125 replies to this topic

[Pappus]

Please try to bring each a UAV and an Airstrike. If you can't bring both, then bring the UAV, because if you happen to have a single missile boat and plenty of UAVs you will likely win the round.

And therefor it will pay for itself + you will rise your ELO.

Sincerly,
your lrm-boat

[Wintersdark]

Disclaimer:

[Redacted version: LRM boat pilots should not expect others to keep locks for them in the midst of combat, they should work to find their own locks as much as possible as well]

HOWEVER, that being said:

Yes.

UAV's are extremely valuable in PUG matches. It's often too difficult to chat in text while fighting, but a popped UAV revealing the enemy force to your teammates shows them more than words could instantly; and penetrates ECM at the same time.

Further, whether or not you've got a lot of LRM boats, it's common these days outside of the DS/Poptart crowd for people to pack _some_ LRM's, even when they're not boating. This allows ALL those players to start dealing damage, even if they are out of position to direct-fire.

Seriously, use UAV's. They get you TONS of XP and some sweet extra c-bills, and they provide a substantial amount of communication+teamwork buffage that's otherwise very difficult to manage in a PUG.

[Pappus]

Yeah good locks are risky to maintain, that is why UAV is such a great choice, you pop it and your lrm boat will do the rest

[Black Arachne]

Wintersdark, on 14 June 2014 - 01:05 PM, said:

Disclaimer:

[Redacted version: LRM boat pilots should not expect others to keep locks for them in the midst of combat, they should work to find their own locks as much as possible as well]

HOWEVER, that being said:

Yes.

UAV's are extremely valuable in PUG matches. It's often too difficult to chat in text while fighting, but a popped UAV revealing the enemy force to your teammates shows them more than words could instantly; and penetrates ECM at the same time.

Further, whether or not you've got a lot of LRM boats, it's common these days outside of the DS/Poptart crowd for people to pack _some_ LRM's, even when they're not boating. This allows ALL those players to start dealing damage, even if they are out of position to direct-fire.

Seriously, use UAV's. They get you TONS of XP and some sweet extra c-bills, and they provide a substantial amount of communication+teamwork buffage that's otherwise very difficult to manage in a PUG.

This is a team game. LRMS are cowardly - really - so is pop tarting. Holding a lock isn't hard or are you not up to the task?

[Zeke Steiner]

I'll save Wintersdark the trouble and say you don't know what your talking about.

[JohnnyWayne]

Pappus, on 14 June 2014 - 01:00 PM, said:

Please try to bring each a UAV and an Airstrike. If you can't bring both, then bring the UAV, because if you happen to have a single missile boat and plenty of UAVs you will likely win the round.

And therefor it will pay for itself + you will rise your ELO.

Sincerly,
your lrm-boat

Dear premader. Please keep your cheap ass tactics for yourself. L2P noob if you need consumables to play this game. Same goes if you run LRM boats.


Edit: Oh, you are actually a LRM boat - nailed it.

Edited by JohnnyWayne, 14 June 2014 - 01:28 PM.

[John Archer]

My opinion:

The absolutely best way to play an LRM boat is to upgrade said boat with Artemis! This serves several purposes:

1. The Artemis bonus will not apply if you are doing indirect fire. This means you need to have line of sight for the bonuses to apply. This WILL get an LRM boat into or close to the fray where their alternate weapons are now helping the team during that critical mid-game time.

2. 200-600 meters. The sweet spot for Artemis. You will watch your target disintegrate before your eyes.

3. You will be helping your team a great deal more.

4. Using Artemis and LOS you will absolutely be sure that your missiles are going to hit your target. (Whereas indirect fire half the time means you are dropping missiles on to cover instead of the enemy mech).


In closing: relying on your team mates to get a lock, hold said lock and keep themselves under direct fire from the enemy whilst you fire away indirectly and hope that some of your missiles hit... is not helpful to the team nor are you being the most effective.

[Pappus]

I am not playing premade, I either play light ( which brings UAV and Airstrike ) or LRM boat if I feel there is a lack of LRM firepower at the time.

