64 replies to this topic

[Nitemarine]

All of you have made good points, however I think it is the community that needs to help. I am a Noobie will probably never see the outside of tier 5. The community need to start talking to the noob's and eduacate them. I cann't count how many military schools I have gone to that just give you the basic info and once you hit the fleet it is you NCO's that really teach you what you should be doing either as that kid straight out of the school house or that fresh lt that forget to call for fire on the enemy and not himself. It is all the guys that have been playing forever and a day that need to step up and talk to the new guys. When that new guy gose out and gets himself all shoot up because he did not listen the first dozen time don't get upset try again. Adapt, overcome and adjust. Thank you for listening to my two cents.

[Dave Forsey]

Adams was going to end up as a trope one way or another - he's supposed to echo characters from previous games.

Now that I know what a POG is, yeah he's definitely that - and has his hand on all the simulation settings to boot - can make anyone's life hell just by moving a finger and twirling a dial.

[Scout Derek]

Dave Forsey, on 24 March 2016 - 03:40 PM, said:

Adams was going to end up as a trope one way or another - he's supposed to echo characters from previous games.

Now that I know what a POG is, yeah he's definitely that - and has his hand on all the simulation settings to boot - can make anyone's life hell just by moving a finger and twirling a dial.

Should make one where the player, after shooting him twice or third time, have Adams spawn 20 LRM 20 Salvos inbound towards you.

That'd be a sight to see, your mech getting literally crushed from the sheer amount of them.

[Dave Forsey]

A cloud of incoming LRM's was actually the original concept - but they can't just be spawned - they have to come from 'Mechs, which have to have locks, which... and so on.

But the image is a good one. Either that or a big Monty Python foot descending from the heavens... :-)

[Not A Real RAbbi]

Dave Forsey, on 24 March 2016 - 04:38 PM, said:

A cloud of incoming LRM's was actually the original concept - but they can't just be spawned - they have to come from 'Mechs, which have to have locks, which... and so on.

But the image is a good one. Either that or a big Monty Python foot descending from the heavens... :-)

Much as my family and I would appreciate the Monty Python thing, I wonder if those TURRETS couldn't all spawn out some LRMs for ya. We used to have LRM turrets in ASSAULT, IIRC. Like, in early 2014 perhaps.

@Nitemarine- agreed. That's what we have the New Player Help forum for, as well as the public TeamSpeak server. And the Guides and Strategies forum is a cool source for some information. OR, just find a familiar unit tag and look up their players/forum, and see if they're looking to help a casual player out with some tips and teamwork. And about those military schools, I'm also sick of hearing "just enough to make you dangerous"...

[Virlutris]

Sister RAbbi, on 22 March 2016 - 07:53 PM, said:

Nice!

Hey, no offense to the voice actor for that job. And for the character himself, was that a carry-over from another MW title? I've never played any of the others, save Crescent Hawk's Inception (which wasn't really heavy on NPCs, to be honest).

But yeah, I spent the tutorial shaking my head at that dude. Sounded so POG, I felt like a REAL soldier for a minute (I wasn't retired yet when I started playing MWO, but to be fair, I WAS by the time the Academy tutorial rolled out) by comparison.

I've been thinking that when (okay, IF) the Academy gets expanded, there ought to be a new, ORIGINAL character introduced into the training stuff. Maybe CPT Adams' hand-picked successor, some up-and-coming young Lieutenant with a chip on his shoulder. OR maybe we can meet the grumpy old first sergeant, who's just riding the gravy train a few more months until retirement and really RESENTS being responsible for all these young officers who can't actually find their shiny brass backsides with a map and compass and GPS and an 8-digit grid.

