36 replies to this topic

[RickySpanish]

I recently got into T3 so I can't comment too much about it, but I basically slaughtered my way up T4. One of my 'Mechs is the Marauder IIC Scorch. I play it as a brawler and there are a few things I've learned with it:

1) Do not be a hero in the early stages of a fight. As an Assault pilot you are slow and an obvious target. Your purpose early in life is area denial and punishing over extended 'Mechs. Stay near the middle of the pack and always seek to punish any enemy that encroaches your personal space. When it's time to push, you'll know.

2) Build for being tanky. All of those percentage armour and structure buffs mean a lot more when your base defensive stats are high.

3) Pay attention to your map, and consider the potential risk of moving to any location. You should also have a plan for where you are heading, and where the enemy might ambush you from. This is obvious knowledge for any role really, but because Assaults are so slow, a mistake here is very costly.

4) When you finally do commit, go balls deep. Hesitation on a late game push will get you killed just as surely as early game aggression. Once you are pushing imo, you are in it to the end. If you've made a mistake here the game could well be over, but in general the quintessential skill of an Assault pilot is precisely this - knowing when to charge into the enemy flank and to deliver a decisive blow.

So, my general strategy in my Scorch is to hang about supporting the front line until either the position of the enemy team is largely known, and they are in a poor position, or to initiate a push if the enemy is several 'Mechs down. I seek to develop a 'Mech advantage by ambushing over extended enemy 'Mechs - usually Lights and Mediums, by covering likely positions of attack on our team. I almost never push early on, nor do I push in desperation when we are several 'Mechs down. I'm always trying to find ways to punish the enemy's mistakes whilst minimizing my own. So far, each time I have pushed early and died, bar once, we have lost the game.

It may seem disheartening to seemingly be a cog in a fundamentally stupid machine, but keep in mind that the enemy team is equally capable of making the same stupid mistakes that yours is. You may find success in changing the point of view of your purpose in a fight. You are not there to be an unstoppable force that immediately murders the other team. Instead, you have an enduring presence, your purpose is to continuously stack the odds against the enemy team as the match carries on, until they are in such a bad position that you can simply walk right through them.

[justcallme A S H]

I'm an Assault pilot, that's where I started and it's what I play if we are in Comp etc. That said I do regularly get into Hvy/Meds.

https://leaderboard....ustcallme+a+s+h

Season 16 (4.17 WLR) and Season 17 (2.79 WLR). I pretty much just piloted Assaults and most of it was SoloQ (hardly any GroupQ). I ran BLRs, MCII, WHK, GAR, KDK3 and maybe MADIIC IIRC - Whatever really. I follow the following rules basically:

1. Never brawl. In SoloQ - Between the Assault mobilty nerf from desync & the fact no one will ever back you up if you push - Brawling in Assaults in YoloQ is dead. Bring midrange - 400-700m. Most maps these days are not brawl (RIP Old Frozen City).

2. Heat Efficient - Bring something reasonably heat efficient. Something super hot isn't useful in SoloQ IMO.

3. Ammo - If ammo based only carry enough for around 1300-1500dmg (Common mistake is I see people bringing 2,000dmg+ worth).

4. Skill Maze - Do not touch mobility in Skill Maze. By and large it is a waste of time. Firepower, Ops, Survival. Forget Sensor tree as well.

5. Mini Map / Positioning - Pay attention to the Mini Map at ALL times. I honestly think I spend more time looking at the minimap working out where mechs are going than actually shooting half the time. I always make sure I try to take high round as well and use building/terrain where possible. If you are in the low ground on say Grim Plexus in H6 - You've stuffed up big time by bad positioning.

6. Remember Mechs - If you're punched a butt load of damage into a mech - Remember it. Remember it has a left torso open so if you see it again before targeting info appears, smash it until you see the info. When specc'ing people this is a major issue I see. They shoot something and then shoot somewhere entirely different. That is ineffective damage.

7. VOIP - Use it. If you don't, you are doing a disservice to yourself. If the team is NASCARing away from the Assaults get on comms and tell them to stop it (hell, do it at the start). Yes a lot of the time they won't listen and the game will be lost usually cause of it, but that's SoloQ - Plenty of people think they know how to play the game, fact is they do not. Just blind rotation is not the way to win.

8. Targets - Always position yourself and make sure you are shooting something that another mech is. Mechs always go down faster if there is focus.

