20 replies to this topic

[Mcchuggernaut]

I play assault mechs almost exclusively, and after three years playing and a lot of practice and experimenting, I would say I'm an assault mech expert. Assaults are slow, and I learned a long time ago that capping games weren't for me because of that. I felt like a detriment to the team, and so I have been playing skirmish mode pretty much exclusively since we were given the option of mode select. Then came today. I hadn't really been enthusiastic about the Lucky Charms event until I looked at it today and found out it was extremely easy to win a lot of free stuff. You pretty much just had to play a game and not get stomped into the dirt and you won something 25 times per game mode. I picked up my 25 prizes from playing a week of skirmish games and got some nice stuff and enough MC to give my favorite mech a new paint job and camo pattern, which looks really good. Well, with a day left I decided to try and get another 25 prizes, and since I'm not a fan of conquest, I decided to try assault mode. I figured it would be a lot of base rushing and other stupid annoying stuff that my assault mechs wouldn't be good for, but I thought "It's gotta be better than conquest, so...".

I was completely surprised. I saw none of that behavior, and I guess the turrets discourage people from base rushing. In fact, since the winning team can just take a base at the end of a round, the annoying "Spend 10 minutes to find and kill that last hiding Spider or mech shut down in an obscure hiding place" doesn't happen. And the money is better. I'm easily getting upwards of 200,000 c-bills a match without premium time (never won any in my first 25 prizes). I'm getting more XP too. So, for me, assault mode has basically been skirmish mode, but better. I strongly recommend any assault mech guys out there that have been shying away from assault mode because "It's a cap game, and assault mechs aren't good at capping." to go do it right now, because the prize incentive that has one day left is a great combo with this new mode!

Also, to anyone in the know: Are higher match scores more likely to give better prizes? I picked my first 25 at random, and it didn't seem like it, but...

And my fancy new paint job:



Think the devs could be convinced to make that star a little higher-rez?

[Creovex]

WTF was this post about???

You are an expert at playing the biggest, most weapon laden, armored mech in the game??? That's like bragging that you are the thinnest kid at fat camp...

If you didn't get 30pts easy in that mech, someone should slap you... it defaults to 29 points on loading in with a Direwolf....

Edited by Creovex, 24 March 2015 - 08:45 AM.

[MoonUnitBeta]

Creovex, on 24 March 2015 - 08:43 AM, said:

WTF was this post about???

Pleasantries and surprises about the event.

[Creovex]

MoonUnitBeta, on 24 March 2015 - 08:45 AM, said:

Pleasantries and surprises about the event.

Re-read it. You missed the soft gooey center....

This could be a beneficial post IF it wasn't written in the stylings of a 9 year old girl petting a unicorn.

Edited by Creovex, 24 March 2015 - 08:50 AM.

[Escef]

Base rushes in assault mode have been rare since a few weeks after the defense turrets went in. After they had their HP dropped, people tried again, briefly, and found it still wasn't viable. Every now and again you find people that think base camping is a winning strategy, which is usually just a slow loss. Also, some maps don't mesh well with the defense turrets, a bad combination of turret range and map size (especially River City).

I was a bit surprised by my skirmish matches this past promo. Very few matches of trying to play hide-n-go-seek for the last opponent, and far less "Nascar-ing" than the whiners lead me to believe. I may even give skirmish a shot again, as aggressive play in skirmish mode is less rare (I'm a big fan of aggressive play, if you aren't in the game to fight than don't play).

Edited by Escef, 24 March 2015 - 04:51 PM.

[MoonUnitBeta]

Creovex, on 24 March 2015 - 08:50 AM, said:

Re-read it. You missed the soft gooey center....

This could be a beneficial post IF it wasn't written in the stylings of a 9 year old girl petting a unicorn.

Oh. Well since you read it and since I only read the title, I'm ganna take your word for it. lol.
I saw the picture though. It's a pretty picture.

Edited by MoonUnitBeta, 24 March 2015 - 08:57 AM.

[Escef]

Creovex, on 24 March 2015 - 08:50 AM, said:

Re-read it. You missed the soft gooey center....

