9 replies to this topic

[AjerWerklWerkl]

Some of the best players position SO WELL that it's like they are invisible to the enemy. These players walk around the battlefield but enemies always somehow choose to shoot someone else. This is due to outstanding situational awareness and positioning. (Baradul does this amazingly as an example - I've learned so much from watching his streams!)

But the science of this is very hard to nail down... any tips?

Some tips are very basic but critical:

1) NEVER peek in a spot where the enemy is already looking. (Especially in higher tiers, players know ALL THE SPOTS and are looking there from the very beginning of the match.)

2) Don't engage the same enemy multiple times. Switch targets often.

3) Use UAVs and pay attention to what they're telling you... don't show up where enemies are pointed.

4) Always try to engage with an enemy who's already busy.

5) The Rule of Proximity is key... enemies will shoot at whoever is closest. Never be that guy! (Which is sort of lame because if everyone played that way, nothing would happen. Sometimes I feel like the best players are very good at taking advantage of this...)

What else? Thanks in advance.

[Capt Deadpool]

You have a pretty good grip on it, mostly it comes from map knowledge, using angles and terrain to expose yourself absolutely minimally and for the briefest time possible, and understanding the strategic options available to your opponent for every map.

There's really only 2-4 strategies teams generally will implement on any given map (consisting of: which way they are rotating, what positions they may be holding, if they have aggressive flankers, if they have sniper overwatch, if they are pincering you). The more experienced you are, the quicker you will recognize which strategy the opponent is using, and which counter to utilize, then comes recognizing the counter to your counter--if it comes. (The new polar, canyon, and manifold have resulted in a significant decrease in nascaaring--at least at the upper tiers.)

You can try to write them down and make a map-specific list until it becomes second nature to you to help you remember. But in pugs it never gets too complicated because all the strats are basic and known. Comp obviously requires learning more complicated strats and counters and the likeliest ones your opponents will use.

You should drop in on ASH's stream/discord; he helps people with the skills you are looking to develop and does drops with them. He is more knowledgeable than Baradul, with all due respect to Baradul, and I have nothing against him.

Edited by Capt Deadpool, 05 September 2021 - 08:21 PM.

[Kiiyor]

I find the best thing to avoid is peeking in the same place too long...

...but that can be hard, as there's realistically a limited number of decent firing positions available to you at any given time - if you're not piloting something super nimble, or something that can poptart, that is.

At the start of a fight, you'll typically have a contact/engagement area that can realistically handle 5 or 6 mechs with a decent position they can use to peek from. It's just the way the maps work; it's difficult to find enough real estate to fit 12 mechs into so they can all shoot each other.

If you get one of these spots, it can be HARD to give it up to another machine, especially when competition for decent shooty spots is fierce. So, you either stay in your nice spot where you can usually get one or two decent trades out before the enemy is wise to your tricks, or you move somewhere else. Maybe you stay for one trade too many. Eventually you DO need to move. Probably to the right. Where other mechs may have already moved looking for shooty spots of their own. Then you rev your mech engine at the dudes moving with you - not to show off, but to warn them. These are MY spots. They bare their mech teeth at you and rev their mech engines right back. You see someone about to take a spot - YOU CAN GET THERE FIRST. You muscle past them. HAHAHA SUCKER, this is where I bring the pain from! Ah, ****, I can't reverse! Dammit, I need another spot! I bet there's one to the right of me. WITNESS ME BLOODBAGS! Oh what a day! WHAT A LOVELY DAY!

Er, yeah, ahem. Maybe try to avoid that.

Try to avoid spots others have been peeking from if you don't know why they reversed. Sharing armour is all well and good, but it doesn't mean you have to share stupid too. If you do find a spot, don't become too attached to it - unless you can share the pain by peeking when someone else does.

Other than that... trial and error! And try not to just pay attention to the lessons you learn when you take damage ("I GOT CAUGHT IN THE OPEN") - try to remember the good spots/circumstances you dished it out from too. "That guy peeked twice, and I RUINED him". "That guy stayed in his spot too long and we ate him when he had to move".

[Moldur]

The slower your mech is, the more situational awareness you need. This can be from betting what the enemy is likely to do, to making sure you have radar contacts accounted for on your minimap. If a medium or a light, even a heavy peeks the enemy team, they can quickly go back into cover and minimize their received damage. If you poke your head out to look around as an assault, tip of the spear, you will take anywhere from "not great" to "I basically just threw" amounts of damage by trying to scout and accidentally looking at a firing line for a second or three. Save your armor until you know what is going on and you will be much more successful as an assault.

Edited by Moldur, 05 September 2021 - 09:50 PM.

[Elizander]

Kiiyor, on 05 September 2021 - 09:47 PM, said:

I find the best thing to avoid is peeking in the same place too long...

This generally depends on how potato your game is. In low tier games sometimes you find that one spot that just lets you shoot everyone repeatedly for the entire game and hardly anyone shoots back at you, but in the higher tier games you might even get 2-3 guys shooting right at you on your second peek and your armor is red all over in exchange for dealing like 30-50 damage on them. Not good.

[Kanil]

Kiiyor, on 05 September 2021 - 09:47 PM, said:

I find the best thing to avoid is peeking in the same place too long...

...but that can be hard...

... and if you do find yourself in a situation where you have to keep peeking from the same place, and start drawing too much attention to yourself, you can just stop peeking for 5 seconds, letting the folks shooting at you find a different teammate to shoot at instead. Then when they've found a new target, you peek back out and get some free shots in, and your buddy who's taking fire can now back off themselves for a few seconds until everyone's noticed you again...

[justcallme A S H]

AjerWerklWerkl, on 05 September 2021 - 08:21 AM, said:

3) Use UAVs and pay attention to what they're telling you... don't show up where enemies are pointed.

4) Always try to engage with an enemy who's already busy.

Overall good stuff although these 2 a little more in depth.

UAV - I don't have any on any mech. I don't have Seismic either - you need neither.
If you pay attention to what is going on with the minimap let others use UAVs (often they waste them needlessly)... Sometimes you will have an ally drop a good one though and pay attention to which way the squares are moving.

Also ensure you are using Target Spotted whenever possible on the command wheel. I cannot stress enough how important this is. It should have never been put into the game that's how ridiculously overpowered it is. Its even easier to Target Spot with a UAV up as well.

Engaging - also remember and watch who is firing/when and weapons. If you see a hot laser boat enemy drop and Alpha, go and press them as it is a lot safer once they have dumped a heat bar. If it is a dakka mech you wanna wait 2-3 volleys (loadout depending) and then go give them a razzle.

Also if you are unsure do not peak/expose alone. Do so when your ally nearby does and you then have more change to present targets, shoot/focus etc etc.


Small things like that can give you that little edge that you might need.

Edited by justcallme A S H, 06 September 2021 - 12:47 AM.

[ThreeStooges]

One of the funniest things to do is when your a stealth mech is simply turn it and ecm off and just follow an asult then when it stops shoot it in the rear and run away laughing.

[Curccu]

ThreeStooges, on 06 September 2021 - 05:53 PM, said:

One of the funniest things to do is when your a stealth mech is simply turn it and ecm off and just follow an asult then when it stops shoot it in the rear and run away laughing.

But you don't need ECM or stealth armor to do that?

[GoodTry]

In addition to what others have said, watch what your teammates are doing. If they are about to push or round a corner into firing lines, get ready to pop out from another angle at the same time. If you've got somebody that's out of position, see if you can engage the other team when they go after the out-of-position guy.