15 replies to this topic

[NarcoIeptic]

Whenever I watch youtube videos of MWO, everyone's torso twisting to shield their CT, it's so quick. When I try it, it's like i'm stuck in molasses. My Kodiak takes 3 full mouse sweeps to turn 90 degrees, and I'm reading threads that it's supposed to twist "like a medium." What gives? How come I can't twist quickly like everyone else can?

Edited by NarcoIeptic, 07 February 2019 - 01:26 AM.

[PhilTKaswahl]

Torso twisting varies between 'Mechs. The Kodiak is one with a poor torso twist speed, as are many high tonnage 'Mechs with relatively low engine ratings. You can improve it with a higher rated engine (if the 'Mech supports engine swapping; Omnimechs don't) and skilling out the torso twist nodes in the Mobility section of the skill tree. Some 'Mechs also have quirks favorable to torso twisting. Even with those, the Kodiak still won't be that agile.

You want an assault with a nice feeling twist even with default engines and no torso twist nodes unlocked, try the Cyclops.

Edit: Forget the engine rating thing. Corrected in a post by Aidan below.

Edited by PhilTKaswahl, 07 February 2019 - 01:47 AM.

[NarcoIeptic]

Why can say, Baradul turn the sun spider 90 degrees in a quarter second, and I can barely turn 90 and back again in the cooldown of my AC10? I'm missing something. There's a technique or setting or something that I'm missing.

Edited by NarcoIeptic, 07 February 2019 - 01:39 AM.

[Aidan Crenshaw]

@Phil: Torso movement is not related to engine rating since the engine desync years ago. It's fixed with the chassis.

also unlock the arms. the torso won't move faster, but you won't need as much mousemovement and at least it "feels" more twitchy and responsive.

[PhilTKaswahl]

Aidan Crenshaw, on 07 February 2019 - 01:39 AM, said:

@Phil: Torso movement is not related to engine rating since the engine desync years ago. It's fixed with the chassis.

also unlock the arms. the torso won't move faster, but you won't need as much mousemovement and at least it "feels" more twitchy and responsive.

Ah, I stand corrected. Still feels twistier with a higher engine rating, so I guess I was placeboing myself.

EDIT: @Narcoleptic - In addition to the arm unlock suggestion, part of that is sheer practice and that fact that when viewing someone else play you're not the one in control. So one's own lack of practice means the movement doesn't yet feel as instictive and possibly exacerbated by viewing the footage of the more instinctive and less hesitant movements of a seasoned player.

Also, try fiddling around with different DPI and sensitivity combinations--and you may well find different combos work with different 'Mechs.

Edited by PhilTKaswahl, 07 February 2019 - 01:57 AM.

[NarcoIeptic]

@Aiden I tried it, it does help a bit since I don't have to lift my mouse to keep the torso twisting. Thanks for the tip.

[Aidan Crenshaw]

definitely. Engine size doesn't even impact accel an decel values.

@Narcoleptic: Glad to be of help, cheers!

Edited by Aidan Crenshaw, 07 February 2019 - 01:58 AM.

[Wil McCullough]

Twist with your legs as well, not just your torso.

Added bonus to the faster twist speed is that it hides your robot crotch from the enemy. You may not be aware of this but crotch shots count as ct hits. You stand square with the opponent, no amount of twisting will help if he decides to just alpha you in the jewels when you're ct cored.

Same thing works for bums and back armor btw. If you have a light behind you, don't just torso twist like a wet dog. Move your legs too or he's just gonna go for your bum.

[Bohxim]

I agree with Will. If you're familiar with the chassis, you can practice anchor turning alongside the torso twisting. The difficult part is twisting it back to the correct firing angle to not waste dps

[Angel of Annihilation]

NarcoIeptic, on 07 February 2019 - 01:18 AM, said:

Whenever I watch youtube videos of MWO, everyone's torso twisting to shield their CT, it's so quick. When I try it, it's like i'm stuck in molasses. My Kodiak takes 3 full mouse sweeps to turn 90 degrees, and I'm reading threads that it's supposed to twist "like a medium." What gives? How come I can't twist quickly like everyone else can?

