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When To Shoot Leg, St, Or Ct?


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#1 Noobie4Ever

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Posted 27 April 2015 - 03:28 PM

Hi everyone! I recently got back into this game after playing it when it just "came out" a year or so ago and switched right to piloting assault mechs.

Anyways I've been wondering lately when is the optimal time to shoot at legs, side torsi or center torso? How do I quickly tell if a mech is running an XL and etc?

Any help would be appreciated!

#2 990Dreams

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Posted 27 April 2015 - 03:34 PM

Leg lights if their legs are already clean of armor. Side torso Lights and most fast Mediums. CT if they're already legged. If you have a hunch that they're running an XL engine, go side torso. It can't hurt.

Now, say you have an AS7-S boating SRM-6s. Take out its side torso with the SRMs. Why? Now you've deprived it of a lot of firepower. It is essentially risk assessment (in this case it is disabled v/s dead). It is all up to you to prioritize in the situation you're in.

The only time I'd advise against risks like these are if the match/our life are at stake, in which case take the CT (a sure fire way to kill).

Edited by DavidHurricane, 27 April 2015 - 03:35 PM.


#3 Wintersdark

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Posted 27 April 2015 - 03:36 PM

Play with builds for various mechs in Smurfy, you'll get a feel for loadouts with XL or STD engines. Basically, if something has a lot of firepower, it's probably an XL, otherwise STD.

As to legs, ST, CT... it depends on the mech, situation, existing damage, etc. If you're unsure, pick one and stick with it. Crippled mechs are better than ones that have taken a lot of damage everywhere but are still running at 100% offensive ability. A legged mech, or one that's lost half+ it's firepower, is a lot less dangerous to your team.

There's just too many factors to give general answers.

#4 Darwins Dog

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Posted 27 April 2015 - 03:42 PM

There are a few mechs that you will come to know always run an XL. Dragons, Catapults, and Jagermechs come to mind immediately. Apart from those, as you gain experience you will start to recognize loadouts that simply HAVE to have XL to work. Typically any medium, heavy, or assault mechs that are packing heavy ballistic loadouts, and/or moving fast for their weight class.

Clan mechs are an exception. They always have XL engines, but you need to take out the CT or both side torsos to bring them down.

Otherwise, shoot at what's already wounded and try to aim for weapons. The previously mentioned AS7-S or hunchbacks have obvious locations with all of the firepower. Most of that knowledge is pretty specific and comes with experience.

When in doubt, legging them is never a bad idea. It leaves them slow enough that you can avoid them and move on to another threat. Lots of people also strip leg armor and store ammo there, making it an even better target.

#5 InspectorG

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Posted 27 April 2015 - 03:45 PM

If you are a light pilot trying to solo a slow assault try this:

Dont always go for the r-CT right away.

Depending on the target and his positioning relating to his team, if he is on a flank you want to get him away from his team.

So shoot the r-ST or leg(if you think its full of ammo- LRM boats) on the side nearest his team, he may run for cover away from his team removing friendlies.

Even if you dont end up with the solo kill, dancing with him subtracts his firepower from hitting your team.

#6 Timicon

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Posted 27 April 2015 - 03:49 PM

Most, if not everyone will not agree with me on this one, but I personally feel that legging of any kind is nothing but a coward's move. Anyone can shoot at the legs of a mech to disable them, but it takes the true and fine skill of a Real MechWarrior to go for the torso and side torsi of any 'Mech in a battle, to bring down their opponent. To leg is to broadcast to the World: "Look at me, I am piloting a 'Mech! I cannot fight, but I do not need to, when I can leg!"

Leggers to me, in any form, are nothing short of monkey washers and deserve to be technicians or bondsmen and bondswomen of the Clans than ever carry the (prestigious) title of MechWarrior.

#7 Saint Atlas and the Commando Elf

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Posted 27 April 2015 - 03:52 PM

There is no golden rule.

-Shooting legs is good when the enemy is faster than you. If you are significantly faster, you don't need to leg him.

-Go for ST when a clan mech already lost the other ST. If a clan mech is 100% intact go for CT.

-When in doubt go for CT.

-Best rule is probably to shoot where your teammate is shooting.

#8 zudukai

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Posted 27 April 2015 - 04:31 PM

View PostLeif Tanner, on 27 April 2015 - 03:49 PM, said:

Most, if not everyone will not agree with me on this one, but I personally feel that legging of any kind is nothing but a coward's move. Anyone can shoot at the legs of a mech to disable them, but it takes the true and fine skill of a Real MechWarrior to go for the torso and side torsi of any 'Mech in a battle, to bring down their opponent. To leg is to broadcast to the World: "Look at me, I am piloting a 'Mech! I cannot fight, but I do not need to, when I can leg!"

