123 replies to this topic

[Lykaon]

Sir Kyle, on 16 February 2018 - 03:09 AM, said:

I really like the look of the Locust. Ir's like an AT-ST from StarWars. The first one even has a pretty cool weapon arrangement with those 4 machineguns.

But playing games in it, I can't help but feel wholly useless. Even other light mechs have way heavier armaments than 20 tons. I went up against another light mech...he has like 6 beam weapons and two machineguns. Here I am trying to defeat him with 4 heavy machineguns...

I don't have ECM or jump jets or....anything really that the Locust has over any other mechs. It seems wholly inferior.

Am I wrong? Can anyone tell me what the strength or niche of the Locust is? I'd really like to use this mech in a viable manner.

Here is my take on maximizing light mechs in particular very light mechs.

Mistake number one I see is pilots tearing off the very second the match begins and trying to engage the enemy. There are two huge problems you will face.

Problem one: early match the enemy is yet to disperse and is concentrated and within mutual support of each other. There are fewer oppertunities to pick off lone targets early match because of this. Add to this the simple fact that early match the enemy team has yet to be distracted and overly focused on other targets. You do NOT want to be the first RED thing an average Puggie team sees because now you are the focus. Unless you are exceptionally skilled it's difficult to leverage this focus to you benefit.

Problem two is very light mechs lack firepower and early match your available targets have most if not all of their armor and weapons intact. You be far more successful attacking targets that are already damaged in the mid to late game.

So now you're probably thinking "well what do I do early game?"

Rear and flank guard patrol and discourage the enemy light mechs from engaging your team's rear or flank.

If you have some decent LRM/ATM firepower and your mech or your skill allows for some safety with stealth you could spot for indirect fire. Early game some accurate indirect fire can do wonders at preventing the enemy from setting up where they want. Instead of being where they want to be they are more likely to hug convienent cover. The more time the bad guys spend running for cover is time not spent shooting your team up.

In general, recon! and I don't mean use the command wheel to mark enemy mechs just leaving their deployment zone (we all know they will be there) but look for unusual movement in the enemy team. And for the love all things mechanical DO NOT over exstend and get yourself killed to "recon" the enemy in their deployment zone. Remember "problem one" and do not become the squirrel being chased down and killed.

Edited by Lykaon, 17 February 2018 - 12:39 PM.

[MrMadguy]

Yeonne Greene, on 17 February 2018 - 10:40 AM, said:

Price doesn't factor in because price is non-recurring. You can't use a non-recurring cost to counter-balance a recurring benefit.

I.e. you think, that it's fair, that loadout change for one 'Mech costs 100K CB, while for another - 1M CBs for no real benefit? And I think, that this argument should work both ways. Balance of power should mean balance of prices.

'Mech/loadout prices - is obsolete thing anyway. It came from single player MW games, where we had some sort of economics. And MWO doesn't have any economics. Only way to spend CBs - to change loadout or buy new 'Mech. I.e. price = $$$/time to grind. And as all 'Mechs should have equal power to avoid P2W - $$$/time to grind should be equal too, otherwise it's just unfair.

And till this goal isn't reached and any Assault 'Mech requires 10x more $$$ and matches to buy - we have to consider, that they should be somehow better, i.e. worth their price. That's it. Simple logic.

[Y E O N N E]

MrMadguy, on 17 February 2018 - 01:20 PM, said:

I.e. you think, that it's fair, that loadout change for one 'Mech costs 100K CB, while for another - 1M CBs for no real benefit? And I think, that this argument should work both ways. Balance of power should mean balance of prices.

You only pay once. You get to take that loadout into an infinite number of matches and benefit from it for that infinite number of matches. All for once price. Unless it's going to cost C-bills to repair and re-arm a 'Mech, then C-bills are and can not be a balancing tool.

Quote

And till this goal isn't reached and any Assault 'Mech requires 10x more $$$ and matches to buy - we have to consider, that they should be somehow better, i.e. worth their price. That's it. Simple logic.

1. They are already better, just maybe not in your hands

2. Again, you can't use price to justify it because you don't have to keep paying that price to keep playing that 'Mech.

[FupDup]

C-Bills as a balancing mechanic are also invalid because of F2P monetization. You can pay real money to earn C-Bills faster (therefore gaining a competitive advantage in such a scenario) or even just outright buying lump sums of C-Bills. Pretty much the definition of Pay2Win.

