28 replies to this topic

[Alistair Winter]

Rocdocta, on 09 April 2013 - 11:02 PM, said:

1. capping the closest cap and staying there.

Agreed. The closest base can usually be captured just by the team walking over it, there's barely any need for anyone to stop at all.

Rocdocta, on 09 April 2013 - 11:02 PM, said:

2. not scouting.

Agreed.

Rocdocta, on 09 April 2013 - 11:02 PM, said:

3. capping the enemy cap and staying there to try and pull the win STRAIGHT AWAY.

I guess you're talking about Assault, in which case I agree.

Rocdocta, on 09 April 2013 - 11:02 PM, said:

4. Wolf pack always mentality. when we have multiple lights then split up and put pressure on as many caps as possible. If you are out of your class, retreat and cap something else or then wolf pack. Keep applying pressure on the caps.

This depends entirely on your speed. It's one thing if you're a 150 kph Jenner with Jumpjets. It's another thing entirely if you're a light mech doing 120 kph or less, because if you encounter a couple of Raven 3Ls, you're damned if you fight and damned if you run.
Some light mechs need to stay close to the main group, just in case they encounter a flock of Ravens.

Rocdocta, on 09 April 2013 - 11:02 PM, said:

5. staying with the main group and never leaving the security of the fire support.

As above. It depends on the light mech. Some light mechs are geared specifically towards doing damage, taking out legs and rear armour. And some light mech pilots can swing a battle, and even get the damage top score of their team.

Rocdocta, on 09 April 2013 - 11:02 PM, said:

6. not falling back to stop our base cap. Your our only hope to get there and chase off their lights. You dont need to kill them, just keep them moving so they may leave the cap box and give us time.

I absolutely disagree with this. Granted, if they have 1, maybe 2 mechs, a light mech pilot should be able to distract them and slow down their cap. But I've had so many Assault matches as a light or even medium mech, where my team leaves the base undefended, the enemy team rushes in for a cap, and guess who is expected to fix it?
"ur a light mech, stop the cap"
"Stay on the square, Raven, I'm on my way [with my 40 kph Atlas]"

In many a fight, I've sacrificed my mech for the team, coming out of the game with little or no damage and the least amount of XP on my team. Sometimes my team is able to capitalize, other times it's a waste of time as the other 7 guys on the team are all in assault mechs doing less than 50 kph, and I end up dead for nothing.

When I'm not willing to sacrifice my mech "for the team", people call me names and blame me for the loss, since the job of the light mech is to be cannon fodder and wait for the cavalry to arrive.

As if being a light mech pilot wasn't a bad deal already. Most of your contributions to the team (e.g. scouting, capping, spotting, stopping the enemy from flanking, etc) generate little or no XP and C-bill rewards, and if you're very good you'll manage to cripple an enemy mech for someone else on your team to get the kill.

I love playing light mechs, especially my Raven 2X scout with BAP and Advanced sensors. But if you think I'm here to die for the assault mech pilots, you've got another thing coming.

Edited by Alistair Winter, 10 April 2013 - 03:59 AM.

[Kay Oss]

One thing I don't agree with is the "don't stay and fight with the big guys 'cause my weapons are nearly useless" part . If my weapons are useless then I must be awesome since I am almost always 1st or 2nd in the team's damage. ML's are the most efficient weapon in the game and make a light mech able to do a fair amount of damage. Being light I can easily target the most weakened enemy mechs and maneuver to hit their weakened armor points as well. Separating from the group when the heat is on is a risky strat and I don't do it very often.

I oftentimes try to grab an early cap and then go back to the group when the sh*t hits the fan. I don't do a lot of scouting but do go after strays at the start if I have a partner.

Edited by Kay Oss, 10 April 2013 - 04:28 AM.

[Erasus Magnus]

7. Distract the enemy as good as you can! As a light running 150kph and being jump capable, you can run and jump circles around most enemies and catch their fire. They seldom hit you and you can tank a lot of damage for your team, if done correctly. Every shot that is fired on you, is one shot that doesnt hurt one of your fellow MechWarriors.
The bigger the target, you can get the attention off your team, the better.

Edited by Erasus Magnus, 10 April 2013 - 04:36 AM.

[Yokaiko]

Rocdocta, on 09 April 2013 - 11:02 PM, said:

4. Wolf pack always mentality. when we have multiple lights then split up and put pressure on as many caps as possible. If you are out of your class, retreat and cap something else or then wolf pack. Keep applying pressure on the caps.

Of two minds here, running off solo with anything but a COM-3D or Raven -3L is relatively dangerous, particularly in pugs running in pairs is more advantageous. particularly on conquest, get one node, and run back for your base 9/10 times you can catch their capper(s) there and remove them from the game, at which point you can back cap the other flank and then go look for LRM boats, back line support and whatnot to harrass.

Bliztkrieging with lights works fantastically when you have a pair on coms, then you can work together spot and vector to each other and the risk is significantly lower. I'll admit its a matter of style though.

otherwise great post.

Edited by Yokaiko, 10 April 2013 - 04:41 AM.

[Rocdocta]

Px x64, on 10 April 2013 - 03:01 AM, said:

But not do this if you're only ecm mech in team

stjobe, on 10 April 2013 - 03:40 AM, said:

Pretty solid advice there.

However, as all advice, you should not follow it unthinkingly.

I play a much different game when I'm in my ERPPC+ASRM4 Commando than when I'm in my 1xML, TAG, BAP, ESRII Spider 5V. And yet another when I'm in my ECM 2D or 5D.

