51 replies to this topic

[Stone Profit]

As I've been through the forums I have noticed that many people seem to believe the only role for a light or medium mech is to scout. Why must a jenner be relegated to scouting? Scouting, while an important task, is not the only role available for a fast, decently armed mech. What of the skirmisher, to keep your opponent busy while you move heavier assets into position? Or disrupt the enemy before your main force engages? And what of the harrasser, to harry your opponents heavier assets as they move into position? Flankers? Which roles do you think best suit light, medium and fast heavy mechs beyond scouting?

[Adridos]

Perfect ambusher. Even assaults tremble before it.

[Trevnor]

Awesome comic BTW. lol

As for light mechs..... They can be used as Skirmishers, but as a Scout, harassing the enemy is part of the job once the battle is joined. Darting in close while a heavy is engaging one of your heavies, and shooting them in the back or side, then darting away again. Light mech would also be used as snipers. Light on armour, but with a ER Gauss rifle, ER PPC or ER Large lasers. It could move fast, use jump jets to get up high, and engage active targeting for a quick sniper shot and moving away really quick. Gauss rifle round from 800 M away while your fighting something else, and looking around and not seeing anything would give you the creeps.

[00dlez]

I think that people are using the term scout as a blanket term for spotter/skirmisher/harasser, or at least I have been.

[Jyi]

Yea Lt Trevnor, but those are not by far all the roles. Some lights were used only to hunt other lights. Minimum electronics, a couple tough weapons and enough speed and armor to outmatch other lights. Then there were special designs made to hunt bigger mechs or fill some niche role.

[Hakija]

The first time in tabletop you see a panther or wolfhound take down a mech half-again as big as they are, you stop thinking of light mechs as just scouts. The wolfhound in particular is a dedicated fighter.

[Nik Van Rhijn]

A "scout" whether it be a fast light or fast medium will probably play all those "roles" at different points in a match. Just as not all lights are "scouts" - a Panther is a perfect example of a light that is too slow to "scout" effectively, after all its the same speed as most heavies. It's manouverable enough (hopefully) that it can effectively screen against scouts though. Given it's speed the Urbie is only suitable for a defensive role, or urban ambusher.
To be honest the usefulness of mediums and lights in the game is going to depend on what mechs we have and how the maps, objectives and matchmaking work.

[Omigir]

There are lights and Mediums that will make great scout killers.

[Tyzh]

I think "scout" as a role term in this game is more general than you are taking it. I think any pilot in a light or medium mech will be doing as much as they can at any given time to contribute to the team, not just run away from every mech they see because, "I'M JUST A SCOUT ALL I DO IS SEE THINGS!"

[Acer Lerxt]

Harrassing and skirmishing work-- you just have to realize it's typically not a fun playstyle.

It's hard to feel effective when you're just trying to bait someone into following you, or doing somewhere between small and insignificant amounts of damage in the process of keeping them preoccupied.

Wolfpacking, on the other hand, holds a lot of promise in this game. It'd be quite fun for a lance of 25 ton mechs to take out an assault, one chunk at a time.

[Vexgrave Lars]

Recon is the Swiss Army Knife of Battletech. Would you use a Swiss Army knife to kill a bear.. well no.. but you might use it to make a big heavy spear to kill a bear. Recon is a team sport as far as I can tell.. while a lance may have a leader there's no quarterback, no hero's or great individual Recon specialist, an operator can only be as good as the other three member of is unit and the imaginative tactics they can employ as a unit.

Recon.. its the biggest challenge in the game, dare I say, most any game.. No question about it. Anyone can run an assault lance up the middle of the field.. Being a success at recon requires coordination, leadership, brains, agility, speed, and stealth (How stealthy you can be in 30 tons of "running" Ferro Armor at 100+KPH is a great question ) and then be useful in a skirmish with support for the heavies, oh and you USUALLY have paper armor, so direct assaults are right out.

Recon Lances... IMHO should operate like US Marine 1st Recon units, not individual ninjas... Indirect LRMS, direct fire Sniping, spotting, and supporting. In mixed lances 30-50 ton Mechs. I like Hunchbacks for Mediums.. Refit with a few AC/2s or 5s or if you can manage it a Guass, and a couple of ECM mechs like Ravens or Commandos with the right electronics packages - for close up and personal moments, lots of medium lasers... lots of them. Missiles.. Strictly LRMs.. for FSM if that's the way the CO wants to go.

[Dlardrageth]

All those people expecting light and medium Mechs to do nothing but scouting&spotting (for them), might be in for a surprise. When aforementioned lights and mediums just won't do it. Classical reply when getting told to go scouting so the heavyweights can get into optimnal firing positions would be a "Do it yourself!" And there also goes te fiction that just because your Mech weighs double as much that you are entitled to order lighter Mechs around. They might just give you the finger in reply and leave you hanging there...

[Randal Waide]

And don't forget another good use, bait. There are a lot of players who's patience level is somewhat akin to a gnat. imagin using a light lance to lure the enemy in to terrain of your own choosing. think of canyons, city alley ways and as mentioned above, a thick forrest that has been starved of rain for months.
Yes, scouts. Yes, skirmishes. Yes, harassers. And also a lure to an untimely, unforeseen death.
Didn't the Huns perfect the feigned retreat?
Id say be very afraid of the little guys, they are sneaky ********.

[Soviet Alex]

The Jenner is not a scout. It's a 35-ton assault mech. Use it aggressively to get close & knife the other guy in the back with 4 medium lasers. I've brought down heavies in a Jenner. My Fed-Com colleagues probably say the same about their Wolfhounds & Commandoes. Pure scouting is best done by hovercraft or infantry, neither of which is in MW-O (yet?). And all of the shiny recon-tech (active probes, ECM, etc.) is only just becoming available in this time-frame.

[Dihm]

I've been asking how they'll handle non-scout lights, things like the Urbanmech or Panther, for a while with no response.

More specifically, I've asked about mechs that don't fit the "standard" role for the weight class, to include things like the Charger, a scout assault.

[Soviet Alex]

The upgraded Dragon & Grand Dragon are as fast as a Commando. I'm thinking about scouting in one of those.

[Dihm]

Exactly, why take, say, a Valyrie, when you could take a Dragon, Grand or Not-So Grand?

[Felix Dante]

I see nothing wrong with a Commander role in a light mech either.
Much easier to command a battlefield and react to new situations if you can move faster than your opponents.
Bring on the rain!

=)

[00dlez]

I imagine that most of the skill trees and modules are going to be general/mix n matchable that if you are piloting a light assault style mech, you will be able to draw from the tree that is going to best suit your role on the battlefield, whether that's scouting in the classical sense or as a nimble/JJing addition to an assault lance

Dihm, on 22 March 2012 - 09:50 AM, said:

Exactly, why take, say, a Valyrie, when you could take a Dragon, Grand or Not-So Grand?

Module options might be different, there might be weight or BV restrictions, maybe you can't afford a Dragon yet because you pimped out a Catapult last week.

[Dihm]

00dlez, on 22 March 2012 - 10:02 AM, said:

I imagine that most of the skill trees and modules are going to be general/mix n matchable that if you are piloting a light assault style mech, you will be able to draw from the tree that is going to best suit your role on the battlefield, whether that's scouting in the classical sense or as a nimble/JJing addition to an assault lance


Module options might be different, there might be weight or BV restrictions, maybe you can't afford a Dragon yet because you pimped out a Catapult last week.

That's what I figure, I'd just like confirmation and more detail.