22 replies to this topic

[InsertRubiksCube]

As a light 'mech you need to know your role, with a bunch of Jenners and Firestarters running around not knowing what to do as a light 'mech. The match will be disastrous. Just like Assaults Lights have their important place in the game too, however they are not as recognized as Assaults. Now unlike other 'mech types, the light is very fast and still packs a hefty amount of firepower, and as I light it is your job to use those two perks together. Some people go straight into battle first as a light. And this is not wise, lights have typically bad armor, so jumping straight into battle is a mistake, what you need to do is stay behind and go up behind the enemy, and 'spy' on them, reporting your findings to your team. And if you can't spy the best thing to do is stay behind an Assault or Heavy 'mech and back them up.

[Spike Brave]

I like to pilot lights. The OP has missed something very important. Don't forget to cap. This is your job on conquest.

[dr lao]

thanks I just started my light I was hoping it was ok to gard the Assault or Heavy mech's 99% of the time lights run in packs looking for stray enemy's .

Edited by dr lao, 26 April 2014 - 05:44 PM.

[Not A Real RAbbi]

Light packs can be formidable.

My team played a match recently, in which the opponents kept their lights with the big group. 12 mechs, covering all four weight classes, all moving together, fighting together. It was truly awesome to see, even from the cockpit of one of their victims. The lights stayed in orbit of the bigger group, running the perimeter but never straying too far from the big mechs. And they were vicious.

A light pilot's role depends on a few things. You're right to point out the game mode. In Conquest, lights can be VERY useful in just securing the resource advantage. I've seen many a Conquest match end in defeat for my team, where we were far ahead in the kill count. And vice-versa.

Their pack tactics can drop an Atlas in a single pass, with well-placed fire.

ECM-equipped lights can do excellent work as escorts to the main group, helping to keep LRMs and SSRMs off the bigger mechs, only to strike out later in the match and exploit their speed.

Their speed, by the way, helps make them excellent spotters (forward observers, if you will). They can move quickly to find the enemy, identify his stragglers, and spot for indirect fire support, as well as helping their commander decide how to deploy his force.

But it takes a special kind to pilot these fast, light mechs effectively. I'm learning that I'm not the kind of pilot for that job, that I'm better suited for fire support roles that depend on good recon work from friendly light mechs.

For those of you that find yourselves my teammates, in PUG or team, and pilot lights well, I'll keep a cold one for you. It's scarcely rewarding work, but done well it's very important.

[Shatterpoint]

Funny how the roles completely reversed at some point since the game launched.

I remember lights chasing lights and only harassing the big guys opportunistically while the big guns slug it out with each other.

Now lights seem to only engage assaults and the assaults have little choice but to spend a match fighting those lights because their own teams light mechs provide no defense (too busy killing assaults across the field).

The mediums and heavies get left alone in comparison so they're freed up to run around killing targets of opportunity.

I can't remember the last time I saw a match come down to the "hero" Jenner whose team had been killed, valiantly trying to leg the few remaining giants left on the enemy team.

[1453 R]

No.

Light 'Mechs have the most diverse set of possible roles in the game, as the good Rabbi pointed out. Reconnaissance and escort are only two of them, and the former is generally a waste of time in PUG matches. Not only are your teammates never going to be coordinated enough to take advantage of your information (if they're willing to listen to you in the first place), but the enemy isn't going to be moving in such a way as to make recon necessary anyways.

Fatty escort is generally better done by mediums, with the exception of the DuaLarge RVN-3L. That sucker is tailor-made to act as close fire support for a group of bigguns, offering ECM cover and surprising damage counts in the right hands. All the rest of the time, though? Tethering your lights to the main body curtails their advantage of speed and mobility, which is the sole and single reason to even run a light in the first place. Certainly a light 'Mech needs to be cautious about when/how to make their harassing attacks, but a light 'Mech not booking it around the field doing what they do best is a light 'Mech not living up to its potential. Not all (IS) light 'Mechs are necessarily backstabbing rogues...but the best ones are.

The one thing you don't do in a light 'Mech (unless you're in Oxide or a 2D Trollmando) is chase other light 'Mechs. You are literally the worst choice for light-fighting out there save for an Atlas - light-fights take forever, leave the winning light mostly dead unless there's a serious skill imbalance between pilots, and due to both of those things they effectively take both light 'Mechs out of the fight, win or lose. I would rather light-hunt in my Victor than my Firestarter, even post-Victor nerf. Leave light-hunting to mediums, or anything else equipped with a few Streak launchers/pulse lasers, and go find something more productive to do with your time.

Fair fights are for losers. Never engage in one unless you have no choice whatsoever.

[Munin Ravensong]

A quote from a different game I play...... "If you find yourself in a "fair" fight, both you AND your opponent miscalculated." and of course the wisdom of Sun Tsu states quite clearly "He will win, who knows when to fight and when NOT to fight."

[1453 R]

Clearly some people missed the memo.

[mogs01gt]

Other than scouting, its really helpful when ECM lights come BACK to the team once brawling begins. ECM is very hopefuly to the team and you can even stay behind everyone and take pop shots.


Now if there is an ECM Atlas around, that changes the strategy.

[Arc Viper]

The locust is the only light mech that I think is an exception to this rule. Scouting as a locust has potentially disasterous consequences because walking in on the bulk of the enemy means instant death. I always sit back and hide near my vulnerable allies, waiting to strike if lights attack them. I never do this strategy with my other lights, but with the locust this method is critical.

But one thing still holds true for all lights. Aim for the butt. They don't call them (At)l(ass) for nothing.

Edited by Arc Viper, 29 April 2014 - 01:46 PM.

[ArmandTulsen]

Being the squirrel and breaking their formations.

That's it.

