Posted 30 September 2013 - 09:47 AM
Another couple of tactics based off the OP. (I am assuming your a average pug, and not a crazy collection of 6 lights and 4 fast mediums and 2 atlai - which has happened to me more than once in Terra Therma)
Your the slow team.
You know the team that took 15 seconds to get going.
The team that followed the lead mech the long way around that first hill on the march to the volcano.
And now not only are the other team in the sweet spot spread out around the interior of the volcano, but the idiots your with seem interested in standing in the doorway to see just how many shots to the gut their mechs can take before dying.
Now that you are the silver medalist team in the sprint to center, I highly recommend one of 2 techniques to win, or at least be competitive and avoid the 12 - 2 or 12 - 0 pug stomp.
Option #1: Stop on the slope looking towards the entrance to the volcano. Spread-out so you each have open-ish fields of fire to the doorway. If you can get say 1 or 2 mechs (each flank) to keep lookout to the 2 flanks to avoid being blindsided, all the better. Stay down low enough that those inside the volcano area must come out to the doorway to lookout and try and see you. Once one or more of them highlight themselves in that doorway, fire for effect. Once you have softened up or killed 2 or 3 of them, (or after a few back and forth volleys, followed by nothing - they have stopped coming) coordinate a rush into the center. EVERYBODY MOVES INTO CENTER. once your in there, secure and find which doorway they left by/kill the targets in the volcano. The drawback to this is it requires patience in your team (yes I know its like herding cats) and gives the opposing team enough time to get a guy to your base.
IF the base cap starts before you rush the center, you as a group withdraw back to base and kill the cappers (basically you just turned into a base defense mission - only press if your down in points once you deal with the base cap attempt, if your leading, fortify the base and wait, they have no choice but to press the fight or they lose)
IF the cap starts after you have made the push into center, complete that, either hold center with heavies/assaults and send the fast mechs of your team to return to base, or plan as a team to return to base. A alterative depending on team conditions/match score is to send the fasts back alone, while the heavies/assaults push the other team hard toward their base, killing any opposition they meet.
Option #2: 4 of your slowest/heaviest mechs stay to hold the doorway (in the manner described in option 1 on the slopes) while the rest of the team moves quickly to flank their way to another doorway. Once in position a simple chat command of attack/push tell both groups to push into center, splitting the interior defenders to which way to shoot (most of the time I see the interior defenders coordination breakdown significantly - and its down to who has the best heat thresholds/accuracy), or you encounter the red team on the sides of the volcano as you flank and press the battle there. When that happens you generally are catching 1 to 3 soloers and your 5 to 8 mechs should be able to handle them. The battle/tactics off of option 2 will evolve organically from that point, you can either continue on to the doorway, or keep flanking around the volcano picking off groups/single mechs as they are encountered. Or you can go push toward their base, ect.
Point is in both options you will have significantly better chances of either winning, or at least being in a good fight, rather than standing in a doorway while your picked off one by one as your stomped.
1
