27 replies to this topic

[thehwdge]

I recently invested in the king crab mech after playing with some of the light mechs and my god this is by far the most frustrating thing i've ever experienced

in almost 3/4 of my matches, there will be some light, medium, or heavy mech just sitting behind me, blocking me off from moving backwards when the lrms start pouring in, i thought that they were trying to push up with me but then you realize that they're actively trying to use you as a shield

no joke, i spent a whole three minutes trapped between a tree and 2 lrm boats in the swamp map

is there something i can do, position myself so that this doesn't happen too often

[Drakkith]

If someone is blocking you from moving for more than a few seconds I'd rake a laser or shoot them with a low damage weapon to get their attention. Chat's always an option too, but a lot of people don't read chat when combat is happening. That being said, if you've advanced and suddenly try to back up and find yourself blocked by a mech, that's pretty common. Mech's are walking tanks after all, not gymnasts. If I have an assault backing their ass into my face I usually stomp on the reverse pedal and clear out of their way as fast as I can, but this still takes time.

[Tarogato]

Drakkith, on 08 March 2015 - 07:10 PM, said:

If someone is blocking you from moving for more than a few seconds I'd rake a laser or shoot them with a low damage weapon to get their attention. ...

I sometimes do this as well, usually accompanied with a message in chat.

Once I was in one of my Wolverines and I had a wad of enemies chasing me to the arch on Forest Colony, and when I got to the arch, there was a friendly Direwolf in the way and I tried to pass him, but he turned into me, so I tried to pass him on the other side, and he just started slowly backing up and turning around and I just couldn't get around him, meanwhile my mech was getting shot up by the enemies that were behind me. So I scrapped the Direwolfs face with a laser and typed "MOVE DWF" in chat and by the time I got past him, I was cored, and the DWF was irritated at me, so he legged me and called me an array of colourful names. I had to strongly resist the urge to teamkill him in the rear CT as he stomped off and left me to die.

So yeah, if people get in your way, you can shoot them. But prepare for them to shoot back.

[Helsbane]

Doorstops eat bullets.

[Bluttrunken]

Drakkith, on 08 March 2015 - 07:10 PM, said:

If I have an assault backing their ass into my face I usually stomp on the reverse pedal and clear out of their way as fast as I can, but this still takes time.

That's why you keep distance to the backs of your teammates depending on how fast your mech is. I'd say around 10-20m minimum.

It's frustrating and a waste of armor OR can get you killed or incapacitate you so heavily that you lose alot of value to your team.

Edited by k05h3lk1n, 08 March 2015 - 08:06 PM.

[Bloody]

teamate ass crawling is a thing. The main thing to avoid to simply to not get put into a position that some random can use you as a convenient mobile shield. Be 100% aware of where you are and to move back safely early.

and if you are in an assault mech then just do unto them before they do unto you, leg them and then leave them to be eaten by the enemy.

[Nothing Whatsoever]

Use your minimap proactively. If you see a teammate sticking too close behind, expect to get blocked.

Just gotta improve your awareness and plan ahead.

It sucks, but that's how the cookie crumbles sometimes!

[zudukai]

i usually call out for people to mind their spacing in the chat, but honestly if they do not understand that they or you are getting shot, then they still have yet to experience it.

that being said, mechs are sometimes very slow, and sometimes, the pilots... even slower, however most people can understand that they are much bigger then the peephole they see from and eventually could get it but when it happens, you need to react to it immediately, forget the chat, forget the voip, and move,

turn another 90* or advance to another corner.



there is another token to this problem all the same...

when your team tries to attack and folks start stopping in the way of other mechs or worse, reversing into the charging allies, it can be just as devastating to a team.

Edited by zudukai, 08 March 2015 - 10:48 PM.

[Rogue Jedi]

if I am behind an ally I try to be off to the side and keep 50-75 from it, that gives me time to react if he does decide to for example backup into my laser beam or wants to withdraw

[Dino Might]

Friendly reminder - do not EVER rear hug a light, especially as said light is poking around a corner.

One - lights accelerate much faster than you, so chances are you will probably be in their way, and they will die a quick death from getting blocked out in the open because you had to hug their butt.

Two - lights rely on cover to survive and must have space available to return to cover rapidly, so chances are you will probably be in their way, and they will die a quick death from getting blocked out in the open because you had to hug their butt.

Three - lights have enough to deal with trying to scout enemy positions and dodge fire without worrying about what teammates are behind them, and their fastest route to safety is usually straight back, so chances are you will probably be in their way, and they will die a quick death from getting blocked out in the open because you had to hug their butt.

[Finkledbody]

Tarogato, on 08 March 2015 - 07:35 PM, said:

I sometimes do this as well, usually accompanied with a message in chat.

