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Lrm Guide


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#1 Johnny Reb

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Posted 09 June 2013 - 12:32 AM

Yes, LRM boating in itself takes no skill, but the same can be said for anything. (minus ppc/guass sniping) That said, being an effective lrm boat does take some "skill". Not twitch skill but, awareness, loadout and tactical skill. Here are my meager tips:

First. Loadout:
Any true lrm boat should have the following:
1. BAP, not only is it 2 modules in a 1.5 ton/2 crit spot item it also gives you sensor range and target info increases! Like a 2 mod slot save right there!
2. The mod that is a must is target decay! (that extra second can be vital) Recommend seismic to protect /call for help early.
3. Arty is always wanted, a downgrade to get arty is always better!
4. If your mech has the option for JJ. Get at least 2.

Second, What mechs?:
I will rate my(opinion) the top mechs to run lrms from top to bottom:
1. HNG- 733
2. HNG-733P
3-4 Stalkers im sure ok and alot of rain just, nit me.
5. Atlas-D-DC, the original before ecm 3 lrm 15 still can do it and does. With arty!
6. Catapults, lrm wise they lack yet still can back a punch! They are so versitile so my load out lrm wise is either 3 lrm 10s or 2 lrm 15. (I HAVE NEVER OWNED OR WILL A C4)
7. Only other is the Jager-A, it can be a decent lrm boat(4 lrm 10-a) just not what I, or yiu shud want! Hoveve, try it.
8. My fav. lrm boat, THE HNG 733: Not only the jj, it has the module spots to send 60 lrms almost at the same time!
I know I could make better arguaments but for this community in done!

Edited by Johnny Reb, 09 June 2013 - 12:36 AM.


#2 Aslena

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Posted 09 June 2013 - 01:23 AM

Nice post
Here are my tips to use LRMs more effectively:
1. Have Artemis
2. Tag is a HERE I AM call to anyone wanting to kill you so beware
3. narc weighs to much…
4. Use them more like a direct fire weapon making sure to always have line of site
5. Keep targets between 300m and 700m
6. The closer to 300m they are the better the missiles do
7. Have plenty of direct fire weapons do damage while your missiles are firing
8. Get a light mech to tag for you
9. Maintain lock until the missiles hit the target
10. Check target info to make sure your missiles are hitting, if not switch targets or move until they are
11. Pay attention to the front line of your group if they are charging be sure to switch targets a lot to help keep your team mates from getting shot.

I just wanted to add…
Remember your primary goal as a LRM carrier is to blind/annoy/hamper the enemy best you can with the missiles so your team can win easier. Don’t expect massive damage numbers all the time

Edited by Aslena, 09 June 2013 - 01:26 AM.


#3 Revorn

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Posted 09 June 2013 - 02:18 AM

Loadout

BAP, TAG, Atremis
AdvTarget Decay, Adv Sensor Range, Seismic

Bring an AMS can help as well


Mechs:

Any Med with 2 LRM 15 + Atremis can do the Job. Any Heavy with 2 LRM 20 can do it as well.. Being able to Move at an decent speed helps much. The Big Boats as the Stalker, are the Choice for the Lovers of the real big Bang.
Never fogett, you could always be in need of a TAG, so your Mech should be able to equipe one.


Tactics:

Positioning, Positioning, Positioning. Map Knowlledge, Map Knowledge, Map Knowledge. Situational Awarness, Situational Awarness, Situational Awarness.

LOS fireing is good, but often its usefully to Move one Step, even if you lose LOS. If you see some PPC Fire is coming after you, remember, PPCs can hitt you hard.

Well and last but not least, Training, Training, Training. No Tip or Guide can be as good as your own experience and Skill

Edited by Revorn, 09 June 2013 - 02:28 AM.


