15 replies to this topic

[Reburn]

I'm having some difficulty with light mech piloting.

You frequently end up in some variation of a circling pattern around a larger mech at fairly close range. That involves twisting torso and changing leg direction together to stay on target. The ideal would be to circle around while dynamically adjusting leg angle.

Problem is, you have two settings for leg turning: On and Off. With a big mech, that's no real issue. Pewpew, stompy stomp. Rinse repeat. But in a zippy 'lil fighter, it jolts you completely off target at critical moments.

How do you guys deal with this?

[Champion of Khorne Lord of Blood]

Light mechs are one of the hardest mechs to play. Generally though circling around an enemy is the second worst light mech tactic right up from just standing still and firing mixed with running in straight lines. Circling means you'll always end up infront of the enemy at some point. If you're up close like that the best idea is to try to stay behind the enemy rather than orbiting and hoping he doesn't just aim better.

When I'm in lights I just act like a ninja and try not to be seen unless I can just directly take an enemy or am trying to distract someone to pull them away from a group battle, lead them to some back alley, then either kill them or leave to help my team wipe up what's left of their forces. ECM and jump jets help a lot in my tactics. Popping up from behind cover with the jump jets to take a shot makes it hard for the enemy to return fire, and if you do it while their back is turned you won't be there if they turn to see where the shots came from.

Lock on to your targets and wait for info to come in if you can, see what they are running and choose targets wisely. Take out side torsos or center torsos from behind if you see them, spot enemies before firing so that LRMs can start targetting them, then fire on them so they will think the damage is from the LRMs or will be too occupied dodging missiles to deal with you.

Basically in short I deal with the issue you have by having a completely different playstyle.

[Nerokar]

Changing rundirection with A and D while "counterturn" the torso with my mouse. Center legs in torsodirection form time to time with "X"(no idea if it is default). Like in every mech all the time. And as my Offposter said: Circles are evil. Stay behind the enemy if you can. When he starts watching for you, run...

Or did i missunderstood your question?

Edited by Nerokar, 28 November 2016 - 06:51 AM.

[stealthraccoon]

The "circle of death" maneuvers your having trouble with are as old as battlemechs, in general. It really comes down to how aware of the physical objects and surrounding players on the map - nothing gets your Locust/Commando turned to slag faster than coming to a dead stop against a small stone or lamppost!

I'd say the best thing to learn is to avoid more than a lap or two around your foe, and practice a "boom and zoom" tactic. The SRM bomber is one that gets in one solid hit, offer a flank or backstab, then get out of sight and try again. My learning rig was with the LCT- 3S: [smurfy]http://mwo.smurfy-ne...4df0d662ea1615d[/smurfy]
Or the COM-3A: [smurfy]http://mwo.smurfy-ne...9bfd81905366287[/smurfy]

[Champion of Khorne Lord of Blood]

stealthraccoon, on 28 November 2016 - 06:48 AM, said:

The "circle of death" maneuvers your having trouble with are as old as battlemechs, in general. It really comes down to how aware of the physical objects and surrounding players on the map - nothing gets your Locust/Commando turned to slag faster than coming to a dead stop against a small stone or lamppost!

I'd say the best thing to learn is to avoid more than a lap or two around your foe, and practice a "boom and zoom" tactic. The SRM bomber is one that gets in one solid hit, offer a flank or backstab, then get out of sight and try again. My learning rig was with the LCT- 3S: [smurfy]http://mwo.smurfy-ne...4df0d662ea1615d[/smurfy]
Or the COM-3A: [smurfy]http://mwo.smurfy-ne...9bfd81905366287[/smurfy]

You may wish to upgrade your builds a bit, double heatsinks would be a nice start to get you running cold. Those builds aren't quite boom and zoom though, not really enough boom. They are great at harassing though, since they can fire a lot without needing to cool.

Locust: use quad SRM2 because they have shorter cooldown and better spread than the dual SRM4
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...e345d29034b8586
Commando: With the double heatsinks and the coolrun skill its impossible to overheat
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...2472e1340989e70

Boom and zoom loadout proper: Jenner IIC, massive damage and heat per shot
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...cfea9b0388af0a1

[The Basilisk]

You need to practice moving torso independently from your lower part.
Also your description of movement with big mechs is veeeeeeeery wrong.
Try this with a seasoned warrior and your matches will be short indeed.

NEVER stop moving in a ligh. ALWAYS move.
I also found it helpful to keep throttle decay on and teeter-totter the mech back and forth...even when not beeng fully engaged at the moment.
A suddenly apearing enemy wont be able to get a clean shot that way.

Controll the mechs heading, speed(ASDW + Blank) and equipment with your left hand and your aim and weapons with your right hand.

