105 replies to this topic

[627]

luxebo, on 04 December 2013 - 04:36 PM, said:

While not completely useless (A lot of maps still didn't change all too much), a lot of maps need some editing due to new spawn points and stuff. We'll hopefully be able to see some edits to this awesome guide!

You will, but it'll take some time

NamesAreStupid, on 04 December 2013 - 04:41 AM, said:

wow, so much work and nearly useless now (or at least will require doing everything all over again).
Just take a look at Alpine Conquest or River City Assault.
it's like we have new maps.

Not sure but I think my irony detector ringed at your post

[grml666]

Good job man! Really nice work!

[627]

thx

I hope I can rework the guide in the upcoming holidays and add some note for skirmish and of course an entry for our new map. Played some rounds today on that moon and maaaaan those sounds are great

[Thor Eld]

Great for new players it's very useful.
Thanks for doing this.

[Deuce Hxe]

627, on 29 October 2013 - 01:44 AM, said:

Hi everyone,
As it seems there is no tactical discussion about the maps we have, I thought I start one.
Mostly this will reflect the things I experienced in PUG and 4man group play, in no way will this be a guide for 12vs12.
Beyond that, I won’t say I’m the tactical mastermind here and everything I say is right so let's discuss

Obviously there will be bad english here and as being german, I’d like to apologize for it up front for no special reason, so feel free to correct me

Big Kudos to Smurfy-net.de were I will shamelessly steal the map images. You can find everything about MWO Maps and more here: http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/map



Let’s start our tour alphabetical, please keep up with your guide



Alpine Peaks

Spoiler

Alpine is one of the larger maps we have and one of the most imbalanced ones. If you get the starting Position on the top left (F11/F12), chances are good that you’ll win.
This map has some Hotspots were you usually find a fight, I’ll go from top to bottom.

Hotspots:

Radio Tower Hill
At (F8/F9) there’s a big radio tower from where you can see pretty far, and that can be reached very fast from the north position. This is good high ground for snipers, but there’s not much cover besides the tower itself. It comes down to ridge humping and jump sniping. If one side manages to flank around, this can end in a bloody brawl.

Death Valley
It’s the whole area south of the radio tower (G7/G8/H7/H8) and the name pretty much sums it up. Go here and you’ll die to snipers or LRMs. There can be nice fights if both teams rush but most of the time you don’t want to get cought there.

Big Mountain
By mountain I mean the whole area around (H9). Getting up there from north without Jumpjets is tricky. Being up there can be tricky to. You have a superior long range position to both sides but you won’t hit anything at the bottom of the mountain because you can’t aim that low (or see anything with that cockpit infront of you).


Routes:
I’ll differentiate between main routes and flanking routes – main routes should be clear, flanking or alternate routes are preferably for light/fast mechs.


(Using leet paint skillz I show0r you some r0utez)



Main:
North route (Red)
This seems to be the default route for just everyone. In 9/10 matches you’ll see everyone slowly stomping to the radio tower. How to make the best of it?
From the north start, you obviously need to take that hill fast. But more important, you must not stop there and hunker down behind the hill. You’ll be overrun from the corner at (F7) and flanked from south over the hill.
Getting out there is not easy - if you’re fast, you could try to get to (F6) but for that you have to pass a wide gap with no cover. Retreating to a better position at (F10) is an option, but in most of the cases you need to rush down (where Epsilon is in conquest) and fight it out between the ridges.
From the south, you need to stay in cover most of the time until you’re directly at the radio tower hill. Peeking out of cover here will bring you some free gauss balls for your mech, express delivery. You can push over the hill if the enemy is hiding but if he’s not, don’t try a sniper duel – you’ll lose it. This is a very tricky position, waitin’ will get you killed, stompin around will get you killed, pushing will get you killed. This is the time to open com and try a push with the whole team.


Direct route (Green)
Imho the worst route to take. Be fast, stay low behind the ridges and get killed from long range. There’s really no reason to lead your main force here, especially not from south.

South route (Blue)
This is the Cap Race route. If there’re no scouts and you take this route, you’ll find yourself capped out without ever seeing the enemy. From south this is still a good option for fast mechs. There is a lot of cover and you can advance up to the north base without being shot. That choke point at (H10/H11) is a problem because you’ll get shots from the mountain but you can flank on the right and land directly on the cap. This route seems to be faster than the north route in terms of capping runs.
Going this route often leads to a fight in the north base, which you don’t want if you don’t hold the mountain.

Flank routes (Yellow)
Flanking routes of course are not that predictable and often based on situation. Basic rule for flanking would be, better take a longer route to get in the back instead of flanking from the side.

Top flanking route: This is the way to go for lights from north base to south base early in the match. You can get there unseen if you manage to get past the hill at (F6). With long range Lasers, you can poke those slow Assaults on the red route early and in most cases one or two will turn around and chase you (which is good for the team… not so good for you, though).

The same goes for the bottom flank route if you ever find some mechs here. In conquest, this is the “light” route between Kappa and Theta, so taking a Streak ‘mech or two here can be a good way to get some kills.
Those short yellow routes in the middle are shortcuts for jumpy mechs, this will save you some seconds to get a flanking position for blue and green route.

Conquest additions:
This map is very similar in conquest, with the fact that you’ll often find light mechs on the south route. Starting from south, you want one or two fast (like, really fast) mechs take theta because that point is way of the map and can be a pain in the central leg actuator to take it back.

Detailed Viewpoints:

This is a view just above the south base.
I marked the radio tower and Epsilon base. As you can see, you can clearly see if anything runs for the top flanking route. On the other side, there's nearly no hidden way to pass the death valley.



This is just behind the radio tower. You normally don't stand up there, but it's not out of bounds, yet. That purple area... don't stay there! break out or retreat, i've seen lots of matches where you get killed because you can't climb the hill and get flanked from everywhere.
As long as the south team is on it's way you can snipe them but if they get close, it's time to push. Watch the hill on the right, south team can take that flank route, too.



Another shot from the big mountain.
As you can see, if you make it over the death valley, you can in fact flank the south team very well and you have more or less high ground. You have to make it, though.