So know what your 'mech and you can do, learn how and when to do it, and be prepared to adjust to how the fight develops.

Support your team by doing what's most appropriate at the time, whether it's scouting out the enemy, pinging the base to draw some enemies off the main furball, capping a base to get the points rolling, TAGging targets for your LRM boats, just adding your firepower to the furball, or even taking a hit for someone.

There's no "one way" to play a light 'mech, one of the skills you must master in order to be a good light pilot is to be flexible and able to adapt quickly to changing circumstances.

Definitely! no plan survives contact with the enemy. my OP was more a few pointers for new light pilots.

Edited by Rocdocta, 10 April 2013 - 05:00 AM.

[Esplodin]

5 min timer before you can cap = 5 min where nobody has to worry about back capping and can engage in full battle bots. How long do matches run? Yup, 5 min on average and 7 on the big maps if my stats are anything to go by. Might as well take the caps out if you are going there.

Personally I'm gonna sit on it and cap if there is no response, and at the very least run the bar down to where if I touch it the other team eats a loss. That helps when the rest of my team runs one by one into the kill-zone, since I'd rather not wait 2 min under fire in the magic square. That and the rage it generates moves the enemy from the logical to the emotional side of the brain and makes them easier to out maneuver.

Don't like it? Too bad, and the assault pilots brought it on themselves. First for not having a strategy for all win conditions, and second for not complaining that the ENTIRE GAME DESIGN favors mechs that deal the most damage and make kills while rolling in the cbills. Think about it. Assault gets a kill - they get the benefit. When a light works it like crazy on conquest alpine keeping cap points up the reward is shared amongst the whole team, and schmidt rewards at that. No rewards for preventing back caps. No rewards for causing all holy heck in the enemy lines.

There is no other useful role for a light other then damage if you want any cbills or XP. Scouting? Please. Everyone shuffles off to the closest brawl site on every map except river city - and then it is one of two brawl sites. Ref: http://mwomercs.com/...76324-heatmaps/

When lights are easier to hit when HSR is fully implemented, wolf packs will be the only way to survive. Most people don't FF on one member of a pack and take shots of opportunity. That means multiple targets flashing in their reticule. Unless they are doing the stupid circle of death move, but then the light pilot deserves to get their mech shot out from under them.

Look, I'm mainly a light pilot in a Spider. It takes a LOOOOOOONG time to master all the variants. 2, maybe 3 hours of game play in my Heavy Metal and I had all the basics unlocked. I have enough XP to master the thing once the time comes with room to spare at this point.

TL;DR: Everything about how lights are designed in this game actively encourages either not bothering and driving something heavier, or abusing whatever game mechanic you can to be on par with them (3L) to even have a hope of making space bucks and XP. I want more of a game then battlebots, but sadly even CW looks like it's going to be just meta wrapped around TDM with capture points.

[Taemien]

Not a bad bit of advice, but is really close to telling players how to play.

I know when I run with a group (premade of 2-3 of us), our lights play escort to the Assaults. When we do run with more than one light, we run in pairs to maximize our potential to destroying enemy light mechs that might try to back cap or use ECM to hide/disrupt stuff.

This is why you won't see us split up except on rare occasions.

And then you have skirmishers. I'm sorry but if I'm in a 6 Med Laser Jenner, I'm not spotting for your LRM15s. I do way more damage back with the group and flanking. The Jenner F has more burst then even some heavy mechs. So those 'couple of medium lasers' are a force to be reckoned with.

This is what I tell people who expect others to play a certain way. Short answer, Don't.

Long answer is this:

If you need a role such as scouting and harassing filled, get yourself a group. Expecting a PUG to do this is testament to inducing headaches. Always remember this:

PUGs are PUGs. They do PUGlike things. They are what they are. They have been what they always have been. They will be what they always will be.

You cannot change the PUG. You can only mitigate it with your own actions. And never get upset at the PUG. They know no better. They cannot learn any better. But be gracious to the few that do play properly and cherish them.

[Critical Fumble]

In premise I agree with #3; but not because its "lame", and there are conditions where its a good idea.

You shouldn't blitz because you ought to always assume that the other side is at least as good as you are, and if they actually respond you're toasted.

You should cap when it gives your team an advantage. The obvious one is when your team is losing and the other team is mostly out of fast mechs. The other, less obvious situation is when you can leverage the other team's irrational hatred of the cap mechanic to split part of their firepower off the main fight. The key is counter-intuitive, though - you need to telegraph that you're heading there so they will respond immediately.

Not a bad starting introduction, but nothing beats learning by actually doing.

[Grayseven]

I like Light mechs...really, really like them...and for the most part the OP is spot on. However...

In my mind, the Light mech has 3 duties: One, cap. We are fast and in Conquest you have to keep the cap balance in your favor as much as possible...

Two, scout. Our speed and low profile makes it easy to find and report the enemy location. If you just target an enemy mech, your friends will know where it is and when you light them up you've now given them something to worry about...especially if you are in an ECM light and they still can't see you...

Three, harass. The days of circling a mech and destroying it are all but over (unless the big dummy wandered off by himself) but nothing...and I mean nothing...will stall an enemy advance like a light mech behind them taking pot shots or even better snaking through their formation putting damage on every mech you can. For some reason taking damage tends to disrupt a pilots concentration a bit. But for crying out loud don't go dashing through the enemies lines unless they are already in contact with your main force. Making yourself the only target for their fire is a sure path to spectator-dom...