#4 Johnny Reb

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Posted 11 June 2013 - 08:22 PM

I agree, tag is helpful, especially if you have a ecm Atlas bearing down on you. That said, lrms also let you "dumb" fire so you can always send the lrms toward that atlas, results vary, however has saved me a time or two.

edit: I agree any mech that can fire 2 lrm 15 is a potential usable, lrm boat. The Cent-A, Cent-D and Treb-7M(w/JJ) are my fav fast mobile LRM platforms.

Edited by Johnny Reb, 11 June 2013 - 08:24 PM.


#5 MnDragon

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Posted 17 June 2013 - 12:01 PM

Other than very little self protection, I see no reason that a Cat-C4 is a bad LRM boat. Remember, LRMs are indirect fire weapons. I also don't like the idea of targeting for yourself with the TAG. If you stand off and behind something, the lights can target for you and you can harass the heck out of the other team. Just keep switching targets and always make sure you are firing at a closed in triangle so that you are helping your team and not drawing attention to yourself. I run a C4 with 4xlrm 10s and 2x MedLas. the Medium lasers give me some punch so that I can retreat to a safer place. My goal in the C4 is to be away from the front line and hidden behind something so that all I have to do is lock and fire. I chain fire the LRMs so that there are 4 volleys coming down on the target which is really annoying to get hit for that length of time.

#6 Nebelfeuer

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Posted 17 June 2013 - 01:03 PM

If only the word boating did not apear in the first sentence of this thread...
...could have been nice tips otherwise.
Seriously wat is wron with you people? Who needs a guid for something stupid as a 45+ LRM boat? There is nothing 15-30 missles can not do and they leave lots of space for close combat defense.

That being said there is a definite difference beween playing a jumpcapable and mobile LRM carrier or a big slowwalking one. for the first ones TAG is definitely worth the weight since they will normaly lock targets themself and even relog them shortly before the impact if neccessary. You need target locks as fast as possible and want missles to hit as reliable as possible..
The slowwalking ones are much mor dependant on stottings of teammates since they are slow and cannot look over most obstacles to get a LOS themself. still a TAG is not a wast on if you encounter ecm though you could compensate it with a ppc part of the time.
The modules recomended above are indeed very helpful.
Your primary targets should be slowmoving big ones - especially when they are facing you. nothing wrong with scaring a sprinter into cover but do not wast time and ammo on them them if there are better and more worthwhile targets.
Trebs and cats are exccelent LRM mechs due to being very mobile and having JJ. Every capable Assaulmech should at least carry 15-20 missles regardless of main loadout concept - as pure boats they are to easy to counterdue to lack of speed though.

And for every new player reading this: pure LRM boats are only good if you play with a Team of 7 friends that know of your closecombat weakness and are willing to protect you. If you play random games enlisting solo they are not very good and you probably are more of a burden to your team then anything else - try something with some LRMs and some directfiring weapons combined and you will be much more use- and successfull. Stacking a single weapontype is not clever in a situation where you do not know what your teammates will bring and how capable they are.
.

Edited by Nebelfeuer, 17 June 2013 - 01:04 PM.


#7 Victor Morson

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Posted 17 June 2013 - 02:41 PM

The above posts are for the "traditional" LRM boats. They are really on their way out. Do not mix-and-match your loadouts; LRMs are the most "all in" weapon in the game. They are poor secondaries.

Your check box for making & driving an LRM 'mech should be:

1- You should go at least, or very close to, 100kph. Faster is better. You need to dictate engagement ranges between 250 and 750 (try to avoid going under 250 to get sucked into a brawl, say nothing of 170m minimum). If you're in a big, slow heavy 'mech - no matter how many LRMs you have - you are a liability against units that chose which range to fight you.

2- Always bring your own TAG. You need it to tighten missile groups and tracking time as well as pierce ECM. Anyone who suggests that scouts exclusively TAG for you (if they want to chime in, the more the merrier, though) are impractical and unrealistic.

3- BAP is another must have. Faster locks + Ability to counter an ECM 'mech makes it a make or break item.

4- Carry enough missiles to pierce an AMS. If you have 2 10s, you might as well be firing spit balls if there's even one AMS in the area. For that reason LRMs make horrendous "backup weapons" in the current meta and I'd say to avoid them at all costs.

