56 replies to this topic

[brock0]

I am a new player as well and I too despise light mechs. I am getting much better using many of the tips posted here.

Honestly though, I think this whole thread sort of speaks to what I think is a big problem with pub games; there are a LOT of players who don't care at all for point or base capping and just want to get to the middle and start brawling as quickly as possible. This behavior is reinforced by bonus cbills and exp being awarded for COMBAT.

Where I often get into trouble is seeing we are way behind on cap points and nobody on my team cares so I try to get some back or when those annoying lights skirt the map straight to your base to cap during assault and there are 13-14 other players in the match yelling for him to get off the cap point, because again, they want to fight, and I end up going back alone to try to prevent the cap and get circled to death.

Teamwork is a good counter to light mechs but for pub play, you can't force your team to work together. This game badly needs team death match - if people want the option to play more tactically with objectives, it should be there.

[Ngamok]

Streaks.............wait, nm.

[Lugh]

Look up an Immelman turn. That will get you lined up on them often.

[Thurk]

I, like the OP, Shudder when I see a light mech when playing my slower mechs. I actually made a hunchback just for hunting them down. The HBK-4J with 6 MPL's and 2 SSRM's. DHS, and Endosteel with an upgraded engine (forget which one, servers are down) I run about 79kph. I can generally keep up with a light in a fight, and easily leg them or take out CT with help from the SSRM's. I think it is very effective, and when lights **** me off in a game, I switch over to my HBK-4J nicknamed "The Stinger".

[SC1P1O]

Best and most satisfying counter to lights, is BOOOM legs gone with dual ac20s, Then you line up the next shot slowly to enjoy their agony, Then say smile for the flash and move on.

[Kashink]

EmperorMyrf, on 19 March 2013 - 11:17 AM, said:

According to my stats, I am making almost the exact same amount of contact with both basic and pulse lasers, so the advantage there is nonexistent for me. I usually just stay with basic lasers as they run cooler and weigh less. I'm not sure if it's just me or if everyone is like this, but feel free to check for yourself.
But don't use the accuracy stat. Instead, use total_dmg / (weapon_dmg * shots fired). This represents the percentage of your beams that actually do damage, whereas your accuracy stat is how often any part of a single beam hits your target.

My main light killer as of late has been the AC/20. Once you find how much to lead on them while they circle you, you can hit them near every time. One hit will usually send them running, and if they don't run 2 hits will likely drop one.

This can also be done with the GR, but I seem to have a little trouble finding that sweet spot. Doesn't "feel" the same as an AC/20.

why not just run with AC10? closer range but more dmg.. AC20's are LR/lite dmg but fire quicker..if that's what you're getting at .. I haven't done my homework nor do I know if the rules have changed and if the AC10's are actually worth it.. IMO, I would NOT go with AC10's if I only get 2 xtra dmg .. which if it does.. that def needs to get fixed.

[Luminarium]

You almost have to have a specific setup, or at least commit to hunting lights in order to counter them.

Note that an ECM light requires different tools to deal with than non ecm mech.
It all boils down to your style / skill level. Are you good at tracking targets are are you better at twitch shooting ?


Rule #1) Do not be alone unless the rest of your team is dead.

Rule #2) If you are in an assault mech or a slow mech overall- walk backwards - you'll end up having more shots at them - try to have your back to a wall or a building.

Rule #3) Weapon wise you want to have something fast hitting with little travel time.
Lasers (pulse are easier to get some dmg in with) > Streaks > PPC/ERPPC = Ballistics > LRMS (top engine lights can outrun LRMS).

In terms of mechs:

Medium mechs counter lights well, especially when set up for light mech hunting.

EX: Yen-lo-wang with 2x MPL and AC20. It moves and turns fast enough to counter the swarming of lights, the dual MPL can leg one quick and end it with ac20 shot.

Certain heavies do very well, especially mechs with good torso turning - a founder catapult with 3 large laser 2x streaks can tear a light mech apart quickly.

My personal favorite is 2x ERPPC and 2x PPC K2. XL engine, chain fire in 2 groups, alpha in 3rd - and go to town. Do not stop moving, use your torso to line up your shots, try to keep at least 100m distance between you and the light ( your regular ppc are useless under 90m) - switch to er PPC if they try to hug you. - This setup take a lot of practice. You need to manage your heat, aim carefully - and above else, always be aware where the lights are coming from.

You almost have to have a specific setup, or at least commit to hunting lights in order to counter them.

Note that an ECM light requires different tools to deal with than non ecm mech.
It all boils down to your style / skill level. Are you good at tracking targets are are you better at twitch shooting ?


