74 replies to this topic

[ManaValkyrie]

TankerActual,

Recommended Mechs for IS:

DRG-1N, FS9-S pretty much any map and mode.

RVN-3L (Dual ER Large Sniper ECM), BLR-1S (ER Large Sniper Build) - Boreal Attrition Deck

STK-4N, JM6-DD (Tripple UACs), TDR-5SS, AS7-D-DC (ECM Brawler) - Selection dependent upon weight/heat management.

There are others that can be used that will perform as well if the pilot is comfortable, but the above are common across IS Drop Decks.

[Prussian Havoc]

sycocys, on 23 April 2015 - 05:33 AM, said:

You goofy clanners should go argue about whose wiener is smaller somewhere else.

To the guy arguing against shared damage in lieu of combined arms - well we don't really have effective combined arms because of the poorly programmed ecm/lrms, so we do need to work with what we've got until PGI wakes up and fixes some core mechanics issues.

And yes I know 'most' of the pugs won't come here looking for info, but the vet pug players will - also this is a place for you non-pugs and CW vets to steer them to so they can get some info on how to set up intitally and what they should be doing as they enter CW/Tukayyid to start out on the right foot and have a more enjoyable time.

Soloists (as they naturally progress toward becoming COMP-gamers) will find your very worthy thread and be rightly influenced by your arguements.

And I thank you for your "tip of the hat" toward PGI's Comined Arms Warfare "work-in-progress."

During its day, Napoleonic troops standing shoulder to shoulder "sharing the danger (if not "sharing the damage" from anything but a cannonball)" was the apogee of Warfare.

Given that BattleTech/MWO (even if the effective range of game-missiles are only 630-meters effective) occurs circa 3050, I actively advocate on various forums and on Twitter (https://twitter.com/...967346382901248 and https://twitter.com/...115332052226049) for PGI to enter at least the modern age with respect to Combined Arms Warfare.


I am NOT advocating for necessarily making LRMs OP.

I am advocating for there being APPROPRIATE consequences when a Team decides WILLFULLY to assemble a "Murder Ball" where 12-Mechs move in tight knit formations/phalanx.

Did you ever wonder why phalanx in combat are as extinct as the dinosaurs?

Hand grenades, fused mortar rounds, proximity-detonated artillery shells ~ ALL these would have #PutPaid to any "Murder Balls" / phalanx formations.


Any incremental movement toward "Combat Realism / Combined Arms" however presents PGI with the twinned problems of Game Balance and Gamer Expectations. While I have hopes of "Thunder LRMs" being introduced into MWO one day (duration-finite "expendable" mines) I hold out little hope of Arrow or Long Tom ever being realistically approximated in game.

Again, thank you for your "poorly programed LRM /ECM" comment. We each enjoy our favorite and various select aspects of MWO. And when I really stop to think about it... PGI really does manage to keep so many of us engaged with the game IF NOT always pleased with ALL its facets.


It seems PGI dances along the edge of a razor when it comes to appeasing enough of its PAYING customers to stay solvent / finish paying off IGP for sole rights to the MWO. More power to PGI for getting us this far into MWO.

And at least until MW8 (MWLL being considered MW6 and MWO being considered MW7) begins to gain traction, PGI/MWO will be the focus of ALL my BattleTech-support/purchases...


...even if Star Citizen is developing into all the AeroTech/Naval FASA-style gaming I could ever want, BattleTech (MWO and eventual MW8) will continue to be the focus of 75% of my gaming purchases... of course that would be nearer-100% if PGI better balanced Indirect Fires with Direct Fire!

[sycocys]

Drop decks are dependent on what you have and who you are running with -

For new players/pugs I'd estimate the most accessible mix that will work alongside the widest amount of other decks:

Stalker, 2 Thunderbolts (they are all fairly solid), and an ecm Light.

Choose your favorite, best rigged ones of the lot making sure to stick mostly to direct fire weaponry and you'll start out with the right foot forward.

There are of course plenty of other combinations but this one has one of the best balances of armor to firepower and all the mechs play in a way that is fairly accessible across the board.

ECM (unfortunately) is greater than a stronger non-ecm variant, and if you are pugging the more ecm you drop the more your team will love you - and likely invite you to group up to better coordinate.