[MrMadguy]

Yeonne Greene, on 17 February 2018 - 01:27 PM, said:

You only pay once. You get to take that loadout into an infinite number of matches and benefit from it for that infinite number of matches. All for once price. Unless it's going to cost C-bills to repair and re-arm a 'Mech, then C-bills are and can not be a balancing tool.

1. They are already better, just maybe not in your hands

2. Again, you can't use price to justify it because you don't have to keep paying that price to keep playing that 'Mech.

Sorry, but buying new 'Mechs - is the only real goal for farming CBs in this game. And therefore it's unfair, that players, who prefer playing and buying heavier 'Mechs, have to grind significantly more, than players, who play lighter 'Mechs, for no real benefit.

And you constantly contradict yourself. You constantly say, that I pay more for better weight class/'Mech/loadout, but at the same time you constantly ask different weight classes to be equally powerful. That's, what I try to say. If you ask them to be equally powerful - then I have to ask them to have equal prices. That's it. Simple logic.

Edited by MrMadguy, 17 February 2018 - 01:37 PM.

[Y E O N N E]

MrMadguy, on 17 February 2018 - 01:36 PM, said:

Sorry, but buying new 'Mechs - is the only real goal for farming CBs in this game. And therefore it's unfair, that players, who prefer playing and buying heavier 'Mechs, have to grind significantly more, than players, who play lighter 'Mechs, for no real benefit.

I don't really care if they make all 'Mechs cost a single price, it makes no difference to me and it will make no difference to anybody.

Quote

And you constantly contradict yourself. You constantly say, that I pay more for better weight class/'Mech/loadout, but at the same time you constantly ask different weight classes to be equally powerful. That's, what I try to say. If you ask them to be equally powerful - then I have to ask them to have equal prices. That's it. Simple logic.

It's not a contradiction, it's you failing to grasp the concept that C-bills are not and cannot be a balancing mechanic because they are completely independent of the 'Mech's performance. You are trying to make a link where none exists.

[MrMadguy]

Yeonne Greene, on 17 February 2018 - 01:45 PM, said:

It's not a contradiction, it's you failing to grasp the concept that C-bills are not and cannot be a balancing mechanic because they are completely independent of the 'Mech's performance. You are trying to make a link where none exists.

Sorry, but ingame currency - has always been part of balance in every single game. Simply because performance = reward. If you don't understand concept of rewards in video games, then I don't know, what to say...

Edited by MrMadguy, 17 February 2018 - 01:54 PM.

[Y E O N N E]

MrMadguy, on 17 February 2018 - 01:53 PM, said:

Sorry, but ingame currency - has always been part of balance in every single game. Simply because performance = reward. If you don't understand concept of rewards in video games, then I don't know, what to say...

I understand how videogame rewards work just fine, but you apparently do not. The currency a competitive (as in, PvP) multiplayer shooter is there simply to give you something to work toward, a carrot dangling on a string, for people who only get enjoyment from unlocking new shinies. It's not there to reward you proportionately to the amount it costs because that implies something is broken in the gameplay.

And since MWO is a F2P game, the currency is also there to incentivize taking shortcuts with premium time and MC.

The end.

[Bombast]

MrMadguy, on 17 February 2018 - 01:53 PM, said:

Sorry, but ingame currency - has always been part of balance in every single game. Simply because performance = reward. If you don't understand concept of rewards in video games, then I don't know, what to say...

We understand, we're just telling you that it's not a factor in MWO. In other games, yes. In this one, no.

[JediPanther]

Sir Kyle, on 17 February 2018 - 04:20 AM, said:

I have no idea what your talking about. OP alt?



Okay, I bought myself a UM-K9. Why is this thing so freakin slow?! Lol, all the assault mechs are outrunning me.

Um-K9 can be great. sounds like you have it as: K-9 Stock

You need to do several things to make it really fun:
1. Upgrade the engine to max. Urbies are meant in bt/tt/lore to be very slow while having a big AC. One of them even has an AC20. Pgi had to make an engine with negative weight just to make it work.

2. Optional but is the number one reason urbs are disliked. Go full armor in the survival skill tree. Urbie is the tank-iest light mech for IS with the panthers and wolfhounds as second and third on the tank-iest light mech scale.

3.K9 is the variant with the most laser hard points. Use them for it. Mix up lasers or go laser sniper. I've seen builds like all med lasers, mixes of sml,mls,er mls. Even seen a few run ppcs.

4. Stand next to bigger mechs. You'll be shot less while a med/heavy or assault is next to you to the point of being virtually ignored.

