how to urban mech?

[Ciaran Zagami]

anyone have any suggestions for the best way to play urbanmech? or just wana ♥♥♥♥ talk the trashcan mech? :P

[fat4eyes]

Full xl engine, lpl+machine guns, stay near a scarier friendly, cross your fingers and hope that you don't get shot.

[wolf74]

There are Two Big School on the UrbanMech.

1st School the Slow and Steady
This Group of UrbanMech Pilots uses the UrbanMech Std 60 Engine, They also Like to travel in small Packs. Because Nothing says I love you than 2 Ac20 rounds from a Pair of UrbanMechs.

2nd School of Speed
This School of Pilots Put the Biggest Engine they can and M-Pulse or M-Laser and sometime they add some M.G. and play it like everyother fast mech in the game.

The key is which way is more fun for you.

I am from the School of Slow and Steady. We have drop everything at one time or another. One of the more memorable runs. Me & Friend both in UM-R60L (the AC20 UrbanMechs) end up on a Conquest Aplpin Peak Map, So the Closest Point is Gamma (see Map link at the end) to us so we waddle over and cap it. As we are heading to to kapa and Clan Loki (aka Hellbringer) tries to sneak up behind us. My Friend had seismic sensor so we keeped walking forward until he came aound the corner where he fire his ER-PPC and eat 2 Ac20 riping off his right Torso. Once our AC20 reload we took his other torso. As we continued our walk to Kapa we come across a Griffin which eat some ac20 before running way, Krippling Friends Leg. In Game Chat we see in Red "♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥! the UrbanMech Lance is Real!" We did loss the Match but both of us Did get Kills from mech Much bigger than Us.


http://s110.photobucket.com/user/taumonkey/media/MWOClient_2013_12_05_14_18_09_922.png.html

[Dakota]

2 Large Pulse lasers works if you want good damage and a mid range poke for manageable heat. 3 ERLL works if you want a decent long range poke but the heat is pretty high.

Both of those builds would be running the Max XL engine, endo steel, double heatsinks, and maybe ferro fibrous if you have extra room and need more heatsinks.

Of course there is always also the AC10/LBX10 route with max engine where you run around as a gunslinging trashcan hoping not to be shot at. Of course that build is much less effective than either of the two laser options though. Still fun though.

[lockwoodx]

The greatest advantage the Urbanmech has is that so few are played, players don't know how to react when they see one. Some think they've discovered an easter egg and chase you around playfully. Others know exactly what you are, and properly ignore your pitiful firepower. D bags will bee-line straight for the free kill.

It's not a mech you play to be effective in.

It's not a good pilot's first choice.

It's cheap.

It will keep you alive (in theory).

It's the MRE of MWO.

[Shadow of the SPQR]

I'm part of the "school" of "piss em off" or perhaps "JusCuz".

Some mediums and an AC2 with max XL.

Result: Kinda fast skirmisher that, if you're in a middle-lower teir, will make assaults cower behind hills because they see things go boom on their mech.

Higher teir... Don't get caught and be sure to be drunk to convince yourself it's a good idea.

Either way, pew pew at long range, target practice and positioning so lights don't come and maul you. Basically every light mauls this build. Mist lynx could probably do it.

[Mason]

put all your armor twords the front since the thing has 360 view, skimp on leg and torso armor.

[Big Boinka]

My Urbanmech is an XL170, LB-10X with about 60 rounds, and a small laser or medium laser as backup, depending on how I tweak it. Hang back with and support the other mechs. Use them as cover. Urbie dance.

[wolf74]

Sol_Lunari do you mean a Ultra AC/5, due to I.S. Tech Limit currently in?

edit it been fixed now

[Big Boinka]

Originally posted by wolf74:

Sol_Lunari do you mean a Ultra AC/5, due to I.S. Tech Limit currently in?

Sorry, I'm tired. It was suppsed to be an LB-10X. I'll correct it. Thanks!

[Aino]

While I have only been piloting Urbanmechs as of very recently... I have picked up a few things on how one may try and pilot the Urbanmech to a certain degree of... Success? I guess?

Well, if having about three 500+ damage matches, a few kills from the back with lower total damage or even one 794 damage match can be called as success in the Urbie, then yes. And I only basic'd my Urbies a few minutes ago, even. Most games, however, will be very mediocre.

So, now on to the wall of text! I'll start with the mentality of piloting an Urbie, based on my rather limited experience, and then how I equipped them.

It depends on the variant on what options are available to you, but generally I've found it is more 'healthy' for your lifespan to run a faster build with enough jump jets. The main goal is to survive long enough to be able to do enough for it to pay off, while also exploiting the low-aggro mentality that others have of the Urbanmech.

