21 replies to this topic

[Big Tin Man]

Or any assault for that matter? I own a BLR-1D, 1G, and 1S, and the only thing I can consistently break 400 dmg in is the 1S while boating LRM50 with good teammates spotting. I run an XL 375 in most builds.

I'm working on eliteing them right now, but it's discouraging knowing that I can go significantly better in all of my cataphracts and in firestarters on a regular basis. Once elite is done is it that much of a difference? I know the phracts were night and day different for me.

And yes, I like my builds. No, I'm not horribly interested in yours, I'm interested in piloting tips. What is the strategy with this thing? Hit and fade? Full on tank? Ranged support?

Edited by Big Tin Man, 23 May 2014 - 02:44 PM.

[Salinor]

while I don't use an assault mech so I'm probably not qualified to advise you I do think that eliting it would help. What builds do you use?

[Big Tin Man]

1-D/G--XL375, 2xac5, 4 ML, LL, AMS
1-S--XL 375, 2xLRM 10, 2xLRM 15, 4 ML

[Ingga Raokai]

it reminds me when i was eliteing my BLRs, most of them were still stock build probably just upgraded the sink. the way i did was "dont be the tanker", wait till my team engaged then support them. yea i build 1S as lurm, since it is easier to eliteing with that build rather than the current build. not much changed for the D, just add the 3rd mg manage my range for MGs and PPC.

after elite, yea, per usual, the 2x basic kicks in and notice the difference.

Edited by Ingga Raokai, 23 May 2014 - 03:15 PM.

[1453 R]

Eliting an assault ‘Mech is an even bigger deal than eliting a heavy or a light. I would say it’s absolutely crucial – the difference was far starker than just night and day in my Victors.

Anyways. Any XL assault is going to be kinda fish-outta-watering on the battlefield. All that weight of metal and armor says you should be taking it to the bad guy’s face and forcing him to make bad decisions…but that XL engine says very distinctly otherwise. It works in the Victors (or used to, at least), but I’ve never quite figured it out in the Fattlemasters myself. A 370XL in an 85-ton ‘Mech doesn’t produce enough speed to really break out of the assault-weight bracket, but it does introduce the usual XL vulnerabilities.

The way it tends to work is that you’re just not going to be able to stand toe-to-toe with other, more conventional assault ‘Mechs – a Banshee will gut you like a tuna if you try to trade blows with it. You need to use what footspeed you do have, as well as the extra firepower from the XL’s weight savings, to hound smaller, higher-value targets and/or get at rear-line supports like LRM Stalkers. Cataphracts and Boomjags are always high-value targets (if they’re built properly, anyways), and something like an XL Victor or Fattlemaster is an excellent choice for hunting them down and getting rid of them. And of course you have all the firepower in the world compared to a Lurmpocalypse assault that thinks three medium lasers is adequate short-range defense.

Hunt down those targets and use your greater weight of armor to survive their counterattack long enough to put them down. That’s usually a better use of an XL assault than holding the line is. Or at least such has been my experience in the ol' 385XL pre-giganerf Victors.

[Tesunie]

Well... to be honest.... I suck in my Battlemasters. Even the 1S with LRMs. I did better in my Stalker than I did with the 1S set up exactly the same way (or very near enough).

I have found that I try to use my Battlemaster like a slightly slower version of my Dragon. I stay on the move, and try to press flanks and try to attack from an unexpected side. When I do well in the mech, it's because I took the time to run around a known enemy position, and the enemy didn't expect to see an Assault suddenly appear from behind/to the side of them.

I also have my Battlemaster set up with PPCs in the high shoulders for some sniper(ish) work, and med lasers and MGs to fill in the rest of the build. (I sold all my Battlemasters except the 1G(P), which I can't sell. I see they wouldn't work for me. Some mechs just don't work for me personally.)

[Mycrus]

1CTR armor... only way to play assaults...

awareness noobs need not apply

[Wintersdark]

Why do you suck in assaults? Well, the answer is actually pretty easy.

Assaults, in some ways like lights, are very unforgiving.

In a Medium or Heavy, you have both enough armor to survive a couple heavy hits and enough speed and agility to recover from a mistake. You can be a bit "sloppy", if you will, advance too fast, round that corner blind, and be able to escape.

