Hey....
I'm not quite ready yet to get online as I don't have broadband yet. But a couple of quick questions....

1. If I buy the compilation (I have) how up to date is the software on the disk. Do I need to still DL all the patches and stuff mentioned in the newibie guide or am I sort of ready?

2. The only way to play this game is with a joystick. I'm trying to pound out some single player action with KB mouse combo but it's really frustrateing. So a. is it recomended that I get a stick and throttle control? Or am I good with just a stick with the slider? I'm a newborn father so I need to remain within a budget here.

3. What is absoulutely nes. to play the DL mechs yall have here in the DL section? Is it possible to play any of these mechs in single player or do you have to do it multiplayer?
I see in most of the screen shots of the hardware that it's a mp2.1 mechlab and not the regular old mechlab?

If I come up with any other questions you all will be hearing from me. well yall probably will anyways as I'm completely addicted to the Battlemech world and this is a good stomping ground for this stuff....

pre-1, you don't need broadband, some players stay with a lesser connection so they are harder to hit.

1. you will probably need to do the pr1 patch, then the pr1->mp2.1a patch to get your game ready. Maps are another issue, Mercs uses patched maps from MW4 Vengeance and Black Knight as well as custom maps. If you don't have broadband, all the downloads will take quite a long time to get going, the custom maps are usually self installing, but the veng. and bk maps take some special actions to get working.

2. Playstyle is a choice. I use the stock keyboard config only, while many others swear by joysticks. I have little to no adjustment issues to speak of (besides wearing out a keyboard), while the joystick may occasionally need to be recallibrated.

3. Refer to 1, to play the new mechs you have to upgrade to the newest patch. The newer mechs are more available for multiplayer, but can be played in instant action or "unlocked" for single player. To "unlock" the newer mechs for single player you have to buy all of the copies that the mech chassis is based off of, then you need to sell the chassis back to the vendor, then re-buy them. Then you will have the new mech instead of the old mech. For example if you buy all the vultures, sell them back, then buy some back they will be the ares mech.

sweet......I think as far as playstyle I will try them both...but it's something I'm gonna have to tweak.
The mouse is great for turning.....and then I set up the arrows for torso keys. I will try all the combo's out before I hit the servers...i'm expecting to also read alot of Trashguys post's seeing as how he seems to be going thru alot of the same stuff.

God I think this is going to make my wife more of a widow than mechcommander2 did last week.

expect me to be around alot.....

Some people use a mouse and stick at the same time. There are a lot of people who swear by the mouse configuration. I use a stick with slider, and several people use the stick/ throttle combo. It is more of a matter on personal play style than anything. As for the stuff you need, you should check out the noob guide in the lobby. It has links to the stuff you will need. Mektek expansion as well as maps. If you would like, you could also check out the NBT Site. It has a differant expanson called Hard Core. If your more of a classic battletech guy it might suit you. Athough if your into raw action, the Mektek stuff is good.

Well for right now it's the Kb mouse....but I think once I get some spare cash I might go with a stick throttle control. Some of the one's I was looking at had two switches for your thumb...what I hope to acheive is to program those with the center legs to torso and torso to legs command.
I guess what my wuestion would be is this: Is there a Stick Throttle combo out there with enough buttons switches and such to be able to elimante the keyboard except for the bare minamals?
Okay I might as well be honest here I have a problem with hunting for keys.
I'm still gonna try the keyboard mouse but man I can't wait till I get the cockpit going.

I'm sure everyone else will weigh in with their ideas, but I'll be first. I've never found a joystick (except for maybe the Saitek x52 HOTAS) that has enough buttons for all the keyboard commands. Most have enough for the essential stuff, but that's about it. Me, I've never liked having to take my eyes off the screen long enough to hunt for keys to execute a command, so earlier this year I bought a Nostromo n52 SpeedPad to go with my Saitek Cyborg Gold USB joystick.

This little unit has 14 buttons, with 4 shift states for each button. Plus a scroll wheel and D-pad. Since I've started using it, I never have to touch the base of my stick or the keyboard. So, I've got the best of both worlds.....being able to game with a joystick, without having to use the keyboard.

Others may have a different opinion, however.

