17 replies to this topic

[Torothin]

Sometimes I see players with a line on their cross hairs that follows targets after them.losing direct aim. What is this line and what are its advantages?

[Roughneck45]

I think you are talking about the arm aim? The small circle with the line that tracks further than the torso cross hairs?

In the options you can unlock your arms.

[D V Devnull]

Roughneck45, on 14 March 2018 - 04:17 PM, said:

In the options you can unlock your arms.

Torothin could also just click/hold whatever keyboard key is defined at the time to use the Arm Lock Control. Unless it has been remapped, the Default is 'Left Shift'.

~D. V. "At least then they won't have to pause for a settings change while in battle..." Devnull

[Aidan Crenshaw]

There is even an (by default unmapped) option to toggle armlock on/off instead of holding a button to unlock the arms.

[D V Devnull]

Aidan Crenshaw, on 15 March 2018 - 04:30 AM, said:

There is even an (by default unmapped) option to toggle armlock on/off instead of holding a button to unlock the arms.

That one does suffer a drawback. If you don't remember what state that toggle is in, there's no indicator to tell you how your reticle and mech will function when you go to move the arms and torso upon having not moved them for a little while. This can be extremely disconcerting to some pilots. Other than that, if anyone likes it, I'll tell them to enjoy.

~D. V. "Here's the extra notes... You'll need to remember what state the Arm Unlock is in with that one." Devnull

[Aidan Crenshaw]

...or just wiggle your mouse the tiniest bit...

[Roughneck45]

IMO the best way is to leave them unlocked and hold shift to lock. You want the arms free because it's usually shots of opportunity, speed is key.

[D V Devnull]

Aidan Crenshaw, on 15 March 2018 - 04:50 AM, said:

...or just wiggle your mouse the tiniest bit...

Sure, but PGI's MWO HUD Indicators have been lacking for some time. They really need enhancement as well.

~D. V. "Seeing the holes in the experience..." Devnull

[D V Devnull]

Roughneck45, on 15 March 2018 - 10:49 AM, said:

IMO the best way is to leave them unlocked and hold shift to lock. You want the arms free because it's usually shots of opportunity, speed is key.

Huh... works the reverse for me. Torso also doesn't seem to respond as fast when arms are unlocked.

~D. V. "But that might be due to my Inverted Look..." Devnull

[Throe]

I've heard that your torso actually moves more slowly with Arm Lock engaged. I've tested that and found it to not be true. I think it's a perception issue, because you can't really see where your "cursor" is in relation to your cross hair, when generally the arm reticule(circle) will follow your cursor very closely with Arm Lock disengaged.

I've also heard that it's good to leave Arm Lock engaged when utilizing laser vomit, since it grants perfect convergence for torso + arm mounted weaponry. I have trouble aiming like that, because the lack of an arm reticule makes it more difficult for me to track my torso reticule movements. I tend to wobble. I could probably overcome this with practice, but I choose not to bother. I also like to be able to use my arm mounted weapons to pull quick shots or shots outside my 'Mech's torso aiming capability(like UAVs, or shots very far to the side when retreating behind cover).

[Tier5 Kerensky]

Aidan Crenshaw, on 15 March 2018 - 04:30 AM, said:

There is even an (by default unmapped) option to toggle armlock on/off instead of holding a button to unlock the arms.

Which is highly adviced to be set and used.

Not only helpful with different mechs with some having only arm weapons and some having only torso weapnons, but also with some mechs which can benefit from using both modes during one game.

To be more clear, on settings I have arm lock off. Then when I need it, I will use the toggle key to active it. When I need to deactivate it, I will quickly tap shift which will unlock it again. Quick push into shift will always unlock the arms no matter the previous state.(it could require that setting is off)

Throe, on 15 March 2018 - 02:07 PM, said:

I've heard that your torso actually moves more slowly with Arm Lock engaged. I've tested that and found it to not be true. I think it's a perception issue, because you can't really see where your "cursor" is in relation to your cross hair, when generally the arm reticule(circle) will follow your cursor very closely with Arm Lock disengaged.

What kind of mouse sensitivity you have? Im sure it has an effect, when you have lower sensitivity.

Edited by Teer Kerensky, 16 March 2018 - 02:16 AM.

[Torothin]

Thanks All!

[Koniving]

Torothin, on 18 March 2018 - 04:36 PM, said:

Thanks All!