This could be a beneficial post IF it wasn't written in the stylings of a 9 year old girl petting a unicorn.

Maybe you should re-read it instead. Because what you call "the soft gooey center" is the first sentence of the post. After that, the only quasi-bragging he does is that he was making around 200k per match without premium.

Might I recommend some laxative?

[Creovex]

Escef, on 24 March 2015 - 08:57 AM, said:

Maybe you should re-read it instead. Because what you call "the soft gooey center" is the first sentence of the post. After that, the only quasi-bragging he does is that he was making around 200k per match without premium.

Might I recommend some laxative?

Uh did you read it? Try passing the big load that was the "cap game" quote... WOW... tell a story about a poor assault that is the single most powerful mech in the game and try to make it more bedtime story then this... IT IS NOT POSSIBLE!

Edited by Creovex, 24 March 2015 - 09:06 AM.

[Kyynele]

Frankly, I think you should consider playing Conquest sometime, too. At least in the Elo I'm currently at, all the game modes are played quite Skirmishly. Typically the only time a Conquest match is won in points, is when the team that fought better can't be arsed to find the hiding light mech, and just caps the points and waits to get the win.

For me, it's just slightly different flavor, different starting positions and the fact that the cap points generate fights in parts of maps that are rarely used in other modes. For example, Alpine Peaks Conquest is IMO the best version of that map, because the fight doesn't happen at the tryhard hills, like 99% of the time in the other modes. Helps keep the same old maps a bit more fresh.

I'm not primarily an assault pilot, anyway. So YMMV.

[Creovex]

Kyynele, on 24 March 2015 - 09:07 AM, said:

Frankly, I think you should consider playing Conquest sometime, too. At least in the Elo I'm currently at, all the game modes are played quite Skirmishly. Typically the only time a Conquest match is won in points, is when the team that fought better can't be arsed to find the hiding light mech, and just caps the points and waits to get the win.

For me, it's just slightly different flavor, different starting positions and the fact that the cap points generate fights in parts of maps that are rarely used in other modes. For example, Alpine Peaks Conquest is IMO the best version of that map, because the fight doesn't happen at the tryhard hills, like 99% of the time in the other modes. Helps keep the same old maps a bit more fresh.

I'm not primarily an assault pilot, anyway. So YMMV.

Conquest is the best mode... gives you the most ways to win.... and a lot of hard calls such as "break off from engagement and cap,etc.."

[Mcchuggernaut]

Creovex, on 24 March 2015 - 08:43 AM, said:

WTF was this post about???

You are an expert at playing the biggest, most weapon laden, armored mech in the game??? That's like bragging that you are the thinnest kid at fat camp...

If you didn't get 30pts easy in that mech, someone should slap you... it defaults to 29 points on loading in with a Direwolf....

Wow, someone sounds pretty butthurt. Not enough coffee today? Someone take a dump in your cereal? I would guess your just an @ssh0le.

This post is ABOUT discovering a new game mode I liked, why I liked it, that you shouldn't be put off playing it in an assault mech by thinking it is a game type best suited for maneuverable lighter mechs, that I am seeing higher xp and c-bill payouts in this mode (which I think is an incentive to get more people to play it), and that it's a great mode to play while grinding out 25 games for the Lucky Charms event rewards.

Also, I assure you there is skill involved in piloting an assault mech well. For the slowest, it's a constant battle just not to get left behind by your team and torn to pieces. Those guns and armor are absolutely worthless if you get caught by yourself, and you better believe everyone on the enemy team will be focusing on that big barn-door of a target you are. In a light, medium, and even most heavies, you make a positioning mistake and you can quickly get the hell out of there and your fine. Make the same mistake in an assault, and your dead in seconds. Give some new player an Atlas, and watch them do almost no damage and be the first to die. Give a practiced vet that same mech, and he can carry a whole team.

This post wasn't even about getting points for the challenge. I could fall asleep mid-match and get thirty points with a legged Raven. I WOULD deserve to be slapped if I had trouble getting thirty points in ANY mech, but that was not something I even discussed, so where the hell did that comment come from? I would guess it was pulled right out of your ass.

