21 replies to this topic

[LMP]

If I get a lock on an enemy mech and fire my long range missiles at him but I loose my lock after the missiles are launched will the missiles still hit him?

[Spike Brave]

The answer is maybe. The lrms will continue to the point they last had lock. If he is still there the missile will hit him. If you lose lock and they get it back the lrms will adjust and try to hit him. If you would like a detailed looks at lrms check these out. One is for Inner Sphere missles and on for Clans. They work a little differently.

[mailin]

Losing locks is why people will say lrm boats need to find their own locks. It's also why I will not fire lrms as soon as I have a lock. Instead, I wait a little bit to see if the lock goes away. (10 seconds or so is usually enough.)

[YCSLiesmith]

LMP, on 22 April 2015 - 01:57 PM, said:

If I get a lock on an enemy mech and fire my long range missiles at him but I loose my lock after the missiles are launched will the missiles still hit him?

not unless he's standing still, no.

[mailin]

Some people will shut down once they get the incoming missile warning. If this is the case, you may hit them. If your lrms do hit, the reticle will flash red.

[Koniving]

LMP, on 22 April 2015 - 01:57 PM, said:

If I get a lock on an enemy mech and fire my long range missiles at him but I loose my lock after the missiles are launched will the missiles still hit him?

It varies. If they are slow moving assaults, the answer is usually yes. Any assault mech under 59 kph is almost guaranteed to get hit by LRMs even after the lock is lost, except at really high ranges.

Lights will never be hit by LRMs that lose locks. You can assume mediums won't either. Heavies, it depends on which. Tall things like the Grass hopper might easily get hit regardless.

You can re-acquire the lock after losing it while the missiles are still in the air. The missiles are fed their target info from you. The missiles themselves are stupid, it's your mech's computer systems that guides them. This also means that an ECM getting near you will make all your missiles turn dumb.

Deliberately losing and reacquiring a lock is a trick that players will do to get missiles to turn corners. So there's a bit of skill-play here to be found.

Mechs that have lower arm actuators make for solid missile boats with clear advantages over ones that don't. For example, diagonal missile shooting, and corner shooting (stand behind a wall corner but use your arms to acquire a lock -- shoot around the building without exposing yourself! Insert evil laughter.)

[ExoForce]

Use lock sound, not only visual lock.

[TLX]

This is a chance,if u lost the lock and launched the missiles and the enemy mech stay on open field and does not move,the missiles hit him,as one user above said,the missiles continue the line of the last moment lock site of the enemy mech. Forgot to hit if an enemy mech moves and u loss the lock. Another problem that u encounter was with light mechs moves with more than 150 KPH,its difficult to hit that targets,whatever if u still have the lock on it and its open field. Own experience vs fast spider mech.

[Koniving]

ExoForce, on 22 April 2015 - 09:07 PM, said:

Use lock sound, not only visual lock.

This. The visual lock can actually lie to you (due to it being clientside and "assuming"). The sound will not (since it is triggered by a server-side confirmation that your weapons are in fact in a "locked-on" state).

[Timicon]

Well, from what I have found, I normally hit all of my targets once I launch a flight (or 3) of lrm's, although that goes to also say that I prefer to lock targets myself, so as to stabilise (for lack of a better word) the target locking so I do not lose it and waste a flight of missles; although it must be said that that can be a little bit more dangerous to acquire your own locks, rather than rely on data from your team members' mechs to provide a lock as you do have to put yourself in a bit of a comprimising position in order to keep and hold your own locks, but if you have a heavy or assault mech, then you do not have much to worry about when it comes to return fire... still, with assaults and most heavies being slow and cumbersome, it is far easier to have target locks fed to your mech.

