13 replies to this topic

[Skribs]

I'm not exactly a new player, but I'm playing an Assault like one. I'm pretty good if I am in a lighter assault (such as a Stalker or a Gargoyle), or if I have another beefy Assault with me. However, I'm having trouble on the 100 tonners. I've done 6 matches today, and only once has at least part of my team stuck with me.

My assumption was an Atlas (or Kodiak/King Crab/Dire Wolf) is supposed to lead the charge, but my experience has been that I charge and the rest of my team sits back. It doesn't matter if I use comms or not. People think they have the right idea, and that I'm wrong. The problem is that everyone following a bad plan is usually better than everyone following a different plan.

How do you guys play Assaults in this game and actually get your team to stick with you and push with you?

[Roughneck45]

Leading the charge isn't the right way to put it, presence at the front is more accurate. Your job as an assault is to do a ton of damage and share your armor with the team. Leading a push when appropriate, yes, leading a charge into an enemy firing line because you are the assault, no.

Atlas is much better suited for pushing than a Kodiak or Dire too, with all the extra internal HP. Kodiaks and Dires need to be able to melt whatever is in front of them because you wont be escaping anytime soon. The dire especially, the low slung arms make it even more difficult.

Getting the team to stick with you is difficult. I try to say something on comms or chat calling grids clearly but the most reliable way is to watch your team on the minimap and make sure you stay in the group.

[Amatsukaze]

Let me preface by saying... I don't play assaults. I suck at them! Bought a Ultraviolet & sold it off a week later.

It seems like allot of people just scatter to the wind after we drop. I can say for my part driving lights I do 1 of 2 things. I either stay in the backfield near the assaults to protect them from lights (I do this if several other lights in my lance head for the hills with no coms to coordinate together) or I am the one to head for the hills if I am one of the few lights.

On the rare occasion that I am in a medium I would be your best buddy staying close to you to lend supporting fire.

All that said when you say "lead the charge" are you referring to a general push? If so what I have seen so far has been pretty mixed. Generally in FP people wont push. The call will go out & its kinda funny to watch seeing these mechs turrets swivel as they look at each other; it would make a wonderful comic really. Or they will all barrel ahead & get ahead of the assaults in which case they get smoked & the next drop they are the ones looking at each other when the call for a push comes.

While I enjoy myself in FP it can be frustrating too. So many times everyone wants to do their own thing instead of working together. IMO as an assault while you may be the baddest ****** on the map you are also more reliant on others than the other classes. I think the best tactic in FP is instead of expecting others to stick with you that you might want to try to stick with others.

[PurplePuke]

I think of assaults as "anchors". They anchor the firing line and things tend to revolve around them, or they should.

Pushing is something that only happens when people feel it makes sense. And whether it makes sense can depend on the experience of the team.

It also depends on how confident they are in the person calling the push.

For happiness' sake don't expect people to follow you when you push. It's more circumstantial than anything, and people won't necessarily follow every time someone calls for a push.

Try the "anchor" line of thinking and see if it works for you.

[Roughneck45]

PurplePuke, on 07 February 2017 - 01:19 PM, said:

I think of assaults as "anchors". They anchor the firing line and things tend to revolve around them, or they should.

+1 I dig that description.

[Skribs]

At least half of my pushes are not into firing lines, if that helps.

[Void Angel]

As a long-time Atlas pilot (starting back when teams were 8v8,) there are a few things I tell people to remember when learning to play an Assault. You seem to generally know these things already, but I'll go over them briefly for reference.

The Maxim of Inevitability. When you make a choice as an Assault, it is - effectively - irrevocable. You're big, you're slow, and even a Battlemaster or Marauder II with a 400XL isn't going to maneuver like a Heavy. So, in the words of Cormak, when you make a decision, you have to follow through, or people die. Thus, the Maxim has two primary consequences: you need to be careful when you commit to anything; and when you do commit, you need to give it everything you have. This is the point at which many, many Assault and Heavy pilots fail, which brings us to:

The Lament of Sadness. Sadly, you cannot always trust your teammates. Particularly in ad hoc quickplay teams. So you're going to have to sort of develop a sense of when your team is and isn't going to support you when you make that inevitable decision - this is a point of intense frustration at times, when your team will cower behind cover in puddles of their own shame, then blame you for being too aggressive for the loss. It's tempting to just write them off as Stupid People, and sitting static while refusing to move is stupid. However, there is a reason that many players assume that actually doing something besides peek around corners and wet themselves when they take fire is the Right Thing to Do:

Pavlov's School of Tactics. Unintentionally, the game trains players to be this way. It's operant conditioning - like with mice. Human learning through experience can be described by the conditioning model pretty well, and a couple of conditioning principles are important here - consistent feedback is more effective at modifying behaviors than intermittent feedback; and delayed feedback is less effective than immediate feedback. Applied to the battlefield in MWO, players receive immediate rewards and punishments for ranged combat behaviors, while close-ranged, brawling-type feedback is delayed - and dependent on the team's support. This pushes players toward a long-ranged playing style, as short-ranged play is so uncertain and more difficult to learn. This long-range focus sets up many situations where large numbers of the enemy are available and able to punish a player who makes an error in positioning - particularly when trying to reach a close-range position - which leads to the feeling amongst new players that taking damage is in itself tantamount to death. Thus players are more likely to conclude (however informally) that the "good" way to play the game is long-range poking combat, and subsequently resist calls to leave cover and fight.