[scorpiontrekie2]

I do not normally respond to posts but this one bothered me. I am a crab lrm boat for one of my mechs. In clan warfare LRM boats can be useful. Responding to those that say LRMs do not get kills this is false. I found that in my case yes it strips off armor of people this is true also AMS does take out some (not all shots) but if you are skilled at them you can still get a decent amout of damage and kills with out luck just takes skill. Mainly however, I am tired of people bagging on people because they play with different weapons that they find playing confertable with. Because a game is not worth playing if you can't play to your personal style. I usually end up turning off chat or VOIP because I am tired of hearing or reading someone cussing or curseing over and over about what someone else did while spectating. The other issue is there should be in place a turn off friendly fire damage function. Starting a match with half armor or an arm shot off due to players not watching what they are doing most of whom are the same ones dictating what others should be putting in their mechs... Clan warfare should not have been put in place before issues like these and bugs fixed first. So quit complaing people about what someone has in their mech and worry about your own playing only. Yes it is a team style game but it isn't when people cry about everything and shoot their fellow players in the back just to get ahead...

[Steel Raven]

Thanks for this topic. As a casual player, my past CW drops have always gone horrible/comically wrong with one are two always saying something snaking as the team got crushed.

Some really solid advice here for anyone. Been spending allot of time in the Thunderbolt and ideally I would be dropping with a Firestarter or Raven, Thunderbolts and a Stalker. Don't have the time or cash for this deck so I'll be going with a Griffin and my three Thuds.

[Aim64C]

Can't honestly say I've ever been part of any pre-configured team.

My experience with LRMs has been that they are just not worth it.

They used to be pretty effective if you knew what you were doing with them. But too many people couldn't figure out how to use the OP-ness that is cover, and LRMs were pretty much dropped from the game.

Small lasers are a much more effective: "and **** you, too" weapon.

From a tactical standpoint - LRMs are a very delayed effect weapon - requiring an average of around 4 seconds (even when "brawling" with them). Worse - while you -can- acquire your own locks, you usually have to expose yourself to fire to get TAG or Artemis bonuses. While you are sitting there, waiting for LRMs to lock up - someone with direct fire weapons is lighting you up. Then, you have to maintain LOS for TAG and Artemis bonuses to work.

Within this context, even some of the insane missile boats that can throw nearly half a ton of ammo into the air at one time are just oversized sandblasters. The amount of ammo you need to carry to even begin to be relevant on the field makes you a walking powder keg. The amount of "optional" support equipment to push them just into the envelope of 'playable' weapons is staggering.

While I've far from worked the kinks out of the King Crab, I was able to effortlessly be more effective in a 4xSRM6 and 2x LB-10X build than I was any LRM build I could come up with. Even the 4xPPC and 4xSRM6 was a better combination.

Granted - those were brief trials I was mainly messing around in (and far from optimized) - but LRMs are just not effective weapon systems.

To use their 'advantage' of indirect fire requires someone to be in the line of direct fire (or a UAV / NARC). It also has the wonderful benefit of invalidating the tons of equipment you've equipped to be able to shoot things that you can see (if they are nice and stand still).

Maybe if the whole team carries a couple LRM5s and a dedicated set of spotters/NARCers goes at it... but that's expecting the enemy to play by the strategy. It might work in single drops, but in CW, you're better served by an extra set of medium lasers or upgrading a medium laser to a large laser, or something.

The fact is that if you aren't doing 600 points of damage in them, you aren't being nearly as effective as a laser or dakka boat that can put 300 points of damage on target. And to get 600 points of damage with LRMs - be prepared to throw at least 1000 missiles into the air - and that's if you're scoring hits most of the time. "Back when" - you were doing pretty good to see LRMs hit with 60-70% accuracy. Someone with 80% was either a god or just hadn't fired enough for the statistics to balance out.

There are some exceptions - the LRM-5 chainers can be effective because of the tight grouping of LRM-5s and the general lack of AMS these days (why invest a defense for a weapon that isn't there or too impotent to matter?) - but it is their combination of high speed/mobility and range that make them effective - able to push wide flanks and drop a steady stream of fire into rear armor.

That's of obviously limited use in Community Warfare - at least in its current attack/defend setup. If some kind of escort, "king of the hill" or other game play mode were to come into being - then they would have a lot more virtue.

