66 replies to this topic

[Anais Opal]

Greetings sibkins,

So, you didn't flush out, won your Trial of Position and gained the status of Warrior. You are the elite.

Behave like it....

This advice is geared towards our new MechWarriors but just as well could be heeded by the veterans.

1. BATTLEFIELD AWARENESS - develop this and fast. You have a radar, use it. Always keep one eye on your radar. You see a ping, say so.

1.1 SPATIAL AWARENESS - Be aware of what is immediately around your 'Mech. Don't want friendly PPC's in the back? Don't walk across that Stalker-3F's firing line.

1.2 BRAWLING WHILE ZOOMED - This is my opinion, it doesn't suit everyone's play style. Close brawling while zoomed reduces your field of view to your left and right. This often means you don't see that second 'Mech with the cored CT shooting you. Zoom out and you could kill it. It also means that if your 'Mech has a low cockpit, you won't see that pesky Spider biting your ankles.

1.3 THE WORLD ISN'T FLAT - Be aware of what is ABOVE and BELOW you as well as left/right, front/back. Maps such as Tourmaline Desert offer high sniping points. Wondering where that gauss round came from? Look up...

2. THIS IS NOT DEATHMATCH - attempting to increase your KDR at the expense of your objectives will ultimately lead to defeat. Solo heroics will fail. Primarliy this is a team game, if you care about statistics rather than winning (and yes I have seen people throw a game just to get a stat up) at least try and help your team. You'll get more XP and cBills that way.

2.1 IGNORE THE OTHER TEAM/PLAYERS IF THEY FLAME YOU FOR A TACTIC, HAVE FUN - Winning by cap or winning by destroying the enemy team, makes no difference, a win is a win. If your lance wants to hold the base and defend it to the last 'Mech do so. If your lance wants to charge lasers blazing, do so. Your in that drop to win, end of. As an example, my unit decided to drop a full lance of Atlas's, and hide them powered down in the underpass on River City. When the enemy team tried to cap we powered up and annihilated them. Some people thought it wasn't fair to let the PUG lance take the full brunt of the assault, point is we won the match with a good cBill payout.

2.2 DON'T GET ISOLATED - Try to remain at minimum, in a group of two, and avoid situations that will get you focused down by a larger group of opponents, If you find yourself in such situation by either mistake or ambush, attempt to retreat by utilizing your surroundings to negate their number advantage and reduce your damage intake, this will increase your chances of survival, and at the very least it will waste their valuable time.

2.3 TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE ENEMY TEAMS WEAKNESSES - Pay attention for stragglers, and try to enter situations, natural or manufactured, that can be used to isolate players away from their group and kill them. In a group or as an individual this will help maximize your survival as well as contributing to a hit point advantage for your team. (Point 6 is very relevant here)

3. THINK LIKE A TECH - I've seen some really silly loadouts from our new players i.e a CPLT-C1 with 2 std PPC's and a small laser. Use your hardpoints. Balance damage with survivability.

3.1 REMEMBER YOUR 'MECHS LOADOUT - This is very useful. If you are behind cover and have a powerful weapon in an arm you may be able to move out from cover in such a way as to fire that weapon while keeping your torso protected.

4. CONQUEST MODE AND LIGHT 'MECHS - your job is to cap points, not kill things. Hopefully PGI will implement some reward for doing this vital job. That being said, light 'Mechs, especially in numbers, can be very irratating for heavier chassis'. If capping isn't your thing, or you've done enough, have at them and wreak havoc.

5. ASSAULT MODE AND LIGHT 'MECHS - your job is to scout and report back, cap the base if things are going badly for your team. That being said, light 'Mechs, especially in numbers, can be very irratating for heavier chassis'. If capping isn't your thing, or you've done enough, have at them and wreak havoc.

6. COMMUNICATION - use it. This is vital to succeed.

7. LEARN YOUR WEAPON RANGES - Firing LRMs at a target under 180m is a waste of both ammo and heat. Heat is very bad for a BattleMech. Heat will kill you. Firing a weapon outside its maximum effective range gives away your position.

8. THE 'R' BUTTON IS YOUR FRIEND - HARD LOCK your targets. Your LRM boats will love you.

9. AVOID FIRING LRMS INTO A MELEE - This one is awkward and in the heat of battle unavoidable sometimes. Remember that your missiles will hurt your team as well as your target

10. 'LEGGING' - This one is controversial because PGI seem inept at getting hit detection working correctly. Personally, I avoid destroying an opponent by destroying BOTH legs. It is dishonourable in my opinion. I will, if the situation calls for it, destroy one leg and leave the Warrior to fend for themself.

11. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES FIRE YOUR WEAPONS AT SPAWN - This is a no brainer, you may hit a friendly, weakening the 'Mechs armour and weakening your team. Many dezgra Warriors will have no problem with returning fire or disabling/destroying you.

