Nanomashoes posted:

Your leg parts are gonna be the biggest factor on how your AC plays, so decide on the legs first. Bipeds have the fastest horizontal movement speeds, making them good for close combat ACs, reverse joints jump higher, making them better at long range combat (bonus vertical distance between you and the enemy can help you keep him in your range while keeping out of his). Tetrapods get accuracy bonuses when using big guns, making them stationary ultra-long range snipers, and tanks are slow and can't jump for poo poo, but they can use two big guns at the same time while moving, giving them absolutely immense firepower (2-3 shotting unlucky small ACs). Once you have your legs, pick appropriate guns. Heavy bipeds and tetrapods usually want one ready-mode weapon (the big ones), and Tanks want two. Other than that just pick guns that sound like they work well with your AC, and generally try to have two damage types. Don't be afraid to only slot two or three guns, weapons you have in your bays can't be fired. Grab your generator third. You pretty much always want a high output unless you're using TE weaponry, in which case get a balanced for 1 TE weapon and a high capacity for 2. After that, buy the core parts that have the best stats for what you want to do while keeping below weight and energy limits. You can hit triangle to bring up more stats on each part, and select to see a description of the stats. Never exceed your weight or energy limits until you really know what you're doing.