95 replies to this topic

[Hit the Deck]

A relevant topic for me because I'm currently playing Highlanders and they are my first assaults. Assaults are definitely the hardest class to play well (meaning contributing to your team) IMO because the above mentioned reasons:
- usually slow and lumbering
- the pilot needs to think several steps ahead/positioning
- awareness of weapon locations is more important
- fire magnets
- you need to plan your loadout more carefully if you want to survive and contribute well
- you are more dependant on your team's performance

Edited by Hit the Deck, 29 January 2015 - 08:13 AM.

[Cragger]

Depends, if it is a Firestarter then sure the lights are easier. If it is Locust then no the assaults are easier.

Greenjulius, on 29 January 2015 - 08:11 AM, said:

Very true. People instinctively aim for CT even though it's a bad idea with lights.

I think the problem is that firestarters spread that damage between their arms, side torso and center torso equally well. It makes the firestarter feel more tough than it really is.

How often do you see a firestarter go down to CT/ST destruction without losing significant armor elsewhere?

Firestarter has undeniable hit registration issues. I've literally fired a stacked 2x AC-5 in one side torso at a disconnected Firestarter 4 times and while his armor flashed it never changed color. That's 40 pinpoint damage to a unmoving target.

[KyBr2K]

Personally,
Lights like the Kit Fox are easy. Just follow the big guys and lend them your umbrella, run over to people being LRM'ed, narc stuff, light the narc up with TAG.
Lights like a Jenner? Pff, I'm like "Whoa I'm so fast, I run like the wi- NO, WHY ARE YOU SHOOTING AT ME?! *KABOOMMELTCRASHSPLAT~Urguauhaf*dead**

I'm more of an assault kind of guy, although I find heavies to be the perfect balance between fast and shooty these days.

Like Joseph Mallan said, different playstyles, different people.

[Wesxander]

Of the two light is harder to play. I play both a light is very un forgiving. You mess up you do not have enough armor left to recover unlike assaults.

Light is way more physically demanding as well. Move zig, zag, crap enemy x3 here, now I got jump, turn around move to cover. Then you still got report enemy is here with ECM. As most players won't pay attention to their hud and figure out you just encountered the main force flanking with ECM and coming up to their left side.

Assault does not have to do this. IN fact the most demanding thing the assault might have to learn is which classes best torso twist to avoid being cored from constant CT only fire. Weapon selection on assault is crucial as well. Yea you can fit 6 large pules lasers on that direwolf but you cannot fire them all..... Where as 2 large pulse teamed with say 2 auto cannon and 2 srm racks will carry you much further.

[Darian DelFord]

Lights hands down are more difficult to play. Higher skill needed, higher learning curve, much more situational awareness, and much better knowledge of the game and more importantly each and every mech variant.

[Marmon Rzohr]

Here are my 2 cents:
(all of this relating only to playing in PUGs)

I think that lights are the significantly harder class to play. For several reasons:

1) It quite easy to do decent damage in an assault mech. You stick with your team so you can't get zerged and train people down with your weapons. On the other hand you have to work quite a bit to have a decent impact on the game in a light.

2) The playstyle of assaults is much more intuitive and easy to learn. You look for 1 on 1 trades, use corners and ridges to win peek-a-booms and bully isloated targets with superior armor and firepower. Lights have a much more demanding playstyle as you constantly need to "steal" damage from the enemy by shooting unaware targets and being in the right place at the right time. You can't simply trade with other mechs. You have a lot of mobility, but it's hard to use all that mobility to create a significant advantage for your team.

3) Both classes require good positioning from the player, but positional mistakes are much more punishing in light mechs as you can get blow up with a single shot or lose critical components/weapons. Yes you can get zerged down if you are isloated in an assault mech, but that kind of mistake is much more obvious and easy to avoid than simply poking a ridge to look for the enemy and getting direwhale'd.

4) While lights can seem OP in the ending stages of a match when they just clean up or when they poke and poke you the entire game with ER LLs, the truth is that it's the 100 ton assaults that dictate the pace of the game.

