62 replies to this topic

[Urdnot Mau]

Straight question. Can any light pilots (cicada pilots included hehe) share their play style?
I'm starting to take interest in fast mechs, but i'm not sure about its roles and how to play it.
Do you engage larger mechs alone? distract them? Focus on stopping the enemy team from advancing? Scout ? I'd like to know as much details as possible. As many strategies as possible.
Also feel free to share you favorite light mechs and their builds.

[MadPanda]

Here's one of my games. It shows the playstyle quite well. At the beginning of the game you should focus on scouting, or in conquest capping. Don't engage enemy groups. If you are confident of yourself then you can take on a lone target who has been separated from the group. If not then try to look for other opportunities, like mechs your allies are targeting and hit their weak spots (exposed side torsos etc.).

[Proxzerk]

My favorite light mech has been the Raven (3L Cheese-esq Build) and my play style is normally to match the speed of my team's faster Mediums and Heavies, and provide ECM umbrella until first contact.

Once contact is made, I normally break off and strive to get into a flanking position and watch for the opponent's other scouts and break offs. If I find a break-off, I do my best to harass them and drag them back into the path of my escorts and announce the kite I am bringing. If I am able to get into flank I normally run from cover to cover lining up shots and firing alphas and harassing my former escorts targets.

In addition to this support format, if I see on the map that there is a 1 on 1 brawl going on, I will also look to get their fast and provide some form of support.

Piloting lights is all about scanning the map and looking to occupy and harass opponents, and providing as much support as possible while disrupting enemy ECMs and helping hide my brawlers.

-Proxzerk

[Deathlike]

Here's some tips:

1) Don't be overaggressive. That's what gets most pilots killed.

2) Don't chase every freaking "squirrel". You'll be set up like a ****.

3) When you have a teammate near you (another light preferably), you want to take advantage of your speed and double team your target as much as you can... ideally getting to the target's back and making life miserable.

4) Scout early and often... when there's no fighting (or limited fighting). Do NOT be afraid to fall back. You have to COMMUNICATE this info to your teammates, like 1 @ E5 or something like that. Learn to shorthand the info in a compact and concise form.

5) Speed is life... so the fastest engine will allow you to survive longer. XL engines are virtually mandatory (unless you don't plan to carry that many weapons).

[Biggieboy]

you go fast, shoot, move away fast.

[Mokou]

Walking down the hill~
Listening to the trees~
No more noise, just silence~
And the raindrops on my mech~
I'm just capin', capin' in the moonlight~

[Cairbre]

Let your light be like the monkey hiding in the pinata- hoping the kids don't break through with the stick!

[Proxzerk]

Cairbre, on 10 April 2013 - 07:05 AM, said:

Let your light be like the monkey hiding in the pinata- hoping the kids don't break through with the stick!

Ah yes... the old "power down between two buildings/rocks and then pounce" approach... well played, Cairbre!

[Cairbre]

I meant more bounce around in a crazy manner, being unpredictable even to yourself and hitting every red target in sight more or less indiscriminately while hoping you don't get hit.

That quote does kind of imply hiding, doesn't it? That was not my intention at all.

[Narcissistic Martyr]

Allow me to briefly describe my play style. AC20 to the face. Want more detail on my play style? First I hide behind the heavy/assualt mechs then I get behind the enemy if possible and ac20 them to death. Craven little 3L milk drinker comes by? AC20 to the face. ECMando or spider? 1 Hit limb removal, 2 hit kill. Medium mech? AC20 to the face. Heavy mech I can't get behind? AC20 to the face. Assault mech? AC20 up the old exhaust port (I almost feel sorry for stalker pilots) or .. (you guessed it) AC20 to the face.

That's right I'm one of the few mad enough to run an AC20 raven, the only practical build in the game that uses SHS while having ES, FF, and an XL engine. It costs more than the cheapest assaults, it has nowhere near enough armor or ammo, and has only a single ML for when the magazine runs dry. It is by far the funnest mech for me to play. Still, I average 300 damage per match, 1.2 kills, and about 3 assists where the big mechs exploit the holes I poke in the enemy.

[DegeneratePervert]

If you are a 3L, equip streaks and ECM. Welcome to godmode. No thought required... circle strafe, annihilate enemy lights.

For a Spider, jump jet around, and utilize your superior mobility to strike at enemy mech legs.

