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You'll probably see advice other people have given - that's normal. I learned a lot from other people, after all (mad props to Koniving, who probably doesn't remember shepherding a poor newbie through why his raven kept popping, and the guys from C4, who explained things patiently and slowly). I hope, though, that you'll find something useful here if you're hoping to run a light, and I'll offer some insight into my favorite featherweights and how to make them a terror. This guide is aimed at 'new-to-lights' players, but there might be something useful here for just about anybody.
Wouldn't that be grand?
Anyway - take it for what it's worth, my attempt to give back to a community that I've stood on the edges of for some time, and learned a great deal from. Thanks, guys!
If you see something I should add - tell me. If you have questions, ask! If you take issue, argue.
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I. So, why Lights?
It's the question I've been asked in C4 comms more than once - why in the heck are you a dedicated light pilot? Lights are fragile. They're fast, sure, but that makes them hard to use to go with all that fragility. They don't carry any guns. You don't have any diversity. They're all valid objections, of course - and given that I tend to do worse in a group drop than I do on my own, they're all pretty good questions.
The thing is, though - I could go on for all the good tactical reasons: your role isn't the same as anyone else's, the chassis are unique (and arguably the only ones correctly scaled - I'm looking at you, Kintaro, you horrible scale offender, you)... whatever you like. The truth is, though? Lights are FUN. There is nothing, in my opinion, that beats blasting through a bunch of lumbering heavies, doing 150kph and blasting large holes in things as you whiz by. What could possibly be more fun than convincing the entire other team to chase you so that your atlases can have their backs for a target range? Can you imagine anything more exciting than the adrenaline rush of going one-on-one against a mech with five times your armor, five times your loadout and winning?
I've often groused about 'not getting' heavies - and it's true. If a mech doesn't do at least 70, my brain won't wrap around it - and the faster it goes, the more I grin while playing. In my spider, Jenner, or Locust, my grin is ear-to-ear, and it's the crazy thrills that keep me coming back to these chassis, to this game.
You dedicated Atlas guys? Man, I'm glad you are. I couldn't do it.
That, though, is why to drive a light - the role is secondary. The thrill keeps you coming back.
II. ... so what makes a good light pilot?
Three things:
1) Situational awareness.
At the speeds to which you should be pushing your light (anything under 40 tons, in my opinion, should move AT LEAST 120kph), you have the advantage of being able to recover from a mistake. That's a good thing - but the best light pilots never make the mistakes that they need to recover from.
(Well, not often, anyway - I still do, now and again.)
Those mistakes are always the same thing: being out of position. If you ever find yourself alone, facing three or more red triangles that are all looking your way (usually while the incoming missile alarm is lit and you notice that THOSE mechs aren't the ones launching missiles), then you've screwed up your positioning. You've gotten the Red Mist (see later!), you've crossed the line in the wrong place, or you've just outrun your support to the point that you're the only target.
At all times, you should be looking between the terrain outside and the map below it- always know where you are in relation to your team and where your team is encountering the enemy. It's often best for a light to not 'be with' the ball-'o-death, but you absolutely must know where that ball is, and at least have a guess of where they're shooting. If you do, you prosper. If you don't? You're dead.
2) Precision.
I've been playing a while now, and one of the skills I've worked very hard to cultivate is the ability to put a medium laser on a target, roughly where I want it to be, and have my shot hit no more than two 'body locations' while moving in excess of 120kph.
That ain't easy. In fact, it's an extremely tall order - but there's a huge difference in this game between putting twenty points of damage on one location and spreading that twenty points across six or seven.
In almost every game, I end up with a duel in a light where I'm on the wrong end of the 'death spiral' (see later), and end up winning simply because the opposing light can't seem to actually hit the broad side of a barn (or one part of my mech) with any consistency. They'll wave lasers around like they're going to a rave and trying to impress the DJ - and I'll lose less than a percentage point of armor while I'm vaporizing chunks of their legs with every pull of the trigger.
That's how you win, folks - it ain't damage, it's putting your damage precisely where you want.
3) Heat Management.
Lights - oddly, almost moreso than any other mech I've run - are /hot/. Put a light on a hot map, and you've got your hands full every time you pull the trigger.
If you're running a light well, you'll consistently live between 60 and 90% heat. You're constantly listening to that warning buzzer, constantly skirting the edge of shutdown. Really, you don't have a choice - you have fewer guns to put on target; if you're going to make an impact, you're going to be shooting those guns a lot.
Unlike every other mech - even mediums! - every ton changes your playstyle. One heatsink vs one gun can absolutely change everything about how you can engage, how long you can keep your guns running, and how much impact you can have on a battle.
So, really? Get good position, be precise, maximize your impact. That's what being a light pilot's about, in a sort of very high overview.
III. Builds.
Now. Nuts and bolts.
