50 replies to this topic

[Jeb]

Ok what is the role of medium weight mechs in this game... I am not talking about their role in table top... or what their role should be... what role can they do better then heavy or light where it would make sense to drop in a medium instead of a heavy or light.

[CaptainDeez]

They can have similar manuverability to a light mech, but with a larger loadout. Heavies and assaults hit harder, and have greater survivability, but you have less options navigating certain kinds of terrain.

[Samziel]

Jack of all trades. They can do everything to some extent, and they work great in surprising situations because of this.

Edited by Samziel, 06 June 2014 - 12:23 PM.

[eblackthorn]

Harassing / Support.

I use either use hit and run tactics or I support the heavy's / assault's in a push.

Edited by eblackthorn, 06 June 2014 - 12:25 PM.

[mogs01gt]

WarWolfSW, on 06 June 2014 - 12:21 PM, said:

Escorts or heavy interceptors/harrassers in my books. I've found I've never down better then when I'm escorting the score of biggens into battle while keeping the pests at bay (in other words they run in terror of my tailing Shadow Hawk.

This! Their goal is to chase off the lighter mechs scouting locations, NARCing/TAGing and sniping back armor. They arent there to simply CHASE the lighter mechs, escorting your heavies and assaults will get you lots of damage.

Once your heavier mechs engage, get to the back of their target or chase off their medium trying to do the same thing. Once you get good, there will be no issues averaging 350-500 damage per game in a 55 tonner.

[Dago Red]

The speed and agility to be where the enemy doesn't want you to be combined with the firepower to make it hurt. Stick and move like a boxer and when you can't do that play assault escort or sweep your flanks for enterprising enemy squirrels.

Also depending on the chassis you can be fast enough to pull a light style circle of death on some of the slower turning assaults and heavies. And you will be bringing far more than a few machine guns and laser to bear when you get at that juicy back side.

The main thing to watch out for is that depending on the mech you can move like a light or hit like a heavy. But you cannot do both and you don't have the armor of one or the dodging speed and small size of the other. So situational awareness is key. If you do something stupid you will probably not live through it. And even if you do you'll likely have half your mech shot off.

Edited by Dago Red, 08 June 2014 - 08:18 AM.

[jper4]

light repellent is one of the main goals these days. lights don;t like trying to sneak up on assaults/heavies when there's something that can keep up with it (as in can stay in weapons range long enough to hurt the light- not counting streakboats of course) hanging around. and also being the support for the big guys. wait for them to shoot at something , move to one side of the enemy and start shooting. enemy now must decide whether to turn away from the bigger mech to deal with you (and let the bigger alpha whomp it) or ignore you and let you start picking them apart.

one thing you're not meant to do- go 1 v 1 with anything else other than another medium (streakboats vs lights excepted) . either you die or you survive with bright red internals and the next mech that sneezes in your direction kills you.

[Tonberry King]

Lights can sprint, mediums can run, heavies can jog, assaults can walk. Lights are meant for mobility, capping in Conquest, boat hunting, target tracking... support, basically. Assault mechs are primarily damage, tanking, absorbing damage, being bullet magnets so the other team focuses fire instead of the lights/mediums. Assault mechs are the "jack of all trades" not mediums. Heavy mechs are only useful if you have a diverse setup, like a JM A with 2 AC20s, Catapult missile boat, or my Orion with SRM6, LB10X, Large lasers for what I call a "Shotgun" setup. Only assaults have the right to be a jack of all trades.

Mediums are completely useless unless they have those diverse setups like I said with Heavy. The shadowhawk for example, can weild an annoying amount of ballistics, which are effective at repulsing enemy mechs by rattling their screen a bit. The blackjack is the fastest mech that can wield an AC20. The Cicida, Centurion, Trebuchet, Hunchback, Griffin, they're all useless and you shouldn't get them. Wolverine is tough, wants to be a Heavy, while the Kintaro has some missile slots. Sorry I like the HB but honestly mechs that are all energy are just begging to be filled with DHS and require very good aim for you're also fast.

Medium mechs do have good aiming though. Very smooth.

Actually, Mediums do make for good bug exterminators (light mechs) but rarely do you ever see that happen. Most matches, a medium attempts to be an assault, and gets killed in the process.

Edited by Tonberry King, 08 June 2014 - 11:28 AM.

[ShivaPT]

I went through an awesome game with a team of at least 8 mediums, 1 assault, and a a trio of heavies.
All were very fast and mobile, and the heavies could keep up with the mediums.

The speed at which we could concentrate forces, focus fire and keep rotating targets on the front (meaning, someone got shot, he retreated around an obstacle and another would jump in) was insane.

The enemy was very good, but our excessive mobility meant we picked them off 2 or 3 at a team, an easily digestible amount.

I love my mediums and their great mobility.
OR I can load them up for a 66-70kph max speed and bring along more firepower.
You can have on that has a 90+kph speed with 2 large lasers and 6 med lasers, or an ultra AC5 and PPC....
or you can have a 66 kph one with dual AC5s and dual med lasers.
or a lmr30 missile boat harasser.
or a heavy support mech, with narc, tag, streaks, and a few other self defense weapons...
or an inconspicuous sniper with gauss+erppc ....

Mediums are the true jacks of all trades.

[Here5y]

CaptainDeez, on 06 June 2014 - 12:18 PM, said:

.... Heavies and assaults hit harder, and have greater survivability,...

I say no, since survivability comes from armor and speed. And where Heavies and Assaults die, a Medium can escape, because of the speed advantage.

[Podex]

Mediums are the greatest thing since sliced bread. I mostly run fast mediums, with my main two being a light killer/harasser, and a sniper/skirmisher. I run SRM boats and AC20 backstabbers to decimate heavies and assaults.