At this point, I'm rambling.

The best builds I've found in CW (granted, I just puggle into them) are those that are direct fire exclusively. If you play Inner Sphere - Large Pulse Lasers and SRMs are your friends against the clans. Playing peek-a-boo with the Clans is also a fool's gambit. Why people insist on doing it is beyond me. You have to wait for them to lose their range advantage before you can even think about trying to focus them down.

The best place to kill clans is either just going for broke against the center torso - or the legs. Getting a damned stormcrow to stop moving is a good start, especially when their goal is not to kill you, but the generators.

I think that is, perhaps, one of the biggest misunderstandings I've seen in CW. The goal is to protect the generators, not your mech. That means breaking knee-caps and punching out torsos like no one's business. The best builds are inherently going to be high-alpha and high peak DPS - though that is true of almost any game mode.

[Sandersson Jankins]

I think the closest to a consensus that any of these players will reach is this:

If you're good (and I don't mean the kind of good that people think they are, you gotta have fanboys, you gotta be GOOD), you can use whatever you please and enemy mechs will be nothing but salvage.

There aren't that many players like that. I'm not one of them. Yeah, I'll get over 1k damage every match and if I'm doing well, over 2k. But that's standard "i am competent at CW" status, not any better. I see certain players that I know run LRMs well, and I'm coordinating with them to take NARC.

I'm pretty sure that any of these very good players would use conventional "meta" loadouts, they'd do slightly to moderately better.

But that doesn't matter. We shouldn't even be discussing matters in terms of "what is best". You gotta understand, people WILL play as they wish. If they feel they can't play as they wish, they won't play!

Unfortunately, thoughtful and active players will often have to accommodate those that are not. You'll have newer players in LRM chassis (seems to be a common new player archetype) pouring alpha after alpha into the side of a mountain more often than ideal.

You can either be upset about it, or help them to realize that they're doing it wrong!

Or you could be upset AND help them, but that might be advised

Edited by Sandersson Jankins, 23 April 2015 - 11:09 PM.

[Prussian Havoc]

sycocys, on 23 April 2015 - 02:32 PM, said:

Spoiler

Drop decks are dependent on what you have and who you are running with -

For new players/pugs I'd estimate the most accessible mix that will work alongside the widest amount of other decks:

Stalker, 2 Thunderbolts (they are all fairly solid), and an ecm Light.

Choose your favorite, best rigged ones of the lot making sure to stick mostly to direct fire weaponry and you'll start out with the right foot forward.

There are of course plenty of other combinations but this one has one of the best balances of armor to firepower and all the mechs play in a way that is fairly accessible across the board.

ECM (unfortunately) is greater than a stronger non-ecm variant, and if you are pugging the more ecm you drop the more your team will love you - and likely invite you to group up to better coordinate.

scorpiontrekie2, on 23 April 2015 - 03:29 PM, said:

Spoiler

I do not normally respond to posts but this one bothered me. I am a crab lrm boat for one of my mechs. In clan warfare LRM boats can be useful. Responding to those that say LRMs do not get kills this is false. I found that in my case yes it strips off armor of people this is true also AMS does take out some (not all shots) but if you are skilled at them you can still get a decent amout of damage and kills with out luck just takes skill. Mainly however, I am tired of people bagging on people because they play with different weapons that they find playing confertable with. Because a game is not worth playing if you can't play to your personal style. I usually end up turning off chat or VOIP because I am tired of hearing or reading someone cussing or curseing over and over about what someone else did while spectating. The other issue is there should be in place a turn off friendly fire damage function. Starting a match with half armor or an arm shot off due to players not watching what they are doing most of whom are the same ones dictating what others should be putting in their mechs... Clan warfare should not have been put in place before issues like these and bugs fixed first. So quit complaing people about what someone has in their mech and worry about your own playing only. Yes it is a team style game but it isn't when people cry about everything and shoot their fellow players in the back just to get ahead...

You both have excellent points - allow me to try to synthesize a middle ground.

If a player-new-to-MWO decides to learn brawling first, his mistakes as a rule, are lost amid the chaos of battle. Since he fearlessly wades in he is cut a lot of slack and EVENTUALLY learns enough to be value-added to a Team.

