22 replies to this topic

[AaronWolf]

Okay, before I left awhile ago, I almost constantly ran my 3L Raven with Tag and/or NARC to act as a spotter for the support LRM'ys in the back and be a general harasser in the back line. With the advent of Stealth Armor, makes my job a little easier even. My question is, is this still useful? Or is it better to pop a UAV and just focus on harassing nowadays?

As I have gotten conflicting reports of the game being either 'dominated' by laser vomit or LRMs. I know in a structured team I am bound to find a niche, but outside of that I am unsure.

[Bombast]

The game is not dominated by LRMs outside of Tier 5.

Generally speaking, if you're in solo queue, do not bring a NARC or TAG unless you can take advantage of it yourself. You're likely wasting tonnage otherwise.

[vettie]

If it works for you, then it is useful. No reason NOT to pack TAG, NARC and UAV if that is your style and it works for YOU....

EDIT
Doesnt for me, but thats me... As you can see, Bombast has a different opinion than what I said. I agree overall with him, but again, if that is your playstyle, go for it

Edited by vettie, 01 April 2018 - 11:17 AM.

[Koniving]

Make sure you have a way of taking advantage of it yourself. Whether by a Streak launcher or a LRM launcher of your own.

Personally I am not sure if I would invest in both. Instead, go one way or the other with it. TAG by its nature requires you to be abit more exposed and vulnerable, so if you have good high speed I would just use the NARC. If you're a little slower or your gear is heavy, go TAG.

[Snowbluff]

My Arctic Wolf has 9 missiles hardpoints, which is precisely 1 too many for me. So I brought a NARC, with .5 ton of ammo.

[fat4eyes]

Narc is useful for the team (even if they don't have lrms). It's like having a UAV advantage that can't be shot down. Makes decent money too (but less than if you had just taken more weapons). Firing narcs at near max range is also good for practicing your aim for ppcs and acs. In all not as effective as just taking more weapons, but is still useful and is good if you want a change of pace.

[AaronWolf]

Thanks for all the replies guys. Considering all of this, most likely will just run NARC if anything at all (most likely will just throw another Laser/SRM on there) when running solo, will save it mostly for grouping up in that regard.

Thanks y'all!

[Xetelian]

NARC can help once in a while, like if you drop on polar with 4 or more LRM boats on your team. However since you will not always be dropping on polar and you wont always have more than one LRM boat on your team you will find yourself being dead weight more often than you are helping.

Try to do damage, even a sniper raven with 2 ERLL can put out some hurt on the enemy and soften them up from a distance.

Utility and support mechs are best reserved for group drops that take advantage of them specifically. Having 4 or some odd amount of friends on your team with LRMs and you with a NARC and maybe one other with a NARC can have some fun in organized play.


The aim is to have fun, but wouldn't you have more fun if you did damage more often and won more often?

[BumbleBee]

NARC is also useful for disabling ECM on said carrier

[Exilyth]

The most common spotter build for the RVN-3L is 3x ER-ML (or 3x ML), NARC, stealth armour.

NARC is a lot like additional (single target) UAVs - if your team knows how to exploit the info you're giving them, a win is much more likely.

I'd go practice in training grounds with the NARC for a bit, since the projectiles are hard to see in flight and can be hard to get to stick. Aiming slightly above center of mass before adjusting for lead seems to give the best results.

[Dragonporn]

Running what Exilyth posted. It works sometimes, but it's more of a fun build, don't expect every match to go smooth or any decent scores with setup like that. But when it does work, it's a blast of fun.

And yeah, running both TAG and NARC for scout Raven is pointless IMO.

[ThreeStooges]

I find narc far easier than tag. Narc you can just fire and forget. Tag you just stand there waving around a huge here-i-am-shoot-me sign since everyone can see it. My only gripe with narc is its so slow when fired from max range you most likely miss all but the slowest of assaults. The tag I just replace with a normal laser or if I'm being lazy more narc ammo.

[jss78]

Yeah, NARCing is definitely useful even when LRM's aren't present.

I think I have XL255, NARC, LL + 2*ERML, ECM on my 3L. I don't revolve my gameplay around NARCing, but put the beacons on targets while poking with the lasers.

[Koniving]

Some (not all) of the "top players," would tell you're stupid and trying to steer people wrong for saying NARC is useful (at all). Which is sad.

Beyond showing everyone where the enemy is (which is incredibly useful in itself), it also lets streak boats and ATM users lock on too before the enemy even comes into sight so that you can have a salvo waiting for them to pop out.

[Brain Cancer]

NARC is by far more useful than TAG, especially since it's a "giveaway" for people to see repositioning opponents or disabling ECM for long periods of time even if there's not a single missile launcher on the board to take advantage otherwise.

