61 replies to this topic

[pattonesque]

keep playing! I drop solo brawling all the time and it absolutely works, it just requires you to re-establish the game sense/map knowledge that atrophied in your four years away!

[YueFei]

I would add the caveat that slow brawling is very hard to do solo.

Better to try to brawl in mechs that are a bit faster, so you don't get so easily abused by people that outrange you and can kite you, too.

[Scout Derek]

It still exists.

YueFei, on 14 July 2022 - 10:07 AM, said:

I would add the caveat that slow brawling is very hard to do solo.

Alot of people would tend to agree on this one, Cauldron is aware.

[caravann]

I wouldn't call it hard, it's always hard no matter what role you play in the game solo. Phoenix hawk dies by looking at it while Dervish has potential to do some brawling and for assault the mauler kicks hard with 50-80 alpha strikes. Assaults is mostly about hitting components that if you just shoot with no aim you missed the window. DPS becomes a physical limitation based on amount of guns compared to heavy and medium where DPS is compensated with machine guns.
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[Marquis De Lafayette]

It’s not extinct but it’s just harder than it was during the “NASCAR Era” (for lack of a better term). Before the map reworks, nascar or counter-nascar were the predominant play styles and most engagements occurred in brawl-range. With the recent “sniper-friendly” changes to many maps nascar as we knew it is virtually dead…and many would say good riddance. However, one unintended consequence (I assume) is that it made it overly difficult for slower and non-jj’ed brawlers to do their thing. Canyon which was formerly a nascar map is often a death trap in the middle for these kind of mechs. Caustic went from nascar 24/7 to a snipers map…and I understand is still being looked at an adjusted. I think buffs longer range weapons like the light PPC coming around the same time just reinforced the nature of those changes. Now, snubs have gotten buffed…or imho over-buffed and that does help brawl…but seemingly mostly for certain lights and a few mediums, heavies and assaults that are quirked or just built right for them. So, brawl is still viable, but it’s just different… the days of rolling around in a 9 mpl top dog and doing consistently great is just harder now. Snub builds are doing just great though.

Edited by Marquis De Lafayette, 14 July 2022 - 01:10 PM.

[BellatorMonk]

Most of the teams I am on did not seem to get the memo that Nascar is dead...

[PsionicMantis]

I usually only run brawler type mechs. My favorite is the Kitfox-D with 4 Srm6 kfx-d

[LordNothing]

i like how there is a snubpocalype thread next to a brawling is extinct thread.

Edited by LordNothing, 14 July 2022 - 08:20 PM.

[Zeddicuus]

Brawling will only die if the playerbase allows it to die. So if you love brawling, continue to do it! Just be smart while doing it so you can't get LRM'd from long range. Let long range on your team engage them, then rush in and lay down that short range smack! Go from cover to cover to make long range spitting at you difficult.

But if the entire playerbase moves away from brawling, it's really the playerbases' fault that the playstyle died.

To help ensure the survival of brawling, I've slowly been gathering at least 1 mech of each class to configure for brawling. So far I have a medium and a heavy. Going to use my Hero bonus from the current event to get an Ultraviolet so it can be decked out for that brawling goodness. Maybe I'll even revisit my atlas and see what I can do with that for brawling.

Edited by Zeddicuus, 15 July 2022 - 11:32 AM.

[LordNothing]

yes and no. brawling will always happen. but i think the dedicated brawler build is going the way of the dodo. seems the brawlers are either hit and run mechs (srm divebombers) or mechs built to fight at intermediate ranges. you either have speed or extra range at your disposal. you can brawl with uac10s for example, but those also work at the reasonable intermediate ranges at which the bulk of combat tends to take place.

one idea i had for fixing the uac20 was to make it perform like a uac10 at uac10 ranges by adjusting the max range. it would be half as ammo efficient to use it as such this way, but it opens early match possibilities when it is too early to brawl effectively. for the is uac20 this would just mean adding 90 meters to the max range and of course you can always do that in the skill tree. clan version is already there. velocity could also stand to go up to 1000ms.

Edited by LordNothing, 15 July 2022 - 11:53 AM.

[Scout Derek]

caravann, on 14 July 2022 - 12:51 PM, said:

I wouldn't call it hard, it's always hard no matter what role you play in the game solo. Phoenix hawk dies by looking at it while Dervish has potential to do some brawling and for assault the mauler kicks hard with 50-80 alpha strikes. Assaults is mostly about hitting components that if you just shoot with no aim you missed the window. DPS becomes a physical limitation based on amount of guns compared to heavy and medium where DPS is compensated with machine guns.
.

Not true, but you're entitled to your opinion on what's hard and easy.

[lazorbeamz]

At some point in time maybe around 2017 or 2016 the devs went very one sided in favor of lasers. I dont know what exactly makes them do it really.

They always do half hearted attempts to revive cannons like +100 velocity and quirks on few selective non meta mechs.