If an equally new-to-MWO-player decides first to learn the ways and mysteries of the LRM - his mistakes are SILHOUETTED for all to castigate, revile and condem. Just by the geometry of indirect fire (even when employed correctly - in line of sight with a TAG to cancel-ECM and most importantly within 250-500 meters to ensure limited time-in-flight for MAX kill potential with Targeting Information Gathering aid (module AND BAP.)



For players-new-to-MWO going the Brawler leads to Skirmisher leads to Sniper leads to Scout leads to LRM route will afford you MAXIMUM opportunity to learn ALL nuances of the game with MUCH less fuss from fellow gamers who will profess to know YOUR business better than you.

BUT if like myself you just have to #LEARN2LOVEtheLRM, just be ready for a ration of intolerance... and if your laptop (like mine) routinely falls into the single frames-per-second (fps) when you try to #KnifeFight (brawl) please don't give up on the game for all its intolerance, just persevere, master what you can, and enjoy those aspects that your system affords you the opportunity to enjoy - we ALL can't have $2k to $8k gaming-monsters!

[TripleEhBeef]

Yeah, I decided to give my TBT-5J lurm chucker a whirl for giggles. Didn't go so well. Fortunately its a five second refit from a 100kph laser spewing light hunter.

[luxebo]

sycocys, on 21 April 2015 - 02:57 AM, said:

4. The only 2 'viable' Trial mechs are the raven-3L

None of this is valid if you say a light trial with half of it's leg armor is "viable".

[Romeo Deluxe]

Good advice for myself I will deviate by bringing a light deck. It's what I do and the role I have most played in MWO. Perhaps I don't have the armor, but if I keep moving they keep shooting at me and hopefully overheating. When base defending I'm usually the one that can peel off and get to that one that snuck into the back quicker than anyone else. Otherwise I'm scouting and watching the flanks. Focusing whenever possible.

[mxlm]

ManaValkyrie, on 23 April 2015 - 10:00 AM, said:

JM6-DD (Tripple UACs),

What does your build with this look like? Even with a downsized XL and no secondary weapons, I find I run dry before I get killed. I mean, I do a lot of damage with the ammo I do have, but I could do more.

[Kyria Clearwater]

mxlm, on 26 April 2015 - 12:10 AM, said:

What does your build with this look like? Even with a downsized XL and no secondary weapons, I find I run dry before I get killed. I mean, I do a lot of damage with the ammo I do have, but I could do more.

To be fair mxlm, I dont personally use Tripples, just know plenty of the NS guys do, personally I prefer Std 260, 2 med lasers, 2 uac5's case in both side torso's and 6 and a half tons of u-ac5 ammo. I happen to throw in bap, but that can be shifted for more ammo.

[Pat Kell]

I love it when the enemy brings lots of LRMs. Just means that I get a guaranteed victory. The reason is exactly as sycocys states, by sitting in the back, lobbing missiles that will spread there damage all over the place, including walls and the ground, you have effectively removed yourself as a target. If 12 mechs are lined up and have 12 other mechs to shoot at, it becomes a bit of a free for all even if targets are being called. You can count on maybe 3-5 people shooting the called target as everyone else just shoots the closest thing in front of them. Damage is being spread around a lot and mechs live longer, dealing more damage. If you have 3 LRM boats sitting in cover, that leaves only 9 mechs to chose from, making it more likely that any given mech will be focused by more people and thus die sooner. The ONLY time an LRM boat is an effective LRM boat is when they are up front, taking damage and spotting their own targets. I'm sorry if you disagree but LRM's are a mild nuisance at best in all situations short of the one I mentioned. At worst, they guarantee a loss because you refused to you use your armor to help your brawlers and high damage dealers stay alive longer.

Also, doing 2k damage in a LRM boat is basically the equivalent of doing 1k in a direct fire load out (provided the direct fire guy can aim somewhat). But by all means, keep bringing those LRM boats, makes my job easier. Take comfort in knowing that the pesky little alarm is what drove me into cover while denying that I needed to take cover anyway as I just got off 2 massive alphas in your friends face and had to go cool off. In a sense, all LRM boats are doing is forcing people to go into cover to cool off, thus saving them the embarrassment of shutting down in front of the enemy...just one more thing that makes LRM's a poor choice. Let people stay out shooting as fast as they can, clan mechs overheat A LOT if you let them...stop pushing them into cover, it's silly...wait, no, keep doing it, I like winning.

