47 replies to this topic

[TheCaptainJZ]

The key to higher damage is to outlast your teammates but still doing so by actively participating and fighting. Don't over-commit. Don't lead the charge unless you're experienced and know what you're doing. Spread damage and use cover. Don't stare down opponents that are staring you down. Even if you have a match with low damage, did you feel you made a difference in the outcome of the battle? Sometimes, a light with little damage can win the match in conquest. Did you contribute to the team's success or failure and by how much? Awareness is a huge factor in victory and defeat.

[mailin]

The first, most important piece of advice is press R. Seriously. I can't believe the number of players at my Tier who still don't do this. Once you have R pressed, you can see where the enemy is beat up and try to hit that same spot. Also, pressing R allows you to call out that target by letter so that (hopefully) your team mates will focus fire on the same guy. Which leads to my second most important point. Try to get on comms and use them to call out targets or enemy movements. Also, it's a great way to encourage or redirect team mates. If you can't get on comms (sometimes I have sleeping kids 6 feet from my computer) you can still use the command wheel and text chat, although those are more cumbersome.

As far as damage, I try to get 100-200 per kill, which is completely reasonable, despite what some have argued. But, sometimes I do 1200 damage with a single kill. In that case, you also want to look at not only how many assists you have, but also how many KMDDs you have as well. As far as I'm concerned, a KMDD is just as good as a kill because it means that someone else, like the aforementioned Locust, may have come along and put the finishing touch on a mech, but you did the heavy lifting. Nothing to be ashamed of there.

[Brizna]

Rogue Jedi, on 22 April 2018 - 01:24 PM, said:

what used to be a common piece of advice which has gone out of fashion but is still mostly relevet, do 5 times your tonage in damage and you did your share (100 in a Locust, 250 in a Hunchback, 500 in an Atlas), 10+ times your damage and you did well.

I don't know when that used to be a common piece of advice but it is untrue now and it probably was so back then.

Edited by Brizna, 27 April 2018 - 02:55 PM.

[mistlynx4life]

I run Mist Lynxes almost exclusively and I always felt like match score and damage scores were never metrics that could reliably judge my performance. There's no points for squirreling, for instance, but that can win a match. Objectives offer minimal match scores as well, and so on. That said, I used to feel pretty comfortable with about 200 in each category. That tells me I was helping in some way. Lots of variables and weird matches but in a general sense, that was what I would aim for - but, again, that's in Mist Lynxes before the MLX-G came out and I'm a better player now.

Totally agree with B3's post above though. There are other things to focus on early on.

[justcallme A S H]

Koniving, on 23 April 2018 - 09:20 AM, said:

You're one to usually point out how bad I am, and yet...

Four kills in 583 damage. That's within 100 to 200 per kill.

That screenshot might fool some people - but it means absolutely nothing to anyone who understand what a scorecard can (or cannot) mean. It doesn't show you solo'ing all 4 of those mechs.

• Had they taken damage prior?
  
• Were other mechs shooting at the same time?
  
• Were they even defending themselves correctly?
  
• Were they 100T assaults or 30t lights?

Etc etc. As usual you are just bringing an utterly word soup as some kinda justification to an absurd statement of brinig a few screenshots when you deliberately tank your stats so you play against the worst players in the game.

I'm telling you, as some who understands this game a lot better than you, that you are wrong. I mean you'll never accept that (we've seen that plenty), but for anyone else reading out there - take my advice, it's simply better.

I mean I can produce screenshots as well from a game I had a week or so ago...






But it doesn't prove much other than I carried as my team was garbage.

Edited by justcallme A S H, 29 April 2018 - 07:24 PM.

[Kaoba]

justcallme A S H, on 29 April 2018 - 07:24 PM, said:

That screenshot might fool some people - but it means absolutely nothing to anyone who understand what a scorecard can (or cannot) mean. It doesn't show you solo'ing all 4 of those mechs.

• Had they taken damage prior?
  
• Were other mechs shooting at the same time?
  
• Were they even defending themselves correctly?
  
• Were they 100T assaults or 30t lights?

Etc etc. As usual you are just bringing an utterly word soup as some kinda justification to an absurd statement of brinig a few screenshots when you deliberately tank your stats so you play against the worst players in the game.

I'm telling you, as some who understands this game a lot better than you, that you are wrong. I mean you'll never accept that (we've seen that plenty), but for anyone else reading out there - take my advice, it's simply better.

I mean I can produce screenshots as well from a game I had a week or so ago...






But it doesn't prove much other than I carried as my team was garbage.

2k and only 6 kills?? Ye nah you should be on tier 6 SCRUB.

