On Building/Customizing A Mech...

So, you've taken that same standard- or alternate-configuration TimberWolf into battle over and over, and had your armor-plated butt handed to you WAAAY more often that not. What are you going to do about it?!?! Learn to build custom Mechs, that's what!!!
The single best piece of advice I could give you, to start you on the road to being a Mech engineer without peer, is to visit your local pc store (Egghead, CompUSA, etc.) or bookstore with a decent computer section (Border's, Barnes & Noble, B. Dalton, etc.), and find a "Mech 2" strategy guide. I recommend the Prima's Secret's of the Game guide, by Joe Grant Bell; it contains an excellent discourse on weaponry, armoring, customizing and the like, as well as providing several useful designs to try (with the exact specs to put them together).

Failing that, if you just want to grab some designs and go, you'll find a zip link at the bottom of this page where you can download and unzip several custom Mechs of my own design.

You've picked the mech model you want to change; now what? Click on the "Customize" button, and let's get started...

ENGINE

One game factor that the engine size affects, obviously, is your speed; a bigger engine lets your Mech move faster, and also permits more jump-jets to be added. Your main concern should be to free up some critical slots on your Mech, for the goodies you'll add further on in the process. So, unless you're building a speed-demon Kit Fox, click on the "Slower" button to reduce your current engine size (not so much that you're a 70-ton turtle; just 1 size, 2 at the most). For instance, if you start with a 350, you might drop down to a 280 or 240; you won't miss the extra kph much, and you'll be adding something that'll more than make up for it.

ARMOR

The next thing to consider is whether to boost your Mech's protection factor (believe me, this is a must!). First you need to check its current armor setup, then click on either INTERNAL or ARMOR, the former being the mech's skeletal structure, and the latter its external protection. Let's look at both-

INTERNAL - Your options here are STD or Endo-Steel. Endo-Steel is lighter, but also takes up those precious critical slots (meaning less room for weapons, heat sinks, etc.) The game generally puts Endo-Steel internals on the small-to-medium Mechs, where speed is a more crucial factor to gameplay. My advice; for the small & medium mechs (unless you've dropped your engine size to that of a Volkswagen Beetle), leave the Internal whatever the given is; For the upper-end mediums, heavy and assault Mechs, go with STD; it's easier for the larger ones to accommodate the weight, and it pays off in protection.

ARMOR - Your choices here, again, are STD or Ferro-Fibrous. Ferro-Fibrous has a significantly higher protection factor than STD; make the switch, and shoehorn the FF into some critical slots. You'll enhance your battlefield durability significantly.
2 more things to mention regarding armor; once you've decided on your armor make-up, be sure to click on each section (Head, Arms, Torso & Legs), and maximize each part; and remember that it doesn't matter where on the Mech you put your Endo-Steel or Ferro-Fibrous armor. It's the protection factor that the game calculates; in other words stuffing all your Ferro-Fibrous into the torso won't make the torso any tougher. You may have to experiment some to find the best ratio for the torso sections (percentage of back-to-front armoring), but get in a battle or 2, and you'll nail it down soon enough.

JUMP JETS

In a word, always! YOU NEED JUMP JETS in all your custom Mechs, unless you're planning to make a fleet of lead-footed titans, and only play the Kufstein scenario (the Maze). Adding jump jets gives a pilot that extra bit of maneuverability in attacking and eluding; they more than make up for what little speed you lose when you downsize the engine. Believe it or not, they can even help you evade missile-fire (I know; I've got fairly competent at it).

4 more points I'd like to make about jump jets: 1) you can't complete some of the Mech2 scenarios without jump-jet-equipped Mechs, 2) the bigger the Mech, the more jets you'll need to lift-off and stay aloft (at least 3 for small/medium Mechs, 4 for heavy/assault Mechs), 3) it doesn't matter where you install them on your Mech (probably best to spread them around between legs and left/right/center torso), it's the fact that they're there, and 4) on a 4-button joystick I assign 2 buttons to jump jet control (1 for upward, 1 for forward jetting). Of course, that's a matter of personal preference, but I feel it's helped my maneuvering immensely.
1 other piece of information I recently uncovered; the amount of jump jets you can install is tied to how big your engine is; the more powerful the engine, the more jump jets you can install on any Mech, and vice versa. That's one more variable you need to consider while tinkering away in the lab!