They will often still support you if you read them right and show them that they're not going to melt in the sunlight, but it's as much an art as a science. Focus on projecting combat presence more than leading a charge, and you'll find that your experiences improve, if only due to lowered blood pressure. This is the final rule:

The Invocation of Presence. The Assault is known by every player to be a powerful weapons platform. You're well-armed, and difficult to kill: this makes you an obstacle which must be reckoned with. Wield your battlefield presence like a weapon: you are the team's shield, and its mailed fist. The Heavies and Mediums can potentially bring more collective firepower to bear, but nothing takes a licking and keeps on kicking like a good Assault (especially an Atlas.) Use that presence as a tool, and you can have a surprising amount of control over the flow of combat, particularly amongst the often weak-minded players you'll encounter in quickplay.

I've written a couple of guides related to this subject on these forums - I keep the links in my signature, and I invite you to peruse them and let me know what you think. See you on the battlefield.

Edited by Void Angel, 07 February 2017 - 02:28 PM.

[Leone]

https://mwomercs.com...ting-thy-enemy/

I've gone indepth in thoughts and opinions, covering a variety of approaches. In short however, an assault is too slow to effectively tank a dedicated line. They can and will pick you apart. You need your whole team behind you, or to get close without having to charge far at all.

An assault needs positioning far more'n any light does. You can't control the team, so work on your positioning instead.

~Leone.

[Vlad Striker]

Driving of Assault mech assumes that pilot is an excellent tactitian and can read the map and follow the signs. When pilot understand where and when own mech needs to be placed then the team will prevail. Assault mech never play solo and have strong team dependancy.

[Koniving]

Skribs, on 07 February 2017 - 12:38 PM, said:

I'm not exactly a new player, but I'm playing an Assault like one. I'm pretty good if I am in a lighter assault (such as a Stalker or a Gargoyle), or if I have another beefy Assault with me. However, I'm having trouble on the 100 tonners. I've done 6 matches today, and only once has at least part of my team stuck with me.

My assumption was an Atlas (or Kodiak/King Crab/Dire Wolf) is supposed to lead the charge, but my experience has been that I charge and the rest of my team sits back. It doesn't matter if I use comms or not. People think they have the right idea, and that I'm wrong. The problem is that everyone following a bad plan is usually better than everyone following a different plan.

How do you guys play Assaults in this game and actually get your team to stick with you and push with you?

Leading the charge is a situational element.

If the bulk of the enemy team is in one area, there's no charge to lead. Just suicide.

Your team needs to have one of several factors in your favor.

• What is the ratio of players per team active in the area you wish to engage; do you have more players, equal or fewer?
  
  • Don't charge until you have a 2-1 advantage or there are several very weakened players on the enemy side.
• Is the enemy clustered in a ball or scattered?
  
  • If clustered, STAY AWAY! If scattered, hunt them down like this. Or like this.
    
  • When the enemy is Clustered, you should form a firing line with some sort of defensive angle (buildings, curves, whatever it takes) and alternate front and second line positions with fellow team members to share the armor; note the Atlases and my Misery (Stalker) on this firing line. Forgive the bad aim, was using laser a mouse on a couch arm...
• Will leading a side charge prove beneficial? And is the enemy prepared to engage?
  
  • Examples.The first match involves an Atlas using a side charge (that is straying from the front line and engaging the enemy from the flank, picking some off before really charging in). The second involves sending the Atlas off to the side for a potential flank, only to encounter 3 AC/20 Miseries and a Stalker... and to realize the enemy isn't yet ready to engage.
• Is it actually better to hold fast?
  
  • Sometimes you shouldn't charge, period.
    
  • Unless the situation calls for it.

Good luck.

[Roadbuster]

There are many things you can do with an assault, but there are some things you should never do when playing one.

Never stray away from the rest of your team without some other mechs to back you up. A single assault seperated from the team is easy prey.

Don't hang back behind the rest of your team. You have alot of firepower and armor, so make use of it. If you stand too far in the back you can't contribute like you should, and you're also vulnerable to backstabbing if the enemy lights flank and get behind your team.

As others already said, assault mechs require a level of teamplay to get the most out of them.
New players may think that assault mechs are a good thing to start with, but it is much better to start with a medium or heavy mech, to get a feel for the game. They are more forgiving if you make a positioning mistake.

[DavidStarr]

PurplePuke, on 07 February 2017 - 01:19 PM, said:

I think of assaults as "anchors".

Feel the anchor.
Be the anchor.

[Jamico]

I am a new player, yet for some arcane reason, I am better in an assault than anything else. My best game was over 800 damage and 4 kills. (Is that good?) Here's what I have found so far. In this game, mechs don't really have armor. They have hit points. Armor stops damage, hit points are subtracted by damage. Tanking works for a little while, until your hit points are drained. For this reason, I avoid tanking. In other games, I tank by going straight into the kill zone, laughing while bullets bounce off my armor, and my team mops them up. Great fun. But, you just can't do that in this game. You can, however, put tons of weapons (literally) an a 100 ton assault, and really alpha strike someone I try to be at the front lines so I can use that massive firepower. You still have to be careful and use cover just like you would with any other mech. You just have more hit points to cover your mistakes. Torso twisting is important, because you will be caught in the open. Also, as soon as a light mech outflanks you, call for help immediately. Follow the other assaults. If the other assaults choose a bad path, at least you'll be able to focus fire when you get there. Sometimes at the start of a match, my team outruns me, and I have to catch up to them. I follow them and often once I catch them, they have found the bad guys. That makes it easier to know where to go. I am not the best player, and I still don't know what to do with a brawler on a sniper map, but I hope that helps.

[Roughneck45]

Jamico, on 09 February 2017 - 01:02 PM, said:

*snip*

*standing ovation*

This dude gets it.

And yes, that's a good match. Keep on keepin on!