9 replies to this topic

[JigglyMoobs]

So by now there are well known strategies that work well most of the time on certain maps. Let's post some of them here for the benefit of PUGs and others who are new to the game.

Be sure to specify whether it's for the entire team to execute, or a lance, or heavy or light mechs.

I will start.

Reference map: http://mwo.smurfy-ne...sert&m=conquest

On Tourmaline Desert, a well known strategy is for the team starting nearer to the arch to push towards the F6 E6 area using terrain as cover. You then circle behind the mountain through the E6, D6, D5 area, and move through the multiple openings D6 D5 to attack the opposing team all along its flank. The quicker / better you execute this, the more likely you are to win.

Here's an example where our team of PUGs did our best to execute the strategy. We weren't exactly expert at doing it but the other team had no strategy at all.

[luxebo]

On Terra Therma, if everyone listens, defense is a good strat. Almost always works when the scouts scout and return then everyone fries the enemies as they walk into the path.

[Tesunie]

On Terra Therma, in skirmish, if your team can take and hold the center it can be of great advantage. If you have some LRM mechs, place them in the center, then no matter which entrance becomes threatened, they can help support.

If this strategy is to work though, one must remember that there is more than one entrance into the center platform. Scouts are pivotal in making sure each entrance is covered and watched.

I've seen it work great in one match, where we stomped the enemy team. In another match, we tried this and everyone on my team gathered by one entrance, and let the enemy flood through the other 3 entrances, and it was a devastating defeat. (This tactic is also a reason why I recommend people try to make heat efficient balanced builds. If you run hot, that center area becomes bad for you, and thus for the team as well.) (It's a PUGs life.)

[Darth Futuza]

Duplicate topic: http://mwomercs.com/...-with-more-hpg/

Defending your base with the whole team on HPG is rather effective (usually).

[luxebo]

Darth Futuza, on 29 January 2014 - 06:32 PM, said:

Duplicate topic: http://mwomercs.com/...-with-more-hpg/

Defending your base with the whole team on HPG is rather effective (usually).

Thanks a ton Darth, didn't realize that it got updated! Congrats 627!

[sneeking]

a map specific strategy would be to launch in the right mech with a build to suit the conditions no ?

apparently this is too obvious for pgi, mission intell and a mission specific loadout derp

[Wildstreak]

Terra Therma, don't bother with the center. Sometimes the whole team tries using one path and everyone gets jammed up.
Instead, flank the outside, more room to maneuver and the fights are MUCH more interesting.

[sneeking]

terra therma has consistently been one of my better maps for good games, im not sure why but even my 6ml jester seems to like it so much iv even stood knee deep in the caldera and fought enemys located up on the gantry and lived to tell about it.

[ImperialKnight]

You don't need map specific strategies. Cover, height and funnels are pretty much all you need to know in MWO about terrain.

Cover is better, open ground is not.

High ground is better, low ground is not

Funnels aka choke points are bad

Think about it, every map comes down to these.

Terra is a good example of funnels. The centre is a VERY good place to defend IF you know how to do it. A lot of people defend poorly, that's why they lose. The most common mistake is to charge the enemy when you see them trying to enter the crater. They think they have to stop the enemy from entering. WRONG. You WANT them to come to you. Leave the entrance open, make sure EVERYONE on your team has a firing solution to the entrance and focus down everything that comes in.

For offensive, you pretty much have to commit to it. Push through the choke point and spread out, giving the enemy as much targets as possible and giving every one of your own people firing solutions on the enemy. If one person stops, everyone dies.

This applies to every funnel on every map, be it tunnels on Forest Colony or the D5 saddle on Crimson

Cover is best illustrated on Caustic. If you decide to go Caldera, you DO NOT give up Caldera. Every time a team backs off the ridge or goes on a squirrel chase, you are exposed on open ground and get pound to death. I can't believe how many people don't realise this. Also, NEVER fight in the water on River City unless you absolutely have to.

Alpine is the worst offender of giving one team too much height advantage. Just hold H10 and win.

[Tesunie]

sneeking, on 01 February 2014 - 01:01 AM, said:

a map specific strategy would be to launch in the right mech with a build to suit the conditions no ?

apparently this is too obvious for pgi, mission intell and a mission specific loadout derp

Problem: This is a lore based game, as much as feasible and still have fun, and within reason.
In lore, IS mechs (not Omni designs) would take weeks or even months to alter for a specific customization. This would mean, either you waited months between missions to create specific loadouts for it, or you went in anyway with what you had and tried to send the best default configurations into the missions, normally with the pilots who are already use to those mechs. Often times, this lead to designs being used in any situation, even if they were not created for that specific situation.

Now, Camo, agreed. They changed that based on the terrain around your mech.

Omni though "changed the rules" of mech warfare, which is what contributed to Clan Omni mechs being considered so powerful and superior to IS standard mechs. Omni mechs could quickly and easily switch out pods to change the mech for different situations, roles and missions. This led to far more efficient designs no matter what the mission was, as between fights they could be switched out to better suit the situation at hand.

This ability to quickly change loadouts of their mechs was something that the IS standard mechs was incapable of. All our current mechs are standard mechs, and thus should not be able to be "changed between missions". You could possibly convince me that you might be able to select from a small pool of mechs to maybe have one that would better suit the mission at hand. To counter that thought by lore though (in game I wouldn't care about this bit), most mechwarriors only owned one mech, and not the lance(s) of mechs we can earn and own in this game right now. They cost money to maintain and to move and store.


I can't decide if you are joking with that emote at the end, or trying to make your post seem less harsh than it really is. PGI has actually been fairly good with what they have currently if you asked me, seen as most every mission is the same: "Kill all enemies", with a sometimes "Cap the base(s)". Personally, I rather like the "drop with what you have and go" we have right now. Your suggested approach would only emphasize specialist builds and make more balanced designs even more obsolete or useless than they already are viewed as. Why make an energy build that can run in Therma heat at all, when you can just use that energy build only on ice maps?

If what you suggest was implemented as I am taking it (correct me if I am wrong), this is what I would see happening:
River City (and other small maps): Brawling only designs.
Alpine (and other large maps): Long range only builds.
Frozen City (and other cold maps): Hot energy builds suggested.
Terra Therma (and other hot maps): Cold running designs, mostly limited to ACs only.

This would do nothing more than create a "map meta", and all of a sudden a build that is made to brawl but has a few long range weapons to help on larger maps go away (which was very cannon and very Battletech to have a brawler even in maps not suited to it). Energy builds that are made to work with good heat management would become stupid, as you would only play them on a cold map making heat management less of an issue. You would see nothing but ACs for the most part on any hot map, as anything else would be less effective.

Personally, I like seeing the variety I see in matches with the current system, even with sometimes overly strong metas making variety less seen. Knowing what map you are dropping into and changing your ride to match (either with mech selection, or customizing your mech) would drop a lot of variety and challenge from the game, and would drag the MWO game away from MW and Battletech. (If one is permitted to customize the mech itself to the mission/map, this will diminished the "effective" mech pool even more, and we already have several mechs that people consider "bad" as it is. Mechs that have different weapon type slots, particularly ballistic, would become even more valuable.)

(This is, of course, all my thoughts, opinions and concepts of what might happen. What would happen is anyone's guess, and I'm sure arguments could go either way with evidence on either side.)