18 replies to this topic

[L Y N X]

Wow, so I was just in a PUG match and tried explaining to ten or so new players how they have to actively target an enemy mech with the "R" or its equivalent if remapped in order to share that target on everyone else's minimap, and I was stunned by the number of arguments I got about that not being true...

Obviously they were new players, and they made assumptions about how things work in MWO, that and the lack of PGI provided tutorials on sensor operations and targeting, there is a lot of false knowledge in the player ranks.

My attempt here is to help clear some of that up and keep things at a beginner level.

Sensor range default is 800m

Modifiers that increase sensor range by 25% do stack but additive and not multiplicative.

Thus BAP(+200m) plus ADV Sensor Module(+200m) would allow for 1200m Sensor range.

ECM counters Sensors. I'll leave ECM there as there is ample to discuss on ECM and sensor for a separate guide.

When you see enemy mechs within your sensor range that are NOT covered by ECM, They all appear on your minimap only and have hollow triangles over them on your screen.

If any of your target have a SOLID triangle target icon then it is selected with R by yourself or another teammate. Hollow Triangle targets are not R'd. Hollow Triangle Targeting data is NOT shared with other teammates. They will NOT see what you see, they will ONLY see on they minimap SOLID Triangle Target DATA. You change a hollow triangle target to solid triangle target with the R key.

The benefit, besides the obvious, is that it allows for friendly team mechs with LRMs to gain a missile lock and impact the Target. Thus spotting occurs passively when you spot the mech, Select R and target that enemy mech. You are now sharing targeting data with the rest of your team. Those with LRMs can now target and gain a lock and fire missile on your target. If you maintain LOS (Line Of Sight) until missiles from other mechs impact your target then you will gain a spotting bonus. These can really rack up and stack additively. To further enchance one's spotting abilities you may choose to add a TAG laser and/or a NARC Missile launcher (and Ammo) to your mech.

If you are new and were not aware of these game mechanics then I hope you find this information most helpful. If you already knew this information, then this guide was not meant for you.

Edited by 7ynx, 12 October 2014 - 08:06 PM.

[Eaerie]

REmember the "R" button is your and your teammates friend. It gives you target data so you can shoot the most heavily damaged sections of the enemy and allows your teammates to get target locks to bring the rain (if they are packing lrm's)

[Carlos Vinson]

Eaerie, on 12 October 2014 - 12:04 PM, said:

REmember the "R" button is your and your teammates friend. It gives you target data so you can shoot the most heavily damaged sections of the enemy and allows your teammates to get target locks to bring the rain (if they are packing lrm's)

I would also add getting LRM boats together and all shooting at the same enemy...very good things happen.

[InspectorG]

To further help this along, some newb questions:

Whats a scouting mech?
-How do i use it?

How far away from the enemy should i scout?
-How often should i move or hide?

Do i go wander off alone or stay just outside of my team?

How do i use TAG?

How do i use NARC?

What do i do if the enemy sees me?

Which targets should i report first?
-Which should i neglect or save for later?


Hope this helps.

[Tumbling Dice]

It is really awesome some of you take the time for this constructive input. One thing we need is a huge flashing banner to direct the players of all levels to various guides and tips. So many, myself included, download the game and just start shooting at stuff. We all need to at least make an attempt to direct them to threads like this.

Edited by Wolfiac, 12 October 2014 - 02:06 PM.

[L Y N X]

InspectorG, on 12 October 2014 - 01:23 PM, said:

To further help this along, some newb questions:

Whats a scouting mech?
-How do i use it?

How far away from the enemy should i scout?
-How often should i move or hide?

Do i go wander off alone or stay just outside of my team?

How do i use TAG?

How do i use NARC?

What do i do if the enemy sees me?

Which targets should i report first?
-Which should i neglect or save for later?


Hope this helps.

Q: What's a scouting mech?
A: Any mech CAN spot, for scouting purposes some mechs are better than others. size=small, speed=fast being two of the more important attributes. This guide was not so much about scouting as it is Spotting and locking Target to gain the benefit of the HUD damage report on the enemy target.

Q: How do i use it?
A: Beyond the scope of this guide, scouting as a role is a subject worth it own guide. But a insufficient answer might be to suggest to be very fast, optionally have ECM, TAG, NARC, Adv Sensor Module, and/or BAP.


ASIDE: The reasons PGI needs to have ingame tutorials are 1) not all new players will come to these forums to learn about the game. 2) The learning curve is much steeper than World of Tanks and WoT has a much better progression. 3) it should not be a big production affair for tutorials, involve the player base to help.