Once I was in one of my Wolverines and I had a wad of enemies chasing me to the arch on Forest Colony, and when I got to the arch, there was a friendly Direwolf in the way and I tried to pass him, but he turned into me, so I tried to pass him on the other side, and he just started slowly backing up and turning around and I just couldn't get around him, meanwhile my mech was getting shot up by the enemies that were behind me. So I scrapped the Direwolfs face with a laser and typed "MOVE DWF" in chat and by the time I got past him, I was cored, and the DWF was irritated at me, so he legged me and called me an array of colourful names. I had to strongly resist the urge to teamkill him in the rear CT as he stomped off and left me to die.

So yeah, if people get in your way, you can shoot them. But prepare for them to shoot back.

Similar scenario happened to me. I was the assault mech moving behind a medium mech up a hill, I was 100m back as he crested the hill. It was the beginning of the match, we still had 2800m between us and the enemies. He stopped at the top and began reversing down immediately, of course I found myself in his way. He promptly turns around and shoots me with x3 ML + x3 SPL then types "MOVE KING CRAB, I ALMOST GOT SHOT!!" Dumbfounded, I let him go for a few minutes so the group could get to the enemy. A few minutes into the engagement, I saw him battling it out with a few other mechs. Still bitter over what he did to me I unloaded my dual ac/20s cutting one of his arms off. He lost an I played clean up. Sweet victory. I felt much better after that.

Hindsight, When I'm a smaller mech then the one I get blocked by, I don't shoot them for fear of being retaliated against. Its just not smart

k05h3lk1n, on 08 March 2015 - 08:05 PM, said:

That's why you keep distance to the backs of your teammates depending on how fast your mech is. I'd say around 10-20m minimum.

10-20m is not enough. 100m minimum.

Edited by Finkledbody, 09 March 2015 - 04:24 AM.

[Tim East]

k05h3lk1n, on 08 March 2015 - 08:05 PM, said:

That's why you keep distance to the backs of your teammates depending on how fast your mech is. I'd say around 10-20m minimum.

It's frustrating and a waste of armor OR can get you killed or incapacitate you so heavily that you lose alot of value to your team.

10-20m gets eaten up so fast when the guy in front of a chain of dudes suddenly stops because he took an LB2X round from a lone Adder 800m off and backs into the entire column. I have seen Dire Wolf pilots do this. It is not very clan-like in my opinion.

Dino Might, on 09 March 2015 - 03:49 AM, said:

Friendly reminder - do not EVER rear hug a light, especially as said light is poking around a corner.

One - lights accelerate much faster than you, so chances are you will probably be in their way, and they will die a quick death from getting blocked out in the open because you had to hug their butt.

Two - lights rely on cover to survive and must have space available to return to cover rapidly, so chances are you will probably be in their way, and they will die a quick death from getting blocked out in the open because you had to hug their butt.

Three - lights have enough to deal with trying to scout enemy positions and dodge fire without worrying about what teammates are behind them, and their fastest route to safety is usually straight back, so chances are you will probably be in their way, and they will die a quick death from getting blocked out in the open because you had to hug their butt.

All of this is true. Don't follow the light expecting them to push for you. Most light pilots aren't as crazy as I am, and even if they are there is a decent chance they're peeking to get set up for their assault run.

Finkledbody, on 09 March 2015 - 04:21 AM, said:

10-20m is not enough. 100m minimum.

Well, it really depends. If you're in a tight formation that is all on the same page about what you are doing, it can pay off to go much closer. If, on the other hand, you are in a formation that is only tight by virtue of every mech trying to use the others near it for cover at the start of the match as you lumber along to the same location that fights happen literally every match like the ones on Forest Colony and Alpine...yeah, even 100m might not be enough when your teammates are trying to use you as an endo-steel shield.

Edited by Tim East, 09 March 2015 - 05:52 AM.

[EgoSlayer]

thehwdge, on 08 March 2015 - 06:57 PM, said:

I recently invested in the king crab mech after playing with some of the light mechs and my god this is by far the most frustrating thing i've ever experienced

in almost 3/4 of my matches, there will be some light, medium, or heavy mech just sitting behind me, blocking me off from moving backwards when the lrms start pouring in, i thought that they were trying to push up with me but then you realize that they're actively trying to use you as a shield

no joke, i spent a whole three minutes trapped between a tree and 2 lrm boats in the swamp map

is there something i can do, position myself so that this doesn't happen too often

9 times out of 10, they were pushing up with you. But you stopped and plugged the hole with nowhere for them to go but your behind. Now they have to stop, reverse, and hope they don't have someone following them. If you're leading a push through a choke point, don't stop. Doesn't matter if you are getting focus fired, your exit is blocked anyways and you are preventing friendlies from getting in to help you return fire who are all now likely jammed up front to back because the train just stopped.

Or, don't lead pushes and let people go in front of you.

