112 replies to this topic

[Christophe Ivanov]

Last weekend I was killed three times in my Dire Wolfs from the enemy lights flanking our group then attacking from the rear on, "you guessed it", us slow lumbering Assaults. Needless to say, I commend the enemy opponents for thinking right and using their lights (and even mediums in one match) to hand our shiny metal asses. In one match, a single Light which I think was a Raven, went through the main area of our group and flat out ran in a direction away from the assaults while the other three got behind us and hammered our asses. Personally, I didn't know they were there until they came out from behind several buildings on the Frozen City map and went after us assaults. And yes they won the first match, the second match, I got killed alone trying to keep up with the NASCARing group on the Polar Heights map.

I don't know how many times it takes for folks to understand the basics in TEAM COMBAT for mission success. But I guess it's just they gonna go for the glory kill and not care a crying shame for their Team mates. Don't get me wrong, I know there are plenty of good combat team mates out there, I just happened to experience too much of the assaults getting the sort end of things lately.

So I am asking you folks out there, what's more important to you?

can we establish a set of basic rules in Team Combat?

Supporting your assaults knowing you might stand a less chance of not scoring a kill? (Why would some think this way I dunno if the enemy is coming after the assaults anyway!)

Or what's your preference and opinion?

Thanks Folks!

Edited by Christophe Ivanov, 11 July 2017 - 11:00 AM.

[Humpday]

If enough slow assaults drop at the same time, teams will be less(but still prone to), leaving assaults behind.
At this point however, thats just the nature of QP unless you make a stink over the mic(as you should.)

Edited by Humpday, 11 July 2017 - 11:20 AM.

[ScrapIron Prime]

If you're solo dropping, don't take a mech that is dependant on others to be effective. If you're slow or have 100 percent LRM armament, there will be times you're left hanging by your team or at best have 1-2 people listening to you.

Specialists with vulnerabilities are best used in team drops.

[Ced Riggs]

Don't go slower than 60kph. If your mech cannot go faster, pick a different mech.
Don't expect others to carry you, you need to be able to carry your own weight in QP.
Don't drop in a Dire Whale in QP. Not only are you easily killed, you are also a primary target and you cannot defend yourself.

Does that suck for you if you love your Dire Whale? Yeah. But that's how the cookie crumbles. 95% of players will not read this topic, and 90% will simply not care to cover or protect someone deliberately dropping in a liability of a mech. Not only are you wasting that precious assault slot something better could have filled, you are also splitting the team apart and you are enabling one-sided stomps by reducing the effective & combined firepower of your team. Same with LRM assaults, really.

And here's a special **** you to any 40kph King Crabs. You need to go back to basic training. If you're 40kph and LRMs, consider uninstalling.

[JediPanther]

That is why I dislike piloting assault mechs. Too slow for all the lrms err fire power they have. As a light pilot I love them and finding them a grid or two away from their team. I'm all for supporting the assaults in a light mech being their little satellite gun anti light as long as they are civil about it.

When I ask the slows if they want escort they either tell me sure,are rude about it or nothing. Guess which of the three my light will die protecting? Ones that demand I 'do my job' I just leave in the dust. Mwo isn't a second job and never will be unless pgi starts mailing me weekly $600 paychecks.

Assaults really need to get seismic sensor or mount a uav at the least. The uav can counter ecm and be a distress beacon. with the com wheel and in game voip and text team based chat there isn't a reason for a silent fattie to die to a light then nerd rage about it seconds later.

[ScrapIron Prime]

Oh there's nothing inherently WRONG with dire whales and slow LRM boats, but they need to be part of a strategy. Without a strategy, they cannot stand on their own. With a strategy, they can be key units.

And... spoiler alert... if you're solo dropping, nine times out of ten you're NOT part of anyone's strategy.

[Magnus Santini]

When I am driving 55 in my King Crab, I try to remember that the other mechs have a big head start. So whether you are shooting, talking, or looking around, keep the mech pointed at the center of the team's position and the six legs scuttling. If you go straight towards the team, you will almost always be close enough that you are not isolated for attack.

[BaconTWOfourACTUAL]

Asking a group of complete strangers, with varying skill levels and experience to work together as a cohesive unit...

It can be done, but it takes communication.

[Asym]

Seriously?