Rule #1) Do not be alone unless the rest of your team is dead.

Rule #2) If you are in an assault mech or a slow mech overall- walk backwards - you'll end up having more shots at them - try to have your back to a wall or a building.

Rule #3) Weapon wise you want to have something fast hitting with little travel time.
Lasers (pulse are easier to get some dmg in with) > Streaks > PPC/ERPPC = Ballistics > LRMS (top engine lights can outrun LRMS).

In terms of mechs:

Medium mechs counter lights well, especially when set up for light mech hunting.

EX: Yen-lo-wang with 2x MPL and AC20. It moves and turns fast enough to counter the swarming of lights, the dual MPL can leg one quick and end it with ac20 shot.

Certain heavies do very well, especially mechs with good torso turning - a founder catapult with 3 large laser 2x streaks can tear a light mech apart quickly.

My personal favorite is 2x ERPPC and 2x PPC K2. XL engine, chain fire in 2 groups, alpha in 3rd - and go to town. Do not stop moving, use your torso to line up your shots, try to keep at least 100m distance between you and the light ( your regular ppc are useless under 90m) - switch to er PPC if they try to hug you. - This setup take a lot of practice. You need to manage your heat, aim carefully - and above else, always be aware where the lights are coming from.

You almost have to have a specific setup, or at least commit to hunting lights in order to counter them.

Note that an ECM light requires different tools to deal with than non ecm mech.
It all boils down to your style / skill level. Are you good at tracking targets are are you better at twitch shooting ?


Rule #1) Do not be alone unless the rest of your team is dead.

Rule #2) If you are in an assault mech or a slow mech overall- walk backwards - you'll end up having more shots at them - try to have your back to a wall or a building.

Rule #3) Weapon wise you want to have something fast hitting with little travel time.
Lasers (pulse are easier to get some dmg in with) > Streaks > PPC/ERPPC = Ballistics > LRMS (top engine lights can outrun LRMS).

In terms of mechs:

Medium mechs counter lights well, especially when set up for light mech hunting.

EX: Yen-lo-wang with 2x MPL and AC20. It moves and turns fast enough to counter the swarming of lights, the dual MPL can leg one quick and end it with ac20 shot.

Certain heavies do very well, especially mechs with good torso turning - a founder catapult with 3 large laser 2x streaks can tear a light mech apart quickly.

My personal favorite is 2x ERPPC and 2x PPC K2. XL engine, chain fire in 2 groups, alpha in 3rd - and go to town. Do not stop moving, use your torso to line up your shots, try to keep at least 100m distance between you and the light ( your regular ppc are useless under 90m) - switch to er PPC if they try to hug you. - This setup take a lot of practice. You need to manage your heat, aim carefully - and above else, always be aware where the lights are coming from.

[Mokou]

Lights? Like other mechs, just focus their weak points.
JNR - CT
RVN - Legs
COMM/SPDR - just shoot them in back
Or smth like this.

[Void Angel]

Come on, let's not be that way. Your response to a question that boils down to "how do I shoot lights" is "shoot them in certain places." But he's not asking where to target them; he's having trouble hitting them in the first place, so your answer is rather nonsensical and unhelpful. How is he going to magically get behind a light that's focused on him, for example?

I enjoy discussions, but you have to make sure you understand the issue first.

[Arctourus]

I've often wondered if flamers could be good defense against lights. Most lights are very energy heavy, so they can run hot, and since flamers are "constant on" it would be easy to hit one with them as lights tend to get close to avoid fire. The problem would be sacrificing space/weight that the flamers would take up.

[Void Angel]

Nah; you won't be able to maintain the closure and targeting that a flamer requires. While some lights do overload on energy, they're also very good at watching their heat, because if they overheat, they often die. Further, a smart light will be using medium lasers, whose effective range is far, far longer than the flamer's.

[Haji1096]

If you are alone and backing up against a wall is not an option.

If you have arm mounted lasers, use free look to articulate them separately from your torso mounted weapons. Your arms move faster and the extra 0.2 s you can hold your lasers on the light mech means way more damage.

Combine this with walking backwards and turning the same direction as the light mech to maxmize the time the Light mech is between your sights.

[Void Angel]

If you have articulated arms, you should not have your arms locked to the torso - go into your options and change that before you drop.

Another technique which I do not see explained enough is throttle control and swapping ends:

• turn toward the light who is attacking you, and twist your torso in the same direction.
  
• if it is tactically viable (i.e. there aren't other threats,) slow down a bit to improve your turning radius and keep on target.
  
• When he gets far enough around you that he is leaving your field of view, immediately turn hard in the other direction and swap your torso.
  
