104 replies to this topic

[juxstapo]

On the "being green" note. If you sprung for a Phoenix pack, take the Phoenix gray out for awhile.

EDIT: For some reason it reflects the map's ambient light color really really well

.
EDIT EDIT: OMG! PTW!!
Everyone promptly forget I said anything!!!

Edited by juxstapo, 02 December 2014 - 07:27 PM.

[Saiphas Cain]

juxstapo, on 02 December 2014 - 07:11 PM, said:

On the "being green" note. If you sprung for a Phoenix pack, take the Phoenix gray out for awhile.

That's some incredible blending there. Phoenix Grey you say? My current scheme is three shades of dark grey/brown on everything and seems to help in some situations. At the leat it makes my Raven very difficult to spot at ranges beyond targeting ( ECM ).

( Also, before anyone talks about e-honour, I don't care. I'm not happy that you're not warned about someplace like Mordor before dropping in energy heavy builds so I have no qualms about having a paintjob that actually reflects every environment. )

Shar Wolf, thanks for catching that. I've been off a few days. But yes, when I first got a Centurion I wondered why the hell the missiles weren't working right before I did a search on the bug and found missile doors. SRM's are really useless with doors closed. The enemy is no longer where you're aiming by the time they open to fire. Even LRM's I would find questionable with the delays.

Edited by Saiphas Cain, 03 December 2014 - 09:55 AM.

[mad kat]

Use those duff arms wisely friends they are shields if your being given the bad news and you have an empty arm let that poor component take the grief so you can turn back when your foe is cooling down and give him/her the bad news in return.

Also 40-45 armour on your legs is usually enough as most people aim ctr mass unless they're full of ac20/SRM ammo of course.

Edited by mad kat, 04 December 2014 - 02:21 AM.

[Saiphas Cain]

juxstapo, on 02 December 2014 - 07:11 PM, said:

... If you sprung for a Phoenix pack, ...

... If you sprung for a Phoenix pack, ...

... If you sprung for a Phoenix pack, ...

... If you sprung for a Phoenix pack, ...


Yea. Missed that the first time. And here I am searching through the greys. Ah well, the generic ones aren't bad I suppose. They're not polished to a chrome-like finish but they'll have to do.

[Armando]

Mr Huge, on 23 November 2014 - 04:33 PM, said:

do not slap on Active Probes on anything that doesn't have missiles

While I agree with the vast majority of your suggestions this is one that IMHO is just straight up WRONG.

There are MANY reason to put BAP on non missile meachs...

1) Critical Protection.

Any shoulder mounter AC/20 should also have BAP....if for no other reason than critical protection. Two AS7-D-DCs going toe to toe...one has BAP in AC/20 shoulder the other does not. The D-DC who does have it, will hear bitching Betty tell them "Beagle Active Probe destroyed" and will still have the AC/20 pumping out damage, while the other just hears Betty tell them they lost their AC/20. Critical protection is one of the many small differences between armatures and pros IMO. The same is true with STK-M pilots that carry an AC/20. BAP will soak 10 points of damage to internals and should be used on ALL shoulder mounter AC/20 mechs.

2) Any Fire Support / Long range mech (especially true for any mech that has a Gauss and doubly so for dual Gauss).

Another of the small differences between armatures and pros is the use of the "R" key to lock up targets, and the use of the target information to stop weak components to be targeted. Pro Fire Support use BAP for the 25% increased sensor range (find those weak spots baby), while noobs never even bother to hit the "R" key to begin with.

3) Kill the coward.

The match is 'almost' over...your team has killed 11 of the enemies, but their last pilot is too chicken shiat to take it like a man (ohs noes, I no want my K/D to suffer) and proceeds to run off to a corner and shut down. Unless you enjoy wasting time, equip a BAP and use it to track down and kill the coward.

__________________________________

oh...there is that whole, counters ECM thing too.

Edited by Armando, 10 December 2014 - 10:36 PM.

[VileFalcon]

Pretend to be dead.

This trick is simply shutting down your mech at the right time, only to have your opponent break off their attack because they believe you have been destroyed.

This is obviously very situational, and has a high degree of getting you killed. I've only employed it in situations where I would have died anyway, and its not worked all the time.

For example: Canyon Network where a single enemy Dire Wolf was caught out by its self. There was a light bothering it so I joined in the fight in a HBK-4G. We did some damage, but clearly we weren't going to win. I was in the wrong place; in the Dire Wolf's crosshairs, taking a lot of damage. Unable to escape up the sides of the canyon and loosing limbs rapidly the only chance to stay alive in the was to pretend to be dead.

The timing is crucial, you have to shutdown right after receiving a large hit, preferably whilst loosing a limb. The explosion, the smoke and the pressure your opponent is under are all factors which mean you fall off their mental radar. If the enemy is pressured by other attackers, they will have even less time to think about whether you are actually dead or not.

In my case, I shutdown amidst smoke and the flashing internal lights of the cockpit to watch the Dire Wolf stomp past, battling a storm crow that had joined the fight. Once past, I started up again and resumed the attack from behind with the remaining single laser.

Factors I consider to improve your chances:

- Heavy damage, smoke and multiple missing limbs.
- Driving the mech against a wall to make it genuinely look dead and propped up by the wall.
- Standing in the smoke of another downed mech.
- The amount of pressure the opponent is under.
- The complexity of terrain around you, open space makes you very obvious.

[DONTOR]

Very nice indeed, I was about to write something about the flamer, but you included it second!