Canyon Network

Spoiler

Canyon could also be named Jump Network – you can really benefit from jets here and on the other side, lack of JJs can be a pain.
Looking at the grid, this map obviously is smaller than alpine, but that doesn’t mean you won’t need to run awhile around before shooting something.
This map is pretty balanced as it’s nearly symmetrical and don’t favors one team more than the other.

Hotspots:
This map has a central hill (Theta in conquest) between (C3/C4) and next to it two large ramps, where you can always find a fight.
Near Kappa in conquest there’s another hill at (C4/C5) where you’ll always find a jagermech or atlas playing peek-a-boo.

Routes:
As there’s no good indication for left/right or West/East I’ll call the routes after the Conquest points.


Epsilon Route (Red)
The least used route. Despite being faster from the north you’ll often find the fight in that shallow water where epsilon is. Like every route, you want to take the highest ground you can find without being on top of the ridges, when you have no jumpjets. In Assault this route is for cap race as you rarely find “heavyweight” here. The southern part is very narrow and without much cover. You will often get stuck here on little rocks and there’re no ramps to get out.

Theta route (green)
Main suicide route. Stepping over one of the big ramps usually means spectator mode in assault. Key here is get as fast as you can to Theta in conquest and get the hell out. In Assault, there really is no need to take that hill. It will get conquered regulary, though, so take a shot if you can.
In late game, this changes as these are the fastest ways to get on high ground. But stay cautious.

Kappa route (blue)
Here you find always a fight, everytime. From south you can take that hotspot hill at kappa faster with the big guys and stay in cover all the time. Opposite to that you often see light mechs from both sides brawling there before big mechs arrive. Scouting is a must here as going around that corner can be a fast way to end the match for you.
Pro tip: If every enemy look at you, you didn’t flank ‘em.
Fighting here tends to favor the south team because of better cover.

Flanking:
Flanking on canyon means jumping over the ridge and nothing more. There are some shortcuts between the canyons but that’s not really a flanking move. If you fight on top in the open, always have an eye on the southern part of the kappa route, there are good sniping positions with stalkers and jagermechs all over.

Capping or cap-splitting (splitting the enemy to defend their base and still fighting your team) works well here because heavy mechs have a harsh time to get from one end to the other and you rarely encounter a big mech ball but many smaller fights with 2-3 mechs. Always be aware of the ramps and bridges. It is really painful for a slow mech to go all around a ridge if the jumpy only hops 10m high and is gone.

Oh, and LRM won’t work very well here, in fact you can shoot 1000 missiles and do 50 damage or something, just too much cover.

Detailed Viewpoints:

This is a shot if you go to Kappa Hill from the north base. Green route would be safe (but blind), yellow not so safe and orange would be very dangerous. All those red markings are potential sniper positions (take care of those far points too). If you step out here early in the game, you’ll get shot from everywhere.



These are the central ramps and plateaus around Theta in the middle of the map. Avoid these early in the game if you can. The biggest problem is, if you’re down there, there’s nearly no way out other than the far end and there you’ll be in the open with the only cover being even farther away from your team.
And don’t think you can hide in the middle. There are many angles to shoot you and stepping up there is not always that easy, often you’ll stuck on little rocks. This will cost you some seconds, and these seconds are your life (or, aren’t anymore). Don’t underestimate the killing power of some high alphas, I’ve seen slow Assaults going down there as fast as speedy cicadas, this is a death trap in the beginning.
If the first 6-8 mechs are killed and everyone engages in a big brawl, those normally take place on these plateaus. Only go in there if you have to, or if you can stand the rest. But be aware, not everyone abandons his favorite sniper position for a quick kill in the middle.


This picture is from the top of Theta Hill. Here you see the northern base (cyan) and epsilon route. And under the bridge you find the only “true” flanking route on this map, there’s no counterpart on the other side. This works in both ways (actually, this is the shortcut that let you win the cap race from south). Not much more to see here beside the fact that there are very few ramps from the canyon to epsilon route (afaik there’s only on at the stone “bridge” on the right).


Here’s another shot from theta hill. On the left is Kappa Hill, on the right the northern base. Just want to comment on the marked canyon. There is no way out beside the Ramp in the middle and the exit to the base. If you are trapped in here in late game, expect enemies to shoot you from the orange plateau. Avoid this canyon at all if you don’t have the fighting initiative.

Dirty trick:
This is not exclusive to canyon but it works well here. If you're unsure where the enemies go, just get some height and write in chat: "SHOOT THE MOON!!!" - Besides that it's a nice lasershow and some lulz for everyone you can see where some of the lasers come from. Of course works only at the beginning when everyone is chatting around so be fast

Caustic Valley

Spoiler

Caustic was the first “hot” map we got and at those times, the first “big” one, too. There’re some sayings like “never fight in the caldera” or “going left gets you killed” which all have some truth in them. This map has not much cover beside some rocks and a special area in the caldera, which is much hotter.
The south base is offen referred Lake Base or lower Base whereas the northern one is called (at the) refinery base or just city base.
Not much Hotspots beside the Caldera here, so I'll start with the routes and add some more Pics later.

Routes:


The caldera (blue)
I’ll start with the central route this time because of the nature of this map. The northern team at the refinery can get up there faster and is the first on the edge to take positions. Coming from south with a medium or heavy mech and approaching the edge you’ll get shot in 9/10 times. Fighting on the edge comes down to jump sniping and peekaboo. Fighting IN the caldera under normal conditions is suicide. Not because you’ll overheat but because of said jumpsnipers on the edges.
If you need to fight in there, always watch your heat. Overheating here will get you in spectator mode in no time. Be aware, there are low heat builds who loves to fight here. Tripping an energy stalker into the crater with a ballistic boat gives you a free kill most of the times (but don’t think the other guys on both teams don’t know that). In conquest, theta is here and mostly will be capped by fast lights from the north so watch out for their backup.

Sulphuric plains route/Short route (red)
This is the way to kappa in conquest. In assault, this is mostly used by the south team to get around the caldera, usually ending at (C4). Nearly no one besides lights actually run through those plains at (B4/B5), it’s more or less dead map space with nearly no cover at all. Can be good for flanking to the base, though.
Going this way from north can work if you’re fast but the south route have a Hill behind the ridge at (D5) from where you’ll receive sniper and LRM fire.