Probably the main things to think about as an Assault in the current state of MWO that I think about most matche.s

[Koniving]

Minamitsu, on 12 January 2018 - 03:40 AM, said:

Lately I have been getting really annoyed and stressed out over this struggle I am going through with the game.
This is how things feel to me, and I might be wrong about them but it sure feels right.

I play assault mechs. it's what I do and what I am best at.
My tier isn't great so there's a lot of... questionable players, and a lack of tactics.
Lately my teams have generally been... pretty damn bad. I am constantly getting left behind with no support, and when I try to lead a push everyone else pokes then runs away so I get focused and die.
So at this point it just feels like a cycle of... Get bad clueless teammates, play my role and help the team, die because I get left alone and have no support, team loses because they have no idea what they are doing, tier drops and I get worse teammates.

It feels like 75% of my games nobody knows what they are doing and plays everything like a standard TDM shooter. Even when I get wins it's mostly because the enemies are even more clueless than my team and just spread up and walk into our guns.
With people that can actually play as a team, communicate, and know how things work, we can win and I can do well. But I can't reach that level because of the pit of players I am stuck in.

This is EA's new method of keeping players engaged.

Wait, wrong game and developers. But wonder if PGI picked up the research paper titled
"Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment for Maximized Engagement in Digital Games."

Because if what the OP says is true, and I felt like that at times, perhaps there's something to notice about how the PSR and more specifically the old ELO system used to pit players together? Pitting players that have no business being in the same match together to give one side an edge over the other. That was almost the definition of ELO. (Rather pitting predictions and seeing if the prediction was accurate or false. But to predict win or loss, the prediction had to apply to the entire team, meaning it pit two teams together and then said "We think this team will lose." Sounds.... a lot like the tidbit in that research paper. And kinda like what "PSR" does anyway...)

Granted, there's certainly no system set to make us want to buy what other players have.. that's just a factor of looking good and other players wanting to.

But the tidbit about a match making system designed to rig games for winning and losing in order to keep you playing longer...

Edited by Koniving, 12 January 2018 - 05:46 PM.

[Water Bear]

RickySpanish, on 12 January 2018 - 02:33 PM, said:

I recently got into T3 so I can't comment too much about it, but I basically slaughtered my way up T4. One of my 'Mechs is the Marauder IIC Scorch. I play it as a brawler and there are a few things I've learned with it:

1) Do not be a hero in the early stages of a fight. As an Assault pilot you are slow and an obvious target. Your purpose early in life is area denial and punishing over extended 'Mechs. Stay near the middle of the pack and always seek to punish any enemy that encroaches your personal space. When it's time to push, you'll know.

2) Build for being tanky. All of those percentage armour and structure buffs mean a lot more when your base defensive stats are high.

3) Pay attention to your map, and consider the potential risk of moving to any location. You should also have a plan for where you are heading, and where the enemy might ambush you from. This is obvious knowledge for any role really, but because Assaults are so slow, a mistake here is very costly.

4) When you finally do commit, go balls deep. Hesitation on a late game push will get you killed just as surely as early game aggression. Once you are pushing imo, you are in it to the end. If you've made a mistake here the game could well be over, but in general the quintessential skill of an Assault pilot is precisely this - knowing when to charge into the enemy flank and to deliver a decisive blow.

So, my general strategy in my Scorch is to hang about supporting the front line until either the position of the enemy team is largely known, and they are in a poor position, or to initiate a push if the enemy is several 'Mechs down. I seek to develop a 'Mech advantage by ambushing over extended enemy 'Mechs - usually Lights and Mediums, by covering likely positions of attack on our team. I almost never push early on, nor do I push in desperation when we are several 'Mechs down. I'm always trying to find ways to punish the enemy's mistakes whilst minimizing my own. So far, each time I have pushed early and died, bar once, we have lost the game.

It may seem disheartening to seemingly be a cog in a fundamentally stupid machine, but keep in mind that the enemy team is equally capable of making the same stupid mistakes that yours is. You may find success in changing the point of view of your purpose in a fight. You are not there to be an unstoppable force that immediately murders the other team. Instead, you have an enduring presence, your purpose is to continuously stack the odds against the enemy team as the match carries on, until they are in such a bad position that you can simply walk right through them.

You gon' be in T1 in no time with knowledge like that.

[Water Bear]

Koniving, on 12 January 2018 - 05:39 PM, said:

But the tidbit about a match making system designed to rig games for winning and losing in order to keep you playing longer...