Edited by 7ynx, 12 October 2014 - 02:41 PM.

[Alaskan Nobody]

Wolfiac, on 12 October 2014 - 02:05 PM, said:

We all need to at least make an attempt to direct them to threads like this.

There is this
(Which - if this one gets going, we are probably going to want a mod to add this to)

But yeah - what you said.

[NUK3]

7ynx, on 12 October 2014 - 12:00 PM, said:

Hollow Triangle Targeting data is NOT shared with other teammates.

I am a player since the end of closed beta. I did not know this until now. THANKS!
I always assumed that it's just an indicator for who's targeted by your teammates, to help focus fire.
But this means that if I can see twelve enemy hollow-triangled 'Mechs, I need to choose one to share with my teammates. Pressing R now got more complicated. Or it didn't. Target the Dire Wolf, let it swallow ALL the lurms.

[Commodore Perspicuous]

InspectorG, on 12 October 2014 - 01:23 PM, said:

To further help this along, some newb questions:

Whats a scouting mech?
-How do i use it?

How far away from the enemy should i scout?
-How often should i move or hide?

Do i go wander off alone or stay just outside of my team?

How do i use TAG?

How do i use NARC?

What do i do if the enemy sees me?

Which targets should i report first?
-Which should i neglect or save for later?


Hope this helps.

Whats a scouting mech?
-How do i use it?
A scouting mech is generally one with some decent speed and maneuverability. I prefer mine to have 140+ speeds and jets and ECM, though none of these are really hard necessities depending on play style. Use it to find the enemy mechs before they find your friends, spot for missiles, and to flank/screen/harass.


How far away from the enemy should i scout?
-How often should i move or hide?
Always move, unless you find an obvious nook where you know they don't see you. Always hide unless your goal is to distract, make someone chase the squirrel, or you are joining the fight. Distance is fluid, dependent upon your weapon and sensor ranges as well as their expected weapon ranges. You don't want to make it easy for them to hit you, but you don't want to be so far away that your sensors or weapons have no effect. Regarding spotting weapons, keep in mind that TAG is effective up to 750 and NARC up to 450. TAG is also negated by ECM WITHIN 180 (I believe).

Do i go wander off alone or stay just outside of my team?
Depends on your mech, playstyle, situation. It is generally a good idea to extend a bit early to try and find them before they find your team, but once contact is made you have to decide whether you are best used out and about or with the team. ECM mech with NARC? It may be good to stay out to make people chase the squirrel and to jam and NARC missile boats. Unless your team is about to get demolished by LRMs and they need your ECM. Study the situations.

How do i use TAG?
TAG is a direct LoS laser. It is effective up to 750 and helps your LRM friendlies by decreasing their time to acquire lock and, if I recall, helping their LRMs group a little more effectively on the target. It cuts through ECM on the targeted mech, but only if you aren't too close (within 180, I believe). If they break your LoS you lose TAG effect on them. Keep in mind that TAG is a direct laser, so it is possible for them to see where it is coming from and locate you. Therefore, it is usually much better to TAG from behind or from a side angle whenever possible.

How do i use NARC?
NARC is a fairly slow fire-and-forget missile that plants a beacon on the target. The beacon lights up the target for your team, disabling their ECM if they are an ECM mech and greatly helping your friendly LRMs to group/converge on the target. It lasts for a short period which can be extended by the NARC module (also increases projectile flight speed). As long as the beacon is active and not cencelled by ECM, the target remains lit up on your team's radar and is able to be targeted by them. NARC can be cancelled if a target's ally with ECM covers them (it breaks the target's ECM, not the ECM around them).


What do i do if the enemy sees me?
Move.


Which targets should i report first?
-Which should i neglect or save for later?
Report as much as possible. Prioritize Lone targets and heavy hitters. If you are TAGging and/or NARCing, prioritize ECM mechs.

Edited by Commodore Perspicuous, 12 October 2014 - 04:48 PM.

[RazorbeastFXK3]

And.. for all those who like rapidly tapping the 'lock on/target' button when finding a large number of enemies on the field.. all that does is give your mates a headache 'specially when the group of enemies aren't in range of their minimaps (that tiny block at the center bottom of their hud that shows the direction they're facing and which way their legs are pointing)

That.. and the targeting system currently blows since it only targets the 'mechs that are closest to your reticule instead of cycling through all the ones you're facing regardless if they're infront or behind you. So when you rapidly tap on the lock/target button you're only cycling between two or three enemy contacts at the most. AND it annoys the hell out of your LRM support because they're looking for SOLID locks.. and if you rapidly tap the lock/target button and they launch their missiles then lose target.. that's waisted ammo right there and it forces your LRM support to start secondguessing whether or not they want to throw their LRMs at a non-LOS(line of sight) target or just wait 'til they can see the targets themselves.