Long route through the “canyon” (green)
From the north it’s safe up to the point of (D3/E3), after that you need to “go around the corner” without cover or anything. What you can do here is taking long range shots to everyone keen enough running for Epsilon. Beside that, stay near the caldera edge for cover.
Alternate route Is behind (or on) the ridge on the left up to epsilon but this will drift you away from the main combat zone so pack long range weapons for that.

Flanking routes:
As described you can make a cap run behind that ridge on the left side. This is a very long way so be fast or don’t do it. I’ve seen catapults walking here from the south all the way up to the base. When they finally arrived, they were the last mechs standing and where outcapped.
Another way to flank is the suicide run crossing the caldera. This only works if you know where the enemy is (left/right) and where he is not (behind the edge, waiting for you).
This is high risk high reward and mostly will work only in late game.

Flanking through the other areas of this map is not really flanking as there’s no mech to flank, it’s just a longer or safer run to the other base.

Detailed Viewpoints:


This shot is from the refinery viewing south. The yellow mark on the top left is Kappa in conquest mode, the other yellow spot top right is the lake base (or better the hill directly infront of it. You can see here that the green route is shorter. I painted the lake green for orientation, too.
In the middle is the caldera or the crater whatever you like. This area is really hot, entering it will up your heat gauge by 10-15% (depends on your Heatsinks). Here lies Theta in Conquest.
All those red dots are good start locations for peekaboo, you can find similar ones on the other side, too.
Some words for the big red dot on the blue route, before the map grid overhaul this was grid (F5) and was a common rally point. You could hunker down and react to every thread without leaving your base out of sight.


Caldera from the other side. Top left is the refinery base. In the caldera I tried to mark Theta. It isn’t in the middle of the crater so you have to talk a long run from the refinery.
I marked a circle with a mech in it – whould you have seen it without? Visibility is a big factor on this map, everything is just brown (even my shiny tour guide looks dirty like hell) so be aware of this.


This shot is from the lake base. On the right is Kappa in conquest. This is a solid position – you can peek over the ridge and broaden your frontline, there are no choke points. If you go right, you have a good angle to the mechs in the caldera but keep in mind you need long range for this.
Caldera mechs still have high ground so don’t stand in the open for to long as your way to full cover is not as short as theirs. See that Atlas? He will get at least 2 Salvos until he’s back in cover from there.
Last thing to mention is the hill I’m standing on – mount Lurmy Snipes. There’s often a Catapult here (cats love high places I think), no matter if Gauss/PPC/LRM-Cat you’ll find one here. Good spot but no cover.


Another picture from the south. On the left you see Epsilon. You’ll be faster from the south but if you make a race to it, it will be only some seconds before you have company. As you can see, the whole yellow “flanking route” is just another way but with cover from the ridge. If you get pushed early from south you can retreat to high ground here. Fighting behind this ridge is difficult because your far of the main group and there are some height differences where you need arm mounted weapons.
The big red circle on green route, I like to call it death corner – whoever steps around here first is going to die in 9/10 cases. There are some hills nearby which you can reach unseen from both sides so do it, even if you have to walk 100m more.
Remember that Atlas from the previous shot? Can you find him? And now look at that little hill on the bottom right. It’s highly situational but getting a gauss rifle here is not the worst idea.


Last shot is from the sulphuric plains. Not much to see here, I rarely have a fight here besides some light skirmishing. What to see is the Atlas from the other two Pics. Never ever stand there with big metal, you can be seen (and shot) from the other side of the map. You can even see a jenner on top of a hill, but this hill is viewable from nearly everywhere so don’t choose it as poptart ground.



A comment about the smoke in the Caldera. Here you can see (or not see) an Awesome behind a smoke column. Heat vision won’t do anything but night vision helps (a bit). Have to admit, I have different results on different graphic settings so night vision is inconsistent.
However, you should expect an enemy mech behind every of those smokers.

Crimson Strait

Spoiler

Our newest map and arguably the best map so far. It has many ways to go and some interesting places to fight in. Still new, this map seems to be balanced with a bias to the southern team. Time will tell what approach will be the best but I’ll see what I can come up with now.

Hotspots:
Upper Harbour deck (D4)
Coming from the south, this is a key point. You can defend the choke point from the right and react to anyone coming through the tunnel.

City
The whole area on the B-Line is a good place to find fights, especially in assault when the northern team don’t take the tunnel. Can be tough to attack from the south because you come from low ground. Narrow streets means knife fighting and backstabbing.

Water & island
Against all common sense there is often a fight in the water. I especially like to fight there with my locusts, but you see larger mechs there regularly.

Routes:


The Water Run/Coast Run (Red)
This is the long way which means the Light mech way. In fact running as a light into the harbor with all the big guys can be devastating because of those many obstacles that slow you down. Water is light’s best friend, it won’t slow you down but it will give you cover as missiles explode on the surface and ballistics won’t do max damage to submerged parts. A locust or spider is nearly complete unter water and very hard to hit. From the top you run through the city to get to the coast. You won’t be as fast at Theta as from the bottom base, though.

To the harbor (Blue)
Light blue is on the surface, dark blue is in the tunnel/under the “park deck”. This is the direct way to the fight. Superior postion here is on top of the park deck, as there are holes to the ground where you can shoot incoming mechs or simply drop down. Opposite to that, it’s nearly impossible to jump up there with jumpjets. On top of that, going through the tunnel means going through a choke point without cover. From the top, you have an exit just before the harbor, you’ll end up in a city area, good defense position and a light flank to the park deck.
It is possible to get here over the water but there are few ramps up to street level so bring jets or take a long walk in the water. In the open water. Where everyone sees you.

Through the Silos (green)
From south this is is mostly the same but from north you walk through a separated area of the map. The only way out is through the choke point near kappa. You don’t want that – fighting uphill, with bad cover and no escape route other than down to the tunnel/park deck. On the other side tricking the enemy to come for you can get you a nice fight between the silos which you’ll usually win (by numbers, though, as not everyone will push together).

Flanking routes:
Not so much flanking here beside the tunnel itself and of course every narrow street in the City area. Big flank would be the water run all the way to the enemy base for a not so quick basecap.