5- The Cent 9D or Treb 7M are your best options for a missile boat right now. The 9D doesn't need arm armor, allowing it comfortably carry 2x LRM15s + TAG, while the 7M has jump jets which can allow you to glide backwards at full speed while turning to face, and fire, on enemy 'mechs. They both their strengths & weaknesses.

6- Always carry Artemis. Without it, LRMs are absolutely pathetic for damage and your lock time isn't optimal.

7- Consider taking a UAV if you don't have a recon pilot who will take one for you. Using your speed to move up on a position, drop it, and move off gives you tons of free indirect shots.

8- Carry at least 1080 missiles for ammo. Anything less and you will be hurting. More is better when possible.

-

Gameplay:

Essentially you want to avoid indirect fire unless you have spare ammo to burn; it's not very good beyond some mild chip damage. Outside of UAVs or when targets leave LOS after you fired on them, avoid these.

You want to get direct LOS on targets at under 750m so you can hit them with your TAG and continue to guide the missiles in. remember there's no downside to firing TAG so stick it on all your groups and hold it down as much as possible in fights. Even a TAG'ed light 'mech will take serious damage from missile clusters!

Keep an eye on your "line." While you have the speed & range to help multiple groups of friendlies, the second an infighter is on you make your way back to your allies. You can't outrun a light, but you can run fast enough to people who can intercept it without much damage if you're alert.

Remember, again, use your speed to stay in optimal range! In under 500m dodging missiles becomes very hard to do - running at the back of your group firing at these ranges can make you a massively damaging member of any push. Just don't get close enough to give them shots with backup weapons, and don't get far enough to cancel your TAG or make LRM flight time too long.

-

If you end up fighting a 4 LRM/20 Stalker with this, you will win. You can maneuver inside of his maximum/minimum range, delivering shots he can't avoid while your speed lets you avoid his back - not to mention the sheer speed on your 'mech will negate much of the damage, where 100% of your shots will likely hit them dead on if you've got them TAG'ed.

I don't say this to mention that it's a good dueling 'mech - far from it - but my point is anyone suggesting slow, heavy LRM builds is steering you wrong for the future. Speed is going to be everything.

Final note: The Quickdraw is likely to be another good option for this.

Edited by Victor Morson, 17 June 2013 - 02:47 PM.


#8 Ningyo

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Posted 17 June 2013 - 04:23 PM

So far my favorite styles for LRMs are either all in massive numbers I prefer the Highlander 733 for this with 4xALRM 15. It has Jump capability which can seriously aid your survivability and can make keeping locks around cover easier and adds mobility.

OR a bunch of LRM 5's mixxed with a strong direct fire loadout. This so far I have tried on the Jaggermech A (4xLRM5, 2xUAC/5, 2xML), and Stalker 5M (3xERPPC, 5xLRM5 : OR 2xERPPC, 3xMPL, 5xLRM5) The LRM5 are light and have a small spread so you do not need artemis as badly, and they have a very high rate of fire so they can really hurt mechs that don't have AMS. And your direct fire is significant enough you can really hurt people just with it alone if needed.

I have not yet tried a really fast skirmisher version yet, and may prefer it, but right now I would suggest trying the Jagger 4xLRM5, 2xUAC/5, 2xML. It is decent, and just a lot of fun to play, plus it is good for building a variety of piloting and gunnery skills so its a good mech for making you better. And remember if you have direct fire and LRMs you can keep 1 mech targeted for LRMs while firing at a different one, this will take some practice but with fire decay module you have over 3 seconds to move back to it before LRMs lose their tracking, so this is near perfect timing and also means you are torso twisting.

#9 Panimu

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Posted 18 June 2013 - 05:36 AM

There are a lot of bad tips and misinformation above. Allow me to dispel at least one; BAP speeds up target info gathering not missile lock.

