50 replies to this topic

[Training Instructor]

Step 1) Acknowledge that trying hard is going to take a lot of time.
Step 2) Add DHS/ES/XL engines, or whatever you want, it doesn't really matter for this strategy.
Step 3) Don't do this when you drop with a team
Step 4) Put every weapon on to a separate group
Step 5) Flank the enemy team, and blaze through them trying to do at least one point of damage to each enemy mech before you get gunned down.
Step 6) After you die, exit the match and join a match with your next locust. Repeat Step 5 over and over until you have speed tweak

This maximizes your xp per hour, as you weren't likely to contribute all that much in the first place until you have double basics and speed tweak. After you get speed tweak on a variant, stop doing this and play it for real. Recent locust threads praising the locust mostly focus in on how it's a completely different experience with speed tweak. Cool, and it's not a very good experience before that. Blame them for showing us the promised land, don't blame me for showing people the easiest way to get there.

Many people will cry foul at this strategy, but those same people experience great satisfaction annihilating good locust pilots who simply suffer from being in a frail mech that can be legged by pretty much any simpleton who can figure out how to register and download this game.

If you're a person who played a lot while R&R was in the game, you might appreciate this. Remember that one of the most popular guides when Open Beta came out was for the zombie YLW cbill grinder that never repaired and never rearmed. Just launched into matches at 75% health and ammo over and over. No one ever got banned for doing that.

Edited by Training Instructor, 20 October 2013 - 12:29 PM.

[Training Instructor]

Also remember that 4-6 of your teammates will spend most of the match hiding behind rocks, waiting to truly engage until after the team is already down 12-7 or worse, due to all the pro guides and pro build threads that tell them to wait for everyone else to engage before they show themselves.

In this kind of average environment, statistically you'll xp a lot faster just shooting a bunch of people once that may later die. In addition, you'll drive your elo down so that those statistics will increasingly favor you the closer you get to achieving your goal of speed tweak on the locust.

With ELO being effectively neutral for Phoenix mechs, because ELO is different for each chassis, you're going to find yourself in a lot of games with really good players on the other side who can aim and blow your locust away with a two shots maximum, or often one shot if they have the right setup. Your evasion skills don't matter, your weak armor and good hit registration does.

Want speed tweak? Use this strategy. You can't be banned for it, and if your teammates are any good, you'll get a bunch of assist xp while you're already in the next match with another locust variant. If they're terrible, you weren't going to get anything for trying anyways, so no big loss.

[Bront]

ELO is different per mech class (Light, medium, heavy, assault), not by chassis.

I also believe this suicide stratergy is against the TOS.

Edited by Bront, 20 October 2013 - 12:47 PM.

[Sephlock]

Won't this tend to fail because your team will tend to lose due to being effectively down 1 man every match you do this in?

[Bront]

Also, don't you not get any further new rewards if you drop out? Meaning you don't get any assit bonuses for mechs that drop after you DC?

[Levon K]

Might as well tough it out and learn how to use the chassis on the way up to eliting the skills, might be a better pilot in the end for the experience

[IllCaesar]

Training Instructor, on 20 October 2013 - 12:27 PM, said:

Step 1) Acknowledge that trying hard is going to take a lot of time.
Step 2) Add DHS/ES/XL engines, or whatever you want, it doesn't really matter for this strategy.
Step 3) Don't do this when you drop with a team
Step 4) Put every weapon on to a separate group
Step 5) Flank the enemy team, and blaze through them trying to do at least one point of damage to each enemy mech before you get gunned down.
Step 6) After you die, exit the match

And this is where you end up failing the task you're attempting. Its a sucky strategy that does nothing but give a middle finger to your teammates like a selfish Lyran anyways, but if you're gonna do it, at least do it right.

"Step 6) After you die, grab your cup of hot cocoa and sit back, casually watching the match unfold while playing your Gameboy"

[Redacted]

Edited by John Wolf, 21 October 2013 - 05:20 AM.
Unconstructive

[Nick Makiaveli]

Bront, on 20 October 2013 - 01:02 PM, said:

Also, don't you not get any further new rewards if you drop out? Meaning you don't get any assit bonuses for mechs that drop after you DC?

I know this happens if you discon, but I don't think it does if you exit the match via the Options AFTER you die.

Would love if someone has a link to an answer.....

*Edit**

Oops. Forgot to add that I don't condone this approach. Since you are going to die anyway, might as well try to do some damage first that might be actually useful.

Hang with the main group, and target mechs that are already taking fire. This means not only are they less likely to shoot at you, but you could get a lucky shot in and take out a component or even get a kill shot. MGs help with this a LOT. If you die, and are a reasonably good player, then by all means don't spectate and jump in another mech. If you are still learning, jump around and see if you can find a Light pilot who looks like he knows what he is doing. Otherwise look for a Heavy or Assault that is getting chewed on by Lights. If he wins, you learn what to watch for. If he dies, you learn what to do to kill the big guys! Gotta love Win/Wins!!!

Edited by Nick Makiaveli, 20 October 2013 - 02:33 PM.

[Nutlink]

MarsAtlas, on 20 October 2013 - 02:07 PM, said:

And this is where you end up failing the task you're attempting. Its a sucky strategy that does nothing but give a middle finger to your teammates like a selfish Lyran anyways, but if you're gonna do it, at least do it right.

"Step 6) After you die, grab your cup of hot cocoa and sit back, casually watching the match unfold while playing your Gameboy"

[Redacted]

I can see where he's coming from with it though. It's absolutely stupid to have the same amount of XP required to level up something like a Lolcust as it does a Battlemaster when a good chunk of XP comes from damaging enemy mechs. It makes absolutely no sense, and until they start balancing it out for lighter mechs, anyone who uses them is in a world of hurt.

