77 replies to this topic

[Funkmaster Rick]

This warning really should apply to all 'mechs. You always walk behind your allies' lines of fire, not in front of - that's just basic gun safety, even in a combat situation.

The fatter 'mech gets the right of way. There are some situations where this is not true, but they are few and far between - every PUB likes to think this time is the right time, but it's probably not so cut it out. The faster, more manoeuvrable 'mech has an easier time getting out of the way, so he'd better get out of the way. Don't make the assault 'mech dodge around your poorly-piloted Locust just so he can be combat-effective - that's like asking a schoolbus to give your sports car the right of way; it doesn't work like that.

[Molossian Dog]

A cent for every thread like this and I´d be a rich man.

[R D Stunna]

There is also the problem of the assaults that move forwards, see an enemy or many enemy, and then start backing up just spraying and praying. The faster mechs that were moving to assist that assault then pass the assault and get blasted by the assault.

I have piloted mechs in every weight class. When I'm in a fast mech and run up front I sometimes get shot in the back. Sometimes its my fault and sometimes its not, crap happens in bottlenecks with 12 mechs trying to squeeze through. Now when I'm in my assaults that are slow and pack a good bit of firepower, i make sure that I don't shoot my teammates in the back as they move around me. Yes I may have to stop firing and reposition cause that little spider decided to take up a position right in front of my atlas or zeus, but I don't just keep firing and yell get out of the way....

This is a team game. You must, MUST, be aware of your teammates just as much as the enemy.

[Satan n stuff]

Spr1ggan, on 26 March 2015 - 07:02 AM, said:

Yeah it's crazy dude, I guess having each arm on a separate weapon group is too much to ask lol.

That really should be standard practice for everyone even if they'd have to use the keyboard to actually fire all of their groups, it's still better than wasting a bunch of shots on the terrain or worse, on a friendly.

Edited by Satan n stuff, 26 March 2015 - 08:09 AM.

[Voivode]

Very well, I agree with this.

However, if you plan to drive a mech with "assault" as its class name, I insist you assault something. Yes you are slower, but you should never intentionally endeavor to be in the rear when piloting an assault. Kthanx.

[Apnu]

R D Stunna, on 26 March 2015 - 08:05 AM, said:

There is also the problem of the assaults that move forwards, see an enemy or many enemy, and then start backing up just spraying and praying. The faster mechs that were moving to assist that assault then pass the assault and get blasted by the assault.

I have piloted mechs in every weight class. When I'm in a fast mech and run up front I sometimes get shot in the back. Sometimes its my fault and sometimes its not, crap happens in bottlenecks with 12 mechs trying to squeeze through. Now when I'm in my assaults that are slow and pack a good bit of firepower, i make sure that I don't shoot my teammates in the back as they move around me. Yes I may have to stop firing and reposition cause that little spider decided to take up a position right in front of my atlas or zeus, but I don't just keep firing and yell get out of the way....

This is a team game. You must, MUST, be aware of your teammates just as much as the enemy.

^^^ This people. Read this twice and know it.

Assaults have to commit. If they get shy and back off, they are the bottle neck.

[vettie]

Here's the situation...
Terra Therma (or plug in map of choice as it pretty much works out the same way)

2 enemy mechs on the ring in center near an entry area. 1 Light 1 medium (or heavy doesnt really matter)

2 to 3 Friendly Assaults close in on the entrance with 2 to 3other friendlies in tow.

The 2 Enemy mechs open fire (usually medium lasers and / or a salvo or 2 of SRMs) as the Assaults breach the entrance.

Rather than use their 100 tons (per mech, usually 2 or 3 of them so 200 to 300 tons) and associated weaponry at those 2 enemies, they immediately slam it in full reverse and force their way back out the entrance also forcing the trailing friendlies back down the incline where there is no chance of a shot on the enemies...

The screams on comms or in in chat "get out of my way". "taking heavy fire"? What? Really? Use your big fat a&& and return some fire and push those 2 out of your way so you team mates can get in there and help you if you dont take them down yourself

OR dont go up in the first place if all you are going to do is back off at the 1st sign of enemy fire. Let someone who WILL shoot go before you, just dont block them either...

rant off...