#10 RLBell

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Posted 20 June 2013 - 08:28 PM

The Big Boat LRM build with 75 to 80 tubes probably has passed its prime, but do not count out LRM assaults, just yet. Piloting an assault with LRM's in a pure pug match is not that bad. I have been pugging in a Stalker-3H (300XL, Artemis, TAG, BAP, AMS, 3ML, LRM5 in each side torso, an LRM20 in each arm, and ten tons of LRM ammo), and scoring kills with it. If I remember to open the missile bay doors ahead of time, the whole salvo of fifty missiles arrives as a single volley, limiting the effectiveness of AMS. The skill of boating LRM's with a pug team is making sure that you stay close enough to your pugs to keep from being overrun, while staying far enough from the enemy to fire. A friendly reminder to your fellow pugs to press 'r' will elicit much spotting support.

In team play, along with UAV's, a powerful module for your spotters is the 360 target lock, so the spotter retains the target, even when he faces away from it.

#11 Johnny Reb

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Posted 20 June 2013 - 10:47 PM

Heh, the lrm assault like my Highlander 733 is alive and well, in pugs still is ok, in the 8 man with proper scout and uav it is deadly. That said, the new quickdraw 4H can rival the Cat with 2 lrm 15 and 1 lrm 5 with arty, with 3 meds and a tag for backup!

#12 Jeremy Wade

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Posted 20 June 2013 - 11:41 PM

Best boat in the game - AWS-8R. BAP, TAG, 2ML, 4ALRM 15.

Will go 66 with speed tweak, runs STD engine and near max armour.

Fires all 60 missiles in one lump, as each torso contains 2 missile hardpoints firing through 15 tubes. The gap between the first and second LRM volley is microscopic. This minimises the amount of time you need to focus on your target as you aren't hurling a long stream of missiles at people. It also prevents AMS from doing much to stop the missiles as they travel in a single cloud.

The mech is also devastating when going to toe with anything not moving at 100kph+ in open ground at 300-500m. There's almost no point hanging around in the back, you're wasting your potential. The grouping of the arty+tag combo is horrific, you are taking the full 60 missile wad predominantly to your CT, and I can launch off 3 clean volleys or 4 volleys and shutdown, unlike a quad or hex PPC boat. I have a shield arm, I can sacrifice my ML arm as well if needs be, as all launchers are torso mounted.

If you are going to LRM properly, then you really need to consider the efficiency with which you can deliver LRMs, not just how many you can lob into the air and hope for the best. I would rather see a 40LRM cloud from a Cat, than see a stalker spitting a stream of 85 missiles, of which a great deal may be eaten up by AMS, particularly if the enemy has more than one AMS in range of the current target.

#13 Johnny Reb

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Posted 20 June 2013 - 11:57 PM

View PostJeremy Wade, on 20 June 2013 - 11:41 PM, said:

Best boat in the game - AWS-8R. BAP, TAG, 2ML, 4ALRM 15.

Will go 66 with speed tweak, runs STD engine and near max armour.

Fires all 60 missiles in one lump, as each torso contains 2 missile hardpoints firing through 15 tubes. The gap between the first and second LRM volley is microscopic. This minimises the amount of time you need to focus on your target as you aren't hurling a long stream of missiles at people. It also prevents AMS from doing much to stop the missiles as they travel in a single cloud.

The mech is also devastating when going to toe with anything not moving at 100kph+ in open ground at 300-500m. There's almost no point hanging around in the back, you're wasting your potential. The grouping of the arty+tag combo is horrific, you are taking the full 60 missile wad predominantly to your CT, and I can launch off 3 clean volleys or 4 volleys and shutdown, unlike a quad or hex PPC boat. I have a shield arm, I can sacrifice my ML arm as well if needs be, as all launchers are torso mounted.

If you are going to LRM properly, then you really need to consider the efficiency with which you can deliver LRMs, not just how many you can lob into the air and hope for the best. I would rather see a 40LRM cloud from a Cat, than see a stalker spitting a stream of 85 missiles, of which a great deal may be eaten up by AMS, particularly if the enemy has more than one AMS in range of the current target.

