97 replies to this topic

[Josef Nader]

LRMs are only easy mode in lower tiers where people stand in the open and complain loudly that the sky is falling all around them. LRMs are a lot more visible than gauss shells or laser hits, so they're what get complained about the most.

Frankly, anyone who brings a purely LRM mech with limited/no CQC capability is a fool. They're completely hit or miss with no capacity to dictate the match if the enemy team is smart enough to not stand in the open. Good LRM mechs carry a battery of backup weapons, decent speed and manuverability, and don't dump 10 tons into ammunition in the vain hope that they might be able to dump that much ammo in a match. Good LRM pilots spend most of their game positioning, working the flanks, choosing their shots (rather than firing at every red triangle that pops up), and when it comes down to it, they wade in and start knife fighting with the rest of them.

That said, if I had a nickle for every PUG who turned a corner to see an LRM boat at 200m and started backing up, rather than punching the throttle forward to pull the boat's nipples off, I'd be very rich.

[Satan n stuff]

Josef Nader, on 12 November 2014 - 11:27 AM, said:

That said, if I had a nickle for every PUG who turned a corner to see an LRM boat at 200m and started backing up, rather than punching the throttle forward to pull the boat's nipples off, I'd be very rich.

To be fair to the PUGs, you can't always immediately see it's an LRM boat, and sometimes the LRM boat has backup.

[Mitsuragi]

This topic is HILAROUS. My Unit decided we'd had enough of LRM's so we all equipped 1 or more Gauss rifles per mech and started putting up matches of 12 to 0/1/2/3 over and over again.

You really think LRM's are bad? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Go play with some Gauss/PPC teams and you'll come running back into the open arms of LRMboats.

I mean seriously just look at it like this:

- The best LRMboats will go 1200 meters.
- The best Gauss/PPC boats will go 1600+ meters.

- The best LRMboats will require 1-2 seconds to lock (or more if you're under ECM) and the missiles will have a flight time of 1 - 5 seconds (range dependent) for you to duck into cover.
- The best Gauss boats require 1-2 seconds to deliver 15-30 point alphas to your torso followed by PPC alpha of 10-20 points to the same location.

- The best LRMboats are defeated by cover, ECM, LOS (not the same as cover), AMS, and overheating (depending on config).
- The best Gauss/PPC boats are defeated by LOS...

Edited by Mitsuragi, 12 November 2014 - 11:37 AM.

[Siegegun]

Yeah your right Satan n stuff, I edited the misinformation out. for some reason I completely replaced lock with targeting info in my brain when I read the earlier posts.

Edited by Siegegun, 12 November 2014 - 11:34 AM.

[Lyoto Machida]

Macksheen, on 12 November 2014 - 06:21 AM, said:

Going to reply to these directly, because I think these ASSUME a style of LRM play that I certainly don't do - the slow, lob-lots-from-the-back boats.

Compare and contrast someone in a TBR (fairly mobile jumper) or Trebuchet (5J say) versus someone in an all LRM stalker. I can't speak to the recent rash of LRM AS7s I've seen, including the non-ECM D-DCs, so we'll leave them out.

A boater is standing in the back and praying ... fire ... fire ... fire.

The more mobile platform is shooting when he's got LoS or nearly so - perhaps firing his LRMs over the back of the DWF in front of him laying down ballistics. Cover is less relevant (except some places like the platform on Crimson, under HPG) as generally you're shooting at something you can also see. Incidentally, HPG underside is high enough for low-arc LRMs to be useful - and I surprise people with this from time to time who are shocked they can be killed by a combination of LRMs and lasers under there.

Anyway, your remarks are assuming some sort of non-moving cow-LRM-boat. Assumptions and all that.


I run LRMs from time to time. I've removed AMS from just about every mech I have, including all but one of my Kit Foxes. It's useful in the solo queue, but not as useful as all that. If I'm within 500M or so and LOS, AMS isn't going to stop much and I need to hit cover or get in the launcher's face.

Plus, many people who are running LRMs are, in fact, boating them ... and those are the easiest to avoid.


Echoing the other response to this. No, if I'm running LRMs and I see AMS launching but I still can get damage on the target then chain fire is the last thing I do.

Burning AMS is what you let the boats who have their cows loaded with 2000+ missiles do.

If I'm running LRMs in the solo queue, I consider AMS and LRM bloats on my team to be like courtship before an actual relationship. The infatuation may burn out quickly, with the AMS or LRM spam being expended or it may last a long time - but eventually you get to the real personal interactions of trying to put hot metal through someone else's cockpit.


Bloating LRMs is far less risky in the solo queue, as you can expect a moderately disorganized response. It hurts my mindset though if I ever want to bring them into the group queue, so I tend to avoid the bloating and instead stick to the skirmishing which translates equally well regardless of weapon types (direct, indirect, etc.)

Boaters staying in the rear relying on indirect locks are terrible LRM pilots. For some reason, this is how a lot of people perceive LRM play to be. In reality, that is an unskilled way to pilot an LRM mech.

I did this in a Treb 3C, the week before the quirks came out...didn't have 2000 rounds of ammo either. Kinda funny that an unquirked Trebuchet did that to them.

[Holdfast]

Why do I lrm? Because it's the only thing I seem to be at least vaguely competent at. Not sure if it's because I'm an old fart with the reflexes of a zombie with a hangover or because I play on a laptop and use the arm of the sofa as my mousepad (micro movements ftw...), I completely fail at pinpoint targeting.

On the other hand, when I play this HBK-4J lrm as a fast skirmisher I can be noticeably effective, and I like that. (Currently running 48 wins to 33 losses.) With the quirks, modules, and being elited, I can kick out 20 missiles every 1.25 seconds, and if I have a solid tag (which I usually do) I can do a whole lot of (mostly) pin point damage.

