16 replies to this topic

[Ziogualty]

You are not in a unit, you play solo. Qp is fun, but it looks plain and sometimes boring.
Trying some FW could be intriguing, but you never did it before, and you don't want to be the one that make your team lose.

Don't give up! Be bold and jump in!

That's how and why:

- Select Scouting matches. Stay away from Invasion at first. It does not mean you will not play Invasion sooner or later, but Scouting is the right way to introduce yourself in the FW universe, and if everything goes smooth, invasion will be the next step.

- First thing people will look at is your mech. That's because there are some chassis that are commonly seen as "good mechs" for Scouting: Centurions, ShadowHawks, Griffin 2N (ECM) are the best choices. There are other mech that are equally good, if you feel very confident piloting them: Enforcer, Crab, Hunchback.

- Keep in mind that most (close to 90%) Scouting matches ends up in a brawl. To show yourself in a sturdy medium, with close range weaponry (SRM, Med lasers, or some heavy hitting ballistic like AC5 or 10) is the right choice. Just rememeber that you can get a Centurion for free (NCIX) and it is quite good at Scouting.

You will see that most lances uses one or two lights in Scouting (expecially on Gather), Pirate Bane as first choice. This role is usually taken by good light pilots, trusted by their lance, so even if you are good at it, rememebr you are still a guest.

Same reason why it's not recommended to show up in a Cicada, or Blackjack, or Phoenix Hawk at first.

- Don't forget Speed! Brawls require to have all the mediums together to stand a chance. Take a mech able to run around at 75/85kph: if you are left behind, no lance will like it. Equip Standard engine whenever possible: clanners pack a punch, and if you die too soon it will be noticed in a negative way: even if you are not pro at hitting enemies, to stay alive and tank as much damage as possible is crucial.


- Play simple. Follow the other Mediums, focus fire, and don't do anything weird. Coordination and trust are basic ingredients, so let your teammates know they can rely on you.

- Be polite, and keep your TS running. Say "hi" in teamchat while waiting for enemies, and be ready to join Teamspeak if the other 3 guys are premade and have one. This is a great way to bound with your new friends and keep coordination at the maximum level. As well as throwing some "WP" and "GG" if the match went good.

- IF your match goes well, ask for friendship, 2 or 3 man premade lances would gladly let you join them, because you are reliable and because a full lance usually wait less time in Scouting before finding a match.

- Be patient. Maybe your first matches will not go as well as you hope. Maybe the rest of the lance will even put the blame on you. just dust it off and try again.

I started FW Scouting a couple of months ago. Just me and another friend in my Unit. By following those advices we managed to build a lot of relations, both with solo players or other unit members. Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose, but all the time we are having fun and play focused, and when you win, you really feel part of it.

Getting used to be coordinated will even make you perform better in QP, even if it sounds weird. JYou simply get used to play focused, and it works for yourself no matter if you know your lancemates or not.

I can assure you there are a Ton of good, friendly players Scouting for IS everyday.
Since 4 players are all that is needed to have fun, it is really easy to get new friends almost everyday.
It is like an epidemy: play, add friends, introduce them to your existing ones, and repeat.
I rasied a pool of more than a dozen players in my freindlist good at scouting. Sometimes we even make 2 or 3 lances in TS in order to let everyone play.

Of course you will bound with someone more than others, but having a full lance in Scouting, all knowing what to do, and all ready to meet in TS is amazing.

P.S. If you like to see what i'm talking about, we have 2 guys streaming on twich almost every day:
Obesious and Firekraqur

Join us when online, or you can watch some previous streams by them to get a grasp.
So, don't be shy, don't be rude. Just jump in and let clanner taste their own blood!

Edited by Attank, 01 February 2017 - 07:38 AM.

[xe N on]

I'm piloting 90% of the tiime medium mechs. So, convince me.

Why I should play CW if I can play QP with matchmaker and against pure PUG groups with next to no wait time?

Btw. I don't need MCs or mech bays ... I can buy that with real money.

Edited by xe N on, 01 February 2017 - 09:08 PM.

[Carl Vickers]

xe N on, on 01 February 2017 - 09:06 PM, said:

I'm piloting 90% of the tiime medium mechs. So, convince me.

Why I should play CW if I can play QP with matchmaker and against pure PUG groups with next to no wait time?

Btw. I don't need MCs or mech bays ... I can buy that with real money.

I would say back to you, with an attitude like you have shown above, why should he try to convince you?

[Leone]

xe N on, on 01 February 2017 - 09:06 PM, said:

I'm piloting 90% of the tiime medium mechs. So, convince me.

Why I should play CW if I can play QP with matchmaker and against pure PUG groups with next to no wait time?

Btw. I don't need MCs or mech bays ... I can buy that with real money.

Because if you drop in CW proper, instead of scouting, you can drop four mechs with out all the waiting for match and map voting and get straight to the walking to the combat and then the combat part. Heck, sometimes the enemy's really nice and does all the walking for you, coming right to the dropzone for you.

