That's all fine and dandy, but when that force is oriented in one direction, especially on bigger maps like Alpine Peaks, it gets flanked pretty easily.
I'll go try (with my weakling art skills) to diagram thiis.
Nevermind, I'm too weak in the force. And I don't have access to Photoshop.
Imagine all those times on Alpine Peaks that two opposing forces have passed by one another, exchanging hardly a shot, barely even noticing one another, and a zero-casualty encounter cap-win ensues. It happens far more often than I care for. And it is a result of such 'formation'.
There is a reason that lore/canon has four mechs to a lance, three lances to a company, and so forth. Such organization is similar to that of most military forces for over a century now.
It's also lacking in vision, though. But we're kinda stuck with it in the current iteration of 12v12.
Try this: Three lances. One has two scouts and two long-range support mechs. The other two are brawling. One of the brawl lances is heavier, the other faster.
Recon/support lance has a twofold mission. 1-Identify enemy targets; 2-attack identified targets at range with direct and indirect fire support weapons systems.
Fast brawl lance also has a twofold mission. 1-maneuver toward enemy force, so as to draw that force toward heavy brawl lance; 2-attack enemy force in coordination with heavy lance.
Heavy lance has a single mission. KILL STUFF. Do it fast, effectively.
That first lance is the only one that, by design, does not maneuver as a single unit. It's tricky, too. Each scout is paired with a support mech (ideally, a Catapult or Jagermech). In either case, the scout is out forward but within not more than 1.5 times the weapon range of the paired support mech. If it's direct-fire, that's likely AC2 or Gauss. For LRM it's the 1km range plus another 500. The scout is going to have to be FAST, of course, so that it can fall back if/when spotted to within the fire support range of its teammate. At any rate, this lance effective operates as two teams, and in either team the support mech should be directing.
In both of the other two lances, the slowest/heaviest mech should also be the one in charge. The heavy lance's commander should also be directing the company as a whole. He directs the recon/support lance where to get scouts' eyes on, and the two team leaders figure out the routes for themselves. Company commander also directs his own lance and the fast brawl lance where to position themselves initially, in order to be best able to respond once the scouts have eyes on or are in contact. The fast brawl lance commander takes charge of his own lance and directs them in accordance with the company commander's orders.
And so on.
For now, that seems to be the best layout. Again, for big maps, the scouts will most likely want to run near the sides of the map toward the enemy, and to keep their attention focused only in one direction--toward the center. They'll both want to have beagle and/or advanced sensor range module. ECM CAN be a plus, but it can also be a giveaway; we can't turn Guardian OFF, so scouts with ECM want to stay more than 200m away from any enemies unless in contact already.
The scouts need to keep in mind that once outside the max range of friendly fire support, they're on their own. If they're not ready to take on 12 enemies at once, they had better be cautious.
Edited by TheRAbbi, 25 August 2013 - 11:56 AM.
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