Assaults have more armor, and can use that to crush in a face to face battle, but its not enough more to counter how the slow speed and lack of agility get you dead if you're out of position.

Piloting an assault, then, is all about situational awareness. You need to know what's around the corner _before_ you go. Fast mechs can peek out and step back, but assaults take too long to stop and back up - trying to peek around corners gets you killed.

As a rule of thumb (exceptions exist, particularly when brawling) never back up in an assault. Move forward, keep moving, twist and turn, but never back up. If you get to a point where you need to stop and back up, you're probably already dead. It just takes too long.

I've been playing since November of 2012. For a long, long time I was strictly a fast heavy pilot, and was objectively bad at lights and assaults. It took me a long, long time to get good with assaults, for the reasons outlined above. You basically can't make mistakes, and I was so used to being able to utilize my speed if I found myself out of position.

However, once I learned to stay with the herd, to pay close attention to the minimap and my allies' positions as to never be isolated (death for an assault), I discovered the true joy of assaults: overwhelming firepower. Mmmmm glorious, crushing firepower. And, managed to not die while piloting them.

Your best best is to start with faster, more maneuverable assaults like the Victor, and to start out with larger engines. Kit them up to feel more like heavies, and then slowly, over time, dial back engine size in favour of bigger guns (this is relevant because the tonnage cost of engine rating increases very quickly, resulting in a sort of diminishing returns for tonnage to speed - huge engines result in an assault with the speed of a heavy and the firepower of a medium.)

[Garuss Acine]

My own 1G is geared up with 1x ERLL, 6x ML, 2x MG and 1LRM15, 1 ton of ammo for the MG and 2 for the LRM. It mounts a 340 Std, Endo, Dbl HS with max armor. Being elite makes its far easier to use than before, I rely on spreading the damage over multiple strikes and having the MG' constantly lashing out looking for components in opened sections.

Before being elite, I had an ERPPC instead of the ERLL and MGs and ammo. It'll give you striking distance so you don't have to be in the face of your foe after your LRM bins empty. I also believe I mounted more Dbl Heat Sink and a few less ML.

I actually can't stand the 1D, but I've made a decent 4xSRM6/4x ML Brawler out of the 1S. Some swear by XLs, I can't stand them in my mechs, I'd skip them, but its your ride, rig it out your way.

[PACoFist]

Use your shoulder-mounted energy weapons to shoot over hills. Use your arms to shoot around corners.

Contrary to what the name suggests, you should not lead the attack on the enemy. Try to always have some teammates around you. Stay in the middle or in the back of your team.

Use long-range weapons and avoid brawling.

[Zigeunerskat]

If you scroll down a bit you will find thisthread. Lots of valuable advice can be found there.

[Shatterpoint]

My 1G started making more sense when I went into a round with a specific goal, if I went in and tried being a jack of all trades I died or did little to help the result of a match.

I call my 1G SiegeBreaker, it has 1 job..breaking the blockade.
*Enemy team turtles up around a corner and my team are too afraid to scratch their shiny war machines in a push
*I look at the map and glimpse as much info about which enemy is where and what to shoot on it
*"Incoming Distraction, Follow the Battlemaster and profit $$$$$" ('muricans see and understand chat when $'s are in it)
*As soon as I think they're looking the wrong ways and/or as softened up as they'll get I hit the throttle
*Strap yourself in for death or glory and don't be afraid to run past a key enemy assault, the incoming "Oh 5h17" fire from their team will hit him too while the rest of your guys happily eat the leftovers.

Just make sure you John Woo that move and don't stall/back up, it's an all or nothing mech at that point..if you walk face first into a wall of atlas, atlai, atlases..whatever they are in bulk quantity then you better say hi with a facefull of ACs and lasers.

Assuming you've survived this and the enemy turtle has scattered then offer up some legs to the leg god.

[PACoFist]

The Wubmaster

I must admit it is not my invention. I have stolen it
It has many unused hardpoints but it has all the weapons you ever need. 90 damage in about 3 seconds. Enough heatsinks to shoot the large Pulse very long without overheating.

