201 replies to this topic

[Dishevel]

My 4-SP is meant to deal damage, get out of the way and maybe even get a kill or 2.

[iminbagdad]

I love meds, my 4sp is still my favorite and I can and do destroy with it. The only problem is pgi made a game where speed is the meta game. Think about it the first thing people do for any non assault mech is throw a bigger engine into it. So you take a medium and slam the largest engine you can and all of a sudden you have a bigger slightly slower light.

Right now good players still do well in mediums but that doesn't mean they are good. Pgi needs to change the meta or balance out the roles or mediums will continue to die.

I would love to see the day were the workhorses were actually used. 4meds 2 lights 1 assault and 1 heavy. Now THAT would make for fun mech warrior play.

[fspRinger]

Medium 'Mechs rarely work on their own but a wolf pack (even a small one) of good pilots in specialzed builds can and will tear the enemy up when properly employed. It's harder in 8mans due to the tendency to just stack weight but some groups still pull it off.
4 mans beeing what they are and anecdotal evidence beeing easily dismissable, here is a screenshot I took today.

[Lightfoot]

Too bad they made the Gauss so fragile. Mediums did that very well at one time.

[Apnu]

I find medium mechs very flexible and adaptable. Builds I make with my Hunchbacks follow some sort of theme or role. Moslty I use my hunchies as interceptors or fire support for the assaults.

My HBK-4G currently has a AC10, 3xML, and std. 260 engine. When I drop in this I find some kind of assault that is set up for medium to short range work and I become that mech's wingman. Whatever it fires at, I fire at. Sending an extra 25 pts with an atlas' output often tips the fight in our favor. I usually PUG in this mech.

My HBK-4P has 8xML and std 255 engine. I use this as an interceptor. I keep the other lights and mediums from bugging our assaults and heavies and I rush back to our base to clear it from capping commandos and cicadas. I often use this mech in organized 4 and 8 player games.

My HBK-4SP has two builds. One, the standard 2xSRM6 and 4xML which is brawler support. I do the same as the 4G -- hook up with an assault and send 50 point alpha strikes into faces of enemy mechs. Or I put 2xLRM15s and 2xMLs on it and be a LRM boat. The SRM version is my "competition" build and the LRM version is for pugging, because the LRMs seem to be feast for famine for me.

Yeah, mediums don't have the armor to slug it out with the big mechs, nor do they pack the firepower of the heavies and lights. When I see a boomcat, I get the hell out of its way and try to sneak up on it for a rear alpha shot or two. And sure the medium mechs have problems keeping up with the speed of lights. But positioning and terrain cover fix those problems. I don't chase lights, I let them come to me and blast them with lasers, while keeping my back to terrain or friendly mechs.

As a medium pilot I have to use these tactics to be successful. Just running about in the open chasing spiders only gets me killed. Mediums do have a role in this game and a good one. Pilots just need to recognize and fill those roles.

[Deadxero]

My 2x UAC5 Wang does about 600 damage on a good game, 300 on a bad.

Depends on how you build them. Some can brawl (see tripple SRM6 Centurion with double arm shields), some are long range fire support (see my Wang^ or a double PPC Hunchie), some can be run similar to lights (Cicada). Really depends on your play style. Med's are very flexible.

Edited by Deadxero, 26 February 2013 - 09:18 AM.

[jper4]

generally i try to harrass in my 4SP, sneak around the LRM fests while everyone is watching each other and find a straying stalker. or if part of the CHARGE! squad- hide behind an atlas til it shoots something then circle support it. if caught behind the lines hit as many of the other team as i can to draw their attention to me if i can and tie up as many enemy mechs as i can zig-zagging between them hoping they hit each other (atlases make good enemy mechs to keep between you and the other guys shooting you)- that way the rest of my team doesn;t have them firing at them instead. sometimes it doesn't help as my side doesn;t take advantage of the sudden diminishing of fire their way to advance and i die and see the friendly mech line in the same spot it was before i peeled off from the group.

snipers tend to be a problem as i get caught up with all the nearby stuff firing at me and they start taking shots at me.

sometimes i'll play mobile support from the back of the lines- look around to see if there's a 1v1 going on anywhere nearby i can make into a 2 on 1. if not i look around for whatever is the most damaged on the other side and try brawling with that mech. if i see lights swarming or a light duel i'll try to stay out of ecm range and streak the enemy when he's busy with his fellow light. i'll try to watch our lrms backs for lights- having a couple streaks the lights can't ignore me completely while they carve up their heavier target until the rest of the raven flock surrounds and eats my poor mech up.

then there's the matches where i just die quickly with under 100 points. i notice i tend to do better on alpine/forest city and the right start point in frozen city- the more open areas to move around in. i do worst in river city and building clustered side of Frozen city, caustic is hit or miss depending what's on the other team.

stilling getting used to my trebbies- the lrm one is hit or miss- it attracts lights like flies i notice. the jack of all weapons trebbie i've been doing a bit better than i thought i would with that build- 2ML,AC5 and 2 streaks. but first thing i do is 1) upgrade the engine and bit and 2 stuff as much armor as i can on them even if it means 1 less weapon so my trebbies have as much armor as my hunchies but are still a bit faster.

[Yokaiko]

Now that is a game I would dance about.

In a four man?