12. HONOUR COMBAT/ROLE PLAY - In some instances the final Warrior on the losing team will call an Honour Fight. Respect that Warrior for wishing to add some role play to the game. I myself have done this many times, 1 v 1 trial combat at the end of a match can be extremely good fun and I have killed 2 or more 'Mechs this way. If honour combat has been requested STAY OUT OF IT, you'll get your chance if the Warrior is still alive. Do not become dezgra and dishonour yourself and your unit/Clan by getting in the way. (This is more common in 8-man drops than general population drops)

That is all for now Warriors, updates as I think of them.

See you on the battlefield!

(Yes I am indulging in some role play here deal with it )

Edited by GlycerineOxide, 20 June 2013 - 06:39 PM.

[Kazly]

It's a good start, but I believe this can be developed much, much further by some serious research within these forums rather than a quickie. Just a thought.

[Slash Beastleo]

I like your last point, never tried it. I'm not sure if something like that will ever be respected here.

[Adridos]

GlycerineOxide, on 20 June 2013 - 08:46 AM, said:

1. BATTLEFIELD AWARENESS - develop this and fast. You have a radar, use it. Always keep one eye on your radar. You see a ping, say so.

Actually, Quake requires higher battlefield awareness than MW:O...

Just sayin'.

[JovialJovian]

GlycerineOxide, on 20 June 2013 - 08:46 AM, said:

5. ASSAULT MODE AND LIGHT 'MECHS - your job is to scout and report back, cap the base if things are going badly for your team.

To expand - The first role of a light mech is to scout and report. The last role is to cap whenever it is advantageous to the team whether the battle is going well or poorly. A well timed cap during a hot and heavy battle can draw a few enemy mechs off of your assault force thereby limiting the damage your own forces take.

But there is the middle role as well - Harassment. Use your lights to harass the enemy forces during the blitz. Your added damage will help quite a bit and every second that the enemy wastes trying to take your leg off is a second that is not being used to core your assault force. Learn to dance in between the enemy mechs and know when to run for the hills. Learn this and you will be more than just a 'scout mech'. Good luck!

[TheArcher]

0. DAMAGE AND DEATH ARE PERMANENT FOR THAT MATCH - Your mech only gets repaired after a match is complete.

GlycerineOxide, on 20 June 2013 - 08:46 AM, said:

12. HONOUR COMBAT/ROLE PLAY - In some instances the final Warrior on the losing team will call an Honour Fight. Respect that Warrior for wishing to add some role play to the game. I myself have done this many times, 1 v 1 trial combat at the end of a match can be extremely good fun and I have killed 2 or more 'Mechs this way. If honour combat has been requested STAY OUT OF IT, you'll get your chance if the Warrior is still alive. Do not become dezgra and dishonour yourself and your unit/Clan by getting in the way.

I do not like honor combat. You can wind up with 2 people wanting to fight, and the other 14 wanting to get on with the next match. Not wanting to waste time is not dishonorable. Saying you will abide by honor combat and then ganging up on the guy, that would be dishonorable.

[Hellen Wheels]

TheArcher, on 20 June 2013 - 11:04 AM, said:

....the other 14 wanting to get on with the next match....

No one is forced to stay in a match at any time. Press the "ESCAPE" key and you can quit the match to move on.

Oh, but the mech you want to play is locked up in the match? Too bad. Buy another one.

Edited by Hellen Wheels, 20 June 2013 - 11:18 AM.

[Demosthones]

GlycerineOxide, on 20 June 2013 - 08:46 AM, said:

10. 'LEGGING' - This one is controversial because PGI seem inept at getting hit detection working correctly. Personally, I avoid destroying an opponent by destroying BOTH legs. It is dishonourable in my opinion. I will, if the situation calls for it, destroy one leg and leave the Warrior to fend for themself.

12. HONOUR COMBAT/ROLE PLAY - In some instances the final Warrior on the losing team will call an Honour Fight. Respect that Warrior for wishing to add some role play to the game. I myself have done this many times, 1 v 1 trial combat at the end of a match can be extremely good fun and I have killed 2 or more 'Mechs this way. If honour combat has been requested STAY OUT OF IT, you'll get your chance if the Warrior is still alive. Do not become dezgra and dishonour yourself and your unit/Clan by getting in the way.

You get an 83% on this one bub. Those last two are pretty silly.. People who think legging is dishonorable are the guys getting legged. Personally I only leg centurions and spiders. The CN9s have wonky hit boxes where their arms register after getting blown off. Spiders are just easier to squish when they stand still. I have never ever seen anyone call for Honor Fight. That seems like a good way to lose a match you already have won. If you are asking for handouts the answer is nay nay.