If you have the money to buy an XL engine you should try this build. It is totally awesome.

[Big Tin Man]

Thanks for all the advice folks. I've been doing better by understanding that I'm a second line fire support mech, and shouldn't be leading the push. I rebuilt my 1-D over the tourney weekend and put in the most meta build I could scratch together (3ppc, 2ac5, 1LL, XL 295) and immediately saw big results. Not from the weapon loadout, but cutting my speed from 80 kph to 65 kept be back in the pack where I belong, and alive.

[oldradagast]

Another general tactic I've used that helps reduce an assault pilot's urge to rush into battle and die is put an LRM launcher (LRM 10, minimum) on their mech, if possible.

Sure, it won't do a lot of damage, but it gives you a way to apply pressure from a distance and resist that urge to think, "Nuts - I can't do anything unless I charge right into the right" - and then you charge in and get focused fired into scrap metal.

[Malcolm Vordermark]

There definitely is a danger in going too fast

I'm not a fan of running XL in assaults that are not Victors.

Honestly I've given up on my Battlemasters, I'm not sure when it happened but at some point all the jump snipers figured out the cockpit is easy to hit. After a couple of days with 3-4 cockpit deaths I decided to trade in the Battlemaster for a Banshee.

[Big Tin Man]

Rouken, on 29 May 2014 - 08:40 AM, said:

There definitely is a danger in going too fast

I'm not a fan of running XL in assaults that are not Victors.

Honestly I've given up on my Battlemasters, I'm not sure when it happened but at some point all the jump snipers figured out the cockpit is easy to hit. After a couple of days with 3-4 cockpit deaths I decided to trade in the Battlemaster for a Banshee.

Yeah, I've been driving too many lights, where the only speed is full speed right into the fray. I know the bigger engine would ultimately save me, but I can't control myself and over-extend around corners and into the brawl if I am capable of the speed.

I haven't been cockpitted yet, so I have that going for me.

[The Great Unwashed]

Tip: the BLR-1G and BLR-3M have reduced torso pitch speed, torso yaw and torso yaw speed; this makes aiming torso-mounted weapons slower. This is one reason why the 1G and 3M remains in my garage.


I know the OP isn't too itnereted in builds, but builds fit a strategy. I like to run the BLR as fire support and try to keep up with the front. I ran this STD-300 BLR-1D at the tournament and it works quite well. Now I run around in something like this XL-350 BLR-1D (can't remember exactly). For the 3M you cannot mount 2 AC5s and a Gauss works just as well. The 3S doesn't really do anything the other BLRs can so I did not try it.

It's a build that works better on Victors and Highlanders as the BLR does not have jumpjets, but it still works as a second line fire support mech. I find that getting the Elite levels really helps for any assault. If you haven't bought a Battlemaster yet I would not recommend them over Victors or Highlanders; the Battlemaster has a wide torso. So wide that I often shoot my arm ACs in the back of my team mates that are almost out of view standing next to me

Edited by The Great Unwashed, 29 May 2014 - 11:53 PM.

[Escef]

Big Tin Man, on 29 May 2014 - 07:38 AM, said:

Thanks for all the advice folks. I've been doing better by understanding that I'm a second line fire support mech, and shouldn't be leading the push. I rebuilt my 1-D over the tourney weekend and put in the most meta build I could scratch together (3ppc, 2ac5, 1LL, XL 295) and immediately saw big results. Not from the weapon loadout, but cutting my speed from 80 kph to 65 kept be back in the pack where I belong, and alive.

One of the things I like about the Light Show is its ability to break away from the pack, grab people's attention, and then speed off to cover (83.9kph with tweak). Some might see this as a waste, but something that big, moving that fast, spraying lasers everywhere gets a LOT of attention. And it has the armor to survive getting that attention. And do you know what almost none of the enemy team is paying attention to when I pull this insanity? The rest of my team, that's what. Dear gawds, they leave themselves so open to the rest of the team. It's a super-heavy skirmisher. Just remember that while it may have the speed of something 20 tons lighter, it still accelerates, breaks, and turns like a truck.

[Gremlich Johns]

If you are running an LRM boat without any close quarters weapons, you're doing it wrong.