[Sears]

I try to skirmish in mine. Wait until the enemy has started to engage heavies and assaults and weave about to exploit weaknesses in armour. You have a little bit more leeway with SRM mediums as they can generally go faster than ballistic variants, the AC/20 yen and or gauss centurions being the exceptions. I get more damage in SRM builds but more satisfaction at ripping a side torso off with an AC/20 in a hunchback.

[Zyllos]

With the mention of the devs adding tonnage min/max to matchmaking, I think Medium mechs will start to come into their own. I just wonder how they plan on adding this to the game.

Quote

Broad5ide: Is there plans to make matchmaking based on tonnage and not general weight class?
A: Yes. We are working on a min/max tonnage limit. You will see this once Elo has been tuned and balanced.

[wickwire]

protect assaults against lights

[Oni Ralas]

High speed hit/run with a 2-3 man wolfpack. Light hunting and fire support for my bigger mechs on the field. I still contend that a well played Medium is the most fun you will have in game.

When we roll hunchbacks, all of us are pretty much the same build, speed and unlocks. We wll do things like handoffs -- engage, let the target follow then break right - opening up the line of fire to my wingman with a diect shot at my target. Often that target breaks off to go after this new threat, so I circle and re-engage. Works very well, confuses the crap out of people (we even paint 'em up the same heh)

[Native]

I pilot a HBK-4p almost exclusively, and have mastered the chassis, and keep a few 4p's in my mechbay with different loadouts. My default P is loaded with max armor, 9 MLAS 18 double heat syncs a std 260 engine and endo steel, and I wreak faces. I chain fire constantly, and usually get 1-4 kills a match.

Mediums are hard to play, but I think I have an advantage over most, as I have been chugging at the hunchback since closed beta update 2.

not really a fan of the cicada or the trebuche though... Im pretty exited for the blackjack however.. I hope the keep adding medium mechs

[Josef Nader]

Covering flanks, and flanking enemies. In other words, you keep enemy mediums and lights out of the bigger mechs butts, and climb up the rear ends of the bigger mechs on the enemy team. An AC20 hunch might not be terrifying in a 1v1 against an Atlas, but an Atlas + AC20 Hunch is one of the deadliest tag-teams in the game. Nobody, and I mean nobody, is going to prioritize a hunchback over an Atlas, and that gives you carte blanche to run behind them and kill them dead with your AC20.

You're reliant on finding a good teammate to work with, but the medium mech's job is to get the kills while the assaults tank the damage.

[Soda Popinsky]

But seriously, in a support role with heavies, I feel I do OK with my Centurion. I'll do about as much damage as I make with my Heavy, but not nearly as much as those assaults do. I've pretty much given up on getting kills with a medium, and go for the assists.

Edited by Soda Popinsky, 26 February 2013 - 09:54 AM.

[DocBach]

I use my CN9-A like a mini Atlas. It's got the same amount of hardpoints as the D-DC, only without the ECM

[Chunkylad]

I am primarily a medium pilot, in my Cicadas I run distraction, light hunter, flanker, and pick off weak mechs. With something a bit more armed for burst (such as the Centi A or YLW) I flank and shred the weapons off mechs, usually let my team finish them off before I draw too much attention. If I see a PPC (Yes, that is standard and not ER) or LRM boat, I get in their face to keep them out of the fight. Only mechs smaller than me that I have an issue fighting in my centi are 3Ls and Jenner Ds.

[Whompity]

I play my 3M Cicada in the scout-flank-skirmish roles (usually in that order during a match). I know I'll never do enough damage to get a lot of kills, but it's a really good platform for doing the same a Raven does... look for weaknesses and exploit them. Disrupting enemy formations by running past behind them and unloading into their backs... they're still turning around and you're already gone... and now they have to watch two directions. I really wish assists were tracked a bit better because I often have the most assists on the team, even if only 0-2 kills.

The rough bits are when those first two phases (scout/flank) don't work out well and you end up popping up in a place that you thought would be empty... but it isn't. You have the speed to get away, but then you round another corner and instead of finding your buds, you get more enemies. Oopsie. Those are the times you die embarassed.

If all goes well, there's a fantastic furball and you can whirl and zip through the crowd like a dervish, backshotting everything you can. Think like a jackal, I guess.

Mediums with decent engines can also deploy across maps fairly quickly too... finish off one foe and you're the first to make it over to your comrade who is dealing with a pesky light... add your lasers and you've tipped the balance. I think there are people who play mediums as a small heavy (big guns, slow speed, thin armour) and some who play them like big lights (fair guns, good speed, decent armour). I tend to fall in the latter camp. I like the flexibility. My main problem is when i play too agressively at the beginning of a match... since you are faster than the heavies, the desire to jump out ahead and get the first shots in is tremendous, and usually fatal.

Think like a jackal, I keep telling myself.

[Reported for Inappropriate Name]

mediums are footsoldiers, and in the land of assaults they can only survive by sticking in a pack of mediums, or by sticking with an assault.

[ciller]

fspRinger, on 26 February 2013 - 09:07 AM, said:

Medium 'Mechs rarely work on their own but a wolf pack (even a small one) of good pilots in specialzed builds can and will tear the enemy up when properly employed. It's harder in 8mans due to the tendency to just stack weight but some groups still pull it off.
4 mans beeing what they are and anecdotal evidence beeing easily dismissable, here is a screenshot I took today.

I was in this match (obviously), also in a centurion and we sorta kinda basically won it for our team. That is what Mediums do. I admit we were pulling a bit more weight but still, this is a pretty consistent picture of our 4-man drops. Mediums (Centurions) rock.