If any game I'm playing is doing that, they'd best keep it well hidden. I came here to compete and chew bubble gum. I threw my elbow out winning a game of racquetball 2 hours ago.

Basically, to me, no accomplishment is worth spit without overcoming a challenge.

Edited by Water Bear, 12 January 2018 - 05:51 PM.

[MischiefSC]

Make very simple suggestions in VOIP. 'Everyone meet up in C4?' things like that. A tiny, tiny bit of coordination will change your teams behavior a lot of the time.

I'm a decent player. I'm not bad, I can keep up with people much better than me. However I have a great w/l in QP because I make sure there's some direction in every single match. If they do great with a tiny bit, give a little more - if you get a group of people who seems happy to follow it like a called drop, go ahead and call it and call targets, etc. Just be ready to lead and go down in a blaze of glory - I can win 2 out of 3 QP matches doing that. My KDR suffers a little but my w/l benefits immensely.

Especially in assaults.

[InvictusLee]

98% of the mechs I play are assaults.
I enjoy the hell out of it but I have a solid understanding of each individual mech, what their intended purpose is, and know how to turn their weaknesses into my advantage.

Join a unit, make friends, use the comms, ask questions. After the Derp answers, you'll find that other players will eventually help you figure out how the mech your piloting works and kills best.

[JediPanther]

One thing that tends to work is tell your team where your 100 tons of slug is going. In skirmish on hpg i'll just type some thing along the lines of 'going under' at match drop then go there regardless of what the rest do. I don't tell them to back me up,follow me or any thing. Surprisingly a lot of times the smarter ones follow me.

Same for alpine when I say I'm not walking down the death road to be sniped from the ridge line.

[Diablobo]

I would say it's great to have a favorite type of mech, but it is also extremely limiting and handicaps your skill threshold. If you play more of the other types, it makes it easier for you to know how to deal with them more effectively when you are in your big slow assault. This is not a good game to specialize in one particular type of vehicle. Also, the last thing you want to do is wait until you get to the top tiers to start learning how to play the other mechs. You are going to get crushed, and you are going to hurt your team.

Edited by Diablobo, 13 January 2018 - 09:24 AM.

[panzer1b]

Assaults aint bad at all, on the contrary, a assault played well can win a game, the trick is to build it and use it correctly.

The 3 biggest tips i can give to assault players having a hard time:

*Increase engine size
Sorta a no-brainer, the biggest problem people have with assaults is bringing a weaker engine in exchange for more guns assuming they can just melt anyone who appears. The fact is, you can have 50 DPS (which no mech comes anywhere near), and if you cant apply it to the enemy because you got flanked, backstabbed, or left behind and have to then fight 4+ targets you are guaranteed to die. Its well worth loosing a gun or 2 just to go 5-10 kph faster, and while there is no absolute minimum speed you can work with, ive personally found that going at mid 60s (64.8 is a reasonable speed) to be a good idea since you are far less likely to be left behind (many heavys go mid 60s so they will be in the same boat). If you can go higher without massive sacrifices to firepower then by all means go for it, but generally 64.8 is what i consider a good assault engine rating since it brings the best balance of offense and mobility.

*Pick longer ranged weapons
I know that its really fun to brawl (i like to do so myself), but unless you have a crazy high engine rating that lets you go 70-75 KPH, its simply unpractical to get into short range consistently especially in QP where you are about as likely to land on polar as you are on grim, both sniper or mid range friendly maps. Im not saying to go all out and bring 6 ERLLs, but you should be able to engage a target at least somewhat at ~600m (ERML, LL, LPL, HLL, ERLL, AC/UAC10/5/2, ect) so that you can put pressure on anyone exposing to hit you. Even if your primary firepower is short range, its a assault, so you should be able to fit 2-3 mid-long range lasers on there as secondarys just to discourage free damage from the enemy team (nothing is easier to engage then assault with NOTHING that can hit at 500m when im in a laser/gauss vomit mech, its literally a XP pinata at this point).

*Try to be aware of your surroundings
Prolly the biggest issue with new players is that they dont understand to look at the minimap, or even notice that light mech with ECM getting behind them. While i dont use it myself (i rarely if ever stop moving so it never kicks in), seismik sensor is very good to have on a assault since you will notice someone getting up close for a backstab. Also, outside of rare cases (which new players prolly wont even know of), its a very very bad idea to stay away from the team. You are less likely to be focused or even shot if you are in the middle of a pack rather then trying to solo your own flank. Ofc some maps allow one to do this with the right loadout (say 6 ERLL assault on a sniper map can actually shut down an entire lance with good positioning), but overall, just stay near the team so that you can support them and they can keep the lights and flankers from backstabbing you.