Detailed Viewpoints:

A panorama with 4 out of 5 Conquest points. From left to right: Kappa, Sigma (south Base), Epsilon, Theta. Here you see that the Water Run is not just suicide but a viable tactic from south. Had a match where our whole team was duck walking behind our two locusts straight to theta (in Assault mode). Beside someone mentioned something like “unusual way” we won 12-4 in a big city brawl. City fights are kind of unpredictable but if you can keep initiative there you’ve almost won. Key is getting there fast.



This is the main fighting area. There are only three ways to get up there (yellow marking) two concrete ramps and one way uphill towards the silos. Kappa is up there, but far on the right side. Fighting your way there from north base is…tough.
If you don’t want to rush (and there’s no need for it) you better take the epsilon tunnel exit on the left.
Watch out for those holes which are actually lifts if I saw it right (orange).
Here are some views from the “garage”, below the park deck:



All those Piles and cranes and what not will let you slow down or stuck entirely so be really careful with fast moving mechs. On the other side those things can give some cover when pushing forward.
As with every choke point, if your team must go through there, then go and don’t stop at the opening. Everyone behind you wants to push because he can’t see anything besides the back of an atlas so you can’t retreat either and everyone will die in this traffic jam.
Best way to push here is split up in two or three groups and attack from tunnel, epsilon and the silos, but this will need some coordination and luck.



This is the way through the silos to kappa (kappa would be bottom left outside the screen). This is the biggest choke point on the map. See that little pipeline housing on the left? This is all your cover here. You’re welcome! Seriously, if you take this route, peek over and check where the rest of the team is. If everyone attacks from the tunnel, you can take some free shots from here. Never ever try a hard push against more than 2 or 3 mechs, no matter how much you have with you. Ok if everyone and his mom joined you go for it, but still. There’s no way to get away fast and the rest of the enemies is just behind the next corner and you have no cover at all.



Last shot is just above Theta. A big urban fighting area. City fighting is always the same, narrow streets, hard brawling, high casualities. Be fast, be unseen and don’t get lost. Had this many times, running around some buildings, chasing a mech and all of a sudden I’m surrounded and all my teammates are like 10 blocks away. Situational awareness is key here.
Don’t forget there’re some dead ends where you don’t expect them, some houses are U- and W-shaped which will be your final trap.

Forest Colony (Snow)

Spoiler

The oldest map in the pool and arguably the smallest one. This map got some changes since Closed Beta, not only the grid was adapted but also the fog. Started as more or less bright and clear map it evolved to the pea soup we fight in now.
The snow variant is much clearer and more pleasant to fight in. It’s nearly the same map with only a few tweaks that don’t really make a difference. Notable change is the different cap point layout.


Hotspots:

Cargo Ship
This ship was added after countless mechs died in the open water. It can give you fairly large cover but you can still be trapped here from both sides. Here you’ll find always some mechs, at least one light mech will try to slip through the water to basecap.

Radio Tower
There is one noteworthy hill in the north with a big tower on top of it. Up there you have a more or less clear view of the map and can react quickly to a tunnel rush. Getting up here without jumpjets is tricky.
A note for the snow variant: there’s a pass between the cave exit and the tower which you can’t take without jumpjets.

Tunnel/Cave
In the north of the map is a dark and narrow passage which covers nearly the whole B3 tile. Yes you can flank here but of course everyone knows that. Expect heavy resistance at the exit. Only make a quick peek if there’s anyone – if you found more than one enemy…turn around and run. Fighting in the tunnel is harsh, it’s dark, no space to maneuver, no height to jump around and lots of little bumps to get stuck in. Even with superior numbers you have no real advantage because there’s no place for a mech phalanx. Think “300” and the battle of Thermopylae.
Last thing, if you fight here with 4 or 5 mechs from each side for some time, expect someone to take the long route and shoot your back.


Routes:

Cave route (blue)
From the left base you can rush the tunnel, only to hit the exit the moment the right team is there, too. Fighting your way out, one mech after another…not good. From the right side, a rush is a high risk. If you run for it, you can be the first in there and even be the first on the left exit but you can be trapped here even harder because the big guys from left had enough time to get up here.
If you make it unseen on the other side (no matter from which one), you have some options. Capping of course or just harassing from the back. Opening a second frontline can end a fight pretty fast.

Sightseeing tour (green)
The direct route. You have some advantages from right, better cover and better retreat opportunities. From both sides, you can see and shoot mechs in the water, this let you spot a cap attempt while fighting the main force. When possible keep high ground and watch out for lrm/snipers. On the left side of the map, you’ll find a catapult in the top left hills at (B2), on the right there’ll be at least a stalker or a highlander between the rocks at (C4). This route is pretty straight forward so there’ll be not much tactical finesse in exchange for big swoosh and dakkadakka.

The Water Run (red)
Once again through the water. The Community is split on this route. Half the people say “you’ll die”, the other half say “you’ll die anyway”.
Personally I like this way, especially from the left base. One of the earliest chat orders on this map was “rally at F4” which today is at the big rock where kappa is (funny how the grid changed).
Staying in cover, you can advance fast up to the ship without getting shot. The mess usually starts when you are directly near the ship. If you jump around the corner, prepare to turn immediately.
If you think everyone will push, be sure everyone knows that. You can only win here if you are fast (like “get out fast!”) or if you have max firepower and your buddies with you. From both sides, this is a big brawl with snipers from the landside. You have to finish this quick or you’ll be the one with the cracked canopy.
If you’re lucky, there is no one on the other side – because of the first half of the community. Then, use your advantage, try a cap or punish them for that error.


Detailed Viewpoints:

This is the tower on the top left. Next to the tower you often find some tryhards sniping with whatever they get up here, from spider to highlander. On the left side is the cave exit with some buildings in front of it. Don’t get stuck here. As mentioned, the path there(yellow) is blocked with snow on the cold variant from both ways. You can see the boat from here.


This shot is on the south of the map. Left is the “Kappa rock”, on the right you find the satellite base. As you can see, the ship area is wide and offers no cover, on top of it, the water before it is shallow (light cyan). Only beyond the ship you’ll find deeper water (purple area) to partially submerge your light mech.
Another note to the ship, there are containers on the right side in the water, good place to get stuck so watch your step. Generally, don’t stay in these areas around the ship. Fight hard, fight fast and/or get out there.
Watch out for “flanking” around the ship, I’ve seen this often, everyone hunkers at the stern play peekaboo only to get there back opened.