PGI has created "Pocket Assaults" with the new skill tree.......... It takes darn near 3 Assaults to kill a Raven, Commando or an Urbie now. And, you are wondering why "Light PA's" don't help the team battelspace?

Geeze, we can barely get people to talk in PUG's.....

[WarHippy]

ScrapIron Prime, on 11 July 2017 - 11:03 AM, said:

If you're solo dropping, don't take a mech that is dependant on others to be effective. If you're slow or have 100 percent LRM armament, there will be times you're left hanging by your team or at best have 1-2 people listening to you.

Specialists with vulnerabilities are best used in team drops.

Ced Riggs, on 11 July 2017 - 11:15 AM, said:

Don't go slower than 60kph. If your mech cannot go faster, pick a different mech.
Don't expect others to carry you, you need to be able to carry your own weight in QP.
Don't drop in a Dire Whale in QP. Not only are you easily killed, you are also a primary target and you cannot defend yourself.

Does that suck for you if you love your Dire Whale? Yeah. But that's how the cookie crumbles. 95% of players will not read this topic, and 90% will simply not care to cover or protect someone deliberately dropping in a liability of a mech. Not only are you wasting that precious assault slot something better could have filled, you are also splitting the team apart and you are enabling one-sided stomps by reducing the effective & combined firepower of your team. Same with LRM assaults, really.

And here's a special **** you to any 40kph King Crabs. You need to go back to basic training. If you're 40kph and LRMs, consider uninstalling.

That is why PGI should not have messed with mobility so much. It's bad business and bad balancing if the end result is nearly an entire class of purchasable units are basically worthless in the primary game section. All four mech types need to be able to hold their own or at least defend themselves in quick play.

That being said others do need to learn how to pay more attention to what is going on instead of tunnel vision nascar. Frankly I hold the players that run off leaving others behind more than I blame the people taking slower mechs. "you are also splitting the team apart and you are enabling one-sided stomps by reducing the effective & combined firepower of your team" People running off without a care in the world are at the very least just as responsible for that wasted assault slot and the splitting of the team and the effective combined firepower when they chose to abandon part of their team in their quest for circular combat.

[Aggravated Assault Mech]

Playing a slow assault needs above average understanding of the map, and a proactive playstyle- unlike lights and mediums which are fast enough to play reactively.

When you drop into a match, you need to immediately move to the epicenter of the action using the most direct route possible. You can't **** around sightseeing or taking a wrong turn that adds 30s to 1min onto your movement. The importance of this cannot be overstated on map/mode combinations like Mining Colony - Assault, where teams spawn symmetrically but rotate counter-clockwise, and simple mistakes or indecision will basically guarantee you'll be crippled or killed within the first couple minutes if you spawn on the wrong side. This isn't the fault of the team but rather that spawns are more favorable on one side than the other- lights and mediums naturally support the assaults because the assaults spawn near the good terrain features.

It is rare that an Assault is simply left behind through no fault of their own, and rarely is it entirely the fault of their team (though it does happen). If you don't know exactly where the fighting is going to happen on that map and that game mode, within a 1-2 grid square radius, you really have no business being in a slow Assault (sub 60kph).

Most of my games are played in a Mauler with a STD 270 engine.

[ScrapIron Prime]

WarHippy, on 11 July 2017 - 11:36 AM, said:

That is why PGI should not have messed with mobility so much. It's bad business and bad balancing if the end result is nearly an entire class of purchasable units are basically worthless in the primary game section. All four mech types need to be able to hold their own or at least defend themselves in quick play.

It was like this before the engine changes and the great de-quirkening. Top speed has always been a liability when paired up with teammates who rush forward (or around, in the case of two Nascar-ing teams) heedless of their allies.

[Ghogiel]

Even if you "get left behind" + ganked on top of that, you will probably still do 500 half the time. At worst you do like 250dmg simply because you are so powerful and will certainly be fighting smaller mechs who will vaporise if they run in or poke on you, so they will either try to flank taking about 1min giving you time to pump dmg out, or wait for bigs/numbers, holding up their nascar. Either way it's not the worst thing for carrying, but yeah it isn't ideal.

If you are a top player and I see you in a DWF or somthing, I'll work off that because I know I am getting someone who is going to dump a kilo on the enemy if I help them. Sorry to say if you are an irrelevent player, I'll take my chances trying to carry by doing as much dmg and kills as possible, as soon as possible, just can't baby sit if it's out of the way with an unknown potential.

