192 replies to this topic

[Mazzyplz]

this one is a faulty tactic



the answer here is different.

if it's an open terrain like this is assuming - then the 2 mechs should focus the timberwolf and kill it fast, not the atlas.

it will take more of their guns offline faster. and the atlas will live past 20% health like in your comic

[P]

fat4eyes, on 27 October 2015 - 05:51 AM, said:

Hello everyone!

A lot has been written about multi-mech tactics in MWO, but they tend to be rather dense walls of text. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I present to you:


THE MWO TACTICS 101 COMICS

(Now also in French! Thanks to Coryphee.)

I've gathered up some of what I've learned over the past year and a half of playing MWO and put it in (I hope) an entertaining yet informative format. So without further ado, here's our cast of characters:

Spoiler

The mech graphics are taken from the assets of Megamek. If you want to make your own comics, I've uploaded the files I use to make them here. You'll need LibreOffice to open the ODG file (don't worry, its free).

And now on to the main event!


The Basics

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If you learn only one thing from these comics let it be this:

MORE of us vs. LESS of them = MORE of them dead & LESS of us dead

This is the basis for almost all of the tactics in these comics (and in real life too). Always try to maneuver so there are more friendly guns firing at the enemy than there are firing back. At the very least, stay with your teammates as often as possible and shoot what they shoot.

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The echelon formation is probably the most flexible and useful formation in MWO. It gives your teammates room to maneuver and can quickly turn to face a threat from most directions. Just remember to keep your distance and not block your teammates.

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If you play long enough this will happen to you. Give your teammate room to back up. It may save his life (and yours too).

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Picking a mech to escort and helping it take down its targets increases both your lifespans, and your kills.

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To come out on top against even odds, you must find a way to spread damage across the team. You do not want that friendly assault with 70 firepower to go down early. If you're close to death but still have significant firepower, move behind your teammates and give them supporting fire. If you still have lots of armor near the end of the game, go up to the front line and tank. Yes, this applies to 'support mechs' too.

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Take it slow when going around a corner. Try to take your enemies one at a time. If you're a lighter mech escorting an assault or heavy, let him take the first salvo and immediately follow up with your own while the enemy is on cooldown. The heavy you're escorting values you more for your added firepower than for your tanking ability.

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A great man once said "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results". Don't be insane.

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Situational awareness is knowing what's happening around you and your mech. I usually don't have long explanations for a comic but I feel I need to for this one.

• Newbie: Only knows about the target he's shooting at. He doesn't notice he's being shot from behind until he's dead.
  
• Padawan: Does notice he's being shot in the back, but only after he's lost all his rear armor and is warned of critical central torso damage. He then turns around to look behind him but now opens his rear to his previous target. He tries to chase down the light, even though he is unlikely to catch it.
  
• Jedi: Immediately notices he's being shot in the back. Goes into cover as he looks behind him. Sees that he was being shot by a light, and knowing that his mech can't catch it, just fires at the enemy from his position.
  
• Jedi Master: Does everything the Jedi does. In addition, he also alerts his team so teammates that are better equipped to deal with the enemy light can do so.

Situational awareness is a pretty big topic. If you want to know more about it you can look at Asmudius Heng's excellent video.

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If you don't want to accidentally get shot by your teammates, don't move in front of them when they're engaged with an enemy. Not only are you blocking your teammate's shots, you're exposing yourself to the enemy.

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When you have an advantage, USE IT.

Flanking

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Flanking is a classic maneuver for breaking up stalemates. The idea is to attack a small portion of the enemy with superior firepower from an unexpected direction. This allows you to defeat the enemy in detail.

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Flanking is not a silver bullet. If it's detected early, the enemy can redeploy and destroy your flanking force with a superior force, and then defeat your main force afterwards. Move stealthily and get the jump on the enemy. If all else fails, return to the main force and wait for another opportunity.

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Here's another way a flanking maneuver can fail. If the flankers take too long to get to the enemy, the enemy can push your main force and likely defeat it. Be fast and decisive when flanking.

