4 replies to this topic

[Mustang_11b35d]

I've been improving, but hit a plateau. I read as many forum articles about surviving (and killing) as I could find. The key seems to be surviving, at least long enough to do more damage and get more kills. I've come to the conclusion that my biggest flaw is torso twisting - or more accurately, a lack of it. Does anyone have any tips on how to improve in that area?

Thanks,
Mustang

Edited by Mustang_11b35d, 04 July 2019 - 05:33 PM.

[Prototelis]

Practice snap shooting in testing grounds or in a lobby. You have to be able to apply pressure and soak at the same time.

Start stationary, then work in doing it while moving.

In this exercise you try to put your crosshairs on a chosen component as quickly as possible, fire, then twist to about 90 degrees and then twist back and fire again on the same component.

The other key thing is lowering your sensitivity in game and using a lower the DPI on your mouse.


You also want to take a look at a hitbox diagram of the mech you're playing. On this I stand in front of a mech in training grounds, then use the free cam to see what parts of my mech I'm actually exposing to a mech in front of me when twisting.

Theres honestly more to it than that; like dead side shielding; some mechs you can move your arms up or down to obscure more of your torso, some mechs you wiggle a bit more often than full on twisting, sometimes when you twist away from someone to take fire you actually need to wiggle a bit to spread damage around.

Edited by Prototelis, 04 July 2019 - 07:35 PM.

[Maddermax]

Go to the Academy and try Running Cored and Gauntlet. They won’t teach you exactly, but they’re excellent ways to bake the action into your muscle memory - take a medium or heavy, and get used to the process of shoot, turn, return in time for weapons cool down.

You’ll also find some weapons and mechs respond better to torso twisting. Slow firing weapons like AC10/20, medium-large lasers, PPCs, and SRM4/Y all allow enough time to twist properly, while AC2/5, RACs, SRM2s, MGs and so on are all are better for staring at your opponents, as there usually isn’t enough time to twist away and back in the short cool downs. Some mechs like the Bushwacker just need the nose wiggled to spread damage because of their profile, but fully torso twisting can mean your large side hit boxes get blown away, while more humanoid mechs with shield arms reward fully twisting, to take damage on the arms.

[Prototelis]

I've never actually used the academy, so thats great advice.

Really the best way to learn is through practice.

[Vxheous]

Just make it a habit to twist 90* and walk back behind cover after every time you shoot, regardless of whether you're taking fire or not. Eventually you'll develop that muscle memory to twist, and then you can start dialing it back to only twist when you're actually going to take fire.

Edited by Vxheous, 04 July 2019 - 11:28 PM.