All lights have certain general principles that go into their builds - there's almost no need to focus on individual mechs, and that goes beyond the scope of this guide anyway. Instead, let's focus on the things you SHOULD do for a light... and then on the handful of things that are absolutely bad ideas, that somehow I encounter anyway.
DO use an XL engine.
There isn't a single light out there that isn't improved by an XL - and that's what makes running lights an expensive proposition. There is absolutely no valid argument for a standard engine in any case for a mech of 35 tons or less.
To get a bit more into the detail of it: an XL engine trades vulnerability for weight - and you're already stupidly vulnerable. If you ever take enough damage to lose a side torso (which is actually very rare!) before you die, you're in so much trouble you won't really be contributing to the fight anymore anyway.
Realistically, you'll lose both legs or your CT long before the XL engine becomes a factor. There is no reason not to use one.
DON'T move less than 120kph.
The defining attribute of a light is speed, speed, and more speed. There is - other than a few gimmick builds - very little reason to ever take a light that moves like a medium... or worse, an assault.
There is a definite uptick in survivability the moment you can cross the 120kph threshold, and it gets better and better as you move faster, with definite improvements at 140, 150, and 160kph thresholds. In fact, it's better to skimp on armor than engines - and I wouldn't do either.
DO maximize your armor... with a couple of exceptions.
You absolutely must take a moment to maximize the armor across your mech - you can't carry much to begin with, so taking as much as you can only helps. I have found, however, you can:
- ... skimp on the head. Any more than 8 armor in the head is a terrible waste on a light. Before you panic, understand that the spot designated as your mech's head is TINY, and MOVING REALLY FAST. I've been headshot exactly once since I started using low armor in the head, and that was a stupidly lucky shot from a dual gauss that would have blown me to bits anyway.
- ... lower your LT, CT, and RT rear armors. More than LT/RT 8, CT 10 rear? That's just overkill.
- ... skimp a little on your LT and RT, and often your arms and legs. Lowering these values to 'next lower multiple of five' is often a way to eke out another half ton of armor, without ever noticing any real difference in your surviviability. More than that, though, can be a problem.
(Already, you'll start to see just how tight a light mech's build can be. A Locust with max engine and near-max armor has six tons - just six tons! - for everything else.)
DO always take Double Heat Sinks and Endo!
Double heatsinks are always a good idea, no matter the mech - for reasons gone into in exhaustive detail in myriad other posts.
Endo is a 'no brainer' upgrade for lights - no matter how hard you try, you'll never have enough hardpoints to add enough slots that taking it even puts the smallest kink in your plans, and that extra ton to ton and a half really, really makes a difference.
DON'T always take Ferro!
Ferro-fiberous armor is definitely not an upgrade that benefits Light mechs very much - you do get half a ton, but with both Ferro and Endo on your mech, you really can start to run afoul of crit space limitations. Fourteen crit slots for half a ton isn't a good trade.
HOWEVER - that's not always a downcheck. If you're close to your ideal build, and you've got the slots to spare? Ferro can help - that half ton is very meaningful for a light.
DO focus your build on a role!
Lights have NO ROOM for multirole functionality. None. Your one pitiful weapon for each job (as that's what it invariably turns out to be) is absolutely and qualitatively worse than building your mech around a specific kind of engagment, and working toward that focus.
Scouts should focus on longer range weapons, AMS, ECM, and the BAP for the purposes of target acquisition and information gathering.
Harassers should focus on a mix of weapons and AMS, and maximize their module slots. They should always be able to poke something, always with an eye to rattling their enemies.
Assassins should overload on their mid-to-short range alpha, concentrating on devastating hit-and-runs.
Snipers should focus on heat management, maximizing their limited gun selection.
All lights should be cautious of ammo-using weapons - they're heavy, they're bulky, and ammo is always limited. It's almost never a good idea to take more than one kind of ammo, regardless of your hardpoints - you just don't have the space. Similarly, lights should maximize their energy hardpoints, hitting as hard and as heat-efficiently as is posible.
DO ask yourself good questions;
Unlike all other mech classes, there's no 'perfect build' for a light. Here are a few things you should keep in mind, when building yours:
- Pulse lasers trade heat for increased Precision. (remember our core skills?) When you're moving 150kph, pulse lasers are simply easier to keep on target and focused to a single hit location than standard variants. On a light, the extra weight and heat is worth it, if you need the help.
(as an example- my Spider 5D runs three Medium Pulse Lasers - and it's the only mech I've ever gotten 9 kills and 900+ damage in (two games at 900+, and one at 1100!). It's not the number of guns - it's how well you use them!)