Edited by John Wolf, 21 October 2013 - 05:20 AM.
Redacted Quote

[Bront]

BOTA49, on 20 October 2013 - 02:36 PM, said:

I can see where he's coming from with it though. It's absolutely stupid to have the same amount of XP required to level up something like a Lolcust as it does a Battlemaster when a good chunk of XP comes from damaging enemy mechs. It makes absolutely no sense, and until they start balancing it out for lighter mechs, anyone who uses them is in a world of hurt.

There is talk about mech specific XP trees after UI2.0. They need to fix the XP tree anyway, as it's currently broken (2 of the skills don't work).

[Kiiyor]

Lots of people level this way, and while many would argue that it was nefarious, at least it isn't as bad as the disconnect farmers of the days of yore.

While I wouldn't normally condone this sort of thing, the Locust is a.... tedious beast to level. Sure, it can be rewarding and fun to play, but I think if custom decals were ever invented I would put one on the back of the Locust that says "I WISH I WAS A JENNER".

[Xeno Phalcon]

What I do is first thing in the morning I jump in a game, play as I usually would until I get a win, exit strip my goodies from that locust and shove it into the next model (190XL and modules), rinse repeat until iv finished all of my 2X's for the day. Play from there if I feel up to it/have nothing better to do.

Im not terribly worried about mastering them asap, I did that with my orions and it left me with a big whole of wtf cause I didnt have anything else to do. At this pace ill have them fully elited at least by the time shawks hit the open market.

[A Man In A Can]

A dev did officially endorse this approach (clarification: of exiting the game after you die and starting a new match in a different mech) in a written post saying that it would greatly multiply your earnings per hour. So it's legal, but definitely do it while running solo.

I'm not lying on the written post either, but I'll be damned if I can find the actual quote.

Edited by CYBRN4CR, 20 October 2013 - 02:49 PM.

[Corusmaximus]

CYBRN4CR, on 20 October 2013 - 02:47 PM, said:

A dev did officially endorse this approach (clarification: of exiting the game after you die and starting a new match in a different mech) in a written post saying that it would greatly multiply your earnings per hour. So it's legal, but definitely do it while running solo.

I'm not lying on the written post either, but I'll be damned if I can find the actual quote.

Yea I saw that too, it was in regards to he c-bill nerf. However exiting a match isn't the unethical thing, its the suicide approach that is. It is only slightly better than disco-farming

[Masterzinja]

If you don't learn how to contribute to the team, then you aren't really going to maximize anything. Most people who simply want to grind to get skills up to max will sell off the mechs in the end or simply not touch them again while they go level something else. SO you have to ask yourself; are you a leveling junky who will run off after the next fix or do you want to experience what it is to pilot a locust?

[Cuddlytron]

I've been having a lot of fun leveling my Locusts through BASICS. That is to say - you don't have to have them fully ELITED to be any good, as long as you're a half decent pilot.

I've had some really good matches where I racked up some nice kills, damage, and plenty of caps.

[Agryfvar]

I do seem to remember a Locust variant that was armed only with LRM's. Not sure how effective 2 LRM5's on legs would be.

This is clearly a mobility mech, speed is your best armor. It won't have a lot of endurance since there isn't much mech there. I think it can still fill the scout role quite well, your main xp income will come from spotting and kill assists if you are close enough to hit with your weapons.

I have also seen the 'bait' approach where a well handled Locust can evade several mech using cover and draw them away from the main battle line making them ineffective as they try and shoot the Locust rather the fight the big battle. Fast mediums like the Cicada may be a tough mech to handle with this guy. Just be wary of them and you can get some good scout xp.

[A Man In A Can]

Corusmaximus, on 20 October 2013 - 02:53 PM, said:

Exiting a match isn't the unethical thing, its the suicide approach that is. It is only slightly better than disco-farming

Yes, but perhaps for the Locusts it's warranted since it's the most fragile mech in the game. Anyone playing it has to work harder in a Locust to be of service to the team in any role vs any other mech right now. After a while, especially with repeated deaths no matter what you do, this gets taxing, so one of the few ways to make light of that fragility is to do something like what is suggested.

It's not the only way to play it, certainly, but there is a justified reason for doing so in that mech only. Maybe instead of condemning the practice we can figure out a way to tactically use it. Heck if you could mount seven tons of explosives into the thing and turn it into a suicide bomber that would be the best mech to do it with.

[Ruccus]

While it won't gain XP as fast as the OP's tactic, I'd suggest that the Locust pilot set his game to only drop only on Conquest maps and do what the Locust does well - cap. On the way between cap points use your weapons to pot-shot the enemy for possible assists.

Also keep an eye on the kill board - if your team is up a few mechs it'll probably be reasonably safe to peel off from capping and tag the remaining mechs for the assists. If your team is down a few mechs then keep capping and hide when you're close to winning. There have been several times when I've gotten a win (or loss) in a Conquest map because we (they) were able to keep the enemy mechs busy while the lights capped, leaving the winning team with one light mech the enemy couldn't find and too many points to reverse before the cap.

The above tactic also helps you to actually learn the limitations of your mech - something you won't do by running into a group of enemy mechs and firing until dead. The Locust is fragile so knowing what it can and can't do during a match will help you after you've earned the XP to max your pilot tree.

[Koniving]

I hate to say this, but until after you get the basics and get both the quick start-up and the speed tweaks of elites, the Locust really isn't worth much even with the greatest of rigs. I personally settled for carrying twin ER PPCs and sniping. It's the only one worth anything. That or an AC/2 with a ton or two of ammo.