14 replies to this topic

[Vampiricfish]

Hey guys,

I'm brand new to MW:o but I have played several of the other games. I absolutely love light and (fast) medium mechs (gameplay wise in MW:O as well so far), which leads me to a problem in matches.

Every single game, even capturing a bunch of stuff and lighting up enemies for the big guns, I get <...> all in score (and as such xp and c-bills?) So what am I doing wrong here? Am I not supposed to scout and cap but try to outgun/snipe the big guys? I've read a whole bunch of guides for lights and mediums that suggest capping and scouting is exactly what I'm supposed to do, but for as far as I can see this is not rewarded in any way (except winning the match, but with almost no score, does that bring me anything significant?) :<

The way I read the scores, basically being a big assault/heavy with as many weapons as possible is the only thing that's rewarded in MW:O. I hope I'm reading that wrong, so please enlighten a poor noob about these things (or point me to a guide that does and I have somehow missed)

TLDR:

-What is score based on
-Are lights/fast meds useful for anything but giving the big guns more score by winning?

[JonahGrimm]

As a relatively new player, I'll defer to others on some of the finer points, but... well. I'm a Raven junkie.

To that end, I feel your pain... except, it's.. er.. sort of not pain, just part of the learning curve. As a light mech, you should be scouting and capping, yes, most definitely! However, scouting and capping alone doesn't win matches.

When I play my light, I think of a match as having three phases. The beginning of the match is where my scouting/capping role comes to the fore; in an Assault, I'll focus on targetting for our LRM carriers (spot bonus - C-bills!), and, as I've got ECM, putting the ECM bubble over our assaults and heavies as they advance. In a resource game, I'm off to cap 'next closest', and then to get at least one more from the enemy - scouting for targets of opportunity the entire time.

In the midgame, I start 'poke' tactics.

My Raven-3L has a large laser - not to be optimal, but to let me reach out over 1000m and poke people with damage. That damage adds up, often splashes components (worth money!) and will get you assists (worth more money!). This lets me continue my scouting role, and lets me contribute something to the ongoing skirmish.

As the game progresses and your scouting role diminishes, I focus on moving along the enemy line - harrassing bad guys, putting SRMs into their rear and legs, and being a huge distraction for the big guns coming along behind. That moves you into phase 3 - or the 'mop up'.

Here's where I make a decision - if we're winning, I'm going to work the win; that is, I'm going to focus on enemy mech destruction and harrassment, fending off enemy lights and their caps, or the like. My concentration here is to focus fire with my assaults, but at a different angle. This guarantees assists (money!) and kills of opportunity (money!) - though, note, i don't 'cherrypick' kills. It's a team game - contributing is more important than the last shot.

Keep in mind, though, a win gives you more cash and XP than a loss. Especially in 'cap' games, if we're ahead in points but behind in mechs in a significant way, I'll often stand off and try to ensure the win... as that helps absolutely everybody.

It's very rare, though, to come out of a match with less than 250 damage and 8+ assists, these days. Most of the time, I'm 350+ and have touched 10 of 12 enemies (often with something like 2/8 K/A for my trouble, multiple caps, lots of spotting assists, and more). On average, I'm leaving a match with 100-130k (premium).

So, for what it's worth, that's my advice.

[Redshift2k5]

Capturing offers very, very little in terns of actual rewards. In a conquest match you can earn some CB from the Resource Bonus but it's only going to be 10-30k (max of 37k for a win with 750 resource, resource bonus halved for the losing team).

The best payout comes from damage, kills, and assists. Savior Kills and Defensive Kills also help a lot. Try to hit each enemy you encounter at least once to collect an assist if/when that enemy gets killed- obviously if you do more damage, blow off their limbs, or secure the kill yourself you will get a bigger reward.

Changes to the way role warfare (ie a light doing things a light should do) are coming, but for now, killing things and collecting assists are your best ways to make money.

http://mwo.gamepedia...ow_Your_Bonuses

[Dano_man]

I'm really a noob too, but been on for about a month and landed in a great guild that has been teaching me plenty. One of the things I learned was at the end of each match when the team scorecard comes up you can go to the top and click on the Player tab and it details your c-bills paid for kill assist, kills, spotting and all the others as well as gives you your experience breakdown. This combined with immediately looking back at the match and discussing with my Lance helps me to understand what I did right and what i did wrong. Currently my targeting/shooting has gotten much better and as I play hopefully I can get as good as the other guys. Hope this helps and doesn't just add up to so much mew..

