12 replies to this topic

[Oppresor]

OK I give up! I decided to give my dedicated Recon Spider an additional role; it is now also a FOO (Forward Observation Officer) and in theory has the Artillery Strike consumable. The snag is, I can't find the button I need to press in order to use this facility. I have looked for a guide without much success. Help!

[Iron Hyena]

The Home Key and End Key are for Artillery and Airstrike, respectively.

[Koniving]

HOME (Artillery)
END (airstrike)

Test these in the testing grounds before going into a battle; you don't have to rebuy them if used in the testing grounds.

(Beaten to it.)

Edited by Koniving, 29 April 2013 - 12:21 PM.

[Oppresor]

Thanks for that, I'll practice in the testing ground.

[Koniving]

Quite welcome. They actually do improve greatly with the pilot lab enhancements under consumables. However Airstrikes are still virtually useless. Despite being said to be AC/10s, they have the damage of ac/2s on stationary targets that were bribed to stand still for me, and that's after fully upgrading it.

Artillery is your friend.

Btw. High speed and pulse lasers are always a great way to fight, but for the role you've mentioned, perhaps trading speed for a smaller engine and packing in an ER PPC -- in the case of the K, a UAC/5 or AC/2s -- can go a long way.

Edited by Koniving, 29 April 2013 - 12:33 PM.

[Mechteric]

They're both pretty terrible right now, wait until they get a buff before using them seriously

[Oppresor]

Koniving, on 29 April 2013 - 12:27 PM, said:

Btw. High speed and pulse lasers are always a great way to fight, but for the role you've mentioned, perhaps trading speed for a smaller engine and packing in an ER PPC -- in the case of the K, a UAC/5 or AC/2s -- can go a long way.

So that's how he did it! I watched a mission several weeks back in which a Spider was carrying an ERPPC. He or She was locked in a horrific duel with a Jenner; in the end the Spider won. From what I could make of it, it was the ERPPC that gave the Spider the edge, and of course the jump jets.

I mentioned it in one of the other threads and no one believed it.

[Victor Morson]

Koniving, on 29 April 2013 - 12:27 PM, said:

Artillery is your friend.

Lies.

They are both nothing but hilarious jokes that won't dent a commando, if it can hit it.

DO NOT BUY THE ACCURACY UPGRADE. You can't hit a powered down Atlas half the time with the regular strikes, the accuracy one makes it even harder to hit with.

I only take either strike as a joke to pop smoke and drop like 2 points of damage on the head of a PUG from 4000m away on Alpine, since they think they're out of weapons range. Entirely worthless but it's amusing to hear the comments in text chat if they noticed it even fired.

That said, if you really want to use either strike much, just rebind the key to your mouse or 7-8-9.

[Koniving]

Oppresor, on 29 April 2013 - 01:34 PM, said:

I watched a mission several weeks back in which a Spider was carrying an ERPPC. He or She was locked in a horrific duel with a Jenner; in the end the Spider won. From what I could make of it, it was the ERPPC that gave the Spider the edge, and of course the jump jets.

I mentioned it in one of the other threads and no one believed it.

Was one of the first ones to do it! (The ER PPC build).


Most likely the first Raven 3-L killed by a Spider.


Second highest point in MWO ever reachable at the time of Spiders release.


Highest point in MWO ever reachable at the time of Spiders release. (Fixed!)


Ballistic Spiders


Battlefield 3 style sniping with a spider on River city (back when I sucked at it). Catapults and Gauss Ravens can do this, too. It's easier now, this was before the JJ fix.


It is also possible to do a Gauss Spider. I'm serious. However the reason no one does it is the huge sacrifices required (XL 170 engine, completely stripping the arm and shoulder opposite of the gun.. leaving you with a one hit and you die rig). They are LOTS of fun but lots of risk.

Victor Morson, on 29 April 2013 - 01:37 PM, said:

Lies.

They are both nothing but hilarious jokes that won't dent a commando, if it can hit it.

DO NOT BUY THE ACCURACY UPGRADE. You can't hit a powered down Atlas half the time with the regular strikes, the accuracy one makes it even harder to hit with.

