30 replies to this topic

[pwnface]

Scout out the gates to watch for an enemy light mech rush, you can and will see them coming way before they get to your gate.

If they are zerging with lights, call which side they are coming from and have your team engage as soon as they jump over the gate. Focus on legging mechs and then move on to another target, a legged light mech is ZERO threat to your orbital cannon and your base defenses are more than capable of mopping them up for you. If they stop to fight you, you've effectively broken their rush to the base. If they try to ignore you it is incredibly easy to leg lights that you are chasing in a light mech.

If the enemy team is not running a light mech zerg rush, group up your team of 12 lights at a gate and jump over together. Focus down assault and heavy mechs first before working on mediums then lights. You will often be able to take out 2-3 mechs very quickly with proper focus fire.

From my experience so far, worst case scenario it is an even trade (or close to it) of 12 mechs to 12 mechs except for the fact that you've only lost a very small percentage of your tonnage compared to all the assaults and heavy mechs the enemy team just lost.

Best case scenario, the enemy team split up to attack more than one gate. You can wolfpack down one group before moving to crush the other group. In one match, our team was able to kill off 15 enemy mechs including several assault and heavy mechs before we lost our 1st light mech.

Taking the fight to the enemy is a great way to catch the attacking team off guard and gain an early advantage while still being very capable of defending against a light zerg rush.

Pro tip: Nobody brings streak boats in a first wave attacking force.

Updated with new video

Edited by pwnface, 30 December 2014 - 04:31 PM.

[AlmightyAeng]

I love when they open the gate and go through, or when they JJ over the gate. It's like someone shouted "pull!" and it's open season on legs.

Edited by Ghost Badger, 15 December 2014 - 12:48 PM.

[pwnface]

Ghost Badger, on 15 December 2014 - 12:48 PM, said:

I love when they open the gate and go through, or when they JJ over the gate. It's like someone shouted "pull!" and it's open season on legs.

I don't get what this has to do with my original post, but yes shooting light mechs in mid air is fun.

[ContingencyPlan]

I've had this tactic used against me while attacking and it actually made for a very fun encounter. They rushed after we opened the gate to find themselves faced by a bunch of med/heavy mechs and it made for a very fun fight. I was in a Yen Lo Wang and I myself took out 3 of them with "lucky" AC20 shots before going down myself. I say "lucky" because hitreg issues meant a lot of shots dealt no damage, even against ones that were already legged and essentially stationary. It was a lot of fun and they essentially "sacrificed" 2 full waves of lights to our initial attacking force before bringing out heavier mechs and and pulling a "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!"

[AlmightyAeng]

pwnface, on 15 December 2014 - 12:53 PM, said:

I don't get what this has to do with my original post, but yes shooting light mechs in mid air is fun.

I guess I'm saying there are other ways that work just fine, too, like aiming a large alpha and insta-legging. Stops light rushes pretty fast.

[pwnface]

Well, the point was for the defending force to go on offense before the gates are open. I'm not sure how effective it would be if you waited for the attacking team to be set up and ready to push through the gates. I really do enjoy running 12 light mechs together though, it is very difficult for the enemy team to focus on any one mech and very easy for us to pick out one or two targets to take down quickly.

[Satan n stuff]

You know, I just had a team try that reverse light rush on us, and they ended up getting slaughtered. They only managed to kill two of our mechs and run my Huginn out of ammo, after two waves. We crushed them in our fourth.

[ContingencyPlan]

Satan n stuff, on 15 December 2014 - 01:04 PM, said:

You know, I just had a team try that reverse light rush on us, and they ended up getting slaughtered. They only managed to kill two of our mechs and run my Huginn out of ammo, after two waves. We crushed them in our fourth.

Yup. Reverse light rush is tricky because IS mechs packing ACs and pulse lasers utterly destroy lights. And this will become even more prevalent when hitreg is eventually fixed.

[pwnface]

Satan n stuff, on 15 December 2014 - 01:04 PM, said:

You know, I just had a team try that reverse light rush on us, and they ended up getting slaughtered. They only managed to kill two of our mechs and run my Huginn out of ammo, after two waves. We crushed them in our fourth.

I guess as with any tactic, your mileage may vary. If you end up in a full on 12v12 the light mechs are at a disadvantage and need to focus fire and take down as much tonnage as possible. If you have 12 light mechs running around firing freely in brawl mode they will get mopped up rather quickly. If you actually rush quickly enough with your 12 lights though, you can often catch mechs before their team has all regroup. Having a numbers advantage can be quite important in deciding when to engage.

[pwnface]

I think I have some videos of this that I can post up later. Will update when I get off of work.

Edited by pwnface, 15 December 2014 - 01:57 PM.

[Levi Porphyrogenitus]

I had an enemy pull this on me last night. I think it was a Liao premade. They tore up our first wave pretty well, though they suffered a bit for it and my second mech in popped three of them right off. We almost recovered, but the initial mech deficit left us just unable to pull off that last push on the gun. It was certainly a surprise to see them coming in the opening moments of the game, and it sort of scrambled our tactics for the rest of the match.

[Lily from animove]

soon everyone runs in their precious unhitable lights, until a fix probably appears making them cry rivers.

How about some true tactics not relying on borked game mechanics?

[pwnface]

Lily from animove, on 15 December 2014 - 02:04 PM, said:

soon everyone runs in their precious unhitable lights, until a fix probably appears making them cry rivers.

How about some true tactics not relying on borked game mechanics?

You seem to QQ a lot about light mechs, while hitreg is kind of crappy right now the way you complain about them makes it seem like you have more of an aiming problem than anything. Once in a while a shot won't register, it isn't as if 50% of shots are disappearing into thin air.

[Daemir]

Lily from animove, on 15 December 2014 - 02:04 PM, said:

soon everyone runs in their precious unhitable lights, until a fix probably appears making them cry rivers.

How about some true tactics not relying on borked game mechanics?

Until they run into a clan streak counter and get shot like fish in a barrel. Streaks don't give 2 ***** about hit reg.

[pwnface]

Unfortunately, IS teams don't have SSRM6 boats like clans do. Anti-light mediums running 4 SSRM2s can do something similar though, albeit less effective.

[Y E O N N E]

Much less effective. 270 m range and lower density volley will do that. Barring a change in tactics and choice of 'Mechs, I feel that well-aimed PPCs and, dare I say it, LB-10X are better for IS anti-Light work.

[pwnface]

2x Gauss is pretty deadly against lights if you can aim. Much more effective than LB10X

[Y E O N N E]

It sure is, but two Gauss are also constrained to a few 'Mechs. If you're using Streaks, though, you probably can't aim because almost anything is better if you can aim. The LB-10X is the next best thing to scoring a hit with Streaks if you have trouble aiming, and it's better because it still provides some ability to focus damage. Assuming you're also blasting away with lasers, it'll open up and crit out a fragile Light pretty quickly.

[Widowmaker1981]

pwnface, on 15 December 2014 - 04:44 PM, said:

Unfortunately, IS teams don't have SSRM6 boats like clans do. Anti-light mediums running 4 SSRM2s can do something similar though, albeit less effective.

And that doesnt matter, because clans dont have any decent light mechs anyway.......... IS should NOT be running streaks in CW .. well maybe unless its IS vs IS actually, but even then streaks are pretty bad unless you're running epic numbers (like streak 24 minimum)

Edited by Widowmaker1981, 16 December 2014 - 02:48 AM.

[pwnface]

I've updated this with a video of the tactic. I haven't been doing much streaming/recording recently so this is the only example I currently have. We have gone 15-0 in kills in one match when the enemy team is split up though.