This is how the center of Terra came to be known as the 'Pug Zapper'. Because people filter in one at a time, get stuck backing up because their lance/team is behind them, and get focus fired down one at a time as each person does the same thing going in.

Edited by EgoSlayer, 09 March 2015 - 04:34 PM.

[Stealth Fox]

I actually have a friend who we do this on purpose, Lord knows it's the only way to give a Nova any survivability. but yeah.. un warranted? its annoying as hell. turn around.. alpha the hell out of their legs.. and walk away.. they'll learn eventually.

[Pezzer]

If someone isn't just using you as a shield in a mindful manner but is actively getting in your way while you are under fire, then the best thing to do at that point is pick another spot to poke out of or give that player the same treatment. Back up, wait for them to get brave enough to round the corner themselves, them run forward into their way. I would only do this if the player is getting in the way of a critical chokepoint and you lost all of your armor in one spot because of it, as this simply isn't a nice thing to do.

This is assuming that they didn't listen to chat and repeatedly did it, seemingly maliciously.

If you are a new King Crab pilot then the best thing to do is get close to where the battle is going to happen, then type in chat something like "new to assaults, stay back/don't block me plz". Then if someone does it on accident, "xxxxx watch out plz you're getting in my way". This would be the most civil way to do it. I do not advocate team damage in any form but I have at times grazed a leg in frustration after someone got in the way of my reverse, causing me to lose all my armor. It isn't a good thing to make a habit of, all it does is p*** people off and take away that person's survivability.

If you are making a push then definitely do not stop, but if you are in a King Crab and merely popping out to hit some people before backing up, do what I wrote above and let the teammate know in chat or pick a different spot to peek out from.

Edited by Pezzer, 09 March 2015 - 04:59 PM.

[Banditman]

A couple other people have said it, but I'll reinforce here: As an Assault mech, your job is to . . . lead assaults. That means you're going to be focus fired, you're going to take a lot of damage . . . and that's intentional. You have more armor than anyone else on the field.

Now, a couple things. First, as an assault mech, you start and stop more slowly than any other mech on the field. In general, you should not be doing things like peeking and poking. You are going to lose those exchanges nearly every time. You simply don't move fast enough to win them. Your best bet as an Assault is to be exposed before the enemy, and punish them before they can fire. Many times, if a peeking mech takes fire, it will retreat before it even has a chance to fire. The overall point you should take away here is that if you are ever in a position where you need to peek, you are probably out of position and you're probably going to get the worst of any exchange.

Second, your goal as an Assault mech is different. Your goal is to expose the enemy in such a way that they have no opportunity to retreat. You have the armor advantage, you should have a firepower advantage, you need to position yourself in such a way that when you attack, there is no opportunity for the enemy to retreat. This involves a lot of map knowledge and a greater amount of patience. If friends are plugging a gap so the enemy can't get through, it's really only a matter of time before the enemy tries a different route. Your goal should be to anticipate that and be waiting.

Playing Assaults is way, way different than playing other mechs. You can't do the things those mechs do and expect success. You need to play differently, with different goals and objectives. The biggest asset an Assault pilot has is patience. Wait for exactly the right moment and the ruthlessly crush the opposition.

[Vlad Striker]

Never play cat and mouse piloting assault. It you decide to move then move and don't stot to next cover. Never go backpedal. Those people who stand behind just waiting for your move forvard. If they not - your team doomed.

[Scout Derek]

thehwdge, on 08 March 2015 - 06:57 PM, said:

I recently invested in the king crab mech after playing with some of the light mechs and my god this is by far the most frustrating thing i've ever experienced

in almost 3/4 of my matches, there will be some light, medium, or heavy mech just sitting behind me, blocking me off from moving backwards when the lrms start pouring in, i thought that they were trying to push up with me but then you realize that they're actively trying to use you as a shield

no joke, i spent a whole three minutes trapped between a tree and 2 lrm boats in the swamp map

is there something i can do, position myself so that this doesn't happen too often

Punch them in the gabba.

but really, just keep a certain distance from the front while in combat. Not too far, but far enough where you can back up and be safe.

[mogs01gt]

thehwdge, on 08 March 2015 - 06:57 PM, said:

I recently invested in the king crab mech after playing with some of the light mechs and my god this is by far the most frustrating thing i've ever experienced

in almost 3/4 of my matches, there will be some light, medium, or heavy mech just sitting behind me, blocking me off from moving backwards when the lrms start pouring in, i thought that they were trying to push up with me but then you realize that they're actively trying to use you as a shield

no joke, i spent a whole three minutes trapped between a tree and 2 lrm boats in the swamp map

is there something i can do, position myself so that this doesn't happen too often

The next time that occurs, turn around and alpha in the head.

[Sonny Black]

One other thing. If you see an assault or heavy backing up, there might be a very good reason why they are....take the hint.