22 replies to this topic

[The Basilisk]

Aleksandr Sergeyevich Kerensky, on 10 July 2016 - 08:17 AM, said:

Being a brawler and knowing how to brawl are two different subjects.

Brawling is a combat maneuver often employed on the battlefield, and knowledge of how it works is very important. It can be used in many forms, it can be used by snipers, people who are trading, when you are holding an objective, when you are attacking an objective, or when you just need a little bit of an advantage in a 1x1 situation.

Brawling is a defensive maneuver where one who is underfire, will torso twist in an attempt to spread incomming damage to multiple location maximizing armor allotment. During this action, the pilot will fire his weapons while they are off cooldown trying to focus damage upon 1 location on the enemy mech. All the while, moving to a favorable position in hopes to gain an advantage over the opponent.

You as an experienced pilot already do this naturally with every fighting style you prefer. But there are many inexperienced pilots who do not understand how to protect themselves from incomming fire. They dont know how to move about the battlefield without getting bombarded by LRMs, nor do they understand the importance of attacking specific locations on enemy mechs.

Yea you're exactly right.
Just got a bit too salty and unnerved.
Brawling as combat maneuver and Brawling as fighting style is the best way to describe it.
While the first is absolutely legit and comes naturaly with experience the second one is questionable at best.

[TheFourthAlly]

Karl the Plumber, on 10 July 2016 - 09:05 AM, said:

If you need a quick and cheap way to learn brawling, you can still do it in QP. True, it's not as easy as with a unit, but don't let the naysayers turn you away from it immediately. To learn to brawl without blowing all your cadet C-bills:

• Buy a hunchback. Get the 4P if you like lasers, get the 4G if you like guns. The hunchback will help you learn to spread damage by rolling your torso because you'll lose all your firepower if you don't protect your RT.
  
• Get in the QP queue and find the assaults. Stick with one of the big guys for the match and do some up-close knife fighting with any obnoxious lights or fast mediums that try to come leg your whale buddy. Meanwhile, your whale buddy will be keeping the focus from snipers OFF you, which is essential in the learning stage.
  
• Learn to close in only when your whole team is pressing the enemy. It's essential to know the difference between a flanking maneuver you can press and counter and a flanking skirmisher that has cover from his team's zone of fire.
  
• Watch your minimap A LOT. it will help you with points 2 and 3.

Brawling in QP is amazing and fun when you're not the focus of enemy fire and incredibly frustrating when you get isolated. You die immediately, no matter what tonnage you're running. A medium is a great mech to start brawling in because you're quick enough to GTFO if you notice that your position is compromised, and you're tough enough to take the couple of shots in the face you're always going to get in MWO. Pick up a nice, cheap learner mech like the hunchie, figure out which weapons you like best, and stick with your team and you'll pick up the skills you need to brawl. And keep hitting the forums. The community is very helpful.

For what it's worth from someone like me, all of the above rings very true to me. Had a lot of fun closing in on unsuspecting reds and hop back out again with my 4G and 4SP Hunchies. (I set up my 4P with longer range lasers for the fun of it, but am looking to make that one a short range puncher too at some stage.) Shorter range weapons do require some early match patience though. When I forgot about that bit, I died early and got nothing much for the trouble.

All three are mastered now, not in a bit thanks to some good games during the XP multiplier events. And by good games I mean the the ones where a decent Aussault drew a lot of fire that would have crippled if not killed my medium arse or where some reds wandered off on their own and I could join a lance of our own to pick them to pieces.

All of the tips by Karl here do result in plenty matches where I was around till the end of the shooting, so even a loss still meant plenty damage done and xp gathered.

[Podex]

Everyone here has given solid info on this. Here's some oddball stuff that'll not directly obvious but is helpful:

Your teammate's R key is just important as yours before the brawling starts. Encourage them to use it.
Usually go for the low hanging fruit first (severely damaged mechs). The less weapons you have rubbing on your torso, the better.
Carry a smaller mech with you for protection and extra weaponry.
Work with another brawler. This will let you back away behind him or behind cover to cool down while he continues the pound session (use the enemy's heat as a weapon).

Bonus points if you have someone behind you rattling his cage with LRMs.

Edited by Podex, 13 July 2016 - 10:39 AM.