[Eaerie]

The rapid fire "R" tapping is used to quickly give your teammates an idea where a large concentration of enemy mechs are WHITHOUT having to type in the coordinates. which is difficult to do sometimes when you are trying to hightail it out of a mess. When scouting sometimes you just end up going over the wrong ridge/around the wrong corner and suddenly you are zigzagging and torso twisting for your life trying to get out, you dont have a free hand to type so you spam "R", this lets your teammates that are following you that they may want to slow up and/or get into firing positions cause that light mech is probably bringing friends back to the group.

[xengk]

Remember kids;
Press "R" to MURDER

[Atomic Funk]

Yes sir I know about blundering into the hornets nest at speed. How about Identifying load out on enemy targets. When on forward scout, how do ID what the heavy hitters are carrying?

Also 7ynx, if your carrying ECM, and you are providing a missle shield, you also have the capability of toggling between counter and disrupt. Disrupt is the standard mode and creates a bubble around you and your team mates within range. Counter will stop the ECM of any enemy mech equipted and in range of your mech (to some extent). If your brave enough you can run in by the enemy ECM mech, and "uncloak" his team mates from their ECM bubble when in counter mode. Rule of thumb for me is when in your team group stay in DISRUPT, but when out away from your team, run in COUNTER.

[Atomic Funk]

RazorbeastFXK, if you find your recon toggling madly, call out on him to hold on a specific target of interest. I'm more than happy to stick my neck out and hold a special someone in lock if I know someone wants to cuddle up a couple of missle launches in his direction.

[Rogue Jedi]

If a UAV is up you can see hollow triangle Mechs without you having line of sight, so this, combined with NARC, could be part of what was confusing your teammates.

[RazorbeastFXK3]

As Eaerie stated.. in most cases the recon is panicking trying to retreat to cover before they get annihilated regardless if they have ECM or not so they start bashing the lockon button repeatedly because they think it'll notify their team where the enemy is. Unfortunately the recon normally just wanders off without telling anyone what they're doing as if we can read their minds.

Aside from that the only way to see the enemy contacts from a distance is to bring up the overall battle map and hit the key that brings up the name of the pilot who is on recon and hope that the recon holds a lock on one of the enemy in the group.

I understand that it's my fault for not caring enough to ask about the info the recon gathered while they rapidly spammed their lockon key. 'specially when they go on "omg u idiots! were r u!"

Fri Hjert, on 13 October 2014 - 12:43 PM, said:

RazorbeastFXK, if you find your recon toggling madly, call out on him to hold on a specific target of interest. I'm more than happy to stick my neck out and hold a special someone in lock if I know someone wants to cuddle up a couple of missle launches in his direction.

[Nightmare1]

Even if there are no LRM boats on your team, locking targets with R is critical for your own survival. It gives you information on the Mech's component health and active weapon systems, enabling you to make the best decision as to which parts of the Mech you should target first.

I recommend getting the Target Info Gathering Module. It significantly improves your target acquisition speed, giving you a bit extra targeting speed over your opponent. It's sweet when you couple that with an AC/20 round...

[DodgerH2O]

I made an in-depth post on this subject a while ago. It needs to be updated a bit, but it's 90+% accurate for the current game:

http://mwomercs.com/...targeting-tips/

[Atomic Funk]

RazorbeastFXK3, on 13 October 2014 - 04:49 PM, said:

As Eaerie stated.. in most cases the recon is panicking trying to retreat to cover before they get annihilated regardless if they have ECM or not so they start bashing the lockon button repeatedly because they think it'll notify their team where the enemy is. Unfortunately the recon normally just wanders off without telling anyone what they're doing as if we can read their minds.

Aside from that the only way to see the enemy contacts from a distance is to bring up the overall battle map and hit the key that brings up the name of the pilot who is on recon and hope that the recon holds a lock on one of the enemy in the group.

I understand that it's my fault for not caring enough to ask about the info the recon gathered while they rapidly spammed their lockon key. 'specially when they go on "omg u idiots! were r u!"

Razor, thats why its called "Team Play". [redacted]

If you find a target YOU like, sing out its targeting letter, and I promise to light him up like a Christmas Tree until DEATH, his or mine.

Edited by Egomane, 14 October 2014 - 02:30 AM.
No, he shouldn't!