22 replies to this topic

[JigglyMoobs]

Ok, lets say you are a heavy or assault mech. You start shooting at a dangerous enemy mech and strip it down until it's left with cherry torsos and a couple of medium lasers.

At this point, do you keep shooting until hes dead, or is it smarter to leave it for the carrion feeders and instead use your heat capacity and time on someone more dangerous?

Usually, of course, i go for the kill, but lately ive been trying to conscientiously switch targets as soon as the threat is under control.

What do you guys think? Are there circumstances where you'd leave a crippled enemy for teammates to deal with?

[Johny Rocket]

When Kill Assists were more valuable than Kills I would leave them every time. It's why today my KDR is still so low. Though I've always tried for the Savior Kill.

A lot of variables to consider though are the crows right on his heals, is the healthier target posing an immediate threat etc...

[Kardax]

It depends if there is higher threat , and if i can afford such manouver.

[Leone]

All The Time. Personally, I care about the Kill Most Damage Dealt stat. It is the one I try an get as many points in. Ergo, once I've popped an ST and Crippled a mech, I move on unless that mech i gunning for me. Then I take out the distraction so as to keep my mech in good condition. Gotta save that paint job, ya know.

~Leone.

[Void Angel]

Tractor Joe, on 31 December 2015 - 06:52 AM, said:

When Kill Assists were more valuable than Kills I would leave them every time. It's why today my KDR is still so low. Though I've always tried for the Savior Kill.

A lot of variables to consider though are the crows right on his heals, is the healthier target posing an immediate threat etc...

They never were more valuable; People thought they were because they didn't account for the extra bonuses that came with the killing blow - like component destruction. Killing blows have always been more valuable than an assist.

As for the OP, if you have other targets, smash those targets first. You can get by with finishing off that crippled Atlas (those structure buffs do nothing to protect his weapons) if no other targets present themselves, and if the fight is going well I'll often do so - but it's always more effective to leave the cripples alone and focus on people who are actually still able to shoot back. No serious team will stop to kill cripples before the match is decided.

[Narcissistic Martyr]

Well I'm a light pilot so I feast on your carrion but in return the second an enemy light is legged I GTFO and leave it for you guys. I don't have enough armor to waste killing an already crippled enemy.

[Eaerie]

It is a situational call, there are a lot of factors that can come into play on a call like that
Is the damaged mech backing off, running to get cover from friends? leave it for a sniper or carrion feeder.
Is it still coming? finish it.
Will finishing the mech off cause you to overheat? if so are you in a position to overheat and not get demolished by the rest of the enemy? judgement call.

those are just a couple things you should consider when in a situation like that. The list goes on and on and everyone has their own personal take on it.

[JigglyMoobs]

Narcissistic Martyr, on 31 December 2015 - 11:48 AM, said:

Well I'm a light pilot so I feast on your carrion but in return the second an enemy light is legged I GTFO and leave it for you guys. I don't have enough armor to waste killing an already crippled enemy.

that's useful info. I'm usually half decent at shooting lights with my heavy Mech if the opportunity presents itself (I when the enemy light is fighting my own lights). often id leave a legged light for my little buddies to deal with thinking its pretty much finished, but maybe this is the exact wrong thing to do.

[Wintersdark]

JigglyMoobs, on 31 December 2015 - 06:00 AM, said:

Ok, lets say you are a heavy or assault mech. You start shooting at a dangerous enemy mech and strip it down until it's left with cherry torsos and a couple of medium lasers.

At this point, do you keep shooting until hes dead, or is it smarter to leave it for the carrion feeders and instead use your heat capacity and time on someone more dangerous?

Usually, of course, i go for the kill, but lately ive been trying to conscientiously switch targets as soon as the threat is under control.

What do you guys think? Are there circumstances where you'd leave a crippled enemy for teammates to deal with?

I always switch to a higher value target when my target is crippled/harmless. I don't care about kills at all.

Of course, despite having a pretty good WLR, my KDR isn't so impressive as a result (though still >1, with pretty much 99% solo drops).

Basically, I don't care about getting kills at all, nor do I care about surviving matches.

I care about winning matches, and that's the beginning and end of it.



Edit: For clarity, there are times when killing is the necessary choice for winning. You see this most frequently in very tense Skirmish matches, Faction Warfare Counter Attack missions, and occasionally on Conquest.

Basically: I always do the best I possibly can to win the match, regardless of other factors.

Edited by Wintersdark, 31 December 2015 - 05:43 PM.

[Fox With A Shotgun]

It depends. As an assault mech or a heavy mech, your biggest asset to the team is firepower and damage absorption. If an enemy is as crippled as you say it is, you want to ask a couple of questions.

• Are there still other enemies around?
  
• Is your own mech about to explode?
  
• Is the enemy still dangerous?
  
• Are there allies around?
  
