Battling in a land of acidic haze and caustic heat, be prepared to watch your step and avoid the many sources of heat around the map. Founded by the defunct Commonwealth Mining Corporation, the valley is a lifeless, tide-locked rock laced with titanium, platinum, sulphur and countless other minerals.

As you work your way through Caustic Valley (officially â€œCMO26â€), you might notice that your heat stays up more than usual, and is dispersed less quickly than usual. Giant run-off pipes spill into the area surrounding the centre of the valleyâ€“ a large bowl-shaped caldera full of heavy dust and brutal heat. Reach the dome covered magma chamber at the top of the volcanic cone at the center, and youâ€™ll really start to notice it. This greatly affects your ability to use heat-producing weapons such as lasers, as they will quickly spike to very high levels.

This heat is pervasive throughout the entire map, and greatly affects how the game will play out. Heavy heat builds will have to watch themselves very carefully, as overheating here is much easier, and much deadlier. You may want to utilize cooler weapons such as ballistics, as the reduced heat profile will serve you well. Long-ranged weapons shine here, as the ridge of the centre bowl can see for kilometres.

The haze of the environment is very thick, and thermal vision is much more difficult to use as virtually everything gives off heat, and it is much easier to hide your â€™Mech in the thermal signal of much of the map.

Show us your skills in this hostile environment by applying for the Closed Beta now. And watch that heat gauge - it's not lying.

Cheers,

The MechWarrior Online Team