59 replies to this topic

[Duncan Jr Fischer]

smokefield, on 26 September 2014 - 03:50 AM, said:

some very good answers here, but all of these answers are related only to individual skill of piloting a mech. I don't think that this is enough to call someone experienced. Over these skills an experienced pilot knows how to lead a lance/star, how to position them, how to move them related to enemy moves, knows how to read the battle and use everything at hand to win. even positioning with the sun in the back it is a skill that not many posses at the moment.

You are right, but that's is slightly different area of expertise. You describe an experienced leader, commander, tactician. Not just an experienced MechWarrior, who must not necessarily have any leadership traits.

Willard Phule, on 26 September 2014 - 04:06 AM, said:

Just the basic stuff that SHOULD have been in a tutorial:

- The ability to zoom back out once they've zoomed in (nothing says "noob" like someone trying to navigate the terrain while zoomed in and getting stuck on EVERYTHING).

- Knowing the heat of any given map so you don't have to "test fire" your weapons into the back of your teammates every single match.

- Being able to move and shoot at the same time...as opposed to standing still in the middle of an open field, zooming in and trying to be the best CoD sniper in the game, ever.

- Not building/using a mech that is going to overheat every single time you fire your weapons.

- Not begging your team to "lock targets" so you can spam LRMs....then blaming them when the other team has ECM and you got wiped before you did 100 damage.

These are not the signs of an experienced pilot, that's just a regular pilot, who is not a total noob anymore.

And by the way, I do tell people sometimes to not forget to lock their targets, as very many players ignore R key as if it was plagued. Not for missile locks (I never sport more than 2x15), though they are welcome, but for team's general awareness. And actually, it's not a rare occasion that people reply with 'So how do I select target?'.

Edited by Duncan Jr Fischer, 26 September 2014 - 04:37 AM.

[Joseph Mallan]

Redshift2k5, on 26 September 2014 - 04:10 AM, said:

It's not only "knowing" but knowing what to do about it and being able to pull it off consistently. Even when you lose you should still have been valuable to your team, although everyone makes mistakes sometimes.

You are confusing experienced with competent Red.

Experienced= Been there done that.
Competent= Been there done that. Wrote the book!

[Ph30nix]

Willard Phule, on 26 September 2014 - 04:06 AM, said:

Just the basic stuff that SHOULD have been in a tutorial:

- The ability to zoom back out once they've zoomed in (nothing says "noob" like someone trying to navigate the terrain while zoomed in and getting stuck on EVERYTHING).

wouldnt the more skilled pilot be the person who can navigate just fine while zoomed in and not bump into anything?

[pulupulu]

Experienced pilot? Does it matter?

Experience != good

Experienced pilot just mean
a. Play time exceed certain number
b. Have enough fund for proper mech
c. Played in each map enough to know the layout
d. have story to tell
e. understand terminonlogy

This topic should be called "what make a good pilot" instead.
Then that would mean
a. Have good awareness of the battlefield
b. Applied knowledge of mech strength and weakness
c. Applied knowledge of his role to fit with the team
d. Have good hand eye coordination to land shots
e. Applied map knowledge
f. Ability to create opportunity
g. Can make fast, accurate, and decisive decision
h. Ability to perform under pressure
i. Ability to take critizism/failure and improve

[Josef Koba]

There's lots of good stuff in here. Effectiveness starts in the lab, I think. On the battlefield, there are multiple variables - situational awareness, attempting to coordinate with your team, prioritization of targets, knowing when to fight and when to withdraw. One thing that sticks out in my mind, and something I try to do whenever possible, is prioritization. I see a lot of pilots trying desperately to kill the Atlas that has no arms or STs and no weapons; two or three or four swarming around it trying to get the kill shot while the fresh Warhawk is chewing up their teammates. Leave that guy alone and support your team; you can always come back and finish off the weapon-less Atlas once the threat has been neutralized. Once a pilot gets to that point, they have my respect, because it's hard to do in this game sometimes.

[Ghogiel]

At a certain point, pugging is mostly about maintainence of the basics. You have to play different things to get more depth and layers to your play. Restrictions on drop decks, 1v1s, 4v4s, play with and against good players, watch streams, do all that.

[Thorqemada]

To know in advance or shortly after the fight started that your PUG will not make it and you go Banzai and do something better with the time left until your Mechs is no longer locked.

[MechPorn]

The ability to learn and grow from ones mistakes, instead of blaming others.

Edited by TB Xiomburg, 26 September 2014 - 07:03 AM.

