8 replies to this topic

[Mister Glitchdragon]

TLDR: If you're not going to use comms to convey useful information before everything goes to shjt, don't bother using comms to criticize your teammates after everything goes to shjt. Also, even though other people did things wrong, always consider your own performance first and consider what you can do to improve.

Last night was rough. My KDR went up, but my W/L went down. In many of my losses, my skill level stayed = or went up, so I know it wasn't all my fault. Still, always thinking about what I can do better is a better way to play, I think. I'm saying all this up front because I'm going to tell a story about a match that went bad. I'm going to talk about some things I think my teammates did wrong, and I want everyone to understand that I know I messed up, too. All of this is recounted in the spirit of advice, with hope that my story will help others become better players and teammates.

Terra Therma, Skirmish. You know how it is: darkest darky dark map, with lots of twists and dips. Basically visibility nil. I'm running a MAD IIC-D, almost stock. I'm doing 70kph, which ain't bad for an assault, but I'm falling behind Alpha and Bravo. I'm also pulling ahead of Charlie, which has spread out trying to keep up at different max speeds, all slow. I've gotten used to this, and have found it better to slow down and stay with my lance than be out on my own somewhere in the middle of the conga-thread to theta.

Communication to that point had been a few hellos pre-drop, and the unanimous decision to head for the grid-square directly in front of us. So basically nil.

There's a contact behind us. Spider. Everyone stops. I know "don't chase the squirrel." But I've also seen what an unchecked light piloted competently can do to a lone assault. Among other things, my D has ECM and 2xSSRM4. Remember when I said my KDR had gone up? A lot of those kills have been over-ambitious ECM lights trying to get at Charlie's backside. All of this to say I like to think I'm built for and have experience taking down lights. Also, I've got 2xGauss for primaries, so I'm not trying to be at the front of the pack for the initial contact, anyway. So I head back to assist the single out-tonned Locust who is trying to run the SDR off.

We do chase the critted Spider away, and in heading back, the comms burst to life with "You guys chased the squirrel, and that's why we lost." "We needed you on the front line, and you went back to chase the squirrel!" "We got focused up front and you were back chasing the squirrel. The squirrel, the squirrelthesqurrelsquirrelsqsqsqsqsq... yadda yadda yadda.

Here's the thing. From my position, somewhere between spread-out-and-vulnerable Charlie lance and the blue blob of Alpha+Bravo that have left us behind to fend for ourselves, that SDR is the only enemy contact on the board. From my position, there is no "front" because as far as I know, the SDR is the only enemy we've seen, yet.

It turns out that the enemy (hats off to 'em, well played) was pretty effective in their initial engagement, so that through either coordination or luck, that SDR popped up at the same time their deathball was squaring off against Alpha+Bravo.

I don't know if the enemy were all under ECM, or if Alpha+Bravo comprised a heady mix of potatoes that don't know how to hit "R" along with a few "R is for scrubs" tryhards. Either way, there were no reds on the board except for the SDR. More importantly, there was no comm chatter until everyone recited their practiced squirrel speech. Alpha+Bravo didn't call out a single target, didn't announce a single contact. Apparently, they were enduring their rolfstomp in quiet desperation, only breaking their vow of silence when they saw other players stopping to react to something other than their impending demise, which Charlie couldn't see but was probably pretty spectacular from where they were standing, as quick as it was.

By the time someone got some locks so I knew where to go, the reds were mopping up and I was killed in short order. I think we lost 3-12 or something like that. We were bads.

All of this got me thinking about situational awareness and effective use of comms in QP. Assume no one sees what you see. So if you want help, call it out complete with coordinates. That last part is incredibly important. I don't know how many times I've had to listen to people shouting "I'm dying over here!" or "You guys need to get over here!" or "They're behind you!" "Over here" means absolutely nothing. "Behind you!" may mean a different direction for everyone on the team.

Get in the habit of calling out your targets whenever you start shooting. and whenever you speak on comms, include a grid-coordinate or a geographic locator (Tunnel, saddle, etc.). This will help your team coordinate effectively, and has the added benefit of some (IMHO) baked-in self editing: If you're about to say something that doesn't include coordinates, it's probably something you don't need to say. No one wants to end their game with you telling the rest of us why we lost, especially if you didn't want to tell anyone anything useful that might have helped us not lose. Are you feeding your teammates useful intelligence that will help them win this match? Sound off early and often! Are you holding forth from beyond the grave with condescending derision? Keep it to yourself, Yoda.

And don't chase the squirrel.