[FireStoat]

Koniving, on 12 January 2018 - 05:39 PM, said:

This is EA's new method of keeping players engaged.

I watched the whole video. Thanks for posting it - the explanations it contained were on the spot. I think one of the things that gives League of Legends a measure of success is that every player's account statistics of wins, losses, champs used, etc are public info. Players constantly play the game with a laptop open next to them to reference player names and what they'll be facing once the game begins. That was something I thought always sucked, but in light of how a company can 'rig' a match for a win or a loss with players of unequal skill, it's a tool in the players' hands to keep the company honest with the matches.

Strangely enough something similar could be done by players with MWO but in this case we have the fallback excuse of "There's not enough population for perfect match making" which in the NA evenings is kind of valid. Moving back to the topic of Assault Mechs and the difficulty in playing them in quick drops... Hrm. I play clan assaults like the MAD IIC with a 350 XL (or a 375 XL in the base model) and a speed of 69 kph + is pretty good in getting to where I need to go in a timely manner. I also don't AFK for the start and have the W key held down the moment my mech is able to move.

A lot of assault players like to AFK for the start and begin moving up to two full minutes after a match begins. Don't be that guy. Other players will see it on the Dorito map and foster strong feelings about not caring if you're left behind. Well, at least I know I feel that way. If you're playing a slower assault, my gut feels that 54 KPH is the absolute slowest you should be going if you have any hope of ending up in a good spot for the first engagement.

Edited by FireStoat, 13 January 2018 - 10:01 AM.

[Koniving]

Sadly if I'm in a heavy, medium or light I am usually that guy... but with good reason. I do best when I am flanking the enemy's front line, but for that, the front line needs to be established and if I'm caught on that front line, I'm usually screwed.

You'll find me behind the enemy front line, even in an assault. Note: This Victor is near the back of their "front line" and I snuck all the way around to get behind him without him or his allies noticing...


More modern..


Note: in the Orion video I waited too long.

As an assault I move right away as my assaults are slow.
On certain maps, I also move right away; just not toward the center of the map.

[RickySpanish]

FireStoat, on 13 January 2018 - 10:00 AM, said:

I watched the whole video. Thanks for posting it - the explanations it contained were on the spot. I think one of the things that gives League of Legends a measure of success is that every player's account statistics of wins, losses, champs used, etc are public info. Players constantly play the game with a laptop open next to them to reference player names and what they'll be facing once the game begins. That was something I thought always sucked, but in light of how a company can 'rig' a match for a win or a loss with players of unequal skill, it's a tool in the players' hands to keep the company honest with the matches.

Strangely enough something similar could be done by players with MWO but in this case we have the fallback excuse of "There's not enough population for perfect match making" which in the NA evenings is kind of valid. Moving back to the topic of Assault Mechs and the difficulty in playing them in quick drops... Hrm. I play clan assaults like the MAD IIC with a 350 XL (or a 375 XL in the base model) and a speed of 69 kph + is pretty good in getting to where I need to go in a timely manner. I also don't AFK for the start and have the W key held down the moment my mech is able to move.

A lot of assault players like to AFK for the start and begin moving up to two full minutes after a match begins. Don't be that guy. Other players will see it on the Dorito map and foster strong feelings about not caring if you're left behind. Well, at least I know I feel that way. If you're playing a slower assault, my gut feels that 54 KPH is the absolute slowest you should be going if you have any hope of ending up in a good spot for the first engagement.

Definitely agree about the start; I've played long range Assault builds before and they definitely have their place in the meta, but if you aren't imposing something with all of your armour, you're sort of only using part of the capabilities of your 'Mech. I prefer mid and close range for this reason with my Assaults and stay near my team mates. You need to be there to shut down greasy lights and mediums taking pot shots at your team. Plus it's always a good time when the other team's Heavies and Assaults commit and you're there to shoot their torsos off.

[Water Bear]

RickySpanish, on 13 January 2018 - 10:16 AM, said:

Definitely agree about the start; I've played long range Assault builds before and they definitely have their place in the meta, but if you aren't imposing something with all of your armour, you're sort of only using part of the capabilities of your 'Mech. I prefer mid and close range for this reason with my Assaults and stay near my team mates. You need to be there to shut down greasy lights and mediums taking pot shots at your team. Plus it's always a good time when the other team's Heavies and Assaults commit and you're there to shoot their torsos off.

