, this one can easily eat too much SP if one isn't paying attention. There are many generic nodes, mostly Range, with weapon-specific nodes sprinkled inbetween, roughly divided to Missiles left, Energy centre, Ballistics right.
Nodes in this tree:
You will inevitably pick up a bunch of these on the way to more "desirable" nodes.
Missile-only (2 nodes each):
The ammunition node is huge. on a missile mech this is definitely the one to aim for. Missile spread, on the other hand, is barely noticeable (5% maximum effect, compared to 33% of Artemis). Taking High Explosive, or any of the generic skills is a better choice.
Energy-only (4 nodes): Laser Duration: (3.75% / 2.5%) decrease in laser duration
Ballistic.only (2 nodes each):
Again, ammo capacity is a big one here. LBX spread is actually worth taking if you fill both nodes. Gauss charge is entirely up to personal preference.
Currently, the new skills still need to be playtested to see what works and what doesn't. Even this early, however, it is obvious that speccing into the Armor tree is extremely beneficial to Assault, Heavy and most Medium mechs. While light mech armor and structure nodes give the highest percentage bonuses, the effects are not that noticeable in practice, making a large investment into this tree a debatable choice for non-brawler light pilots.
Nodes in this tree
Even for lights or "support" mechs, some SP should be invested in Reinforced Casing nodes. You will inevitably be shot.
This one is entirely dependent on your opinion of what the mech should feel like. The skills give rather measly buffs though, so even a heavy investment may not be effective or noticeable. Fill in the first 4 nodes from the top to the right to get Kinetic Burst 1, Hard Brake 1, Torso Yaw 1 and Anchor Turn 1, then continue as you see fit.
Spoiler Alert: Currently not worth investing in.
Nodes in this tree (5 nodes each):
Specials:
This patch is, in many ways, a nerf. Many quirks were removed, and the skill tree itself does not provide bonuses equal to either the lost quirks, or the old skill tree. I can only presume this is in anticipation of the timeline jump, as well as a starting point for further balance tweaks. All mechs will run hotter now, many will feel extremely sluggish. I really hope that this will be addressed, since the changes take the fun out of playing a good chunk of mechs.
That being said, this is what we have now, and what we're working with. The tree has added a number of interesting support options, and especially the Misc tree will be used a lot in faction. I feel like many of the agility and especially JJ skills are simply not worth the massive XP and CB investment required to unlock even a small buff, but speccing into the Armor tree is definitely recommended.
Generic skills in the Firepower tree are a boost to mixed builds, yet at the same time, having a mixed build is still objectively inferior to boating - usually, boating large ballistics. Beware of anything that even looks like it could carry a 15-damage ballistic build or up (Kodiak, MAD IIC, Murdermets, Rifleman and Jagermech spring to mind).
Thank you mate, this helped a lot.
The new skill tree really confuses me and the task of reskilling 100+ mechs is scary.
Don't feel disheartened by the new skill tree. once you have played with it a little you will quickly know where you want to put your skill points & the most efficient routes to those points. Yes it is a big nerf to ALL(especially Clans) chassis, some more than others but this has increased the time to kill which is what PGI intended.
I personally have found it a very welcome addition as there is way more options on your mechs now & some mechs are back from obscurity such as the Dragon & Black Knight chassis.
If you need any help drop me a mail & I will be glad to share what I have learned so far.