Leggers to me, in any form, are nothing short of monkey washers and deserve to be technicians or bondsmen and bondswomen of the Clans than ever carry the (prestigious) title of MechWarrior.

QQ moar,

not taking advantage of an under armored leg or removing an assault from the main fight is a huge advantage to you or your team, sure it is not fun to be in a legged assault going 20kph hoping some poor sod will walk in front of your guns but there is no easier way to focus a mech down from any angle, there is only 1 hitbox for a leg, while there are 6 for the body.

also, legs are usually harder to shield, where sides sometimes can be shielded by the arms and gain a damage reduction when the piece does get destroyed. (centurion is a good example)

Edited by zudukai, 27 April 2015 - 04:34 PM.


#9 JonahGrimm

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Posted 27 April 2015 - 04:35 PM

My general rule is - with a few exceptions - always target the most wounded location. You never go wrong taking off parts of a mech.

The exceptions are the Centurion (and that shield arm), the Griffon and it's shield side, or other mechs built to take that kind of punishment... but even then, removing the tool often helps ensure the win.

#10 odiemoncrew

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Posted 27 April 2015 - 05:05 PM

Another good thing is pay attention to where the cockpits are on the mechs. some lead to easy kills if they are just sitting there shooting at team mates and not paying attention to you

#11 Timicon

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Posted 27 April 2015 - 08:04 PM

View Postzudukai, on 27 April 2015 - 04:31 PM, said:

QQ moar,

not taking advantage of an under armored leg or removing an assault from the main fight is a huge advantage to you or your team, sure it is not fun to be in a legged assault going 20kph hoping some poor sod will walk in front of your guns but there is no easier way to focus a mech down from any angle, there is only 1 hitbox for a leg, while there are 6 for the body.

also, legs are usually harder to shield, where sides sometimes can be shielded by the arms and gain a damage reduction when the piece does get destroyed. (centurion is a good example)


oh I would certainly take advantage of an opportunity if the leg were already badly damaged (as in held together by spit and duct tape) but I would not go after it on purpose on a fully functioning 'mech, rather I tend to go for the ******* and the ****** as well as the ******** and, if I had a precise and clear shot, the ****** (my little secrets ^^) but not target them specifically just for a cheap kill.

#12 Shalune

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Posted 28 April 2015 - 11:57 AM

Learning if a thing has XL will just take a bunch of experience. A common specific one though is dual Gauss or AC/20 Jagermechs. They need to use XL to fit this, and have huge STs to target.

As for legs, it really varies. Always try to leg lights unless they're dumb enough to stand still. It's a good idea on fast mediums too like Cicadas, durable ones like Centurions, and maybe Stormcrows.

Here's the big problem though: unless you're in a full premade drop no one is going to have the coordination to make this worthwhile. Going legs is probably best more often than we realize, especially in CW, but it's a waste of time if you're the only one doing it.

View PostLeif Tanner, on 27 April 2015 - 03:49 PM, said:

Most, if not everyone will not agree with me on this one, but I personally feel that legging of any kind is nothing but a coward's move. Anyone can shoot at the legs of a mech to disable them, but it takes the true and fine skill of a Real MechWarrior to go for the torso and side torsi of any 'Mech in a battle, to bring down their opponent. To leg is to broadcast to the World: "Look at me, I am piloting a 'Mech! I cannot fight, but I do not need to, when I can leg!"

Leggers to me, in any form, are nothing short of monkey washers and deserve to be technicians or bondsmen and bondswomen of the Clans than ever carry the (prestigious) title of MechWarrior.

I like you. Disregard the haters, I don't think they understand.

