35 replies to this topic

[Kjudoon]

Because it's made relevant....

LRMboats are like alligators more than any other mech out there. They are opportunistic hunters with a wide variety of prey that they will snack on if given the opportunity. They are often deceptively slow, tend to lay low in corners and behind objects and wait for unwary prey to come into their reach. Then... they pounce, dropping volley after volley on their target like a gator clamped on a deer doing the death roll. The prey struggles and tries to flee, but unless they are fortunate to break the tough fanged grip of the lock, they are doomed to be dragged down, or worse, weakened so a lesser predator like a wandering Jenner or Firestarter will nom it into oblivion or callously shot down like a wounded animal by a game park warden with a double gauss to the CT.

om nom nom.

Edited by Kjudoon, 20 April 2014 - 05:43 PM.

[Swinebeast]

The best guide I have read so far, these four rules are great pillars to live by. Have been playing for a month now, and have learned these rules the hard way, this is essential reading for the new mech pilot, great job.

[Petard]

Good post Foxfire, +1 for you, however, calling LRM boats no skill cowards is a fair stretch, and IMO completely inaccurate, there are skills involved in using LRM's, just the same as any other weapon, it is just that the skills are a little different to most weapons in MWO....

Good use of LRM's involves making sure that you HIT your target, spamming them most definitely is NOT an I win button, good map knowledge, good positioning, and good understanding of how quickly your target can get to cover are all a necessity in order to be a good Lurmer.....

As far as cowardice goes, taking a mech with little or no defence against fast moving lights and mediums into battle certainly does involve both smart positioning, and having the balls to accept that if, or when, you become separated from your team, that you are probably going to die quickly....

So in closing, I'd just like to say, you are certainly entitled to your own opinion about LRM users, but hey, cut them some slack, I play mechs with all kinds of loadouts, and I am here to tell you, LRM's are not as easy to be successful with as some people would like to think, and LRM boats are certainly not "no skill cowards", matter of fact, take the time to keep a good one alive, and he or she might just strip enough armour to allow you to get some easy kills, and be a massive help factor in your team winning the battle....

Good Hunting

Edited by Petard, 24 April 2014 - 02:14 AM.

[Samual Kalkin]

5. Not Locking Your Target

I'm stupid unlike the elite geniuses, who are afraid someone may kill steal their target, or who can tell without a paper doll where a mech is most heavily damaged. When you do not lock what you are shooting at no one knows where your target is if they cannot see it themselves. Also, not locking enemies means that your team who cannot see that enemy has no clue that it is there. Your own LRM boats cannot indirectly shoot at your target if it is not locked, as well. Of course this does not apply to the elite geniuses who do not need any help, can defeat the enemy team solo when everyone else is dead, Of course will scream at everyone else for sucking after they were cornered in the poptart hidey hole, because no one else had a clue the enemy was closing the dead genius.

Edited by Samual Kalkin, 24 April 2014 - 12:44 PM.

[Biran Seraps]

If your team sticks together, you'll probably win the match. I'm always looking for a lot of blue blips nearby -- if I can't see them, it's time to find them.

I think the real skill in this game is survival. Nine times out of ten, if I'm standing at the end of the match, my team won.

[ramp4ge]

LRMs are like artillery in World of Tanks in many ways, except easier to use. They promote the same camp-or-die mechanics that get people so upset about artillery in WoT.

The redeeming factors are that they're much shorter range than WoT arty, they don't insta-gib you like arty does, and they can be shot down.

So while annoying, it's still not as bad as WoT arty. It still promotes camp-or-die gameplay, tho.

[Shatterpoint]

Biran Seraps, on 24 April 2014 - 02:34 PM, said:

If your team sticks together, you'll probably win the match.

And stick together doesn't mean stand 3m behind someone so they can't move or pin them to the nearest wall so they can't move, even Assaults need cover sometimes and they can't reach it while you're gathered at their feet blocking every direction.

[Training Instructor]

Fascism never worked out until the Americans tried it.

*I'm an American*

[Redshift2k5]

Always assume the enemy has LRMs.
Always assume the enemy has snipers.
Always assume the enemy has ECM.

[Greyboots]

ramp4ge, on 24 April 2014 - 03:25 PM, said:

So while annoying, it's still not as bad as WoT arty. It still promotes camp-or-die gameplay, tho.

Well, no it doesn't. ALL of my LRM boats are now designed to get eyes on the target.

One is a traditional LRM boat. LRMs + Artemis, a bunch of missiles and some medium lasers as backups. Getting eyes on my target as often as possible can boost the damage of this mech by over 300 per match.

One is a "hybrid". 3 x LRM 10 + Artemis, 1 PPC and 3 medium lasers. It's essentially a DDC troller. One PPC to chain at the DDC to shut down the ECM while the 3 LRM 10's chainfire at it.

Most of my heavies and assaults that are capable also run a single LRM rack. This means I can help out team-mates within 1000m (usually shorter) while I get myself into a position where my direct fire weapons can also be of assistance. LRMs are now a "weapon of terror" as much as a weapon of actually killing stuff. A "incoming Missile" warning will often make people think a missile boat has a lock on them.

