54 replies to this topic

[Jackofallpots]

Thanks for the builds, I did look at them

I'm aghast at the armor distribution in some of them though, they seem like absolute no retreat builds

[pwnface]

ThermidorFallen, on 05 July 2014 - 03:29 AM, said:

It's a good idea to put the gauss ammo in the arms with the rifles, lowers the chance of them getting critted. Also did we have a dual gauss fight a couple of months ago? I just noticed your name and I could swear it was you XD

Back on topic, I would recommend getting 3 of whatever Mech you want to use and getting them to elite. I was going through that god-awful Oxide but once I got the x2 basic for it, I saw a massive increase in my performance (nowhere near as good as my Jaegars but bearable).

I doubt it, I hardly play my Jagermechs anymore. Also the smurfy links I used were from like a year ago before you could use half-ton ammo packs. I put them in my ST to crit pad against my squishy XL engine. Losing 1 gauss rifle isn't as bad as losing your engine to a bad crit.

[ThermidorFallen]

Jackofallpots, on 05 July 2014 - 03:50 AM, said:

Thanks for the builds, I did look at them

I'm aghast at the armor distribution in some of them though, they seem like absolute no retreat builds

If you're pulling back, try and be face on, or side on to the enemy. You pretty much never want an enemy behind you so might as well put most of your armour up front, especially with the squishy xl side torso of a Jaegar.

pwnface, on 05 July 2014 - 04:01 AM, said:

I doubt it, I hardly play my Jagermechs anymore. Also the smurfy links I used were from like a year ago before you could use half-ton ammo packs. I put them in my ST to crit pad against my squishy XL engine. Losing 1 gauss rifle isn't as bad as losing your engine to a bad crit.

Ah too bad, whoever it was, they were a bl**dy good shot. As far as I'm aware though, you can't crit engine slots, the XL'll only go up when the entire side torso is blown.

[Creovex]

Step 1 ) Stop rage quitting...that kinda **** makes me want you to keep suckin to the point you quit. (Don't leave a match till it is over and observe others tactics and play styles)

Step 2 ) Find a big mech and play support, fire at what they fire at and move with them.(this whole time you should only focus on assists and component destruction, k/d is not important and neither is damage)

Step 3 ) When you finally get back into the groove you can start breaking off and engaging mechs solo or trying different tactics

Step 4 ) Realize as good as you get, someone will always be better and deal with it. If you are still raging you need to go to an fps game with instant satisfaction as this game is no longer for you.

[Lucy Cameron]

A few thoughts...

1) Use cover always.
2) Slow down for a second before engaging and check your sensors...lights love to pop in your rear arc and wreck the armor there. It may not kill you, but it will make you easier to kill.
3) Stay with your group (but not directly behind them so they can't back up).
4) There's no such thing as a fair fight - help your team by focusing fire on enemy mechs.
5) Use R to lock targets and get target info. That will tell you where the enemy mech has taken damage already. Try to hit that same spot unless you have a better idea.
6) Become familiar with where mechs keep critical equipment, like ECM. The first spot I aim for on a DDC is where they keep their ECM. Also, many mechs keep their higher damage weapons in their arms. Remove those and a Warhawk or Jagermech (for example) becomes a LOT less threatening. It pays to know how other mech hardpoints are laid out.

Good hunting!

[T0rmented]

The best advice anyone could ever give for getting good, is to play, lots.

[Zolaz]

Hit the play button. Read the forums. Get into a group.

[ztac]

And don't forget your mech skills (you will 3 of each type to do the elites).

[Dirkdaring]

Play with a joystick, thats what the leet playerz use.

[B E E L Z E B U B]

Monkey Lover, on 05 July 2014 - 01:11 AM, said:

55 bucks for a timber you dont need to be good:-D

sure TBRs are good mechs, but you still need skill to be a good pilot. so what you said there ^ is kinda crap.

Edited by Karma Police, 05 July 2014 - 06:38 AM.

[ArmandTulsen]

Jackofallpots, on 05 July 2014 - 01:33 AM, said:

I also use arm lock and throttle decay, which probably arent the best of ideas but they feel more natural to me

You are bad and you should feel bad.

[Levi Porphyrogenitus]

First thing to do to start getting good: after you die, don't quit. Spectate. Cycle through your friendlies until you find someone who's doing good work. Even in an unwinnable situation you can sometimes see really amazing piloting, as adversity can bring the best out of someone (for instance, 1v6 and the guy gets 3 kills before they drop him). You might be surprised how many tips and tricks you find simply by watching someone else use them.

I also despise throttle decay and arm lock. The former feels like it takes all the control away from your speed. All you need are your w, s, and x keys (x bound to Full Stop or whatever it is). Use x liberally and you'll be amazed at how much more maneuverable your mechs become, and how much harder it is for enemies to predict your movement.

The latter is useful for pretty much one thing: firing a distributed load of similar weapons at a single point (PPC/AC5-10, lots of distributed lasers, etc.). By and large, though, if you want to do that, you can get the same results either using the arm lock toggle (left shift by default, IIRC) or by a very small amount of patience and a little care with your cursor placement (manually align the crosshairs). What you don't want to do is try to track a fast-mover at point blank range in an Atlas with arm weapons and your arms locked. You will never hit a thing that way. Freed arms are a huge advantage in any close quarters battle, and the especially skilled pilots can even use free look (press and hold left control default toggle IIRC) to put their side to an enemy while still shooting at them with arm weapons (important for taking hits away from injured areas and protecting the valuable center torso.