The way I spend armor when piloting an Awesome: You can take return fire when you poke, so it's safe to poke against an enemy assault with less damage than you or with less PP damage. Most games my AWS get down to orange or red torso structure, preferably with severaly damaged or missing arms. In exchange for that, I should get in juicy shots aimed at torso locations.

[Brain Cancer]

Some common errors in QP for assault pilots:

1) You're too slow. QP groups will simply leave you behind to die, and you'll be the first target of the enemy in a NASCAR. Aim for at least 60kph speed or you're automatically going to get into trouble and develop the urge to reach through your monitor to strangle your team.
2) You expect to be able to push properly in front. No, you can't. See 1), you'll be exposed for too long and shot to pieces as the best target. You should be coming in right behind the heavies, where you won't impede their movement and they provide distraction and targets to aim for with your bigger gun complement. You cannot properly tank. At best, you're a slowish target with a bigger target profile than heavies.
3) Built for brawl. Did I mention 1) enough yet? Aim for medium or even long range gun configurations, which also means that your slower turns are able to keep up with targets better, and you'll be able to reach your targets for full damage more often. 4) You're not bullying lights on sight. You are the favorite meal for anything under 50 tons- clumsy and often unable to bring your guns to properly bear, plenty of things to ruin behind delicate back armor. Lights are the opponent you have to be reactive to the most, and assaults are poorest at reacting to anything that isn't in their frontal fire arcs. Plus, if you actually DO shoot one, you're most likely to cripple or kill one outright. Don't chase the squirrel, but given the opportunity to squish it, don't hesitate. Then you can focus on slower, easier targets.

[InspectorG]

Minamitsu, on 12 January 2018 - 03:40 AM, said:

Lately I have been getting really annoyed and stressed out over this struggle I am going through with the game.
This is how things feel to me, and I might be wrong about them but it sure feels right.

I play assault mechs. it's what I do and what I am best at....

What do you pilot?

Marauder llc, Mad Cat ll are very strong right now.
Cyclops is decent. Splat is Cbill, Sleipnir is $ but worth it.
There are other decent Assaults but they may be too niche for Solo or too skill-demanding.

Now, piloting a slow assault in Solo is asking for pain. Dires, Anni's, ...anything under 60kph.

Problem is Positioning skills are paramount and doubly so when working with an un-coordinated team.
You are food to a decent light pilot if caught alone.
You can get picked apart for one bad poke.

You have to learn the maps, get a 'feel' for your pugmates, and settle for incompetence.

With the engine de-synch, Assaults cant tank as much as before(Anni can a little in Puglandia vs scrubs).

You either have to learn the hard way: positioning skills, how to trade, how to defend yourself vs a light, how to not get left behind, etc.

Or join a Unit.

[Angus McFife VI]

Minamitsu, on 12 January 2018 - 03:40 AM, said:

Lately I have been getting really annoyed and stressed out over this struggle I am going through with the game.
This is how things feel to me, and I might be wrong about them but it sure feels right.

I play assault mechs. it's what I do and what I am best at.
My tier isn't great so there's a lot of... questionable players, and a lack of tactics.
Lately my teams have generally been... pretty damn bad. I am constantly getting left behind with no support, and when I try to lead a push everyone else pokes then runs away so I get focused and die.
So at this point it just feels like a cycle of... Get bad clueless teammates, play my role and help the team, die because I get left alone and have no support, team loses because they have no idea what they are doing, tier drops and I get worse teammates.

It feels like 75% of my games nobody knows what they are doing and plays everything like a standard TDM shooter. Even when I get wins it's mostly because the enemies are even more clueless than my team and just spread up and walk into our guns.
With people that can actually play as a team, communicate, and know how things work, we can win and I can do well. But I can't reach that level because of the pit of players I am stuck in.

I understand and sympathsize with what you're saying but you must be doing something wrong on your end to still be in a tier like that. You can use your microphone to signal that you're gonna push or you'll have to play very safe. Another good idea is to move up infront of people and see if they follow you, sometimes people follow bigger mechs like they're leaders so see if that happens but if they aren't following you just make sure to not continue off alone.

Edited by Dont LRM me please, 13 January 2018 - 09:09 PM.