This is the “starting area” for the left base. This place can be tricky if you push from the right side. Everything is fine until you start to “go down” the purple arrow. Here are some niches and corners for mechs to hide and come back over the ridges. If you push this way, do it right or you will be trapped here.


The satellite base on the right. Following the green route, you can see some sniper spots where you can step out, fire and get back or pass over to the next cover. I highlighted that big pipeline bridge, this is an emergency spot if you receive heavy rain (aka LRMs). There are some buildings at this base. You can hide here for whatever reason and you can get stuck here fast in a base circle fight.


Last pic for this map, a shot in the Cave with all vision modes. It’s pretty dark and there’s not much detail, best vision mode is normal here. Even with heat view it’s hard to maneuver in there.

Conquest additions:
In conquest, you can really feel how small this map is with 24 mechs. You’ll find them everywhere so there’s no “quiet” flanking, just more or less enemies to fight. This can be an advantage, you won’t get alpha’d from 10 mechs at once, there’re more smaller fights. Take a look at the routes map, in the snow variant, the cap points shift towards a more even position. This makes it a bit harder to get/hold kappa and epsilon.

Frozen City (Night)

Spoiler

Do you like energy builds? Stacking PPCs? Wub-Wub-Wub?

Welcome to Frozen City! This is by far our coldest map, overheating here will not only give you a severe punch in your face, you get also free LOLs from the rest of the players.
This map is most forgiving with heat, so expect hefty fights with no retreats to cool down. In fact, I see more mechs overheating here than on normal heat maps because people tend to forget about their heat.

Beside low heat, you have low vision – the daytime variant is foggier than forest Colony, the whole match is in a big blizzard. Daytime is time for Heat Vision, seriously. In the night, everything calms down, there’s nearly no fog at all and you can see a beautiful sky. No fog means more sniping of course, but don’t worry, this map has enough cover and is so small that you’ll end up in tight fights, maybe with a guessed maximum of 300m-400m.

Hotspots:

Drop Ship
In the middle of the map, at the border of (C3/C4) is a crashed drop ship on a ridge. This was a mech transporter, you even can find old mechs inside. Hiding in the ship is a bad idea, as is going straight through the breach.
Nearly every game consists of the south team getting to the ship and starting poptarting where as the north team tries to hide at the houses (B3/B4) and snipes back.
A bit west from the ship is a path over the mountain, behind a single house, but you’ll still get your mech handed to you if you try a glorious (=dumb) push with guns blazing.

Tunnel
This is a tricky one. Before the seismic module and 12vs12 you could literally sneak an army to the other side of the mountain.
This normally meant victory by cap or by kills if you were unseen. Today, even after the big seismic nerf it is still dangerous here. Fighting in the tunnel can be fun but suffers the same problem as all the other tunnels, see Forest Colony for this.

Eastern city
With this I mean the Buildings at (C4). These are large which means no LRM threat. Streets are narrow, though and movement can be tricky here.
On top of that, whoever comes here first has the advantage, be it high ground or better field of view.

Routes:



Tunnel (blue)
The fastest route and the most interesting one. You should always get some mechs in there, at least some scouts. If you don’t, you will have something like 6 Assaults or more in your back (if you are the scout, chances are you find them too in there, at least to my experience).
There is one extra exit in the middle of the tunnel, greatly favoring the south team.

Poptart route (green)
Going for the ship means hiding and long range shooting. I have to say I don’t like it and try to break out of it as much as I can but sometimes it just needs to be done.
South team has again an advantage, more so if they manage to pull the north team to the bottom side of the ship. You really need a flanking move here or this will be a big slugfest, wearing off both sides.

Going East (red)
This is the alternative for everyone who sucks at jumpsniping or is mainly short ranged. Stay low from both sides and be fast and stay tight.
If the enemy has 4 mechs in the city and you get there one after another the match is over. It is really important to keep a little mech blob here, maybe 2-4 mechs who all can shoot at the same target (which means they stand beside each other, not behind).
If it is getting too hot, you can always jump down the cliff on the east but be aware without jumpjets you just bought yourself a long walk at the beach till you’re back in action.

Flanking routes:
Beside “tunneling” the enemy you can take the long run where Theta in conquest is. In assault mode you’ll likely be unseen until the enemy gets the “base under attack” warning. Best thing here is, there are some ramps that will get you in the back of the enemy, from both sides.
Worst thing is the low ground, even with jumpjets it’s nearly impossible to get up without a ramp.


Detailed Viewpoints:



Picture is taken from the tower in the eastern city. Behind the marked building top right is the northwestern, upper base, far on the left is the southern, lower base.
Those purple fields are the main fighting and dying areas. Whoever pushes first here will likely lose the first mech.
Pushing from south, you want to get to the western city asap, maybe partly through the tunnel. Sometimes you can see mechs passing behind the dropship.
Only do this if you can get to the eastern city, running over those purple plains is not a very bright idea, not even in late game.




This was on the top right corner of the map, you can see all bases/cap points with Theta directly in front of you. I just want to show that big cliff where all those big mechs (purple markings) will stand, shooting every little mech trying to cap (or circle battling).
This is a dangerous place, no reason to stay here for long. Note that there’s no direct way up from Theta.




This is inside the tunnel, coming from north. The tunnel is bright and clear but still narrow. Fighting with more than 2 mechs here will lead to friendly fire or fire blocking at least.



Night and Day by comparison. Down in the streets it’s getting worse with the fog and I’m not quite sure but afaik there is a dynamic weather element just like the rain on Caustic Valley. (nonetheless you only get “bad storm” and “even worse storm”).

Conquest additions:
At the start of the match, check your light mechs. If there’re some, get them to Theta asap. No stop at kappa/epsilon, no detour, get straight to Theta. But don’t go alone.

3 possible Outcomes:
First: No one there. Good.

Cap and run for the other base.


Second: one light enemy mech. Good.

You need to finish him off fast, though. After that proceed to enemy base.


Third: More than one enemy mech. Not good.