If you think, that playing LRM boats is somehow linked with cowardice, then I cannot help you narrow minded brain to unfold. While sitting 1000m away from the prey surely is less threatening, you can also chose to go a lot close, even charging if you want to, because LRM 5 spam from 200m away is brutal and helps your team. However before we enter the brawl stage it would be wise to soften the enemy up. That can be done by pop-tarts or a single UAV + 40 seconds of LRM action, which will guarantee your manliness to be able to unfold victorious.

Edit for above poster: I am thinking about upgrading to artemis, but only because an ECM target, that I tag still takes AGES to be locked on and it is so dangerous to keep that lock going, that I want to deal DPS as fast as possible.

Edited by Pappus, 14 June 2014 - 01:40 PM.

[JohnnyWayne]

No but I do not think that it either requires skill nor consumables to be played effectively. It's not about the damage it's about supression.

I also despise the use of any damage consumable. This is not invisible damage online.

Edited by JohnnyWayne, 14 June 2014 - 01:47 PM.

[Rhaythe]

Dear LRM Boats,

When I take the time to NARC an ECM Atlas, please stop shooting at the spider.

Sincerely,
NARC-equipped light pilots everywhere

[Goose of Prey]

I have been running a TAG and or BAP in most of my mech's for the last few months. Even without running LRM's Tagging an enemy mech that you're brawling with will bring some LRM support even at long range. Well worth it. In my Raven I use UAV only when I see our team has LRM's and the ability to focus fire.

The c-bill reward for UAV needs a major buff, you can't make your c-bills back. If you're leveling up a mech the XP boost is nice, especially on that first 2x game. Well worth the cash.

LRM's are fine now they have been dialed back/buffed to 165ms.

A pug LRM boat is a difficult thing to do correctly, you must pay close attention to the type of locks, incoming Lrm fire symbol, tag, narc, and uav mini map markers, so on. Knowing how to brawl with 4 mlasers, reading the mini map while staying with the group, and looking out for ECM are all challenges. Don't under estimate the brawling ability of a LRM boat because you think LRM boaters are just noods. They might be a better pilot than you think.

[MischiefSC]

Rhaythe, on 14 June 2014 - 01:48 PM, said:

Dear LRM Boats,

When I take the time to NARC an ECM Atlas, please stop shooting at the spider.

Sincerely,
NARC-equipped light pilots everywhere

Sweet jesus for the love of GOD YES.

I've tried to bring NARC a few times. I've narc'ed the CRAP out of an enemy ECM Atlas... only to watch LRMs rain into the building some Dragon is standing behind 300m away. For, like, 30 seconds.

I'll start packing a UAV, that's not a bad idea.

Just don't ignore the damn NARC. Putting a NARC on someone is *hard*. When you see a narc signal, know that some little ******* just jumped the foxhole, ran across the minefield and barbwire, pissed in some guys shoes and shot him in the face with a gun that just says BANG!, then sprinted back.

Rain death on the *******.

[AssaultPig]

generally speaking holding locks is a smart thing to do anyway, which is why the dudes who do the 'hold locks please' thing are kind of silly.

I generally don't put myself at extra risk to hold locks in pubs because you don't really know whether the pubbie LRMer is waiting to fire and if the risk will be worth the damage. I do watch for the incoming missile icon though, since that represents basically some free damage if you just hold the target for an extra second or two.

[Wolfways]

Pappus, on 14 June 2014 - 01:00 PM, said:

Please try to bring each a UAV and an Airstrike. If you can't bring both, then bring the UAV, because if you happen to have a single missile boat and plenty of UAVs you will likely win the round.

And therefor it will pay for itself + you will rise your ELO.

Sincerly,
your lrm-boat

But i don't want to raise my ELO. LRM's are hard enough to use as it is and i don't like the PPC/AC5 meta
Plus i need to save for clan mechs.

[crossflip]

Don't do it. Don't raise your elo. Stay bad, stay stupid, it's more fun

[DaisuSaikoro Nagasawa]

If you're going to hinder yourself by overburdening yourself with LRMS then it's important for you to do everything you can do to get and maintain locks.
Having people learn to press R to get a new lock is important. Absolutely, but for those who come into a game expecting others to just work around their builds... really frustrating. Especially when sometimes the other team is just smart using ecm and cover to have lrms be as effective as possible.
But what's crazy is you're asking people to take an 80k hit per game for YOU in a game where a loss won't net half that, and a win will barely cover that (relatively).
How about this, for all LRM boaters DO NOT FIRE IN THE FIRST MINUTE OF THE GAME WHEN THE OTHER TEAM IS STILL AT 1k range. Talk about wasting the element of surprise.