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When your team is surrounded, usually your best bet is to find where the enemy is weakest and push hard. The enemy will try to chase you and shoot your backs so some mechs will have to act as the rear guard. These mechs must use every trick in the book, from arty strikes to good use of cover, to delay the enemy long enough for the rest of the team to break out. A breakout is a risky maneuver, but it's almost always a better option than staying surrounded.

NASCAR!

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What people call NASCAR is just a flanking maneuver where the entire team goes to flank. A good NASCAR involves the team moving together as a group, engaging small portions of the enemy with full force, and having some mechs act as the rear guard to make sure the team's heavy hitters aren't shot in the back.

NASCAR usually happens in maps that have a central feature that has lots of cover, and paths going around it. The classic NASCAR map is Caustic Valley (around the central caldera). It also happens often in River City (around the 'Citadel', the large tall building near the center) and Frozen City (around the central crashed dropship).

Spoiler

This is the most common way a NASCAR maneuver fails. Everyone goes off at top speed, not caring where their teammates are. Because mechs have different top speeds, the team gets strung out and is defeated one by one by a more organized enemy. Slow assaults in particular get shafted, doomed to an embarrassing death by light mech when their teammates abandon them.

Spoiler

Sometimes a NASCAR that's going bad can be saved if the fast mechs can help out the team's tail before it's completely destroyed. In some maps (Caustic) this would require you to cross the center of the map to get there in time. Listen/read team chat, and watch your minimap.

Chokepoints

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Chokepoints are great when you're defending. It's the terrain doing your job for you: maximizing your firepower while minimizing the enemy's.

The enemy going through a chokepoint is not an instant win though. Your team has to guard the chokepoint properly to take best advantage of it. (Long explanation incoming, tl/dr at the end)

• If you guard it too close, your team won't have enough time to concentrate fire on their lead mechs until they close to a brawl. Once a brawl is joined, the advantage is lost and it comes down to individual skill and luck, not tactics.
  
• If you guard it too far, the enemy won't take enough damage going out of the chokepoint because your shots will be less accurate or have less damage due to range.
  
• You have to guard it so that most of the team's weapons are still effective, yet far enough away to have enough time to do damage. It's hard to put a definite number on this range because of the variation on loadouts, player aiming skills and the terrain just outside a chokepoint, but I've found for most PUG matches guarding from around 400m away seems to be a sweet spot (mostly out of range of srms and medium pulse lasers, but still in range for medium lasers).

tl/dr: Too close = brawl, too far = useless, just right = around 400m

Spoiler

Pushing through a guarded chokepoint is usually a bad idea. But if you HAVE to do it, you must do it as a team. Your goal is to get out of your disadvantaged position as quickly as possible, and minimize the amount of damage your team takes as you go out of the chokepoint.

Here's one way to do it (long explanation incoming, tl/dr at the end):

• The entire team pushes hard out of the chokepoint, firing whenever they can and torso twisting to spread damage. EVERYONE must move, staying behind just gives the enemy an advantage.
  
• Once out of the chokepoint, most of the mechs go for a flank of the enemy. This has 3 purposes: 1) Going for the enemy's flanks lessens the chance you'll be flanked on both sides as you come out, 2) it unbalances the enemy as they have to adjust their positions to deal with your push, and 3) moving sideways relative to the enemy makes it harder for them to aim for your central torso.
  
• At the same time, a small distraction force of fast mechs go the other way and try to draw as much fire away from your main force as possible. The longer the distraction lasts, the better.
  
• Once you've formed your battle line outside the chokepoint, the battle proceeds as normal.

Use anything that will reduce the enemy's advantage as you go out of the chokepoint. Use artillery and airstrikes to disrupt their formation. Blind-fire LRMs onto the enemy to make them go into cover. If you have many autocannons, use it to scare as many of the enemy's mechs as possible into torso twisting or getting into cover. Use anything at all that reduces the enemy's advantage as you push out.

