11 replies to this topic

[Iamacup]

Looking for help, support and advice for a noob. Been playing about a month now and I have started CW with FRR. Looking to get my average match DMG to over 500. I occasionally get up to 700 but it's rare. I seem to have plateaued around 500. Looking for any assistance and advice with regards to playing tips and also CW advice.
Cheers

[Ivan Romatovich Kerensky]

I have issues as well and have been in game a long time. And just recently started to break 1k or slightly less at times. Tips I can give that worked for me... 1). Hit the f9 key and check your fps. If you're taking lazer builds/ac builds this is effected dramaticaly. Make adjustments to your system as needed if your in the red or yellow. (Max I can get on my system in CW is 21 fps on certain maps. they are resourse hogs. Most matches I bump between 9 to 19. ) This makes brawling close range one of your options. As the hit box issues with the mechs are lessened when you're in their face. Remember to torso twist after firing to spread the damage your taking across your mech. The farther away you are, the more fps/hit reg comes into play. 200-400 meters is the sweet spot for me. 2). LRM builds... LRM's are back in vogue, but certain rules still apply. Do not stand off at max range lobbing lurms at every mech that get's targetable. The farther you are away from your target, the more time they have to get to cover. (Or break lock). Having line of sight and being 300-400 meters away is most effective imo. Also, always have a back up weapon. Pure lurm builds are well and good up untill you get closed in on. 3) Smurfys and Meta mechs. Check out builds optimised for CW play. 4). Learn the maps. Firing lanes, choke points. alternative areas when the best spots are rushed too by older players. All can be scouted in the training grounds. 5). Stick with the group. Target what they are targeting. 6). UAV's and airstrikes. Get um and use em. 7). Last one off the top of my head. Join the FRR TS server. (Address escapes me atm. can be found in FRR forums.) Tons of people willing too assist you there, great for pugging or joining a unit. Voice coms that are being utilized makes a world of difference.

Good luck!

[Helsbane]

Ivan Romatovich, on 27 January 2016 - 11:30 AM, said:

I have issues as well and have been in game a long time. And just recently started to break 1k or slightly less at times. Tips I can give that worked for me... 1). Hit the f9 key and check your fps. If you're taking lazer builds/ac builds this is effected dramaticaly. Make adjustments to your system as needed if your in the red or yellow. (Max I can get on my system in CW is 21 fps on certain maps. they are resourse hogs. Most matches I bump between 9 to 19. ) This makes brawling close range one of your options. As the hit box issues with the mechs are lessened when you're in their face. Remember to torso twist after firing to spread the damage your taking across your mech. The farther away you are, the more fps/hit reg comes into play. 200-400 meters is the sweet spot for me. 2). LRM builds... LRM's are back in vogue, but certain rules still apply. Do not stand off at max range lobbing lurms at every mech that get's targetable. The farther you are away from your target, the more time they have to get to cover. (Or break lock). Having line of sight and being 300-400 meters away is most effective imo. Also, always have a back up weapon. Pure lurm builds are well and good up untill you get closed in on. 3) Smurfys and Meta mechs. Check out builds optimised for CW play. 4). Learn the maps. Firing lanes, choke points. alternative areas when the best spots are rushed too by older players. All can be scouted in the training grounds. 5). Stick with the group. Target what they are targeting. 6). UAV's and airstrikes. Get um and use em. 7). Last one off the top of my head. Join the FRR TS server. (Address escapes me atm. can be found in FRR forums.) Tons of people willing too assist you there, great for pugging or joining a unit. Voice coms that are being utilized makes a world of difference.

Good luck!

I agree with all points aside from the bit about lurms. When you face the Clans getting locks through all the ECM they can bring can be almost impossible at times. All the time you sit there waiting for your lock on to kick in is time you could be actually hurting things with other weapons. Strike and fade into cover, learn to torso twist and spread damage, profit. Bring autocannons, SRMs, and lasers and out brawl them. Another aspsect of CW against lurms are some of the maps themselves. Grim Portico is horrible for lurms due to all the tall crystal structures, and both Vitric and Emerald have tons of buildings to use for cover. Best route to go is to avoid using lurms at all and use direct fire.

[Iamacup]

Thanks guys, this is really good advice, torso twisting is something I am working on, I do seem to get cored a lot. I got a centurion to practice this as it has shield arm, so I have to use that, or it's pointless. It seems to be working.

Ivan Romatovich, on 27 January 2016 - 11:30 AM, said:

7). Last one off the top of my head. Join the FRR TS server. (Address escapes me atm. can be found in FRR forums.) Tons of people willing too assist you there, great for pugging or joining a unit. Voice coms that are being utilized makes a world of difference.

Good luck!

I have joined the TS server, but I don't know where to go or how to use it, my first time using TS. It looks so straight forward but when ever I talk to a room eg landing pad, or looking for CW group, I get no responses, I have checked my mic settings and my voice com works through MWO. I think I am just in the wrong rooms. I will keep playing with the settings until I get a response from the other people in the channels.