Imagine that you are in a light mech and there is a skilled oponent in a Dire Wolf and assume your teammates are of matching skill. The truth is, he can kill your team faster than you can kill his and if he secures an early kill lead for his team it's very difficult to come back. This is why I think it is generally harder to carry and play in a light mech.


P.S.
I'm not saying light pilots are more skilled/better than assault pilots I'm just saying it takes more effort and much more try-harding to do well.

Edited by Marmon Rzohr, 29 January 2015 - 08:46 AM.

[Greenjulius]

I think the general consensus it to recommend new players start in a heavy or medium. Enough mobility to get around, enough armor to not insta-gib, enough firepower to not be worthless.

Lights and Assaults are generally for more experienced players who understand their weaknesses and strengths. There is nothing more pathetic than watching a player die in a locust within the first two minutes, or get annihilated by a single light as an assault. If you want a real laugh, watch a new player attempt to use a Dire Whale. My expectation would be less than 50 damage and a player cursing at the screen.

Edited by Greenjulius, 29 January 2015 - 08:49 AM.

[Porcorosso101]

Watching the number of lights start up in a PUG match is scary (especially Locust variants)- who's new and who's a vet...and its usually a light who dies first!

Go for mediums and heavys - they are the less extremes of the weights.

Not an assault player myself - too unresponsive and it needs good teamwork. Lights are leaning to solo hunters etc

[Yanlowen Cage]

My stable consists of about 1/2 light mechs and the rest a mix of med/heavy/assault. Are lights easier to play? Nah, they are different. As stated before assualts and lights are like comparing a lion to a cheetah. not even the same tactics. Lights have thier perks and assualts have thiers.

Saying that the hardest class to play is mediums. BUT, that doesn't mean that meds are useless. I have heard it stated that mediums do not have the speed of a light and can not carry the firepower or armor of a heavy. So I thought "these people are looking at it the wrong way." Mediums have more speed then the bigger boys and can carry more armor and firepower than a light. Mediums are great harrassers. A medium can carry enuff armor and firepower with enuff speed to catch an isolated mech (say a lurmapault) and shred it. Often times forcing the other team to turn and help. it can effectively keep lights at bay if played correctly and it is enuff firepower to swing a part of a battle line back to your team's favor. Having said that. Mediums are required to make the decision to either help the main force over harass the enemy's flanks. which when chosen wrong can cost you your mech and the team a player. But (and I have seen this quite often) a well played medium can swing the battle from a cluster to a victory.

[Sarlic]

Carrie Harder, on 06 September 2014 - 05:46 PM, said:

I hold the opposite view. With a larger mech, I can usually survive more alpha strikes and arty spam to my face than I can with smaller mechs. Getting hit by a huge alpha with say, a Kit Fox, will make me have to cower for the rest of the match, while I can tank several similar alphas with a Shadow Hawk or w/e. Also, due to moving so fast, I find it harder to make the right split-second life-or-death decision than with mechs in the 70-100 kph range...you get less time to react/think.

First time i see a banned member before.

[LordMelvin]

I'd say lights are more dependent on individual pilot skill, while assaults are more based on team skill.

Light mechs are incredibly unforgiving in that a single shot can put you out of commission. Knowing what you can get away with is important to piloting light mechs.

Assault mechs are reliant on support from the team or they'll get overwhelmed. A team that sticks near its assaults has a better chance of winning than one that runs off chasing squirrels.

So while individual skill matters for both, light mechs aren't as reliant on support from other mechs due to their speed and agility, while means it's up to the pilot to not walk into Gauss Alley.

[Brody319]

Which one takes a single AC20 shot and explodes, requires an XL engine, and doesn't have that much firepower again?

[Basskicker]

Both Lights and Assaults are my current go-to weight classes (kind of odd I know since they are on the opposite ends of the spectrum from one another). I don't touch mediums and only rarely play heavies anymore because of the 50%+ population playing them at all times.

I would say Assaults are the hardest to learn to play effectively. They are oftentimes slow and are priority targets for the red team to key on. The firepower can offset these cons somewhat, but it doesnt do you much good against 3 or more enemy mechs concentrating fire on you.

