46 replies to this topic

[InspectorG]

Spetulhu, on 11 October 2015 - 08:32 PM, said:

So what the F is up with this? I swear, 90% of deaths I suffer in Light mechs is CT destroyed with everything else looking if not fine then at least good. In the board game hits were spread out on that 2d6 table, but here it seems anyone with enough lasers can just kill in one or two alphas. No wonder there's almost always a shortage of light mechs - anyone who isn't running a Laser superspeeder is just fodder.

Not that it's much better if I pick a heavier mech. CT destroyed, game over is still by far the most common death. The only way for me to get kills and survive is to not be anywhere near the initial fight. Hey, if everyone did that there would be no fight.

In a Light, speed is your defense. You are either stopping at the wrong moment or are running in straight lines.

[InspectorG]

Spetulhu, on 12 October 2015 - 12:50 PM, said:

Thanks for the help. Been using Kit Foxes -

AAAHHHH....

Thats your problem right there. kitfoxes have the armor of a light and the speed of a Medium. You have to play 'like a Fox' as in be sneaky as hell.

Kitfox was one of my favorites for a year.

You want to stay near your ASSAULTS and dont wander off. Stay behind them and poke when the enemy is on cooldown.
Use ECM, dont bother with AMS, and run either UAC5+3ERML, LPL+2ERML, or ERPPC+3ERML. 2ERLL+1ERML if you are into the sniping game but you are slow so save that for later.

By staying near assaults you wont get focused down as soon and you can hide behind them, just dont block them from moving.
And after an eney hits your assault, if you have an angle and its 'safe' peek out and poke at whatever your assaults were firing at. Maybe you steal a kill? You have to think of yourself as there to add 30-40 extra damage to the assault's attacks.
ECM will buy them cover/initiative.

DO NOT STAND IN THE OPEN, your big bubble CT screams, 'SHOOT RIGHT HERE AND KILL ME WITH ONE BIG ALPHA" always rock side to side/front-back. This is how you avoid a dual gauss, or too much laservomit.

The ERPPC lets you poptart. Play like a coward but always be near the assaults to help.

Hope this helps.

[JigglyMoobs]

TheRAbbi, on 12 October 2015 - 12:30 PM, said:

What else would you like to know? (Sorry, I know we're derailing the thread. My bad.)

I think things like weapon loadouts would be very nice to know. Against assault class mechs *cough* Dire Whale *cough* knowing component wise weapon distributions would be very helpful indeed. Then there is also the reports on what components are open. A lot of these things people do on good teams but nobody does on the solo queue or even in casual groups.

Just the other day I commed to a teammate about a Space Whale with assymmetric weapons loadout after experiencing its hospitality from my Timberwolf. Advanced warning from a light might have saved me a side torso.

Even more helpful on a tactical level is to know what mech classes are where. Would love it if radar icons and arrow overlays could indicate weight class and weapons loads. I'd be perfectly OK with it if "uploading" that to the team's battlenet is a light only capability.

Edited by JigglyMoobs, 13 October 2015 - 12:29 PM.

[JigglyMoobs]

TheRAbbi, on 12 October 2015 - 10:36 PM, said:

I'm sure it's a matter of considerable skill to be able to consistently keep lasers on target on a MOVING target while yourself being in motion.

Due to latency issues -most- players will never get perfect component covergence when both they and their targets are moving no matter how perfectly they aim. Even a laser vomit Timby will only get its converged alpha onto you if it stops moving, puts the reticle on your component for a sec, and then hit fire, and then only if you are not moving sideways at a fast velocity. When playing the game most people, especially lighst, do not experience the full registration of "pin point" hits. When you meet someone who happens to have that magical combination of skill and low network latency low system latency and HSR love from the server to get the full damage onto the spot they aim at.... it's disorienting how much damage they can do.

Edited by JigglyMoobs, 13 October 2015 - 12:38 PM.

[Not A Real RAbbi]

JigglyMoobs, on 13 October 2015 - 12:26 PM, said:

I think things like weapon loadouts would be very nice to know. Against assault class mechs *cough* Dire Whale *cough* knowing component wise weapon distributions would be very helpful indeed.

So, that's a little tough to do.

IS mechs all have a set hard point layout. When you get any indication of what chassis and variant you're looking at, at LEAST you know what TYPES of weapons it CAN carry, and WHERE. Still, that E hard point in the arm or side torso could carry anything from a SL to a ERPPC, or nothing at all. You'd need the detailed mech info that comes up with its paper doll, assuming it's within sensor range and not under ECM cover. Even then, say I encounter a JR7-F with a PPC and 2 ML and TAG. That mech has SIX (6) E weapon hard points, so how do I know which one houses the ERPPC without watching it fire? Now, extrapolate that onto an ASSAULT mech (which, at a minimum, weighs 55 tons more than any light mech). See the problem?

SO. Against IS mechs, you simply MUST know the hard point layouts. Beyond that, you'd do well to familiarize yourself with the most common builds for it (if it's listed on metamechs.com and not being piloted by a newb, you can bet it's very close to one of GMan129's builds). Once you can see the specific weapons listed by the paper doll, you can make some assumptions about its weapons' positions based on their size and the hard point locations. Once you observe one firing, you can know for sure what's where. Compare THAT to the open locations displayed on the paper doll (or otherwise observed by you, by presence of smoke and/or sparks/flames), and that's as good as you can do.

Against CLAN mechs *COUGH**WHALE**COUGH*, your guess is as good as anyone's. Until you see it fire, you simply cannot really KNOW. After all, that's half the fun of omnimechs. Their omnipods are so interchangeable, that it's unusual to see a Clan omnimech on the battlefield with eight consistent variant omnipods. The hard points go with the omnipods, as do the quirks. So, uh, good luck? Get it to fire at something and miss, determine what was fired, start drawing your conclusions from there.

Sorry, man. Best I know to do at this time...

[JigglyMoobs]

InspectorG, on 13 October 2015 - 12:24 PM, said:

AAAHHHH....

Thats your problem right there. kitfoxes have the armor of a light and the speed of a Medium. You have to play 'like a Fox' as in be sneaky as hell.

If only cuteness had an armor value.....

TheRAbbi, on 13 October 2015 - 12:38 PM, said:

Against CLAN mechs *COUGH**WHALE**COUGH*, your guess is as good as anyone's. Until you see it fire, you simply cannot really KNOW. After all, that's half the fun of omnimechs. Their omnipods are so interchangeable, that it's unusual to see a Clan omnimech on the battlefield with eight consistent variant omnipods. The hard points go with the omnipods, as do the quirks. So, uh, good luck? Get it to fire at something and miss, determine what was fired, start drawing your conclusions from there.....

Sorry, man. Best I know to do at this time...

That's why we need lights to observe and report.

For some weapons like Gauss you can definitely tell by looking. Others, you have do have to see them fire once.

But it's also useful to have little icons above people to see if they have energy or ballistics or lrms. Better to know who to violate and who to run away from.

Edited by JigglyMoobs, 13 October 2015 - 12:44 PM.

[Not A Real RAbbi]

It's the kind of info I like to try to gather and relay to the team, when I'm playing all scouty and stuff. I don't remember, was I in a TBR-C or some ACH in that drop we did together last night on HPG Manifold? Still, hard place to recon unless you're up on the wall, and even then it's just too cramped a space for good recon.

Yeah, catch me in a scout on a bigger map, and I'll talk your ear off about what enemies are where, what they're doing, how damaged they are, what weapons they're carrying, etc. Actually researching for a guide on my favorite role...