Edited by Pat Kell, 27 April 2015 - 01:44 AM.

[Prussian Havoc]

Pat Kell, on 27 April 2015 - 01:43 AM, said:

Spoiler

I love it when the enemy brings lots of LRMs. Just means that I get a guaranteed victory. The reason is exactly as sycocys states, by sitting in the back, lobbing missiles that will spread there damage all over the place, including walls and the ground, you have effectively removed yourself as a target. If 12 mechs are lined up and have 12 other mechs to shoot at, it becomes a bit of a free for all even if targets are being called. You can count on maybe 3-5 people shooting the called target as everyone else just shoots the closest thing in front of them. Damage is being spread around a lot and mechs live longer, dealing more damage. If you have 3 LRM boats sitting in cover, that leaves only 9 mechs to chose from, making it more likely that any given mech will be focused by more people and thus die sooner. The ONLY time an LRM boat is an effective LRM boat is when they are up front, taking damage and spotting their own targets. I'm sorry if you disagree but LRM's are a mild nuisance at best in all situations short of the one I mentioned. At worst, they guarantee a loss because you refused to you use your armor to help your brawlers and high damage dealers stay alive longer.

Also, doing 2k damage in a LRM boat is basically the equivalent of doing 1k in a direct fire load out (provided the direct fire guy can aim somewhat). But by all means, keep bringing those LRM boats, makes my job easier. Take comfort in knowing that the pesky little alarm is what drove me into cover while denying that I needed to take cover anyway as I just got off 2 massive alphas in your friends face and had to go cool off. In a sense, all LRM boats are doing is forcing people to go into cover to cool off, thus saving them the embarrassment of shutting down in front of the enemy...just one more thing that makes LRM's a poor choice. Let people stay out shooting as fast as they can, clan mechs overheat A LOT if you let them...stop pushing them into cover, it's silly...wait, no, keep doing it, I like winning.

It is called "Combined Arms" and if PGI has not yet implemented Thunder LRMs (mine-laying munitions) nor Arrow IV nor Long Tom Artillery (which is not those firecrackers PGI calls Artilery Strike and Airstrike) nor balanced Indirect Fire to within even 50% of its effectiveness in FASA TableTop... then it is no wonder Direct-Fire guys like yourself have an overinflated sense of self-worth within the game. (The fact that you call for the extinction of Indirect Fire is hilarious.)

There is a reason MURDERBALL does not work in FASA's BattleTech... it is called Area Effect Weapons.

The closer PGI brings MWO to BattleTech the more Direct Fire guys will need to learn about Combined Arms Warfare.

[Pat Kell]

I know what it's called and in real life or FASA table top as you say, it is very effective. In the current state though, LRM's are nerfing your team. Once those things are added, then people can adapt but trying to get people to believe that LRM's in it's current state are effective is being hurtful to people who are trying to learn the game. Believing that they have any use beyond a few select cases is making people believe in a false sense of security and once they lose, and lose badly, they get mad and are tempted to quit playing this game. Teach people about what works...not what you wish would worked or what works in some other iteration of this game.

Also, I don't really view myself as having an over inflated sense of self worth. This is precisely why I am always up front sharing my armor with the rest of the team so that they can live longer and do more damage than they would if I truly had an over inflated sense of self worth and sat in the back doing tons of damage and keeping my armor all to myself. In my opinion, the people using LRM's are more deserving of that accusation. They are the ones demanding that we hold locks and spot for them...screw that, get your ass on the line and do some damage and take your fair share of the damage. I have no patience for people who think it's ok to sit 300-400 meters behind the front line and do 2k damage in 1 mech...your buddies are dying up here, get up front and truly help them out. If you want to impress people with high damage scores, do it on the front line while helping to keep your friends alive. Achieving 2-3k damage while letting your friends take all the damage means nothing if your friends are dying too fast to be effective.

Edited by Pat Kell, 28 April 2015 - 01:37 AM.