- LRM5s, which most people will tell you are worthless in single mounts, are incredibly versatile weapons for a light. Their damage spread is minimal, never requiring artemis - usually two or three body sections when fired normally, often head+CT. One ton of ammo gets you /sixty/ shots. Your target gets a huge splashy 'incoming missiles' warning that's no different than the one that comes from an LRM20. They can be blind fired to reveal enemy positions (watch for AMS tracers!) and can allow you to harrass enemies at huge ranges. Honestly, if you can't think of a use for all that...
- SSRMs make you into an incredibly efficient light hunter. The Oxide, in fact, is one of the best light-killers in the game due to its sheer volume of missile hardpoints.
- an AMS is the single best upgrade you can fit to a light... if you can find the weight. It covers your allies, reduces incoming LRM damage, weighs very little. It lets you contribute positively to the entire team - you can even troll enemies with it by shooting down their missiles from your forward position, often as the enemy you're shooting is trying to launch salvos at distant targets.
- the BAP is the second best upgrade - it allows /faster target detail resolution/. Sure, sure, it cancels ECM, lets you target shutdown mechs... but the real keys to why lights should carry 'em? It increases your sensor range and, upon targetting an enemy mech, gives you information about that mech FASTER. Knowing where to shoot the enemy for maximum effect is absolutely devastating intelligence.
- Module slots change your weapons in a suprisingly dramatic way. AMS range increase and laser range increases in particular will alter your playstyle, and the added punch of artillery, airstrikes, and UAVs cannot be overstated. In fact, the Jenner K-variant is my absolute favorite simply because, fully mastered, it brings FOUR module slots to the game. If you don't think Medium Laser Range extension, targe--t data acquisition improvement, enhanced sensor range, and an arty strike don't completely change how that mech plays? You're missing the point.
DON'T parrot builds blindly.
Lots of people will tell you 'the best' way to do anything - and I've never, not once, gotten my best damage numbers in a mech that matches somebody else's idea of awesome.
My Jenner-F and D, which other people swear by, come a distant second and third to my Jenner-K, which regularly puts up crazy numbers. My spider-5D mounts 'wrong' weapons. My RVN-3L is even worse. The only mech I've even got that's close to 'ideal' is my oxide - and that even has my own touches.
THINK about how you play. Use that knowledge to customize your mech.
One last thing, before we move on:
DON'T think you have to fill every hardpoint.
A common mistake in lights is to try to maximize hardpoints instead of weapons. Don't. Think about what you're trying to do, then build for that job.
My Firestarter-H is a good example - 2 MG, 4 (not six) ML, BAP, AMS, heavy armor. By leaving off two medium lasers I do cut my firepower, but it lets me bring the AMS (which mitigates LRMs, SSRMs, and SRMS) and the BAP (which maximizes my firepower), and has turned out to be a better mech -for me-, which is the key.
IV. Tactics.
Lights are definitely limited, tactically - you can't stand and brawl, this way lies disaster. In fact, lights are built to tuck into the blind spots on other mechs, relying on the limitations of torso twisting, the enemy's lack of maneuverability, and their weak rear armor to make themselves felt.
A good rule of thumb is, in fact, if the enemy is facing you, concentrate on evasion rather than damage. If they're not? Tear them to shreds.
Regardless, a light should ALWAYS:
- Target the enemy's weakest armor. (Rear over front, weakened sections over whole sections). No matter what you blow off, it is crippling to the enemy.
... I'm not kidding, either. That Centurion with empty arms? Blow his arms off anyway, if they're weak. You may luck out on ammo, but, more importantly, he loses his shields. That Cataphract with an open torso? You /might/ blow out an XL - but, more importantly, you'll remove a third or more of his firewpower if you just take it off, rather than splash against his still-whole CT armor.
In fact, I like targetting legs and 'ears'. Even on a mech with battered (though not open) torsos, large mechs tend to skimp on arm and leg protection. Legs are always good to cut off, and some mechs - like the Catapult, Cataphract, and the Griffon, can be effectively neutered with a few well-placed shots to the right spot or two.
- Stay BEHIND your target.
They can't shoot you if they can't bring guns to bear.
- Stay close and move across your target's field of fire.
The closer to the bad guy, in an extended engagement, you are, the better. Also, when you must cross their guns, do so as close to them as possible.
This has a dual purpose: The enemy has trouble targetting your often vulnerable legs when you're in close (and on large mechs, the natural spread of the mech's weapons will make firing inefficient - on something like a Boar's Head, it's practically impossible for them to alpha you inside of 30m!), and you'll move across their gun traverse, usually faster than the mech can turn. You're 'under the reticle' for the shortest possible time, hard to hit, and impossible to hit efficiently.
- Retreat when outnumbered.
It's possible to sort of 'cut' an enemy out of the herd and batter him to death... but if you attract the attention of more than one enemy, retreat. You cannot long stand up to combined fire - and the tactics that let you 'dogfight' against a superior opponent don't work against two of them.
- Use cover.
Most lights can use cover other mechs can't imagine - and cover mitigates incoming damage. Even a bit of laser splash into a rock means that much less that hit you.
