Posted 16 November 2013 - 01:39 PM
So, I was watching another mech's cockpit after being killed out of a match today. AS7-RS(C). 2 ERLL, 3 SRM6, AC20. Down to two or three mechs on our team, and this Atlas was FRESH--not a scratch on the thing. Mistake #1. A 100-ton bullet magnet like that needs to be LEADING the push, not sitting back in the rear and watching.
Why was that mistake #1? His long-range weaponry consisted of 2 Extended Range Large Lasers (ERLL). Those are respectable, but the AS7 is not a sniper chassis. They're arm-mounted, so they sit too low to shoot over cover. AS7 has no jump jets (JJ), so he can't pop-tart. It's nice to have that 675-meter punch, but if you're building long-range in an Atlas, you may as well drop the AC20 for a Gauss rifle--3 more rounds per ton of ammo, VERY little heat, and it's mounted about the same height as the arm lasers. But the bottom line is that the team could've used that bullet sponge up-front in the fight. It's a waste of a LOT of armor to have it sitting in the back, away from the fight, picking at enemies from across the map.
Mistake #2? Using too many alphas to hit a smaller, faster target. A Shadow Hawk of some sort started harassing him. Now, we're not talking about the Inner Sphere's best marksman in this AS7 anyhow, but try convincing this guy of it. Miss after miss after miss were recorded with the SRM6s and AC20. This was painful to watch. The SHD pilot bugged out after a few volleys were exchanged, but have no doubt that he was easily winning the back-and-forth with a 45-ton-heavier mech. WHY was this a mistake? The smaller mech had lots of cover to duck behind (upper city in River City Night map). Lasers (those ERLL, for instance) give you the ability to sweep a target, they have no flight time to consider. Lacking Stream SRMs (SSRM), lasers are your next best bet against a relatively fast-moving enemy. To quote a certain bunch of D-bags from The Karate Kid, "Sweep the leg". Keep your reticle just ahead of the legs, open fire, and sweep the laser back-and-forth across the leg(s). Even taking one out slows down the enemy pretty quickly--max movement speed with a leg out is 40 kph, and slower for some mechs. THAT is easy to hit with any weapon.
Mistake #3? He moved down into the river just below the upper cap. From here, the enemy mechs that had started making the cap run at upper could turn and fire back downhill on him, while their buddies moving across the water and the lower city could also turn for the mass fire exercise. And that's JUST what happened. WHY was this a mistake? 4 or 5 mechs quickly descended upon him. When you've got friends and you draw that kind of fire, you can at least know that your buddies are getting the opportunity to fire on those enemies without taking return fire. You MAY die, but you may ALSO have just bought your team time to reposition and to retake initiative in the fight. I've seen it quite a few times. And an AS7 doesn't just crumble at the first enemy alpha. Even with ZERO armor, those things take a while to knock down. The amount of damage their internal structure can handle is amazing. This is why they were FEARSOME in tabletop Battletech (TT). It takes forever to get through their armor, and longer yet to wear out the components underneath it. BUT, when you're solo, and it's only YOUR weapons dealing the damage back to the enemy, and every one of the enemy's mechs is faster and more nimble than your Atlas, then you're about to get smacked in the peepee. Hard. As happened to our friend.
Mistake #4? OVERHEAT. Twice, really. Ever notice the animation that goes with hitting the heat override? It's pretty obvious when eleven other mechwarriors are watching over your shoulder in game. So, in the water, apparently holding ALPHA and walking in aimless circles, he overheats his Atlas. Of course, despite the intense enemy fire, it comes back up before he's even critical. He immediately digs in with the ERLLs again, and you see that hand raise to hit the override. Heat meter? Pegged at 100% for 4-5 straight seconds, and CT internal color getting VERY dark. He went out in what might otherwise be a blaze of glory, had he not gotten into that situation by being timid in the game's most vicious mech. WHY was that a mistake? There are VERY few mechs in this game that are going to be heat-neutral, even on a map like River City (moderate temperature, lots of water to soak leg-mounted heat sinks). One or two alpha strikes won't usually get you in trouble. Even with the relatively high heat of SRM6s and ERLLs, any reasonable build of Atlas should be alright for two alphas, especially when in the water. I understand just wanting to try to do what damage you can before dying, but COME ON. This AS7 had a lot of fight left in it. Like I said, damage wasn't through the armor yet when he overheated the first time. By managing his fire, firing the SRMs and ERLLs in sequence instead of together, he might have taken one or two of those enemy mechs out with him.
Heavy sniping weapons like ERPPCs and ERLLs are fine to fire together at range. It's less likely that you'll take the return fire, and you probably have a narrower window of opportunity to put rounds on target. If you DO overheat, you'd rather do it from 700 meters away than 70.
Unless your target is covered by a lot of AMS (less likely the longer the match has gone on), you don't have to dump all your missiles into it in gobs. Chain fire hot missile launchers up close, like the SRM6s. That way, you're going to get a few more missiles off before you have to cool down. In case you haven't heard of 'ghost heat', let's just say it's better to have the weapons in a chained group, and give the trigger a break between individual firings. You'll build less heat over time this way.
Each projectile and missile weapon's projectiles have a time of flight, and it's different for every one. An AC20 round flies at a different speed than an SRM, than a Gauss slug, than a UAC5 round, etc. If you're trying to lead a target moving across your field of view, you'll have to adjust differently for whichever weapon you're firing next. As the guy in the above example was firing ERLL (zero flight time means NO target lead), AC20 (moderate flight speed, moderate flight time, means moderate lead), and SRM6 (slow flight speed, so long flight time, so LONG lead), and he was firing the weapons all together at times, there's ZERO reasonable expectation of all those different weapons hitting their targets together. That'd be a one-shotter, to be sure, especially that late in the match. But it's not going to happen with the target moving side-to-side, relative to the firer's field of view. If you're in a similar situation, and your target is circling FASTER than you can turn, start firing with the slowest time-of-flight weapon first, through to the fastest last. So, in this guy's case, SRM6s, then AC20, then ERLL. THEN reacquire that target, or find a new one. You're more likely to get your considerable firepower on-target.
One more thing: I saw this guy also take an AC20 shot at a target about 700m away. At over twice the max range of your projectile weapon, you MIGHT still do a little damage. Not MUCH, but it will at least let the enemy know you love him enough to waste ammo on him. He's sure to respond in kind. AC20 ammo comes at 7 rounds per ton. That's the heaviest ammo in the game, PERIOD. Even an LRM20 gets 9 shots per ton of ammo, Gauss gets 10. If you only get 7 rounds per ton, you had better make those rounds count when you fire. An AC2, on the other hand, gets 75 shots per ton, or nearly 11 times as many as an AC20. You can waste a couple of those. Go ahead. We won't tell on you. But with Gauss and AC20 ammo especially, you don't get many chances to tell someone you love them. Do it right. Give it to 'em RIGHT ON THE LIPS. (No mech carries more than 18 points of head armor, so even a single head shot with an AC20 on a cherry mech will cut all the armor AND have a chance to jack-up life support, cockpit, sensors, etc.) Or just aim for where the armor's already cut out.
Newblets, please heed the advice here. You'l live longer, do more damage, kill more stuff, and maybe even win some matches.
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