[Dexter Herbivore]

If you get behind a mech in a light, and you don't think that they're distracted enough to be able to get through their rear armour, fire at their legs instead. It gives them no directional indication if they're not paying attention and they waste precious seconds trying to work out if you're to their side or directly behind.

[Dexter Herbivore]

In CW, ignore mechs completely when attacking. Mechs aren't your target, target 1 are the gates, target 2 are the turrets, target 3 is the cannon. If you can get a shot on a turret, ignore the mech standing in front of you, walk past them and hit a turret instead. Obviously if you have no other immediate targets then feel free to use your firepower on the insignificant secondary targets.

[Apocryph0n]

If you are in a light with tons of JJs (Spider, Mist Lynx etc.) you can and you should push the douchbaggery-knob past 11 and sit on top of level geometry where no one else can go (huge satellite thing on Mining Collective, the Antenna of HPG, the trees on top of the plateus on Bog etc.) and start grinding away at enemies below you. (Not a lot of mechs can Aim directly above them)

Also jumping on enemy Direwolves and Crabs is fun when you have arm mounted weapons that can shoot the mech you are standing on. (as said before)

If you accidentally rush into a group of enemies and realize you are going to die: JJ behind a more fragile opponent, so that his own team might kill him while they were trying to get rid of that pesky litttle light mech. (Perfect if they have AC40 mechs that want the "easy kill" that you are)

If chased by other mechs in a Locust: Place Air Strikes in front of you while running. After a while you will know where exactly to put them so you can AirStrike your followers while shooting them in the face as well.

Locusts can completely submerge in the water on River City and Forest Colony. Took some mechs ages to realize what was lasering their legs off under water. Shark attack!

Sometimes it is good taking air strikes with you, lots of people walk backwards, expecting an arty, making Maverick hit them straight in the kisser. Thanks Maverick!

Edited by Apocryph0n, 05 January 2015 - 05:46 AM.

[TripleEhBeef]

There's one tip everyone missed.

Disable arm lock.

I still remember a game where a guy in a trial Boomjack couldn't shoot a guy directly below him because he was using arm lock. Instead he jumped down and got wasted.

[terrycloth]

Or at least learn to disable arm lock when needed. It's actually helpful to keep turned on most of the time -- the camera and crosshairs get really wobbly with it off for some reason, even if your arms aren't moving anywhere.

[Alaskan Nobody]

terrycloth, on 05 January 2015 - 04:34 PM, said:

Or at least learn to disable arm lock when needed. It's actually helpful to keep turned on most of the time -- the camera and crosshairs get really wobbly with it off for some reason, even if your arms aren't moving anywhere.

My camera and crosshairs do not - but I will try to remember that for if/when I see anyone else having that problem.

[zudukai]

terrycloth, on 05 January 2015 - 04:34 PM, said:

the camera and crosshairs get really wobbly with it off for some reason

i run without lock usually, and my crosshairs only move seprately is when i turn and twist...

?

[TripleEhBeef]

terrycloth, on 05 January 2015 - 04:34 PM, said:

Or at least learn to disable arm lock when needed. It's actually helpful to keep turned on most of the time -- the camera and crosshairs get really wobbly with it off for some reason, even if your arms aren't moving anywhere.

Odd, I haven't seen that either.

I just have Hold Arm Lock matched to Shift so I can synch up my weapons for that alpha shot. Other than that, I find it's always beneficial to be unlocked. For one, lock on missiles acquire locks based on your arm crosshair, not your torso one. Plus mechs like the Hunch and Commando can basically shoot behind themselves due to their arm and torso movement arcs.

[Yoda Nerd]

TY been very helpful !

[mailin]

Here are a few more.

1) All IS mechs mount their ECM in the same spot . . . LT.

2) Fire one alpha at an enemy's legs to see if they stripped too much armor off of them. If they took a lot of damage, lather, rinse, repeat.

3) If you are behind enemy lines with a tag, tag the enemy legs. There's a greatly reduced chance of being spotted this way. Also, tag the enemy closest to you.

4) If you have a sniping weapon and are spotting for lrms, fire your weapon at the same time as your friendly lrms hit. Less chance of being detected.

5) Carry an arty/airstrike and UAV. Whenever possible drop them both at the same time. The enemy will try to scatter to avoid the arty and are less likely to see the UAV.

6) The left eye on an Atlas is the cockpit.

Edited by mailin, 06 January 2015 - 03:34 PM.

[Nachthund]

When you square off against lrm mechs get in close to within 180m and not back away from them. Most of them only carry a couple medium lasers. IS mechs do no dmg under 180m and clans if you can keep moving you can shrug most of their missiles off you.

You can turn AMS off. This is good for the opening minutes of the game to where the enemy lrm boats are trying to get opening hits on your team. Just remember to turn it back on when the fight gets to the brawling phase or you run into those pesky ssrm boats.

[Nightmare1]

VileFalcon, on 11 December 2014 - 02:30 PM, said:

Pretend to be dead.

Video lesson of how this works:



Twitch version:
http://www.twitch.tv...arejk/c/5825600

[ExoForce]

terrycloth, on 05 January 2015 - 04:34 PM, said:

Or at least learn to disable arm lock when needed. It's actually helpful to keep turned on most of the time -- the camera and crosshairs get really wobbly with it off for some reason, even if your arms aren't moving anywhere.

Yes, I got cockpit stucked to left many times (arm lock bug). Hitting ESC ESC helps.

Edited by ExoForce, 12 January 2015 - 06:49 AM.