23 replies to this topic

[Kareekoe]

Playing a Narc Light Mech LRM build is far too demanding when it comes to in-match performance and effort needed in order to get +Pilot Skill rating.

Part of it might be due to the lack of any kind of player credit/rewards for making use of a narc against an enemy to begin with.

The Player doesn't get anything out of shooting an enemy with a Narc at all, no contribution at all to C-bill, xp, nor match score gains, even though they're being blasted by loads of missile volleys by the allies thanks to the narc that was launched by said player.

It legit takes nearly perfect games to get +Pilot Skill Rating at all if one uses Light Mech with Narc + LRM 20, anything lower than LRM20 is more or less impossible due to the fat bulk majority of the matchscore and +Pilot Skill Rating being determined by damage the player outputted.

Not enough damage almost always = -Pilot Skill Rating, and it's extremely easy to not get enough damage thanks to presence of as little as 1 AMS, good enemy positioning, and if the allies are killing everything too fast to have anything left to attempt shooting.

Even if one plays 'good', it's often not 'good enough',

Manz behind the Mech Pilot Skill Rating Desk at the DMV (Department of Mech Vehicles): "Wha'zat? youz got 200+ damage and narc'd like 6 different mechs and caused them to get blasted by 10million allied missiles? naw, that's not good enough, youz must do more, doesn't matter if youz move at like 50kph or are so squishy that youz could die immediately from a couple of gauss in an attempt to narc someone for no risk/reward credit for doing so, not my problem buddy, if ya don't like it, then take it up with the big manz and get outta' here."

~Obtained x1 Paperwork saying "Decreased Pilot Skill Rating by 69".~
~Obtained x1 Emotional State: [visible confusion].~

Meanwhile, one could use most of any other mech build in comparison could very easily get +Pilot Skill Rating, even if played 'badly'.

Manz behind the Mech Pilot Skill Rating Desk at the DMV (Department of Mech Vehicles): "Ayyy, I see youz did that 500+ damage, so wha'chu do out there? nice one pal, way to stick it to them clannerz and a tricky little Steiner scout squad, loved the part where ya ranz up to the face of that atlas and took that salvo of AC 20's to youz cockpit while being shot 50 different directions while entirely out of cover and away from youz team, that's good 'noufz for a better pilot skill rating, next roundz at the space bar is free pally, tellz all the palz about this truly amazing accomplishment of committing gloriouz battlemech suicide on the battlefield with zero regard for tactics."

~Obtained x1 Paperwork saying "Increased Pilot Skill Rating by 420".~
~Obtained x1 Free Drink and Eat Voucher for use at the Space Bar.~

Edited by Kareekoe, 09 May 2024 - 05:19 AM.

[martian]

Using NARC Beacon as a solo player in the Quick Play is not a good idea. In higher Tiers you can not be even sure that any other friendly player will deploy with LRMs.

Combining NARC with LRMs / TBMs on your own 'Mech is often quite clumsy at best (although possible, of course).

It is much more effective to use NARC as a member of a premade group with prearranged tactics, loadouts, etc.

Edited by martian, 09 May 2024 - 07:26 AM.

[Gasboy]

Yeah if you're self-narcing, probably better to use tag.

[RockmachinE]

Well you're tying to force what you believe should give you PSR or a game mechanic that simply doesn't.

As MWO is at the moment the most you can do to contribute to the team is by damaging, crippling or taking mechs of the board and PSR reflects that. LRM light mechs underpreform and are one of the least effective builds baring a few exceptions and eve those suffer from ammo shortages.

The best thing to do is just ignore PSR and enjoy the game and play it the way that suits you the best. If you want to go up in Tier anyways you'll have to use different builds.

[JediPanther]

Narc has always been a waste of space. Tag/uav/ppcs/bap+skills have always been better. Lrms are not the way to get good match score and never have been. Use them for damage padding for events that have a damage for reward set up. If all you want to do is tier climb then always use direct fire weapons. The game has been built on direct fire high damage=good spread fire=bad score.