And don't underestimate the fear factor of a big push as well. The bigger and more aggressive your push is, the better. I've seen chokepoint defenders scatter in disarray at the sight of 3 assaults followed by their entire team coming out of a chokepoint with all guns blazing.

tl/dr: EVERYONE pushes, most go towards a flank, fast mechs do a distraction on the other side, be as scary as possible.

Spoiler

When your team is already pushing a chokepoint, getting cold feet and trying to get to cover will not only make your team lose the match, it will get you killed faster. The time it takes to go from full speed to full reverse is about 1-2 seconds, and that's enough time for 12 enemy mechs to kill you. When you're already pushing, your best hope for survival is to give the enemy more targets to shoot at (your teammates behind you), not getting into cover and blocking your teammates.

(This message has been paid for by the Terra Therma Widow's Society)

Lights

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A classic distraction tactic. The essence of this tactic is to trick the enemy to use an excessive amount of force to try to take down a trivial threat. Once the enemy has become disorganized, use your main force to defeat them in detail.

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Never be alone, especially if the enemy has lights roaming around. Be wary of Firestarters, Arctic Cheetahs, Jenners and the Huggin Raven since they are the best at using this tactic. Try to learn the names of good light pilots; more likely than not they will run a wolfpack. There are only a few real good light pilots, and you WILL remember their names when they kill you.

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The best defense against wolfpacks is to be with your team. But if you do get jumped by a wolfpack when you're in a slow mech, here's what you can do:

1. Put your back against a wall to protect your rear armor.
2. Pop a UAV and call for help from your team.
3. Stay with your back against the wall and shoot at the enemies as they move past you. Keep your back protected.
4. Help your teammates to drive off the lights when they arrive.

P.S. This is not yet complete. I will add more comics when I am able.

P.P.S. If you have suggestions on a tactic to put in a comic, just post a description of it in the thread. I'll try to make more comics as time permits. If you make your own comic and post it in the thread that's great! I'll try to get them in the top posts as often as I can.

just a general idea, fateye
what cha think of the game of Rock, Paper and Scissors
I often see these patterns in the battlegrid regardless of any maps.
Rocks be MurderBall, Papers are Surrounding the Murderball, and Scissors are Murderballs splitting up and start pushing one side of the Papers.

[Dawnstealer]

AWESOME post. And this right here is why my KDR is so bad:

https://www.dropbox....nking.png?raw=1

SOMEONE has to be first around that corner and lead the charge.

[Yozaa]

Thank you for this Community Service Announcement
07

[fat4eyes]

New comic! Last chokepoint comic (for now).

Spoiler

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Remember there are 2 sides to a chokepoint. Don't chase an enemy going through one if you don't know what's on the other side.

[fat4eyes]

Mazzyplz, on 05 November 2015 - 08:09 PM, said:

if it's an open terrain like this is assuming - then the 2 mechs should focus the timberwolf and kill it fast, not the atlas.

it will take more of their guns offline faster. and the atlas will live past 20% health like in your comic

You're correct, it is better to focus on the lighter mech and kill it first if it has a lot of firepower. What I wanted to show in the comic though was how sharing damage across team members lets you come out on top of even engagements.

[Big Tin Man]

fat4eyes, on 05 November 2015 - 03:43 PM, said:

(This message has been paid for by the Terra Therma Widow's Society)

I just wanted to quote this so I could like it again.

[no one]

fat4eyes, on 06 November 2015 - 02:53 PM, said:

New comic! Last chokepoint comic (for now).

That's something like an x/y axis only version of "fish in a barrel" aka "a hole in the ground is not cover". In some maps, terrain squirrel chasing will tend to funnel one side into a low area surrounded by ledges and many pug teams will sit there, taking pot shots and gradually getting surrounded in favor of moving up into fire.

[Tim East]

Wildstreak, on 30 October 2015 - 11:22 AM, said:

Need one for Assault where only 1 Light sneaks around to cap the base then 4+ go to defend it leaving the rest to get rolled by a push.

