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Tanking Like A Light

Tactics Lights

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#1 Leone

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Posted 25 November 2015 - 09:16 AM

A brief look at speed tanking and map control.


Herein I hope to offer insights into my favourite light tactics, offer examples of more reasonable styles of play, examine flaws in tactics, and hopefully give new players a glimpse of why some gameplay decisions work better than others.

Whilest not a completely comprehensive guide, I will, as these things must, discuss build decisions before moving onto gameplay styles and video walkthroughs, comeplete with a pilot breakdown of certain decisions, their reasonings, and an analysis thereof.


To Begin, the Mechs;

When building a mech, one must decide whether to sacrifice range for damage and which to aim for, high alphas or a better sustained damage per second. The weapons systems used, whether ballistics, missile or energy are not the thing to think about when deciding on the gameplay you want out of your mech. There are various flavours of weaponry to be sure, but ranged or close, sustained or frontloaded, these questions transcend the hardpoints.

Any light with a large engine is already a high velocity delivery system. To this end both builds offered have chosen extremely close range weaponry for a low heat, high damage vicious sustained knife fighting approach. For those interested in longer range or more poking based options, I would suggest taking a stroll on over to Non Meta Light Mech Tactics Guide. Not that this isn't showcasing a few tips from there, but it is designed around an assumption of more range and survivability than expected here.

Disclaimer: Tanking is not for the faint of heart. You will die, often. It's just what happens when people shoot at you alot. That said also know this guide is geared towards showing how to cinch a victory for your team via means besides excessive damage. Your c-bills may be impacted as well.

Small Pulse and Srms
Note the shoddy placement of ammo in one single ton brick in an extremity. Mistakes were made, and the second iteration of this build split the ammo into two half tonnes, one in each arm. Further experimentation shows that the Arctic Cheetah, unlike other clan mechs, tends to lose arms before torsos, and ACH-Prime 3.0 has moved both ammo halves to the torsos.

Concept Test
This mech was build to test the light tanking concept, and as such is a fairly trash build. That is a shadowhawk's STD 275 it's carrying and it leaves little room for anything else. Not even 3025 legal due to the chassis I'm afraid. Wolfhound enthusiasts would be better served with something like the Raid Leader.

Next up, let's look at some gameplay decisions and ridicule the pilot together. I especially can't wait to see what that wolfhound pilot expects to get done.

~Leone

Edited by Leone, 25 November 2015 - 09:18 AM.


#2 Leone

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Posted 25 November 2015 - 09:22 AM

So now I've some of the lightest armour out there, what do I do?


While we could discuss the various roles and play styles of the light, Light Hunting, Assassinating, Tanking and so forth, this thread is all about tanking after all. So here we'll discuss some basics.

First off, even the great Atlas can only take so many hits. The point of tanking with a light is to draw fire and then not get hit by it. Terrain is your biggest ally in this, as terrain is invulnerable where as you are not. Random movements, using vertical movement, and moving perpendicular to your opponent are all viable ways to spread the damage, hopefully harmlessly onto the terrain as you dash madly through a burst of laser fire. Beware the IS ballistics though, a good ballistics pilot will spell your doom if you are unprepared.

Drawing Fire, and Hopefully Surviving to do it Again.

Base rushing for fun and profit in Canyon Network
Map provided by Smurfy
The action takes place all over, but mostly in B4 and C4 thanks, in part, to our pilot's efforts.

Follow along with this pilot, if you will.

Apparently our pilot chose to make an early rush towards the enemy base in order to put some pressure on the enemy team early, so as to give their allies time to set up. Mayhaps not the best of choices, since the assault lance chooses to go the long way around, but only time and video evidence will tell.

At about ~0:45 our pilot decides to engage the entire enemy assault lance, starting of course with the time honoured tactic of shooting folk in the back. Everyone gets angry.

At 1:05 our pilot looses an arm due to moving in a predictable easy to shoot pattern. Too much straight forward. Mistakes made in the mechlab deny the surviving srm 2 it's ammo.

At 1:25 we find out via Voip the the enemy is trying the same tactic, with two mechs. We now know that our gambit is merely buying time for our allies to deal with the enemy lights.