[justcallme A S H]

Yeah I know, not my best effort, far from it. 9 KMDDs and 17 components though... Those tasty torsos on LRMboats FTW.

But again, I know how much damage it takes to kill on average against (at least) average pilots. And it is not 100-200 damage, for most players. I mean I am about 150 damage for a Hvy, and that is at MY level, I know I'm not the average.

It's simple maths... When you have 75-80 armour + 40 structure = 120 total, that is without ANY quirks or skill maze buffs. With some mechs it is over 150 total damage required just to CT core without hitting anything else.

TheCaptainJZ, on 24 April 2018 - 06:10 AM, said:

The key to higher damage is to outlast your teammates but still doing so by actively participating and fighting. Don't over-commit. Don't lead the charge unless you're experienced and know what you're doing. Spread damage and use cover. Don't stare down opponents that are staring you down. Even if you have a match with low damage, did you feel you made a difference in the outcome of the battle? Sometimes, a light with little damage can win the match in conquest. Did you contribute to the team's success or failure and by how much? Awareness is a huge factor in victory and defeat.

Not always though.

Often I have died 2nd or 3rd as I'm usually being aggressive in movement - and a lot of the time, I walk away in the top 1-2 damage on the board against people that - some 4mins later - have not managed to do anywhere near as much, sometimes not even half.

So it totally depends on WHAT you are doing and HOW effective you are. The average player, has a match score of 230 and that puts you around 400dmg a game and 1-2 kills, max really.

Edited by justcallme A S H, 30 April 2018 - 03:43 AM.

[Throe]

Barkem Squirrel, on 22 April 2018 - 11:57 AM, said:

Now if you are narcing for people I do not care if you got 500 damage.

I'm replying to OP here in context of the above statement:

Please don't bring a NARC scout 'Mech to Faction Play as solo queue. This strategy is only really effective if you're doing it with agreement from your team, and when they plan to bring a full wave of LRM vomit. The likelyhood that you'll be paired up with a full team of folks who brought little to no LRM weaponry is high.

[DGTLDaemon]

If you're a new/casual player, I'd say you should be happy if you're doing at least 300-400 dmg per QP match in a heavy or assault, mayble 200-300 if you're playing a light or medium mech (although some people actually do better in lighter mechs than in heavier ones). As you progress through tiers and become more experienced, you should probably raise the bar to at least 400-500 dmg per QP match, provided that you're piloting a meta mech that you're comfortable with (i.e. not a troll/fun/lore build). Looking at extremes, sub-100 dmg is definitely not acceptable and indicates that you've failed to pull your weight, while a 1k+ dmg game is generally considered outstanding.

As for FW, I'd say 1k is minimum effort, 1.5k is adequate performance, and anything above 2k is excellent.

[Horseman]

Baron Georg SCA, on 23 April 2018 - 05:24 PM, said:

For all you pilots out there doing 450+ dam per game in non faction matches. Where the hell are your training tips/help. Why is it getting competent, useful and prolonged help for those that need it so hard to find? What is your training method -- follow me and do what I do or more focused on builds and map knowledge?? Do you want a better game/opponent that is challenging or are you happy seal clubbing?

1. Start with the build. Test it in the training grounds before dropping. Avoid kitchen sink builds that try to put something in every hardpoint. Avoid toaster oven builds that have a HUUUUUGE alpha but overheat way too easily. Avoid weapon combinations that put you in the ghost heat cap (with experience you may end up using them anyway, but employing volley fire to avoid the penalty).
2. Map knowledge is important - but so is the knowledge of common routes / plays used by teams in the given maps/modes and their common pitfalls. You should try to analyse the map during the game and spot those. Sometimes knowing there's an enemy assault in a specific grid square is the first indication of a major enemy push
3. Survive. The key reason many plays don't deal a lot of damage during a match is that they die too soon into the engagement. Do not expose your mech more than necessary. Do not stop out in the open. Do not split off from your team.
4. Do not be afraid of heat, it's a resource to be managed. A build that runs too cold is spending tonnage on heat sinks it doesn't need and not spending tonnage on weapons or ammo - or it's spending tonnage on too many low-heat weapons where it could swap some for a couple lighter (but hotter) ones instead.
5. Meta isn't everything. Being able to perform with a meta build depends on a certain level of familiarity with the game, and you won't have that straight out of the gate. There are builds that may flat out not work for you right now that will make more sense (and be much more effective) once you get more experience.

Edited by Horseman, 16 June 2018 - 12:51 AM.

[Cloves]

As pointed out, there are a huge number of variables, that having been said, if you are not doing 250 damage, you need to work on why.

[Spare Parts Bin]

Try for two Kills or at least one Kill Most Damage Done per game. This is my new goal.