If you got problems coordinating use Akademy and testing grounds for training.
Circling and shooting at mechs can be trained in testing grounds with the targeting dummys standing there.

A last thing...one of the least favorite maneuvers in this game ( in most cases...sometimes it just can't be avoided but if it happens you already know you did something wrong) is circling (do full rounds around a big slow mech) or double circling (deathdancing with a slightly slower or equaly fast mech)

Problem with this maneuver is you will block frindly LOS, hinder airstrikes and making you vulnerable for friendly LRM fire.

Your best bett in a light is always to try backstabbing hit and runs (basicly hyperbolic paths outside their firing arcs) or pop and fade actions where you vary the places where you pop your head out.

Edited by The Basilisk, 28 November 2016 - 07:04 AM.

[Besh]

I can not 100% subscribe to the "never stand still in a Light" Mantra .

When I pilot the LCT -1E (6SPLas), I often find myself dogfigthing another Light, or sometimes even taking on 2 at a time . I DO die a lot, but amongst other things, I have learned this : if my Opponent is doing nothing but circlejerking, hoping to escape my lasers while trying to shoot me, I sometimes CAN outsmart/outdmg him if I simply stop dead for a moment to aim and fire, then move again . Often I do change my turning direction on the fly when initiating the "moving again", which additionally helps in "confusing" the enemy, and disturbing his Lead on me . Timing is very important, as well as knowledge of the other 'Mech's Loadout and CD of his weapons .

It IS dangerous, esp. when you are in LoS/LoF of another of the enemy Team's 'Mechs, or fear you will be targetted/hit by LRMs . But ( just to reiterate ) : when piloting a Light, there ARE situations where stopping dead is/can be beneficial imho .

Just gotta be really, really carefull with it XD .

Edited by Besh, 28 November 2016 - 07:20 AM.

[Koniving]

It's C and F for centering isn't it?

C to center torso to legs and F to center legs to torso.

I don'r have trouble with this but if you want why not try a throttle stick?

I use a corded PS3 controller or this throttle stick personally.

''The
The throttle stick is perfect. Forward and Backward let me set my throttle as far as I move it and it stays for cruise.
The finger directions give me a squeezeable left/right turn. I have power, override, rmlock hold, jumpjets and target on the throttlestick too.

[epikt]

The Basilisk, on 28 November 2016 - 06:59 AM, said:

NEVER stop moving in a ligh. ALWAYS move.

While it might be a decent enough advice to a novice light pilot, it is not true a light mech should never stop.
Actually, to understand when and where to stop is part of becoming a better light pilot. Always running is a frequent mistake I notice when spectating bad or average light pilots - they lack focus and dicipline, their positioning is sort of random, they dilute their damage all over the target, etc... because they are so blinded by running running running.

Edited by epikt, 28 November 2016 - 08:56 AM.

[Reburn]

First off, there's no problem between my ears with moving legs/torso independently. That's fairly straightforward and I'm very comfortable with it, and it made me roll my eyes and laught when the training guy made a big deal about it. This is a battlemech, not some COD bot.

What I see myself and other light pilots doing with the Circle of Death is frequently crossing the enemy's front kill zone. It's hard to stay in the back because it's easy to mash 'W' and a Jenner is way faster than a Timberwolf.

The flight stick and throttle aren't really a good option according to just about everyone. You loose a lot of aiming precision.

@ Basilisk, the "tottering" action is probably the best thing, but I still find my reticle jumping off target. The turn radius (which I REALLY like having available) is still overkill when trying to target and fire while adjusting the legs. Every time you *touch* 'A' the reticle jumps the width of a mech torso.

The Don't Stop is good advice, and oft repeated with noted caveats. My rule on that has always been 2 second rule, or the same time as you can say "I stopped, I'm seen, I'm gone!". That work out well factoring in human reaction + targeting + hits on target (and yeah, those 2 seconds go by WAY faster when you turn a corner into a death ball).

[Besh]

Sry for being Cpt. Obvious here, but did you adjust your Mouse sensitivity in Game ? Theres a slider in options, imho it should not be higher than .2 . Mine is somewhere between .16 and .18 all the time ( I just change it for fun XD .) . Can probably help with your reticule jumping .

[Torezu]

Reburn, on 28 November 2016 - 09:22 AM, said:

The Don't Stop is good advice, and oft repeated with noted caveats. My rule on that has always been 2 second rule, or the same time as you can say "I stopped, I'm seen, I'm gone!". That work out well factoring in human reaction + targeting + hits on target (and yeah, those 2 seconds go by WAY faster when you turn a corner into a death ball).

