8 replies to this topic

[Zeede]

I recently decided to delve into the world of lights, and with it, jump jets (yes, I know not all lights can mount jump jets, but the ones I'm interested in do).

I decided to play around in the Testing Grounds on River City to get a feel for jump jets. I read a few guides on the more advanced jump jet tactics, and wanted to get some feedback and tips here.

1) On some maps jump jets will raise up dust which can help you escape or avoid being legged since opponents have to "aim at the red box". I tried doing this by tapping the jump jet button every second or so, but it seemed to make my mech slow down as it landed from a micro jump. Am I doing this wrong?

2) I'm having trouble landing w/o having my forward momentum and speed drop. Yes, I am cushioning my falls as best as I can, but it still drops my speed, sometimes by half. Is this working as intended or am I again doing something wrong?

3) I've read that if you jump you should tap your jump jets to orientate your legs in a different direction to begin moving that way as you land. Again, this tends to cut my speed as I land, so yes, I am facing a different direction, but I'm stopped or slowed down significantly upon landing.

Thanks in advance!

[Kenyon Burguess]

1. dust wont save you, its not a distraction that makes enough of a difference.

2. no, JJ drops your speed, you have to learn to use them strategically for getting over hills and buildings and using them to quick turn and reverse directions, which the slowing down will help with.

3. see number 2. you will reverse, and it will help against a slow assault and new player, but a veteran will kill you for slowing down near them. most good players see a light jump and just eagerly smile to themselves waiting for your feet to touch, then blam! your cored.

[Just wanna play]

Yes you naturally lose speed as using JJs during the situtations listed

[Ertur]

When fighting against a jumpy light, the best time to hit them is at the end of their arc. When they land they stand still for a second.

I try to avoid too much jumping around when running from a fight.

I tend to use JJ to move over obstacles. In a fight if you jump you are moving in a predictable way, in the air, with no cover. It's like playing ***** with you as the clay pidgeon.

I can't say *****? The game or sport where you shoot at a flying target?
Unless you're Karl Rove, then you use lawyers.
His version is better.

Odd that I can't type that word here, though.

Edited by Ertur, 14 February 2014 - 02:57 PM.

[xMintaka]

Also bear in mind when fighting another JJ equipped light, it's best not to engage in a circle-jerk. Instead, run close to them, but try and run behind then. As soon as they pass you, hit your JJ(s), turn 180 and strike then, not before. Likely they'll have done the same thing, but they will have fired their weapons when you're passing them. Which leads to them missing you with the majority of their firepower.

If you do this right, you'll be able to get a full Mlas burn on them before then can turn to spread damage/whatever.

Running close then turning to fire like I describe also works wonders against streak mechs as, unless they're very good, they will probably lose the lock when you run up next to and behind them.


This takes practice, but get it down and you'll be able to take out JR7-D's in a SDR no problems.


To add on Victor's post, I use at most 2 JJ's on all my lights. More is generally not needed. The obvious exception is the SDR-5V, but that's a joke mech at best.

Edited by Lunatech, 14 February 2014 - 04:01 PM.

[Victor Morson]

Jump jets have three major uses.

• Gliding. By jetting into the air, you can turn while still proceeding to move at full speed in the other direction. This lets you spin better armor / weapons at the enemy while still falling back. This is great when retreating from an area with a bad back.
  
• Jump Sniping. This is a bit trickier to time. When you're ready to fire at the enemy jump into the air, ignoring the shake - line the crosshair up the best you can before the jump. Release your jets, lock your arms (SHIFT is the toggle switch depending on your default setting choice), and then 0.1 seconds later, fire. You should be dead on. You can combine this, to a degree, with Gliding - i.e. jetting off a high cliff, spinning back and then firing before freefall. Bonus points for this always looking cool as hell on Tourmaline spires.
  
• Terrain Traversing. There's a lot of terrain in the game that jump jets opens HUGE options for. Canyon Network is the most blatant example, but almost every map has it's spots to reward the jump jet user. You can simply get to better positions than people without jump jets can, much faster if at all, in many cases. Very useful.

Generally speaking right now, you only need 1 jet on most 'mechs. Lights typically carry more.

Geist Null, on 14 February 2014 - 02:45 PM, said:

2. no, JJ drops your speed, you have to learn to use them strategically for getting over hills and buildings and using them to quick turn and reverse directions, which the slowing down will help with.

If you are able to manage to land on upward slants, JJs can increase your speed by 14kp/h forward thrust in addition to negating the speed drop you'd normally get. The trick is to land in those upward slants so you don't get any speed drop; if you land on level ground you'll touch to 0 and completely counter it out.

It's more an advanced tactic but we're talking a huge boost to climbing those hills on Alpine. Feathering your jets can save you a whole lot of time in the right spots.

Edited by Victor Morson, 14 February 2014 - 04:02 PM.

[luxebo]

Victor Morson, on 14 February 2014 - 04:01 PM, said:

Jump Sniping.

Also known as poptarting, can be used in many cases (although many call it cheesy). Gliding and Terrain Traversing are also very useful.

[levitas]

To actually address Zeede's third question:

Tapping jump jets to turn is a great way to make it impossible to accurately lead fire on you. If you find yourself suddenly without terrain to put in between you and some number of heavier mechs armed with PPCs/Autocannons/etc that you really can't engage right then, start running. Anticipate the timing of their shots, and try to tap the jump jets ~1/3-1/5 of a second before they can. Latency will push that timing to earlier than you might expect. The idea is to zig zag to cover, enough that they can't use direct pinpoint damage to hit well, but not so much that you increase the time that it takes you to get to cover significantly. A 30 degree turn will be more than sufficient (depending on the direction they are relative to you and the direction the cover you're moving toward is relative to you.

This is a last resort, and you should if you have good intel and positioning almost always have cover right by you to get to in case someone's got a bead on you.

[Wispsy]

Micro jumps are very useful, but you need to keep them very small. Also most players will try and hit you as you land, so you need to tap it just a tiny bit to make yourself jump forward in a slightly different direction the moment you hit the ground. This can require some practice but often leads to people missing the shots that would otherwise kill you and causing them much frustration when they fail to hit what they consider to be a very easy shot. Making players frustrated is one of the most valuable things you can do as a light mech as it increases your teams chances of winning without you needing to do all the damage. The added jj boost that is currently in game applies the moment you hit the ground, so you can use it to move yourself just a little when your acceleration would normally not be enough, it also adds a slightly upwards motion so if they are aiming at your legs it is even more likely to miss. The problem is if you keep doing this for too long you may slip up or just lose too much speed, so you should try and time it with when the people looking at you have their weapons ready. Most will alpha right now so just time the longest weapon they have. When you get really good at baiting the shots out you can have something crazy like 8 people all firing their shots at the exact same time and pretty much same point and missing, it is quite amusing to watch, although rarely lasts for very long before one guesses right/misses/gains the perfect angle so not really something you want to try without serious need!

Edited by Wispsy, 15 February 2014 - 10:47 AM.