[epikt]

Kareekoe, on 09 May 2024 - 05:15 AM, said:

It legit takes nearly perfect games to get +Pilot Skill Rating at all if one uses Light Mech with Narc + LRM 20

May I ask what mech and build are you using?
A light mech with NARC+LRM20 seams a really bad idea to me ; way too slow, can't pack enough ammo, etc.

You can do self-NARCing mechs, but you need more tonnage for ammo and JUMPJETS. Here's an example of a Trebuchet.
Not sure you'll get your PSR up but it works well enough, though as always it's pretty map dependent.

[Kareekoe]

epikt, on 09 May 2024 - 02:35 PM, said:

May I ask what mech and build are you using?
A light mech with NARC+LRM20 seams a really bad idea to me ; way too slow, can't pack enough ammo, etc.

You can do self-NARCing mechs, but you need more tonnage for ammo and JUMPJETS. Here's an example of a Trebuchet.
Not sure you'll get your PSR up but it works well enough, though as always it's pretty map dependent.

More or less zero or low armor Arctic Cheeta ACH-A and Raven RVN-3L with a decent engine and close to 1500 ammo at the moment.
LRM 20 + NARC
Ammo isn't a problem and firepower technically isn't either.

Problem is as stated before, NARC has no player rewards for using it
No matchscore, no c-bill reward, no xp reward.
It would be straight up dead weight if it wasn't actually good, but it is actually a really amazing support gear, but there's no incentive nor reason to use NARC because IT GIVES NOTHING in return for using it.
And the fact that NARC gives nothing is the problem here.

[martian]

JediPanther, on 09 May 2024 - 08:23 AM, said:

Narc has always been a waste of space. Tag/uav/ppcs/bap+skills have always been better. Lrms are not the way to get good match score and never have been. Use them for damage padding for events that have a damage for reward set up. If all you want to do is tier climb then always use direct fire weapons. The game has been built on direct fire high damage=good spread fire=bad score.

Tagging enemy 'Mechs for your lancemates means that you must hold the clearly visible TAG beam on the enemy 'Mech all the time. There are situations when it is not so easy.
Narcing enemy 'Mechs for your lancemates means that you can just hit multiple enemy 'Mechs with NARC Beacons and quickly disappear behind some obstacle.

[crazytimes]

I play the narc raven about once a month just so I can make all my classic jokes about free wifi, or there's a NARC event on. Which hasn't been the case for a couple of years I think.

It also has a binary + 2erml, which is where any actual contribution to the team comes from. Anyone thinking solo playing a NARC on QP is a contribution is barking up the wrong tree.

[JediPanther]

martian, on 12 May 2024 - 05:45 AM, said:

Tagging enemy 'Mechs for your lancemates means that you must hold the clearly visible TAG beam on the enemy 'Mech all the time. There are situations when it is not so easy.
Narcing enemy 'Mechs for your lancemates means that you can just hit multiple enemy 'Mechs with NARC Beacons and quickly disappear behind some obstacle.

Tag is quite useful to the enemy as an here-i-am sign. I just pop a uav if I got one. Tag I rarely use on the majority of my mechs. I'm not sitting my missile mech 1k away unlike some other missile users. Here's a list for the ones that need it:

1. Uav. Some mechs get two or even three.
2. c/bap
3. team mates aka meat shields if you're one of those types.
4. ppcs pick your fav
5. tag
6. narc

[martian]

JediPanther, on 12 May 2024 - 05:59 PM, said:

Tag is quite useful to the enemy as an here-i-am sign. I just pop a uav if I got one. Tag I rarely use on the majority of my mechs. I'm not sitting my missile mech 1k away unlike some other missile users. Here's a list for the ones that need it:

1. Uav. Some mechs get two or even three.
2. c/bap
3. team mates aka meat shields if you're one of those types.
4. ppcs pick your fav
5. tag
6. narc

To place UAV, you must get very close to enemy 'Mechs. And even then, they can simply walk away from the area that is scanned by your UAV.

On the other hand, enemy 'Mechs can be narced from a few hundred metres afar and they can not walk away as in the previous example because they are literally carrying their attached NARC Beacons with them.

[Curccu]

Light mechs just don't have enough tonnage to be effective lurmer (as effectiv as lurms can even be nowadays) and narcer.
Probably most effective mech I have seen doing this is acw-1 and tbt-7m and both have a bit low ammo...