Edited by Ghogiel, 11 July 2017 - 12:15 PM.

[Davegt27]

Quote

Posted Today, 01:00 PM
Last weekend I was killed three times in my Dire Wolfs from the enemy lights flanking our group then attacking from the rear on, "you guessed it", us slow lumbering Assaults. Needless to say, I commend the enemy opponents for thinking right and using their lights (and even mediums in one match) to hand our shiny metal asses. In one match, a single Light which I think was a Raven, went through the main area of our group and flat out ran in a direction away from the assaults while the other three got behind us and hammered our asses. Personally, I didn't know they were there until they came out from behind several buildings on the Frozen City map and went after us assaults. And yes they won the first match, the second match, I got killed alone trying to keep up with the NASCARing group on the Polar Heights map.

I don't know how many times it takes for folks to understand the basics in TEAM COMBAT for mission success. But I guess it's just they gonna go for the glory kill and not care a crying shame for their Team mates. Don't get me wrong, I know there are plenty of good combat team mates out there, I just happened to experience too much of the assaults getting the sort end of things lately.

So I am asking you folks out there, what's more important to you?

can we establish a set of basic rules in Team Combat?

Supporting your assaults knowing you might stand a less chance of not scoring a kill? (Why would some think this way I dunno if the enemy is coming after the assaults anyway!)

Or what's your preference and opinion?

Thanks Folks!

op I hear what your saying but I want to give some points for you and others
I am not complaining just reporting

1) its amazing how many assaults come stock with LRMs but everyone hates LRM assaults

2) when you drop back to cover an assault that is less time you are putting out fire and less time you are doing damage so your scores suffer

3) a lot of assault pilots think they can kill any light that comes near them (talk about ego)

4) most IS assaults suffer from a lack of fire power

5) a balance is a machine used to tell the weight of an item in comparison to another item, when two items weigh the same on a balance they are said to be in balance

6) we need to balance the game so lights have to be as strong as assaults right

7) most assaults are slow with slow turn rates

8) most lights are fast with fast turn rates and of course they have high fire power

just some points I am not complaining

Edited by Davegt27, 11 July 2017 - 07:34 PM.

[Jman5]

The onus is on the player to keep up with the rest of the team. Yes it can be done with slow mechs, but you have to pay attention, make good pathing choices, and not get tunnel vision at the wrong times.

Of course even a good player will occasionally find themselves in a bad spot. When that happens you set up in the best defensible spot you can and become the biggest speed bump to the enemy flankers for as long as you can.

If all of this sounds too unfair to you, then you should follow the advice in this thread and play a faster mech.

[jss78]

Personally I just cannot bring myself to run a slow assault (without engine rating 4+ times tonnage) in pug queue. They're just too inflexible and specialized machines for that environment, to me.

Now that said, I might challenge more of the medium (and fast heavy) pilots to revolve their play style around helping assaults.

I really like to play like this, but I tend to take a quick look at the friendly assault before commiting. Not worth it if it's a lurm boat or a sniper build. But if it's an obvious brawler, it tends to be highly worthwhile to do escort duty, focusing fire with the big guy and guarding its rear.

[BaconTWOfourACTUAL]

And I will add, that there is nothing more dangerous in this game, than an organized or even semi-organized lance of light mechs.

[Luminis]

It really just takes a bit of getting used to. Granted, going sub 60 kph can be really annoying at times, but you'll eventually learn to "read" your team. Anticipating where your team is going helps significantly with keeping up with the pack.

But getting snuffed out by Lights after being left alone is basically the price you pay for the immense firepower you can field. Gotta have a weakness.

[Skanderborg]

No , you have to count on three things happening.

Compentent assault pilots , combined with competent team , combined with the willingness to work together.

Almost always you're missing one of these.

[MaximusPayne]

Not gonna happen. I gave up on my direwolf in QP. The final straw for me was when a team mate ordered me to bring my assault to the group (instead of the more logical plan bringing the group to the assaults). We were down 3 mechs before I ever had a target. Speed is life, so I parked the dire and brought out my timby. The solo queue is a hot mess of 12 individuals that would hide behind their own mothers to steal a kill. Any coordinated team play only happens by accident.