[TheArcher]

Hellen Wheels, on 20 June 2013 - 11:17 AM, said:

No one is forced to stay in a match at any time. Press the "ESCAPE" key and you can quit the match to move on.

Oh, but the mech you want to play is locked up in the match? Too bad. Buy another one.

And waste 20M CBills for duplicate equipment? No thanks. I'd rather finish the match quickly.

Don't like 5 other mechs attacking you at once? Too bad. Your team lost.

Edited by TheArcher, 20 June 2013 - 11:35 AM.

[Genewen]

GlycerineOxide, on 20 June 2013 - 08:46 AM, said:

9. AVOID FIRING LRMS INTO A MELEE - This one is awkward and in the heat of battle unavoidable sometimes. Remember that your missiles will hurt your team as well as your target

I disagree. Yes. when the enemy is very close to an ally (basically crawling into him) that stands in the flight path, the missiles will damage your ally. But if the enemy is not as close or your ally positioned himself to not be in the flight path, the missiles will provide valuable fire support. It is all a matter of situational awareness.

Oh, and I have never seen anyone want #12. If if they wanted to, I'd just blow them apart anyways. Those rites are for space nazis, err clanners and Kuritans. I am neither. I will not block mechs of allies and enemies in an already decided match.

Edited by Genewen, 20 June 2013 - 11:37 AM.

[Davoke]

Idk id it's appropriate to throw Clanner tactics in here.

This of course being the one guy on the forums who wants to be in the Marian Hegemony, because we don't care there.

[John Winters]

Seyla.

[Loc Nar]

Quote

4. CONQUEST MODE AND LIGHT 'MECHS - your job is to cap points, not kill things. Hopefully PGI will implement some reward for doing this vital job.

5. ASSAULT MODE AND LIGHT 'MECHS - your job is to scout and report back, cap the base if things are going badly for your team.

Heh, don't play lights much? These sound like the suggestions assaults and slow heavies in pugs often have for the team light(S) on chat. Yes these things are a light's job -but- lights are better off not dead and if this plan is blindly followed it doesn't help the team or the player.

When capping in conquest, don't rush into enemy infested areas trying to cap and keep a close eye on the scoreboard and be ready to rush back to help at any point during capping if your team starts getting it's *** kicked. My job as a light is to help the team. Often this necessitates killing enemies. If everyone dies and your running around trying to cap alone after doing 57dmg it's probably already game over and but now a drawn out zzzzzzzzfest for everyone to spectate while their mechs are locked in-game.

Running off by one's self to 'scout' is generally suicide and almost always a waste of a light. Two or more lights can go off ahead and do real scouting so long as they stay/work together, otherwise their assets are much better utilized once the enemy lights/fast movers are on you and your flailing around in an atlas getting cored from behind. Run a little ahead to extend the teams eyes, but stay close!

In assault more often then not, lights are most successful/contribute the most to the team when they simply walk out to battle behind the sluggers (at least once the enemy is close), then engaging once the enemy is busy. Pick targets of opportunity, focus fire with the big guys, go psyche-cap the enemy base to scatter them and run back to help pick off the stragglers but always be ready to defend base at the drop of a hat. Bonus points for mentioning it in chat so slowpokes don't waste time waddling back and forth to the team's demise.

edit: in all this I forgot to acknowledge your efforts for putting this together. Regardless of the details, there is a lot of great suggestions in a simple/chewable form in the OP. Thanks for taking the time.

Edited by Loc Nar, 20 June 2013 - 11:53 AM.

[Redshift2k5]

Legging is not dishonorable- Many opponents think decreasing leg armor gains them an advantage. Prove them wrong.

If you don't like being legged, don't strip all your leg armor off. Killing an enemy by legging who has fully armoured legs is actually inferior to coring them through the CT, but of course since so many people strip their leg armor for a few more tons of gun, legging them is fair play.

[Cubivorre]

Keep your clan talk to clan forums, ick..

[Alistair Winter]

I hope you don't mind that I give my view on a thing or two.

GlycerineOxide, on 20 June 2013 - 08:46 AM, said:

1. BATTLEFIELD AWARENESS - develop this and fast. You have a radar, use it. Always keep one eye on your radar. You see a ping, say so.

Solid advice. For new players, I recommend staying inside the circle of teammates at the start of the match. Don't go running off as soon as you see a shiny target.

GlycerineOxide, on 20 June 2013 - 08:46 AM, said:

2. THIS IS NOT DEATHMATCH - attempting to increase your KDR at the expense of your objectives will ultimately lead to defeat. Solo heroics will fail.

When solo heroics fail, you're not heroic enough

I would say "if you don't like the objectives, just forget about them and play the game however you want." If your mission is to take the arms off every mech, do that. If your mission is to troll enemy assault mechs with flamers and MGs, do that. If you care about the KDR, then go and work on that. Don't let other people tell you how to play the game.