Honestly, the MC an Mechbays are just the frosting and sprinkles on the already delicious CW cake. Come for the better gameplay.

~Leone.

Edited by Leone, 01 February 2017 - 10:12 PM.

[Ziogualty]

xe N on, on 01 February 2017 - 09:06 PM, said:

I'm piloting 90% of the tiime medium mechs. So, convince me.

Why I should play CW if I can play QP with matchmaker and against pure PUG groups with next to no wait time?

Btw. I don't need MCs or mech bays ... I can buy that with real money.

No need to "convince" anyone.
Why should i?
All i need is 3 more pilots, and i already have a dozen.
More, thinking about Scouting as a tool to get rewards never crossed my mind.

Scouting is fun, more "intimate" than other gameplay modes (just 4 pilots) and all the pilots that try it agree on it.
It's thrilling, you have the pressure to perform and double satisfaction when you act as a lance and coordination brings you to victory.

How did you manage to turn it in a request for pilots offering rewards in exchange i really dunno.
Was an offering for fun and for a different teambased experience.

You don't care?
Welcome to think so, no harm for anyone.

Edited by Attank, 02 February 2017 - 02:29 AM.

[Jurosik]

xe N on, on 01 February 2017 - 09:06 PM, said:

I'm piloting 90% of the tiime medium mechs. So, convince me.

Why I should play CW if I can play QP with matchmaker and against pure PUG groups with next to no wait time?

Btw. I don't need MCs or mech bays ... I can buy that with real money.

Funny you are listing GRF-2N as your favorite mech and ask why to play gamemode which makes GRF-2N shine...

Scouting was never about rewards if you want them play invasion. Its more personal mode hidding behind 11 other pugs with lurms wont help you here also you dont have to carry 11 pugs. Brawling is most common but not the only tactic to win.

[Dark Wooki33 IIC]

Good to hear that people have fun in scouting and group up to get more proficient at it.
From my pov the mode is nice but gets too repetitive if you don't try some fun or brawl builds.
I feel that it is somewhat lacking/uninspired.

4vs4 with roughly the “same tonnage” for defenders and attackers encourages “kill games”(not playing some objective) and this is probably bad game design.
Don't get me wrong i think it has some appeal, but i would prefer it in some kind of solaris game mode.(together with 1vs1,2vs2,8playerlastmanstanding)

The assumptions that the mode is best played with sturdy mediums isn't wrong if the enemy has a similar mindset. But some people don't want to gamble.
I guess most players already have encountered teams that kite the sluggish mediums.
And to be honest if one team brings something like 4 fast mechs with 2 of them mounting erll and the other side 4 state of the art brawling mediums, the first team will win most of the time … sometimes even without ever getting scratched.

You will know that they won in the mechlab and outplayed you from the start.
You will try it 3 more times to drop against them then you will retire from scouting for the day.

Nevertheless, nothing beats the thrill of some close mech on mech action like a fight between a phaket and a hbk-4sp.
So brawling is probably still okay, most of the time.

But you should be aware that there are other terrors lurking in the shade of the nova.

Stay frosty and good hunting or getting hunted.

Edited by Dark Wooki33 IIC, 02 February 2017 - 06:13 AM.

[TWIAFU]

xe N on, on 01 February 2017 - 09:06 PM, said:

I'm piloting 90% of the tiime medium mechs. So, convince me.

Why I should play CW if I can play QP with matchmaker and against pure PUG groups with next to no wait time?

Btw. I don't need MCs or mech bays ... I can buy that with real money.

Why play Scouting, a game mode best suited for your favorite mech? Jeez, I dunno.

Your not playing CW/Invasion, your Scouting, it's different. You have that part right at least, no MM. More often then not, you do face pure pug drops, and there is hardly any wait. You would know these things if you played instead of just spewing talking points that are factually inaccurate.

Glad you support MWO with RW Monies, keep up the good work.

[nehebkau]

Scouting is great. Its the one game mode where 1 player can really win the game for their team. Just so long as you DONT bring LRMs.

[Ziogualty]

@Dark Wooki33 IIC:
Awww..lovely reply!

I feel you are on my same page, so i would like to go a bit deeper on your thoughts...

Solaris like? 1vs1,2vs2,8playerlastmanstanding? Would be amazing!
We can still hope that game will improve in that direction too, some more players will help, but MWo forced me to stay optimistic since 2014, so let's hope it happens!

About sturdy mediums: is an advice i like to point at people that start to scout, in order to get a soft approach.
But other tactics/loadouts, once you have feeling with your lance, is a viable and profitable option.

You remind me one of my matches when we brawl and destroy 3 clanner in close fight, just to be annihilated one by one by a Large laser build on a very fast and precise Shadowcat.

