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Hi All,
I've been playing for a little while in tier 5, getting towards the high end, and wanted to give tips to new players and deposit what I've observed and figured out along the way before I move up to the next tier, and while my expectations from being completely new are still in my head. I hoping this will turn into a collaborative work also. This guide is focused on assisting new players with the patterns I see in tier 5 quickplay games that was difficult for me to notice at first. For the purposes of this guide I'm going to focus on helping your team win, and advancing your tier position over making as many C-bills as possible (but they usually come anyway).
I decided to get back into gaming at all because I saw a great MWO video almost a year ago where a team was holding the middle of the down slope of a crater. It was very well organized with the lance commander asking about the top speed of scouts, and calmly keeping the lance in check from their urge to chase a light 'Mech that came through. The whole beginning of the match was just the team collecting information on their enemy, and staying in the best position they could be in. When the fight happened focus fire really took over, and while the opposing team had two Atlases, the organized team managed to bring them down without taking any noticable losses. I was really impressed.
Teir 5 Quickplay isn't like that, or about that. The strategy isn't organized top down, but is instead the sum of the collective habits of the people in the game. Teir 5 quickplay players are extremely loss and risk averse, and will lead into an all out push when the odds start getting at or better than two to one. This doesn't mean they're all unorganized, and by random luck you might be able to get on a team that's moving lock step with the program of a commander. It's worth it to send chirps out to see if your team will organize. Something to watch out for in creating some kind of organization in teir 5 quickplay is several of your teammates may simply not have a strategic mindset, and not know what you're getting at. I once came across a team that was interested in organization for Frozen City. I predicted and lead them to counter an enemy flanking attack, but Alpha lance arrived first. When we had set up behind the downed and bifurcated dropship I instructed them to fall back and join us while we annihilate them as they try to simply get a shot on us. They continued to fight however, until the last one was dead. It became apparent that they knew some of them would die while they retreated, so they tried to do all the damage they could before going out. Because of this we were outnumbered. Someone in a Maurader positioned themselves inside of the only choke point, ensuring they would be able to shoot any enemies who show up, but also be the single target of all the enemies who showed up. Also, they were sitting in the spot I was hoping at least one enemy would try to pass through.
If you're really interested in teamwork, use Faction Play scouting missions. You'll regularly find target calling and competent leadership in those matches. I would finish your cadet awards, and then go into faction gameplay. Only play scouting missions for a while. Also, choose 55 tons, the trial 'Mechs often do the job. If you are new, at the beginning of every match, open your map (usually the 'B') key to become familiar with where you start. For me, remembering where I started, and then seeing my surroundings really helped me to be aware of my current position on the map after playing a while.
So, now that I've gone over how tier 5 quickplay isn't team centric, I'd like to go over what you can do to help your team. Also, if you're looking to advance in tier, you will not slide back, and you may move ahead if you produce a sufficient score for the match if your team wins. If you lose, it is very difficult to not slide down.
Tier 5 quickplay is dominated by poke fighting. This is where a 'Mech comes out of cover briefly, does as much damage as they can, and goes back into cover. This type of fighting almost exclusively happens at ranges over 400 meters, and requires expelling all the damage you'll do over the course of 2-3 seconds. This is something I've only seen lasers and gauss rifle accomplish effectively. The longer ranged autocannons and LRMs rely on being able to deal continuous damage over time. They are very good supporting weapons in the right hands, and I'll go into LRMs later. Your 'Mech does not need to be heat efficient, and it's almost a sign that your 'Mech is ideal for poke fighting if it has a very poor heat efficiency rating.
I recommend starting out with something light, the Locus's ability to avoid being hit is almost comical, and double heat sinks are a huge boost in smaller 'Mechs. It will teach you the value of always staying in motion, and will feel familiar if you're used to run-and-gun FPS games. The champion Locust is a decent build, and the 'Mech is inexpensive to customize. It is a good starter 'Mech, and it's the hardest to handle 'Mech I've come across. It turns very jerkily and quickly, so if you want to circle someone until they kill you, you'll instead need to run in a square or rectangle around them, using the time while you're not turning to line up your crosshairs and put some damage into them.
Armor rolling will be useless to you're in a Locust, but if you get into a medium 'Mech it can double or triple your lifespan. When you're being shot by lasers, or LRM volleys (especially clan lasers which have a longer burn duration) you can keep your limbs and weapons almost twice as long by twisting your torso to spread the incoming damage.
