31 replies to this topic

[Marmon Rzohr]

Greetings MechWarriors.

I'd like some help from you
Specifically I would like some advice on how to become a better pilot

Setup:

Spoiler

Over the last couple of weeks I've decided to see how well I can pilot. I've just recently picked up the Victor and figured a fresh mech is a good way to see how high I could move my stats.

I've been playing the Dragon Slayer with this setup.
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...0838293f5b115d4
(It was huge fun when I first tried it)

Over 100 games played I've got a 2.75 KDA and a 1.5 win rate, was 2.2 before the last two days which were filled with roflstomps .

(Also, the idea is to see how well I can do playing strictly solo)

I'd like any advice on how to improve. Other then improving my accuracy, I'd like ideas on what to work on, anything you can tell me that helped you etc

(As far as accuracy goes, if you have a way of practicing, that would be very welcome too )

Cheers and thank you for any input

Edited by Marmon Rzohr, 28 November 2013 - 08:32 AM.

[Bront]

Practice - Only sure fire way to get bet better.

Watch others when you die - It's a great way to learn what to do (and what not to do).

Find a Team - Playing with folks on Teamspeak or other chat services provides a great way to improve your teamwork, get and give tips on play, and generally coordinate better, which will make you a better pilot.

Learn the maps - Learning map tactics is a good way to up your game. Be sure to talk with the PUGs and try to get them to follow

Stay with your teammates - Some good pilots know when to go alone, but in general, don't. Find a PUG or group that is similar in speed to you, and stick to them. The support is well worth it in most cases.

Communicate - Even with PUGs, tell them things (Push, need help in C4, 12 Atlasses at base, etc). Hopefully they'll return the favor.

Practice - Can't stress this enough

[Corvus Antaka]

This game has a steep learning curve. Mastering a single Mech is not easy, and it takes a good year to put together a nice stable of mechs.

Spend some moeny on premium time, that helps tons with the grind. save your MC for premium time, camo & paint & hero mechs - get a good hero mech, combine it with premium time for 80% cbill bonus per match this really eases the grind as well.

[Roughneck45]

Torso twisting to soak damage and shield critical components is an essential skill. Holding your lasers on target to apply the full ticks of damage. Using articulated arms to be able to return fire when you retreat.

Lots and lots of little things to practice and make second nature.

The DS build you have is pretty good, but I think you have too much Ac10 ammo. I would take out a ton, put a C.A.S.E in with your PPCs and up the leg armor.

Or run Dual AC5's for more firepower.
DRAGON SLAYER

Edited by Roughneck45, 29 November 2013 - 06:05 AM.

[DrSlamastika]

Talent and time spend in the game . . thats all.

Edited by DrSlamastika, 29 November 2013 - 06:19 AM.

[Marmon Rzohr]

Bront, on 28 November 2013 - 09:06 AM, said:

-shortened for visibility-

Watching other is a great help. One always learns some new tricks. Youtube is also a great help. Watching Villz play helped my positioning a lot, for instance.

I always try to work with the team, I usually pick out several mechs or even just one with a similar loadout and try to move and attack in concert to increase combat effectiveness. The only problem I have with this and other types of teamwork is that in 50% of cases teammates do unpredictable things. For example 5-6 mechs turning to go blast a couple of mechs and ignoring other that threaten them, people moving to go cap at bad times etc. Also, it seems quite hard to convince people they are going a bad route (going straight for the valley in Alpine for instance).

I plan on joining a unit when i get a bit more time to invest regularly

Colonel Pada Vinson, on 28 November 2013 - 10:08 AM, said:

-shortened for visibility-

Yeah I know sometimes it can be frustrating, but mastering a new chassis or buying a new mech is all the sweeter. Premium time is a rather unsound investment for me at the time because of a very irregular playing schedule, since it always ticks.

Roughneck45, on 29 November 2013 - 05:58 AM, said:

-shortened for visibility-

Thanks, I usually forget to use the arms to fire back, just not used to it yet, will work on it. But the defensive twisting and using the shield torso/arm works wonders with the Victor.
Thanks for the build advice. I think I have a STD280 so I'll try the 2xAC5
I do have too much ammo since I have never run out, even in quite long matches.

DrSlamastika, on 29 November 2013 - 06:19 AM, said:

Talent and time spend in the game . . thats all.

Don't know about talent, but practicing (playing) is the fun part

Thank you all for the input

Played a couple more games in since the original post and I find I have trouble with a couple of situations:

How do you guys play against an enemy team that has the advantage (siginificantly more tonnage or simply a numbers advantage) ? I seems really hard to put down any damage without taking damage in return, and if I'm too patient and careful I feel like I'm not doing my job well enough (softening the enemy from some range) - and we'll get rolled in a big push probably.

