121 replies to this topic

[Belazaar]

No matter what the role. The unit needs to stick together. If you speed away from the slower mechs then you split the team making it easier for the stationary full team to pick off those coming into range.

[Morticia Mellian]

Assaults general responsibility are to be tanks who lead charges, and provide heavy fire support.

While a light can run to harass, hit and run, and be the distracting squirrel, they cannot the head of charge. While I can scout ahead, can't take lead.

Assaults and even Heavies need to move in together to start a charge with the Light and Medium right behind or on the flanks. More often than not, this leads to victory for the team.

[Morticia Mellian]

Oh, one my favourite experiences is someone with a Champion or whatever ECM Atlas. They declared before the match started that they will take lead, just need to be pointed to where the enemy are. So I made a point to stay near with my Cicada 3M.

When the bulk of the opposing team were hitting our team left flank, the Atlas took a bit of detour to push their left flank, tanking them like a pro as they took on 3-4 mechs out of in the open a bit. As they did that, I used the Atlas as cover, poking out to provide 3x Medium Pulse support fire on whichever mech they were shooting at or suppress the opposing mechs.

After a few mechs day and some lancemates joining me in supporting the Atlas. we crippled the opposing team and we had the match by that point. It was glorious.

Yes, Assaults can have a valid and effective role.

[Scyther]

While other people may 'expect you' to play in whatever way suits them best, it's a red herring. Ignore it.

You are either playing to have fun in whatever way you enjoy best, or to maximize wins/rewards in a competitive environment.

If maxing wins/rewards is your goal, then your 'ideal' setup is for lights to fan out and spot, staying roughly within weapons range of the assaults (no point spotting what your team can't hit, normally).

Mediums should be flanking out to get angled shots on the spotted targets, again within weapons range of the assaults.(This also means they aren't blocking shots from the heavies and assaults)

The heavies and assaults should be heading for the largest number of targets, and to form a firing line. By the time the assaults are in range they should be firing on weakened/distracted targets to finish them off quickly.

By this point the lights and meds should be harassing/skirmishing/distracting/still spotting, as well as moving back to deal with harassers in your own backyard. (With an eye to breaking up enemy formations with distraction)

Heavies and Assaults should be focusing fire on largest threats and most easily eliminated targets.

So for the max benefit to the "entire team" (as opposed to any given class), that is why scouts shouldn't be running way ahead / off solo, assaults (usually) should not be sitting in the back sniping and LRMing, and mediums and heavies shouldn't be ramboing off trying to score solo kills.

Normally 'most advantage to the team' will result in more advantage to the individual as well.

Edited by MadBadger, 08 March 2015 - 10:43 AM.

[MechWarrior3671771]

"An assault mech's biggest weakness is its inability to turn quickly and deal with lights at close range, thus the need to be escorted."

I've been meaning to ask: since lights also need to scout and get locks, why aren't the meds & heavies the ones tasked with escort duty? Don't they usually wind up in a ball with the assaults anyway?

[Clint Steel]

Evan20k, on 07 March 2015 - 09:07 AM, said:

As a dedicated assault pilot, I guess I'll chime in here.

An assault mech's biggest weakness is its inability to turn quickly and deal with lights at close range, thus the need to be escorted. If the assault lance draws the short straw and the NASCAR game starts quickly, they can very often get left behind and dumped into a 4v9 or something situation.

The assault's job, contrary to popular belief isn't taking damage for the rest of the team. Given the sheer amount of firepower any mech can pack if they're dedicated to doing so, your additional armor will melt just like any other mech if you get focused. Your job is to provide a backbone for the team when pushing forward and a rally point for the team when retreating. You should be the second wave into a push, because unlike heavies/mediums, you lack the mobility to retreat if the push is unsustainable. Once you commit, you're committed to the push. Because of your higher heat cap, you can stay in extended combat longer than a lot of other mechs, making you very effective at area denial. Once your heavies and mediums help you get into position, you're able to singlehandedly lock out large areas of the map/firefight with your firepower.

Also your team will blame you for everything that goes wrong, regardless of whether or not it's your fault.


EDIT: Incidentally, this is why the Atlas is so ineffective. Assault mechs shouldn't be the first one in, yet the common brawler Atlas has an effective range of 240m, so it seldom gets to deal any damage unless the other team is unorganized and scattered.

All of this.

Assaults are like your siege equipment, they do tons of damage if brought to bear but can easily be taken out by a maneuverable enemy.