I found the absolute best role for my mediums is assault support. I can pull the heat off team members, shoot enemies in the back, and just cause all sorts of havoc and mayhem. The ONLY thing lacking is armor. Stay out of the way of the crossfire, and try not to go toe to toe with anyone.

[FEK315]

All I pilot are Mediums and Lights, I think some are a challenge to use and stay alive.
Most are really effective teamed up with an Assault or a Light.
Usually on your own you are AFK so team up play smart.
Medium mechs are a thinking man's mech you can't just rush in hold up and watch what is going on in the battle and you will be rewarded

When teamed with a Larger mech you are ignored 70%of the time this means whale away on the target people want the big guy.
If you are with a team of Larger Mechs 93% of the time you are ignored.

When teamed with Lights you are the heavy hitter so you are targeted over the Lights.

I have found that Harassing is an awesome way to fight, and I have been thanked on more then 100 occasions by Larger mechs for the help.

One last thing Killing is pure satisfaction in a Medium. If you are worried about KD then pilot a bigger mech. if you want shear exhilaration and excitement pilot a Light.

If you want to help people out and play a game of chess. MEDIUM is your ride.
FEK315...OUT!

[Blackfire1]

I am a dedicated Medium pilot. I can honestly say. Not much.
Currently there are heavy's that do your role better then you, More armor and faster. Lights that do it faster. Mediums are literally right in the middle. Sadly some are as big as heavies too.

So what do you do? Play wack-a-mech. IF your good enough. You can be a light killer. However you WILL get jacked the F up.
One perk? you get into game very fast with the 3,3,3,3 system

[mogs01gt]

This has to be a troll post.....

Tonberry King, on 08 June 2014 - 11:24 AM, said:

Heavy mechs are only useful if you have a diverse setup, like a JM A with 2 AC20s, Catapult missile boat, or my Orion with SRM6, LB10X, Large lasers for what I call a "Shotgun" setup. Only assaults have the right to be a jack of all trades.

Those are the complete opposite of a "diverse" setup. Those are specialized builds.

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Mediums are completely useless unless they have those diverse setups like I said with Heavy. The shadowhawk for example, can weild an annoying amount of ballistics, which are effective at repulsing enemy mechs by rattling their screen a bit. The blackjack is the fastest mech that can wield an AC20. The Cicida, Centurion, Trebuchet, Hunchback, Griffin, they're all useless and you shouldn't get them. Wolverine is tough, wants to be a Heavy, while the Kintaro has some missile slots. Sorry I like the HB but honestly mechs that are all energy are just begging to be filled with DHS and require very good aim for you're also fast.

huh? A Cicada 3m useless? A Griffin useless...seriously? The Kintaro has "some" missle slots,,,, you mean like 4-6 hardpoints...

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Medium mechs do have good aiming though. Very smooth.

umm what?

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Actually, Mediums do make for good bug exterminators (light mechs) but rarely do you ever see that happen.

Yes they are designed to escort Heavies and Assaults, the issue is being built to hunt lights is counter productive since you will typically be fighting against Heavies and Assaults. Usually less than 25% of mechs you are fighting against are lights.

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Most matches, a medium attempts to be an assault, and gets killed in the process.

That is a pilot issue, not a mech issue.

[Gunslinger76]

The mediums are my favorite class. You can combine enough speed to get where you want, enough armor to survive a hit, and enough firepower that people shouldn't ignore you, even if they tend to. While some chassis are better than others (Shadowhawk), you can have a lot of success is other less popular options if you play them smart. Some of my best games come from Centurions and Hunchbacks.

Your main purpose is to generally support the heavier mechs. Help them finish off their targets faster so your teammate takes less damage. I will ususally try and ID an assault at the begining of the match and then shadow them as the enter battle.

While you have the armor to survive hits, you cannot go toe-to-toe with the larger mechs, even with your better manuverability. I would suggest you take shots of opportunity until you can pick out a target you can safely attack. The worst thing you can do is become the object of the other team's focus fire; you'll collapse quickly. I know from experience lol.

I find them to be the most fun weight to play. You get a good combination of all the traits without too many weaknesses that can't be remedied by intelligent gameplay. It may take a few rounds to get a feel for it, but once you identify how to work your mediums, there's nothing more fun or gratifying then regularly putting up 4-500 in them.

[Archon]

They're especially good at killing lights. Shadowhawks can also boast a pretty powerful loadout for just a 55 ton mech. I just made a SD with two PPCS and 8 Streaks, an XL300 and a ton of jumpjets. The thing is a blast to play and tears lights apart while also doing its fair share of damage to larger mechs.

[Dawnstealer]

I categorize them as "skirmishers:" they can pack a mean punch, but they're not going to stay in the fight long. Or, on the flip side (Shawk and Cent), they stay in the fight forever, but don't really pack a strong punch.

Edited by Dawnstealer, 11 June 2014 - 06:25 AM.

[FEK315]

mogs01gt, on 09 June 2014 - 07:27 AM, said:

A Griffin useless...seriously?

Okay you got my EAR...I am a dedicated Hunchy pilot and recently I have been piloting a 2PPC, 2ML, 2SL, 83kph BJ3.
Talk to me about the Griffen....and....Go!

[Bartholomew bartholomew]

Fast skirmisher. Light hunter when needed. Hit and run is your best playstyle in them. If you face to face with a heavy or assualt and try and stand there and take it. You will go down.

Keep moving and keep hitting. Bug out for the line when needed. Learning to accurately fire at points on a mech when moving at speed is a must.

If you have a slower medium like an AC20 hunchie. Then you run assault escort. Stay behind and to one side and watch you fire lanes so you can add your fire to your heavier teammates without coring out thier backs.

[FEK315]

Can you suggest a
Griffin and a load out?