You know what? I want a bowling ball cockpit item. Fun story. The tale of WO1 Ball. WO1 Ball wasn't an actual Warrant Officer. He was a bowling ball. Had a nice bag that he was carried around in, and had a logbook. He was assigned to either the newest officer (warrant or commissioned) in the squadron (pfft... cav... yeah, I got my spurs) or the one who most recently screwed up. SO, just to introduce him to the good like, the USMA cadet that spent part of the Summer of '99 with us in B/2-6 Cav in Germany, HE got WO1 Ball assigned to him (as opposed to PVT Sphere, who was only for enlisted folks). Gotta take WO1 Ball cool places, do cool stuff with him, and get pictures, and put it all in the logbook, right? OH, and DO NOT EVER GO ANYWHERE WITHOUT HIM. That's a standing order for whomever is assigned to WO1 Ball. So, when the cadet leaves WO1 Ball in the pilots' office while he goes to take a leak, and he comes back freshly relieved of urine, he finds that WO1 Ball has mysteriously disappeared. In its place, he finds a Polaroid instamatic photo of WO1 Ball, blindfolded, with a lit cigarette hanging from his thumbhole, with a squirtgun pointed at his head, and a hastily-constructed note next to it reading:

"1800, Bowling Alley, or the Ball GETS IT"

This led the young cadet on quite an adventure, which was equal parts scavenger hunt and pub crawl, to recover WO1 Ball. And I'd be in deeper than deep dookie, were it ever known to certain parties that I did assist the cadet in coordinating taxi transportation from the bowling alley to the bar in the next town over (ah, Bad Windsheim, what a town! My daughter was born there, too). Hey, I felt for the kid. He didn't speak a lick of German after only 5 weeks or so, and losing WO1 Ball to THAT crew would have followed him around for years.

Anyhow. CPT Adams is making the best of a tough situation, I'm sure. Probably a Tier 1 player, just not in the comp game at the moment. You know. Real life stuff, priorities, all that...

So much win in there

He really did do a good job on his "bark."

At first, I reacted like "Is this guy for real?" Then I realized that was just about right for that military feel (or at least tropes about it).

If he were too chill, I don't think it would have that same sense of impending "bite" that's pretty common in military training. Granted, it's not present or necessary everywhere, but it does add a certain something to the scene. Reminded me of one or two people I've run across in uniform, that's for sure. You know the guy, he's like a walking caricature.

I like him, personally. But then it's probably got more to do with the fact that I don't actually have to work with him beyond his role in augmenting the academy's immersion lulz, and I can enjoy him for the caricature that he is.

Also, bowling ball? (Maybe even with a logbook tucked in the bag?) Yes please! For kicks, who do you think the most avid bowlers in the Inner Sphere are? My money's on Marik or Davion, but I'm weak on lore-knowledge.

Edited by Virlutris, 25 March 2016 - 12:14 PM.

[Not A Real RAbbi]

Virlutris, on 25 March 2016 - 12:10 PM, said:

So much win in there

He really did do a good job on his "bark."

At first, I reacted like "Is this guy for real?" Then I realized that was just about right for that military feel (or at least tropes about it).

If he were too chill, I don't think it would have that same sense of impending "bite" that's pretty common in military training. Granted, it's not present or necessary everywhere, but it does add a certain something to the scene. Reminded me of one or two people I've run across in uniform, that's for sure. You know the guy, he's like a walking caricature.

I like him, personally. But then it's probably got more to do with the fact that I don't actually have to work with him beyond his role in augmenting the academy's immersion lulz, and I can enjoy him for the caricature that he is.

Also, bowling ball? (Maybe even with a logbook tucked in the bag?) Yes please! For kicks, who do you think the most avid bowlers in the Inner Sphere are? My money's on Marik or Davion, but I'm weak on lore-knowledge.

I asked my QQ teammates about the bowling thing earlier. Concensus: MARIK. There's got to be a decent short fanfic in that...

Also, the how/why of CPT Adams coming to be an academy instructor despite his long, commendable service record in the AS7 chassis in combat, graduating near the top of his class in virtually every school, being among the top 10% of officers service-wide in physical fitness, and so on. Even made sure to keep that Masonic lodge ring visible in his DA photo, even though he really didn't NEED to. So how, with the Clan Invasion going on, did Adams end up in this out-to-pasture job? I'm sure it involves alcohol, a house of ill repute in Panama (Blue Goose is my best guess, in/near Balboa), and no fewer than three domestic animals.

I shall set my sick imagination to work on that.

What were we talking about before I derailed the thread?

Edited by Sister RAbbi, 26 March 2016 - 11:44 AM.

[CainenEX]

Read the title. YES.
LRMs are avoidable and easy to mitigate damage. The knowledge just needs to be learned. Considering lower tiers face tank everything this would be a helpful learning tool.