Edited by Marmon Rzohr, 30 November 2013 - 01:42 AM.

[Urdasein]

This game is easy. Not casual grade but not that much things to understand.

here are some critical stuff

-> heat management
-> torso twisting
-> using cover
-> knowing the cheesy builds, how to play them, how to counter them
-> reading the game

There is no need to grind for all mechs. It's not a pokemon game.

In one month, you can know all that you need.

[Shade4x]

Marmon Rzohr, on 28 November 2013 - 08:30 AM, said:

Greetings MechWarriors.

I'd like some help from you
Specifically I would like some advice on how to become a better pilot

Setup:

Spoiler

Over the last couple of weeks I've decided to see how well I can pilot. I've just recently picked up the Victor and figured a fresh mech is a good way to see how high I could move my stats.

I've been playing the Dragon Slayer with this setup.
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...0838293f5b115d4
(It was huge fun when I first tried it)

Over 100 games played I've got a 2.75 KDA and a 1.5 win rate, was 2.2 before the last two days which were filled with roflstomps .

(Also, the idea is to see how well I can do playing strictly solo)

I'd like any advice on how to improve. Other then improving my accuracy, I'd like ideas on what to work on, anything you can tell me that helped you etc

(As far as accuracy goes, if you have a way of practicing, that would be very welcome too )

Cheers and thank you for any input

If you want to practice accuracy, take the weapons you will use in combat into the training area, It's usually good to drop some ammo or heat sinks and upgrade the engine to what the mech runs with speed tweaked (or XL it is fine). Then start shooting while you move around and aim for very specific parts, such as Atlas right shoulder then left then CT, or commando's right leg. After a few shots, stop and figure out what is working and what is not. Do the same for jump snipeing until you learn when to fire (IE fire on the way down as its more stable).

Learn how many shots you can fire before you overheat, and how to play your mech both at all ranges, and both when you have high heat and low heat (Ie only using the AC/10 vs using both PPC's and AC/10 together)

Learn how to best midgate damage by twisting, the proper angle to arm tank, how to effectivly use your back armor when you lose your front armor, how to use jump jets to midigate damage

Learn how to turn with jump jets fast, how to jump behind a mech that charges you and back him, how to stay at your optimal range, and how to use cover and positioning without obstructing your shots.

Learn to know when to charge, when to peak and when not to. This is really the thing that seperates average players from skilled players. Average or bad players either charge instantly all the time, or never charge at all. You also should probly learn what roles your mech CAN play on the team, so that if you notice your team lacks that role you can fill in.

My suggestions would be to XL the victor, and go for speed and heat sinks. If you have spare tonnage, add a few short range weapons to round out the build. I ended up having alot of success with an XL 360, AC/10, 2x PPC's and 3 SRM 2's (which are way more accurate then an SRM 6 or 4) I don't run the dragon slayer though...as it's not my favorite.

[Modo44]

Use your brain. Noobie or veteran, you will **** up if you do not think. Perfect aim and a good build help a lot, but they really do come second.

[LQuinze]

Experiment with re-mapping your controls. The default set-up for MWO is probably the most rational Mechwarrior control scheme to date, but you may want to consider putting frequently used functions closer to your WASD keys - Coolant Flush, vision toggles, etc. As much as possible you want to avoid having to work ambidextrously.

I strongly recommend having "center torso to legs" and "center legs to torso" mapped very close - it's easy to get confused about your leg position in the heat of combat, and a single press of either of these immediately fixes any confusion.

Likewise, I suggest mapping 0% throttle and Reverse throttle nearby as well - you can kill/reverse velocity without having to spend the effort of holding down the S key (and thus can focus all attention on aiming or defensively twisting).

Patience is a pretty important trait to have. Always ask yourself how you could have lived longer/lived through the last match.

[SniperCon]

Pilot skills include:
Spreading incoming damage
Focusing outgoing damage
Not shutting down

Game sense includes:
Avoiding bad situations
Capitalizing good situations
Anticipating enemy movement

[Marmon Rzohr]

Shade4x, on 03 December 2013 - 02:02 AM, said:

-shortened for visibility-

Thanks for the input

The training grounds are very useful. After some practice with cockpit shooting I can do it much more consistently when I get the chance in proper gameplay. Shooting while doing maneouvers in JJs also helps a lot. I do it from time to time and it's actually quite fun

I do play very conservatively most of the time, moving up as my team moves up, so I should work on that, thanks for pointing it out. Jumping right over a fast mech moving for me is something I haven't had the chance to try very often, but I'll keep it in mind.