So, I generally spend a lot of the initial bits of the game using jump jets to do cheeky poptarting with pulse lasers. The smallish profile and good jump capabilities make sure your exposure is very limited and easy to acheive, particularly if others try poking at the same time. Now whether I hide behind terrain, objects or even teammates depends on the situation.

As combat goes on, you can and should exploit any available options of repositioning while the enemies focus on the others. While you can stay in the front, my personal experience has taught me that I can often do more when I target the back of enemies that have commited to combat, and thus won't particularly notice the Urbie in the back, or worse... turn their backs to the bigger guns up front. This, unsurprisingly enough, is best possible in urban maps, where you can get height advantage and have more or less free reign to pea-shooter them from above with less risk, while they focus the big guys.

Now, what I have said thus far does seem cowardly. One must remember that ensuring the ability to keep the low-ish damage output to a more constant basis will add up in the end considerably. Remember, you're a light. Find a way to keep your fire going without getting shot back is how a Light functions. Fast or slow.

What you don't want to do in a slow or less-slow Urbanmech is to run around a corner alone and face an SRM boat or half of their team. Your relatively low durability, and sluggish movement will result in a quick death. So avoid blind corners where possible and stay away from the front if practical. While the 360 degree torso twisting helps spread damage, there is only so much of it you can take. Legs are also large, so keep them out of sight when possible.

As for the loadouts, I prefer laser heavier builds, to limit the exposure of the Urbanmech. MGs, while great against targets with stripped armour, require you to maintain constant facetime. That is VERY dangerous in an Urbanmech.

So, I generally run 2x LPLs in the UM-R60 and UM-R63 as the weapons, and 2-3 jump jets. Strip armour away from arms (or just the MG arm with R60), and generally just do cheeky pokes to ensure survival. And the less-slow XL180 option, obviously. Quite hot, though, as LPLs do not allow much cooling. Large Lasers allow better heat efficiency, but require poking more often to do the same deal. Potentially better in sustained second-line fighting, though.
UM-R60 Build: http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=276&l=70a6df68fbbea2c7bb59397b49f1982e4fd4cee3
UM-R63 Build: http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=275&l=4849ded1019de5295b9612e87362209bbe631e1f

The UM-R60L can hold 4 MPLs, and as such can have a quite sustainable sting up close. With this, you can pop two MGs and lose two heat sinks if you're feeling ballsy for sustained fighting, but the generally more practical build would be just putting the 4MPLs and maximize cooling. Better damage output, good cooling though shorter range make positioning a bit more important in this one.
UM-R60L Build: http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=277&l=e2c2532af55dd61428d836e91db7e67af50fe4f4

[Solahmi]

I've had many good games utilizing the low engine cap with a STD engine. Something like this:

R60L - (1x LPL, 3x ML, STD180, 11DHS)
http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=277&l=58ee9c9fb337e21a70d20f55f26a221cdad6aa97

Broke 1.1k in it, so I can't complain. http://i.imgur.com/RIClJoH.jpg

You can go max XL with a few more DHS and more armor, but I don't like as much personally. It's hilarious to see people shoot for my open torso on the dead-side and I'm still 100% combat effective

Alternately, 4x MPL works very well with a more aggressive team. Again, with either a STD180 or XL180
http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=277&l=379118ae94647734c594d366f5f9584dccd49df2

R63 can run (2x LPL, XL180) or (3x LL, XL180) pretty well. But I like to have fun with it and run (1x AC10, 3t ammo, XL170)

http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=275&l=a737def40778f77732faf9a3e8cb18ee7a45f8ee

Urbie is a pretty nice support mech for a light.

[lockwoodx]

Originally posted by Sol Lunari:

My Urbanmech is an XL170, LB-10X with about 60 rounds, and a small laser or medium laser as backup, depending on how I tweak it. Hang back with and support the other mechs. Use them as cover. Urbie dance.

That's about exactly how I roll mine. Ac10 for more kills but less ammo. LBx10 for more damage and assists.

[Rokkit]

If the Urbanmech has full 360 torso turn, what's the point of the torso twist skill? Does it have one at all?

[wolf74]

[Smart ass on]
Yes the UrbanMech the only Mech with 432deg of Torso Twist, Get your UrbanMech today
[/smart]

UrbanMech Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1lIhJHPIEA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fk882S9oqRI

[Fņŏŕď]

Put a 170 xl engine on it double heat sinks and 2 PPCs. Bathe in the tears.