#13 Mazzyplz

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Posted 28 April 2015 - 01:05 PM

on light mechs -if you can hit the legs- hit the legs.

on dire wolf and warhawk shoot one sidetorso then the other, it's a lot faster and safer than shooting their ct.

if you are facing a dragon with dual ac5, or ac20 or an atlas with an ac20 side or a centurion with ac20 arm, you probably should destroy that ac20 or gauss asap.

if you are going against a jagermech shoot one of their sides, will take out half their firepower, also works with catapults like the boxy ears a1 or the canons on the k2. even the blackjack -this type of sniper mech since they usually only peek with their weapons you should aim for those weapons and leave them crippled- that's the strength of those mechs, their hardpoints are very high up so they don't need to expose a lot of their body to shoot you.


on all other mechs i shoot center torso because it is deterring to them seeing their front armor vanish, they will stop playing so aggresively and start hopping around behind cover, fearing for their life. this is what you want. unless it's the other mechs i mentioned - so if you see an orion or quickdraw or highlander, i shoot their center torso first.


there is 2 mechs where it is not clear cut at all.

the awesome and the stalker are mechs without ballistic and with LOTS of hardpoints. so it is up to you to decide where to shoot them, if you take out one side they probably will still pack firepower like a heavy mech... but their center torso and legs are tough as nails!! be careful with these two!
not a surprise these 2 assault mechs are marik design ;P



edit: kinda forgot about a couple of things;
victors usually have XL and if they don't, half their firepower is mostly useless.
for clan mechs shoot ct unless they are already damaged or missing one sidetorso, then go for the other.

the most fun mech to kill for me is the timber wolf definitely, especially ones that have the boxy shoulders with missile tubes. you hit those mickey mouse ears and their side torso falls apart. it's like hitting a catapult but they are weaker to focusing of those missile racks. whenever i see a timber wolf with the missile racks i think JACKPOT!



it is mostly taking away their biggest asset. for a light mech their biggest asset is their speed, so you shoot their leg and they die.
for a dire wolf you can leg them and they can still have all that firepower to level a city, so even if they can't move so well, they are still dangerous, so shooting their leg isn't recommended.
for a jagermech or k2, their biggest asset is their high mounted guns, you take one of those out and voilá.
learn to identify what your enemy is working with

Edited by Mazzyplz, 28 April 2015 - 01:18 PM.


#14 Havyek

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Posted 28 April 2015 - 01:09 PM

It's already been mentioned, but pretty much ANY medium or fast heavy that has a lot of weaponry (like a dual AC5 Dragon with multiple LLAS) will have an XL.

There are certain chassis that you'll also learn to focus certain area on. Dragon's are pretty much neutered if you take out their Right Arm, or neutered (likely dead if an XL) if you take out the torso attached to the arm. Most Atlases are combat ineffective if you take out their Right Torso (if heavy ballistics) or Left Torso (if heavy SRMs). If they have LRMs they're combat ineffective anyway :P

Lights you pretty much always want to aim for legs unless they're doing something stupid like running straight at or straight away from you. Or standing still.

People complain about legs, but the beauty of legs is that they share the same armor. There is no front/rear. If a leg is damaged, you can shoot it from any angle and take it out. Have a few people focus firing on legs and that 'Mech WILL drop faster than trying to all hit the CT (assuming again that the 'Mech isn't doing something stupid like standing still or moving straight at you).

#15 Tim East

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Posted 28 April 2015 - 02:13 PM

Target whatever is open. These are the quickest kills, and getting them will improve your team's odds of victory.

Leg lights. If they lose one, they stop moving and the other one becomes an easy kill.

ST stationary targets. Some will tell you to CT these guys, but I like the STs because they aren't likely to remain stationary once you start shooting them and the ST has far less durability, rendering it more likely to be destroyed in just a couple salvos. At a minimum you'll deprive someone of their shield side, and most of the time you'll take a chunk of weapons as well or even insta-kill them by popping their XL.

If the stationary guy doesn't respond to a side-torso pop, you can think about headshotting him. It's risky, because some trolls use themselves as bait, but then again, AFKs and D/Cs are pretty easy to use to grind damage and headshot numbers off of too.

Leg ballistic-using mechs. Everyone puts magazines of ammo in their mech's socks. Even me.

CT anything hull-down. If you can't get a good shot, center mass has the highest hit probability and will kill the enemy upon destruction. It's a good fallback choice.

Prioritize your target selection in this order, and you should come out fine. It's worked for me for quite a while now.

#16 Kahadras

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Posted 29 April 2015 - 01:25 AM

The basic rule of thumb I go with is to go for the legs of lights and the CT of anything else. At long range and for snap shots I tend to just go for the center mass as it maximises the chance that I'm going to hit. The main thing to remember that a hit on any part of a mech is better than a miss. I watch far too many people blazing away, wasting shot after shot instead of slowing down a bit and taking a second to aim.

#17 Rushin Roulette

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Posted 29 April 2015 - 02:41 AM

When running in an organised group it doesnt matter if you go for the CT or the Legs.. however it should be clear that everyone primarily goes for the same target and component.