[Chocowolf Sradac]

Yes lrms are not as bad as they used to be for those who have been around will know what I'm talking about

Torso Twisting to spread out the incoming damage is a must to make sure your mech is healthy enough to be able to fight

even with ams,ecm or radar derp it is a good habit to move from cover to cover when possible to limit exposure to the other team which depending on how many mechs they see can be a very bad thing for you. It's just better to know when to expose yourself to trade and when not to

A team that uses only direct fire weapons due to how lrms spread will kill mechs faster due to pinpoint damage to critical components. As long as you can coordinate well with your team then lrms should be the least of your concern

Edited by Chocowolf, 27 March 2016 - 08:35 PM.

[Not A Real RAbbi]

Chocowolf, on 27 March 2016 - 08:33 PM, said:

Yes lrms are not as bad as they used to be for those who have been around will know what I'm talking about

Torso Twisting to spread out the incoming damage is a must to make sure your mech is healthy enough to be able to fight

even with ams,ecm or radar derp it is a good habit to move from cover to cover when possible to limit exposure to the other team which depending on how many mechs they see can be a very bad thing for you. It's just better to know when to expose yourself to trade and when not to

A team that uses only direct fire weapons due to how lrms spread will kill mech faster then lrms. As long as you can coordinate well with your team then lrms should be the least of your concern

Yup. Actually did just that earlier tonight, and got it on video. Had some more folks trying to scrounge up some leaderboard points in ARCs, and the LRMs were all over. They got someone to go pop some UAVs so they could LRM us non-LoS, too (I get so many UAV kills lately). Probably took more damage than I did (600-something), or SHOULD have anyway, in the oh-so-tanky-for-a-medium CRB-27. No AMS. No ECM. No Radar Derp. Only critical damage was from stepping in front of a friendly Atlas (so many apologies). LRM damage spreads easy, like warm butter. You just gotta twist and wiggle and all that.

(Of course, HAVING ECM and Radar Derp and all that, DOES make it even easier.)

[Mole]

I don't think anti-LRM training will work. What you need to do to avoid LRMs is pretty self explanatory and if you can't figure it out on your own then nobody can help you. The problem with most of the "LRMs are skilless OP" crowd KNOW what they need to do to avoid hot LRM death but REFUSE TO DO IT because in their bass ackwards minds they shouldn't HAVE to make themselves a difficult target.

[FaithBombCRNA]

Believe it or not, a fair number of pugs in the lower tiers DO quickly figure out to get out of the line of fire of LRMs. The single biggest problem at those tiers is not lack of AMS or not understanding cover, it's a lack of aggressiveness. Even if most of your pugs do a decent job of hiding from enemy lurmboats, they refuse to ever rush them. what this means is that your team ends up cowering in a static position, and that almost always means death for your side. It's only a matter of time before the enemy picks you part piecemeal, or a decent spotter negates cover one mech at a time. And we all know that losing even a mech or two, especially when your team is on the back foot, spells a snowballing defeat.

[Chocowolf Sradac]

FaithBombCRNA, on 30 March 2016 - 05:51 PM, said:

Believe it or not, a fair number of pugs in the lower tiers DO quickly figure out to get out of the line of fire of LRMs. The single biggest problem at those tiers is not lack of AMS or not understanding cover, it's a lack of aggressiveness. Even if most of your pugs do a decent job of hiding from enemy lurmboats, they refuse to ever rush them. what this means is that your team ends up cowering in a static position, and that almost always means death for your side. It's only a matter of time before the enemy picks you part piecemeal, or a decent spotter negates cover one mech at a time. And we all know that losing even a mech or two, especially when your team is on the back foot, spells a snowballing defeat.

I will agree I have lost count how many teams I have been on where they refused to push and instead staying static to simply just let the long range mechs work their health down and being unable to do anything about it. Once the infamous Snowball effect happens losing one or two mechs then it becomes tricky at times to recover and before you know it half your team is dead especially if your playing with pugs where nobody coordinates. Quite a few maps are more advantageous to play more aggressive then defensive but it's all about maintaining the momentum in that situation.