Lights are more forgiving because the red team will often ignore a light in favor of a heavier mech because of the firepower. Not to mention the speed of IS lights allows you to reposition almost instantly, and run away from most threats. The downside is that you can be one shotted fairly easy if you make a bad decision. Just steer clear of facing down KGC, jagers, and direwhales from the front and profit.

Edited by Basskicker, 29 January 2015 - 10:23 AM.

[Templar Dane]

For me, piloting an assault is harder depending on how nimble it is. In a light if you get into a bad spot [and aren't insta-gibbed] it's MUCH easier to GTFO. You find yourself in a bad position in an assault and nine times out of ten the game is over for you. The speedier assault mechs have a better chance of getting out.

That being said...

Any monkey with a mouse and keyboard that is in a good position can pilot an assault and do well. The thing is, the player skill cap is higher on the lights. A truly good light pilot will scout the enemy positions and harass the enemy mechs in such a way as to prevent/deter them from flanking, lining them up for the assault mechs on his team. A good light mech pilot wears many hats, he's scouting, harassing and corralling, picking off heavily damaged mechs and stragglers, providing clutch distractions...

[Devilsfury]

Basskicker, on 29 January 2015 - 10:20 AM, said:

Both Lights and Assaults are my current go-to weight classes (kind of odd I know since they are on the opposite ends of the spectrum from one another). I don't touch mediums and only rarely play heavies anymore because of the 50%+ population playing them at all times.

I would say Assaults are the hardest to learn to play effectively. They are oftentimes slow and are priority targets for the red team to key on. The firepower can offset these cons somewhat, but it doesnt do you much good against 3 or more enemy mechs concentrating fire on you.

Lights are more forgiving because the red team will often ignore a light in favor of a heavier mech because of the firepower. Not to mention the speed of IS lights allows you to reposition almost instantly, and run away from most threats. The downside is that you can be one shotted fairly easy if you make a bad decision. Just steer clear of facing down KGC, jagers, and direwhales from the front and profit.

Are you kidding? A good team will ignore lights?? Normally lights are the deciding factor in most of the tourney matches that I have been in. A Firestarter A with the 8 sml will kill any mech in 2-5 shots, depending on armor. Alot of people front load their armor for high end matches and that only takes 2 shots tops to kill from behind. Ignoring lights?? I dont think so.

Edited by Devilsfury, 29 January 2015 - 10:32 AM.

[FupDup]

I would say lights most of the time. The reasons being:

A. Lower margin for error due to lower armor. If you dun goof or get unlucky, you're gonna feel it harder.

B. Emphasis on speed and agility over armor/firepower places a greater importance on reaction times and split-second do-or-die decision making. My brain processes information about as slowly as a potato, so naturally this doesn't appeal to me. Lights feel more hectic and to an extent it almost generates a degree of mental strain trying to drive them for prolonged periods. It's hard to "relax" or let go if you're driving to drive them to their full potential.

C. Also due to lower armor/firepower, there's a greater emphasis on getting into a good position to make good use of that limited firepower. If you have a wall of armor/guns, even being in a sub-par spot doesn't stop you from putting at least some hurt on people. But getting caught in a bad spot with a light is more major.


There are some rare exceptions, though, perhaps something like a 0/8 basic Dire Whale due to its horrendously low agility and heat problems.

Edited by FupDup, 29 January 2015 - 10:47 AM.

[Basskicker]

Devilsfury, on 29 January 2015 - 10:31 AM, said:

Are you kidding? A good team will ignore lights?? Normally lights are the deciding factor in most of the tourney matches that I have been in. A Firestarter A with the 8 sml will kill any mech in 2-5 shots, depending on armor. Alot of people front load their armor for high end matches and that only takes 2 shots tops to kill from behind. Ignoring lights?? I dont think so.

When that team is facing down 6 other mechs from your team... yes they will most likely ignore lights unless you do something completely stupid like stand still.