WEAPONS

ENERGY WEAPONS

LASERS - Of the energy weapons, medium ER lasers are the best of the bunch; good range, excellent damage-to-heat ratio, short recharge time and economy of space (1 critical slot each). Large lasers can cause major heat problems and weigh quite a bit; if you must use these, restrict yourself to 2. PPCs can cause major damage if you're up-close-and-personal, but the bolt moves too slow at distance; you get major heat build-up and they recharge slowly. Small lasers can be highly effective in large groups (6-12), but you need to get pretty close before they're in range to do damage (as you can see on the chart). With the right amount of heat sinks, you can chain-fire a mix of meduim and small lasers all day with overheating (a good tactic to try if you're having a tough time finding the other guy's lag spot).

ER vs. Pulse? Take the ER. Pulse lasers spread their damage around (as opposed to the focused hit that ERs give you), recharge slower and take up more weight and criticals than ERs. As with most energy weapons, these can be used effectively with judicious application. ER (Extended Range) have better range, are lighter and give you more bang for the critical space.

MISSILES

Yes, we do love our missiles, don't we; just lock 'em on, and let 'em fly! So quick, so accurate, so deadly! But, you demur, they come in so many different flavors; how do I decide? Attend, young Mechwarrior-
SRMs (Short Range Missiles) - fire and fly wherever they're aimed; no lock-on, no guidance or tracking. If the target moves... well, maybe next time. SRMs and SSRMs do 2 points of damage as opposed to LRMs, which do 1 point each. Again, the smart Mechwarrior tailors his weaponry loadout to the scenario he's fighting in; experiment with these.
SSRMs (Streak Short Range Missiles) - Guided ballistics that lock-on once your target's within 500k (more like 440 on Netmech/Mplayer), and are virtually guaranteed to impact. Very tough, maybe impossible to evade at close range. They come in 2, 4 and 6-packs; go with the 6s. Since LRMs can be ineffective at ranges shorter than 450k, these are the ticket at close quarters. Their only real drawback is that they're packed in only 6s at most (of course, you could put 4 6-packs in your custom, but you've gotta get kinda close to be effective, and critical space becomes a factor, also). Customize wisely!
LRMs (Long Range Missiles) - The warrior's best friend, these rockets lock-on at 1.00 (although their effective flight range is between 730-780k), and deliver damage in 5, 10, 15 or 20-shot fusillades. I've read books and web-postings that say the LRM-20 is the most economical bang-for-the-buck weapon of the missiles, but that's debatable. They use up 4 critical slots each; now, if you took 2 LRM-15s (2 critical slots each), you'd have 30 missiles-per-recycle as opposed to 20. My opinion is that it should boil down to the Mech you're customizing, your fighting style, and the class you're using it in. Whatever size you decide to use, DO use LRMs; as the boxing adage goes, why slug it out inside, when you can jab 'em to death from long range (and a punishing jab is SO pretty!!!)

AUTOCANNONS

These are the deadliest weapons in the game; sustained autocannon fire can take out any mech in seconds. Obviously, for medium- to short-range firepower you need to consider these as part of your mech's arsenal, but there are other factors to consider as well...

LBX vs. Ultra - There are some considerable differences between the 2. LBX AC fire impacts more like shotgun shells (wider effect), while Ultras are more concentrated (major damage to a concentrated point). LBX's generally run cooler than Ultras, and their ammo lasts longer. LBX's have a longer range, and given their "shotgun" effect the farther away, the less the damage done. The LBX's take up more criticals.