They're also incredibly useful in those times where the front-runners of your team think it's a great time to stop in a choke point instead of push through so more team-mates can get in and help. The LRMs go over the top so I can contribute to the fight.

Just because it's very newbie-friendly to sit in full cover and launch barrage after barrage of missiles at the unwary doesn't mean that LRMs can't be put to better uses or that they "promote this sort of gameplay". They only promote that sort of gameplay Vs the unwary foe. Most LRM players figure out quite quickly that TAG and Artemis, both of which need LoS to operate, are valuable tools. Yes, there are times to sit in full cover and launch missiles. At other times it's VERY counter-productive.

I also can't wait until more players figure out that LRMs are for more than boating. The game will be better for it.

[Biran Seraps]

I've never seen much use for missiles of any kind. I've had some success with SRMs when I was forced into variants with missile points, but for me there's nothing like a long-range, fire-and-forget weapon. Hit the trigger and get back behind cover. I hate being in the open, period.

I'm not saying that LRMs don't work, but I just played a match where I heard "Incoming Missile" ten times and I think I got hit by some of them once. It might have been the sound of them hitting the building next to me. If the shooter had a long range beam or ballistic weapon, the story would not have been the same.

Which leads to another point. When I'm probing for a shot, seeing three of the enemy makes me do more of a mental calculation than seeing one. If I see one, I take the shot. If I see a few, I usually make sure my team is still nearby. When the LRM shooters are back behind cover, praying that their shots are going to hit something, their teammates are taking all the risks. How many times do you see a lonely missile boat getting run down by six enemy at the end of a match?

[Kjudoon]

ramp4ge, on 24 April 2014 - 03:25 PM, said:

LRMs are like artillery in World of Tanks in many ways, except easier to use. They promote the same camp-or-die mechanics that get people so upset about artillery in WoT.

The redeeming factors are that they're much shorter range than WoT arty, they don't insta-gib you like arty does, and they can be shot down.

So while annoying, it's still not as bad as WoT arty. It still promotes camp-or-die gameplay, tho.

Well, thanks for giving me reason to start playing WoT again and learn to play artillery.

Greyboots, what you're talking about is a very promising new style of play called LRMishing. It started coming into being about 2 months before the LRM buff and was fairly successful, but you need good brawling skills mixed with a heck of a lot of patience comparatively. I'd never try it with anything bigger than a very fast Catapult.

Edited by Kjudoon, 25 April 2014 - 07:01 AM.

[mailin]

Very good write-up. One that I would add, is don't keep firing on an enemy if they are out of (or nearly out of) weapons. So many times I see a friendly continuing to fire on a hunchy that is down to a single medium laser while taking fire from a fully armed different mech. Once that hunchy is down to a single weapon, switch targets. Take out the biggest threat, and once he is a lesser threat switch targets and stay on that new target until he is a lesser threat or dead.

Edited by mailin, 25 April 2014 - 09:45 AM.

[Alaskan Nobody]

Kjudoon, on 25 April 2014 - 06:59 AM, said:

Greyboots, what you're talking about is a very promising new style of play called LRMishing.

It was always there, it was just never very popular until then
(the 3xLRM5 Centurion Victor liked to mock was built around the theory)

[Foxfire kadrpg]

Petard, on 24 April 2014 - 01:38 AM, said:

Good post Foxfire, +1 for you, however, calling LRM boats no skill cowards is a fair stretch, and IMO completely inaccurate, there are skills involved in using LRM's, just the same as any other weapon, it is just that the skills are a little different to most weapons in MWO....

I did not make it evident but the "no skill coward" was meant as the novice's mis-characterization of the situation. I pilot a missle boat myself (favoring the BLR-1S) on the occasion that I am dropping with three of my good friends.

If I were to add to my own list, I would say number 5 is "thinking [anything] is easy and thus overpowered." Being successful with an LRM boat, for example, is not just waiting for the reticle to turn red. One has to maintain proper distance from both enemy and friends, being behind the allies, within range of the target, and (this is the part most do not realize) never being anywhere that can be reached by an enemy scout. So often as I was learning missiles "things were going well" until a spider started circling me... or a cicada... or an entire lance because I was simply standing in one place continuing to shoot.
One has to keep an eye on the reticle, the radar, the ID of the target (because your team benefits from you landing missiles on THEIR LRM boats more than introducing a spider to the new cruising speed of missiles, as well as selecting burst fire or chain fire to either break AMS or suppress a target for other friends. It should also go without saying, but you should monitor the hit feedback (sights turning red indicating a hit) just to make sure you aren't pelting the cover they are using rather than them.

All of you, thanks for the feedback, and I am elated if this was useful to anyone.

[Petard]

Foxfire kadrpg, on 25 April 2014 - 04:14 PM, said:

I did not make it evident but the "no skill coward" was meant as the novice's mis-characterization of the situation. I pilot a missle boat myself (favoring the BLR-1S) on the occasion that I am dropping with three of my good friends.

Fair enough, Foxfire, my apologies for misunderstanding...On another note, I also favor the BLR 1S for LRM support, although, I tend to not hang back out of sight, mine has a TAG for a good reason, evil mech in the right hands...

Edited by Petard, 27 April 2014 - 01:57 AM.