It's hard enough to maintain dedication without worrying about how complete strangers think you should play. On the flip side, don't waste your time and their time telling them how to play.

GlycerineOxide, on 20 June 2013 - 08:46 AM, said:

3. THINK LIKE A TECH - I've seen some really silly loadouts from our new players i.e a CPLT-C1 with 2 std PPC's and a small laser. Use your hardpoints. Balance damage with survivability.

Agreed. And on top of that, don't be afraid to try loadouts that are fun to play, or that aren't mainstream. You don't need to put PPCs on a Stalker, you don't need to put an AC20 on a Jagermech, you don't need to boat medium lasers on a Jenner. Do whatever you want.

GlycerineOxide, on 20 June 2013 - 08:46 AM, said:

4. CONQUEST MODE AND LIGHT 'MECHS - your job is to cap points, not kill things. Hopefully PGI will implement some reward for doing this vital job.

I would say your job is to do whatever you want. If you have a big engine and you enjoy the game of capping, then go nuts. If you prefer fighting, then stick with the group and cap as you fight your way across the battlefield.

As above, don't tell people what to do with their mechs, and don't let them tell you what to do with yours. Although liberalism is not a highly praised value in the gaming community, so be prepared to be called a noob by ragequitting teammates if you don't follow their commands. Then again, you're pretty much running that risk regardless.

GlycerineOxide, on 20 June 2013 - 08:46 AM, said:

5. ASSAULT MODE AND LIGHT 'MECHS - your job is to scout and report back, cap the base if things are going badly for your team.

As above. Play the game however you want. Light mechs can do many different things.

Furthermore, be prepared that 1) You're often playing on a map that is entirely predictable, and your job as a scout is obsolete 10 seconds into the match (River City or Forest Colony), 2) Many of your teammates will not listen to you, 3) Trying to cap when the score is 0-5 and you're one of the three living team members is usually a pointless exercise.

GlycerineOxide, on 20 June 2013 - 08:46 AM, said:

6. COMMUNICATION - use it. This is vital to succeed.

And don't bark out orders untill you have enough experience to be sure that you're saying the right things.

GlycerineOxide, on 20 June 2013 - 08:46 AM, said:

10. 'LEGGING' - This one is controversial because PGI seem inept at getting hit detection working correctly. Personally, I avoid destroying an opponent by destroying BOTH legs. It is dishonourable in my opinion. I will, if the situation calls for it, destroy one leg and leave the Warrior to fend for themself.

The above may or may not be some kind of clanner codex I'm not familiar with. I've no idea why it would be considered dishonourable.

Suffice it to say, if you meet me on the battlefield, I'll be testing to see if you have enough armour on your legs. If you don't, you're going to take an arrow to the knee.

Pro tip: When you sneak up on a mech from behind, and the mech is somewhat engaged in a firefight, the pilot will usually not notice if you're shooting at his leg. If you shoot him in the back, he will see his rear armour glowing. If you shoot him in the leg, he will often think that the shots are coming from the front or the sides.

GlycerineOxide, on 20 June 2013 - 08:46 AM, said:

12. HONOUR COMBAT/ROLE PLAY - In some instances the final Warrior on the losing team will call an Honour Fight. Respect that Warrior for wishing to add some role play to the game. I myself have done this many times, 1 v 1 trial combat at the end of a match can be extremely good fun and I have killed 2 or more 'Mechs this way. If honour combat has been requested STAY OUT OF IT, you'll get your chance if the Warrior is still alive. Do not become dezgra and dishonour yourself and your unit/Clan by getting in the way.

Great advice. Although I have only seen 1 honour fight in, what, 8 months of playing? Tends to happen more if you're playing with/against clans.

Edited by Alistair Winter, 20 June 2013 - 12:13 PM.

[Modo44]

GlycerineOxide, on 20 June 2013 - 08:46 AM, said:

1. BATTLEFIELD AWARENESS - develop this and fast. You have a radar, use it. Always keep one eye on your radar. You see a ping, say so.

I would revise this. Noobies should learn that the minimap is not a radar screen. You have to always look around for targets, or you will get your arse blown off from "clear" directions.

[Edson Drake]

Just to chime in:

The best videogame players in the world are Quake and Unreal Tournament players. Fast-paced and need wired reflexes if you're playing against good players.

I get the OP's point though. We have a sudden influx of new players, and many are clueless about the game and using trial mechs, crippling whole teams.
They should play however they want indeed, but really, they should seek info about the game first, here in the forums for example.

[Anais Opal]

Minor update.

Point 1.1 added

[Anais Opal]

Update

Point 1.2 added