One match, we had a pilot called Erdamon that shows himself in a Kintaro full LRM. Our cries and despair were dissipated when, at the end of the match we saw him scored 700+ damage!

What about Polar Highlands? If you are on gather, just drop 4 Pirate Banes with ECM (or artic cheetah if you are clan) and let protectors going crazy attempting to intercept you!

A good light pilot, in a experienced lance, is very good even on protect, allowing you to scout ahead saving the meds to roam like drunk people...

I even like a 2UAC5 Enforcer in my lance, due to the ability to suppress from distance enemies with long range weapons, covering the advance of the brawlers.

So, once you are tuned with your teammates, tactics can change a lot!

In the end, it is good to exchange opinions and point of view with other pilots that love Scouting, and even if you are a Clanner, i wish you GL and HF for your future games, maybe we will meet on the battlefield one day!

Edited by Attank, 02 February 2017 - 07:56 AM.

[Evil Goof]

xe N on, on 01 February 2017 - 09:06 PM, said:

I'm piloting 90% of the tiime medium mechs. So, convince me.

Why I should play CW if I can play QP with matchmaker and against pure PUG groups with next to no wait time?

Btw. I don't need MCs or mech bays ... I can buy that with real money.

I wouldn't try to convince you.

I would say however if you specialize in mediums and are doing well in them, scouting may be a lot of fun for you and perhaps challenging.

No harm in giving it a shot and seeing if 4 vs. 4 with no heavies or assaults is something you may like.

[xe N on]

Carl Vickers, on 01 February 2017 - 09:23 PM, said:

I would say back to you, with an attitude like you have shown above, why should he try to convince you?

The author wanted to "encourage" IS solo pilots for scouting. So, I wrote this provocative post on purpose. Imho, encourage any kind of solo player to play FP - and even if it is scouting - is a very double edged sword.

FP is not meant for solo play - even if I would like to see split queues to make it attractive for more then 10% of the player base. There is even a warning at entering the game mode.

I played some FP and scouting too all as random PUG player and it was not fun, because of horrible PUG teams set against premade groups. Of course, the chance that you drop against a premade in scouting is lower, but still it is nothing more than gamble for a even and fun match. Especially, because only a small player base plays mediums on a regular basis and even less plays IS mediums. If you drop random, you can get anyone in your team.

Many players complain about the matchmaker in QP but in fact the mm does work and match quality would be much worser if we had none.

Jurosik, on 02 February 2017 - 03:45 AM, said:

Funny you are listing GRF-2N as your favorite mech and ask why to play gamemode which makes GRF-2N shine...

TWIAFU, on 02 February 2017 - 06:58 AM, said:

Why play Scouting, a game mode best suited for your favorite mech? Jeez, I dunno.

The 2N is one of the best medium brawler in game. You can make it shine on any game mode if you don't have a team of cowards hiding and spamming their LRMs against rocks. Though, currently I'm more focused on Sparky 4-ERLL and HBK-IIC-A with 4-C-ERLL - both excellent long range combatants.

My second fav. mech is the CN-9 AH with AC20 + 3 SRM2.

Edited by xe N on, 02 February 2017 - 12:35 PM.

[TWIAFU]

xe N on, on 02 February 2017 - 12:18 PM, said:

The 2N is one of the best medium brawler in game. You can make it shine on any game mode if you don't have a team of cowards hiding and spamming their LRMs against rocks. Though, currently I'm more focused on Sparky 4-ERLL and HBK-IIC-A with 4-C-ERLL - both excellent long range combatants.

My second fav. mech is the CN-9 AH with AC20 + 3 SRM2.

I do not need encouraging to play Scout, really enjoy it with a team.

Griffin used to be my favorite for Scouting but for awhile now it is the Centurion D variant. With a squad of four, evil fun and tremendous salt.

[gloowa]

xe N on, on 01 February 2017 - 09:06 PM, said:

I'm piloting 90% of the tiime medium mechs. So, convince me.

Why I should play CW if I can play QP with matchmaker and against pure PUG groups with next to no wait time?

Btw. I don't need MCs or mech bays ... I can buy that with real money.

Because 4v4 brawling is more fun than laservomit-instadeath/hillhump-sniperfest (the only two gameplay choices 12v12 offers)? And that comes from a guy who happens to like 12v12 gameplay?

Edited by gloowa, 04 February 2017 - 03:01 PM.

[Leone]

I 'unno 'bout you, but I prefer 12v12 brawlfest gameply.

~Leone.

[Tarl Cabot]

Grasshoppers,

Scouting.. AIM FOR THE FRACKING LEGS!!!!

Domo arigato (

[Shiroi Tsuki]

Scouting with a group can be really fun, especially when both sides are in well coordinated groups.
Me and my scouting buddy always drop on our SRM Centurions, but he'll have Flamers on his. Definitely my favorite mode as it's pretty much Brawling (brawling >>>>>>>>>>>>> poking)