9 replies to this topic

[Foxfire kadrpg]

Just a short story, a short observation, and a quick tip.

The map, caustic valley. My team approached the center of the map, but stopped well short of the caldera. A few of our braver souls approached the lip of the central focal point to deploy UAVs which were promptly shot down. The lighter of our scouts were quickly subdued, and the whole of our remaining team seemed to fall into a cowardness. No one advanced, everytime we were shot at, everyone stepped back. As you might expect, we lost.

I'm not angry, but I thought I'd point out something. It is one thing for a player to be unwilling to step over a cliff to try and get a lock. I can understand that in a pug match, where the followup from your teammates is uncertain, BUT...

If you are not going to seek the enemy, at least hide next to some hard cover.

The mistake of our engagement was less about players lacking bravery and more about where they chose to cower: at the base of the caldera, in the open. When the enemy popped up over the hill, they had our entire profile to shoot at. We had only what they chose to expose to us to return fire.

That's all I wanted to say.

[Elizander]

The standard tactic for that place is to pick a direction to circle around as a group rather than firing from the top and shutting down due to heat. If you think the enemy is all facing one direction try to get them to go the other way. If the enemy team split up you can destroy half and deal with the other later.

[Shlkt]

If neither team advances then the game turns into a battle of attrition. The ability to control cover then becomes the a big deciding factor (in addition to player builds - some weapons just don't perform well in a battle of attrition). As you rightly point out, the bottom of the hill is lousy for controlling cover. The enemy has a nice ridge to peek from. They can peek from random locations, at will, and their targets are always exactly where they expect them to be (i.e. out in the open).

It's literally an uphill battle.

The solution is either a coordinated push or maneuvering to a better position, but leadership and cooperation don't happen often in the solo queue. You might as well try giving orders, though, 'cuz sometimes it works and your only other option is waiting for the enemy to do something stupid.

[1453 R]

http://mwomercs.com/...s-not-a-tactic/

[IllCaesar]

Oh look, its how everybody who got a Dire Wolf using C-Bills play. Before they were available for C-Bills, most Dire Wolf pilots at least were willing to fight, but now? They're fairly consistently the lowest scoring assaults on my team, often failing to break 100 damage. Whenever there's a fight, they stop dead in the middle of nowhere, and end up contributing very, very little.

[RazorbeastFXK3]

In Caustic Valley I like the times when my team decides to circle around the tip of the smoking mountain instead of trying to poptart directly over it. It's kind of like herding geese where if you don't go around wide enough you're liable to lose a few of them.

So they pretty much lose their cover when the majority of your team circles around and the enemy team has a "Oh shi..." moment and scramble to the top trying to retreat. I tend to pay attention to the radar map to see where everyone's going and if I can't see everyone I refer to the entire battlemap.

[Barkem Squirrel]

This is one sore point on this map. Being too aggressive can get you caught out in the open, being too passive can do the same thing.

What do you know, well it is hot up on top of the map, the two teams will group of in one of two places each. Circling can lead to the death of the slower assaults with minimum return.

There are a few options. One fix the other team in place with two or three other mechs, while the rest flank. Go into sniper mode and peck at each other. Then the circle enmass. There is also send the mediums and lights to fix the trailing end of the other team so that everyone can enjoy focusing them down. Sometimes the other team just keeps going and lets you pick apart the slower members.

So many different ways to play the map, but if you are forced to react, they have the initiative and can determine where and when an engagement takes place. Even cutting across the caldera to go over the top is a valid way to create havoc in the other team. Why circle when you can get to them in a straight line. Just pop UAV's after you engage on the side. One or Two LRM boats will benefit.

[InspectorG]

Know when to hold 'em,
Know when to fold 'em
Know when to walk away,
Know when to run.

Life lesson there, and i hate country music, but it pays to memorize this song.

Also helps to know how to fire while reversing into cover.

If a pug has no one pushing, it turns into a game of peek-a-boo, which isnt terrible. The better peekers are the ones who dont go to the same well too many times...

If your team decides to push, congrats, but make sure to let the fat kids catch up or the hyenas will get them.

If the opponent pushes into you, kite back and ideally lure them into a bucket trap, or flank to their weak side...but that is a lot to ask of a mid-low-level pug. Might take a miracle.

[Kuritaclan]

MarsAtlas, on 07 October 2014 - 08:15 AM, said:

Oh look, its how everybody who got a Dire Wolf using C-Bills play. Before they were available for C-Bills, most Dire Wolf pilots at least were willing to fight, but now? They're fairly consistently the lowest scoring assaults on my team, often failing to break 100 damage. Whenever there's a fight, they stop dead in the middle of nowhere, and end up contributing very, very little.

Stop telling BS. Moreoften Assaults don't arrive a group since they start so much away from the pack, that they are singled out. and when they reach it they are half dead since lrm spam on 'em so where is the point with a yellow/orange mech running into a enemy without follow up of the own team hugging rocks to get cover.

---

In the end assaults only can shine when the group pushes with them. Likely this isn't the case, since if the enemy do so too the chance of a victory is only 50:50. And therefor Assaults mostly hang around in the pack. If the Pack changes position they are the last of them beacause of speed and can be easly pin point to death. I for sure have 1 out of 3 games in PUGs where i'm @ the end of the the cluster and get fokus fired. Terra Therma was the cancer out of this, when my lance run the the rest, and i was overtaken by a lance of the enemy flanking the middle and come with 4 man into me. I was ****** off before any real fight happend.

This assault PUG life.

Cowering is the logical end of the story.

Edited by Kuritaclan, 08 October 2014 - 11:08 PM.

[LordMelvin]

I had a game on Caustic where we got pushed off the caldera and harassed by lights from the rear. We fell back to the rock cover near the edge of the map and focused down targets as they peeked the ridge or attempted to charge across the open ground of the volcano's slopes. Ultimately we won the 12-11 due to good target calling.

If you refuse to peek from cover at stripped enemies then you are a coward. If you sit around capping a single point in your fresh Thunderbolt while your team burns around you then you are an idiot and a coward and I hate you. If your idea of falling back is to run as far away from both teams as the map will allow then you are a coward.

Edited by LordMelvin, 10 October 2014 - 09:12 AM.