[VonBruinwald]

Mister Glitchdragon, on 15 February 2017 - 01:45 PM, said:

TLDR: If you're not going to use comms to convey useful information before everything goes to shjt, don't bother using comms to criticize your teammates after everything goes to shjt.

I'm right with you. The two types I particularly dislike are the whine-hards and the pessimists.

The whine-hards keep silent until they die then start blaming everyone and everything else once they've kicked the bucket, it's particularly hilarious when they blame lack of communication/teamwork.

The Pessimists on the other hand will complain about a plan, any plan, the moment it is put out there without any constructive feedback. I've had instances where I've lead my company to an overwhelming victory before and some of these guys still have the nerve to complain that what we did was wrong after we've won.

[xXwildcardXx]

As a light pilot, I totally agree with this and am constantly telling the group to not outpace the assaults. To now avail. There has been several times I have went back many times to provide ecm cover to that KGC that was outpaced and left alone. The vast majority of our firepower and armor is in the assaults, so we need them to be up front so it is our job to stay with them to the fight and support them during the fight.

[jper4]

"leave the assaults" is more common the bigger the maps tend to be. i'm usually in a medium and my first rule after a drop is "join the assaults" <cough> they make bigger targets than you<cough> and often find myself in the middle between Charlie and strung out alpha/bravo. i try to bring up we're leaving the assaults, sometimes it works sometimes i get "i'm fast i can be there in 5 seconds" seconds before they die and wonder where the support was.

granted far too often after all this when the assaults do get caught up they stop and prepare to lrm/snipe into the melee that the rest of the team finds itself on the short end of before getting swarmed at the end. but sometimes they actually assault and good things happen.

[ManiacMachine84]

I feel your pain. Kind of why I don't play assaults anymore. Sometimes I bring my Gargoyle out and when I do I keep pace with the assault lance until we are at the engagement zone then I break off to support the heavies (since I can pace with them). I usually play Meds/Heavies and when I go Puggin I tend to ignore anything said unless I hear some kind of target & location identifier and I also tend to IMMEDIATELY AT DROP move towards the tonnage center of gravity (ala the Assault lance) and provide escort to them. I find that when I do that and the squirrel pops up, I can chase off the squirrel faster and that enables than tonnage to keep moving forward and not have to stop and the team be effectively delayed one medium/heavy vice a whole lance of assaults *shrugs*.

Edited by WillMan, 25 February 2017 - 09:20 PM.

[Burning2nd]

Im with you.. Im The locust pilot, Im the fastest im the Information provider... missions that end up with me dead first or there after are usually loss's for the blue team,

But one thing i hate the most is someone cry's about there team, or how they were left out there alone,

Im generally on top of the match for both teams... being damage and kills, noramlly i get 200k plus a match... So when i hear a kodiac or war hammer pilot crying the blues, i respond with "your faith in weight is missguided"

A lot of people as of the last year or so have run in to this bigger is better attitude

Im 19.7 ton, and i kill most of charlie lance ever match, BUT in respective.. I can tell immediately if the red team is using comms, When i run up on the back of a whale, there is s 50/50 chance that assult will never even see me or know what killed it... there is also the possibility that, they will make a distress call for "Im being attacked by a locust" and right then and there i will see targets start to move to a intercept position with my location and i will disengage or die trying...

@ that point when the red team members turn there back to intercept me.. your job is to assult @ all cost thats the window that was created and thats the way to winning that round.. AND i will make several vocal commands to do so ..

They worked so hard to bring VOIP which was one of the best things that could have happened... because typeing is out dated technology..

Edited by Burnin2nd, 26 February 2017 - 01:44 AM.

[Burning2nd]

xXwildcardXx, on 18 February 2017 - 08:07 AM, said:

As a light pilot, I totally agree with this and am constantly telling the group to not outpace the assaults. To now avail. There has been several times I have went back many times to provide ecm cover to that KGC that was outpaced and left alone. The vast majority of our firepower and armor is in the assaults, so we need them to be up front so it is our job to stay with them to the fight and support them during the fight.

NOPE i can not agree with this... this is where people are confused... Assault mechs are designed to take damage,* not shell it... This use to be true years ago but the game in the effort to make things more balanced has killed this
The proof is that i can out damage most assaults with 4 small pulse lasers repeatable

* years ago assault mechs meant big slow powerful mechs... and this ideology was true where you shouldnt get to far from them... because they where the power of the team, and everyone else was to support them....
NOW this isnt how this game works..

[Insufficient Skill]

redacted

Edited by Insufficient Skill, 26 February 2017 - 05:03 AM.