17 replies to this topic

[JigglyMoobs]

When piloting my long range oriented mechs on maps like River City, one of my favorite tactics is to make use of the limited visibility on those maps to set up situations where I can target enemies without enemies being able to effectively target me.

In the following video, for example, I kill a number of enemy mechs with virtually no return fire by using the Adv. Zoom module to shoot at them when they are just barely visible on my screen and, conversely, I'm practically impossible to spot on theirs.

Anybody else have similar tactics or situations where they like to do same thing?

Edited by JigglyMoobs, 17 March 2014 - 02:41 PM.

[Greyrook]

Yep, that's pretty much what you're supposed to do in a DFS sniping role. One thing you should think about doing is grouping your rifles separately so you can fire while leaning out of cover without wasting the ammo from the blocked side. I always set groups 1 and 2 to either arm in symmetrical builds so I don't even have to think about it, left side clear => left mouse button. The current meta is so long-range dependent that you need every advantage. I'm just getting back into this game after a long break and I'm feeling a little crowded on the sniper hills.

[o0Marduk0o]

Not sure why to waste ammo by shooting at targets twice the optimal range and losing like 50% damage.

[Dunning Kruger Effect]

Quote

Not sure why to waste ammo by shooting at targets twice the optimal range and losing like 50% damage.

Maybe he thinks 50% damage but 0 return fire is better than 100% damage but 100% return fire?

[Straylight]

Dunning Kruger Effect, on 27 March 2014 - 02:43 AM, said:

Maybe he thinks 50% damage but 0 return fire is better than 100% damage but 100% return fire?

The thought certainly appeals to me in a game dominated by millimeter-precise, 30-damage alpha strikes from a kilometer away.

Also, I must congratulate you, Sir: I don't think seeing your handle give obvious answers to dumb questions is ever gonna stop being funny. Good show.

JigglyMoobs, on 17 March 2014 - 02:40 PM, said:

Anybody else have similar tactics or situations where they like to do same thing?

This is pretty much SOP for my ERPPC Spider. Even if I'm not in TAG range, being able to switch off ECM and gut-check people peeking over hills from well beyond sensor range is useful even without doing much damage. It causes people to hesitate, and that alone can win a game if I time it right.

[ThatBum42]

A while ago I noticed that your mech appears brighter white in thermal vision if you're running hot. Which makes sense obviously, but it didn't occur to me that they would have implemented a little detail like that. Anyway, if you're in Frozen City or another map where much of it is in whiteout, it might behoove you to run cool, especially at long ranges, because you're visually nearly invisible at long ranges in thermal vision when you're running cool.

[Turist0AT]

ThatBum42, on 27 March 2014 - 10:07 PM, said:

A while ago I noticed that your mech appears brighter white in thermal vision if you're running hot. Which makes sense obviously, but it didn't occur to me that they would have implemented a little detail like that. Anyway, if you're in Frozen City or another map where much of it is in whiteout, it might behoove you to run cool, especially at long ranges, because you're visually nearly invisible at long ranges in thermal vision when you're running cool.

you should see the old thermal, it was great.

[ThatBum42]

Turist0AT, on 28 March 2014 - 12:17 AM, said:

you should see the old thermal, it was great.

Yeah, I saw that on YouTube. The ol' rainbow-vision. Dunno why that was taken out, but I suppose this monochrome one is more realistic. Similar to FLIR cameras.

[Turist0AT]

ThatBum42, on 28 March 2014 - 01:51 PM, said:

Yeah, I saw that on YouTube. The ol' rainbow-vision. Dunno why that was taken out, but I suppose this monochrome one is more realistic. Similar to FLIR cameras.

It was taken out because seeing good is a bad thing. As having effective weapons/mechs/equipment, specialist builds and heat neutrality is also a bad thing from PGIs piont of view.

Edited by Turist0AT, 28 March 2014 - 04:22 PM.

[627]

Turist0AT, on 28 March 2014 - 04:16 PM, said:

It was taken out because seeing good is a bad thing. As having effective weapons/mechs/equipment, specialist builds and heat neutrality is also a bad thing from PGIs piont of view.

Actually it was so OP that everyone and his mom switched to heat vision at the start of the round and stayed in that vision. you had higher contrast for mechs from ground and you could see mechs like 1.5km away or so, not possible with normal vision.

Still, the blueish coloring and the actual heat vision (hot mechs where red, coll ones blue) was really nice.