At 1:58 a failure to properly face the enemy whilest retreating strips our rear armour an nearly spells doom for our brave pilot. Edit: our pilot would like to take this time to counter that this is an unbasiced first run, and they they were spoiled on locusts. Still, mistakes were made, and from here out the pilot must endeavour to never turn it's back.

At 2:31 the appearance of a jump capable madcat, alongside the uller whose also pressuring our pilot, decides a change in tactics. Now it is time to survive. Shortly thereafter both enemy distractions are dealt with, an the battle may begin in earnest. Our pilot, battered an half dead, has done it's job and begins the long arduous backpedal to friendly territory. We see some decent usage of vertical movement, but no longer to we tank for the party.

At 4:12, after some decent twist from the enemy light our pilot chooes to tear off a damaged limb whilest the enemy was powered down. Soon however, the pilot remembers the age old adage, 'Leg the Light' and finally that nuisance is dealt with.

At 5:15, after a quick scouting foray yields four of the surviving seven enemies' positions, our Pilot pops a uav. The team appreciates the gesture, and after a quick acknowledgement, the Arctic Cheetah proceeds to abuse the superior tactical advantage given to trade like a master.

Eventually, the allied team, realizing it is up four mechs charges, and the match is quickly wrapped up.


Squirreling.

Proof Positive you don't need a decent mech or aim to squirrel. Canyon Network.
Map provided by Smurfy
The action takes around the Enemy Base. A3 with some hold outs in B4.

Follow along with this pilot if you will

We see some similar approaches, and similar mistakes as were made last time. Most notably, the failure to properly turn an present the forward armour whilest fleeing leaves our pilot with no good decisions save to charge blindly forward and try to buy a few more seconds of time for our team to continue thier unstoppable advance.

A quick glance at the mini map early on shows the allied forces moving aggressively forward. Whilest scouting the left side, our light makes it to the enemy base unmolested. Taking a risk, the light decides to see how many mechs it can draw away from the front lines, and begins capping the base.

At ~1:50 we see a whole three mechs peel off towards our light, and they just don't stop coming.

Then of course, our pilot loses all their rear armour and given the option to charge a grid iron, or gamble with a gauss to the back, our wolfhound charges back into the field.

While our brave pilot doesn't last long against the onslaught, we find ourselves three mechs up when the wolfhound finally dies. Despite bringing a pretty terrible build, and doing a mere 22 damage, our pilot managed, for the first three minutes, to distract half of the enemy team, giving the friendly side a two to one numbers advantage during the initial stages of combat which allowed them to secure the lead and steamroll the opposition.

There are other ways to get folks attention than base capping, (namely shooting them in the back an then running away cackling madly,) but this just goes to show how much positioning and altering the enemies line of battle can influence a match. Next let us see if our pilot can put these tactics to use on a skirmish map.


Tanking, Like a Light.

Next we see if our tactics make work outside of the assault scenario. Again we enter...
Canyon Network. Map provided by Smurfy
The action takes place around C3-D3.

Follow along with this pilot if you will

At first we see our little light head out to scout and flank the enemy position, finding two out of the three lances maintaining some cohesion. As yet unspotted, our light takes time to pick and choose a target.

By 1:20, we see our pilot engaging a Jagermech from behind in a classic back-stab. However, it looks like our opponent has not neglected their rear armour, and so rather than continuing to try and assasinate the mech right next to it's own lance, our pilot disengages to maintain survivability.

At 1:40 olur pilot Places a UAV at the apex of a jump, allowing the little unmanned drone a higher altitude at which to spot. It is effective and the uav will time out rather than get shot down. This will spot both the medium an heavy lance for our allies. Who appear distracted by enemy lights, drats.

At ~2:05, our light has earned the ire of a full lance, and decides that that is not enough, and bugs out to fire upon the next lance. By jumping directly into the centurion, we give em an easy shot an our left arm is stripped of armour as a result.

At 2:25 we spot and get confirmation on the dual gauss Jagermech. Remember them, as dual gauss is a vicious build, and can shape the very battlefield with their presence.

At 2:45 a fellow light spots a locust. Our pilot takes up light hunting briefly.

At 3:33 the gual gauss Jager claims it's first victim, and our pilot's team is down nine to eleven. at 3:45 the minimap shows a three mech push from the front lines, and our pilot disengages to assist. The push stalls and only one mech joins the fray on the flank, but the scores are balanced, go team!