Edited by Daisu Saikoro, 14 June 2014 - 02:22 PM.

[wanderer]

Black Arachne, on 14 June 2014 - 01:21 PM, said:

This is a team game. LRMS are cowardly - really - so is pop tarting. Holding a lock isn't hard or are you not up to the task?

Poster's "Cowards": The guys who killed you without giving you a chance to shoot back, thereby emasculating your e-honor. Because, strangely they understand teamwork and silly things like firing from cover means they get more shots off before someone manages to core them.

I wish I got more "cowards" like that. They're great team-mates, unlike the real scaredy-cats that can't push, can't into map mobility, and generally go to the PUG slaughter point of the map and spin around firing randomly until scrapped while ignoring anything under ECM even as it massacres them.

[wanderer]

Rhaythe, on 14 June 2014 - 01:48 PM, said:

Dear LRM Boats,

When I take the time to NARC an ECM Atlas, please stop shooting at the spider.

Sincerely,
NARC-equipped light pilots everywhere

Happily, if we have a missile path to said NARC target. Note: We may -have- to shoot the damn Spider instead as it's busy attempting to find our ammo bay one laser blast at a time and getting backshot to death is underproductive.

But UAV's are gawdlike for getting exp for a scout. Run through, pop the UAV in the middle of a jump, rake in the experience points.

[Kodiak Jorgensson]

the sad thing is i always bring NARC and UAV with my Jenner D and I'm rarely placed on a team with missile boats still NARC and UAV negate ECM so its all good i suppose

[Varik Ronain]

To the OP: I want to go ahead and say that I am one of those no skill, cowardly LRM users that needs to L2P so what advice I have to give is based on my own personal experiences. There are some pretty basic rules I use when I go pugging in one of my catapults.

1. Dont ask for locks

2. If you are going to use LRM as a primary weapon, use Artemis period. faster locks and tighter missile groupings when you have LoS.

3. If you have an energy hardpoint make sure to use a tag. Dont count on anyone to break ecm for you. If you use tag is also encourages you to get LoS to get the benefits of Artemis.

4. Carry a BAP, it is not so you can knock out an enemy ECM to use your LRMs but for your own ability to keep firing at enemies at range when that ECM spider is darting in and out around you. Also if you counter an enemy ECM it allows others on the team to see/target/lock said ecm mech.

5. Dont sit in the rear with the gear, follow the herd and stay close to the spear tip. LRMs work so much better closer to the enemy.

6. Always carry your own UAV and upgrade it. Remember play as if no one is going to break ECM for you! If you stay close to the front like I suggest you wont have to go far to launch a great UAV. I deploy as close to the enemy as possible. IE: When your minimap gets a low signal is a good spot.

7. Always focus down the enemy ECM if possible. You released that UAV for a reason and that is to kill the enemy ECM!

8.Moar missile launchers is not always better when pugging. If you overheat because of ghostheat or cannot move at a decent speed then you are making things hard for yourself. None of my catapults have more than LRM30, not the A1,C1, or even the C4.

9. Jump jets are your friend and for the same reason poptarts love them. It simply allows you to get more shots off that a ground bound mech could not. Getting some hang time to clear a cliff/ridge is vital sometimes to take advantage of that UAV you launched.

10. The NARC system is simply amazing and will allow you to be even more versatile and deadly all on your own. It has a 450 meter range and lasts 30 seconds. If you land it on that lumbering DDC he no longer has ECM shield and you get a 100% bonus to tracking strength on your missiles... that means you can kill that big bad atlas all by yourself from behind a hill. I carry 2 tons of NARC ammo and I narc anything and everything that I can.


In closing as one LRM pilot to another play as if no one is going to hold a lock or knock out an ECM for you. Be fast and mobile enough to stay with the pack and watch over them as if your are a good Shepard and they are your flock. And please for the love of good dont go into a match and ask or demand that people hold locks; I hate to see people say it and it just adds fuel to the fire that we are lazy no skill players.