If the primary component is the legs, then everyone goes for legs. This is a must if you are facing a light rush in CW. leg them, leave them and leg the next target. Once the gen is safe from the most dangerous, turn back and take care of the legged mechs hobbling along in a string.

An exception to the rule however is if you see an open critical component, then you ignore the primary rule. If the primary rule is CT, but your tatrget has one or both legs open, then change to legs for that particular mech and return to the CT calling for the following mechs.

The usual way to target them is Mech designation, mech type and target area if it is divergent from the prime target

eg. Alpha Shadow Hawk (if you have a fresh target)
Beta Jenner - Left Leg (if you see the Jenner with an open Leg, but the prime component is Torso)

#18 Dino Might

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Posted 29 April 2015 - 03:03 AM

View PostLeif Tanner, on 27 April 2015 - 08:04 PM, said:


oh I would certainly take advantage of an opportunity if the leg were already badly damaged (as in held together by spit and duct tape) but I would not go after it on purpose on a fully functioning 'mech, rather I tend to go for the ******* and the ****** as well as the ******** and, if I had a precise and clear shot, the ****** (my little secrets ^^) but not target them specifically just for a cheap kill.



I can only begin to guess where you are referring to with your ****'s, given that only five parts remain when you take away the legs.

I hope we all agree to never shoot legs, so people drop leg armor to 1 or 2, and then I will take my Locust and rip the legs off every mech alive. I'm sure the Dire Whales that I go Captain Ahab are pissed off because I am not fighting honorably. I should stand on line, face to face, unmoving, trading volleys like a true soldier....with officers safe in the back...

This is seriously ridiculous. Sorry that more tons doesn't give you the instant win button you want.

#19 Timicon

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Posted 29 April 2015 - 08:35 PM

View PostShalune, on 28 April 2015 - 11:57 AM, said:

Learning if a thing has XL will just take a bunch of experience. A common specific one though is dual Gauss or AC/20 Jagermechs. They need to use XL to fit this, and have huge STs to target.

As for legs, it really varies. Always try to leg lights unless they're dumb enough to stand still. It's a good idea on fast mediums too like Cicadas, durable ones like Centurions, and maybe Stormcrows.

Here's the big problem though: unless you're in a full premade drop no one is going to have the coordination to make this worthwhile. Going legs is probably best more often than we realize, especially in CW, but it's a waste of time if you're the only one doing it.


I like you. Disregard the haters, I don't think they understand.


Thanks, mate, it actually means a lot that you agree with me and feel the same way as me on the subject.
I guess, after 20 years of reading (and re-reading_ BattleTech books (I steer clear of the classic Battletech' books, even though they are the same thing, it has made me see the Clans and their way of lifestyle and how they fight their wars, their ways have a special place in my heart and mind... Even though I pledge allegiance to the Inner Sphere.
The Clans have a way of doing things that is almost honourable in a way, though I do not agree with some of their ways of life.

#20 Astarot

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Posted 29 April 2015 - 08:55 PM

View PostNoobie4Ever, on 27 April 2015 - 03:28 PM, said:

Hi everyone! I recently got back into this game after playing it when it just "came out" a year or so ago and switched right to piloting assault mechs.

Anyways I've been wondering lately when is the optimal time to shoot at legs, side torsi or center torso? How do I quickly tell if a mech is running an XL and etc?

Any help would be appreciated!

Hello pilot. First lets talk about how to tell if a mech is using XL vs standard. It all comes down to weight. If a mech is heavy loaded, but still quick, then most likely they are packing a XL engine. Really as everyone says, it comes down to experience, and keeping an eye out for information that the enemy is giving you, things like speed, weapon load out and so forth.
Next, where to aim. This one a little harder to explain. But the simple fact, is aim where you think you will reduce the enemy's mech's efficiency the most.  For example, sure, legging a hunchback will reduce it speed, but if it already in brawling range, then you most likely want to remove it firepower from the field first. Aiming for it hunch will remove 90% of it firepower right off the bat. Another thing to note, is that removing a side torso also removes arms, removing a leg means damage is now transfered into the torso when you shoot the destroyed leg. Where to shoot is all based on the situation. I can give you a infinate number of combination and what to do when in that problem, or I can give you this simple bit of wisdom
"Shoot at the section of the enemy mech, with the goal to reduce that mechs ability to kill you and your team."

Edited by Astarot, 29 April 2015 - 08:55 PM.






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