Torso twist is one of those values that PGI uses as a balancing mechanic and the KDK has been hit with the nerf-hammer multiple times. Depending on the variant, especially if it is the KDK-3 which was considered the most OP mech in MWO's history, I wouldn't be surprised if the twist was like molasses. On the other hand, if it is really taking 3 full sweeps of your mouse to twist 90 degree, I would guess you have the mouse DPI set way too low which is great for fine adjustments like precision aiming but poor for very large movements like torso twists or moving your crosshairs from one side of the screen to another. Generally speaking you have to find a balance although some mice have a sniper button you can press which allows you to set your mouse to a high dpi which allows fast movement while still enabling you to press the sniper button to slow down the mouse at times when precision aiming is needed.

[Bud Crue]

Angel of Annihilation, on 07 February 2019 - 06:40 AM, said:

On the other hand, if it is really taking 3 full sweeps of your mouse to twist 90 degree, I would guess you have the mouse DPI set way too low which is great for fine adjustments like precision aiming but poor for very large movements like torso twists or moving your crosshairs from one side of the screen to another. Generally speaking you have to find a balance although some mice have a sniper button you can press which allows you to set your mouse to a high dpi which allows fast movement while still enabling you to press the sniper button to slow down the mouse at times when precision aiming is needed.

Bingo.

As an aim compromised player (I can’t aim for shi7 most of the time and go center of mass in hopes that I hit something) I run my mouse sensitivity at like .2 as it allows me better control. That said, it limits your ability to take advantage of a lot of mechs’ torso twist range. The unique ability of an urban mech is difficult to take advantage of when you have to keep pawing at your mouse to get that torso around. But even mechs like a Griffin or Ice Ferret twist capability (130 degree and 135 degree base twist range respectively) is wasted with such a low setting.

[Khobai]

PGI in all their wisdom still dont seem to realize that ALL mechs need the ability to torso twist

Depriving mechs of that ability just makes them useless.

They need to restore agility levels back to where they were pre-engine desync.


PGI also needs to make huge engines worth it again. Because huge engines are crap right now. The pitiful speed increase you get isnt worth the exponential tonnage increase. Engine desync being hugely bungled was one of the worst disasters in this game.

Edited by Khobai, 07 February 2019 - 09:20 AM.

[Spheroid]

Did you alter your mouse sensitivity from the default values?

[RickySpanish]

Wil McCullough, on 07 February 2019 - 02:25 AM, said:

Twist with your legs as well, not just your torso.

Glad someone came up with the right answer!

[GeminiWolf]

NarcoIeptic, on 07 February 2019 - 01:18 AM, said:

Whenever I watch youtube videos of MWO, everyone's torso twisting to shield their CT, it's so quick. When I try it, it's like i'm stuck in molasses. My Kodiak takes 3 full mouse sweeps to turn 90 degrees, and I'm reading threads that it's supposed to twist "like a medium." What gives? How come I can't twist quickly like everyone else can?

Kodiaks twist pretty slowly... you want to put your skill points into armor on that beast. I do really well in mine, the secret is use your high mounted weapons to peak ridges and keep most of you mech behind terrain. If you can't do that make sure you have weapons on your Kodiak which makes it painful to trade fire with your mech and makes them back off.

[YueFei]

To add to Wil McCullough's advice, another subtle trick if you've got humanoid arms is to use unlocked arms and sweep them across your body as you're twisting. With a bit of luck, that'll occasionally allow your arms to intercept fire that would've otherwise struck your torsos.

Sometimes you can anticipate that your opponent will aim for your crotch, and sweep your arms down low as you twist, so that your mech's lower arms will cover your crotch and intercept the shot.

This also gives your mech a forward lean as you're twisting to the side, somewhat tilting the CT hitbox to the side, so that a shot that otherwise might've hit CT will hit ST instead.