For a Jenner, similar game plan to a 3L, but you don't have the ECM crutch, so you need to utilize your jump jets to scoot around and make super tight turns.

For a commando, utilize streaks and ECM. You're pretty fragile, but those streaks mean you can pop enemy light mechs easily since all your rockets will crack their center torso easily.

[FallenSeraphim]

Deathlike, on 10 April 2013 - 06:01 AM, said:

Here's some tips:

1) Don't be overaggressive. That's what gets most pilots killed.

2) Don't chase every freaking "squirrel". You'll be set up like a ****.

3) When you have a teammate near you (another light preferably), you want to take advantage of your speed and double team your target as much as you can... ideally getting to the target's back and making life miserable.

4) Scout early and often... when there's no fighting (or limited fighting). Do NOT be afraid to fall back. You have to COMMUNICATE this info to your teammates, like 1 @ E5 or something like that. Learn to shorthand the info in a compact and concise form.

5) Speed is life... so the fastest engine will allow you to survive longer. XL engines are virtually mandatory (unless you don't plan to carry that many weapons).

All good points! Unlike heavier mechs you don't have to commit to to a firefight. It's just as important to choose when not to fight and run away. Depending on the circumstances it's a horrible horrible mistake to take on a lonely atlas but sometimes distracting it just long enough helps your team in the long run. I've successfully taken out lone atlases in a Jenner but it takes patience.

Use cover often - attack then jump back over the hill. River City for example is perfect for alpha striking a target and then disappearing behind a building. Plus it gives cover from missiles.

My style is more of persistent harassment, I'll strafe across the battlefront and just shoot as what I can, and then disappear. Or weave through their lines and deliberately get aggro then dissapear. Unless it's a juicy and vulnerable target then I'll pursue (but not to far because that gets me screwed!) I use my jumpjets a lot, to evade but also to get into attack position. I like to jump at an engaged mech, alpha mid flight, turn 180 and then alpha again before landing. If I'm high enough the target can't aim high enough to hit me but if he does that's heat and attention of my allies so they can light him up.

I usually pilot a Jenner-D (4xSL, 2xML, 2xSSRM2) but lately I've been in spiders... little guys are fun to pilot but I definitely need to play smarter to make a difference to my team

Edited by FallenSeraphim, 11 April 2013 - 12:03 AM.

[Hex Pallett]

Deathlike, on 10 April 2013 - 06:01 AM, said:

Here's some tips:

1) Don't be overaggressive. That's what gets most pilots killed.

2) Don't chase every freaking "squirrel". You'll be set up like a ****.

3) When you have a teammate near you (another light preferably), you want to take advantage of your speed and double team your target as much as you can... ideally getting to the target's back and making life miserable.

4) Scout early and often... when there's no fighting (or limited fighting). Do NOT be afraid to fall back. You have to COMMUNICATE this info to your teammates, like 1 @ E5 or something like that. Learn to shorthand the info in a compact and concise form.

5) Speed is life... so the fastest engine will allow you to survive longer. XL engines are virtually mandatory (unless you don't plan to carry that many weapons).

Pretty much the basic rules. However different Lights have different tactics.

Spiders, the only Light I own, are great scouts. Rush forward and JJ across the hills/buildings, point out where enemies are heading, and RUN YER ARSE BACK. Spiders are the least armed Light variant, thus very vulnerable. Use your JJ to get to unreachable terrains - saved my life from ECMandos and ECMravens many times - and lead the chasers to your group.

When the game enters brawling, however, you can start to run off your pack in search of lone PPC boats/LRM boats left behind, and Alpha in their back until explosion. There're plenty of Atlas and Stalkers died in my hand simply because they're too bulky to turn around. The ECM 5D works especially well, though you should consider staying with your pack and neutralizing enemy ECM as well.

Jenners are less maneuverable than Spiders in terms of JJ but have much better weapon loadout. General early-game Spider tactics apply to Jenners too, but they also work great as exclusive Light hunters.

Commandos and Ravens are less of scouting and more about Light hunting and harassing, as they cannot JJ - except for the worst Raven - but can carry tons of weapons.

[Urdnot Mau]

Great feedback so far ! Keep it up

[bmortime]

I am almost exclusively a light pilot. (Founders Jenner 4 ML, 300XL)

One thing I haven't seen covered yet is being unpredictable.
If you just circle strafe (except for the dumb 3L) you become predictable. My friend who pilots an Atlas showed me how he hunts lights that come at him, and it is always the same, they circle around and around and get killed.