Personally, I like the keyboard and mouse

The thing is to customize the controls a little.
(and remember to override auto torsoe centering with the ';' button... its really annoying)

A - Turn Left
D - Turn Right
W - Throttle 100%
S - Trhottle 0%
Q - Target nearest enemy
E - Target nest enemy
R/Shift+R/Ctrl+R - Radar on/off / Toggle radar map / toggle radar range
2 - Next Weapon group

Those are some of the key mappings I use and can remember off the top of my head...

My thoughts run along...

I like Hammers' idea of a key pad device, just to lazy to relearn.

There is a concept called "super turn" that I've seen talked about but not tried. involves use of joystick and mouse at the same time and turns your mech much quicker. use by setting mouse option in options screen, as well as the joystick option.

Do you know someone with a broadband connection? Having your maps on a CD(well actually takes several) or a DVD makes for good backup plan.

hope this is helpful.

I use the mouse for a lot of the controls.

Left button-Fire selected Weapons Group.
Right button-Flush coolant
Mouse button 3(roller wheel)-Press: Switch weapons group
Mouse Button 3-Roll: Increase or decrease throttle
Mouse button 4-Override shutdown
Mouse button 5-Set firing procedure

Of course, I would die without the keyboard...
Tab-Turn torso Left
Z-Turn torso right
Spacebar-Center Torso
Q-Target enemy under recticle
W-Taget nearest Friendly
E-Target nearest Enemy
R-Toggle radar range
Cntrl/R-Toggle radar on/off


The list goes on, but I don't think I should start flooding the crap about now you get the general idea...I think...

The nice thing about the SpeedPad is that it simply emulates keyboard commands. You can program each button on it to take the place of a single key press; or as a macro, which emulates multiple key presses with one button push.

As for learning, I took the easy way out. I drew a diagram on an index card, with each button labeled for what command it does. I prop this card up on my keyboard, leaning against the monitor. Then, if I can't remember what button does what, I have a reminder. Which happens more often than I'd like.

Also, you can set up several (as many as you'ld like) profiles for the SpeedPad. Different profiles for the same game, or for different games.

Alas the superturn was removed with the release of Mek Pack 2. If you look in the options screen I believe that you can not choose both the mouse and joystick anymore.

(adjusts KB mouse from battle ready postion)
Day 4:
Been playing with the keyboard and mouse in campaign mode.
I'm taking alot of damage but I'm getting kills and succsessfully completeling missons.
I'm on recurit so it's light work but i've made it to the desert on Kantares IV so we'll see how this keeps going.
I'm trying to align all of my controls over to the righthanded side of the KB.
Off topic a little at this point, YOU GUYS RAWK MAH ASS.
For real......
without getting all sappy I think I will be around for awhile here so get used to the name....Ruvon

"game on bitch"

"(I may still try the speed pad stick out....but aiming is much easier with the mouse)

Oh the memories of when I started(well only back to Dec '03). You work your way through the campaign and do it again for the progressively harder levels and you think you've the game by he tail. Then you go online expecting to kick butt, only to have your ride blow up and you can't figure out who or from where or how it happened Then you figure out that there's a whole new learning curve to work on. (that's me now). When you figure out some new technique then the work's worth it, besides the fun of playing.

I've been playing MW since MW3 but never went online till MW4 and BK. I figured getting into the mechs that worked well for my missions would do pretty good online. Was I ever in for a surprise LOL

Playing online is a whole different animal entirely. Your opponents can actually think, most of them anyway, and alot of them seem to know excactly what your next move will be.

I never got any good until I Mercs came out and I started piloting lights and started really experimenting and not worrying about how well I was doing. The other really big thing that helped my game was learning accuracy and making my shots count. When you are piloting a light fighting aggainst Meds to Assaults, you want to (try) hit the same spot every time.

The other bright side of trying to learn with lights is that you get back into the action much more quicly and can spend more time trying to improve your gameplay rather than (in the case of assaults) spending all your time walking at a snails pace only to die after squeezing of one or two rounds.