Edited by Chocowolf, 10 April 2016 - 11:29 PM.

[Not A Real RAbbi]

Dave Forsey, on 24 March 2016 - 03:40 PM, said:

Adams was going to end up as a trope one way or another - he's supposed to echo characters from previous games.

Now that I know what a POG is, yeah he's definitely that - and has his hand on all the simulation settings to boot - can make anyone's life hell just by moving a finger and twirling a dial.

I'm SO glad I bought my first primary-account Urbie when I did.

Will add voice and sound later, but got my video capture of a blue & white Urbie running around the citadel area in the Academy, blowing-up illegally-parked vehicles. I imagined one of them to be Adams' personal ride. Short of getting the Deputy Dog hero, it's the best I could do.

But now, the destructible vehicles in the Academy are a thing of the past. So sad...

[Dave Forsey]

Thing of the past?

[Scout Derek]

Dave Forsey, on 25 April 2016 - 08:12 AM, said:

Thing of the past?

*Shrugs*

Maybe, because it hasn't been implemented into the actual maps and such.

[Dave Forsey]

Ah, that's probably it - I wondered if the vehicles in the Academy were broken by not being breakable.

[Scout Derek]

Dave Forsey, on 25 April 2016 - 08:19 AM, said:

Ah, that's probably it - I wondered if the vehicles in the Academy were broken by not being breakable.

No, it's just that they're only breakable in there I believe, and not in-game. Could be wrong though.

I think it's also the fact that there was some development on breakable terrain and objects, but it fell back considering the other stuff that's been going on.

[Jables McBarty]

Chiming in to say I hope this becomes a thing.

I trained all of my friends in 1v1 mode to show them how LRMs worked. I spent 10+ minutes on the interactions of terrain, ECM, locks, broken locks, etc. I'd have them shoot at me, then I'd shoot at them so they could see both sides of the lock-breaking and tracking mechanisms.

Simply seeing how it works gave them a huge advantage early on.

Also, please mention in the tutorial that the missiles 'splode at 1000m. I see noobs firing them at 1500m all the time. And I don't blame them--it's not like they can see the missiles 'sploding from that distance.

[Not A Real RAbbi]

Scout Derek, on 25 April 2016 - 01:25 PM, said:

No, it's just that they're only breakable in there I believe, and not in-game. Could be wrong though.

I think it's also the fact that there was some development on breakable terrain and objects, but it fell back considering the other stuff that's been going on.

No, I mean I can't blow up the vehicles in there. Used to be, you shoot one and it blows up in a little poof of fire. They apparently had SOME health, as you could sometimes graze one with a low-damage weapon and NOT blow it up, but all of them IN the Academy (save a few that were already burned-out, like one or two in upper city) were destructible.

NOT the case now, at least not on my client. Dump anything from a Small Laser to AC/20 into one, and it brushes it off like nothin'.

Bye-bye, destructible vehicles. I hardly knew ya...

***EDIT***

Doublechecked tonight, even taking out the UM-R60L with machineguns and small lasers an an ERPPC, and unloading on numerous vehicles of varying description (including the one I highly suspect is Captain Adams's anniversary gift mid-life-crisis sportscar). Zip. Zilch. Nada. Zero effect on target. Haven't tried calling artillery/air strike on one yet, but I suspect that will also yield no impact. Now, damage decals DO show up (LIKE THEY DO ON THE FREAKING INVISIBLE WALLS THAT DON'T MATCH UP TO THE TEXTURES ON LIKE EVERY SINGLE BUILDING IN RIVER CITY, FOR CAPS LOCK'S SAKE!) on some vehicles, but they also decap (go away) after so long. Watched that. And by the way, one of the cars in a parking lot in upper city appears to have unk a half-foot into the pavement, right up to the tops of the rocker panels. That's 1920x1200 resolution, all settings VERY HIGH, damage glow off, VSync on. Y'know, in case it matters at all.

Specifically, the upper-city lot with the sunken car is in the back side of C3. And there's a side tunnel in D3, right in the dead center of the grid, with a little truck in front of it. I ALWAYS blow that up when I go by, so I know it USED to be destructible. Not now. :'(

Edited by Sister RAbbi, 25 April 2016 - 11:22 PM.