[ThrottleFox]

Old-dirty B, on 24 April 2018 - 03:13 AM, said:

I would ignore your score and damage done totally and first focus on what you actually do in game... good scores and (effective) damage come sooner or later anyway.

You should first learn to read the battle-field, especially when there's hardly any proper communication and organisation going on. You first need to stay alive and support the team for as long as possible, finding the right balance between aggressiveness and self preservation. You need to figure out where and where not to be relative to your and the enemy team. Get a feel for timing and space on the battlefield. Learn how to manage your heat and prevent over-heating right in the middle of a brawl... (note to self lol)

My advice would be to take a decent medium, like a Hunchback or Stormcrow or any mech that is decently fast (+/-100km/h) with decent firepower and decent armor, a mech that is forgiving. Then stick around the main-group, dont be on the frontline like a hero, dont be in the back like a coward, but stay a bit on the flanks and keep an eye out there. And use your mid-range weapons to poke and harass your enemies from a slight angle, preferably when they are focussed on the rest of your team. Pay attention to the movement of your team and prevent over extending or falling behind so you can get singled out.

Once you got the above covered, then worry about scores and damages (by that time you will already be on the scoreboard... )

As a returning/new-ish player myself looking to get better. This ^ is the best info on how to get better. Situation awareness and communication is the best ways to improve.
Keep an eye on the mini map, once every 5 seconds look at it and ask, No really every 5 seconds, a lot can happen in that time frame

• Where's my team(biggest group of friendly mechs)?
  
• Can they give me fire support if I need help?
  
• Do I have something to hide behind if I need cover?
  
• Where is the enemy?
  
• How many are there?
  
• Are they moving towards you / your team?

I'm learning with new friends and I have been told, I'm a capable pilot and a good shot BUT, I'm out of position / too far behind / too far out in front / too far off to the side / leading the push in a medium(don't do this). You WILL get spotted and singled out if you are alone,

Also what Chryckan said, super good advice!

Edited by ThrottleFox, 17 June 2018 - 10:06 PM.

[Jman5]

It's hard to judge your matchscore in a single game if you're on the losing team. How many kills your team manages greatly influences how many points are available for you. Ideally, if we collected a lot of game data, we could come up with a sliding scale of acceptable matchscore for an individual based on their team's ultimate kill count.

I guess if I had to pin it down to two numbers, I would say, try to break 200 matchscore when you lose and try to break 250 matchscore when you win.

Edited by Jman5, 20 June 2018 - 01:34 PM.

[Phoenix 72]

I tend to use PGI's scaling to define whether I did okay. If you lose a game, but get 250+ score, you do not lose any points in the tier system. If you receive 400+ points while losing a game, your Tier will continue going up.

So I consider 250+ a decent performance, no matter whether I win or lose and 400+ a good one. Again, no matter whether I win or lose. But hey, that's just me.

[Besh]

Its worth to keep in mind that dmg. calculation slightly changed 2 Patches ago or so . Before, if you took out a Torso, you would alos receive dmg for the Arm, if there was anything left on it . This is not so anymore . A lot of people actually commented that they saw their dmg. numbers go down 200-300 points .

Edited by Besh, 20 June 2018 - 09:30 AM.

[Phoenix 72]

I try to chew through the CT most of the time anyway (or legs on light mechs)... So have not really noticed any huge shift in damage output, aside from a significant drop when I went from Tier4 to Tier3.

[IllCaesar]

I think 200 is a good baseline.

200 matchscore in a win is okay. That's treading water and usually not being deadweight. You could probably have done better but you made real contributions that helped the players that got a better matchscore.

200 matchscore in a loss means you did relatively better since matchscore gets inflated by kill assists - kill assists that you don't get as many of if your team loses.

If you drop ten times with a few folks and every time you get 200 matchscore I don't think a single person on that team would complain about your performance. If everybody on a team gets 200 victory is relatively certain.

Edited by IllCaesar, 20 June 2018 - 08:47 PM.

[Kalleballe]

Go for 4++ components and try to not die too early or too late. damage matters less than effiency.

[Cloves]

Besh, on 20 June 2018 - 09:24 AM, said:

Its worth to keep in mind that dmg. calculation slightly changed 2 Patches ago or so . Before, if you took out a Torso, you would alos receive dmg for the Arm, if there was anything left on it . This is not so anymore . A lot of people actually commented that they saw their dmg. numbers go down 200-300 points .

Yes, damage was nerfed a bit ago. But that nerf does not effect the minimum damage you need to pull in order to judge your performance. That nerf applies when you are getting kmmd on half the enemy team. If you are getting less than one kmmd, you need to focus on individual targets more. If you are dieing before you break 250, it’s probably your positioning.