46 replies to this topic

[Catalina Steiner]

I have searched for something like this all the time, since I registered at MWO. So this is a study of icons in the game.

Index
Part 1: this post
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4



Part 1

1) Member Icons


Blue triangle

This triangle shows your own team members.



Cyan triangle

This triangle shows your lance members.



Red triangle

This triangle shows your enemies.



Hollow triangle


An enemy who is not locked (targeted) by a team member.
But there is a direct line of sight and you can hit the target and the target can hit you.



2) ECM

ECM

Mechs carrying an ECM in disrupt mode are marked with an ECM icon.



Eye


All friendly Mechs with the eye icon are currently being covered by a friendly ECM and are hidden from enemy mech's sensors.



Red eye


It appears when an enemy is being covered by their ECM. If you're playing LRMs seeing this icon usually means you're about to lose lock.



Crossed out ECM


Mechs countered by an enemy ECM have their ECM symbol replaced with a crossed out version.



Low Signal


When you enter the range of an enemy ECM in disrupt mode, your Mech will be marked with a symbol that looks like low signal bars.



3) Other symbols

Target

This enemy mech is marked by TAG from a team member.



Radio waves

This enemy mech is marked by NARC from a team member.

Rain

This enemy mech currently has inbound LRM's from a member of your team.


Thanks to mwowiki.org
http://mwo.gamepedia.com/Main_Page

and John Wolf for his help.

Edited by Catalina Steiner, 01 May 2015 - 05:45 AM.

[luigi256]

This is a great Icon guide.

You may want to change the name to beginners icon guide or something like that to get new people to read this. I knew about most of these except the narc and tag markers, I have seen them before on the field but never knew what they mean. Thanks for putting up all the info.

[Redshift2k5]

Great guide!

[process]

I'm too ashamed to admit how long it took me to figure out the 'incoming missiles' icon.

[Catalina Steiner]

luigi256, on 15 October 2013 - 06:55 AM, said:

This is a great Icon guide.

You may want to change the name to beginners icon guide or something like that to get new people to read this. I knew about most of these except the narc and tag markers, I have seen them before on the field but never knew what they mean. Thanks for putting up all the info.

Thank you very much. As you suggested I have changed the title of the thread.

Redshift2k5, on 15 October 2013 - 06:56 AM, said:

Great guide!

Thank you.

process, on 15 October 2013 - 07:15 AM, said:

I'm too ashamed to admit how long it took me to figure out the 'incoming missiles' icon.

Same for me... so there is a need for a guide like this.

[Cujo666]

Catalina Steiner, on 15 October 2013 - 05:30 AM, said:

Hollow triangle

An enemy who is not locked (targeted) by a team member.

Hi, thanks this is so useful.

A real beginner question, does the icon above also mean no one on your team has visual yet, or not necessarily?

[Alaskan Nobody]

Cujo666, on 15 October 2013 - 08:14 AM, said:

Hi, thanks this is so useful.

A real beginner question, does the icon above also mean no one on your team has visual yet, or not necessarily?

Your team may or may not have visual - all I know is if they have the guy targeted, it will be filled.
Me and a friend run together frequently, and we are frequently near eachother in game - I get hollow triangles when he is around, and can see the enemy, but if he (or another teammate) targets them, it gets filled.

When you are caught alone, try toggling through the multiple targets.
Your allies will see the flashing of multiple filled triangles and know there are multiple enemies where you are at.

[TheCaptainJZ]

Regarding the hollow triangles: It is targets you can detect that are not selected as targets by anyone else. Someone else may also be able to see it, but it is not what they have selected as their target. Sometimes you'll see a scout spot a group of enemies and rapidly target each one to indicate to their team that there's a group of enemies there since you can only have one person targeted at a time.

Can you reword the Eye Icon to something more like "Friendlies with the eye icon are currently being covered by a friendly ECM and are hidden from enemy mech's sensors."

[Rascula]

very useful guide, should most definitely be pinned.

[Catalina Steiner]

TheCaptainJZ, on 15 October 2013 - 01:18 PM, said:

Can you reword the Eye Icon to something more like "Friendlies with the eye icon are currently being covered by a friendly ECM and are hidden from enemy mech's sensors."

Done. Thank you for your feedback.

Cujo666, on 15 October 2013 - 08:14 AM, said:

Hi, thanks this is so useful.

Rascula, on 15 October 2013 - 03:00 PM, said:

very useful guide, should most definitely be pinned.