[Snowcrow]

The developers are planning to add rewards for scouting and capping, but right now it's best to focus on doing damage.

[JonahGrimm]

Dano117, on 05 September 2013 - 08:39 AM, said:

One of the things I learned was at the end of each match when the team scorecard comes up you can go to the top and click on the Player tab and it details your c-bills paid for kill assist, kills, spotting and all the others as well as gives you your experience breakdown.

,,,, wh... wh... AUGH! I never knew that! Thank you for this.

[Intruder]

Some of the scores appear on screen as you earn them (e.g. Spotting) but one thing I noticed in a recent game alongside a friend was that Kills are worth almost nothing (I think it was worth literally 1 Match Score per Kill).

But that's how it should be - getting the killing blow is often just pure luck. We've all fired off ONE shot at a distant enemy and got the Kill. Since this Kill then grants virtually no XP nobody needs to care about "Killstealing".

If you did ALL the work and killed an Enemy Atlas from 100% health then you'll have earned more score via the damage you did to that Mech.

Can't wait to check the Score Breakdown screen now that I've learned you can do it via this thread: that should be the DEFAULT screen rather than a long list of "Me + 23 people I've never heard of and will never see again".

[-Muta-]

Vampiricfish, on 05 September 2013 - 07:51 AM, said:

Hey guys,

I'm brand new to MW:o but I have played several of the other games. I absolutely love light and (fast) medium mechs (gameplay wise in MW:O as well so far), which leads me to a problem in matches.

Every single game, even capturing a bunch of stuff and lighting up enemies for the big guns, I get <...> all in score (and as such xp and c-bills?) So what am I doing wrong here? Am I not supposed to scout and cap but try to outgun/snipe the big guys? I've read a whole bunch of guides for lights and mediums that suggest capping and scouting is exactly what I'm supposed to do, but for as far as I can see this is not rewarded in any way (except winning the match, but with almost no score, does that bring me anything significant?) :<

The way I read the scores, basically being a big assault/heavy with as many weapons as possible is the only thing that's rewarded in MW:O. I hope I'm reading that wrong, so please enlighten a poor noob about these things (or point me to a guide that does and I have somehow missed)

TLDR:

-What is score based on
-Are lights/fast meds useful for anything but giving the big guns more score by winning?

First of all welcome to MWO! You will have "TONS" of fun here.

I am a pure light pilot and when it comes to make money, I would suggest you to get as many kill assists as you can. (That can even get you more cash than kills). Try to deal as much damage as you can (Damage does NOT translate to more money necessarily)

This is some sort of a general breakdown of the rewards that you could get at the end of the match
http://mwomercs.com/...ctionality-wip/

Hope to see you around sometime

[DEMAX51]

As others have said, the rewards for Lights and fast Mediums haven't really been fleshed out yet, but they're coming. If you're looking to grind C-Bills, you might want to tinker with somethign heavier (I feel your pain, I'm a dedicated Light pilot as well), but when you get the hang of it you really can earn quite a bit in a Light as well.

Here's a few tips to maximize your earnings:

-Try to hit as many enemies as you can. You only have to graze an enemy for it to count as an assist when they go down.

-You can rack up a lot of C-Bills by destroying components like arms, legs, and side torsos (side torsos actually give you TWO component destruction bonuses if that side's arm was still intact when you destroyed it) - use the enemy status readout in your HUD to find out where an enemy is hurt (you can also do this visually in game by looking for smoke coming off of the part of their mech that is on internal structure as well!) and try to land shots on those parts.

-If you see an enemy has the little "incoming LRM fire" icon above their mech try to keep them targeted. This could get you some "Spotting Bonuses" which add up over time. Using a TAG can make this easier and grant you the TAG/NARC bonus as well (you said you're in a guild - try to team up with someone who's running an LRM boat and spot for them and you'll rack these up pretty quickly).

As I said, they should be fleshing out the rewards for Lights in the future (in an interview just the other day Bryan Ekman mentioned Community Warfare features which might include things like capturing or destroying enemy outposts or ECM towers and things like that, but in the immediate future I would not be surprised to see Lights get credited with a percentage of the damage done to an enemy by LRMS if they're spotting, better rewards for capping, and possibly other bonuses as well).

