30 replies to this topic

[Gyrok]

Ok, so, seeing as so many people think Clan mechs are the boogeyman, I thought I would write this up so many could gain a sense of insight into the Clans.

First thing is first: DO NOT STOP MOVING. Seriously, when you are engaging, do not stop for anything. Learn to shoot on the move.

Second thing: Be aggressive, clan mechs have range advantages, once you get in close you negate that advantage and the field becomes much more on your terms.

Third: Aim for the CT. If you see an open side torso, take it off, however, you should always aim for the CT.

Fourth: Do not get into a staring contest. This partially ties into rule #1, however, do not get tunnel vision, and do not attack them head on trying to trade fire.

Fifth: Use flanking maneuvers to your advantage. You can still out position your enemy in IS mechs and catch them unprepared.

Sixth: Use your lights well. Clan lights are essentially escorts and light hunters, so be sure to use speed to your advantage.

Seventh: Use PP FLD weapons. You have an advantage in PP FLD ACs, use it well, this will allow you to fire and turn away.

Eighth: Torso twist when being hit with clan weapons. This will spread the damage you are taking and cause your survivability to go up dramatically.

Any questions?

[Koniks]

Gyrok, on 03 August 2014 - 12:33 PM, said:

Third: Aim for the CT. If you see an open side torso, take it off, however, you should always aim for the CT.

Not always the best strategy.

1)Legs can't be hidden with twisting and pilots tend to shave armor off to save weight.
2)If you can remove the WHK's right torso, you will generally take away 50% or more of its offense.
3)Likewise, taking off the arms or side torsos of Novas.
4)Or the Right Torso and Right Arm of a Gauss/ERPPC Timber Wolf, if you get the chance.
5)Or the AMS/ECM arm on a Kit Fox.

Edited by Mizeur, 03 August 2014 - 04:45 PM.

[FireSlade]

Mizeur, on 03 August 2014 - 04:44 PM, said:

Not always the best strategy.

1)Legs can't be hidden with twisting and pilots tend to shave armor off to save weight.
2)If you can remove the WHK's right torso, you will generally take away 50% or more of its offense.
3)Likewise, taking off the arms or side torsos of Novas.
4)Or the Right Torso and Right Arm of a Gauss/ERPPC Timber Wolf, if you get the chance.
5)Or the AMS/ECM arm on a Kit Fox.

That is a good point. Most of the weapons, ammo and even some equipment are in the Clan mech's arms. So removing them knocks off firepower that could be redirected towards you. Also Clan pilots turn arm lock off because of this and learn the CTRL move. You can be twisted away from the enemy but by holding down "Left CTRL" you can aim your arms while your torso is locked, and still be lethal while protecting your center torso.

Having been piloting nothing but the Timber Wolf since June 17th, my "oh ****" moments are usually with IS mechs, not the Clan mechs (unless I get caught in a narrow area with a Dire Wolf at the other end). The Clan mechs have range, speed, and slight damage advantages but the drawbacks are that we cannot put ammo where we want, cannot go down in engine size to fit bigger weapons, heat, and we have to hold our weapons on the enemy longer while our CTs get ripped up. This gets even worse when we lose lower arm actuators to fit any ballistic type weapon including the CERPPC.

Edited by FireSlade, 03 August 2014 - 05:03 PM.

[MasterBLB]

IS mechs,in terms of weaponry,have the advantage of instant damage ACs,lasers with significantly lower beam duration and LRMs hitting whole pack at once.Pretty noticeable advantage,as I can say as Storm Crow/Timber Wolf pilot.

[Chagatay]

Clan mechs make the best counter to clan mechs. I recommend timbertart. Rock solid design, good speed, can play whatever playstyle that suits you.

[Ertur]

FYI: PP FLD means pin-point front loaded damage.

Also, the most important point is to shoot them until they fall down and go boom.

[The Great Unwashed]

I frequently get shot to pieces by IS mechs (PUG); PPCs and AC5s still do wonders and now that SRMs are working the smaller mechs have become surprisingly dangerous. Hill-popping PPC blackjacks, who would have thought? I have noticed a decrease in machine gun users (Embers) and an increase in NARC use with very nice results if there are multiple missile boats around. Now that the Radar Deprivation module is active I sometimes get careless, hide behind a hill and get hit anyway. Well, now I am more used of getting the occasional NARC. So taking one of those can help.

Having said that, I currently have one right-hanging 2ERPPC/1Gauss TBR in my inventory that does all the tricks the meta IS mechs can perform, not to mention the 2ERPPC/2Gauss DireWolf. The latter is particularly dangerous but "soft" on both sides. A properly torso-twisting right-hanging TBR is very difficult to beat as it will tank on the left side.

So I can appreciate that PGI is investigating the ERPPC/Gauss imbalance they have created; not sure if it is going to work.