Sincerely, a nine year old girl.

[Creovex]

Mcchuggernaut, on 24 March 2015 - 09:34 AM, said:

Sincerely, a nine year old girl.

Admitting it...is the first step.

[OznerpaG]

i only play assault - base caps are usually reserved for when the last mech trying to preserve their KD shuts down somewhere so the game mercifully ends w/o a stupid bug hunt. other than that i find even when the opportunity presents itself people very rarely go for the base cap except to flush out the other team (often turning the battle into a big brawl) and the game almost always ends when one team is wiped out as opposed to capping

assault IMO is the best mode to play assaults in since the bases give more of a "front line" feel to the game and teams sort of stick to "their side" of the front and mobility isn't as necessary as in conquest where mobility is EVERYTHING. but i do play in a higher ELO and i'd guess experienced players play to kill as opposed to play to cap win

[Escef]

Creovex, on 24 March 2015 - 09:04 AM, said:

Uh did you read it?

Yes, I did. I'm guessing you read the first sentence of it and decided that rage-posting was a good idea.

[terrycloth]

Base rushes work in Assault, but they're pointless. Yay, you win NOTHING. At least you won it quickly.

Fake base rushes are better -- you threaten to cap the base but make sure not to actually cap it. Instead, you kill the panicked enemy team as they run back at full speed and arrive staggered.

Both can be defeated by minimal scouting. So, they usually work in the solo queue.

[Krivvan]

The fact that no one even thinks about going for the base is exactly why Assault sucks right now. The turrets need to be nerfed (and not have LRM range and break ECM) so teams can threaten a base rush so we can have an actual game mode back rather than Skirmish with half the map blocked off.

Mcchuggernaut, on 24 March 2015 - 09:34 AM, said:

that you shouldn't be put off playing it in an assault mech by thinking it is a game type best suited for maneuverable lighter mechs

I don't actually know anyone that believes this about Assault. Or even Conquest.

And for everyone, both Assaults and Lights have their place. They both can put out extremely good games and they both have their strengths and weaknesses. And it's extremely easy in both to get 30 points.

And for the love of all that is holy you do not use Lights to just run around and cap on Conquest. That is an absolute complete waste of a class that can put out good damage and completely wreck a team's cohesion. Missing even a single Light is missing a pretty big chunk of firepower from a team.

Edited by Krivvan, 24 March 2015 - 11:28 AM.

[WarHippy]

Escef, on 24 March 2015 - 08:52 AM, said:

Base rushes in assault mode have been rare since a few weeks after the defense turrets went in. After they had their HP dropped, people tried again, briefly, and found it still wasn't viable. Every now and again you find people that thing base camping is a winning strategy, which is usually just a slow loss. Also, some maps don't mesh well with the defense turrets, a bad combination of turret range and map size (especially River City).

Base rushes in assault have always been rare even before turrets. Before Skirmish and before turrets Assault games only ended in cap 15% of the timer per PGI. That includes games where there was heavy fighting before the cap. Frankly, I have to laugh at all the people who yell and cry about people capping in Assault mode.

As for the OP I'm am glad he gave it a shot as Assault really is the better game mode in my opinion regardless of mech size.

[Mechteric]

The event before Lucky Charms was actually much better, it actually encouraged people to play all 4 of the weight classes. This led to much more balanced games in terms of tonnage, faster matchmaking, and all around much more fun to play (since fewer heavies/assaults tends to lead to less stomps).

Edited by CapperDeluxe, 24 March 2015 - 11:51 AM.

[Escef]

WarHippy, on 24 March 2015 - 11:26 AM, said:

Base rushes in assault have always been rare even before turrets. Before Skirmish and before turrets Assault games only ended in cap 15% of the timer per PGI.

I'd say they were uncommon before, and are rare now. Rarity is not binary. Granted, a lot of people aren't good at that whole nuance thing.

[Alex Morgaine]

The short is someone found a game mode they never thought they'd play to be fun and advocated playing it.
I'd suggest a lock to stem the flames before they burn it all down.