[CheeseThief]

Spiders are great at playing squirrel.
Jenners and Firestarters are good for hunting down stragglers and reminding people that back armour is important.
Ravens are good for scouting and hunting down the wounded.
Commandos are good at intercepting other light mechs and ruining their fun.
Lolcusts are good for lols.

Different lights conform to different rolls. If I want to hunt fatties, then I'll grab a firestarter or Jenner since they have the firepower and armour to stick around and hurt people. If I want to make another light pilots game a living hell, then I'll grab a commando and use that spead to get on their tail and pound them incessently with streaks. If I want to be a dastardly troll to the enemy, then spiders, if I want to troll my team instead, locusts.

[Sigilum Sanctum]

Me and my friends will run an all locust lance. We'll take extreme flanks since we're so fast and start assassinating all the enemies stragglers one by one. Eventually our team catches on and makes a hard push. Once we're in deep enough the enemy team will turn around and wonder where their other 4 allies went while theyre getting rolled. :3

[mailin]

I have all the lights mastered and by far my favorites are the Spider 5D and the Raven 3L. In my 5D with 3 mplas I will first spot and target the enemy for friendly lrm boats. Once the brawl begins I will often run in and hop around aiming for specific components (usually legs). In my 3L I have streaks, mls and a tag. I will usually hang out about 600m away from the enemy's rear while tagging their legs. I take immense and perverse pleasure in watching the lrms hit my enemies while they try to figure out where the spotter is. (I have my best luck on Caustic with this tactic.)

One thing that I always try to do is at the beginning of every match I look to see how many ECMs my team has. If I'm the only one, once the brawl begins I try to run back to my buddies to provide ECM cover.

No matter what, I find the role of a light pilot to be much more satisfying than pop tarting, but that's maybe just me.

[Dawnstealer]

In my Ember, it's not unusual for me to take out a lance. Solo.

That said? You're right: Lights have a much easier job of capping out the enemy and knowing what game you're playing and which role you need to fill is important.

But...

Especially when you're grinding out games, you don't really get anything for capping. So while it's awesome to run around a map and sit on a cap point and watch it flash for three minutes while you go and do other things like do the dishes or vacuum the floor, that's not a real rewarding experience. I'm not playing a game of giant stompy battlebots to stare at a flashing bar slowly (so slowly) turn blue.

Nothing sucks more than winning a game on caps, but only walking away with an absolute minimum of xp/cbills. Even in a loss, you get more if you engage the enemy. Now if I have a fully-grinded Light, I'll focus entirely on capping, if I see no one else is doing it (even though I'm a capable pilot), but what you might be seeing is the nature of a game focused on cbill and xp grinding.

[Atomic Funk]

As my motto says..."Probe, Pester, Pursuit and Punish" . Speed is life in a light. When I run my ECM Raven in team coverage, its the only time I slow down, but even then I'm orbiting the bulk of my teams heavy hitters at speed.
A productive light pilot will also cycle his target marker looking for the vulnerable point on a target of opportunity and hit em while they are otherwise engaged with an ally team member. You can also serve to turn an enemy mech so your more powerful team mate can get a shot at a vulnerable component.

[Chive On]

All very good advice, thank you.

[Bigbacon]

funny as a light pilot, i absolutely hate having to go 1 on 1 with another light and always try to bait them into following me to friendly.

with the lights, to me anyway, you have a big role to play. I end up either spotting and telling the team of enemy movements (in chat), harassing them from flanks to get the enemy to stop doing whatever is it they are doing, and all around just being annoying once the brawling starts, I'd rather rather the enemy get annoyed with me so they stop fighting the bigger mechs.

I do also play capture boy in conquest. For me, I would like to win the round, the c-bills/etc are good but I just want to win. Usually taking the time to capture early means there is a good chance to win on points when you are the only one left and hiding.

though this is something to not do....when you team is getting stomped I get kind of angry and just go all out frontal assault on large groups...

and there is nothing more satisfying than being in a round where you seemingly beat the odds and end up being the last one alive and taking out 4 or 5 mechs to win the day. doesn't happen often for me but it just is fun.

[Mouzie]

While just getting into the game. I learn by trial and error (aka: blown up) as a Raven 4x which is a requirement to get the 3X later on. That not all light can be speedsters. I learn that the 4X is an AMAZING tagger/sniper. If you set up long range perks in the pilot tree you can be very far away (roughly 800-900 meters to zap them). With the 4X you have good armor and can take good hits. My set up is setting 1 to fire my long range laser, tag, and LRM 5, the LRM 5 will not fire unless you get a target via the tag so you won't spam/waste ammo. I also have two machine guns which while not impressive are good weapons to retreat with. As a tagger-sniper you stay behind and tag/zap the enemies while forcing them to waste anti-missle on yours while your team mates heavier weapons can bypass and hit hard.

This gives you a great offensive capability at long ranges and short (but even with the armor you're doomed). However, the only side effect is that my speed which is 90.2 is slower than nearly most of the fast light class, but I can lose my sides, arms, etc. without dying. I seriously lost all my arms, sides, legs, etc. a few times (gangbanged on is not fun).

Edited by Mouzie, 07 May 2014 - 05:52 AM.

[mailin]

I can and have fought multiple lights successfully in my 3L, but I'd much rather take them on one at a time. The important thing about running a light is situational awareness. You MUST know where your team is at all times so that if you need to, you can run to them for backup (hopefully some of the enemy will follow you), Also, you need to notice any friendlies that have become separated. If they get in trouble, try to get in there and provide cover until they can regroup. If however, they are getting swarmed, get out of there, send a quick message in team chat that reads something like, "need help D4", and then get back in there for as long as you can. If you're fairly new and/or not that good at aiming then focus on enemy legs. I can't stress this enough. Focus on those legs. Enemies that get legged are sitting ducks for other friendlies.