[Saiphas Cain]

The only LRM boat I use is the Hunchback 4J so all my ( non-laughable LRM ) experience is from that. I carry a head mounted TAG laser and BAP because I acquire my own locks, and I'm skeptical of locks provided by others. The advantage is I have to be closer for the TAG laser to hit so my missiles have a shorter flight time, plus the additional guidance means more hit. So far as losing lock and hitting as others have mentioned it's dependent on what's standing on the piece of ground the missiles are aimed at when they get there. You're unlikely to do much damage to a spider unless you're using TAG, in which case you're liable to nasty up their legs, but hitting targets in defilade positions is absolutely deadly. ( Not defilade based on unit orientation but defilade like on the other side of a hill crest ). A perfect example is Crimson Strait over the hump. It's a constrained position, and the angle of that hill is such that if the enemy is clustered on the other side you're hitting something. It may not be what you're aiming at but at the angle the missiles fly something's going to be standing there when they land. I can't count the number of times I've seen a friendly run away only to see a flight of LRM's that blots out the sun ( having lost lock ) come flying over the hump and nail the unsuspecting victims standing behind where that mech was. Getting 700+ damage matches with multiple kills in the Hunch 4J is not uncommon if you fire judiciously, and that's not even counting the 2ML's I'm forced to use once I run out of ammo.

Mind you, I can't use this except in solo queue because APOC tactics are far too brawley but you get the idea.

[ExoForce]

mailin, on 22 April 2015 - 07:19 PM, said:

Some people will shut down once they get the incoming missile warning. If this is the case, you may hit them. If your lrms do hit, the reticle will flash red.

Some people will shut down once they get the incoming missile warning becuse if they were running at full speed and pressed shutdown, inertia will push them few meters, missiles (or enemy) will (hopefully) lose their lock so majority of missiles will miss them.

[YCSLiesmith]

shutting down in the face of LRMs is a crazy move and is one of the only ways I can think of to actually get killed by LRMs.

[ExoForce]

If You are cored, torso twist does not help, above mentioned statement is the last, most desperate move.

[Tumbling Dice]

Range helps you. If you are agile, getting to within 500 meters almost always hits. But be advised, they will rush you if they know you are that close. Stay behind your team, but firing from 1200 meters is usually fruitless and frustrating.

[mailin]

I never said shutting down with incoming missiles is a good move. All I know is that I have seen people do this and get hit by lrms. (Both my own and from other players.)

[Voivode]

mailin, on 23 April 2015 - 02:26 PM, said:

I never said shutting down with incoming missiles is a good move. All I know is that I have seen people do this and get hit by lrms. (Both my own and from other players.)

It's really only useful if you are moving perpendicular to the mech firing the LRMs and are not in direct LOS of any significant enemy fire, and are also already moving top speed, so as your mech shuts down it continues walking and moves out of the strike zone the LRMs will arrive at after lock breaks.

So...y'know, blue moons, stars aligning, all that.

[YCSLiesmith]

even then it's crazy because there is a reason you've got a lock on you: someone probably has line of sight. so shutting down might avoid the (negligible) LRM damage, but unless you're looking at a tag/narc raven or something, you're gonna get shot by whoever was spotting for them. and their weapons are a lot deadlier.

[Romeo Deluxe]

What everyone said above and noting that this is why using LRM's at 200-300m range is many times more effective than sitting out near max range. That's in regards to getting some missiles to hit their mark. The travel time will be quite a bit shorter, so the lock has to hold for less time. This gives the opponent less time to respond to your salvo. If they do get out of your LOS, but fail to get to a position a terrain object or building can block, the target decay effect will be to your advantage. With the Target Decay module you stand a good chance of getting a second salvo to hit after they have moved out of your LOS.

[Void Angel]

Yes, if you're going to use LRMS (and you should learn how to use them,) the optimal engagement range is about 300m with direct sight. LRMs are spread-damage weapons whose time to kill on target is high, and they're affected by many factors that vary randomly (map selection, enemy action, enemy team comp, friendly team comp, friendly action...) - adding guesswork as to when they're going to come in handy makes an unreliable weapon system more random.