Thank you very much.

Edited by Catalina Steiner, 16 October 2013 - 05:55 AM.

[Devon Golem]

Thanks.

Just bought ECM Atlas and this is helpful. I did not know about NARC and TAG icons.

[Tarzilman]

Very usefull. Some icons, I didn't know. Thanks a lot.

[Guidestone]

What about command order icons?

[Kryton77]

I never knew what the low signal icon meant.
Great guide, thanks

[LauLiao]

Cujo666, on 15 October 2013 - 08:14 AM, said:

Hi, thanks this is so useful.

A real beginner question, does the icon above also mean no one on your team has visual yet, or not necessarily?

I know a couple of people have attempted to answer this already, but I'm not 100% sure they were totally clear on this. A hollow triangle means it is an enemy you have a direct line of sight to (and is inside radar range and not under ECM), but that no one on your team (including yourself) has locked. Any other members of your team who are also in direct line of sight of that enemy (and is inside radar range and not under ECM), can also see said enemy. This enemy will appear on the mini-maps of you and any teammates who have visual contact with that enemy. It will not appear on any other teammates' minimaps.

If it is a solid triangle, that means the enemy is locked. These enemies appear on the minimaps of ALL your teammates. This is part of why locking targets is so important.

[Satan n stuff]

Great guide, should be a tremendous help for new players.
One thing you need to add is the red eye icon that appears when an enemy is being covered by their ECM. If you're playing LRMs seeing this icon usually means you're about to lose lock. Other than that I have nothing to add.

[Catalina Steiner]

Thanks a lot. I have added the icon and your text for explanation.

[Catalina Steiner]

Part 2

4) Compass

The impartial visual display


You can see the cardinal points here. The yellow triangles show the direction of your mech (torso and feet)



Blue star (Assault)


The blue star shows the direction to your base in assault game mode.



Red star (Assault)


The red star shows the direction to the enemy base in assault game mode.



Chequers in hollow squares (Conquest)



The blue chequers in hollow squares show the direction of points under your control. This means that that control point is contributing to your team's score.

The red chequers in hollow squares show the direction of points under enemy control. This means that that control point is contributing to the enemy team's score.

The yellow chequers in hollow squares show the direction of neutral points. They do not contribute to either team's score.


Every symbol represents a point at the top of the page. So you can see if one is yours or need to be conquered. You can find the points represented on your minimap too.



Little cyan, blue and red chequers


The cyan chequers show the direction to your lance members.
The blue chequers show the direction to your team members.


The red ones show the direction to your enemies.


5) Torso twist



The little yellow arrows and the line are symbols for the torso and the legs. In this case, the torso (upper arrow) is showing to the right and the legs (bottom arrow) is showing to the left. If you want to twist the torso in the direction of the legs, press "C". If you want to twist the legs in the direction of the torso, press "F".

The lower arrow shows that your legs are facing north and if you throttle forward you will move in that direction, however your torso (upper arrow) shows your are 'looking' to the north east.


6) Weapon group display

I never found an explanation for the six little yellow boxes (picture 1) that are arranged around the crosshairs. Those boxes are HUD representations of your firing groups and their status. While the weapon display on the bottom of your HUD shows the weapon recharge time, the target HUD display will show you when that weapon group is ready to fire again without taking your eyes off of the enemy. It's just another visual queue of your weapon status.
These boxes are showing the six weapon groups in the reading direction. You can also find them in the bottom right corner of your HUD (picture 2).

Picture 1


Picture 2


If you are firing a weapon, the concerned box is glowing red. It stays red until the weapon is ready to fire again. If the weapon is ready, the light turns yellow again.

Picture 3


You can see how the box looks like if you are firing weapon group 1 and 2. The first two boxes are red now.

Picture 4


In this picture all six weapon groups were fired. All boxes glow red.


Here you can see how the weapons are loading again (right bottom of your HUD), while the boxes are red.

Spoiler

Thanks to mwowiki.org
http://mwo.gamepedia.com/Main_Page
and Rushin Roulette for Chapter 5

Edited by Catalina Steiner, 10 July 2014 - 05:03 AM.

[Gaussfodder]

Thanks for this useful reference. For the sake of completion, there's the target lock reticule that hasn't been included here, and the fire contact marker (when you hit an enemy the crosshairs flash red).

[White Bear 84]

This is very important info any player should know as quickly as possible - good thread