Use terrain around ya. Being fast enough, you can use the terrain to get around, behind, away, and in general, survive more if ya learn the terrain, and use it to your advantage. City fighting, like in River City, can be fun if you use the buildings to cover your approach, and if you don't be predictable when pouncing on enemy mechs.

Jump Jets, as a Jenner pilot I always have at least 1 on my mech. These are great for using the terrain to your advantage. Also, just tapping the jumpjets and jerking your mech to the left or right can drastically change your direction, which will take enemies by surprise. Many a time I've been chased around a corner, flipped around and caught the enemy aiming to where he thought I'd be, giving me free shots to him before I zoom off somewhere else.

The Art of the ambush. One thing I learned, before the 3L lost some of its godmode, was how to lure enemies into your teammates. I would run ahead at a slow 130kph and find some light/medium mech and I would engage it for a little bit. This would cause me to lose lots of armor, but they would get the taste for the kill and would give chase. I'd then run back to my heave/assault friends and zip on bye, the enemy mech coming into range of my team without backup getting severely hurt/destroyed.

Know how to spread the damage around. You don't have a ton of armor, turning and twisting when you know you are about to take damage is one way to use it all. The most common thing, is people go for the core, so learn to run at someone without showing your core, glance at them and fire, and then hide your weakspot.

Flanking, getting around the enemy, and then get them to chase you out of position will help your team out. For example, on Ice Colony (or whatever the ice one day time), last night, I used the tunnel to come out behind the enemy (I started at the north spawn). I followed behind, giving data to the heavy/assaults so they could start raining LRMS. When I was finally noticed, I didn't panic right away and run to my team, I shot the Atlas and stalker, and ran back to their base, causing those 2 and a hunchback to chase me. Giving them a merry chase, before rejoining my squad, I pulled them out of position to support the others, and we rolled through them because they couldn't bring effective fire to take down our mechs.

(edited here) I almost forgot. Don't get stuck on one target. Feel free to engage and disengage. If you get stuck with one target, you leave yourself open to their allies coming to their rescue. Feel free to run around sharing the love you have with all your opponents. Running through a battlefield at high speeds, shooting this enemy and that, distracts them and makes you a hard target to nail down.

Legging. Most heavy/assault mech pilots I talk to take armor off their legs because most people don't go for the leg, they go for the core. So, go for the leg. It will slow down the target, make them worry about the other leg and start playing more defensively, and is not the first spot they expect to get hit.

Speed. One thing I've learned is to not always stay at max speed. Going 152 KPH is fun and all, but change up your speed constantly. Slowing down a bit helps you turn faster, and varying your speed makes you even harder to predict. This is CRUCIAL against light mechs (unless you are the cheaty 3L{excessive swearing}). Many get stuck into a circle strafe of doom just running at high speeds. Learn to switch up your speed to cut inside their circle, turn and change the strafe so they can't keep it up, and use the terrain to get them confused/lost.

I hope this helps ya. If ya ever want to talk in game, or drop a few, feel free to add me. I love my Jenner, and I know a Commando Pilot. I am always up to talking about strategies and builds.

Edited by bmortime, 11 April 2013 - 01:52 PM.

[DTheSleepless]

I'm bmortime's Commando pilot friend. A lot of what he said was spot on, but Commandos don't have jump jets so they're in for a rougher time.

Play style really depends on the situation and your loadout. The Commando has papier mache armor, so brawling is mostly out of the question. The only Commando that should ever get into a real brawling situation is the COM-2D, and that's only because triple Streaks are incredibly effective at taking out lights. But your loadout does dramatically affect the way you play.

Important note: do NOT scout in a Commando unless you're sure you won't be spotted. I don't care what anyone else tells you, the Commando is too fragile, and the instant one of their mechs gets a bead on you, you're hamburger. You cannot safely wander off far from the group unless you're in Conquest and on a healthy sized map (think Tourmaline Desert or Alpine Peaks).

Half the game of the Commando is knowing when to run. Like I said, you're not a brawler. If you're losing the fight or going to lose, you need to fall back and return to the group. Also keep in mind that the Commando has a HUGE arm radius, so take advantage of that when skirmishing. And NEVER circle strafe.