Despite the learning curve and frustration, eventually you start getting better. If you stick to it. And when you do start getting better, continue experimenting, and things just seem to fall into place and the game becomes much much more satisfying

He also forgot to say that there is nothing like singlehandedly taking down a mech 2 or 3 times the size of yours. When I played the single player missions the first time, I was of the opinion that Assault mechs were the only way to fly and that you could not bother with speed since you had all that armour. I was also, in my younger days (last November to be precise) a leading pioneer in the point blank range use of the PPC and I wouldn't let an LBX autocannon near my mech. This state of affairs lasted 20 minutes into my first game on a PR1 server. I ran into a RAC boating Daishi and while I managed to headshot him twice to destroy him (first and only time I've ever done that !), the ease with which his 6 RAC5's had shredded my Hauptmann to within an inch of it's life gave me pause for thought that maybe a 51 kph PPC boat being used for brawling was not a good idea. Next game I put 3 LBX 20's on the Hauptmann, jacked up the speed and the rest as they say was history. Then I discovered the Raven and Cauldron Born and never really looked back. Now I've been around a bit longer, I can honestly say that yes, there is a learning curve but it's not all that steep. Go forth and pilot a Raven loaded to the brim with streaks, find an Assault mech and try and take it down (this does require a bit of the "I'm the smallest man in the bar but I'm still going to bottle you" mentality). You will die a lot but you will learn to place your shots well and to use a mechs manovrability. Listen to any advice you get given, it may be good, remember that assaults may not be the best weight class for you and, as Freelancer said, don't worry about your score and experiment.

Flea...HML...machine guns....SLs or MLs...

Need I say more?

Being a mutant freak I use a mouse & joystick. The mouse for the torso & throttle. Joy stick for the legs weapons sensors
& targeting. And the enlightend 3rd person perspective.

Also Using a light mech is a great way to learn to play online. You'll lean how to pilot a mech or die a lot.

And don't forget to go to the front page & up in the top left hand corner click the Mechwarrior Training Center and start
reading. It will help greatly.

well I cleared vengance on recruit.
Things did start getting easier as I went along and migrated most of the commands I needed the most over to the right.
Targeting is a whole lot easier with the mouse.
I figure that when I get online I will probably get knocked around quite a bit, but as far as I'm concerned Madcats are my machine.
Then again it could be a whole different ball game by then....
I need to get the patches on cd though so I have someone working on that for me.

Just checking here Ruvon but do you have Mechwarrior 4 Vengeance or Mechwarrior 4 Mercenaries ? Here, as with most other teams and clans, we play Mechwarrior Mercenaries. There's a lot of patches available for it along with more mechs and weapons and a lot more people play it. Most of what can be said for Mercenaries holds good for Vengeance and there are still people who play it online although if you wish to play Mechwarrior online then Mercenaries is definately your best bet.

P.S. Splendid choice on the MadCat, it's one of the best mechs out there. We have many configs for it in the Mechlab section of the forum although they are for Mechwarrior Mercenaries with the MekTek Mechpack 2.1a patch.

I have been using rudder pedals for a while for the legs and my Cougar HOTAS for the torso etc and I can say conclusively and sincerely: if you can afford the rudders, forget the mouse/keyboard.

I realize this post is a bit belated and that I am a newbie but I personally have recently come off a tear of FPS like games ala Tribes Vengeance, before that Starsiege.

So what I did was configure my keyboard/mouse a bit like it was in Earthsiege


w = increase throttle
s = stop (though I'm still debating on that being decrease throttle)
x = decrease throttle
a = turn left
d = turn right
q = jump
e = target enemy
z = zoom (of course

i = torso up
m = torso down
j = torso left
k = torso right
u = previous weapon group
o = next weapons group
enter = fire
Numbers 1-6 on the top of the keyboard = fire weapon group

I also bind the torso controls to my mouse.
Right click is target under the reticle (can't remember what it is on my keyboard though.
left click is fire
click of my mouse wheel is move to next weapon group
I am still trying to decide if I should bind something to my mouse wheel or not.

Wellllllllll, get a nice joystick, me and dad are buyin a $90 joystick just for flight sim 2004, I'll probably use for MW4 too though. The problem with a cheap joystick is you use it for a week and the gradual movement so like a tap is a tap it becomes a keyboard sensitivity level, just a warning.