Mine has always been 1 second. Typical human reaction time is 0.2-0.3 seconds, and if they're looking near where you are, they can decide to fire and trigger lasers to sweep them at you in less than half a second total. You don't want to still be standing there when a heavy or assault does that. A poor Spider pilot found that out the hard way a couple days ago and took 50-60 damage to a front ST because he stood still for 2 seconds.

[Nerokar]

Torezu, on 28 November 2016 - 01:57 PM, said:

Mine has always been 1 second. Typical human reaction time is 0.2-0.3 seconds, and if they're looking near where you are, they can decide to fire and trigger lasers to sweep them at you in less than half a second total. You don't want to still be standing there when a heavy or assault does that. A poor Spider pilot found that out the hard way a couple days ago and took 50-60 damage to a front ST because he stood still for 2 seconds.

Sure, but this is not an argument against stopping. The timing is the key.
If you can't (or don't want to) avoid a dogfight against an enemy you should know what weapons he is using. You can not stop in line of sight of an Dakka Bear, he will shredd you. But what about alphastriking laser vomit TBR? right after his alpha you have some time to stop, aim, shoot and run past him to his back. 3 seconds of time... encounting lag and reaction time 2 seconds. Still possible. I'm new to piloting locust, I get legged often while training dogfight. But most common problem is not the stopping but wrong run paths.

And when not dogfighting, I stand still alot. Get behind enemylines in my PB get a hideout and hold locks on hiding mechs for Lurms.
When harrassing, look for an assault under attack, shoot 1-2 aimed alphas in his back from an save spot...

[Single Mom]

Reburn, on 28 November 2016 - 09:22 AM, said:

The flight stick and throttle aren't really a good option according to just about everyone. You loose a lot of aiming precision.

@ Basilisk, the "tottering" action is probably the best thing, but I still find my reticle jumping off target. The turn radius (which I REALLY like having available) is still overkill when trying to target and fire while adjusting the legs. Every time you *touch* 'A' the reticle jumps the width of a mech torso.

Throttle up/down can be bound to mouse buttons, which is helpful for keeping your movements tight and neat. Depending on how many buttons your mouse has for your thumb it may be a good option.

The issue you have with reticle jump while turning mech is pretty common. The only way to compensate it is to be prepared to adjust your aim as you turn, It's just a spatial awareness thing you'll pick up, no real trick about it other than being comfortable with the mech you're using.

Not sure if its been mentioned already but, don't ever run the circle of death as a light. This is the light version of trading damage and is a terrible habit. As you go up in tiers it'll become a death sentence, as people will just save heat until you cross their frontal and alpha you. It's pretty much guaranteed to cost you body parts.

[Khereg]

Text descriptions are tough to visualize. My best advice is to spend some time watching game film. Well, youtube videos of skilled players showing how to run lights anyway. There's a ton of these out there there. Just search on Youtube for "MWO light piloting" or some such. Here's a relatively accessible series from SnugglesTime to get you started:

Episode 1 (overview of lights):

Episode 2 (movement tips and tricks):

Episode 3 (routes and movement):

Other notable light pilots with instructional videos include Krivvan and peefsmash. Just search on their names in youtube and the videos will turn up.

Oh yeah... People aren't kidding when they say this is the toughest weight class to play well. Be ready to practice, son. Practice, practice, and more practice.

Edited by Khereg, 29 November 2016 - 03:21 PM.

[JigglyMoobs]

https://youtu.be/aWeDvqCXZ9w

https://youtu.be/xppi7P1blD0

A few pieces of advice:

Do not fixate on one mech. As a light one of your biggest advantages is to be able to engage and disengage at will against a larger mech. Make sure you disengage the moment you lose the advantage. You can come back to him later.

Use terrain and teammates. Just because you are a light doesn't mean you can't hill hump or corner peak. In fact you are like the Ron Jeremy of terrain humping. Use your superior acceleration and mobility to advantage. Seize the best positions and use them without shame. Just be sure to time your peeks with those of your teammates so you don't get the full alpha to the face.

For the specific problem that you have, what you want to do is to over turn with your legs then run straight for a moment so that your weapons can be tracked via only mouse. This means you should only get in that fight if you have srms or short duration lasers. If not DON'T. You will lose. Use jump jets to boost your turns and reverse direction. If you are in danger or crossing in front of the large mech consider disengaging by, eg, jumping up a hill.

Lastly, you need to carefully choose your target before you engage. Don't engage what you can't beat. Don't engage when other lights could tangle with you and stop your get away. Be smart. Your job is to observe, report, secure kills, take out stripped components, disrupt the enemy rear, harass lrms and snipers, and assassinate the unwary. It is not to take a laser Vomit timber or streak crow head on.

Edited by JigglyMoobs, 30 November 2016 - 12:46 AM.