Edited by lazorbeamz, 21 July 2022 - 04:52 AM.

[An6ryMan69]

Brawling isn't dead, actually with damage based events going on semi-regularly, I find it a consistently simple way to farm damage with most heavy and assault builds, even those I am skill grinding up with. Just make up a maximum damage alpha strike loadout, stick with the group and face punch people until the match ends. Literally the simplest tactic around. You see guys doing it in the new Crael mech quite a bit, as the Crael's SRM6x4 and HMGx10 build is basically stupid powerful for this.

Light and medium brawlers can be solid too, but brawling in a piranha is a different matter than in a Stalker.

Edited by An6ryMan69, 21 July 2022 - 10:14 AM.

[ScrapIron Prime]

And I'm loving the re-quirked La Malinche for brawls. With the extra range, it can "brawl" out to 400m for full damage.

[Dauntless Blint]

Scout Derek, on 14 July 2022 - 12:31 PM, said:

It still exists.


Alot of people would tend to agree on this one, Cauldron is aware.

I hope so, mech mobility and some velocities = no contest sometimes.

[martian]

ScrapIron Prime, on 21 July 2022 - 12:10 PM, said:

And I'm loving the re-quirked La Malinche for brawls. With the extra range, it can "brawl" out to 400m for full damage.

I have seen some of those La Malinches sniping with ER PPCs and Gauss Rifles. It is logical: All those quirks work with long range weapons too - 1000m effective range, faster cooldown, faster projectile, less heat.

[ScrapIron Prime]

martian, on 23 July 2022 - 12:45 AM, said:

I have seen some of those La Malinches sniping with ER PPCs and Gauss Rifles. It is logical: All those quirks work with long range weapons too - 1000m effective range, faster cooldown, faster projectile, less heat.

True, but they’re low torso and arm mounts. I guess I prefer my ranged guys not to be firing from the hip.

[martian]

ScrapIron Prime, on 23 July 2022 - 07:56 AM, said:

True, but they’re low torso and arm mounts. I guess I prefer my ranged guys not to be firing from the hip.

I guess that all those Assault snipers using this 'Mech have found it acceptable. After all, those quirks are nice and when your 'Mech is parked a kilometre away, the body shape is probably less important than when you would be brawling.

[PocketYoda]

PsionicMantis, on 14 July 2022 - 04:29 PM, said:

I usually only run brawler type mechs. My favorite is the Kitfox-D with 4 Srm6 kfx-d

I used to but then i decided its no longer worth it.. Clan mechs with crazy alphas are the thing now.. hell even an adder with two heavy large is better than 75% of the whole IS line up.

[Quintal Arwe]

BellatorMonk, on 14 July 2022 - 09:13 AM, said:

I have been away from the game for 4 or so years. Stop playing around the time Cataphracts and Highlanders were the poptart dejour, brawling was still viable via Atlas domination, nascar was tiring (apparently it's still a thing) and LRM boats were still used to soften the enemy up.

Been back two weeks, drop some money on some of the current summer deals and updated my mech selection and got rid of some older chassis that don't seem to fit the current meta (I will explain my perception of the meta) and worked my way halfway up to PR3.

I had been trying to brawl with tried and true methods from the past in the 1st week and chalked up most of my losses and low scores to trying to get back into the saddle and in most cases a lack of SoloQ/PUG communication.

By the 2nd week I realized close range brawling was next to impossible at 300m or less w/o a lucky PUG drop or a premades. Nearly every match I had 1-4 lights on my tail (in my Assaults) within 30-60 secs of the match starting and in most cases the team just didn't care to help or were simply to dumb to understand the need to mitigate the light rush.

I saw that almost every build had been min/maxxed with lasers or SPPCs that cored vital areas in 1-2 hits before I could even get in range, focus a shot or stand "toe to toe" in many cases.

I have now adjusted my playstyle and mechs to take advantage of being those "meta lights", adjusted nearly every Heavy and Assault to being mid to long range in order to get enough damage in QPlay matches win or loss to maintain or increase my PR and make credits.

I see all these wonderful Youtube guys/builds from probably the current top clans and realized after trying some of them that the matches they are posting that look so good are because it took them many game to find that standout match for the build and they had a lance of buddies helping to setup the shots, kills, etc instead of purely playing solo like a lot of us scrubs.

I guess we will see what difference the upcoming MM patch makes and the only other suggestion I would have to counter the current "light meta" to allow quality brawling or tactical more matches again is increase armor on heavies/assaults by 25% or perhaps cap engine speeds to something lower than 120KPH unless MASC enabled.

This is just my view after two weeks of trying to get back into the saddle and trying to "git gud" again. I know and acknowledge gameplay is completely different with premades/clan comms, etc, I am talking strictly QPlay scenarios/solo play.

Out of curiosity I looked you up on the leaderboards just to see how much you are playing and lol I think you have played the most games this season by the looks of it ! You make my number of games statistically irrelevant lol.