I'm going to cover the cost of purchasing a Mech, how it is maintained, what you can expect and how Experience Points work in MWO - which is tied directly to how you will do in battle and per force requires you to focus on a single weight class and chassis (more about that later).
Cost
The quickest way to buy your own Mech is to purchase
(Mech Credits) for actual dollars. They are on sale on the MWO site in packages ranging from just under $7 for 1,250 all the way up to $100 for 25,000 . Mechs can run from anywhere between about 700 all the way up to 5,500 . Most though average in a range between 2-3,000 . But you can get your own for about $7, and once you have paid that cost you will begin to accumulate XP, GXP and CBills. I know, that's a lot of currency to juggle. But I will 'splain them.
Currency
MC
Although I covered how to get MC and the fact you can buy a Mech with them, there are a few other things you can purchase with your
that bear mentioning. The first of which is more Hangers, should you need them, to house your collection. These go for 300 per. I believe you start off with four empty hangers, so 300 for a 5th, 600 for a 6th etc. You can also buy a Hero Mech, called the Yen-Lo-Wang. It is a Medium weight, Centurion chassis. It costs about 3,125
, but confers a 30% bonus to C-Bills earned in combat. There is also an "Add Time" button, in blue, on the bottom of the screen over toward the left, which doesn't really describe what it does very well. When I read that, I assumed it was for game time, like on a pre-purchased card. But no, that's not it at all. For a price in
, you can buy a 50% bonus to earned XP and a 50% bonus of earned C-Bills. 1 day is 250 , 30 days is 2,500 MC. 180 and 360 days are listed in the window but are currently grayed out for me. The C-Bill bonus is cumulative in the Yen-Lo, so you can grind a lot of C-Bills in a hurry with that combo. In the last match I earned 180,000 C-Bills. 100,000 base pay, plus my bonus for another 80,000.
CBills
This is what you "earn" as pay on the battlefield, and this is primarily the currency you will use to equip your Mech. All of the items you own are common to your Pilot. So you can buy an Auto Cannon and swap it between Mechs (assuming it will fit), you don't have to repurchase the same weapons for each individual Mech you own. These numbers get quite large. I just made my first big purchase: 4,700,000 C-Bills for a new engine. Amped my ground speed from 60 kph to over 90. It makes a difference.
C-Bill Description
Experience Points
Mech XP
XP, or Mech XP, is what you earn while fighting in a particular Mech and it is tied to that chassis. So, for example, I have three Medium Mechs, Centurion class. I have about 50 XP on one, 400 XP on another and 3,000 XP on the third. These XP are used to unlock pilot abilities, called Efficiencies, listed under the Pilot Lab>>Mech Tree in the game. These are initially a set of eight enhanced abilities you can purchase with the XP that work for that particular variant of the chassis.
WHAT?! So, again, using myself as an example. I own three Centurion class Mechs, three different variants of the same chassis. The CN9-AL, the CN9-D and the Yen-Lo. As I accrue XP on the Yen-Lo, I can spend those XP in the Basic Variants Efficiencies, and they would apply only when I am using the Yen-Lo. These cost anywhere from 750 XP to 3,500 XP. To get all eight, you must spend 14,250 XP ... and to unlock the Elite Tier, you must do this three times, for a total of 42,750 XP, just to unlock the Elite Tier. I am averaging just under 300 XP per match, so that was about 140 matches worth of XP.
I just finished doing this and got my first Elite efficiency. Yay me.
If I am reading it right, it would appear that one must repeat the Basic Efficiencies for each mech in your weight class to unlock the Master module slot. So that would be 42,750 XP multiplied by three (plus the cost of six more Mechs) - assuming you kept them all.
There are two more Tiers of Efficiencies. Four Elite and a single Master, which is a module slot.
GXP
These are General Experience Points and these can be used to acquire some of those pilot abilities on a limited basis, but appear to be primarily for unlocking special Modules you can equip to your Mech to enhance Visuals, Targeting, Support and Sensors. You accumulate these at a much slower rate. I haven't spent a single point of GXP, but I only have 2,600 so far.
Weight Class
So what does all of this mean? Well in short, to garner the XP and Efficiencies you will need to improve your performance, you have to commit to a weight class. Light, Medium, Heavy or Assault. Particularly if I am right about unlocking the Master slot, which would require you to unlock the Basic Efficiencies not only in three chassis variants of a single type of Mech, but also those same Basic Efficiencies for all three chassis types in that weight class.
Based on my experience in the game so far, this probably isn't that big a deal for those playing Light or Medium mechs. Once you get into Heavy, and finally Assault - this may become problematic for new players - where I understand the repair bills can become quite high. Anyone looking at either the Heavies or Assault classes should consider getting the Yen-Lo, and maybe the Time upgrade, to grind out C-Bills when needed.
For giggles I just bought my first Heavy and have been eyeballing the Assaults. The temptation of course is to jump right in to the big classes, but those come with liabilities. Not the least of which is the expense I just mentioned, both in acquisition and in repair and upkeep. That said, with the right team support, this should be manageable. I am perfectly happy to volunteer for Assault or Heavy duty if need be.
Our team composition is likely to include at minimum 2 of each weight class, although I have been in matches where it was 2 lights, 2 mediums and 4 heavies. I'll discuss composition and tactics in another post.
Under Construction