I only take either strike as a joke to pop smoke and drop like 2 points of damage on the head of a PUG from 4000m away on Alpine, since they think they're out of weapons range. Entirely worthless but it's amusing to hear the comments in text chat if they noticed it even fired.

That said, if you really want to use either strike much, just rebind the key to your mouse or 7-8-9.

Artillery doesn't hit anywhere near the smoke until you get accuracy. You must be referring to airstrikes. Bring artillery to testing grounds with accuracy. Artillery could use an area of effect buff, however, as the hits must be spot-on since the splash (if there even is one) is a joke.

Airstrike on the other hand is pretty useless but that's been said.

Edited by Koniving, 29 April 2013 - 01:48 PM.

[Victor Morson]

Koniving, on 29 April 2013 - 01:44 PM, said:

Artillery doesn't hit anywhere near the smoke until you get accuracy. You must be referring to airstrikes. Bring artillery to testing grounds with accuracy. Artillery could use an area of effect buff, however, as the hits must be spot-on since the splash (if there even is one) is a joke.

Airstrike on the other hand is pretty useless but that's been said.

That's not what accuracy does. It just lowers the radius where the shots will land, which means you have even less odds of getting somebody within it. Airstrikes if anything tend to hit more than artillery, but the bottom line is, both are a total waste of money. Since it comes in a random 90 degree angle, it might make it look more tighter with the upgrades, but good luck hitting anything that's not disconnected.

Even if you hit a stock Commando with both of them dead on you won't even bring it past yellow. Actually even if you hit it with both and then drill it with medium lasers, it'll still be yellow, because these things are lucky to do MG caliber damage.

Edited by Victor Morson, 29 April 2013 - 01:54 PM.

[Kommisar]

For OP: I wouldn't bother with Arty from a Spider. Money is thin, on average, running a Spider chassis as it is. Adding the cost of the arty consumable will just eat into the margin you do make with very little to show for it. I'm an arty guy. But the barrages do so little right now that it is not worth the CBills to drop. I've tried them twice. Both times, I got in behind a shut down (over-heated) assault, placed the center of the strike right under his feet and watched as they didn't even notice that anything happened. Didn't even hit them. They just powered back up and went about their business with me 40K less in CBills.

I'm not saying I want nukes. But something would have been nice.

As for the Spider Sniper. I've ran with the ERPPC on occasion in my 5D. It's harder than it looks. You have to be a pretty good shot and you have to watch that heat. Not a lot of forgiveness for misses.

[Victor Morson]

To the OP: If you don't have a Capture Accelerator already, buy that instead. You'll be way better off.

Spiders aren't a great 'mech but at least that'll give it some useful place!

Edited by Victor Morson, 29 April 2013 - 02:00 PM.

[Koniving]

Victor Morson, on 29 April 2013 - 01:53 PM, said:

That's not what accuracy does. It just lowers the radius where the shots will land, which means you have even less odds of getting somebody within it. Airstrikes if anything tend to hit more than artillery, but the bottom line is, both are a total waste of money. Since it comes in a random 90 degree angle, it might make it look more tighter with the upgrades, but good luck hitting anything that's not disconnected.

Even if you hit a stock Commando with both of them dead on you won't even bring it past yellow. Actually even if you hit it with both and then drill it with medium lasers, it'll still be yellow, because these things are lucky to do MG caliber damage.

Default Artillery (time skipped to it)
http://www.youtube.c...tQ8j4On8#t=207s

I'm aware. However, accuracy does exactly as you said, lower the radius. For me, Artillery landed a HUGE distance away, where I could have a smoke dropped in the middle of 8 mechs huddled along a wall sniping, and hit none of them because the bombs were dropping far away from the smoke. Now that I got accuracy, it lowers the radius, allowing me to hit where they are, and better focusing the damage. I get hits easily enough.

It is still, inevitably, not that useful.

I'll need to get some footage of running the advanced artillery.

Edited by Koniving, 29 April 2013 - 02:15 PM.