Just keep at it and you'll do well. Even in a Light I find myself with a game score among the top-three in the game quite often. If you need some tips specifically for Light piloting, there are a bunch of forum threads here and videos on YouTube that can help you out.

Mutaroc, on 06 September 2013 - 05:24 AM, said:

Damage does NOT translate to more money necessarily

Yes, it does. Directly. I don't remember the exact numbers, but I think it's something like 25 C-Bills for every point of damage done.

Edited by DEMAX51, 06 September 2013 - 07:27 AM.

[Caswallon]

Welcome to the Thunderdome OP.

Well our fellow light pilots have answered you in the main already, but one word of advice from me is DO NOT PLAY SPIDERS (Yet). They have issues that make then stronger than they should be so if you play one be aware the nerf hammer will come eventually. Also if your new you don' wanna pick up bad habits.. I know I did early on and have had to unlearn them.

That said running through the enemy's entire company with a spider spraying laser fire on each one is a great way to guarantee Kill assist cash...

To maximize your kill assist damage if your feeling bold you might wanna help with duels of heavy vs heavies. Reason is if either you or your team mate score a kill there is a decent chance it may be counted as a saviour kill witch is worth more in XP & CB. The team mate you assist needs to have armour blown from a location for this to count or similar "critical" damage. Still its a thing to watch for.

Happy harassing!

Edit: spelling

Edited by Caswallon, 06 September 2013 - 07:54 AM.

[King Arthur IV]

score is a combination of all the things that you do in game but mainly affected by kill/assist.

[mailin]

On a light (mainly a Jenner or Raven 3L), equip a TAG. Have it in its own weapon group and TAG the enemy every chance you get. If LRMs from a friendly hit that mech you will get a TAG bonus. These bonuses really add up for lights. Also, look for enemies that are isolated and try to take them out, or at the very least leg them and leave them. If you leg them you'll get a component destruction and they become really slow moving targets for your friendlies to clean up, which will give you kill assists. Also, if toward the end of the match the enemy starts capping your base, get back there ASAP. Sometimes there will be lights sitting there, but sometimes you will find a mech that is nearly cored, or even better a zombie. If you can kill them on your base you will get a defense kill, which is another bonus.

[TheCaptainJZ]

The "match score" doesn't really matter so don't focus on it too much. What does matter (in my opinion) is your Cbill and Xp winnings along with kills/assists. You can't rate a player in one match solely on kills or assists since they may have actually contributed a ton and gotten only a couple assists or done virtually nothing and swooped in at the end for kills and assists. Also, there are examples where a mech might have distracted the enemy leading to an eventual win, even though they died from it and didn't get much in the way of rewards.

Cbill and xp earnings are also affected by how much damage you do, if you spotted enemies, etc. Xp especially is dependent on how much damage you did to that enemy. If you scratched him only, you get like 1 xp point. If you almost killed him, but someone else finished him off, you get like 100 xp points. The cbill earnings are the same for getting a kill or assist event, but you do get cbills based on your damage total too.

[Modo44]

High damage typically means many kills/assists, and broken components -- and all of those increase your score and Cbill/XP earnings. This is why you see light pilots do "stupid" things instead of capping/scouting, which is vastly undervalued.

Edited by Modo44, 10 September 2013 - 01:41 AM.

[Bront]

Match score is strange. It's mostly a combo of damage + other awards + a (very small) bonus for capping. I generally suggest ignoring it.

Also, Damage done is tricky. Ammo explosions count as damage done for you, and beyond that, damage done isn't always part of a game well played.

Think: Player 1 got 800 damage and 2 kills, while Player 2 got 300 damage and 4 kills. Player 1 might have simply rocked everyone and Player 2 got lucky with Kills. But it's also possible Player 1 spread his damage around, while Player 2 took out weak points to get the kills as quickly as possible. In one case, both players were useful, while in the other case, the player with less damage was actually more useful to your team.

Beyond that, there's the roll mechs play. Lights can do damage, but a fast light is useful to help cap, as well as keep other lights away from the assaults. A swarm of lights can take out most heavier mechs taking little damage to the whole. Medium mechs can still scout and capp, but can fend off lights or provide support file. Assaults should be soaking damage in addition to doing it. Heavies bring some speed to the weapon boats, offering faster reactions than assaults. It's all about knowing your mech's roll and filling it for the win. Sadly, that's hard to properly reward in an automated system.