[multisoul]

so much cowardice during this event... the stories that could be told...
the poor salvage and support teams that have to clean the crap from the cockpits...
double bacon rations for the technicians and an extra week of holidays on the beach to forget the throw up and crap that is everywhere
mostly in IS Mechs but saw some beauty among Clan mercenaries as well
I even had 3 games (out of 33) so far where the team abandoned each other so well, I could not make the 80 points
bring lrms ONLY in 12man unit drops, so your shame can be remembered by your friends

[multisoul]

Pat Kell, on 27 April 2015 - 01:43 AM, said:

I love it when the enemy brings lots of LRMs. Just means that I get a guaranteed victory. The reason is exactly as sycocys states, by sitting in the back, lobbing missiles that will spread there damage all over the place, including walls and the ground, you have effectively removed yourself as a target. If 12 mechs are lined up and have 12 other mechs to shoot at, it becomes a bit of a free for all even if targets are being called. You can count on maybe 3-5 people shooting the called target as everyone else just shoots the closest thing in front of them. Damage is being spread around a lot and mechs live longer, dealing more damage. If you have 3 LRM boats sitting in cover, that leaves only 9 mechs to chose from, making it more likely that any given mech will be focused by more people and thus die sooner. The ONLY time an LRM boat is an effective LRM boat is when they are up front, taking damage and spotting their own targets. I'm sorry if you disagree but LRM's are a mild nuisance at best in all situations short of the one I mentioned. At worst, they guarantee a loss because you refused to you use your armor to help your brawlers and high damage dealers stay alive longer.

Also, doing 2k damage in a LRM boat is basically the equivalent of doing 1k in a direct fire load out (provided the direct fire guy can aim somewhat). But by all means, keep bringing those LRM boats, makes my job easier. Take comfort in knowing that the pesky little alarm is what drove me into cover while denying that I needed to take cover anyway as I just got off 2 massive alphas in your friends face and had to go cool off. In a sense, all LRM boats are doing is forcing people to go into cover to cool off, thus saving them the embarrassment of shutting down in front of the enemy...just one more thing that makes LRM's a poor choice. Let people stay out shooting as fast as they can, clan mechs overheat A LOT if you let them...stop pushing them into cover, it's silly...wait, no, keep doing it, I like winning.

add this:
12 clan mechs facing 8 approaching IS and mowing them, while 4 grannies try in vain to get locks for their LRM. Followed by 12 clanners pushing each other who will get to gut the remaining 4 turkeys

Edited by multisoul, 28 April 2015 - 07:34 AM.

[KhanJames]

I would say most of OPs statement is right. But i think the Issue is more with mindset (everyone just wants kills) the simple reality is its called support for a reason you likely wont get kills you help your team advance and then cry as they steal all the kills. Theres no problem with that, I like to call it the "call of duty" conundrum everyone wants one thing and as a result they focus on KDR alone. Thats why there so point getting other game modes everyone focuses on kills anyways. why play capture when you want skirmish, but i see lots of people in cap just "play turret" (start sniping at enemies). Sad but simple issue that is going to get worse with steam but thats the price you pay.

Personally If your bringing LRMS (aka playing support) you need to actually support your team. Seen alotta people sitting in one place ignoring targets shooting at there team to focus on one target to try and get a kill. IMO thats wrong as a LRM boat you should be keeping the enemies in cover so your team can advance,(like a ecm umbrella but with missiles.) And I agree Personally "Sniper" > "LRM Boat" for support but for Cw map size means LRMS can hit outside line of sight which makes them valuable support if used properly. which is to me more of the issue.

You shouldn't have 2 LRM primary mechs. That stuff irritates me as much as seeing LRM boat king crabs(sadly seen quite a few of them for some reason). Your team is dependent of a TEAM. its just as annoying as a disco when theres only 8-9 guys pushing a line against the entire enemy team because someone wants to "support"

If you have LRMs as backup (aka use lrms when advance slows) its different, and IMO maddog is one that gets away with it better because of load out (mine usually runs lrms with LPL+2ML / Tag+3MPL) so it can still hold its own it a fight, not gonna win fights easy but its not gonna make your team have to "carry" as much of your weight like they would with LRM only catapults. (Speaking of which why would you ever bring one in CW. They get close in say a charge (which occurs every game) and your useless running away while your team thinks there's someone there holding the line.

So basically LRMS only as support if your actually smart enough (and willing so sacrifice kdr) to figure out how to support your team.