Since the original post I did change the build up, going for an XL, more JJs and AC5s. While I does have less survivability, I find that being much faster helpes me a lot more in PUGs since I can keep up with the action better, repostion faster and land my fire where it's most needed.

The results were very good. My average damage went from ~400 match, to 550+ a match, with every match in which the enemy team doesn't die too fast I get over 700 damage. The extra dps the build can put down to quickly focus down a target that's trying to 1v1 me or that's attacking a friendly works wonders.

Modo44, on 03 December 2013 - 02:17 AM, said:

Use your brain. Noobie or veteran, you will **** up if you do not think. Perfect aim and a good build help a lot, but they really do come second.

Very true. It's brain farts that get me killed 100% of the time. Like when I don't notice most of my team has moved off and I'm alone being a free kill.

LQuinze, on 03 December 2013 - 02:34 AM, said:

-shortened for visibility-

Controls really help. I mapped my E key as an additional weapon group, the advanced zoom key was in a rubbish place as well. The throttle controls are a good idea. Having a keybind for cutting the throttle to 50% allows for a much faster turn in a clutch situation. Thanks

SniperCon, on 03 December 2013 - 02:22 PM, said:

Pilot skills include:
Spreading incoming damage
Focusing outgoing damage
Not shutting down

Game sense includes:
Avoiding bad situations
Capitalizing good situations
Anticipating enemy movement

Well I fancy I'm good in 4/6, that's not so bad

Once again thank you all for posting.

[Falkner]

-I think patience is very important.
It happened so often that i was like a berserk and try to storm the enemies line. In Games without any communication is anything like that like a suicide. Take your time to tear the enemies Armor down. Piece by piece. And stay focused on your targets as long you can without taking to much damage.


-When you play alone, try to keep up with a teammate who has almost the same speed and try to focus your fire on his target.


-Have an eye on your surroundings.
It is important to know where the next cover is when the enemy is hammering with his ac2 oder lrms on your mech.

-Give your Teammates enough room to move. Dont park your mech directly behind a friendly one when he has direct contact to the enemy (for example when fighting in River City around the buildings)
I'm sorry for my bad english skills, it isn't my native language and i was kinda lazy in school

[Marmon Rzohr]

Falkner, on 04 December 2013 - 04:37 AM, said:

-I think patience is very important.
It happened so often that i was like a berserk and try to storm the enemies line. In Games without any communication is anything like that like a suicide. Take your time to tear the enemies Armor down. Piece by piece. And stay focused on your targets as long you can without taking to much damage.


-When you play alone, try to keep up with a teammate who has almost the same speed and try to focus your fire on his target.


-Have an eye on your surroundings.
It is important to know where the next cover is when the enemy is hammering with his ac2 oder lrms on your mech.

-Give your Teammates enough room to move. Dont park your mech directly behind a friendly one when he has direct contact to the enemy (for example when fighting in River City around the buildings)
I'm sorry for my bad english skills, it isn't my native language and i was kinda lazy in school

I used to the charging thing when playing brawling setups. xD
I don't now. One dies too fast. The best tactic I found when playing my AC40 cat was playing defense for my team - blowing them up when they move for us.

I also always try to support the other assaults. Or any other direct fire support mechs since their (and my) efficiency goes up a lot with the volume of fire that we put down.

Standing in people's way I something I try to NEVER EVER do xD
It's gotten me killed so many times when I first started playing that I pay a lot of attention to it

[Rushin Roulette]

Marmon Rzohr, on 30 November 2013 - 01:34 AM, said:

How do you guys play against an enemy team that has the advantage (siginificantly more tonnage or simply a numbers advantage) ? I seems really hard to put down any damage without taking damage in return, and if I'm too patient and careful I feel like I'm not doing my job well enough (softening the enemy from some range) - and we'll get rolled in a big push probably.

The best way to manage this is to exploit what they do not have. Meaning maneuverability and speed. In 12 v 12 matches (communication between the players is infinitely better than pugging) we usually scout where their main force is and make a funnel trap for them

\ " /

forcing the heavier team to come through a decreasing gap between our teammembers, They cant use all their weapons because they are in a line where only 2 or 3 can effectively fire at once, but we are standing in a position where everyone can fire at the leading mechs.

If they manage to break through into the open, then we rearange the pincers so that the firing lines close up behind them.

/,,\

By this time hopefully their weight advantage has been strongly lowered and we are fighting at aproximately equal weight... but 5 damaged Assaults means they only have a heat pool of 5 to work with, but 8 Heavies/Mediums/Lights means we have 8 heat pools to work with and can maintain fire for longer and move damaged mechs out of the focus easier.