The COM-2D is a big part of this. I roll three SSRM2s and 3 tons of ammo exclusively, no ML. If you're not going to be able to get a streak lock, bail. Streaks are fine for getting assists on larger mechs, but really only good at hunting lights. If your team is in a skirmish, weave. Never stand still. You should be ducking in and out and striking where appropriate.

Note that of the lights, the COM-2D is the best team player with the other lights on your team. The TDK should never pair up, the 3A can sometimes, but the 2D is fantastic for pairing up with another light to go hunting.

Everyone likes to bag on the COM-TDK, but I've made him work (4xML). The trick is that he plays completely differently from other Commandos (outside of maybe the 1B). When you play the TDK, think of him as one of the Options from Gradius. He needs to stay with the team, period. Chainfire is good for keeping heat under control while delivering steady damage. What you want to do is engage mechs that are already tussling with one of the heavies or assaults on your team. The TDK is *excellent* at killing assaults, especially Stalkers. While the enemy mech is fighting with your team, get behind him, stay there, and bury fire in their rear CT. You can usually accomplish that by cutting your throttle to just a hair above the enemy mech's speed.

Do NOT brawl with other lights in a TDK. You'll either lose or get so beaten down that the next mech that sees you will blow out your core.

As a sidenote, I switched over to a standard engine in my TDK and found that to be far better for survivability and for his play style.

Finally, the COM-3A sits between the TDK and 2D. He's okay at both jobs, excels at neither, and a little more flexible. You can afford to be a little more reckless, but not much.

I love the Commando, but the secret to rolling anything but a 2D (and even half the time, the 2D) is to always be around something more threatening than you are. Good heavy and assault pilots know how to deal with a single light, but can get overwhelmed quickly when they're dealing with two lights.

Bottom line: buddy system.

[knight-of-ni]

FallenSeraphim, on 10 April 2013 - 11:58 PM, said:

All good points! Unlike heavier mechs you don't have to commit to to a firefight. It's just as important to choose when not to fight and run away. Depending on the circumstances it's a horrible horrible mistake to take on a lonely atlas but sometimes distracting it just long enough helps your team in the long run. I've successfully taken out lone atlases in a Jenner but it takes patience.

Pretty much agree with all the comments. I'd just like to expand a bit on what FallenSeraphim said. Another thing to consider when taking on a lone assualt mech isn't about you or the other mech's skill.... Consider the amount of time it takes your light mech to widdle down that assault mech's armor. Could you do it? Sure. Should you do it? Perhaps not. Your time may be better spent helping your teammates take out the enemy mech(s) they are currently fighting. A good team awareness of the situation is required here to make your decision. Once that is done, you (and your teammates who are still alive thanks to your double-team effort) can go back to that lone Atlas and take him out.

[bmortime]

knnniggett, on 11 April 2013 - 02:06 PM, said:

Pretty much agree with all the comments. I'd just like to expand a bit on what FallenSeraphim said. Another thing to consider when taking on a lone assualt mech isn't about you or the other mech's skill.... Consider the amount of time it takes your light mech to widdle down that assault mech's armor. Could you do it? Sure. Should you do it? Perhaps not. Your time may be better spent helping your teammates take out the enemy mech(s) they are currently fighting. A good team awareness of the situation is required here to make your decision. Once that is done, you (and your teammates who are still alive thanks to your double-team effort) can go back to that lone Atlas and take him out.

Agreed, I would like to add that can be situational. I do like to help my team out by messing around with the dedicated LRM boats, pulling them out of position so they can't unload 40+ missles on a teammate can be just as important. Other than that, I agree with ya 100%

[Kenyon Burguess]

I flip thru the cluster of enemies till I find one that's a priority and then I hold my target lock till its dead or a better target appears. I tend to hide behind hills and buildings a lot and if I cant do that I fly between mechs at back armor height so that their missed shots punish their friends. ive caused quite a few team kills by doing that.

[MonkeyCheese]

DegeneratePervert, on 10 April 2013 - 10:01 PM, said:

For a commando, utilize streaks and ECM. You're pretty fragile, but those streaks mean you can pop enemy light mechs easily since all your rockets will crack their center torso easily.

You forgot the Death's Knell it is really a different type of beast. It is the only Commando I own, mastered of course.
150kph, 4 arm mounted medium lasers, extra weight into DHS/AMS.

Playstyle - Run around like a madman leggin everything that moves, find a friend or 2 with a death's knell for even more leggin.

Edited by MonkeyCheese, 11 April 2013 - 03:27 PM.