6 replies to this topic

[Sickboy78]

Anyone else think that unless sniper or the exception of the very truly fast mechs, IS lights are mostly useless as brawlers? I have tried with FS and Jenners, but the heavier mechs just turn too fast now. Speed used to be enough to be a sort of buffer to your much lighter armor but weaker firepower because you could go there and pick at a heavy and they would have trouble hitting you, but it seems like no one has this problem anymore even though lights still have to pick, but they just get killed. Even some of the assaults it is close to impossible to dodge their fire (100 tonners still have some trouble), which suck because take an alpha and dead.

This may be the same for Clan mechs but I really don't pilot any, so I am not really qualified to say.

I do have a lot of IS lights and the only one I can get away with getting in close is the commando at 150+ kph. The other light mechs are just too big and slow and seem like I am shedding body parts as soon as I enter a fray. Jump jets don't have enough kick so I haven't found them to be of much use close up. I am still very successful in my sniper lights, but that goes without saying, one doesn't have to depend on the ability to stay alive in close, only to get away. This could be just me, but maybe not. Again, this may also exist in the clans, but I don't play any clans really. Feel free to add your opinion on the Clan lights, as I don't have much experience with them. So your thoughts?

[Y E O N N E]

My thought is that you are picking the wrong time to enter the fight. Wait for your teammates to draw aggro, then enter the fight. And even at that point, you should mostly be working the edges.

[MechaBattler]

Yeonne Greene, on 20 June 2017 - 08:32 PM, said:

My thought is that you are picking the wrong time to enter the fight. Wait for your teammates to draw aggro, then enter the fight. And even at that point, you should mostly be working the edges.

Pretty much what he said. I've had good success from running a Firestarter with 7 medium lasers. Just wait for everyone to start engaging. Search for a target with a vulnerable spot. Swoop in, poke the spot, it pops. Then get out of dodge before they can do too much return fire. Might need to harass a bit to make your open someone up.

Edited by MechaBattler, 20 June 2017 - 08:39 PM.

[Requiemking]

Speed brawling(aka Knife Fighting) used to be the most popular combat style for Lights, mainly because it was actually quite hard to pull off, and it was a thrill ride. However, that blasted Rescale brutally killed that style for any Light not named Locust, ACH or Commando.

[Old dirty B]

When in doubt go smaller and faster: Locust 1E - 6x Spl, pure knife fighting awesomeness.

[JediPanther]

Brawling in an IS light does take skill not just omg quirks on a mech. The rescale did make them that much harder and challenging. i've spent today in the panther kk. It's slow as sheet and with 0 skills in the tree just a mental head banging time. As i've played mostly the faster locust which got my the aos and the jenner d, the 250 engine cap of the panther vs the 300 on jenner and max speed lol cust and only going 1/3rd of what I'm use to has forced me to play smarter.

I've tried many builds all with varying degrees of fail and success in pug landia solo q. i've had the best luck on it with the spls and srm six ironically with a std engine as I got tired of dying to the side torso loss since there is no way the panther can out run any thing.

The best way to play a slow under 120 kph is light now is to stay close to the team. Use the com wheel and be fire support until the big brawl. Since the panther is so slow even the slowest clan 97kph mech can out pace it or at least stay side by side in a race you must be a close up knife.

To brawl I try and find t.o.p.s. I want targets of opportunity. Use target data to hit open and damaged areas of mechs. Don't engage other enemy lights and be kite-ed back into the enemy team. Use the R key. Targeting will get any red hungry team mate to fire a few salvos your way.

You can go the sniper build but I have two problems with it for myself. I can't aim er ppc to hit any thing and I don't have the patience to wait for some mech to wonder into the open to shoot.

Then you have to deal with {Richard Cameron} like this guy who tried to all chat insult and greif me. Apparently my KK paint job and title of founder made him butt hurt.

[Escef]

This reminds me, I need to make time for my Javelins. With my 4*SRM4 Javelin I was frequently getting 3 or 4 hundred damage. Brawl is a little bit of a misnomer when it comes to short range fighting in a light. Better to say skirmishing or striker-style combat. Get in, hit hard, keep moving, know when to leave.