This is advice to new players and some pugs.
Once you get used to controlling your mech, upgrade your game play and start locking targets. You should do this every time you see a mech that is not locked already or even better, when your shooting at a target that's locked,you still should be locking it up.
Is it a pain to look down at your R key if your not use to using it...yes. But soon it will be reflex and doesn't impede game play at all. Muscle memory is your friend
Why lock? 3 reasons.
1st. You help your team out by showing them where a target is. The more locks on the battlefield the clearer the enemy placement is to everyone on your team. This is the best intel that you can give your team without actually being on coms with them. This will allow better coordination within your team and give you a higher probability of wining the match.
2nd. Locking up the target your shooting at allows you, as a player, to improve your chances of killing a target or make more XP/cbills. Once your aim becomes good enough to target specific areas of a mech, you can start picking at weak points and breaches of armor. This will allow you to do several things depending upon your current situation.
A. The obvious one is the ability to quickly kill the target. Things like back shots and side torsos of XL engined mechs.
B. The ability to cripple the mech so it become combat ineffective. Weak legs allow you to reduce its mobility, making it easier for others to quickly kill it.
C. Reducing a mechs firepower. Weak arms and side torsos allow you to reduce that mechs firepower if it has any weapons in that area.
D. You get XP and Cbills if you destroy weak areas by component damage/destruction.
3rd. You get XP for spotting assists if someone launches on that target. Who doesn't like more XP?
I may have overlooked some other aspect of locking but those 3 are the most important ones IMO. Nothing but good things happen when locking targets. Locking up targets only helps you, the player, in the long run.
Edited by CarnageINC, 05 March 2014 - 08:26 AM.