Are you saying if facing a Direwhale and an FS9 you are going to concentrate in the FS9 and let the whale beat on you? I dont think so. An FS9-A may kill in 2-5 shots but that whale is gonna do it in 1-2.

I believe I said that the red team will ignore lights when facing heavier mechs. If you leeroy jenkins it into the red team you are going to die no questions asked no t-shirt recieved.

The fact that matches end with lights still alive kind of proves my point for me... if Lights were the focus of the enemy team they would have been dead long before the end of the match now wouldn't they?

Anyways the thread is about which is harder to pilot Lights or Assaults. For me that is Assaults for the reasons I mentioned in my other post.

Edited by Basskicker, 29 January 2015 - 10:53 AM.

[F4T 4L]

Blueduck, on 06 September 2014 - 05:44 PM, said:

Any thoughts?

I know lights are in the minority now but that tends to be because they aren't as good of money earners (why earn 100k in a kitfox when I can earn 200 in a direwolf). That really doesn't mean one is harder to play than the other though.

I personally think assaults are harder and here is why. The razzle dazzle play of a light can be learned by tearing around the map enough. Some may be better than others true but do it enough and you will be semi-competent.

Assaults on the other hands require an understanding of every weapon system out there since you are so slow and will have to learn how to avoid all of the with positioning rather than speed. Playing an assault forces me to learn my exact profile, how I fit on map contours, and what are my exact limits on firepower.

Anyone agree or disagree or just have a completely different take?

Assaults also need team support, some more than others..

In the PUG queue that often isnt forthcoming, so my DWFs sucks hard more often than they do that 1k 5kill thing. (but those good games make it worthwhile, sometimes).

Lights need a buff. TBR/HBR need a nerf (or every mech in the game short of TDR needs an additional buff).

Just my 2p. **** you "zomg it's supposed to be the best, it's a TBR" guys.

[Myke Pantera]

Not easy to answer but since they are both somewhat extreme in what they are good or bad they have both different things you need to master

Difficulties of playing Lights:

• While heat management is less crucial, you may not overheat once or you are dead
  
• You need to aim while running\jumping full speed
  
• If you want to kill someone you better know where to shoot at
  
• You decide which encounters you want to fight
  
• Wrong decisions cost you dearly

Difficulties of playing Assaults:

• More weapon groups to manage
  
• Heat management is crucial, although overheating doesn't kill you
  
• Shielding is important
  
• Positioning is way harder, since repositioning takes ages (u r more dependent on your team)
  
• Because of your speed, others may dictate whom you are fighting against

I personally find assaults easier to deal high amounts of damage, but like the independency of lights more.

Edited by Myke Pantera, 29 January 2015 - 11:04 AM.

[Jonny Slam]

Blueduck, on 06 September 2014 - 05:44 PM, said:

Any thoughts?

I know lights are in the minority now but that tends to be because they aren't as good of money earners (why earn 100k in a kitfox when I can earn 200 in a direwolf). That really doesn't mean one is harder to play than the other though.

I personally think assaults are harder and here is why. The razzle dazzle play of a light can be learned by tearing around the map enough. Some may be better than others true but do it enough and you will be semi-competent.

Assaults on the other hands require an understanding of every weapon system out there since you are so slow and will have to learn how to avoid all of the with positioning rather than speed. Playing an assault forces me to learn my exact profile, how I fit on map contours, and what are my exact limits on firepower.

Anyone agree or disagree or just have a completely different take?

Great thread!

I have been running my King crabs for the past two weeks and it is yet another steep learning curve . You hit the nail on the head as far as weapon systems, quite often on all my other mechs I will go with one system and just build the mech around that speed, fire, weapon profile. This works really well for me on lights, mediums and even to a degree with heavys. But when I try to apply it to a assault I see that it is really handicapping the assaults effectiveness, especially on a unit like the King where is has excellent spread of hardpoints variety.

So I am learning and having a ball at the same time, but it is not the easiest thats for sure.

On a side note, depending on you gaming system your choice of light vs assault can change as well, when I am on my much slower FPS machine lights can be really tough do to the need for constant tweaking.