[ravenkk]

Marmon Rzohr, on 06 December 2013 - 03:33 AM, said:

I used to the charging thing when playing brawling setups. xD I don't now. One dies too fast. The best tactic I found when playing my AC40 cat was playing defense for my team - blowing them up when they move for us. I also always try to support the other assaults. Or any other direct fire support mechs since their (and my) efficiency goes up a lot with the volume of fire that we put down. Standing in people's way I something I try to NEVER EVER do xD It's gotten me killed so many times when I first started playing that I pay a lot of attention to it

One more tip

Just because a weapon don't look like it wouldn't work, does not mean it would not be working on other mech or even in other type of the same mech ( eg. sm-6 don't look so hot until you install the right support)
Try out different weapon type for Victory.

[Wrathful-Khan]

A good pilot knows what his mech can/can't do and gets involved in favourable situations while avoiding unfavourable situations.

[New Day]

Situational awareness. If the enemy has 5 points stop chasing the spider.

Edited by NamesAreStupid, 14 December 2013 - 09:05 AM.

[Marmon Rzohr]

Once again, thanks everyone for the advice and input

Rushin Roulette, on 06 December 2013 - 04:06 AM, said:

-shortened for visibility-

That's an interesting tactic, i have to admit. However, it's somewhat out of my reach as I play PUGs.
Such a level of coordination is nearly impossible in that setting.

However I did find a strategy that seems somewhat effective in a situation where your team is much lighter then the enemy, and even when the odds are even.

The idea behind it is similar to the idea behind the tactic you described. Reducing enemy numbers as fast as possible by overwhelming small numbers of the enemy quickly.

Spoiler

What I do is:
- Play carefully in the inital stages of the battle, paying attention to where the enemy goes and how they deploy.
- Then, almost inevitably in a PUG game some of the enemy will split off or go flank away from their main force. Usually your team's mediums and other fast mechs will quickly jump on the chance to get a kill on isolated targets. I follow them, reposition quickly to kill the isolated target(s) fast.
- The enemy is now a mech or several down on your team and the odds are much more even.
- Another possible scenario is when the enemy has no isolated targets you can easily reach, but has a weak flank or a group of mechs in a weak position. Then I attack that group and push aggresively to take them down as fast as possible.
(This is also the only way out of a situation where you're getting surrounded and are in a bad position)
- This tactic works wonders on some maps in particular as PUG teams have a tendency to push quickly when there is little resistance leaving slower mechs behind allowing you to take the fast and slow elements of their force seperately. Caustic valley is a good example. Sometimes you can get away with quickly pushing around the ring of the crater destroying the enemy mechs that are slow to follow their own forces as they go around.
- This does not mean chasing light mechs or abandoning friendly mechs to die as you chase down one enemy, but rather using the momentum of your own team when they focus on a weak target.

ravenkk, on 14 December 2013 - 04:33 AM, said:

One more tip

Just because a weapon don't look like it wouldn't work, does not mean it would not be working on other mech or even in other type of the same mech ( eg. sm-6 don't look so hot until you install the right support)
Try out different weapon type for Victory.

That's good advice, sometimes even small tweaks to loadouts like a bit more engine power or more frontal/less rear armor can work wonders. Especially weapon changes. My perfomance with the AC10 was much less impressive then with the UAC5 + AC5 build. The extra range and DPS on targets in the open simply made the build more potent more of the time.

Indiandream, on 14 December 2013 - 08:59 AM, said:

A good pilot knows what his mech can/can't do and gets involved in favourable situations while avoiding unfavourable situations.

The truest sentence ever
Even after a 200 games with the Victor, 70% of my deaths are due to mistakes in picking when and where to engage the enemy. Trading damage favorably is the essence of MWO skill.

NamesAreStupid, on 14 December 2013 - 09:05 AM, said:

Situational awareness. If the enemy has 5 points stop chasing the spider.

But it shot me. I must have revenge.
Just kidding, I never chase lights unless they are the last ones alive. My problems are more along the lines of: "I'm shooting at the enemy Atlases moving in, while my team went off chasing different targets and now I've gotta run for my life".
(this is not blaming the team. It's my mistake. In PUG matches one should always use and follow the teams momentum - except when the team is chasing squirrels OFC)

Edited by Marmon Rzohr, 16 December 2013 - 08:03 AM.

[TripleEhBeef]

If you can put something between you and the guys shooting at you, do it. I see so many trial Assaults march clear into the open thinking they're invincible, only to be bombarded with hundreds of LRMs and more autocannon fire than Orks on a WAAAGH! Survival time, four seconds.

Another area that some people seem to ignore is where their weapons are on their mech. It's funny seeing players unleash a torrent of fire only for most of it to hit a low building or hill. It's not so funny when a guy fires an AC20 without realizing that its barrel is poking his teammate in the back. Which brings up another point, keep some distance between you and other mechs.