Had this exact thing happen to me on alpine last night. I ran to their base, three dudes came to get me, and my team rolled them. Call it the "Light's Fork" since it forces the enemy into a very bad position. They have to send enough firepower that I can't win by myself without sacrificing the main battle with our primary forces.

Objective based comics go. I note that you haven't done any on using zones to push your foes into untenable positions.

[InspectorG]

fat4eyes, on 06 November 2015 - 02:56 PM, said:

You're correct, it is better to focus on the lighter mech and kill it first if it has a lot of firepower. What I wanted to show in the comic though was how sharing damage across team members lets you come out on top of even engagements.

Ideas:

CIRCLE OF DEATH.

Circle of Death (;ight vs light)

Poptart vs Jumpsnipe.

Friendly light supporting an Assault who cathces that enemy light who though the assault was alone.


Also:

Might be good to compile them into a PDF and put them in a dropbox or something.

Keep up the good work!!!

[fat4eyes]

New comic! This one's a flanking fail situation suggested by Chryckan.

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Yet another way for a flanking maneuver to fail. If the flankers engage the enemy too early or too far from their main force, the entire enemy team can focus on and destroy them. Your main force will then be defeated by the enemy due to their numbers. When you flank, make sure that your main force is able to support you. And when you're in the main force, support your flankers when they engage.

[Madrummer]

Sooo much win!
....now....if there were just a way to disseminate this to every-damn-player out there...
But I love this, great work, can't wait for future installments!

[Duncan1dah0]

Great way to present the information. Thanks.

[William Slayer]

Simple and informative. This is pure gold. Hope you don't mind but I put a link to this thread on my Brigades website under 'new recruits Must read this'. :-)

o7 and thanks for the good work!

[fat4eyes]

New comic! This one's on using flanking to counterattack.

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Flanking is not just useful in the offense, but can be very effective in the defense as well. When your enemy is pushing, almost their entire attention is directed in one direction: forward. This makes them vulnerable to a counterattack on their flanks. This has to be done very quickly, before the enemy has taken out too many of your teammates. When you see the enemy pushing hard on your weak flank, don't see it as an automatic loss, but an opportunity to launch a flanking counterattack and regain the upper hand.

I've also reorganized the OP to put each image in a spoiler. Hopefully it will make it easier to navigate.

Edited by fat4eyes, 08 November 2015 - 01:33 PM.

[kosmos1214]

Mazzyplz, on 05 November 2015 - 08:09 PM, said:

this one is a faulty tactic



the answer here is different.

if it's an open terrain like this is assuming - then the 2 mechs should focus the timberwolf and kill it fast, not the atlas.

it will take more of their guns offline faster. and the atlas will live past 20% health like in your comic

you are right but i all ways thought it was a catapult not a timber wolf

fat4eyes, on 06 November 2015 - 02:56 PM, said:

You're correct, it is better to focus on the lighter mech and kill it first if it has a lot of firepower. What I wanted to show in the comic though was how sharing damage across team members lets you come out on top of even engagements.

[fat4eyes]

New comic! First in a series on deception:

Lure

Spoiler

If you're being chased by a lot of enemies, you can lure them into an ambush. Look for areas that limit their mobility, have little cover, and can be surrounded by multiple teammates. Conversely, be careful of chasing enemies into narrow passes overlooked by ridges on multiple sides. Examples of good ambush spots are the C3 and D4 canyons in Canyon Network, and the E6/E7 bowl-shaped valleys in Tourmaline Desert.

In actual games, ambushes are usually executed on the fly, without much preplanning. If you're the mech doing the luring and the enemy is nearing a good ambush spot, pop a UAV to let your teammates know the enemy is coming.

[Sereglach]

fat4eyes, on 09 November 2015 - 01:41 PM, said:

New comic! First in a series on deception:
*snip*

All I can hear is Elmer Fudd saying, "Be verwy, verwy quiet . . . I'm hunting wred mechs."

Seriously, though, it's another great comic and hopefully there are players out there taking these lessons to heart. There is lots of great information to be had in these, despite the entertainment value they also have.

[Roadbuster]

Sticky this thread now!

[Apewar]

excellent read