51 replies to this topic

[xX PUG Xx]

* Go into Mechbay and select four 'Mechs to build a dropdeck

A link to a thread for some very good Inner Sphere 'Mech builds, if I come across one for Clan 'Mech builds I will add it

Spoiler

https://mwomercs.com...20#entry5989929

A link to a well written Faction Play guide by a player from arguably one of the most successful FP units out there.

Spoiler

https://mwomercs.com...primer-by-leone

* Decide what type of builds I'm going to run, thus dictating what type of fighting I'm going to TRY and commit to. (This requires the knowledge that I maybe inneffective at certain ranges and therefore will have to use map knowledge and positiong to fight effectively).
* Build 'Mechs and assign points on Skill Trees to suit/compliment the builds.
* Save dropbdeck and repeat for my other three dropdeck slots (Yes, I paid the MC for the extras to give me more flexibility).

Now these steps were carried out many times over the last few years but the building and skill point assignment take up the majority of my "down time" when not dropping and are the reason for 75-80% of my successful drops. If you want to win you need to plan, you need to make the other team fight you on your terms (your desired effective fighting conditions) or at least deny them their ability to fight effectively (map knowledge and positioning). After this there is a few choices:

*Check to see who is online and wants to group up for Faction Play. This can be accomplished by checking the various Teamspeak hubs which are listed on these forums; Comstar NA/EU, the FRR/Kurita Hub and the Davion hub are three I can think of straight away but there are many more.
* Goto LFG and hope someone sends you an invite.
* Drop solo and hope you either get mixed in with a good group of players or that both teams are equally as mixed.

The further down these three options you go the less control over the win/loss you have and the less time you spend thinking about and implementing the steps in the Mechlab you lower your chances even further.

I see so many threads bemoaning the same things for the posters losses: Clan 'tech, IS structure quirks, "big bad premade" groups vs solo vs PuG's, choke-point map designs, reward bias and spawn camping to name a few. However I rarely see a post saying "You know what, my mixed bag team of solo's were beaten and the OpFor were just better organised/setup or skilled than us, I'm going to go look for a group to drop with and perhaps learn a few builds to suite my playstyle". A lot of thread OP's are looking for the game designers to level every playing field for them without recognising that they themselves are often the deciding or at least contributing factor to their own poor game experience/performance. As much as the gamemode is shallow on immersion, it DOES require some forethought and preparation by the player and as much as I would love to get into why certain weapon types are ineffective on certain maps and gamemodes, THAT is a can of worms best left untouched.

The TL:DR?

If you want to win (or at least have more fun against a good opponent)

* Plan your builds to suit how you want to fight.
* Communicate with your team and at least call your target or movement.
* Get grouped up with other FP players.
* Accept the fact there are better players/groups out there and that you will lose from time to time. However if you percevere with these steps those losses wil become fewer and you will enjoy yourself more.

**editted the title to hopefully draw more attention and perhaps give more players a starting point to drop in Faction Play**
**editted to add IS build thread link**

(Disclaimer, I am not an "Elite" pilot but I am the Founder and CO of a unit formed to play FP and as such have over 3000 drops in that mode. So although I may not be the best or anywhere close, I DO have a lot of experience. It's upto you whether you, as the reader, want to take it or not. I can only offer.)

Edited by xX PUG Xx, 10 June 2018 - 05:47 AM.

[Leggin Ho]

Best post put out in this forum in a LONG time.............................

[xX PUG Xx]

After dropping a few solo and small group FP drops this afternoon another little thought crept into that dusty cavern I call a brain:

Faction Play 101 for multi-spawn game modes, especially attacking on the "Siege" mode maps, requires a different mentality from the run-of-the-mill Quick Play drops. Here's a few guidelines that should hopefully have new or newish FP players having a better experience.

* As a "rule of thumb" ALWAYS regroup with your teammates on the same "wave" after respawning, To explain; if you die in your 1st 'Mech and respawn, then you are part of the 2nd wave and should look for where other players on their 2nd 'Mech are grouping up.If you die-respawn-charge in-die-respawn-charge in-die then your game can be over in under 5 minutes, when some of your team mates are only just losing their 1st 'Mech.

* Try and stick with your team mates, this is especially important when attacking on Siege maps. Due to the design of these maps and the objective nature of the mode, it is best to move with, cover, defend and attack as a group. The larger the number of targts the enemy has to shoot, the longer you will survive and do damage.... if you can mark or call your target (or listen for targets being called) then you will also be in a position to shoot that target and help your team win.

Edited by xX PUG Xx, 04 September 2017 - 12:19 PM.

[Lord Farqwad]

I learn a lot from this thank you

[The Basilisk]

+ 1 on this
Neutral write up on minimum requirements what you should do before even consider to drop in FP, very good.

[Slowth]

This is so true. Please take the time to read it and learn something.