I had one case where an enemy was NARCed and coming around a corner- and I already knew where he was holed, had my lasers lined up, and shot him dead before he so much as got a red square on my end.

"Wallhax", indeed. Keeping the other team visible in QP is a boon simply because many people have the object memory of a lobotomized dog- if there's no red square, it's no longer there (even if it shoots you).

[SirNotlag]

I'd still like to see NARC get a buff by allowing it to broadcast the paper doll and other targeting info for mech so it is useful for all builds.

It would be small but there have been a lot of situations where targeting info has allowed me to grab a clutch win for my team when everyone is walking around with no health near the end.

[Foxfire]

While I mostly run my Huginn when I'm running a Raven these days, I still run the TAG on my 3L for general utility and ability to cancel ECM/Stealth at range.

I wouldn't run a NARC outside of group play, where you can coordinate and maximize its usefulness.

[Vellron2005]

AaronWolf, on 01 April 2018 - 11:09 AM, said:

Okay, before I left awhile ago, I almost constantly ran my 3L Raven with Tag and/or NARC to act as a spotter for the support LRM'ys in the back and be a general harasser in the back line. With the advent of Stealth Armor, makes my job a little easier even. My question is, is this still useful? Or is it better to pop a UAV and just focus on harassing nowadays?

As I have gotten conflicting reports of the game being either 'dominated' by laser vomit or LRMs. I know in a structured team I am bound to find a niche, but outside of that I am unsure.

Lemme set you straight here..

YES, NARC is hella useful.. TAG, not so much..

On any average QP, even in higher tiers (despite some people claiming it's not so, because they want it not to be so), there are ALWAYS at least some LRM boats..

Especially on maps like Alpine, Polar, or Tourmaline, but also on most other maps, a single NARC-er can be a great asset.

Yes, UAVs are always useful, but a NARC is the scout's equivalent of "attack this target". If there are LRM boats present, most good LRM boaters will immediately switch to hitting a NARCed target.

This is why it's unwise to ever NARC more than 1 or 2 targets at the same time.

Narc is exceptionally useful on Siege: Defend drops.. use it if you can. People like me will (literally) always thank you for it.

How to maximize NARC and TAG usefulness:

1) Well.. bring a Narc and/or TAG.. I suggest no tag, but a bunch of NARC

2) Don't rush off 1500 meters from your team and then start narcing.. most of your LRM boats will be out of range.. wait until they can actually use your NARCs

3) Never narc more than 1 or 2 targets at the same time. Narc-ing a target will make LRM boats focus it down. Multiple NARCs will only spread the fire to more targets.

4) Use UAVs if possible, they help everyone, not just LRM boats.

5) Use "Target Spotted" on the Narced target.. that makes it's location visible to everyone.

6) Call out a Narced target in VOIP - that will also bring everyone's attention to it.

7) Narc any target you can, following the above guidelines, but prioritize those that are in the open.

8) Keep in mind that when you NARC somebody, they will probably search for cover and in some cases, panic.. this is good for your team, and it allows a degree of battlefield control.

9) Big slow assaults are great to NARC, as LRMing them will help the team bring them down faster, but NARCing a fast light will help friendly LRMs hit them more, and remove their annoying presence faster.

10) If you are in a LRM boat, and someone NARCs for you, THANK THEM. It's a really nice thing to do for someone.

Edited by Vellron2005, 04 April 2018 - 12:06 AM.

[Brain Cancer]

I'll reinforce that.

TAG promotes bad behavior on scouts. You have to keep that very visible laser pointer aimed at your target, advertising FREE EASY TO SHOOT GUY OVER HERE!

NARC is barely visible when fired and your opponent may not even notice you've given him free WiFireatme signal until it's far too late. Indeed, people may never even notice you were there doing it, especially with stealth-armor NARCers, like a Commando I grew to loathe after it managed to tag and bag an entire assault lance while hiding behind the last one in line. We didn't even notice the thing except for the NARC signals on each assault until it zipped off from behind the Atlas.

Even without ninjaNARC, you're still able to poke out, designate (and sabotage ECM) a target from cover and be on your way without sacrificing movement. That's very, very valuable for a recon type. If you've got NARC and TAG?

Take the TAG off and either give yourself more guns or feed your NARC ammo hopper.

[Xetelian]

Koniving, on 02 April 2018 - 07:07 AM, said:

Some (not all) of the "top players," would tell you're stupid and trying to steer people wrong for saying NARC is useful (at all). Which is sad.

Beyond showing everyone where the enemy is (which is incredibly useful in itself), it also lets streak boats and ATM users lock on too before the enemy even comes into sight so that you can have a salvo waiting for them to pop out.

At least you admit that you're wrong and steer people away from NARC, unless you're not one of the 'top players', and if you're not then why steer someone towards using something that is so situational that you're likely to have more bad games than good ones?