[Phaelon Wolf]

Pat Kell, on 28 April 2015 - 01:12 AM, said:

Spoiler

I know what it's called and in real life or FASA table top as you say, it is very effective. In the current state though, LRM's are nerfing your team. Once those things are added, then people can adapt but trying to get people to believe that LRM's in it's current state are effective is being hurtful to people who are trying to learn the game. Believing that they have any use beyond a few select cases is making people believe in a false sense of security and once they lose, and lose badly, they get mad and are tempted to quit playing this game. Teach people about what works...not what you wish would worked or what works in some other iteration of this game.

Also, I don't really view myself as having an over inflated sense of self worth. This is precisely why I am always up front sharing my armor with the rest of the team so that they can live longer and do more damage than they would if I truly had an over inflated sense of self worth and sat in the back doing tons of damage and keeping my armor all to myself. In my opinion, the people using LRM's are more deserving of that accusation. They are the ones demanding that we hold locks and spot for them...screw that, get your ass on the line and do some damage and take your fair share of the damage. I have no patience for people who think it's ok to sit 300-400 meters behind the front line and do 2k damage in 1 mech...your buddies are dying up here, get up front and truly help them out. If you want to impress people with high damage scores, do it on the front line while helping to keep your friends alive. Achieving 2-3k damage while letting your friends take all the damage means nothing if your friends are dying too fast to be effective.

"Sharing your Armor with your teammates..." You make it sound so NOBLE to fight shoulder to shoulder like a double hand full of Napoleonic or Covil War era Infantry in a game that is indeed capable of so very much more.

Yes, you (and quite of few of those responding here) can indeed reduce the game to 24 Napoleonic Old Guard - double files of 12 - all facing each other across 400-meters of Boreal Vault. Mech will fall, cored through and through by Gauss shot and A/C shell. Just as it was back in 1812 (or 1863 if you prefer the US Civil War) the side that does not faulted under fire, the side that concentrates fire and cores out XL-torsos or who's snipers can headshot the Assaults will no doubt have the advantage and win.

But there is already more to the game than what has clearly been colored by your exposure to teammates you are clearly blaming for a number of your previous losses.

When done right, a Soloist LRM driver can realize an exceptional Combined Arms effect, if is just a shame of our gaming community that a few feel the imperative to castigate so many who want to learn the ways and mysteries of a value-added LRM-Driver:

Spoiler

All four of my Mechs "shared" ALL their Armor on the way to near 3300-damage. My lowest scoring Mech was my SRM MDD that went NMC (non-mission capable) while clearing our 2 Lights and an Assault acting as rear guard of a Right-side Boreal E6/7 "trench" attack.

The remaining three shared many things in common:

1). Each were pure MDD LRM Boats with Quad-ERML for secondary weapons.

2). Vast majority of damage dished out occurred with me 250-400meters from my target.

3). Vast majority of damage dished out occurred in direct Line of Sight with me lazed the targets with a TAG and canceling one of their ECM-Mechs with my BAP.

4). Mobility (near 90kph, same as my four CW Hunchback 4Js) and an intimate knowledge of Boreal's amazingly network of lines of inter-visibility proved essential to continuous fire while on the move and ALWAYS focus firing Enemy Assault Mechs as they attempted to bring friendly Heavies under fire.

5). Dry-fire suppression proved effective (it is always a mixed bag) often buying time for friendly lines to reform as new Mechs regained position within our firing lines.

6). And all the above was accomplished without being on TeamSpeak what so ever... I prefer to listen to Class '80s Rock than the banal antics of LRM-haters who know nothing of the benefits of Combined Arms synergies... I even resisted the temptation to drop on their TeamSpeak at the end, up load the screen capture and ask them if they appreciated the LRM support.



So you see, your skewed, shaming of would-be LRM-Drivers only reinforced erroneous stereotypes.

Teach them how to do it right. Show them tactics and techniques that work. Equally important show them what doesn't work.

Heaping verbal abuse on would-be Missileers (as we ALL have heard on VoIP and seen in chat) is an act of Bullying rather than Team Building imo.

It is a game.

Using profanity or in-game public-shaming for ANY reason ALWAYS says more about the immaturity of the speaker than the target of his rant.



Think about it.

Edited by Phaelon Wolf, 29 April 2015 - 12:45 AM.