Don't be afraid of your mech. Do crazy trying builds, weapon combinations, engine sizes and equipment. Half the fun of the game is customizing and trying new things with your mech. The only real down size to the 20 ton lights are that most builds require an XL and at minimal you need three external heat sinks.

Here's a build for staying close to heavy/assault mechs with enough fire power and range of 400m. The mg is for shot open armor,bap for extended sensor range and cancels out ecm, and ams for shooting down missiles.

K-9 Little Buddy 2

[The Real Don]

Ok, straight up as a Locust Pilot it isn't meant to ever straight up stay and fight, you poke and run away. The best Locust is definitely the hero the Pirates Bane, only Locust with ECM.

It's worth the money but if your only playing with the regular variants go for the 1E with 3 laser hard points in each arm, and run either 6 SL or 5 SL and a Tag for your LURM boats. Avoid the others as missiles and MG's will screw you over in the end with either the added weight of the weapon and ammo. But also you can't boat it very well for huge DPS.

Best thing to do as a Locust is poke and run and near the end game really focus those parts with enough damage done already to get the kill. If scouting don't stop for any amount of time as people can leg you way easier then you would expect.

Summary buy the Pirates Bane or 1E and boat Lasers and never stop moving and avoid 1v1s.

[PocketYoda]

Sir Kyle, on 17 February 2018 - 11:40 AM, said:

You guys are really jumpy about trolls here huh?

Some of the people on these forums have serious issues (Clan apologists mostly), do not let playing this game dissuade you though.

Edited by Samial, 17 February 2018 - 06:31 PM.

[InspectorG]

Sir Kyle, on 16 February 2018 - 03:09 AM, said:

Am I wrong? Can anyone tell me what the strength or niche of the Locust is? I'd really like to use this mech in a viable manner.

Locust is strong in Solo where most cant aim, rarely shoot legs on Lights, or even help their teammate as you rearcore them.

Vs goods who can aim, you have to resort to stricter play because you will be one-shotted.

[Relishcakes]

The locust is a high performance machine, the issue is choosing the right tool for the job. Are you expecting to stare people down as an intimidating warmachine? If yes, the locust isnt for you.
The job of the locust is to **** you up after you've been hurt. Its job is the squirrel, to distract you while your buddies get blasted.

Most of the player base in my opinion fails to understand this i think, which is why we actually have a big ol' garbage heap of mechs.

[Y E O N N E]

I dunno, I win most staring contests in my Locust...

[LordNothing]

if you can locust the locust is good.
if you can't locust the locust is bad.
if you are fat the locust is death incarnate.

[The6thMessenger]

Sir Kyle, on 17 February 2018 - 04:20 AM, said:

Okay, I bought myself a UM-K9. Why is this thing so freakin slow?! Lol, all the assault mechs are outrunning me.

Prolly because you haven't upgraded your engine from STD60 to something decent like XL145+

XL145 is actually workable provided with speed tweak, at 84 KPH and it allows you to have a decent heavy-ballistic such as an AC10 or LB10X. XL170 is my general go-to both for RAC5, UAC5, and AC5 builds and meta laser-builds like Laser-Vomit or Laser-Sniper, the XL180 might be the fastest but the speed difference is just that small; 98 KPH works as well as 104.5 KPH in most cases.

Edited by The6thMessenger, 18 February 2018 - 01:25 AM.

[MrMadguy]

Being able to buy better 'Mech/loadout quicker, than your enemies - is part of balance. Time and $$$ - are part of balance in this game, no matter, what you say.

[Shwinboy]

The 1 v is the hardest locust to do well in IMO because its role is a bit more neuance and it isn't a good dog fighter. Post nerf the large laser and large pulse builds stoped working so well. Ive actually settled on a mpl and 4 mg build for the 1 v. I play it like a satelite support mech for a heavy or assult with similar ranged weapons. I always try to attack from the side or rear of mechs as locusts should avoid face tanking. Shoot at something someone else is shooting and when a component is open get the machine guns on it. It's also a good escort mech to chase off other flanking lights just remember not to run off on your own. Locusts do best when they arent noticed. If you can engage targets being shot at by your team mates there's a better chance you can get behind them while thy try to shoot the bigger percieved threat. Locusts are about always moving, trying to be unpredictable, patience and timing. If you get noticed you have to escape because people hate locusts and whole teams will turn to anialate one that gets too cocky.

[Y E O N N E]

MrMadguy, on 18 February 2018 - 01:04 AM, said:

Being able to buy better 'Mech/loadout quicker, than your enemies - is part of balance. Time and $$$ - are part of balance in this game, no matter, what you say.

They literally are not.