[Lynx7725]

DjPush, on 26 March 2015 - 05:58 AM, said:

Walk behind them not in their way!

Actually no. Walk beside them and support them with fire from a different direction. Give each other room to work and work to flank the enemy so that they have to expose a vulnerable side to a friendly. Teamwork is OP!

[Flyby215]

Curccu, on 26 March 2015 - 07:02 AM, said:

Well you know there are mechs that are way faster than Direwolfs, Atlais or King Crabs so it's kinda impossible to be spearhead always... And some assault mechs are not designed to be that spearhead.
Also sometimes silly people in their greed just want to walk into endless stream of Direwolf dakka or something similarly stupid.

I may have exaggerated my post just a bit, but I think most people get the point

Obviously walking into the enemy team is a bad idea, just as bad as sitting way in the back waiting for something to happen. Don't shoot friendlies in the back, that's always a bad idea, no matter who's being the idiot (well, deliberately shooting a teammate fast-tracks a player to idiotic status). In all honesty, its not that difficult to find a clear shot. If someone's in your way, move around them. Seriously.

[Alistair Winter]

For every stupid light mech pilot who blocks his entire team and tries to tank the damage from 4 enemy mechs, there's just as many stupid assault mech pilots who position their mech way in the back and demand no one steps in front of them, thus blocking the whole team again.

I'm sorry, but if you're trying to engage 4+ enemy mechs in your King Crab, whilst preventing your team from advancing to help you, because you think the bad guys are going to fall down like in the episode of Power Rangers you just saw on the telly, I'm going to step in front of you. I don't have enough assault mechs on my team to let them all learn by trial and error.

Sometimes you just have to protect people from themselves, and save those poor assault mechs who got themselves in trouble. And then just ignore their angry rants afterwards as they blame you for stealing their kills, just in the moment they were going to wipe out the whole enemy team single-handedly.

[endevite]

So many pugs, so many puggers walking in front of my crab in constant.

[Gamuray]

I play all the classes =3

Anyways, the reason that the slower assault mechs complain about people in front, behind, and leaving them behind, it precisely because they are slow. Their lack of mobility makes it difficult for them to have a say in someone blocking their path or keeping up with the team. Sure they have a lot of firepower and armor, but they are also very quickly concentrated down, so they require allies to keep the attention off of them, in which case they can properly use their weapons payload to devastate the opponents.

[STEF_]

Pug life: mech in front of assault, and ...behind too.

Deal with it, or, better.... ---> go team

[Reitrix]

Or .. Perhaps we can have maps that dont have 1 ~ 2 'Mech wide firing lanes ...

Seriously, if you're attempting to come up over a hill/ridge etc to take a shot, its kind of like an hourglass, huge open space leading UP to the threshold, tiny 1 ~ 2 'Mech wide chokepoint that opens out into another huge open area. And its like that on virtually every map.

Saddle on Crimson? 2 abreast at best unless you have JJs, then you get 3.
The hillramps in Alpine? Single file, if you're lucky. Especially on the eastern side trying to get up to the big open hill at the top.
Terra Therma's Pugzapper? 2 'mechs wide, every ingress point.

Hell, Even Viridian Bog is a series of hilltops with corridors between that are roughly 2 'Mechs wide ...

How about some Maps that make it literally impossible to blob up and focus a single chokepoint or two? Most maps have a single point that both teams aim for because it gives a view of half or more of the entire map.

We need better maps ... Then you won't need to cram into a tiny chokepoint and block ally LoS in order to get a shot off.

[Funkmaster Rick]

R D Stunna, on 26 March 2015 - 08:05 AM, said:

There is also the problem of the assaults that move forwards, see an enemy or many enemy, and then start backing up just spraying and praying.

This is generally one of two issues:
1. Cowardice; the 'mech in question cowers as soon as he takes damage.
2. Poor planning and situational awareness; the 'mech in question chose to push forward when he had no clue what he was doing.