• If he is still agile enough to stay out of your firing arc, then reverse throttle and keep on slapping him with lasers.
  
• Backing up against a wall immobilizes you and increases the accuracy of incoming fire. Use this only as a last resort against a superior opponent, or when overwhelmed by multiple foes.

Often, if you just prove yourself to be a hard target, the light will move on to better prospects. I'm currently running a long-range D-DC Atlas with two LRM20s, and an ER PPC and Large Laser for support weaponry. Many's the light (or medium) who's run slavering to the origin point of my LRMS only to find that the missile boat he was expecting is armed with 12 tons of heavy beam weaponry. Usually, they run back where they came from once I demonstrate that I can indeed hit what I aim at.

[LeShadow]

brock0, on 02 April 2013 - 08:55 AM, said:

Honestly though, I think this whole thread sort of speaks to what I think is a big problem with pub games; there are a LOT of players who don't care at all for point or base capping and just want to get to the middle and start brawling as quickly as possible. This behavior is reinforced by bonus cbills and exp being awarded for COMBAT.

Where I often get into trouble is seeing we are way behind on cap points and nobody on my team cares so I try to get some back or when those annoying lights skirt the map straight to your base to cap during assault and there are 13-14 other players in the match yelling for him to get off the cap point, because again, they want to fight, and I end up going back alone to try to prevent the cap and get circled to death.

Part of the problem is that if you're in a Heavy or Assault (even a relatively fast one) you're practically useless cap-wise. You can guard a point if most of the enemy team is already dead (and you don't have to fear being swarmed), but the time it takes to cross half the map often exceeds what you have left.

I've been in matches where both teams just kept running from point to point. Guess what? The team that has significantly more Lights always wins. There's just no point in trying to out-cap a faster enemy. Might as well go kill something and make a little money.

[FallenSeraphim]

As a dedicated light (Jenner, Spider, Commando) pilot I an appreciate the pain you guys are feeling, it's our job to be a thorn in your side.

Short of putting your back up against the wall I would suggest trying to keep your defense unpredictable by varying your speed and which way you twist. The reality is a light can stay in the sweet spot and pick away at your rear armour with near impunity unless you trip the pilot up. Then you have a chance to score some good shots.

1 on 1 mediums and heavies are juicy targets, I'll engage assaults 1v1 but only if they're fairly banged up or just to frustrate the pilot long enough to help my team. So stick with your team and don't wander off. If you see 2 or more of us, you better get help quickly. (One move I've seen drives you guys crazy is 2 mechs doing clockwise - counter clockwise circling, made many an Atlas cry)

Be aware of the weapon convergence of your mech - once I get close those AC20s on that Jager of yours aren't going to help you much. And in my Jenner it'll take you a good 3+ hits in the same spot to take me out, if you can target me.

Choose a position on the battlefield that gives you good sightlines with min-mod cover - you can see lights coming and you have modest protection from direct attack. High cover sections like the city portions of River City are could be your worst nightmare - lights depend on speed and cover to break up your attacks. I for one like to jump jet above you while you're paying attention to something else, alpha, and then land behind a building.

I would suggest against using flamers - they need to be essentially hitting the target all the time to make a difference, cause your own mech to build up heat exponentially, and they have a short range. I would recommend MPL since they have a shorter fire time (0.75s) over ML making use of your small attack window.

Better let me live when you see me on the battlefield...!

Edited by FallenSeraphim, 12 April 2013 - 12:46 AM.

[Noob Weapons]

Biggieboy, on 18 March 2013 - 03:18 PM, said:

Hi guys,

I'm enjoying the game and doing pretty ok, there's just one thing i'm having problems with...

Light...mechs *shudder*

it frequently happens that I get surrounded by a wolf pack of light mechs, and they're tougher than you might think to take them down.

So, any general tips on how to tackle light mechs?

Thanks in advance!

If there is a group of them and you're alone, you're generally screwed.

I swap between a heavy sniper and light mechs, and I quickly figure out how good someone is at aiming after a few seconds. Either I realize I can strafe behind them and get a kill, or I quickly figure out the pilot knows how to twist to see me.

It also turns into a fun game of russian roulette when the heavy you're trying to blind-spot has something like two AC20's, or two gauss rifles. Either you wear them down to nothing, or they finally connect a single shot and leave you limping into a mouthful of lead.

Stick with your team, even if you are a long-range mech. Hope they see you're being swarmed. Otherwise, aim for the legs or if you're really struggling with them, pack a few Streaks.. When I see those on an enemy mech in my jenner I start searching for an easier target.