My advice? Make your choice based on the kind of mech pilot you are. As I'm not the most accurate marksman out there, I prefer to have my ammo last longer, and I prefer a cool-running mech, I almost always go with the LBX (I create a most palpable punch by mixing LBX-5s with 3-4 medium/small lasers and a machine-gun or 2; this usually makes 'em either back off quick or die quicker!) Others, like our Khan and OneEyeBill Hazen, can make magic ("Oh look, that DireWolf just disappeared!") with Ultras. Take your choice, but definitely consider these.

THE OTHERS

GAUSS RIFLES - Space-hungry, slow-recharging, ammo-dependent; not very many Mplayer warriors use Gauss Rifles, and the reason probably is they're just not a versatile-enough weapon to waste the criticals on. Besides, 6 slots and 15 tons for the damage it does is not a good trade-off.
Since this was originally written, I've had the opportunity to reconsider this opinion, given the incredible demonstration I was given, at the hands of one of The Black Hand's finest, TBH-Weeksey. A true student of the game, Weeksey showed me that a Gauss Rifle can be a deadly asset, if the MechWarrior wielding them knows what he's doing, as Weeksey certainly does. Experiment with them, on your larger custom Mechs; you may surprise yourself!

MACHINE GUNS - No heat to speak of, and once you're out of ammo, you're out. In various combinations, however, machine guns can be very effective in providing sustained rates of fire without attendant heat build-up. Try 2 machine guns group-fired with 3 meduim lasers, or 2 machine guns, a Ultra AC/2 or LB-X2 and 2-3 medium or small lasers; these combos pack an awesome armor-shredding punch up close (remember, machine-gun range is only 175k). If you've put an opponent on the ropes with missile volleys, either one of these weapon combinations can put 'em down for the count!

Here are some random do's and don't's that you should keep in mind when puttin' that dream-Mech together.
DO - try to learn the weapon allowances and restrictions in whatever league you play in. Being caught using an out-of-spec or "cheat Mech" is a serious breech of honor in the view of most MechWarriors.
DON'T - put any weapons in your Mech's arms, especially your energy weapons. Arms are usually the 1st thing to get blown off of your Mech in battle, and if you've got lasers or PPCs in there, they're history. Although they can be subject to internal ammo explosions, keeping your missile racks and ammo in the torso is the best alternative (make sure at least 1/3 of the torso's armor is in the back. And don't forget the mech's legs; lasers stored in the legs are usually the last weapons to go (and they usually go when the whole mech goes!!!).
DO - put lasers in your head and torso (some warriors even put them in their mechs' legs). Since they never run out of ammo, it makes sense to put them in the most-protected part of your Mech. That way, even if you're getting hammered, you'll have a weapon to fight back with, at least until the whole Mech is destroyed!
DON'T - waste space on MASC. It's not really that useful on smaller Mechs, which are plenty speedy anyway, and with jump jets on the larger Mechs it's redundant and pointless. Besides, overuse will burn out your leg actuators and SLOW YOU DOWN. Get rid of it!
DO - try this method of assembling a ws1 (energy weapons only) mech; delete all but the bare essentials (engine, actuators, etc.) and stuff the mech with as many heat sinks as will fit. Then, delete the heat sinks 1-by-1 in the areas you would normally would insert lasers, and put in as many as necessary. Assuming you keep the amount (and size) of your lasers reasonable, you should end up with a cool-running ws1 monster!

Well, that should be enough basic info to get you started thinking. Be creative, be innovative, but try to remain effective, and I'll see you in the Mech lab, wetnose...!

EXTRA SPECIAL BONUS!!! For my clan brothers and sisters who are just now getting into the mech-customizing biz, I've included some custom mechs to get you started, and to kinda get the idea of what can be done with a custom mech. At press time, I'm planning to include some Jenners, Novas and MadDogs (sorry, I can't give up ALL my good designs!). Click on the graphic, download and unzip the file, then use Windows Explorer to drag-and-drop them into your Mech2 mek folder (I only ask that you rename them before using; my own codenames are much too cool, and besides, I'd hate to be beaten by a mech I created!)