Doesn’t matter if lights or fast mediums, this will end in a circle fight with 4-6 mechs.
This will likely drag more (heavy) mechs down the ridge, mechs that should stay up there. Even if you can finally kill all those mechs down there, chances are, the rest of your team is dead or severely damaged.
In this case, I’d suggest a retreat to the next way back to your city cap point (Kappa/Epsilon) or wherever your main force is. Maybe you can even bait the enemy to follow you.

On this map, it’s really easy to get lost, either in cap points or in standing mechs. You can fight off those 2 Lights for 5 minutes, only to see that everyone else is dead and that this will end 2-12.
Or on the other way you fight well but forget about the cap points and get outcapped. The map is small, but capping takes forever, a 100 points advantage is nearly a win.
That’s why a fast theta cap is so important.

River City (Night)

Spoiler

This is another small map and one of the few with an alternate variant. The Night version is very dark and here you can really benefit from night vision – actually, it’s the only map where I use it regulary (and see it on other players).
This was the first map with an urban setting and gameplay differs quite a lot from all those wide area maps.


Hotspots:

Alcatraz
This is the big building in the middle of the river at (D3) - I don’t know why it’s called that way but that seems to be the common name for it. However, it’s a key location on the map, the southern team will almost always hide here at the beginning; from here you can react to base cap and push everywhere but you’re guarded by that big building. Keep in mind there’s a path on top of it with two big ramps leading east.

Broken bridge
In the top left you’ll find a bridge, leading to the upper city. It’s hard to fight uphill, anyhow there’s often some action, mostly favoring the north team.

Routes:




Upper City/Uptown (red)
In the top left of the map lies Upper City on a plateau, sometimes also referred to as Uptown. Taking this route from the space port base (north) gives you an advantage *if* the other team took this route, too. Fighting from high ground is always better and there’re lots of buildings to hide. From the harbor, this only works if you let the enemy come to you or if you can outnumber them on the plateau.

Lower City/Downtown (blue)
The other side of the map, favoring the south team a bit. These are tight street fights but you’ll get LRMs on your head from the space port as most of the buildings are too small for full cover. Still the “better” route as you have more space to maneuver and you can use Alcatraz for cover.

The River (green)
What to say? Death trap, plain and simple.
But on a second thought, not so simple.
Actually because everyone thinks it’s a suicide run, it’s often unguarded. I would not recommend this from south, though as you can shoot all the way along the river from the space port base. And you should always expect a sniper up there.
From north it’s another story, you can sneak straight through it, but you need some luck.

Flanking routes:
Not much here beside the long run on the right.
You can run behind the City walls on the hills, and you can climb the hill right from the space port without jumpjets, but watch your step as there’s an open tunnel where you can fall down.
As mentioned in the Hotspots, you can quickly pass Alcatraz with that little path, even faster with jumpjets.

Detailed Viewpoints:



This is the view from the south base, at the harbor. That big purple field is the field of view from the north base. You can actually shoot directly from the north base to the south base so if you start at the harbor, move asap. This is also the reason why a water run from south is not the best idea, you will feed fish before you pass that bridge.
By the way, Theta is in the middle of this mess so don’t think on capping this as long as you can go for epsilon or kappa.
Note the flank on the top right, there’s your covered way to the north base.




This is nearly the whole map from uptown, bottom left is Kappa in conquest. There’s an open space here (where my little tour guide blocks the view and right from it), you should avoid it, too much angles from between the buildings will shoot you here. The only times I’ve seen a successful push from the harbor here is when you can reach the buildings fast and with heavy weight or you get killed.
Next to uptown is a little “park” with some hills, it’s enough cover to fight a little 1on1 undisturbed, but this map is just to small to rely on it.
You can also see this big bridge to Alcatraz - don’t use it. Better walk 100m more than get shot down.




Because of the smallness and the layout you’ll fight more often in the bases. The space port here is a bit tricky, you can shoot mech feet below the ship and you can get stuck on lots of walls…
(have these purple things a real name? Blast Walls or something like that?)

However these walls block shots, even if you think they wouldn’t, weird hitboxes.
Special note for those cyan holes. There’s a street down there, a good escape route but still a hole in the ground so watch out.
If you sneak to the base from the east flank, expect a sniper or LRM-Boat at the red spots. And, of course, one disconnected mech at the pink spot. Be aware, people tend to just stand there sometimes and waiting for prey so check tabscreen if you’re unsure before you approach.




These are downtown buildings where I want to show some cover.

• Green = good, no LRM will hit you
  
• Yellow = still ok but get close to the building
  
• Red = Better run! This won’t protect you very well
  
• Purple = Dead End! Again! Turn around or jump out, these are mean traps.

Here are the different vision modes in the Day map…




…and in the Night map. Do you see that commando? It’s really dark, the only lights are some flames and positioning lights on the bridges. There are not even street lights. You better get used to that night vision

Cap-Race Map?
Some thoughts about the duality of the map. If both teams take “the left” or “the right” way, you won’t meet but race for a cap.
Uptown is shorter so if you start north and haven’t seen any enemy from there, you better start running or turning around asap.
Same goes for downtown if you start at the harbor and have passed Alcatraz. If you land at (D4/C4) without contact, chances are you have lost already. Putting a scout on top of Alcatraz can help here.

Terra Therma

Spoiler

Welcome to Mordor.
It is hot, it is dark and it has only two colors.
This is by far the most… let’s call it controversial map in the pool. There’s nearly no match where no-one rants about it in the pregame chat.

Beside all that, it’s a fairly large map, second biggest map after Alpine Peaks. Like Caustic Valley there’re special areas where it’s hotter, so hot that your mech can take damage and your heat goes up to 90%.

Conveniently these areas are marked with a glowing orange texture, so don’t step on lava.
I’d had to admit I’m not a fan of this map, too and I’m bad because everything looks the same and I lose my orientation faster than elsewhere. Hell, still have to check the map to know which base I start.
However, I’ll try to make up some routes with sense.

Hotspots:

Mount Doom
The big volcano in the middle holds a platform with some heavy duty stuff and the Theta cap point. Fighting up here in Assault mode is completely pointless, still it seems everyone wants to drop a ring or something up there.

Yeah.. uhm… that’s it, really. There are some bridges over lava rivers but In the end the only other hotspots are the Caps and main bases, the rest of the fighting comes down to smaller fights if you find anyone.

