3 replies to this topic

[JigglyMoobs]

Trading is an art that's very important to a Mechwarrior's success. To help us all learn and improve from each other, I've put together a few tips using a couple of old videos.

Below, you will find each of my tips followed by a link to a specific time point in the videos that illustrate their use. Please read the tips and then click on the links to watch the ~10 seconds or so of video that illustrate each point.

The time points are also in the Youtube video description.

Tip #1: find some defensible terrain. Defensible terrain is essential to good trading. Ideally, it's terrain that affords you both cover and concealment, and creates the opportunity to have a first look, first shot advantage on your enemies.

One of my favorite spots, is the rocks in the D4 area on Canyons. They are great because they can conceal and cover a large mech, offers broad field of fire towards the strategic ramp/theta area, and a canyon prevents enemies from easily rushing your position.

https://youtu.be/WzefUy-SRb0?t=25s

Tip #2: strafing. Strafing is one of the most effective strategies for moving in and out of cover in a horizontal direction perpendicular to the vector towards your enemies. In normal FPS, you can strafe just by pressing the side keys. In MWO, you can still "strafe". Get behind cover, rotate your legs 45-90 degrees relative to your toso so that your legs are parallel to some traversable path that takes you smoothly in and out of concealment, then press forward and back to strafe and shoot. Initially it will feel awkward, but with practice you should be able to do it all in one smooth motion.

https://youtu.be/WzefUy-SRb0?t=29s

Tip #3: Shoot enemies as soon as they emerge from cover and an important component can be hit. Minimize their reaction time. If your weapons can clear and hit one pixel on the enemy mech, do it.

https://youtu.be/WzefUy-SRb0?t=48

Tip #4: Get out while you are still ahead. After taking a couple of shots, if the enemy notices that you are there, don't be tempted to poke your head out again. You never know if the enemy team is collectively preparing a nasty surprise for you. Shift positions and start over again.

https://youtu.be/WzefUy-SRb0?t=1m

Tip #5: Intel is just as important as damage. If you are seeing something that your team needs to know, take a sec while you are under cover to let them know.

https://youtu.be/WzefUy-SRb0?t=1m20s

Tip #6: Corner peeking and slicing the pie. When facing many enemies, isolate an individual one. Do this by coming to a corner, slowing down, and then peaking until you just see one guy. Slowing down is essential for larger mechs. Too much momentum and you'll expose yourself to enemy fire before coming to a full stop. Lower speed allows you to react faster to detection of the enemy.

https://youtu.be/WzefUy-SRb0?t=1m30s

Tip #7: Minimize exposure of yourself during firing. Shoot as soon as your weapons clear cover. Start returning to cover as soon as you get incoming fire. Do not wait until your lasers, etc finish firing to move back. The key concept here is to have more damage going out than coming in. Moving back quickly also ensures that your enemies never find you as a stationary target. This makes it harder for them to aim and puts the RNG goddess on your side in terms of hit reg.

https://youtu.be/WzefUy-SRb0?t=1m40s

Tip #8: Use strikes for cover. One of my favorite things to do on a group of enemies is to drop a strike, and then time my next peek when the strike hits. This both allow you to double up on your damage, and the confusion created by the strike will almost always give you a free shot.

https://youtu.be/WzefUy-SRb0?t=1m43s

Tip #9: If you are compromised, don't panic, fight back! Some times you can be surprised by an enemy flanker. As long as you don't panic, use cover and fight back smartly, you can still make a clean getaway.

https://youtu.be/WzefUy-SRb0?t=1m45s

Tip #10: Shoot people looking the other way, but select the right component.
People looking to the side or with their backs turned are great targets. However, you have to plan for what happens after your first shot. Often times people will turn or walk away, or maybe they just don't have an essential component turned towards you. In these situations, I like to shoot legs. Legs are easy to see and hit from almost any angle, and it's hard for people to shield them. Once you damage them, others in your team can take advantage of it too.

https://youtu.be/WzefUy-SRb0?t=3m

Tip #11: Don't pick fights you can't win. If you see a guy with good aim, who has you made and is ready to direct his OMG LAZORS at you? Don't take the fight. There's no shame in retreating if you've lost the advantage. Sneak away under cover to fight another minute. You can fight him later on when he's looking the other way.