Edited by The Great Unwashed, 03 August 2014 - 11:39 PM.

[Arkroma]

Still, hitting CT is never a bad idea. Clan weapons NEED that face time and not a lot pilots dare to face you with a cherry red CT. Plus some Clan mechs have big CTs that are a bit too large to hide such as nova, T-Wolves and DireWolves.

One should almost always shoot Stormcrows in the legs, otherwise they are going to tank too much damage, similar to shadowhawks.

Against Direwolves, a viable tatic is to put arty strikes under their feet(we can pack 12 arty stirkes nowadays). The poor direwhale is going to take a few shots no matter how hard he tries. Combined with some follow-up shots even a frontal assult is going to take a direwolf down.

And really, not all the clan mechs are good. I can see Direwolf fitting a special role for a team, Stormcrow a solid medium, Timberwolf a solid heavy but other than these 3, clan mechs are kind of meh. Relax when you see them.

ERPPC+Gauss combo is unforgiving (especially when I was in a light/XL packed IS mechs) as hell, I won't complain if they do change it. Play careful and if you really have to run into his sight, be sure to take his big alpha with your arms or shield-side torso.

I just got my hands on Cataphracts and VIctors these days, they work just fine. People tend to forget how fast Pinpoint damage can kill you with the clans now the new boogeyman Yeah we are now getting hudreds of "omg clans are OP" posts but only a while ago before clans hit there were thousands of "omg pinpoint dmg is so OP" posts everywhere.

[Sug]

All good advice so far. The players that were good at shooting on the move and torso twisting are doing well against the Clans. The players that never learned how to do that are doing worse than they were before and are complaining twice as much.

Arkroma, on 04 August 2014 - 07:53 PM, said:

Yeah we are now getting hudreds of "omg clans are OP" posts but only a while ago before clans hit there were thousands of "omg pinpoint dmg is so OP" posts everywhere.

So true.

[STEF_]

Quite every match I read in the chat (and in forum too) that this is a "pay to win" after clan invasion.
Boring stuff, I think.
Imo, clan invasion augmented drastically brawler possibilities.
But, ironically enough, when flames heats up in chat in the aftermatch, NOBODY sees my trebby (50 tons) with 1-2 kills, 6-8 assist and 300-400 dmg.
I think that "team work" is another tip to put in the list.

[Bilbo]

It's pretty simple, really. Negate their range advantage and brawl.

[JigglyMoobs]

http://youtu.be/2odB4JpKnXM

Brawl me brah

PS - as illustrated in the video, you should always go for the st on direwolves. The ct takes too long and you'd be dead in a smaller mech.

[Sug]

Hit and run. Just like in the novels/fluff. If you're taking full damage from clan weapons you're doing it wrong.

[Bilbo]

JigglyMoobs, on 06 August 2014 - 10:33 AM, said:

http://youtu.be/2odB4JpKnXM

Brawl me brah

PS - as illustrated in the video, you should always go for the st on direwolves. The ct takes too long and you'd be dead in a smaller mech.

Direwolves generally don't last that long when I'm that close and I never aim for the ST.

[JigglyMoobs]

Bilbo, on 06 August 2014 - 10:41 AM, said:

Direwolves generally don't last that long when I'm that close and I never aim for the ST.

Yeah but how intact are you afterwards?

[Bilbo]

JigglyMoobs, on 06 August 2014 - 11:12 AM, said:

Yeah but how intact are you afterwards?

Depends on how intact I am before the engagement. Both going in clean, as in your video, completely intact with varying degrees of armor melted off.

[xMintaka]

Mizeur, on 03 August 2014 - 04:44 PM, said:

Not always the best strategy.

1)Legs can't be hidden with twisting and pilots tend to shave armor off to save weight.
2)If you can remove the WHK's right torso, you will generally take away 50% or more of its offense.
3)Likewise, taking off the arms or side torsos of Novas.
4)Or the Right Torso and Right Arm of a Gauss/ERPPC Timber Wolf, if you get the chance.
5)Or the AMS/ECM arm on a Kit Fox.

I'm rather fond of taking out the LT on Warhawk's, then watching them try to shoot back and shut down

[JigglyMoobs]

Bilbo, on 06 August 2014 - 11:19 AM, said:

Depends on how intact I am before the engagement. Both going in clean, as in your video, completely intact with varying degrees of armor melted off.

Pics and video or it didn't happen.

[Bilbo]

JigglyMoobs, on 06 August 2014 - 11:32 AM, said:

Pics and video or it didn't happen.

Doesn't happen then I guess. I don't take either. 3 times through my weapons groups is all it takes, though.

[Koniks]

D

Lunatech, on 06 August 2014 - 11:19 AM, said:

I'm rather fond of taking out the LT on Warhawk's, then watching them try to shoot back and shut down

Losing heat sinks didn't used to affect heat threshold or dissipation. When did that change?