[Davegt27]

Quote

Thank you, I thought it might be helpful at least.

it would help a lot more if you gave some examples

like this is my so and so FP Mech and here is its load out

[Fuerchtenichts]

Davegt27, on 19 September 2017 - 02:39 AM, said:

it would help a lot more if you gave some examples

like this is my so and so FP Mech and here is its load out

What is better, to give a man a fish or teach him how to do fishing?

[xX PUG Xx]

Davegt27, on 19 September 2017 - 02:39 AM, said:

it would help a lot more if you gave some examples

like this is my so and so FP Mech and here is its load out

TBH this is where it comes to personal taste and style of playing.

Yes I could give everyone my "IS Lazor Vomit" deck with 3x WHM and Griffin Hero, all running a mix of ERML and LL but I am a little strange and also have a deck with nothing but UAC2's on all four 'Mechs. So it comes down to the individual and them thinking about, learning and developing their own style and which 'Mechs/builds to suite that style. At heart I'm a typical Glaswegian and like to get into a brawl, go down swinging and take as many of the "other guys" with me as possible. This might not suit everyone and the majority of the "top" players don't play this way.

It doesn't change the steps of preparation in getting setup to play FP however

[Davegt27]

Quote

What is better, to give a man a fish or teach him how to do fishing?

its just another get good thread

[KingCobra]

Great topic and posts PUG very helpful but there is one thing that's not in the equation that is trying to find FP games last night I took a contract as clan waited all night on search for games not one match hooked up tried the TS3 sites and no one was flaying FP for Clan.

I usually get 1-4 games a night as a IS PUG Merc just hitting the battle button but geez not one match in over 4 hours as clan. Looking for group is such a waste of time the only 2 group on there last night were playing solo quick drops only.

So PUG your efforts are valiant but unless Russ and PGI start to repopulate MWO and FP im afraid the game mode and MWO are about dead.

[Fuerchtenichts]

Davegt27, on 19 September 2017 - 06:05 AM, said:

its just another get good thread

Again, if you want to improve in this game you have to adopt to it!

team play > pilot skill > mechs and loadouts

If you just want a working loadout refer to MetaMechs http://metamechs.com/

Edited by Fuerchtenichts, 19 September 2017 - 06:55 AM.

[xX PUG Xx]

Davegt27, on 19 September 2017 - 06:05 AM, said:

its just another get good thread

I'm sorry if that is all you have managed to take from this but it certainly wasn't my intention. Anyone that has played with me, including the players that have stuck with me since my early days in HHoD back in 2012, will tell you that i'm not that sort of player/person.

The OP was intended as a Quick Start guide but it still requires the player to actually think about what they're doing and make decisions for themselves. Essentially if someone isn't willing to put in the effort to figure out or research what works and what doesn't then what hope should they have when fighting against an experienced, coordinated opponent?

As much as I would like FP to be as inclusive as possible to build it's sustained population, I would also like to see that population increase in skill and ability. This would make everyones games more intense, exciting and ultimately more fun but the only way that happens is if players put in a minimal amount of effort and not expect everything to be "toned down" or "rebalanced" to lower the bar. I would happily sit and write a basic tutorial on the full FP mode but to be honest I don't feel I have the skill in my own gameplay to do so with confidence and authority, there are MANY players that are MUCH better than myself but whether they would spend their time doing this is a question for them.

Beyond this I can only hope other players read the OP and find it useful, perhaps inspire them to research 'Mech builds and tactics for different tech' bases. I would even enjoy someone challenging me in a discussion if they disagreed with anything I've written.

[xX PUG Xx]

KingCobra, on 19 September 2017 - 06:07 AM, said:

Great topic and posts PUG very helpful but there is one thing that's not in the equation that is trying to find FP games last night I took a contract as clan waited all night on search for games not one match hooked up tried the TS3 sites and no one was flaying FP for Clan.

I usually get 1-4 games a night as a IS PUG Merc just hitting the battle button but geez not one match in over 4 hours as clan. Looking for group is such a waste of time the only 2 group on there last night were playing solo quick drops only.

So PUG your efforts are valiant but unless Russ and PGI start to repopulate MWO and FP im afraid the game mode and MWO are about dead.

Right now Clan side is awash with former and current Merc units that looked to capitalise on the new Clan factions with high contract bonuses and very slightly better tech base (this is a discussion for another thread). The problem is that the current contract system doesn't show the difference between IS / Clan populations, even if it were shown as a percentage it would help to stop such onesided population imbalances. On top of this is the fact those same units/players generally all know each other and as such form full 12 pilot groups to increase their chances on the battlefield (see my OP on that one ) and it makes it exceptionally difficult for solo players to break into the queue. This is a problem that the "one bucket" system didn't fully manage to get rid of unfortunately.

