34 replies to this topic

[Inatu Elimor]

True ?

[Felicitatem Parco]

Not true. I have won escort defense matches.

[Monkey Lover]

ESCORTING.

Depends what you mean. If you mean walking next to the VIP, that is 100% lost match. This allows the other team pick the area for the fight.

If you mean defense or attack side, I found to be about the same. Maybe little more to attack side.

Edited by Monkey Lover, 23 June 2017 - 10:26 AM.

[Johnny Z]

Cant sit behind the vip that is for sure.

[Aggravated Assault Mech]

You'll win them, but the defensive team is at a major disadvantage when the team splits, with half searching for the enemy and the other half thinking they should babysit the VIP.

[Mystere]

The trick is to ambush the ambushers.

[Iron Heel]

The last 2 Escort matches I've seen ( one attacking, one defending) both ended when the defenders assassinated the VIP and eachother to some extent.
For myself, I just bore witness as the cries of "escort is cancer" contained far too much salt to be considered healthy to partake in.

[AzureRathalos]

Every winning Escort defense round I've played had a very distinct pattern.

The team rushes ahead of the VIP Mech to engage the enemy as they enter the flag field. It's also a fight to keep as many jamming beacons on the side of defense. Then, once the VIP has moved closer, the team moves back to it and covers it directly.

[SuomiWarder]

I have won maybe 3 of a dozen escorts where we were protecting the VIP. Usually because it was a map where we could make a decent guess where the VIP was going and got out ahead of it to counter attacker the other team. On some maps there are choke points the VIP always wanders through or an open death zone it always seems to walk into that make it vary, very difficult for those escorting the VIP to win.

[FireStoat]

Escorting the VIP with even a loosely coordinated team can skew things into the advantage of the defenders. See, the VIP Atlas can take a tremendous beating. The idea is to bait some of the attacking team out of position to chase a squirrel or two and fully allow the remainder of the attacking team to get their sights on the VIP and allow them to start to fire.

At this point, the defending team (less the 1 or 2 squirrels) moves forward and crushes the attackers with a deathball and focus fire with called targets. In a pickup match, coordination of the attacking team with an objective that is constantly moving on the map is suddenly torn in three different directions. 1) the 1 or 2 light mechs drawing away a squirrel chase, 2) the VIP as an initial target, 3) the defending deathball that is rapidly closing ground.

Most pickup match attacking teams simply can't adjust fast enough to the above situation. Now, if the defending team just treats it as an ordinary match then they stand an excellent chance of losing due to the attacking team picking up radar points that must be fought nearby for the middle / end part of the match. The LRM mechs of the attacking team are working splendidly at this stage, and the defending players are all displayed targets.

Edited by FireStoat, 23 June 2017 - 11:43 AM.

[Andi Nagasia]

one thing that seems to help out greatly is to, at match start Mark the VIP,
take Team Command(Press B, Click Take Company Comand(top Left of Screen)
then look to the VIP pull up the Command wheel and Mark(Protect Friendly)
this will put a Shield over it for the whole Match, no more losing the VIP in all the Clitter,

[Insanity09]

False.

As with many matches (of all kinds), if you either blindly huddle up somewhere or if you just blithely follow the VIP en masse, you are letting the enemy have free reign over the battlefield. Always a mistake.
The so-called normal fighting spots on a given map might not be appropriate to where the fight needs to take place in escort.
I think that is part of what bugs people about the mode, their normal mindset and pattern of movement and fighting just doesn't always work in escort.

The key is paying attention to the intel you get from your flags and scouts.

Move to intercept parts of the enemy team (which is usually split itself to find the VIP and/or take flags), then pick the rest off as you can.
That might mean munching on a light or two trying to take flags (which prevents the enemy from getting the intel they need, so all good).
In a few ways, the defending team has advantages. The flags (and now-squishy turrets) start out in your favor, you know where the enemy wants to go (sort of, i.e. wherever the VIP is), and the enemy has an extra, reasonably durable target they want to shoot at (giving you a potential chance to fire at people who are not firing back).
As long as you do it in force, but always being prepared to head back to the VIP or moving to block the enemy as they move in on the VIP, it can work quite well.