[Eider]

Mudhutwarrior, on 07 March 2015 - 10:21 AM, said:

The way this game is setup there are no roles. Only your load out decides how to play it. I would like to see clearly defined roles at some point but with the way it stands I doubt that will ever happen.

I would say this perception is the problem. While i can indeed fill most roles in most any mech i find certain classes are more suited. Assault? should be attacking but careful not to overpush *heavy weapons guy*. Light *harassers and scouts*, should be scouting primarily and attacking once its in a more advantagious situation *such as attacking within its lance from the rear, careful not to hit your own* Mediums i find can put out damage but die fast *pop tars and peekaboos* And of course heavies.. wich can do it all now but typically not god mode *cough timber cough*

[MechWarrior5152251]

The irony is that assault mechs are the most vulnerable mechs on the battle field. If I want to last to the end of a match I take a light or fast assault mech like a Timberwolf.

The only assault that can put out enough damage to justify being the focus of most enemy fire is the Dire Wolf. Dire Wolves still die fast, but can usually take a mech or 2 with them with their insane dps. Most IS assaults are so weak that the enemy does not even bother focus firing them, so they sometimes last a while.

[Ultimax]

When I play my assaults I feel my role is to dish out as much damage or kills as possible, and to attract as much enemy fire when possible.

The slower the Assault the more they need to rely on the team to do those two things, and often team mates make it challenging.


Some things I try to do to support assaults (in faster mechs):

1) Move to them at match start, not away.
2) Don't cramp their movement.
3) Let them have "right of way" for prime firing positions - they can't adjust as easily and lack the speed to duck in and out to fire.
4) Stay on their flanks when pushing as opposed to diving into the center of the team's firing line - this is both good for them but also good for me. (i.e. let them have the center when it makes sense)

Edited by Ultimatum X, 08 March 2015 - 07:56 PM.

[anonymous161]

Leaving your assaults behind to be taken out by lights is just dumb. You need them for punch when the lines are drawn.

[KraftySOT]

Zypher, on 08 March 2015 - 10:04 AM, said:

They have no purpose in MWO, they would excel in close range brawling, but there is almost no place in a game where an assault can sit with it's short range weapons primed without the enemy coming from a different direction negating all it's advantages. MWO is about peak abo, alpha, and mobility, heavies just do an all round better job. A lot of this is due to the lack of objectives in the game, or at least the ability to defend and important objective in cover or in a choke point.

Back in the day with MWLL, you would see assaults park behind a wall at a capture point and wait, in some cases single handedly taking out multiple opponents. The best was to deal with it was with other close ranged assaults that could turn a corner and duke it out.

Assaults are a liability generally speaking, a decent enemy knows how to pick them a part without ever being in their cross hairs. The most successful assaults are usually so because of their team first, and their skill second.

This.

Its the same in the TT. Theres one specific thing they do. And the only time you need them to do it, is when the other guy has assaults in such a situation. Every other instance ever, a heavy is better.

You cant be running around unable to move a hex, and turn around in the same turn. Its asking to be ass ***** by something a 5th of your Battle Value.

[S204STi]

Sarlic, on 08 March 2015 - 07:15 AM, said:

I like to keep it simple.

Assaults are the cornerstone of your team. Play around them.

I'm still a newbie here, but if I'm playing Assault I link up with the rest of my team, and try to stay on the front line. If I'm in anything but an assault, I link up with the assault lance and stick with them. Team is ****** if that lance gets caught up by the other team and nobody is there to support them.

Quote

Yes, it's that simple.

Unfortunatly most people dont acknowledge this nor have the right builds to be a cornerstone when they're driving a Assault.

This is tough for players with lower game counts like myself. I tend to just avoid playing them for the most part right now because I'm unable to play to their potential.

Edited by S204STi, 08 March 2015 - 10:06 PM.

[Joseph Mallan]

Fenrisulvyn, on 08 March 2015 - 01:25 PM, said:

I've been meaning to ask: since lights also need to scout and get locks, why aren't the meds & heavies the ones tasked with escort duty? Don't they usually wind up in a ball with the assaults anyway?

Logic is simply not followed by the masses Fenis. You need to be less logical if you want to make your point understood.

