Early-in-the-round strategies for ranking up quicker...?

[(TLL)Siilk]

  Osiris A, the  sniper. Stay 400-600 m away from the brawl and keep firing those LBLs. You'll have a kill on two in a couple of minutes. But remember, Osiris' has tinfoil armor, so it your CT or RT turns yellow, run like hell.

  Kit Fox A, half a Mad dog. Same general strategy, but the lack of JJs would make you seek a more open terrain. You can even try to go one on one brawling, as Kit's armor is a little tougher, that of an Osiris, but brawling in a Kit Fox is a tricky thing to do, as it's too fragile.

  Owens B, SRM speedboat. An excellent light brawler. SRMs are powerful and quite easy to use, even at high speed. BHP, C3 and MASC are gave Owens even more chances of success and a scouting ability. Run deep beyond the front line, scare the shit out of LRM boaters, spray SRMs all over the place and quickly retreat with a bunch of credits for discovered enemy mechs. BTW, this guy is an excellent giant slayer as, with some piloting skills, it could circle around slow assaults, like Atlas or Awesome, staying out of their firing arc and ruining their aim with SRM volleys. Similar strategies(except for scouting) could be used with Harasser Prime.

  Hollander B, the chaingunner. A good alternative to the conventional AA platforms, like Partisan prime. Has jump jets to get to the high places and ruin the day of any flyboy around. And it's good to kill BA too. Moreover, it's not helpless if an enemy  mech shows around. It's RAC5 could be nasty at close range. I cored a lots of Kit Foxes and Osirises that way.

 Raven Prime, the scout. It's fast, it's hard hitting and it has NARC. What more should I say? Keep close to the friendly brawlers and pick at the enemy, engaged with one of them. NARC juicy targets for your second line support, annoy slow targets into chasing you so that it would be an easy pray for advancing friendly forces. Same goes for Raven C, except for NARC part. You can even snipe enemies from afar and ruin their aim.

[Virt]

Thanks everyone.

It's a real credit to the devs that there are so many different strategies being used!

Thanks also to people like Zeus, who kindly give me some money early in the game to get me into a bigger Mech quicker

[~SJ~ Wolf]

Being I do not care how many times a mech pilot kills me as a BA, I will start every match that I do not expect heavy aero, with an APC, the microlaser, and a pie.  Either you will have the rank to buy a heavy after a few targets and with luck few deaths, or you will have amassed the money for a heavy mech. Either way I have what I need.

If aero assets are involved I will go with the Holly and take up a Long range support/AA role. You can level up very quickly just by punching round after round of AC2/RAC5 ammo into enemies.

[Profane Arbiter]

Thanks everyone.

It's a real credit to the devs that there are so many different strategies being used!

Thanks also to people like Zeus, who kindly give me some money early in the game to get me into a bigger Mech quicker

I'd like to add that I don't recommend ever taking the Hollander unless you KNOW that your going to be facing a BA swarm or bunch of flyboys. The easy to hit Hollander with its glass cannon (which after destroyed, another shot to that spot will usually detonate the whole mech) is just garbage.

Also, since you asked for suggestions before heavy mechs...

At the 60k mark I'd recommend a Cougar. If your opponents are in heavier slower units then the missile boat Cougars are a good option. If not, the Cougar B with its lasers and CERPPC make for an excellent jump sniper. I'll usually brawl at this pricepoint with the Uller C but I realize we're trying to avoid reflex mechs.

At 70k, get the Puma C! No reflexes needed. This is a close support mech. Stand on the edge of a furball with your ECM and 6 highly damaging 700m range CERMBLs and start taking enemies apart. If you start to take fire, kick MASC in and get out of dodge. It's probably my favorite mech and while less wieldly in a close range duel, can still outduel just about any light or medium opponent. I feel no stress in such a duel unless a solid playing opponent goes after me while in a Scat, Bushy, or a heavy or assault mech. On Inferno where combat is always close and its hot, I'll often take the Bushwacker B at this pricepoint. Lastly, your first reasonably good heavy is available at this rank, the Catapult B. I'm not as in love with it as some folks since at anything other than close range alot of my missiles miss if I'm hit while trying to guide them...or if I simply lose sight of the target from being blinded by my own fire.

At 80k I wouldn't change a thing since there's really nothing new worth getting at this rank.

At 90k Demolisher Prime is a good choice. No maneuvering required. You're all armor and AC20 shells.

Finally at 100k you've reached the land of (worth using) heavies! 

[Crashagn]

Teamwork teamwork teamwork.

If you are in a server a just  a couple of others are on your team, and just cycled to a map. Depending on the map and what your team takes.. follow  someone from the team out. No matter if they have unit tags on or not they should get the picture that your on there tail and priming at the same target. If you both dont die and clear the area.. bring the other person on radar..says RTB. if hwe follows just tell em in team chat to hold on repair, after you repair then dump the rest of the cbills on him. If he or she gets the point they will sell the mech they and ton up. Make sure you see what mech he is building and adapt Long range or short. If he is long range and your in a srm owens or something then make sure you are doing the brawling and protect the bigger mech if possible. If all is successfull and the cash is handed back and forth then you will be in bad ass heavies or assaults and the other team that has more players will still be in lights and meds if the conditions are right. But then again the rest of the team could be going all over the map going for different targets and not helping each other out.. This would be a good time to go BA and enjoy the scenery..

teamwork teamwork teamwork

[Zakatak]

1. Buy LRM10 Hawkmoth
2. Shoot NARC at sniper
3. Circle strafe with LRM10
4. Fly away when damaged

I decided to do this an entire game on Sandblast, died once and got 3rd place.

[DFDelta]

Start using the Holly C.
With this you can usually down 1 or 2 light mechs before returning to base or dieing.
Just cut of the main weapon of the light mechs that come at you (most likely it will be some Kit Fox, so go for the AC10/Gauss). That will make the pilot bail and you can easiely pick him off with your array of autocannons. After this you can proceed to destroy the mech.
Being in a Holly C also makes you able to deal with the pesky Hawkmoths that seem to be everywhere, and you have a good chance to kill BA before they deal any real damage.

Usually I will have ranked up once or twice before retreating or respawning.


Now I get myself a Bushwacker A and repeat my tactic from step 1, or if possible I get a Bushy B and outright rape all the light mechs that are still on the field.
Here, with the Bushy B, it is a big advantage that the average pubber only knows 2 ways of fighting. Trench war and Circle of Suici.. err I mean Death.

On maps like Mirage and Inferno they will have established frontlines somewhere and will be fully concentrated on the direction where they expect the other team to strike. If you flank them in a mech like the Bushy B you can sometimes kill 1 or 2 before the others notice that they are being attacked. I had even some situations were even my target showed signs of utter confusion.
On more open maps like Sandblasted the light mechs will most likely either be entrenched behind some dune, and very vulnerable to 1 or 2 passive GECM mechs suddenly striking from their flank, or they will charge right at you and try to circle you. In both situations you can only win.

Usually that should be enough to get you to heavy levels.

[Angry Hillbilly]

Personally I like to go for Cougar A with 4 CLRMs (for open maps that is) to get early points at long range, once I get warrior I bring out my all time fav the Bushwhacker A those AC's and the fact the Bushwhacker can take a mega beating and stay standing is real good for early/mid fight (hell even late fight its still handy) once everyones reached the higher commander ranks generally I like to go with the flow and adapt depending on what weapons ive seen on the field. But my rule of thumb is missiles and autocannons, never really been a fan of lasers just not my style I like things that go boom