Last night I pulled my first 950dmg, with four kills and 20+ assists, I forget how many. The main difference was my drop order, and I was more aggressive through out, I took my dakka KGC in first then progressively faster mechs, finishing with a light. This works as long as I am not the last one alive. I also got lucky and had two medium mechs backing me up when an E Jag and a TWF walked into me and I splattered both of them, one solo one KMDmg, as they spread fire across the three of us. I would have normally hit and fade in this situation, as I had back up I pushed in and got two kills. At my level luck comes into it in a big way.
Thanks guys

[Ivan Romatovich Kerensky]

Iamacup, on 27 January 2016 - 01:53 PM, said:

Last night I pulled my first 950dmg, with four kills and 20+ assists, I forget how many. The main difference was my drop order, and I was more aggressive through out, I took my dakka KGC in first then progressively faster mechs, finishing with a light. This works as long as I am not the last one alive. I also got lucky and had two medium mechs backing me up when an E Jag and a TWF walked into me and I splattered both of them, one solo one KMDmg, as they spread fire across the three of us. I would have normally hit and fade in this situation, as I had back up I pushed in and got two kills. At my level luck comes into it in a big way.
Thanks guys

Dropping heaviest to lightest is a solid strat. Unless your drop commander calls for something else for a push. You don't want too be in that king crab slow crawling alone to the fight when the end is near. Take it first drop unless told otherwise if you're in an organised drop.

Everything said about lurms by helsbane is true to an extent. I just included it in my original post incase you were running lrm mechs in cw to assist you in being more deadly. Idealy, run srm's/ac's and lazers as he said for more focused damage.

My personal goal in every cw match is to do 5 times the weight of the given mech I'm running before death. ( I don't run any lights so this rule doesn't really apply to them.) So my Tbolts I expect a minimum of 300. If I bring an atlas, I want 500 in it before dieing. If I bring my 4j hunchback, it needs too do at least 250 to have a spot in the drop deck. (Back to lurms again lol.) Setting these minimum goals per drop and focusing on that will increase your over all damage per match over time, and you will soon surpass those goals on a regular basis.

[Iamacup]

Ivan Romatovich, on 27 January 2016 - 08:40 PM, said:

My personal goal in every cw match is to do 5 times the weight of the given mech I'm running before death. ( I don't run any lights so this rule doesn't really apply to them.) So my Tbolts I expect a minimum of 300. If I bring an atlas, I want 500 in it before dieing. If I bring my 4j hunchback, it needs too do at least 250 to have a spot in the drop deck. (Back to lurms again lol.) Setting these minimum goals per drop and focusing on that will increase your over all damage per match over time, and you will soon surpass those goals on a regular basis.

This is awesome!! I will totally be aiming for this. Iam also going to pick up a few different medium mechs. Current deck is King Crab, Awesome, centurion, and Commando. I like the first three, the Commando is the only one that fits in the remaining tonnage.
Still need to make some tweaks to it.

[Rushin Roulette]

Ivan Romatovich, on 27 January 2016 - 08:40 PM, said:

Dropping heaviest to lightest is a solid strat. Unless your drop commander calls for something else for a push.

Especially this. There is noting worse than sitting in your heaviest mech in the first wave while everyone else is squrreling around in their lightest.... you tend to stick out like a sore thumb on the enemy radar... pluss you will not be able to keep up with the speed of others. If there are no orders, then the best bet is to look for any organised group (Same tags) and take similar sized mechs at they are displaying while waiting for the drop to start. Once you are in, then stick to them and hope they know what they are doing.

As for TS, you can also type in the channel chat to ask if anyone can hear you. If you still get no response, then you may have just joined a channel where everyone is inexplicably AFK (happens sometimes) and you are trying to change your settings because of that .

[Iamacup]

Well, torso twisting, a new line up of Mechs and a bit more practice means that I broke the 1000DMG mark. Very pleased and now just to keep going. Looking for a unit now to help avoid solo drops and queue less.

[Sjorpha]

Drop in the order heaviest/slowest first to lightest/fastest last.

Group up each new wave, do not reinforce unless it's called out specifically. Especially important on attack. Don't peek and poke too much while grouping, the idea is to have 12 pristine mechs when starting the push.

Build each mech to be maximally effective at a specific range and heat condition. Make simple effective alpha centric builds with 1 or 2 weapon systems. (You can be a roleplaying mech-hipster later when you're averaging 1200+, right now the idea is to step up your effectiveness right?)

Learn which maps favor which range bracket and heat profile and bring those mechs that fit best. For example heavy ballistic boats are good for defending sulfurous rift, ERLL boats are good for defending (but not attacking) Boreal Vault, big alpha short to midrange laservomit is good on Grim portico and cool running brawlers are good on Vitric forge.

