145 replies to this topic

[Tyzh]

Kyle Knightraven, on 04 June 2012 - 07:34 AM, said:

That being said, It will be tricky at best to actually AIM and get a head shot. Skill will help to be sure, but not that much that it will become an everyday, on demand event.

^That.

Anyone walking into the game thinking they are Hot-Shot Pilot #1 and are going to headcap everyone everywhere all day because it's an "easy kill" are going to be disappointed. It will be a quick kill, not an easy kill. Feel free to aim for my head while I'm dodging around, and pounding your center mass with slug after slug. We'll see who rusts first.

[Arkhangel]

it's war, if you can headhsot, outflank or leg, you gain an advantage, nuff said. it's not a game exploit to turn the other team into piles of burning scrap in any way you can (barring using the game mechanics to fire through a hill somehow, unless they just let you blow holes clear through it). fact of the matter is, who walks, limps or crawls in their mech off the battlefield is still who won.

Edited by Arkhangel, 04 June 2012 - 08:13 AM.

[Evil Ash]

If it's an assassination mission, say the "Kill Casey Nolan" Mission in black knight, than shoot for the cockpit, if you wish to get some POWs destroy only the mech, preferably the legs. Otherwise anything is fair game in my eyes.

[Kosomok]

Is it a viable tactic--or at least, a tactic not beyond the pale? IMO, yes--but the social context of IS society makes it morally questionable in many cases, from what I remember from my reading of the novels back in the day.

Will I do it? If it is actually viable, yes. At one time I was quite good at it. Not many people can take even an accidental shot to the cockpit (that doesn't take them out) and remain unrattled--the effect can sometimes be psychologically debilitating, especially when you come into the fight with a perception of relative invulnerability and find out that, holy crap, this guy could take me out--I could be DRT.

I don't see it as being a viable, intentional tactic except for the most skilled and lucky players, though.

To steal from another milieu, It is sort of like when, in DS9, Sisko talks to Worf about the Klingon tactic of ambush being contrary to concepts of Honor. Worf's reply was "There is great honor in victory."

Edited by Kosomok, 04 June 2012 - 08:27 AM.

[Vashts1985]

go ahead and shoot for the head. ima roll ina torso cockpit

[Satan n stuff]

Well you could always shoot in the general area of the head, It's usually directly above the center torso so if you just aim for that you'll end up occasionally taking off heads. Precision shooting should in my opinion only be attempted when you have time to aim, for example if the enemy doesn't know you're there or your weapons haven't cycled yet.

[Thirteen]

Headshots are good, until it's not an aimbot or similar cheat

[RabbitHRF]

Hey when their dead, the whining about cockpit shots stop!

[Grub]

Rule #1 on the battlefield: if you expect a fair fight, you've already lost.

MechWarrior is not a game. It's a combat sim. There's a difference.

Edited by Grub, 04 June 2012 - 08:44 AM.

[oohawkoo]

RabbitHRF, on 04 June 2012 - 08:38 AM, said:

Hey when their dead, the whining about cockpit shots stop!

nah thats when it begins ... along witht he rage quiting =3

[Frostiken]

Grub, on 04 June 2012 - 08:41 AM, said:

MechWarrior is not a game. It's a combat sim. There's a difference.

Mechwarrior is as much a sim of what piloting a mech would be like, as Half-Life is a simulation of what it's like to be a theoretical physicist.

Edited by Frostiken, 04 June 2012 - 08:48 AM.

[Kobold]

The solution to headshots: Don't be slow. My Jenner is going to be a lot harder to hit with a head shot when it is running and jumping to get behind you. As someone noted above, backs are bigger targets than heads.

[Kreisel]

I seem to recall one of the Devs making a post following the twitter interview (and all the insanely over rampant NERDRAAAGE that surrounded finding out about double armor and no hit transference) that mentioned they wanted to take steps to 'discourage head hunting much in the same way they are taking steps to discourage legging.' I.e. shooting the head should still be worthwhile, but not an overly easy way to get an instant kill. Along those lines I think latter in the same thread Bryan did post a small list of all the current ways in game to kill a mech and if I recall correctly it did include head-shots.

Personally I've found in a lot of games recently, with recoil, fast moving targets and all that, headshots are kinda more like a lucky crit than a skilled shot most the time. To the point I've seen people flame others as a 'Headshot Noob!' when they get killed by one.

[Jaggar Boo]

I aim for the head all the time in MWLL. Kill them quick or they will eject and be annoying little BA.

[CSG Gunslinger]

Audit, on 04 June 2012 - 03:43 AM, said:

Is this still considered "bad form?" I know it was frowned upon in the past because it's basically trying to kill the pilot as apposed to the mech and was seen as a "cheap shot" for many.

From Mechwarrior 2 Mercenaries:
"Kill the meat, save the metal".

The quicker the kill the better imho.

[Joseph Calvert]

In combat you take any advantage you can to take out the enemy.

[HighD]

War allows evervthing !!

[ENDMYSUFFERING]

I personally think they should come up with something where if you intentionally leg or headshot, you get less of a reward for using a cheaper, easier tactic. You should be able to do it in a pinch, of course, but if you only aim for the legs/head you shouldn't be rewarded as well to discourage making the game too easy. Maybe 1/4 the reward so you would have to wipe the whole enemy team just to get reward equal to a single kill regularly.

EDIT: Also, it is kind of noobish not to give your enemy a chance to fight back by legging them/blowing their head off. It makes it far too easy, and It's kind of dishonorable not to give your enemy even a chance. Since if you lose your legs, you're not going anywhere, and they can just stomp your face in.

Edited by Flametrace, 04 June 2012 - 09:40 AM.

[Solis Obscuri]

From what I've read, the devs have headshots in-game, but they've reinforced the cockpits a bit. May still take less damage than punching through center torso armor, but it's not going to be destroyed in 1-2 hits, most likely.

William Petersen, on 04 June 2012 - 08:02 AM, said:

I was pretty sure only Clans cared about purposeful head-shots, because the cost of their breeding and training program made MechWarriors more valuable than their machines, ergo, less waste is achieved by saving the meat over the metal. =P

The Clans built crutch-tech specifically to assist in headshotting.

They just cried and threw a fit every time some guy named Kerensky walked into a laser beam... again.

[Promptus]

nevar not use cheap shots