Routes:



For lack of memorable landmarks I’ll take the conquest Points for routing.

Epsilon route (red) & Kappa route (blue)
Description of these routes are nearly the same, you have to cross some bridges and pass some of these little volcano mountains. Doesn’t really matter if you go left or right around these rocks.
What matters is your position relative to the center and the distance.
The more you get near the center, the higher you are and it is more likely to encounter an enemy who is trying to flank the center.
If you are at the middle of one of these routes and there’s still no contact, you missed each other. Check if someone is in the volcano – still no mechs in sight? Yay for a cap race

Central route (green)
The inevitable main route up to the volcano straight up there to everyone’s doomed destiny. Not much tactics here, just a note: Do it or don’t, nothing between that. If you want to push in there, don’t stop at the entrance because you see two enemy mechs shooting at you. If you stop, you’re dead.

Behind you are all the other hobbits who want to get in so you can’t get back, you’ll get stuck. The time you need to turn around or just step aside is enough to kill you. And if you don’t walk deeper into that pit, no one of your buddies can shoot anything beside you. Even if they think they could shoot over your head, they can’t and will only hit you (they will try, though).

You need to know what is happening if you go up there: every side will run in and spread on the ring, shooting every single mech on the other side. The team with the best focus fire wins this bloody fight. There is no escape, you can’t go back, you can’t go down so shoot, shoot, shoot.

Flanking routes:
There are two side entrances to the ring of fate with serpentine ramps. Fighting here is fun because of vertical differences. These are more of escape routes than flanking ones because you can’t really get a better angle to the enemy.

Of course you can always do a long run cap attempt with a fast light at the beginning, but chances are half of one team is dead by the time you arrive on the other base.

Detailed Viewpoints:



Lol, took more time to get a good shot from the volcano than writing this
As you can see, not much cover on the ring, some crates and boxes that will hinder your path but nothing will cover you in there. You can always drop down and there’s a broken ramp back or some ways out, but that’s not the best idea.
That area is huge, lava is damn hot and those who shot you want that kill and will likely follow you. For capping theta, do it fast and get out. You can’t protect your mechs there, but you can shoot anyone trying to recap it.




The bridge entrance. See that cyan mech? Don’t stand there, just move in and take the beating, it’s the only way to win (win means not necessarily your survival, though). Splitting up and attacking from 2-3 sides is a good Idea




The only memorable place for me is at the southern flanking ramps. Fighting uphill is hard but you have a better field of fire, fro the top you have to come down one after another.




This is my default thought on this map… you really have to be aware where you are. Sure, if you go up to the hot tub, that’s not really difficult but if you try to flank anyone you can easily end up wandering around in a dead part of the map. Meanwhile half your teammates get grilled on the other side. So always be aware where you are, your teammates are and of course where your targets are.


“I hate this map” – random player on Terra Therma

Tourmaline Desert

Spoiler

Safari times! This map is fairly large (actually 3^rd biggest one) and it is the overall hottest map (without those special areas on Caustic or Terra).
Many many crystal rocks, big ridges and wide open areas make this map feel larger and more open than all others except Alpine. Balance between both bases is pretty even with a slight advantage for the northern team, because they hold more high ground.
The south team normally has the initiative on this map, choosing where to fight. North team has more or less a “react to”-role, because of better position.

Hotspots:

Crashed Dropship
In the center of the map at (E5/F5) near Theta is a crashed Mammoth Dropship or what’s left from it. This is the common fighting point where both teams meet everytime.

East Valley
With this I refer to the area between (E6/E7). This is the alternate fighting spot if the north team refuses to push. Fighting will end here often then.

North Crater
Opposite to the East Valley, fighting will get here if the south team mechs (are allowed to) push over the northern route. It’s more or less open without cover, but being in the crater puts you in a disadvantage because of low ground and everyone shooting you.

Routes:



Northern route (red)
This is the default route for light mechs in Conquest to get fast to Kappa. In Assault, this is only used by the south team to hide behind the crater ridge at (E4).
To get there, you have to pass a wide open area and when you are there with your heavy mechs, so are the enemy ones at “their” ridge in the top right corner of (E5).
Behind cover, sniping you. So from south this works only if you are fast and have long range. Remember that you can be pinned down there with ease, taking you out of the match for a minute or two.

Get to the Dropship! (green)
The main route. And just like Mount Doom, everybody comes here if no one makes a plan.
This is trench warfare, everybody hides behind his ridge and tries to get some potshots off.

Eventually one or two mechs got enough beating to finally decide “Push” and run into their death. You can’t break out here, you have to either retreat or flank, but flanking is difficult if everybody is looking at you.

Southern route (blue)
This route is longer than you may think and it is the least used one.
You can run this way mostly unseen, in the eastern part there’re many ridges and crystal rocks to hide. Look out for small path up these rocks, there are some sniper hideouts here and there.

A note for south team who try to cap: don’t take the blue line till the end without jumpjets, take the flank right from it or you will waste some time climbing that hill.

Flanking routes:
You can flank even farther south east beyond the blue route, near point Epsilon. Doing this will grant you an undisturbed run to the other base but it’ll take time.

On the other side this won’t work on the northern flank beyond kappa (from northeast base). You have to pass the bottleneck at (F4). It is possible to sneak through here but maybe 6/10 cases that big atlas will turn around and see you.
Be aware of all those little shortcuts through those rocks in the middle, there’re some great pathways for hit and run tactics.

Detailed Viewpoints:



A view from the south base with the typical approach (green). All those purple fields are wide open. If you run around here with atlas speed or maybe a minute after the start, you will be shot from the other side. That’s why going on the red route and hiding behind the crater wall is a bad idea. You can’t escape from there without heavy LRM and PPC/Gauss shots hitting you. On the top left is Kappa, if you make it there you have a good spot for a light fight with enough cover and time to battle it out but don’t take too long or cavalry will get you. Oh and there’s a second crashed ship




A shot from the other side. Plenty of cover and shortcuts to quickly react to a flanking maneuver. It’s hard to break this up without big losses and it’s important to keep situational awareness where the enemy is and will be in10-30 seconds.
That purple field around theta is a death zone, like a buffer between those frontlines. You can’t just look over your ridge, shoot and retreat. You have to go through that field, to “their” ridge and do your thing. This leads you away from your team and as always a single mech is prey.