• Is your team completely crushing them
  
• Is someone on their way to a Death Star / Ace of Spades?

If there are still other enemies around, you aren't about to explode and the crippled enemy isn't dangerous, you will want to leave that cookie and start demolishing other higher-priority targets. A sticked-down, crippled ACH is much less of a threat to your team than a MDD who still has 6 SRM6 attached. Use your remaining firepower and health to destroy or cripple the other high-priority targets in the area.

If there are no enemies around, by all means destroy the crippled target if it won't take long.

If you are yourself cherry red, and about to explode, then let your allies do the work. A dead mech is one that has no firepower, and as a heavy or assault you bring tons of that to the table. Don't want to lose the biggest guns on a team for no good reason.

Also, don't be a tool and steal someone's needed 12 kills if you're steamrolling the enemy team. That's not cool. It takes a very lucky streak for someone to rack up 11 or 10 kills. Let them have their day.

[Bespoke Cheese Cake]

My personal thoughts on this are if the person has no weapons left then you can forget about them, but if they can still shoot they need to be put down.

[Kalamity27]

W/L > K/D

[Not A Real RAbbi]

Purely depends on the situation. I say, use your best judgement, your own sense of teamwork, and so on, and figure out what works for you. Kill assists and KMDD still buff your match score, pay CBills, and earn XP. It's probably easier to decide, though, when you have at least a somewhat-organized team around you complete with roles and all.

[Wildstreak]

If all his weapons are gone leaving him nothing more than a walking free kill and there are significant other enemies that need taking out.

Unless I am using LRMs, then I fire enough to damage him. If I note he is engaged with allies, I usually give the target a few flights that I know hit to assist then find another target.

[Hexenhammer]

I have no problem leaving an zombie or crippled mech to go after bigger game. I don't care about my stats and do what's the most fun for me. Sure I've paid the price for it but that doesn't stop me from doing it.

So realistically its a judgement call. If you're a zombie and other people are around I drop you and head for the next threat. If no one is around I'll finish the target off. Getting cute by shutting down and playing possum doesn't work because I keep shooting till I see mech destroyed!

Edited by Hexenhammer, 31 December 2015 - 07:56 PM.

[Dawnstealer]

Tractor Joe, on 31 December 2015 - 06:52 AM, said:

When Kill Assists were more valuable than Kills I would leave them every time. It's why today my KDR is still so low. Though I've always tried for the Savior Kill.

A lot of variables to consider though are the crows right on his heals, is the healthier target posing an immediate threat etc...

Same. For me, it really depends on my team and how seriously I'm taking the game. If it's a good player in that other mech, I'll kill it even if it's half-racked. Usually I'll just mortally wound mechs. Lately, I've started switching it up.

If I'm not under fire, I'll just finish off the mech and move to the next one. If I'm taking fire, I'll ignore the harmless mech and leave them to teammates.

[Aleksandr Sergeyevich Kerensky]

Depends on the map/type... But in most situations, if that mech still has weapons, i go for the kill... (As long as i dont have to chase that target through enemy lines).

But honestly- removing hostile enemy tonnage from the game is generally important. And when i say hostile; i mean armed and potentially dangerous. The only time I would change my targets off an lightly armed enemy, is if a different target is called for focus fire.

"A couple medium lasers" can still rack in kills and damage if left unchecked. And if hes close to getting scrapped- might as well remove the threat from the battlefield. Remember, you and your team members are also getting shot; and some of them might be bearly hanging on as well.

[5LeafClover]

Interesting point, I'd not thought of before. Even so, I think it'd be an exceptional case before I left it for others. My reason, all enemy mechs looks the same on the mini map. Leaving the crippled mech alive gives your team an innacurate assesment of the battle. They may be less inclined to advance, or be rushing to your aid when they should be gathering guns with other lances.

[Boldar]

For me it is quite easy: finish him off.
Even if he cannot deal muich damage he can still provide a target lock and give intel for his teeam mates.
So I take him out.

[JigglyMoobs]

5LeafClover, on 01 January 2016 - 12:27 AM, said:

Interesting point, I'd not thought of before. Even so, I think it'd be an exceptional case before I left it for others. My reason, all enemy mechs looks the same on the mini map. Leaving the crippled mech alive gives your team an innacurate assesment of the battle. They may be less inclined to advance, or be rushing to your aid when they should be gathering guns with other lances.

Boldar, on 02 January 2016 - 12:00 PM, said:

For me it is quite easy: finish him off.
Even if he cannot deal muich damage he can still provide a target lock and give intel for his teeam mates.
So I take him out.

Yes, I think clearing up the battlefield for your teammates and preventing locks are both good reasons to take out a stripped out mech. Seems a judgement call:

If there is an immediate threat other than the stripped mech - switch to that threat.
If there is not or the stripped mech is problematic in some way, finish it off.