So, to sum up, because it's a lot more fun to melt a direwhale at 300 meters and live than it is to watch my ac20 shots miss, and then die.

[Hospy]

I like LRMs because they usually gives you something to do for most of the match. And also because the hardpoints are there. Either hang back and dry up your LRM racks before going in with your other weapons, or alternatively if you get mauled early on, drop back and provide LRM support if you still can.

My only mech that uses them as a primary weapon is the Trebuchet, but that's more because it's either you boat LRMs or SRMs, and while the SRM boat is super fun for when you actually get in range to use them, survival time isn't that great. Fast, mobile LRMs is actually pretty fun and you actually stay alive.

Yeah, I don't see the appeal of the slow 50 LRMs boats with no secondary armament either, but I imagine some people like the visual appeal of a billion missiles flying out.

[Vaderman]

Satan n stuff, on 12 November 2014 - 11:25 AM, said:

One ton of AMS ammo counters several tons of LRM ammo and your LRM launchers are going to be much heavier than the enemy AMS, so as an LRM user I suggest never ever doing this. Fire through AMS or don't fire, but don't try to waste their ammo because you'll only waste yours.

Yeah except every AMS near the flight path will engage. I'm depleting ams ammo from several mechs at a time, I'm also not alone. I'd rather try to punch damage through with my lancemates 15 racks than my 5 racks. The 5's keep multi ams busy while hopefully most of the larger ones punch through.

[Lyoto Machida]

Vaderman, on 12 November 2014 - 05:20 PM, said:

Yeah except every AMS near the flight path will engage. I'm depleting ams ammo from several mechs at a time, I'm also not alone. I'd rather try to punch damage through with my lancemates 15 racks than my 5 racks. The 5's keep multi ams busy while hopefully most of the larger ones punch through.

Yeah, except the premise is flawed because on average, there are 1.25 mechs per game carrying AMS at all (or something).

AMS is simply not worth it for the most part unless you're carrying two or more...even then, it's debatable at times.

[Vaderman]

Lyoto Machida, on 12 November 2014 - 07:10 PM, said:

Yeah, except the premise is flawed because on average, there are 1.25 mechs per game carrying AMS at all (or something).

AMS is simply not worth it for the most part unless you're carrying two or more...even then, it's debatable at times.

Your speed would be the determining factor I suppose, since you can't pick what maps you play on.

Some games you get a spastic flurry of ams from all directions, sometimes nothing. So the tactic would only apply in heavy AMS using games. You only need to do it when necessary.

[Bartholomew bartholomew]

If I see lots of AMS I look for the outliers not under the antimissile cover and lurm them down. Let direct fire take care of AMS and ECM mechs. When I am running direct fire my priority is always drop the ECM mechs first. And blow off kitfox AMS arms second, follow by jesters and other dual AMS. After all they are likely to be the freshest threats.

[Breaker76]

From my personal experience lrm usage increased more the last days (not that it wasn't high enough anyway)because of the change for the BAP making the game untolerable sometimes.
I think 360m is too much and range should return to 180m.
I propose that C3 function should be removed and lrms be allowed only direct LOS to lock and fire or indirect only in the case of NARC being used.That way u won't see anymore teams comprising of 3-4 lrm boats doing nothing else but camping and having a light spotter with BAP decimating the opponent thus making the game more fun to play.

[-Natural Selection-]

Crank up the heat on those ******** so people cant just sit there and plow out scores of them nonstop and all is well.

[Warglbargl]

There should be a lurm boat trial mech.

As it is none of the champions give you any sort of idea of what a specialized LRM carrier brings to the table. It is not a lot.

I spent my cadet bonus on a LRM boat, it led to me uninstalling game. If it wasn't for the BJ-1(C) being awesome I likely would not have come back and continued to play.

Edited by Warglbargl, 13 November 2014 - 01:08 AM.

[Mechwarrior Buddah]

The only way I can play the game after having had 3 surgeries - Radial Head replacement, Ulnar nerve release, and the big problem, Carpal Tunnel - Which makes it so that I really cant move my wrist laterally.

If it wasnt for this, I wouldnt be able to play the game at all for the next month if not longer.

Im also one of those all so nonexistant players who liked using support weapons back in TT and in past MW games.

All in all; its a weapon that I like because it isnt all about getting the best macro or the best aim or the best l33t skillz but something thats more bent on patience and teamwork.

If you arent patient, youll blow your ammo and hit nothing but air.

If you dont work with your team, you get run into a brawler and being dead.

As an aside, I never use either AMS or ECM

Edited by Mechwarrior Buddah, 13 November 2014 - 02:09 AM.

[Variant1]

yup that and you can shoot over hills with no one being able to retaliate, and since this is a team game min range is a joke. The only time you die is when your team dies.

[Satan n stuff]

Vaderman, on 12 November 2014 - 05:20 PM, said:

Yeah except every AMS near the flight path will engage. I'm depleting ams ammo from several mechs at a time, I'm also not alone. I'd rather try to punch damage through with my lancemates 15 racks than my 5 racks. The 5's keep multi ams busy while hopefully most of the larger ones punch through.

If there's more than 1 AMS shooting at your missiles that means there's more ammo for them too, which in turn means you would need to fire a whole lot more ammo to run them dry.
You are never going to counter AMS with chain LRM5 spam, it doesn't work, ever. You'll just run out of ammo without doing anyone any good, and the best part is that your LRM5s are the most accurate launchers, so those would be the ones you want to not get shot down.
I'm sorry, but you just failed at logic and at LRMs.