Yes, you have to protect the VIP and you don't know exactly where it is headed (which would be fantastic). But it isn't like the VIP darts off quickly; it moves in a gradual, plodding fashion that is easy to track via the map (mini or full). Unless folks don't pay attention to their maps? (and I know many don't, sigh)

Of course, that level of coordination in puglandia... sigh.

[Dread Render]

The best way to win defensive escort is for the whole team to stay with the VIP.
That way as the enemy wonders around and find you a few at a time your whole team can focus fire on them and win.
...
I have never seen this though ;-)

Edited by Dread Render, 23 June 2017 - 11:53 AM.

[Tier5 Kerensky]

In theory, the VIP thing is a good thing. It's good to be on your side.

No, it doesnt' have weapons, but then, it has a lot of health, really a lot. Even at the bare minium, it's a pretty nice meanshields, and it won't hide behind you, it will slowly go forward.

For enemy, it's also a good thing. Because in the end, you only need to kill one special mech, to win. So it's a vunerability of the VIP team, you can take advantage of.

So both have something good, something bad, in theory.

But in practise, I think there's too little coordination. I don't mean formal coordination, but just like having a common goal of winning. It seems the outcome of escort mode is too much decided by random.

[Obadiah333]

AzureRathalos, on 23 June 2017 - 10:54 AM, said:

Every winning Escort defense round I've played had a very distinct pattern.

The team rushes ahead of the VIP Mech to engage the enemy as they enter the flag field. It's also a fight to keep as many jamming beacons on the side of defense. Then, once the VIP has moved closer, the team moves back to it and covers it directly.

Get out of here with your logical approach to this mode. It's more fun to cry cancer and nerf than it is to think logically!

[Johnny Z]

I still hope a player VIP mode is added. Kind of like skirmish to start maybe where if the vip mech goes down that team loses. Maybe a bit simple but it could be built upon from there.

As for the one currently in game it works. Maybe not a favourite but it does offer something different and some may like it for a change or something new. Its no problem.

Edited by Johnny Z, 23 June 2017 - 03:37 PM.

[evilauthor]

Dread Render, on 23 June 2017 - 11:53 AM, said:

The best way to win defensive escort is for the whole team to stay with the VIP.
That way as the enemy wonders around and find you a few at a time your whole team can focus fire on them and win.
...
I have never seen this though ;-)

I have. The attackers attack the VIP a few at a time, which allows the defenders to focus fire them down. As an attacker, one of the most annoying things I get is an automated announcement saying "We have found the VIP!", and I look at my minimap and compass and there's no "V" anywhere. What makes it really annoying is that I'm usually in a pitched battle at the time.

On the flip side, I've seen the defenders lose because they were out of position to protect the VIP when an attacker death ball hits it.

[G4LV4TR0N]

AzureRathalos, on 23 June 2017 - 10:54 AM, said:

Every winning Escort defense round I've played had a very distinct pattern.

The team rushes ahead of the VIP Mech to engage the enemy as they enter the flag field. It's also a fight to keep as many jamming beacons on the side of defense. Then, once the VIP has moved closer, the team moves back to it and covers it directly.

Exactly. Except for few certain maps the mode is all about tower control.

[Deathlike]

If you're literally escorting the VIP, you're most likely doing it wrong.

Usually an advance force is ahead of the VIP, attempting to mitigate their damage at the spot of choice ahead of time.

The only time you want to use the VIP "as a shield" is if you're a brawl heavy and that in the intensity of the fight, damage would still be fed to the VIP, but not in useful quantities for its destruction, allowing the mass mayhem to be successful when the dust settles.

[LordNothing]

it depends what you mean by escort. if by escort you mean follow the vip around and use it as a meat shield then true. but if escort means positioning yourself around the vip, actively looking for threats and taking them out as needed but not getting lured off, and using your own mech to shield it then false.

Edited by LordNothing, 23 June 2017 - 05:51 PM.