3 replies to this topic

[Tynan]

I'm a fairly solid light mech pilot but pretty mediocre in everything else. I bring this up because I've generally been one of the "just find cover" people in regards to LRMs, most of the time. Now that I've branched out to playing somewhat taller mechs, I've come to realize that finding cover simply isn't possible a good portion of the time when you're not in a jenner-sized mech.

I've been playing around with what actually constitutes effective missile cover in various maps, assuming that an enemy can hold target on you (whether by NARC, scout having LOS or a UAV) and I've found that it's surprisingly little terrain that functions, largely due to the descent angle of the LRMs near the end of their arc.

Some maps are better than others--river city, for all its flaws, has pretty substantial cover almost everywhere, so it's a matter of choice standing near a building short enough to allow LRMs to rain down on you. Crimson, similarly, has extensive cover. Caustic, however, has effectively no cover at all except around the edges of the maps. Alpine is almost as bad--near the base, standing on the low ground below the platform that have buildings on top them, you can still be hit by LRMs from the opposite side of the base, despite having in theory two stories worth of cover.

The problem I see with this isn't that LRMs are too good or need nerfing or anything--they continue to have the same glaring weaknesses they've always had and I'm sure they'll still be largely unused in competitive matches. The issue, however, is that on some maps if you get NARCed and / or tagged, There's basically nothing you can do to prevent the incoming damage--it becomes simply a function of how many LRM launchers the opposing team has, because there is quite literally nowhere you can move to in order to not take further incoming fire.

Generally I think this is mostly a map design flaw and not a problem with the LRMs themselves, but a lot of terrain that looks like it should be cover (basically anything a few meters taller than the mech, while hugging) doesn't actually work due to the descent angle.

I don't want LRMs to be relegated to the scrap pile but unavoidable indirect fire isn't exactly something that I find to be a positive factor in the game, and the differences in role between maps with usable cover and those without is fairly glaring.

[SeanM]

Its not a flaw in the map, its a flaw in play style. If there is little cover, you need emphasis on not getting narc'd or tag'd.

[Tynan]

SeanM, on 24 September 2014 - 02:44 PM, said:

Its not a flaw in the map, its a flaw in play style. If there is little cover, you need emphasis on not getting narc'd or tag'd.

Tag, sure, you can break LOS on the tag most of the time. But I'd really love to see what playing with an "emphasis on not getting NARCed" is. Even if you COULD play that way, which you can't without hiding in a corner, my point is that it shouldn't be a death sentence if you don't happen to have ECM cover.

The entire point is that a lot of the terrain on certain maps (specifically Caustic and Alpine) that should function as cover doesn't in practical play.

[Wolfways]

Except for Caustic and Alpine every map has loads of cover everywhere. Even in a 53kph Stalker i rarely have to worry about LRM's.
I started playing a Direwolf yesterday (solo queue) and have had no problems with LRM's.