YCSLiesmith, on 18 March 2015 - 08:20 AM, said:
no. LRMs are not useful as support mechs.
here's the thing: you can beat a single ams with LRMs, sure. a single ams is not a useful countermeasure. you know what is a useful countermeasure? knowing how to play. that's all it takes to make LRMs useless. on maps with cover (all maps) against groups with ECM (most organized groups), against multiple AMS mechs (not common, admittedly) or against players who know how you play, your LRM boat is going to get chewed up and deal negligible damage.
LRM mechs cap out at about 600 damage. that's if all your shots are well placed and you're playing against morons and just firing until your ammo runs out. you can maybe up that if you drop all your armor or some nonsense but not by much. And you'll rarely see 600 damage because a guy with LRMs is advertising that he's a bad player who has wasted a lot of tonnage and who wants to get ganged up on and chewed up.
Now, 600 damage may feel like a lot. it isn't, but it's great for newbies! the first time you crack 500 damage you feel like you've finally gotten this game. It's a joy, I remember it well.
this feeling is an illusion.
LRMs spread damage over the entire enemy mech. 500 damage to a whole mech might not even kill it, where 100 damage to the rear side torso or a leg will. you're artificially inflating your damage with LRMs and you don't even know it. Also, as your ELO goes up, you'll see fewer and fewer people who are dumb enough to get hit with LRMs. so you start out bad because you're new, get good with your chosen weapon, then watch in horror as your (mediocre) numbers start to actually slide backwards. only where before your low numbers were just because you were a newbie learning the game, now you're straight bad at mechs.
But im different, you say. I'm an amazing mechwarrior, way better than YCS liesmith, and what he says does not apply to me. I will get 800 damage a match! I'm incredible! well, that's great, but now you need to compare to other weapons. where you were getting 800 damage to some king crab and barely killing it, a real support player got behind an atlas and dropped it with a couple gauss shots, then cored a light and legged a stormcrow. Efficient, targeted damage, allowing the player to cripple or destroy a mech and then move on. That's where real killing power lies.
Further, lets talk about the other side of support: damage taken. In a firing line, a group of players in decently resilient mechs line up and focus down enemies. the enemies are forced through some sort of gap so they are approaching one on one, and hopefully are disoriented and splitting their fire. by adding more bodies to the line, you give the enemy more targets, meaning less damage on any one player, and also carry more ordinance as a unit, so that the unit as a whole drills through their called targets faster. Where is the LRM boat in all this? he's standing in the back with no damage taken. he may feel proud of this. "they didn't even get close" he chortles. but his safety comes at the cost of his unit. if you've got 10 guys with semi-equal armor, but one is sitting in the back avoiding damage, that line gets killed 10% faster. that means less time to do damage, less overall damage by the unit, and ultimately lost games. The LRM guy is wasting his allies' potential damage by acting selfishly.
tl;dr: don't LRM.
Yep.knowing how to play u make useful at ur team,but remember that the team who loss first 2 or 3 mech is half dead on match,whatever if u are a pro player or not. Other thing,the myself greatness,thanks,i didnt said better,caused is different playstyles. Some people are master of PPC other to AC and other to laser,mine was,at the moment,the LRM. Maybe in more advanced plays i find other weapon that im better,the point was my computer,that this counts too,i have low FPS so in furious battles i cant fight fine,so i cant aim fine. With the LRM i have the opportunity to counter this count of my computer,that remember this counts to be good or not. Some players have 100 ping,others 10,others 500 and have low graphics settings,like me,and anyway i have low FPS. People who have 10 ping and high FPS can do better work,this is for sure,so if u are a pro player but have low FPS u have lower chances to win other regular player for win the match with high FPS and low ping. I said that i like to go with a light mech with 4 machineguns and laser (specially the Spider 5K) i can win some kills,but only in front combat and weak targets,caused my low FPS. Now im trying the LRMed Kit Fox caused caught my attention (well as a missile mech i prefer Catapult or Mad Dog,but they lack on movility and speed) i wanted a quick movility clan mech with chances to win other mech with missile pods,one option was the Cougar,aka Adder,that have the same thing of Kit Fox with additional lasers,the other option was the Kit Fox,that have exclusively missile pods. So i try the Kit Fox and the results are good. As a rookie,do 3 kills and 7 assists is very good,at least for my point of view. Not all rookie players can do this. But i only talk about my best score...one time. Sometimes i cant do more than 1 kill and sometimes i do 0 kills,caused i need to learn how to play,that is true. But all that ive learned from the game for now was that,first team who loss 2 or 3 mechs is half dead,supossed to the other team dont loss any mech. For me,my mech is fine for start caused was my play style. Like every Catapult user,dont say to them that LRM was a bad choice caused they have his choice of play. LRM can do support role,like distracting or bullying the enemy with ur missile,causing take the attention to u and give a chance for sniper mechs to attack the mech that u have been lured. Its all playstyles,there is no bad or better choices,caused a full large laser mech can beat that AC/20 hunchback in large distance,at the same time,a light mech can quick approach this large laser mech an start to shoot,and at the same time,im back of the line of battle with my LRM shooting that light mech,weakening him,and this never ends...so,dont say the LRM are useless caused all have his role on battle.u talk like every mech have ECM or AMS. This is like maps,there are maps with cover,and there are maps full open field,ideal for LRM. And now i stop to change the theme of thread,caused this going to nothing.
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