Prioritize effective damage output over survival on the first 2 waves. Play aggressive. There is no benefit to having mechs left in your dropdeck when the match ends.

Line up your shots. Don't spray and pray and don't try to take very difficult shots in a hot mech. One of the secrets behind "good aim" is that it's not so much about being able to hit difficult shots but more about making the shots easy. Prey on the weak and easy targets. Get target info and shoot damaged or critical components. Study hitboxes on common metamechs and learn which side cripples them the most (e.g Hellbringer left torso (your right when facing)).

Don't repeat bad trades. If poking from one spot gave you a bad trade once, then the next one will be even worse because they know where you are and are waiting for you to pop your head up. Change position instead. Also ask yourself if trading is even appropriate in the given situation, there are many case in CW where the enemy needs to come to you sooner or later and giving them free trading opportunities isn't necessarily worth it, try setting up a firing line and be patient.

If your team is pushing, then commit to the push. Don't stop because you are taking damage, blocking your team is worse than dying and won't save you anyways. It's ok to push past enemies, your teammates can take care of them. Spread out just enough that your teammates also get room to fire. When brawling go in close, but don't facehug enemies so close that you are shielding them from your teams fire support. LRM boats and fire support builds needs to push with the team as well, not first in line but not too far behind either.

When pushing around corners or through chokepoints, the ideal is to make as many mechs as possible come into the action at the same time. That way the enemy has more targets and a harder time to focus. What this means for you as a teamplayer is that the slowest and least maneuverable mechs should be given the shortest and easiest paths to move, and the faster and jumping mechs can fan out or jump over obstacles to enter the fight at the same time. If you are able to do the latter, you don't need to be in the way of a slow assault trying to push in.

So those are some basic handles for you, they will all work ten times as well if you go to the FRR hub and group up.

Edited by Sjorpha, 05 February 2016 - 03:58 AM.

[DaemonWulfe]

I recommend studying metamechs.com as well. Even if you can't afford exact builds, learning the theory behind why some chassis/builds work better than others will take you down the right path. I also wouldn't put too much stock in the tabletop build nerds that get hammered repeatedly and cry about "meta". I like to look at it like this, throughout the history of warfare mankind has constantly needed to evolve with tactics and equipment. Those who haven't never got a chance to post to a forum about fairness because they aren't alive.

[Tarogato]

Builds are important. Make sure they're solid. Since you're having a hard time, I recommend going with mid-range laservomit. Bring in your Battlemaster, Stalker, Black Knight, Grasshopper, Thunderbolt, Quickdraw, and Blackjack. If you own any of those mechs, they're great for LPL and LL loadouts. But if you don't own those kinds of mechs and can't get your hands on them just yet, don't stress it - the pilot is more important than the mech. We've had people regularly break 2,000 damage with all trial-mech decks on alt-accounts, so by all means the biggest part of the equation is you and how you play.

Positioning is important, but it's hard. Follow this rule: "If your heat is at the bottom, you're wasting time - you need to be shooting the enemy and dealing damage." If you're close to overheating, consider using the time cooling off as a time to reposition if you need to do so, but be ready to be hitting the enemy again before your heat hits the floor or else you're wasting time.

Always be shooting the enemy. Torso twist to mitigate incoming damage when they shoot back, only expose the amount of mech that you need in order to get your weapons on target, poke out at the same time as allies or stand out in the open alongside them as a team member, only expose yourself to one enemy at a time if you can help it (never expose to multiple enemies at once! This is so important!), and rotate to the back of the team once you're cored and soon to die. Being in the back when your mech is falling apart at the seams lets you live longer and put out more damage - let your teammates who are fresher take incoming fire for you now that you no longer can yourself. But never sit back with a fresh mech - armour is a team resource, use it. Plan to lose your mechs and respawn at the same rate as your allies - don't get out of synch with them.

... that should about cover it for basics, I reckon.

Edited by Tarogato, 25 February 2016 - 09:30 PM.

[Wing 0]

Tarogato, on 25 February 2016 - 09:24 PM, said:

Builds are important. Make sure they're solid. Since you're having a hard time, I recommend going with mid-range laservomit. Bring in your Battlemaster, Stalker, Black Knight, Grasshopper, Thunderbolt, Quickdraw, and Blackjack. If you own any of those mechs, they're great for LPL and LL loadouts. But if you don't own those kinds of mechs and can't get your hands on them just yet, don't stress it - the pilot is more important than the mech. We've had people regularly break 2,000 damage with all trial-mech decks on alt-accounts, so by all means the biggest part of the equation is you and how you play.

Lets not forget that not all trial mechs are reliable, Catapult A1 is something you must Avoid due to XL Engine. Another weapon is avoid taking LRMS. Most people in CW can easily get around those LRMS. Like Torogato said. Builds are important in CW. try hooking up with a unit that's in the faction you are in and work with them on TeamSpeak or whatever comms they use. Lots of people use TeamSpeak in means to helping new players with sending links on mech builds and all etc.