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There you were, piloting a walking battle tank of doom that was handpicked for you in the current rotation of free trial mechs. You have sweet weapons like LRM 20s, flamers, small lasers and PPCs, whatever the hell that stands for. You may have run into a few buildings in the past but that is all behind you, or at least that is what you tell yourself before getting halted by a disporportionally angled snowdrift.
Then BOOM BOOM BOOM FSSSSH SHAKING SCREEN SMOKE AND FIRE, and you are looking at the smoking ruin of your handpicked mech, thanks to a friendly traffic helicopter who came out of nowhere to slowly circle your wreck, as if it would make you feel better.
To be honest, i am not a very good player. If i do good damage or get several kills it is because of guile and experience, and never because of a steady hand or fast reflexes. However i would like to impart a few of my tricks that i use to get around the battlefield and deal some damage.
Never stop moving.
While snipers tend to perch or walk slowly, and LRM boats tend to mill around in an area and rain death; that is absolutely no reason for you to stop your mech to line up a shot while someone is firing at you. If you are walking across a lake and you can't quite get a bead on a target, Do Not stop in the open so you can shoot them. There very likely Is someone else who would love to get a better shot on you, and they most likely have 30-40 points of balistic/PPC damage with your name on it.
Break the circle.
This is not always practical advice, if you are skipping along at 120+ kph, and your opponent is going about as fast as you, the most practical way to duel them is to match a circle and shoot them incessantly as terrain and jumpjets allow. The reason i suggest breaking the circle is because it is rarely advantageous to you... otherwise the other guys wouldn't do it.
Obviously you are walking forward (or backwards), because you never stand still (Right? Right). There is someone who is running past and around you, so you swing your mouse over and turn your legs, but they still inch/scream past your reticule. Hit X (full stop), fully reverse direction and swing your mouse+legs in the other direction (basically all at the same time). Just remember to stop walking backwards at some point, that just gives people a longer time to shoot at you. If you do this right, you have just broken the circle and whoever was trying to get behind you just overshot you by a fair distance.
Torso twist like a madman.
If your weapons are recycling between shots, instead of lining up your next pinpoint shot which will likely be thrown off by camera shake or stepping on a pebble anyway, swing your mouse around like a dog shaking off water. You want people's damage to be spread out as much possible over all of your armor instead of burning through a single location with the crazed fervor of a trekie vs jedi f a n b o y* brawl. Raining LRMs of doom? Twist around. Laserboat melting your iceberg? Twist around. AC/20 jager in your face? You will probably be dead in a few seconds anyway, but dont let him hit the same location twice.
Keep an eye on your range.
There is a meter readout just above and to the side of your crosshairs, and if you have someone selected there will be a meter distance on top and to the side of the red box around them. If you are using LRMs, they have a 180m minimum range. If you shoot them at someone closer they will just bounce off harmlessly, and after they arm on the ground they will blow some kid's legs off long after you leave the planet. If you are decked out in standard PPCs and someone is closer than 90m, you will deal very minimal damage. Better to avoid the heat spike and use your other weapons, try to break away past 90m, or just shoot someone else. Usual suspects for closeness include light mechs, huggy brawlers and people who just ate garlic.
Stagger your fire.
Boating a weapon other than LRMs? Have your weapons on chain fire by pressing backspace. You can either hold the button down and fire at a leisurely rate, or click the mouse button like a crazy man and fire them very quickly. Either way, it is easier on your heat and keeps your recycle times rolling. When you get to the point where your shots usually hit your opponent, ease in some alphas. If you don't hit regularly, especially when people are close to you, it is better to bombard than to miss with every weapon and wait for your recycle time.
Don't boat flamers.
'Nuff said.
Shadow people.
Pick someone bigger or at least slower than you (preferably in your lance) and follow about 70-100m behind them. Too far away will make you like a dragged piece of meat and too close you will get tangled up. Not only will it exponentially prolong both of y'alls lifespans, but you might learn a trick or two from watching them. Also remember that it is not nessessary to Always move at full speed.
Just because you are a brawler doesnt mean that you have more armor.
The next few times you spectate, see if you can find a hunchback. If they are alive longer than most of the mechs on your team you can bet that they are sneaking around like ******** and doing hit and run tactics. In fact, the most damage i have ever done as a hunchie both in kills and legit numerical damage, was done while i skirted a brawl and shot everyone that wasnt paying me the slightest heed. Only assaults and well piloted Centurions can get away with milling around in the crossfire and shooting anyone who gets close enough to grab. Otherwise, stay the heck out of the thick of it and blow some guy's side off from behind. Hopefully he will have an XL engine.
Group up with someone who you enjoyed playing with.
While it can be very intimidating to randomly ask someone into a group, you will find playing with others in this game makes an huge improvement on not only how well you do, but how much fun you have (and thats really the point of playing a game, right?). If you are able to use voice chat, you will be absolutely astonished at how much better your group is compared to the people you fight, even if your skill is a little sub par. It's like night and day.
I really hope you dont get discouraged with the game, it has a brutal learning curve especially when you are stuck with trial mechs, or still trying to figure out which weapons are best suited for your playstyle. It can be very enjoyable after you get your endo-steel legs underneath you though.
I also HIGHLY recommend spectating on any match that you die in so you can not only see what other people do/shoot/drive, but also get familiar with the weapon types and how punishing or not so punishing they are.
Happy hunting
Edit: Appearantly putting fan and boy together is autocorrected to {Noble Mechwarrior}. Good for you PGI, you bunch of {Noble Mechwarriors} xD
Edited by Enervation, 05 July 2013 - 08:57 PM.