https://youtu.be/WzefUy-SRb0?t=3m15s

Tip #12: Be sneaky and patient. If you know a guy is coming around the corner, slow down, take a step back and wait for him. Even if he's only meters away you could still get a free shot.

https://youtu.be/WzefUy-SRb0?t=5m5s

Emphasis #1: Position position position. Did I mention that positioning is important? With good positioning a single Gauss Jager can out trade an entire team.

https://youtu.be/vbyRxa2TkaY?t=40s

Emphasis #2: Quit while you are ahead. I'm winning my trades against the entire enemy team. Why did I run? This is left as an exercise for the reader.

https://youtu.be/vbyRxa2TkaY?t=1m50s

Well, that's yet. I hope you guys find this useful. Please add your own comments and tips if you have wisdom to share.

Edited by JigglyMoobs, 15 February 2016 - 04:56 PM.

[_____]

#3 is not a good tip. The way to win trades is to shoot important components of an enemy mech, not just any component. If you do 30 points to my arm and ST and I did 20 all to your CT, I won that engagement. You kind of alluded to it already in tip #11, if a guy has good aim don't trade with him. You want to be that guy with the good aim.

[JigglyMoobs]

BlackhawkSC, on 15 February 2016 - 04:48 PM, said:

#3 is not a good tip. The way to win trades is to shoot important components of an enemy mech, not just any component. If you do 30 points to my arm and ST and I did 20 all to your CT, I won that engagement. You kind of alluded to it already in tip #11, if a guy has good aim don't trade with him. You want to be that guy with the good aim.

Yes, #3 is amended to: shoot enemies as soon as an important component emerges from cover.

[White Bear 84]

Tip #1: find some defensible terrain. Defensible terrain is essential to good trading. Ideally, it's terrain that affords you both cover and concealment, and creates the opportunity to have a first look, first shot advantage on your enemies.

- But also be aware that this does not mean the whole team needs to group up on that same spot. Remember, if you are standing behind a team mate and you block their reverse movement, chances are the trade will end in their death, which may well be your fault. You do not want to block trading either. Imagine the frustration as a mech has LOS with a 50pt alpha, only for a measly spider with 1PPC to move directly in front of said mech, blocking the opportunity to fire.


Tip #2: strafing. Strafing is one of the most effective strategies for moving in and out of cover in a horizontal direction perpendicular to the vector towards your enemies. In normal FPS, you can strafe just by pressing the side keys. In MWO, you can still "strafe". Get behind cover, rotate your legs 45-90 degrees relative to your toso so that your legs are parallel to some traversable path that takes you smoothly in and out of concealment, then press forward and back to strafe and shoot. Initially it will feel awkward, but with practice you should be able to do it all in one smooth motion.

- When strafing know your torso twist, nothing worse that positioning your legs to do this and finding that as you move out you do not have the angle to shoot the target. Make effective use of torso twisting here to minimise damage to front components.. ..but be careful on mechs that have a high twist, to not expose your rear in doing so.

Tip #6: Corner peeking and slicing the pie. When facing many enemies, isolate an individual one. Do this by coming to a corner, slowing down, and then peaking until you just see one guy. Slowing down is essential for larger mechs. Too much momentum and you'll expose yourself to enemy fire before coming to a full stop. Lower speed allows you to react faster to detection of the enemy.

- Especially important if you have the rest of your team behind you and they can take some pie too. Bye bye enemy mech.

Tip #7: Minimize exposure of yourself during firing. Shoot as soon as your weapons clear cover. Start returning to cover as soon as you get incoming fire. Do not wait until your lasers, etc finish firing to move back. The key concept here is to have more damage going out than coming in. Moving back quickly also ensures that your enemies never find you as a stationary target. This makes it harder for them to aim and puts the RNG goddess on your side in terms of hit reg.

Cannot emphasise this enough - a successful trade is only one where you do more damage than you take (as opposed to a successful peek which might be one that distracts the whole enemy team from your main force).