5 replies to this topic

[Ser Barristan]

I've seen a bit of a unfortunate trend in pugs responding to base caps.

So OpFor has managed to sneak around and start capping your base. I know bitching betty is whinging in you ear but do not just heed her seductive monotone and abandon the front line. Calm down and take a look at the progress bar and gauge the required response. If its only incrementally changing then you should only detail a couple mechs to RTB. Send the right number of mechs to handle the job. Do not all just turn around and trudge back to base. If everybody gives into the temptation to RTB then the front line collapses and you've just exposed your backs to the heavy hitters of the enemy team. The one or two mechs that stand firm cannot hold out against the bulk of the enemy's forces. The poor sods left holding the bag will get steam rolled, followed by the rest of the team that's now strung out in a convenient death march leading back to the base.

Unless you can push 80+ kph or otherwise are the fastest mech on the team stick tight and eyes front. This goes double for assault mechs, unless you are a stone's throw from the base you will never make it home in time and the removal of your firepower from the firing line will doom the team. Losing to a cap sucks but the temptation to respond without thinking is going to get the entire team butchered. Do not just hand the foe a turkey shoot.

It is my hope this topic contributes to some better team play in pugs.

Thank you very much for your time.

[fireWoky]

I agree with this advice. I play light mechs most of the time and one of my goals is to harass and break up the enemy groups. I will often fire a few shots off and try to draw a mech away, following a well covered predetermined escape path.

The other easiest way to break up the team is to cap their point. I don't even have to stick around to get hit, I just sit on it for a minute and disappear into the hills. Now the enemy team has split up and often waste even more of their time searching their base. Now I can return to the front before the RTBers can, and hit the assault mechs that stayed there in the back.

[Kain]

Agreed, but the only thing OP forgot to mention is: "communication"

If the whole team is on the frontline and nobody is reacting during a base cap (if the base cap is continuing), it is helpful to communicate to the fast movers to do a quick peek at the base. Otherwise everbody is too late to turn around.

[TheArcher]

Same tactic should apply when a light OpFor mech is discovered behind your line. Only one or two should chase it off, not the entire team. And don't chase it into an ambush.

[Ser Barristan]

Yes it is always "Oh Crap" moment when you glance to your left and see the entire gun line with their backs to Coward's Ridge just in time for OpFor to crest it. I can only hope PGI never adds a module that emits squeaky toy noises and hangs brightly coloured streamers off SDRs' backs

[Red squirrel]

Often a counter cap is the best answer to this.
And one Spider RTB to delay the enemy cap.

Anyhow, I am a bit startled about the hostility against base caps in the game chat.
It is a valid tactic IMHO if a team is uncoordinated enough to abandone their base.
I very much like the capping mechanic because it forces you to think and not just run and shoot.
Only on alpine the team with the 2 Spiders usually wins. Capping should take longer on large maps.
Even better would be a destructible building you need to shoot. This way an Assault would cap faster than
a light.

Ser Barristan, on 10 May 2013 - 07:39 PM, said:

Yes it is always "Oh Crap" moment when you glance to your left and see the entire gun line with their backs to Coward's Ridge just in time for OpFor to crest it. I can only hope PGI never adds a module that emits squeaky toy noisesand hangs brightly coloured streamers off SDRs' backs

I thought it was calles Retar'ds ridge because of all those peaking noobs getting alpha striked by the entire enemy team.

Edited by Red squirrel, 11 May 2013 - 05:48 AM.