- Swoop, shoot, and run.
Swoop in from an angle, unload on a specific spot until you attract attention, then run like the wind.
Works even better when your team's already pounding on the poor sod - he worries about their damage, leaving you free to gut him from behind, or he'll worry about you and give /them/ his back armor.
Either way, he won't live long.
I also suggest:
- Look for opportunites to 'squirrel'.
Often, a light poking the guy in the back gets you attention from ... the guy in the back. Great! Take him apart - one on one, a light's extremely hard to kill for anything except a streak boat or another light.
However, sometimes you'll poke that guy in the back, and /half the opposing team/ will turn on you.
EVEN BETTER. Now, lead them on a merry chase away from your lines. This is always good - slower mechs that chase you 'stretch out' the enemy lines, they aren't shooting at your team, they'r showing their backs to your gunline, and generally speaking are making a terrible, terrible decision that will get you the win.
You like to win, don't you?
- Avoid dogfights.
Yes, lights are the natural enemy of other lights - and many's the time you'll encounter another scout or harasser far from the battle line. There's a temptation to engage.. but it's dangerous.
Light v. Light almost inevetably ends up with one dead light, and one light so battered he might as well be dead. Better to avoid the death spiral, get in a couple of shots, and run than it is to shred each other's armor mindlessly for a few minutes.
Lights have a disproportionate effect on the battlefield. You're not doing your job if you're just scraping at another little guy in the middle of nowhere.
V. Things that Happen.
Lights are uniquely subject to two effects that are a real problem - the Death Spiral and the Red Mist.
The Death Spiral is this... thing.
Lights like to be behind enemies, and enemies, naturally, don't want lights to be behind them. A light, then, will often stay at full speed and zoom around bad guys in a circle, timing their fire to hit weak body sections, while the enemy twists and vaguely spins on the spot, trying to bring a nasty alpha to bear on the light.
The thing is... it's not really a good tactic.
You are almost always better off changing direction, using a jumpjet turn, actually /stopping/ behind the enemy, or simply disengaging and returning, than you are death spiraling. It's hard to keep your guns precise, the enemy spreads your damage, you're giving multiple chances for them to get you under the reticule, you're predictable, and - though it's annoying to the chased - it makes you a /really/ easy target to your target's friends.
It's even worse when two lights do it to each other - as all of the above applies, but you gain no real advantage and you should probably start up the Benny Hill theme.
When a death spiral starts, look for ways to break the pattern to your advantage.
The Red Mist is even worse.
The Red Mist is the phenomenon that happens when you're pursuing a fleeing target - almost always another light or fast medium - intent on getting that ... last... hit... in...
... and you suddenly find yourself standing in a circle of his friends, who have all decided you're the best thing they've seen since an all-you-can-eat fried chicken buffet.
In a light, it's easy to get tunnel vision, to see that red, open torso and go for the one last shot, even when that absolutely ruins your positioning or opens you to devastating counterattack. We all do it - it comes with the chassis. The thing to remember is that a dead mech does no damage - don't go for the kills, the kills come naturally. ALWAYS escape, always know when to run, and never get caught up in the adrenaline. That way lies spectatorsville.
Oh. One thing? Instadeath.
You're going to die - probably several times a night - in some spectacular fashion. A lucky alpha to the rear, a one-in-a-million gauss shot, or you ending up waaaay out of position and paying for it. In a light, your chances of that are just... /really/ high. It's going to happen.
There's nothing you can do about it. Grin, laugh, and queue again - because the next match? 500 damage. You just watch.
VI. Other stuff.
So that's it. It's all very general, and all very obvious, I think - and I'll be glad to offer specific advice if anyone's interested - just nudge me in-game, or drop me a note here.
As promised, here are several of my builds that can be merrily picked apart - but these are the ones that, barring insane misfortune, never let me down. They work for me:
My Harasser: JR7-K
Built to /irritate/ people - and does so surprisingly well! Modules are: Sensor range, Target Data Acquisition, Med Laser Range 2, Arty Strike.
My Hunter: SDR-5D
Simple, to the point, hard, hard-hitting, and just plain /fun/. Modules are usually Cool Shot, Arty.
My Nutso, "Heavy" RVN-3L
I don't care what anyone says - this was my first really /fun/ mech. It's slow (for a light) - it's overarmored. But good /lord/ is this thing just fun to run.
And a 30 point alpha. Can't go wrong with that - almost as big an alpha as it has tonnage.
"I don't even".. LCT-3M
I... don't have any idea why this is fun, why it works, or why - when I'm not killed outright - I tend to go 400 damage and at least 2 kills. It is abysmally silly, and i can't explain it.
Geez, is it great for a night of silly, though.
Anyway - I hope this is some small help. Luck to you all - and if I can ever help, answer a question,