Aside from all of the above, there are a few basic things you need to learn. Twist to spread damage (especially important against Clan builds, which are very heavy on the damage over time weapons). Use terrain to get to an optimal range/position (again, very important against Clans with their superior range capability, and a vital skill for any brawler). Stay near cover in case of enemy LRM fire (anyone crying about how OP LRMs are doesn't understand what cover is).

[Lootee]

Build out the HBK-4P like the champion version.

It's a training wheels version for the Nova. Once it becomes buyable with c-bills you'll be glad you got the practice in before hand.

[Ovion]

Generic advice:
Practice.

A good spread of Armour is 1:3 (1 point rear, for every 3 points front - i.e. Front Armour 30, Rear Armour 10), maxed where possible.

Practice.

Work with a group, preferably with voice comms, so you can support each other.

Practice.

[Escef]

PanchoTortilla, on 05 July 2014 - 06:52 AM, said:

Build out the HBK-4P like the champion version.

It's a training wheels version for the Nova. Once it becomes buyable with c-bills you'll be glad you got the practice in before hand.

Oh, dear gawds, the Nova Prime stock is evil. Each arm outguns a BoomJager. If it weren't for the redonkulous heat it would be as over powered as people claim clantech is.

[Lootee]

Escef, on 05 July 2014 - 07:37 AM, said:

Oh, dear gawds, the Nova Prime stock is evil. Each arm outguns a BoomJager. If it weren't for the redonkulous heat it would be as over powered as people claim clantech is.

Yeah I love it.

Tip: You actually can fire all 12 ERML without shutting down, even on Terra Therma. Stagger fire two groups of 6 with a .5 second delay in between. It will spike you to 90% heat but then just back behind the corner and wait a few seconds to cool off, after 4-5 seconds you will be back down to 55% heat and you can safely fire 6 more ERML. Repeat til enemy is dead.

The wide arms on the Nova are also awesome for this. With good positioning you can 'lean' around the corner with this mech to shoot. All the other player will see is your arm stick out, you shoot and then pull the arm back behind cover. If the arm takes too much damage, turn the other way and stick your other arm out from the opposite side of the rock/building/wutever. Weapon group 1 for left arm lasers and group 2 for right arm lasers works great for this tactic.

With a steady hand in just 1 full salvo the stock Nova Prime can CT kill 55 ton mechs or take a Warhawk's right torso off (the only torso with empty space available where all their goodies are stored).

Edited by PanchoTortilla, 05 July 2014 - 07:53 AM.

[nehebkau]

(I am assuming you are pugging or small-grouping it )
My Advice on your playstyle:

1. Ignore your stats at the end of the game. If you are trying to re-learn (or learn) the game you have to accept that you will have crappy stats for many games. Its not like re-learning to ride a bike, more like driving a car in New Delhi.
2. Start with the basic skill of learning how NOT to get hit. Forget about shooting crap. Get to know how to hide and how to move from cover to cover again. I guess I would say you should think like you are in a light mech. This is why I gave you point 1 -- you are going have crappy damage. I'm not saying don't shoot just put not getting hit first. Once you start lasting to the end of matches (win or loose) you are getting the hang of it. More often then not you are going to have to hit and move. The biggest thing you will learn here is to NOT over-commit.
3. Learn to anticipate the enemy again... Watch your radar and keep your head up. Most matches will follow a similar flow and you can begin to anticipate where the enemy is going to go so try to be in a position to take advantage of that. Sometimes you will guess wrong and sometimes the enemy will do unexpected things but it will make you a better pilot.

On your Mech builds:
When re-learning the game (or learning) make your mech less situational and more flexible. Include a long range and a short-medium range component to your mech. As you progress and begin to get comfortable in your metal skin you can go for more of a meta build since you will have developed an intuitive grasp of what situations you can and shouldn't get into.


-------------------------------
P.S. One of the nice things about lasting to the end is that you usually find some pretty beat-up mechs that can give you easy kills.

Edited by nehebkau, 05 July 2014 - 08:27 AM.

[Angel of Annihilation]

Sephlock, on 05 July 2014 - 01:07 AM, said:

Try lowering your mouse sensitivity.

Shh...don't tell people this trick. This would mean they might actually kill me more hehe.

Seriously though, this is the best possible piece of advice that can be given. The game is relatively fast paced with arms, torsos and legs all going different directions as your walking over uneven terrain. If you have the sensitivity on your mouse turned up, every small twitch of movement you make is amplified making it very hard to use any sort of fine aim. Also consider that your mech torso and arms move slower than your aim so quickly moving your crosshair to one side or another doesn't speed up the movement at all.

However lower your sensitivity to the point your mouse movements match your torso and crosshair movement rates and your aim will improve by leaps and bounds.

[Hellcat420]

Jackofallpots, on 05 July 2014 - 12:56 AM, said:

Stopped playing for like 6 months after mastering the mechs I wanted to and started again to play with a friend but I cant even do close to what I was doing kill/assist/damage wise beforehand so I just end up powering down/ragequitting as soon as an arm or leg gets blown off.

put 6 ppc's on your mech and alpha strike away

[DAYLEET]

Sephlock, on 05 July 2014 - 01:07 AM, said:

Try lowering your mouse sensitivity.

I think i said that 3 times in chat last week, i was spectating people who could barely hold laser on a mech under 300meters, much less focus on the part needed.