[ThatBum42]

627, on 30 March 2014 - 10:32 PM, said:

Still, the blueish coloring and the actual heat vision (hot mechs where red, coll ones blue) was really nice.

Can't they just have the old colored one but with the "fading into the thermal background" effect that the current monochrome one has? If ambient temperature is blue on a normal temperature map, the mechs could be blue too when cold, reducing the OP-ness of it. Hot red mechs on blue background doesn't sound more OP than hot white mechs on black background to me.

Edited by ThatBum42, 31 March 2014 - 12:33 AM.

[Jacon Ceronia]

Boy. I hate to be that guy, but there sure are a lot of missed shots, shots colliding with terrain, and misfires here. Good job using the terrain. Now just practice up with the Gauss.

[Turist0AT]

627, on 30 March 2014 - 10:32 PM, said:

Actually it was so OP that everyone and his mom switched to heat vision at the start of the round and stayed in that vision. you had higher contrast for mechs from ground and you could see mechs like 1.5km away or so, not possible with normal vision.

Still, the blueish coloring and the actual heat vision (hot mechs where red, coll ones blue) was really nice.

Great. It was good and ppl liked it. Whats wrong with that.

[Not A Real RAbbi]

To the OP:

I don't snipe much, but I've tried it out in the past.

I found that shooting for the box works pretty well. That is, as long as someone's got eyes on, you don't have to be able to distinguish the shape to hit the mech. Your targeting computer brackets it pretty well when you select that target. Getting rounds on center-mass happens pretty easily by just shooting for the center of the red box. If that's well outside your line of sight, so be it. ERPPC and Gauss still hit hard enough at 1000 meters to remind your target that it's not alone, and not safe, and not particularly welcome at the moment.

I might prefer the weapons that don't take ammo for such work (ERLL, ERPPC), as opposed to maps with good long-distance visibility (Tourmaline, Alpine).

On the other hand, I'm not much of a sniper. So take that for what it's worth.

[Amsro]

Turist0AT, on 13 April 2014 - 04:26 PM, said:

Great. It was good and ppl liked it. Whats wrong with that.

Indeed, could have just made it a Module, so you needed to take up a slot to use it, same with Night Vision.

I miss the Predator Vision.

[Danghen Woolf]

Cover and concealment are basic tactics. Using limited visibility is something everyone should be doing as it increases survivability. I enjoy running in my LCT and using the terrain to break LOS or even better fire from the side and keep running, it is sort of like tapping someone on the shoulder and stepping to the opposite side. Assault mechs are especially vulnerable as their turning and torso twist speeds are pretty bad. I try to avoid sticking around long enough to attract fire. The buildings on River City are good for ambush tactics as well, if you can coordinate it, use a light or fast medium to draw a few mechs into the buildings with shutdown or ECM'd mechs hiding out of LOS, the chat channel usually lights up after a few guys drop from the crossfire. Good job using the terrain and modules to your advantage. I hate getting tagged by long range fire that I cannot return.

[Xmasterspy]

Exploiting? Forget exploiting, your not even being an effective member of your team! I stopped watching this travesty of a video about half way though. Could not take it.  
1) You are not targeting anyone. This provides no help to your team.
2) You are shooting well past the optimal range for gause rifles 660m. Before I closed the video, you were shooting something you did not have targeted at 1300m. I am not going to try and find an updated chart of damage at ranges but you are well past it. You might be doing 1 or 2 damage at that range.  What's max range on gause 1900m?
3) There are no "snipers" in this game. (Lets not argue that point here, I have other posts on this "sniper" topic go vent there) Trust me, your 1 damage at 1300 is not scaring off anyone that knows how to play.
4) Your airstrikes were the only thing that was causing any type of real damage.
5) and kills that you did get would have been luck because your team is out there fighting and you get the lucky last shot.
So to answer your question. There is no exploit at shooting people well past the visible rage because the visible range is close to the max range of most weapons. If you were shooting anything other then gause you would be doing 0 damage.

[JonahGrimm]

I've come to love Jenners, and exploit LOS constantly - just in an odd way. My favorite attack vector is from above and to the side (and slightly behind), where I can use the Jenner's extended arm rotation to poke at a mech that can't see the lasers hitting it, from an angle that's usually the last place people look.

Focusing fire on the mech's rear and legs from that angle offers no end of amusement.