[A Large Infant]

With the 3/3/3/3 system the trio of assault mechs bring the bulk of the team's armor capacity and should be utilized from that standpoint. LRM assaults make a lot of sense from a lore perspective but not in a 3/3/3/3 perspective. I was in a match recently where we were hunting for the last man of the enemy team. My catapult and I ran past an LRM Awesome in pursuit of the enemy. The Awesome was still fairly unscathed at 95% health while I was nearing death at 38% health. This doesn't make sense in a 3/3/3/3 system. If he had been there to take some of those hits I had received it would have cut back on the amount of skill required to lose 62% of my mech and still be hanging in there. To put it another way it would have made victory easier.

[EGG]

I suspect the answer isn't clearly defined, as the variegated responses in this thread have shown.

I see it as three things:

• Discourage opportunistic enemy pushes: if a bunch of enemy mediums/heavies are scouting around, they'll often hold back on mounting a push if there's an intact assault nearby that they can't get a firing line on to soften up. This won't discourage them if they have, say 2 DWF's in the push, but it will put off lesser efforts.

• Adding armour/firepower to the second line of pushes. Something that isn't as potentially dangerous as an assault needs to go first. If an AS7/KGC/DWF crests the ridge/corner, the enemy will focus fire on it to the exclusion of all else until it goes down. However if a couple of mediums/lights go first and then bail for cover, the enemy will split up their firing.

• Provide direction to the team, generally the team will cluster to the assaults and follow them where they go. So the assaults need to not lead them into areas of the map that are deathtraps.

This is all in the pug queue. In 12 mans you can probably not worry so much about 2 and 3.

[PurpleNinja]

An assault should kill everything on the battlefield except the lights.
Lights should be killed by streakcrows.

[PitchBlackYeti]

First responsibility of a pilot of any mech class is to have fun. Or at least perhaps not at the expense of your teammates

[Lostdragon]

Meeso Thorny, on 09 March 2015 - 03:24 AM, said:

With the 3/3/3/3 system the trio of assault mechs bring the bulk of the team's armor capacity and should be utilized from that standpoint. LRM assaults make a lot of sense from a lore perspective but not in a 3/3/3/3 perspective. I was in a match recently where we were hunting for the last man of the enemy team. My catapult and I ran past an LRM Awesome in pursuit of the enemy. The Awesome was still fairly unscathed at 95% health while I was nearing death at 38% health. This doesn't make sense in a 3/3/3/3 system. If he had been there to take some of those hits I had received it would have cut back on the amount of skill required to lose 62% of my mech and still be hanging in there. To put it another way it would have made victory easier.

Even with the hitbox adjustments the AWS is not as durable as the CPLT. A lot of AWS pilots also run XL engines, which combined with their giant torsos makes them an easy target. Whenever I see an AWS I typically think, "Alright, free kill!" The AWS just does not have the durability to stand up front and try to soak damage so it is relegated to roles like sniping and LRM support.

[Water Bear]

Just ask yourself how you would use all these mechs if MWO were an overhead strategy game and all twelve mechs were under your control.

In the current environment, tanking doesn't really exist. The biggest contribution from assaults is firepower. Their biggest weakness is obviously their speed.

There is a saying: Victory may not rest with the big guns but if we rest in front of the big guns all is lost. Assault mechs are like that. If your team has them, the enemy team doesn't and you death ball, you are almost guaranteed to win any fight your team takes.

Lostdragon, on 09 March 2015 - 05:07 AM, said:

Even with the hitbox adjustments the AWS is not as durable as the CPLT. A lot of AWS pilots also run XL engines, which combined with their giant torsos makes them an easy target. Whenever I see an AWS I typically think, "Alright, free kill!" The AWS just does not have the durability to stand up front and try to soak damage so it is relegated to roles like sniping and LRM support.

Yep. I own 4 awesomes, 3 have XL engines because a 53 kph awesome dies even faster than an XL Awesome. You hit the nail on the head.

[Almond Brown]

Evan20k, on 07 March 2015 - 09:18 AM, said:

I'm sure you're a lovely team player.

Give him some kudo's. He did reveal his style of play. "Run off to the other side of the map and die quickly".

mike29tw, on 07 March 2015 - 09:23 AM, said:

If you want to keep up with the team at all time, consider a medium or heavy mech.

If I see enemy maneuvering into an advantageous position over our team, I'm going to move out of the killbox instead of sitting right next to our sub-60 kph assault mech and "support" it.

So your a big fan of Assault Mechs with XL's then? It just keeps getting better with this one.