Sometimes I think the servers get bogged down and need a reboot, because some matches all my shots seem to hit, and others the whole round it seems to take twice the effort to kill anything, sometimes rubber banding gets bad even with guys who have low pings.
Cataphracts, Awesomes and Catapults are easy to deal with most of the time depending on the variant and where I aim depends totally on what I'm shooting at. i.e. I see a hunchback laserboat, I go for the hunch and knock out 90% of his weapons. If I see an A1 cat, I'll aim for its ears since each one holds half its weapons. If its a light, I go for the legs.
Also, the catapults are still pretty good. I have been pretty successful with my founders cat that has 2ERPPC 2streaks and a large laser. The K2 is an absolute beast that can either be a gauss or laser boat...I much prefer gauss. EDIT: Also, the A1 as an SRM boat is still an extremely deadly mech. Two well place alphas will take down an atlas. I watched a guy who was an amazing pilot rip apart 2 heavies and two assaults in under 2 minutes...the first couple of pilots he was up against were taken by surprise, but to take out the biggest mechs in the match solo with the rest of us dead and watching was pretty impressive. I see an undamaged srm6 boat and I do my damned best to stay out of range or take it unaware, up close in the hands of a good pilot, it'll tear apart anything that can't move faster than a heavy.
Personally I think the K2 is the absolute best sniper mech because the pods help protect the sides, the gun mounts are high on the mech, and they've got much nicer movement on the torso. Even with the gauss nerf, I can often get 2 to 5 kills if I'm not running into organized teams rolling pugs.
The cataphract is a pretty damned good mech too. Lots of armor, decent speed and it can deliver a lot of hurt. Personally gauss and lasers are my favorite weapons, so that's what I use. I actually like all three variants I have, and that hero mech is really good...if outrageously expensive.
The Ilya Muromets is one solid mech, and I can think of 3 solid loadouts that would work well with it. Absolutely fantastic hard point placements. So far I think its my favorite mech in the game.
The biggest thing about getting your hits to register though, and you ought to know this, is that you've gotta calm down, take your time and make your shots count. I almost always try to shoot opponents that are moving too or away from me, I might fire my lasers to spook them, but I'll hold off a second on the big guns till I have a good shot lined up and I also try to hold off firing until both cross hairs are lined up. Back in MW4 making shots count was a little more natural, because recycle times were so long, missing a shot with an AC20 meant a long cooldown.
I'm getting pretty good with my long range aim and gauss now. I can often clip the pods of catapults at mid range, take the legs out from under a jenner, and core anything bigger than a heavy in two or 3 salvos...well except for an atlas....on them I try to shoot them in the back
One other thing, grinding out 3 mechs is absolutely essential if you want the most out of your mech. All those basic and elite perks really do add up, specially when the basic perks double. Personally I'll grind them all the way up to master before moving on. Also, the extra module slot will probably be something that becomes more and more important as they release modules that might be worth buying. With premium time, by the time I grind out 3 mechs, I usually have enough money to buy my next set or be well on my way.
....I did screw up once and buy a mech I already owned, tried a dragon and sold it, bought the wrong engine...ugh...