[KursedVixen]

for one ton more and an energy slot you can mount a plasma ppc/light ppc (for same tonnage for IS) for canceling ECM, I've found that you can't typically rely on your team to carry lock on missiles.

Curccu, on 13 May 2024 - 02:04 AM, said:

Light mechs just don't have enough tonnage to be effective lurmer (as effectiv as lurms can even be nowadays) and narcer.
Probably most effective mech I have seen doing this is acw-1 and tbt-7m and both have a bit low ammo...

AAAND neither of those are lights...

Edited by KursedVixen, 13 May 2024 - 04:17 AM.

[KursedVixen]

Kareekoe, on 10 May 2024 - 02:58 AM, said:

More or less zero or low armor Arctic Cheeta ACH-A and Raven RVN-3L with a decent engine and close to 1500 ammo at the moment.
LRM 20 + NARC
Ammo isn't a problem and firepower technically isn't either.

Problem is as stated before, NARC has no player rewards for using it
No matchscore, no c-bill reward, no xp reward.
It would be straight up dead weight if it wasn't actually good, but it is actually a really amazing support gear, but there's no incentive nor reason to use NARC because IT GIVES NOTHING in return for using it.
And the fact that NARC gives nothing is the problem here.

AMS is exactly the same.

[martian]

KursedVixen, on 13 May 2024 - 04:02 AM, said:

for one ton more and an energy slot you can mount a plasma ppc/light ppc (for same tonnage for IS) for canceling ECM,I've found that you can't typically rely on your team to carry lock on missiles.

Some 'Mechs can not mount Light PPC/CPC.

KursedVixen, on 13 May 2024 - 04:02 AM, said:

AAAND neither of those are lights...

"Light mechs just don't have enough tonnage etc.." are the first words of his post.

[Meep Meep]

Narc is only useful in quick play if you are dropping with a lock on lance. It can be incredibly rewarding on a personal level but even then don't expect a psr gain as assists don't have huge payouts. As always direct damage is your fastest way to gain psr.

If you really want to do this thing solo and roll the dice in quick play then try this raven.

https://mwo.nav-alph...3db22c5a_RVN-3L

The two lppc can dish out respectable damage over time from well outside of ecm detection range if you position well and if you get lucky and have some missile slingers you can use the narc and tag. Raven has an excellent high mounted hardpoint profile too so you only have to expose a sliver to engage all your weapons and boosts. You can drop all the other stuff and go with 3 lppc and it farms fairly well.

https://mwo.nav-alph...c353500e_RVN-3L

Edited by Meep Meep, 17 May 2024 - 03:15 AM.

[Aidan Crenshaw]

you can amalgamate both builds, actually https://mwo.nav-alph...db0bf651_RVN-3L

[w0qj]

Which is why I'm still asking for the RVN-3L(S) which is no longer available.
Its +30% CBills bonus would really help to offset the UAV consumables IMHO...

At least now we have the RVN-3L(C) with +15% CBills bonus now...

[JediPanther]

w0qj, on 15 May 2024 - 01:35 PM, said:

Which is why I'm still asking for the RVN-3L(S) which is no longer available.
Its +30% CBills bonus would really help to offset the UAV consumables IMHO...

At least now we have the RVN-3L(C) with +15% CBills bonus now...

Are you saying its hard to make back the c-bill cost of 2-3 uavs? It really isn't since with the bigger number of mechs that have ecm a well placed uav will easily give you the counter ecm bonuses multiple times. Even without pt you can make bank with uavs. I have both standard 3l and the 3lc. Having the 15% does help the cost be less but you can do the same with the standard 3l.

If the 3ls aren't making bank try one of the stealth commandos or fle/lcts and skill it just for uav running with focusing on survival,mobility and aux trees. Uav running was how I use to make a lot of c-bills especially when people were lrm-ing through events.

[KursedVixen]

martian, on 13 May 2024 - 04:57 AM, said:

Some 'Mechs can not mount Light PPC/CPC.

You talk about cherry picking and you just cherry picked part of my comment you found wrong, no any mech with a energy slot can carry a light ppc you just have to find room.