Both are issues that can only be solved before the match. Once you're in a match and an ally makes that mistake, the best thing you can do for your team is probably to go straight through him, firing the whole time. It won't make you any friends, it'll probably get you shouted at, but once you're in the middle of a fight frankly you do not have time to coddle infants tell them that everything's going to be fine.

If they dropped into a match in a game that's all about combat in giant stompy robots with lasers and missiles, it's their job to psychologically and emotionally prepared for the possibility that making a mistake might kill them, but trying to fix that mistake badly might kill their whole team. If you find yourself in a match where a team-mate is screwing everything up by retreating poorly at a bad time and in a bad location, you just have to do your best to salvage as much as you can from the situation. Sometimes that means moving up to cover his retreat, sometimes it means moving out of his way to clear the retreat lane, and sometimes it means moving in to take his place and push on the assault. But sometimes it means charging in, pretending he's not there, and firing at full, knowing that he's already screwed up and there's nothing you can do but shoot and hope he dies fast enough to enemy fire to not get any more of your team killed.

It's not nice, but then again neither is war.

[Deathlike]

Alistair Winter, on 26 March 2015 - 08:35 AM, said:

For every stupid light mech pilot who blocks his entire team and tries to tank the damage from 4 enemy mechs, there's just as many stupid assault mech pilots who position their mech way in the back and demand no one steps in front of them, thus blocking the whole team again.

I'm sorry, but if you're trying to engage 4+ enemy mechs in your King Crab, whilst preventing your team from advancing to help you, because you think the bad guys are going to fall down like in the episode of Power Rangers you just saw on the telly, I'm going to step in front of you. I don't have enough assault mechs on my team to let them all learn by trial and error.

Sometimes you just have to protect people from themselves, and save those poor assault mechs who got themselves in trouble. And then just ignore their angry rants afterwards as they blame you for stealing their kills, just in the moment they were going to wipe out the whole enemy team single-handedly.

The worst part is the Assault mech taking both lanes in a 2-mech lane and scream that teammates don't help them.

If the Assault mech doesn't provide a lane for a teammate to be next to them for focus firing, that is primarily the Assault pilot's fault.

Additionally... any time an Assault mech is in the front of a chokepoint, it MUST PUSH IN (like in Mordor) because any attempts to back up only accelerates the Assault mech's focus fire death and the teammates behind it.

Most of these issues have more to do with situational awareness... in many cases this is pilot error for failure.

[mogs01gt]

DjPush, on 26 March 2015 - 05:58 AM, said:

You are gonna get shot in the back. I'm getting real tired of players not having any situational awareness. If you run into the line of fire of an Atlas, Dire Wolf or Crab... You deserve every bit of their fire. Walk behind them not in their way!

Stop hiding in the back lines and push the **** up!!


LMAO Im obviously assuming you are one of those scared assault pilots . I agree with what you are saying. If Im firing at a target and you step in front of me, sorry I can simply stop my lasers from firing after I pressed the botton.

Davers, on 26 March 2015 - 07:42 AM, said:

Assault mech pilots are the most whiny of all the classes. It's all "Don't stand in front of me!" and "Don't stand behind me!". Then they cry "Don't leave me behind!". They are the equivalent of prima donna ADCs in LoL- you spend the whole game babysitting them, hoping that they will actually do something, and when they go down with 100 damage they are all like "This team sux!"

THIS!!!!!!!!!!!

Edited by mogs01gt, 26 March 2015 - 09:15 AM.

[uebersoldat]

What the what. No, don't purposefully shoot your team because they walk in front of you. What kind of elementary garbage is this OP?

Accidental is accidental and it's the pilot's fault for waltzing into the line of fire. But purposefully shooting your team in the back to teach them a lesson? Get out.

[Rhaythe]

Why is it when I see a thread like this I automatically assume the poster just had a bad game at the pug zapper on Terra Therma?

[Funkmaster Rick]

uebersoldat, on 26 March 2015 - 09:12 AM, said:

But purposefully shooting your team in the back to teach them a lesson? Get out.

It's not necessarily to teach them a lesson. That's just silly. But once they've put themselves, and you and the rest of your team, into a bad situation, sometimes the only way to dig your team out of that situation involves getting dirty.