I say bah! My Highlander has JJ so I can jump fire over terrain and when targeted myself with lrms I dont die as fast, AWS is a top lrm target for me along with Atlas, AWS first so easy. Top lrm targets: AWS, Atlas, Stalker.

#14 Vermin

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Posted 15 December 2014 - 10:22 PM

target priority vs threat, you aim at the 8R because it may kill you if it you do not.

in a way that says a lot about the 8R

Edited by Vermin, 15 December 2014 - 10:22 PM.


#15 zortesh

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Posted 16 December 2014 - 09:25 PM

Much misinformation.

Very misleading.

Bad advice.

View PostAslena, on 09 June 2013 - 01:23 AM, said:

Nice post
Here are my tips to use LRMs more effectively:
1. Have Artemis
2. Tag is a HERE I AM call to anyone wanting to kill you so beware
3. narc weighs to much…
4. Use them more like a direct fire weapon making sure to always have line of site
5. Keep targets between 300m and 700m
6. The closer to 300m they are the better the missiles do
7. Have plenty of direct fire weapons do damage while your missiles are firing
8. Get a light mech to tag for you
9. Maintain lock until the missiles hit the target
10. Check target info to make sure your missiles are hitting, if not switch targets or move until they are
11. Pay attention to the front line of your group if they are charging be sure to switch targets a lot to help keep your team mates from getting shot.

I just wanted to add…
Remember your primary goal as a LRM carrier is to blind/annoy/hamper the enemy best you can with the missiles so your team can win easier. Don’t expect massive damage numbers all the time


1: artemis is bad, unless you only have 2 luachers and never fire without los.

3. if you can waste tonnage on artemis... you can't say a narc weighs too much.. rip out useless artemis and use narc instead.

Lrmboats without narc are like laserboats without double heatsinks.

4: you mean use narc as a directfire weapon then rack up lrm damage from saftey, using lrms as directfire is bad, they are the worst directfire weapons in the game.(excluding flamers.)

8. Get a light mech to narc for you, tagging for you is ridiculously dangerous.... for way worse results.

Other then that this post actully has alot of good advice.

And on the last line.... if you use your own narc and use lrms you should expect high damage and atleast a few kills every match.

#16 Whiteagle

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Posted 16 December 2014 - 10:04 PM

I pretty much run LRMs on anything that has Missile slots, even my Jenner!
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...4f55e9e3931f4af

#17 Panimu

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Posted 17 December 2014 - 12:50 AM

View Postzortesh, on 16 December 2014 - 09:25 PM, said:

Much misinformation.

Very misleading.

Bad advice.


Because you're looking at an 18month old post. Things have changed.

#18 zortesh

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Posted 17 December 2014 - 12:50 PM

View PostPanimu, on 17 December 2014 - 12:50 AM, said:


Because you're looking at an 18month old post. Things have changed.


Oh my bad, didn't realize it was a necro'd thread.

#19 Iceman486

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Posted 12 June 2015 - 06:45 PM

I ind it hilarious that you guys are even discussing lrm boats. To me it's jsut a pathetic excuse to be good at a mech. What's the fun hiding and shooting missiles? Afraid of getting your shiny mech scratched up. I bet half of you absolutely are atrocious if you had to actually play the game instead of being ******* behind cover.

#20 bad arcade kitty

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Posted 12 June 2015 - 07:04 PM

bap is usually useless imo

all lrm boats are very hungry for ammo and those 1-1.5 tons are important

there are very few situations when you actually need it on a lrm boat, for instance if an enemy light is near, and nobody kills it and you don't fight it too and you cannot sidestep 100 meters to leave its ecm cover... then bap is useful, but how often you see something like that? bap has 240 range where it counters ecm, what's your minimum range on lrm again? pick tag instead, it counters ecm from 180 and to 750

Edited by bad arcade kitty, 12 June 2015 - 07:20 PM.






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