Some lesser known tips.
1)Strikes called in (artillery and air) will always go to the arm crosshair.
2) Lock weapons can lock from both the torso and arm reticle. It doesn't matter which you use
3) dumbfired (no lock) lrms and atms will go to the crosshair respective to its location. So torso will go to the + and arm to the o.
4) while there are not many situations where this is recommended if you need to you can simultaneously strike at two enemies by aiming with both reticle.
5) It is actually possible to simultaneously attack 3 enemies at once but how is not something I share.
6) using the arm reticle it is possible to fire lock missiles around corners. They must be mounted on the torso to work however and you must have lower arm actuators.

There is a lot more tricks to be discovered. Good luck!

Edited by Koniving, 18 March 2018 - 10:09 PM.

[Prof RJ Gumby]

Throe, on 15 March 2018 - 02:07 PM, said:

I've heard that your torso actually moves more slowly with Arm Lock engaged. I've tested that and found it to not be true. I think it's a perception issue, because you can't really see where your "cursor" is in relation to your cross hair, when generally the arm reticule(circle) will follow your cursor very closely with Arm Lock disengaged.

In practice you can turn faster with arms unlocked, because with lock, your torso stops when your mouse does, whereas with them unlocked, the torso follows the arms reticule steadily and at max pace. Thus lock is best for precision, unlock for agility.

[Koniving]

Prof RJ Gumby, on 19 March 2018 - 05:05 AM, said:

In practice you can turn faster with arms unlocked, because with lock, your torso stops when your mouse does, whereas with them unlocked, the torso follows the arms reticule steadily and at max pace. Thus lock is best for precision, unlock for agility.

This is the way I do it as well. Even with the full 1 sensitivity on the mouse, the arms unlocked is used without "CTRL" to go fast. CTRL with arms unlocked is used for precision aiming with just the arms outside of the torso range. And then I use shift (lock arms) to get slower precision aiming with all weapons simultaneously.

[Leone]

Koniving, on 18 March 2018 - 10:08 PM, said:

5) It is actually possible to simultaneously attack 3 enemies at once but how is not something I share.

Since I'm a spoil sport, I start firing on one mech, and once locked on use lrms for suppression fire on it, whilst I move on to shoot a second with torso weaponry and then track my arms over a third to splash that one, thus getting the attention of three mechwarriors at once, allowing me to tank that much more for the team, since folk have a tendency to fire back when fired upon.

The trick is just passing your arms back over the first mech occasionally to maintain lock on whilst keeping fire on the other two. It's tough, but can be very rewarding when you get a team to focus fire the atlas and ignore all the heavies behind it.

~Leone

Edited by Leone, 19 March 2018 - 01:05 PM.

[Koniving]

Leone, on 19 March 2018 - 12:51 PM, said:

Since I'm a spoil sport, I start firing on one mech, and once locked on use lrms for suppression fire on it, whilst I move on to shoot a second with torso weaponry and then track my arms over a third to splash that one, thus getting the attention of three mechwarriors at once, allowing me to tank that much more for the team, since folk have a tendency to fire back when fired upon.

The trick is just passing your arms back over the first mech occasionally to maintain lock on whilst keeping fire on the other two. It's tough, but can be very rewarding when you get a team to focus fire the atlas and ignore all the heavies behind it.

~Leone

Sooo close, Leone. Sooo close. Glad to know I'm not the only one to have thought of it.

But I did say "Simultaneously."

The trick, actually, is not dissimilar, but you would be able to shoot at 3 enemies at the same time with a single firing. LRMs is part of it (tried with streaks and ATMs, but their lack of vertical climb presents a problem for this method unless one of the enemies is short.) The same trick can be used to rapidly attack 4 enemies with 3 at once and then 3 at once (with a separate third target), but other than to say you can do it there isn't much point (as by then you wouldn't have enough firepower ready to fire to make it meaningful, even if you do have a lot of weapons).

I'm sure you figured it out, but since this much of the cat is already out of the bag, the final hint is whom you have targeted and their position relative to either of your direct fire targets. Deathballs can be awesome when you turn their deathball into a "They got murdered ball."

Edited by Koniving, 22 March 2018 - 06:18 AM.

[Metus regem]

Roughneck45, on 15 March 2018 - 10:49 AM, said:

IMO the best way is to leave them unlocked and hold shift to lock. You want the arms free because it's usually shots of opportunity, speed is key.

Not to mention with some practice (and a wide enough field of view), some mechs can shoot behind themselves with arm weapons... Dragons, Bushwackers and Strom Chickens (Crows) come to mind when I think of doing that...