[Brody319]

knowledge of how mechs affect the battlefield. An atlas can change the flow of battle. enemies will abandon other mechs for the atlas. Timber Wolves can inspire other mechs to stay and keep fighting if they are outnumbered. Dire wolves set the firing line.

knowing how each weapon functions. LB-X's fire like a shotgun, so keep your distance and the enemy cant do maximum damage. Lasers do damage over time so use that to get behind cover or twist to spread damage. Also knowing that if you have LB-X's you should stay in cover till the enemy gets closer if you are in a slow mech, or to mount some long range weapons like Large Lasers.

Spreading damage. Being able to take that AC 20 shot into your dead arm to avoid getting cored Is just as important as dishing out a lot of damage.

Maps. Learning all the back paths, knowing where combat usually starts up, where the quirking shooting locations is.

arguably the most important is being able to aim and track an opponent. If you can't hit them, you can't kill them.

[Corduroy Rab]

I'd say 2,000 games would count as experienced, but it seems the question you are really asking is what makes someone a good player.

I am not good at this game but based on experiences from other games I would say that it comes from both game knowledge and ability to read game flow.

I'd say to be good a player should have a good knowledge of: the maps and the majority of mechs including likely and optimal fittings/ranges and how to play against the respective match ups et cetera.

The other part is ability to read the game flow and react appropriately, for example given your game knowledge you know that within 30 seconds of a match starting an ecm raven could make it to X location, or given that x mechs were spotted at y location you can safely move to z. This also includes understanding what your teammates (and opponents) are trying to do and acting appropriately.

I guess you could measure this by kills/damage but I'm not convinced that is the best measure of how good a player is since this can be distorted in that a player could rack up good numbers in matches that were already essentially lost. This might be different in this game as I am mostly basing this opinion on world of tanks where you could often see players sitting back and racking up kills and damage after not supporting their team the rest of the match. Essentially throwing the match but putting up good numbers after the match was essentially over.

Edit.

I'd also add mechanical skills, ie hitting what you are intending to hit, controlling your mechs movements well, and given a 1v1 against a similar mech in a similar damage state being able to beat that player by mechanically outplaying them.

Edited by Corduroy Rab, 26 September 2014 - 07:29 AM.

[Mcgral18]

Knowing how to spread damage, pressing the R key, focusing on one component and removing it (whether it's a Leg or the CT) with minimal spread.

I feel those are the most important, along with positioning and situational awareness. Try not to go up against more than 2 if you're alone. It won't likely end well.

[FupDup]

Not playing with a steering wheel.

[YueFei]

FupDup, on 26 September 2014 - 07:56 AM, said:

Not playing with a steering wheel.

But I like the way mine smells from all the drool I put on it....

[OznerpaG]

after 4500 games, i'd say:

intimate map knowledge - i tried every which way to play every map and there are definitely better ways than others to do well on any map. the basics - stay near cover, fire from cover, and retreat through cover. there are different areas on different maps that let you do this successfully and it takes time to let it turn to instinct. you know you are in the right ballpark when in 80% of your losing matches you are one of the last to die

intimate control of your mech - i likely have my controls setup completely different than everyone else, but it allows me do maneuver my mech any way i want in any situation and provide much more effective outgoing fire without taking it in return. as mentioned by others, the most underrated skill in the game is the ability to spread incoming damage equally all over your mech by twisting and turning - that greatly increases survivability

intimate control of a specific mech before branching out - last summer i played a Victor for 6 months STRAIGHT armed with only an AC20 and an ERPPC and i learned to sneak up on the enemy using terrain and only engaging close in within 400m. i died a LOT the first 3 months, but then it was the enemy that started doing all the dying even though i had less firepower than mechs 30-40t smaller than me. because i used a single mech for so long it allowed me to learn the GAME without the complication of learning the mech since i already knew the Victor like the back of my hand after a month. of course that's VERY difficult to stick with 1 mech when there are so many choices in mechs to pilot now, but it's a good way to keep things simple if you are serious about learning the game. and once you know the GAME, you can pilot pretty much any mech and be successful with it

[Angel of Annihilation]

This one is easy.

Experience.

The more you play, the better your going to get up to the maximum level of potential skill you possess anyway.

[Bilbo]

Mcgral18, on 26 September 2014 - 07:36 AM, said:

...

I feel those are the most important, along with positioning and situational awareness. Try not to go up against more than 2 if you're alone. It won't likely end well.

Sure is fun though.

[B E E L Z E B U B]

[Adiuvo]

Experience doesn't matter. What you should be aiming for is competence.

Competence implies that you have experience, but many experienced people are not in any sense of the word competent.

As for a mark of competence, consistently good performance. Winning the majority of your games, rarely having bad games, etc..

[Joseph Mallan]

Karma Police, on 26 September 2014 - 09:01 AM, said:

And I studied that guys personal training system (James DeMiles called it Wing Chun Do).

[Vandul]