[Dead Tom Kerensky]

For those looking for deck ideas I suggest 2 decks. I use a brawling dps deck with UAC 20s and medium lasers mostly on marauders and an ERLL deck with a battlemaster, grasshopper, and warhammer. Both decks have an srm assassin for the last slot. My ERLL deck has a lot of AMS because I use it on LRM friendly maps. Against the good teams the AMS is a wasted 1.5 tons usually.

[naterist]

xX PUG Xx, on 19 September 2017 - 07:50 AM, said:

Right now Clan side is awash with former and current Merc units that looked to capitalise on the new Clan factions with high contract bonuses and very slightly better tech base (this is a discussion for another thread). The problem is that the current contract system doesn't show the difference between IS / Clan populations, even if it were shown as a percentage it would help to stop such onesided population imbalances. On top of this is the fact those same units/players generally all know each other and as such form full 12 pilot groups to increase their chances on the battlefield (see my OP on that one ) and it makes it exceptionally difficult for solo players to break into the queue. This is a problem that the "one bucket" system didn't fully manage to get rid of unfortunately.

This is the problem. You got a group of units that want to all be on the same side, all the time, and are presumably scared of fighting each other. Until pgi can nix that little circle jerk, nothings gonna get better.

[Xannatharr]

There is still fun to be had... we dropped a ton of matches with a full twelve last night and only bumped into partial premades of EVIL and BCMC (they beat us up).

The rest of the night was the CGBI guys, and several drops against mostly-mixed teams and we had a lot of fun.

I agree that it would be better if there was a reason for some of the merc units to choose opposite sides, but the problem is that currently the merc leaders are all motivated by pretty much the same things - the contract bonus and preference for Clan mechs (for some this preference is slight). Most importantly there are now three new factions to level up and harvest some pretty nice rewards.

With PGI handing a bunch of (mostly) reasonable people the same set of options, it is not surprising that many of them are making the same choices.

Maybe if the top contract bonus was split so that only the first few units that took contracts on each side got the max benefit that would encourage them to make the choice to split up? But even if that was the case, I think the three new clan factions added are going to keep those units Clan side anyway.

Maybe PGI could add Comstar and one of the larger Periphery States as new IS factions or something and that would give some of these units a viable option to play IS and still get maximum benefits.

Xann

[MischiefSC]

Nobody learns to drive by inventing the wheel, the combustion engine and automotive mechanics.

They learn to drive from people who already know how to drive.

Always more to learn and good advice is always good. If everyone put the tiny bit of effort into learning and applying even just the basics FW would be a better experience for everyone.

[justcallme A S H]

KingCobra, on 19 September 2017 - 06:07 AM, said:

Great topic and posts PUG very helpful but there is one thing that's not in the equation that is trying to find FP games last night I took a contract as clan waited all night on search for games not one match hooked up tried the TS3 sites and no one was flaying FP for Clan.

I usually get 1-4 games a night as a IS PUG Merc just hitting the battle button but geez not one match in over 4 hours as clan. Looking for group is such a waste of time the only 2 group on there last night were playing solo quick drops only.

So PUG your efforts are valiant but unless Russ and PGI start to repopulate MWO and FP im afraid the game mode and MWO are about dead.

What is it with all these people picking Clan contracts and then complain about wait times? Are you not amused by your poorly thought out choice when it's well known Clan has significantly higher wait times?

naterist, on 19 September 2017 - 11:39 AM, said:

This is the problem. You got a group of units that want to all be on the same side, all the time, and are presumably scared of fighting each other. Until pgi can nix that little circle jerk, nothings gonna get better.

This whole fallacy of "scared to fight each other" is getting a bit old. None of the good units are scared to fight each other. When I see KCom / EVIL / BCMC and similar appear on the other sides I get pumped cause I know the game is gonna be a good'un no matter what and it'll come down to the last wave almost without question (bar a silly mistake from either side) even if I'm not running a full unit 12man a just a bunch of my usual "mates drops".

That said some of the second Tier units absolutely are dodging the tougher teams, I'll agree on that as I've seen it happen. Not naming names or anything, but it is a thing.

That said most of sit Clan side simply for easy planet tags/MC/leaderboard, which is a different story entirely in some ways and not out-right dodging as such.

I love Fri night US prime time (My Sat lunchtime) when we are playing IS. I get home from my 6th day of work, sit down a crack a beer. Then proceed to provide said second-tier 12-mans an education in IS piloting by beating them with 8-12s 2-3 games in a row with "inferior mechs". Rather than learn/adapt they log off each time... I don't get it?

[Commander A9]

Great post, PUG!

Don't forget to add:

*Log in to Teamspeak/Discord/VOIP and discuss with drop commander what today's strategy will be, and adapt to said strategy.

Teamwork is one cornerstone of success and people have yet to understand this.