After two more kills, our pilot commits to engaging the dual gauss mech. I'll give you a hint, the jager pilot is good.

At 5:17 we see the short jump cause the gauss to miss high. At 5:22 our pilot tries to use vertical movement to dodge again, but the hill does not change the height enough, and our brave light mech loses a leg, sealing it's fate.

In the end, this battle came to a close with a narrow victory on our allies side.

~Leone

Edited by Leone, 15 December 2015 - 03:26 PM.


#3 Leone

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Posted 25 November 2015 - 09:25 AM

Work, still in progress. Seriously though, Expect this to be finished shortly after the weekend, if not during. I plan on working on it whilest waiting for matches, but these things take time.

Tactics and Battlefield Control.


Every mech has a presence on the battlefield that helps shape the ongoing fight. While those with more firepower might have more of an impact in an ongoing line of battle, by virtue of it's impressive speed, a light can bring it's presence into play wherever it's needed. With some planning and forethought, a mechwarrior can use that presence to shape the very field of battle.

Often a light's place is on the flank, utilizing it's speed to find weakpoints in the enemy line of battle, and exploit them. In this discussion it was meant to be used tying up the enemy whilest the team was advancing.

Planning the Battlefield.

A great tool to always be aware of is your minimap. It tells you where your allies are, and where they're moving to, giving you an idea of where to scout and when to distract your foes. Remember, whilest you might have a great idea on where the enemy is, your team may not. tapping 'R' on all the mechs will flash them up on the mini map for your team, and when you've found a great concentration popping a uav up lets your team plan their tactics around the enemy.

Games can be won or lost based on cover and positioning. Try to think about your team when zipping around the map. Where would they like to set up? What would be a great position to poke from? As one of the fastest mechs out there, you have a very good chance to take positions for your team and deny them to the enemy. Or tie up your enemy, so your team can take position whilest they're dealing with you. Just know when to fold, as often times your team may not be in a position to back you up, or the enemy might commit more forces to dealing with you than you can survive.

While trading your mech for some good distraction time is the point of this thread, make sure you spend yourself wisely. Your mech is precious. Spend it well.

Surviving in the Spotlight.

As showcased best by our third match, limited engagements keep your light alive longest. After the first few passes, your opponent will have a chance to get used to your movements and speed, example provided by our nemesis the dual gauss Jager. Also vertical movement is harder to track. Terrain is invulnerable, and getting your opponent to shoot it instead of you is a mechsaver. Learn what hills you can climb and which will block you and you can befuddle your opponents with some quick elevation changes and add plenty of life to your frantic chases. Jumpjets can be helpful in this, but can also be a trap. Jump too high, and your trajectory is easy to read, not to mention you'll have a brief pause when you land. When jumping, short, random hops are key.

In short, even when tanking, break line of sight, keep them guessing. And don't stop moving, speed is life little light.

Good hunting out there Mechwarriors. <o.

~Leone

Edited by Leone, 15 December 2015 - 03:48 PM.


#4 LordofHaven

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Posted 30 November 2015 - 02:49 PM

I salute your musical selection.

#5 Anubus15

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Posted 02 July 2018 - 09:13 AM

I know this thread is a bit older, but WOW, TONS of useful info! Thanks for taking the time! Posted Image

I cant wait to try some light tanking! This looks like a ton of fun!

View PostLordofHaven, on 30 November 2015 - 02:49 PM, said:

I salute your musical selection.


+1; sure seems to "set the mood" better than the MWO sound track! Is this overlayed or Shivaxi's in-game mod? Ive been thinking about getting Bitchin' Betty and the soundtrack, just dont want to bring any trouble my way since mods are generally looked down on by PGI...

Edited by JustDave11517, 02 July 2018 - 09:17 AM.


#6 Leone

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Posted 18 July 2018 - 02:18 PM

^__^ no problem.

Nothing quite like watching a light dash in front of a murder ball to draw fire and spare the heavies to get the juices going. Watching a unit bait one of my teams firing lines with a raven was what got me thinking about and eventually making this thread.

As for the music, yeah, that was just an overlay. Normally I just keep my music player playing in the background whilst dropping. But oft only when dropping quickplay and ignoring calls. Hard to listen to the drop caller whilst blasting some 'Classical' FRR Chords, fun as it is

~Leone





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