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[Red5angel]

“Alright cadets! Obviously you’ve learned nothing about supporting you’re fellow mechwarriors in a scrum as the last exercise shows. Picked off to a man, one at a time. One on one right? That’s the honorable way to fight? LISTEN UP! This is war, not a game! You win however you have to, within the bounds of the Ares convention. Don’t take a mech one on one when you can take it three on one. Don’t take them head on when you can take them from behind! Since all of you dimwitted, silver spoon-fed mechwarrior wannabe’s can’t help yourselves, I’m going to teach you how to hit an opponent close up through the support of your fellow mechwarriors.”

The second way to support by fire is to do it at close range. This is the most exciting and challenging way to play a ‘support’ role. This is best done with lighter mechs supporting heavier, slower mechs.
Assault mechs should form up on a gun line. It doesn’t literally mean they need to be in a line, but that they need to have intersecting fields of fire for mutual support. This also allows those assault mechs to focus fire, which is extremely important for success. Once these mechs get online, the lighter (Communication Addendum: At this point, it’s best to let a heavier mech know you will be supporting. This sets up a simple line of communication and allows those assaults a little bit more mental breathing room since they know they will have backup.) mechs should form a second line of sorts, ready to support those brawlers. The concept is simple, once you’ve chosen to support, you wait until the brawlers get stuck in, then you back them up and support their fire by focusing yours on their targets. Ideally, you’re more agile and can turn the combat into a hot mess for your enemies. Stay on target and don’t deviate unless you have to. Continue to lend your fire to the weight of the assault or assaults’ you’ve chosen to support and your enemies will fall surprisingly fast.
The mistake most mechwarriors make is thinking “support” is a passive role, however this short ranged support is extremely active. It allows the lighter mech to get stuck in. Most mechwarriors can’t resist going for the big kill. This means you’ll have more freedom to roam, and attack your target from different angles. Keep in mind this is a co-operative role. While you might score proper kills, it’s more important that you add weight of fire against enemy targets.
Tips:

• Once committed, try to stick with the mech you’re supporting. If you communicate your support then leave them hanging you could get them killed.
  
• The more maneuverable your mech is the better in this case. It’s better in a support role to have a higher speed than alpha strike damage capacity. Parts of your job are to distract the enemy and keep them busy on multiple targets then allow them to focus on one.
  
• Don’t get pulled off your goal by other mechs. In a melee you’re going to be attacked by several mechs anyway, trying to return fire on all of them means you spread your damage out and your impact will be minimal. Stay Focused.
  
• Critical causing weapons are solid choices here. The idea is that the brawler you’re supporting will strip armor and you can lay into them internally with high rate of fire weapons, creating a higher chance to crit. If you’re a light supporting, MG’s are a solid choice here. Otherwise, you want mid-range, high damage, or high rate of fire weapons here. Leave the Gauss and PPC’s at home kiddies, focus on lasers, AC’s and SRM’s.