This is an example of a random place from this map. You have those deep valleys (red) and those spiked edges (cyan) with shooting holes in it, big enough to fit your mech. This leads to static camper gameplay.
You have to expect snipers everywhere, mostly stalkers with PPCs (yes, even today after the PPC nerf I see a lot). Once you’re down there, there’s no escape from these high walls. Always try to keep high ground, it’s very useful on this map.

/edit 30.10.2013: added Canyon Network
/edit 31.10.2013: added Caustic Valley
/edit 01.11.2013: added Crimson Strait
/edit 12.11.2013: added Forest Colony (Snow)
/edit 13.11.2013: added Frozen City (Night)
/edit 14.11.2013: added River City (Night), Terra Therma, Tourmaline Desert

HPG station?

[627]

Deuce Hxe, on 14 January 2014 - 10:57 AM, said:

HPG station?

patience young padawan



Just added some updates for the changed map layout so feel free to comment or correct me if you find anything

Hope I get HPG out this week

[olpOmat3000]

Even with only going through Alpine Peaks (I like it linear ) I can tell you this is EXCELLENT WORK !

Thanks for all the work (uber paint drawing skillz) and tactical analysis.
I consider myself a fairly good tactician (god I love myself) and all things you said are on-point.

Now we just need to find a way to spread the word so that all the (C)-mech drivers read this stuff.


Cheers
Olp-O-Mat

[Warchild Corsair]

Excellet read, thanks a lot. Especially the naming of the areas helps.

[627]

Here it is, HPG Manifold!

hope you like it

And I have to notice I broke the full editor in these forums, the Post is so large now I only can quick edit anymore

Edited by 627, 18 January 2014 - 06:37 AM.

[Gorgo7]

Thank you sir!

[Will HellFire]

Great work, and big credit for you!!

Thank you!

[luxebo]

Thank you 627 for your hard work on making this guide and remaking after the patch! Didn't realize you updated until today when someone linked it!

[JigglyMoobs]

NICE WORK OP!

[William Slayer]

Wow. Incredibally helpful. Just saved me hours of wandering the maps in Practice mode.

[627]

Just a short update, fellow Mechwarrior Varhait is doing a russian translation of the guide
I linked it in the first post but here it is again: russian translation

Oh, and I broke the forum again, I'm not allowed to put any more smilies into the first post...

so here they are, feel free to put them into it as you like:

[Deathlike]

I've mostly skimmed some of the stuff and I agree with most of what was said.

Smurfy is planning to update his wonderful site with lance spawns soon (for the map section), so this would be a lot more useful/valuable to everyone.

One point I need to make.

In the caves on Frozen City (and the night version, since they are basically/literally the same), the advantage IMO generally goes the NW spawn, but it depends a lot on how you play the caves. This info is specific to Assault.

Seismic is still useful, and what some people still do is to "watch" the caves via Seismic, given that the range is long enough to cover a fair portion of the caves. There are points at C3 on both sides to "watch" the caves, so any push can be negated. However, most matches these days are at C4/B4, so catching the NW spawn in Assault in surprise can happen more often (most times, the Southern spawn will be at the dropship), allowing some scout @ the dropship to do some recon. Trying to push from the C3 exit when starting from the Southern spawn tends to be less than effective... unless there's an overwhelming force pushing (people have to commit to the push, or the rush is doomed). You may have more success pushing @ the NW spawn exit (for some reason, it works better that way because it allows the force to immediately expand instead of the close cluster**** @ the C3 exit.

The cave entrance/exit at C3 tends to favor a push from the NW spawn because if you decide to "work around the dropship", the caves are a great alternative route to approach the enemy or spawn. Most of the time, I don't think those from the Southern spawn check the caves that often though. However, the response to the caves from the Southern spawn tends to be inconsistent, so it can go either way unless there's a push from the dropship/C4 area to force some pressure. It could work the other way (some the southern spawn+dropship), but it's difficult to coordinate due to how it's easier for the NW spawn has the most accessibility control at that exit...

Then again, this may sound too complicated, but eh... if you understood any of it, I think the NW spawn does have an advantage of the caves due to accessibility. It's a matter of scouting it (ideally with Seismic) to prevent base rushing or specifically trying to overwhelm the dropship campers.

Edited by Deathlike, 21 February 2014 - 09:22 AM.

[Wildstreak]

Some notes.

Alpine Peaks - sometimes teams coming north up the 10/11 rows towards Gamma will have snipers go high near H11 effectively. This happens in Skirmish.

It is also possible for fast Mechs hopefully with JJs to skirt high around the map edge if needed, I once saw a team Spider do this running the high edge to avoid being destroyed in Conquest while points racked up. He started in D10 and ran the edge along the D then C then 3 rows all the way to J3.


Canyon - at Epsilon there are 3 ways in C2 to get to high ground without JJ. There is a bridge over the water plus one ramp off either side of the bridge going down to the water, I do not mean the rail bridge. Check in Testing Grounds.

From the south, there is a ramp somewhere near the rail line to get to high ground before the big center ramps making a faster route to Theta.


Terra Therma - I find when going center teams that split going to 2 entrances do better than the 12 man blob going to one. I have seen too many times a 12 man tries to use 1 entrance and gets jammed up in it, best to talk to the team at start and if they want to go center, have the flanking lances pick the 2 routes with the center lance splitting up to assist giving two 6 man groups at two entrances.


Forest Colony (both) - there is a way to get on the Radio Tower hill without JJs, you need to be in the area between B2/3 where the buildings are outside the tunnel entrance. With enough speed, you can climb the hill to the tower, I only recommend it with Mediums and smaller that have 81 kph before Speed Tweak.

The tunnel also has a point where the little stream runs by one side that Light Mechs can get stuck at, I saw a team DK stuck there for a whole match so Lights beware the side stream in the tunnel.

[Catalina Steiner]

Linked your thread in the german beginner's thread. Awesome work. I love your guide.

http://mwomercs.com/...e-mechrekruten/

[Son of the Flood]

I am late in the game discovering this thread. Just want to say thanks 627! Really awesome work on this!

[627]

Thanks all

I hope I can write a new part soon, but seems pretty quiet on the map department