Armor sharing is the act of one 'Mech taking a shot so a teammate doesn't have to. If you're new, and in a lighter 'Mech, there's a time and a place to do it, and it's almost all on you to keep your heavier 'Meched teammate alive a little longer. Your damage output is valuable, and your heavier teammate can survive absorbing more damage then you. But, if your teammate is maimed or killed, your entire team is down a large damage output pool. Turning your sights on a teammate will show you their health percentage. Even on an assault 'Mech, it's possible to be stripped of all your armor on a side torso with 94% health. If you've noticed that a heavier 'Mech than you has taken well placed laser fire that has not been spread with armor rolling, than it's time for you to shine. Step in and try to do as much damage as you can before your heavier friend pops out. The goal will be to provoke the primary attacker into unloading damage into you instead. This will allow your bigger badder buddy can come out and hit them hard, and live long enough to do it one more time. If you're in a lighter 'Mech, I recommend doing this after letting the bigger ones take some hits for a while. If you are hit in a lighter 'Mech, you will have reduced damage output after absorbing less damage than it would have taken to maim your heavier teammates.
If you've gotten good enough to last until the end of the match, you'll notice that's when pushing is more likely to happen. High alpha, high heat 'Mech's are ideal for poke fighting because you spend your cooldown time in the safety of cover, and you cannot fire on your enemy until they come out. High alpha + long range = domination of poke fighting. When pushing starts the game turns into a brawl. A high alpha will only briefly help you in a situation like this, and my recommendation is to set aside some damage dealing for a shorter range, heat neutral weapon group. You'll be able to start the push with your higher alpha, and then sustain a greater damage output throughout the push. Watch out for the push running out of momentum when your teammates max out their heat, they'll run for cover and if you're the last one out, you'll become a juicy target in less than a second.
If you happen to be the heaviest 'Mech in your local fight on your team, than victory of that local fight may be exclusively on your shoulders. This is also the same strategy I would recommend for poke fighting solo. First, you want to use your cover to keep yourself into a long range fight with at most only a single 'Mech firing on you, unless your teammates are helping you the same way your enemy's teammates are helping them, your team will essentially take a loss in total armor in the long run, even if you win that fight. Choose an opponent that has a worse damage to armor ratio than you. If you're up against something with more armor, but weaker weapons for the situation than you, that weakened damage output on their side needs to be enough to justify having to carve through them. Since you are the heaviest in this situation, you should be the primary target until you are at risk of dying or dropping a weapon. If there are local enemies engaging one of your lighter teammate, you should do all you can to pull them off your more fragile ally without exposing yourself so much that you cannot get back to cover on demand. Your increased damage output is very important to your team, so it's mostly your job to stay alive, and attack frequently when it's smart to do so.
If you're in an open map, NARC is a lot of fun to have during the poke phase. If someone is dominating, put a NARC into them and watch them stay in cover. Half the time you will have at least one LRM boat on the team, and you can sit back and watch them get turned into scrap in 30 seconds. On the other hand, you should be with your own forces when you NARC somebody. If you scout ahead to NARC you will be picked off quickly, and the travel time on the LRMs will reduce the odds of success. It is a lot of fun. I've made troll builds with 5 NARC launchers, and I've been surprised by how well my side performs on the poke fight just by being able to know where more of the enemy forces are for a longer duration.
LRMs are great for situations where you can't get a line of sight on the target because your teammates are sitting in front of you, absorbing damage, and dealing all of it. You can also bring NARC, which will help you slightly, but not much in a standard poke fight. The only 'Mechs that usually get into brawls early game are the lighter members of Alpha lance. They will usually hold their target for 10+ seconds. If you can stay within 500 meters of them, you have a good change of being able to scare off or kill the other lights they inevitably run into at the start. Other than that, if you're relying on LRMs for your damage output during a poke fight, good luck. LRM's incoming missile alert has a great ability to have your enemy running for cover and reducing the amount of damage your team has to absorb for a brief moment, but it also reduces the amount of damage output options available for your team. It's something to consider when choosing targets.
If you're going to do some cheesy brawler build, ECM helps a lot, adding flamers is hilarious. I once dropped two Direwolf's and a Warhawk over about 1 minute in a Mauler that was geared out for short range only + some flamers. Of course, I had to wedge myself into a forward cover position, and wait/hope my team died enough to trigger a push from the opposing team. It was a lot of fun, but I didn't want to keep it up because of the high risk of either not being able to contribute to the game, or my team taking a loss because I sat around in my assault 'Mech waiting for my great moment.
If you're being LRMed like crazy from behind cover, try turning your 'Mech off and on again, that fixes most technical issues in life.
Edited by David Koolhoven, 26 July 2016 - 05:58 PM.
