Which were your first 4 Mechs for the free Mechbays? And Why?!

4 slots... Atlas!
went and purchased a DDC. Then found out that i need to level 3 of them to master them.. ok so i mastered them. Sold off all but the DDC, which I still have to this day. ( 3 Mech bays left)

Went and purchased a Spider 5V, started leveling that, and the 5K and finally the 5D. The 5K and 5V were a pain to level... no excuses, just a pain. The 5D, however, was the ERPPC build when the heat form the ERPPC was manageable .. still have it to this day. (2 Mech bays left)

Went and purchased an Awesome, leveled three of them rotating them and was learning how bad the hit boxes were. Finally purchased the fast 9M, made the Amon (LPLasers) build and had a blast. However, it was still an Awesome and still died VERY easily, so sold it off. (maybe time to re buy).

Started buying up Cataracts, played with the 3D and 4X for a while as the ones occupying my last two mech bays. I sold off the 4X, couldn't take it's slowness. But at this point, I had to break down and buy a few mech bays, and got the Ilya for my 4th mech bay.

 

Talking about the 5V being a pain to level needs no excuse. I still say that it is, hands down, the single worst mech in the game. I mean...12 JJ compatible, with only CT hardpoints. Who does that!?

 

Its ROCKETEER!!!
http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=51&l=b4be0f4e2cbc36e64d363e21a08708205a19c11c

PS: Well, i grinded this and hated it to the max, but, looking it twice, its 104meter jump capable.....in the hand of a speed-alcoholic can be crazy.

 

Honestly, if you could put those MPLs in the arms, I would run that mech all the time. Imagine it on Crimson Strait or Frozen City...damn thing would be an epic pain in the ass to deal with. That said...

 

I wanted a Warhammer and Marauder as they were my fav mechs on TT. But alas .....

Next best thing was a Thunderbolt, I always picked it for my TT. I even had a TT pewter model of it and painted it.

So I got that free TDR that came with the wkend bonus giveaway. Got the rest of the chasis, elited them then sold them all except for the 9S.

Next up, the Shadowhawk is another fav of mine from TT and the classic MW1 game. Got that elited, sold all except for 2H and 2K. Those variants are sooooo fun!

After that, I got my robo chickens during the sale. Still have all 3 of my chickens. C1, C4, K2.

Next what to get? Maybe a MADCAT when it comes up for sale on C-bills.

 

First Mech was a K2. Damn sexy mech, and lots of config posibilities. It was the first Mech I mastered, and I still love running it eventhough some say it's obsolete.
Second Mech was an A1 SRM splat cat. SRM's were strong at the time, and I was looking to elite fast.
Third, two to tango three to master. I went with a C4 to finish out
Fourth mech was an HBK-4SP. I wanted surviveability in a medium mech with a good punch, and this mech seemed to fit my playstyle well. I sold off the A1 and C4 after finishing out that chassis, and bought two other hunchies to fill the open bays, and finish that chassis.

Of these first four mechs, I only have the K2 and the 4SP left. I didn't spend any real money on the game for quite a while. Think I picked up a free mech bay somehow in order to finish out my Cataphracts.
The first real money I spent in the game was on an Illy that I bought after finishing my Cataphracts which in turn was the second mech I ended up mastering.

 

What's with everyone going for the K2? I took it as well. Bought some exotic, wrong STD engine, put 3 ERLLAS in there and sucked completely, then put 2 ERPPCs, which was even more wrong with my lack of skills.

Then i made a new account and took a JM6-S. Purely cause 4 AC2s sounded awesome on chainfire, and looked even better. I sucked completely with everything i tried, including the AC40 build as well, firing at people from 600meters and barely doing any damage. I enjoy playing the JM6-S to this day even with direwolves ripping my ST apart in one salvo & a Firebrand in my garage.

Then came the SDR-5D, STK-5M & SHD-2H, latter being one of my favourite mechs ingame.

 

Ummm,... It's sexy.

[quote author=bart2o link=topic=7559.msg49984#msg49984 date=1407347978]
I took it as well. Bought some exotic, wrong STD engine, put 3 ERLLAS in there and sucked completely, then put 2 ERPPCs, which was even more wrong with my lack of skills. [/quote]
It works well with an XL300 or 280 I put 2, 2 & 2 in it 2 AC5s, 2 ERLLas & 2 MLas
Back when I was still able to play a bit it was common to score in the upper 700 DMG range with several pops over the 1000 mark. Haven't played lately though, so probably couldn't do squat in it now.

 

Four weeks or so after I started playing the game, they introduced the Cadet bonus and dropped repair costs (Don't remember if they did both at the same time or what they did first), so suddenly I had some money to play with, instead of a long, grindy road in front of me.
The trial Mech I enjoyed the most was the Jenner, so I bought into that chassis. I started with the Jenner K. After grinding enough C-Bills, I bought the other variants. After having them elited, I kept the Jenner F and sold the other two.
I don't remember if it was just released then, or if I only noticed it at the time, but I saw the Catapult-K2, and bought it, and then also the C1 and C4, and own them still today.

Later on, I even repurchased the Jenner D and K to Master them, and kept also the D but sold the K; but that was with additional Mechbays.

 

Hunchies all the way.
When is started the game I've read several guides about how to invest the cadet-bonus the most profitable way and hunchies seemed to excel at that point.
1. HBK-4G (BFG build -> I like biiig guns )
2. HBK-4SP (Baller build)
3. HBK-4P (9 ML-build)
The 4th mech was an Ilya on my planned way for the 3D (which i couldnt afford at that time for c-bills). But I failed miserably at playing it so I stripped the engine, stored it in the garage and started to buy my 3 Jenners (using the XL280).
Right now my Ilya (3AC5/3ML) has become my most played and most successfull mech - practice makes perfect or at least it helps to stay alive and shoot at something .

 

1st mech, CTF-1x, I saw that it had an ac-10 and a PPC and I was sold! - Sold Now Replaced by the 3D
2nd - CTF-4x - 4 Ballistics and a I need 2 more to elite, easy choice - Still Have
3rd - CTF-2x - I know should have got the 3d, but at the time it was so much more expensive and at the time I didn't realize how good it was to have those JJs. - Sold off immediately after leveling, this was the worst of the Phracts.
4th - JR7-F - Still have