20 replies to this topic

[Lyran]

A simple question to my good fellow Mechwarriors - in your beta experience where should I aim my lovely lasers to quickly bring down an enemy mech?

Legs?
Missile hardpoints?
Rear torso?

Or should I just missile them to a fiery grave?

Thanks,
Lyran

[Eisenhorne]

depends entirely on the target.

If its a hunchback, focus fire its shoulder weapons pod. If its an atlas, focus fire its ballistics mount. If its a catapult, dragon, or awesome, focus fire the center torso.

It also depends on their current damage level. If their center torso is red, focus fire that. If they have a damaged arm or shoulder, go for that before the center torso.

[Evinthal]

Eisenhorne, on 10 October 2012 - 02:06 PM, said:

depends entirely on the target.

If its a hunchback, focus fire its shoulder weapons pod. If its an atlas, focus fire its ballistics mount. If its a catapult, dragon, or awesome, focus fire the center torso.

It also depends on their current damage level. If their center torso is red, focus fire that. If they have a damaged arm or shoulder, go for that before the center torso.

Pretty much this, but I'd toss in that a badly damaged leg is a great target. It slows them down and allows you to take less fire as you maneuver for the kill. I'd only recommend doing it if the leg is way worse off than the rest of the mech.

[Redshift2k5]

It depends on a lot of factors.

The head is always a given, but not always an option.

The CT will destroy any mech, but it's heavily armoured.

The side torsos will destroy any XL engine mech, and it will also often remove a large portion of a mech's weaponry (the arm falls off too!)

Leg.. if it's a light, you may need to leg it to kill it. If you bump into a mech and it already has a leg with no armor, legging it will make it an easy target. Whittling down a whole leg from 100% armor will take too long, though.

[Joe3142]

I agree with what 2k5 says, it does depend on a lot of different factors.

[WardenWolf]

Catapult - Cockpit. Its the easiest one to bring down that way, and if you aim for it even at long range you are at worst going to hit the center torso. That is the one spot guaranteed to take anything down eventually, so it is never a bad target

Awesome - Aim center torso, and you often get the cockpit as a bonus. This is especially true at close range.

Light mechs - Anywhere you can hit the bloody things!

Hunchbacks - Right torso on most variants. With exception of one that is where their heaviest weapons are, and you get an arm too when you take it out.

Centurions - Take the right arm out if you can, then down it any way you want.

Atlas - *If you are close in*, *and you use lasers*, *and the Atlas is standing still*, you can aim at or just above the left eye for a headshot. Otherwise, look at the weapons loadout: if it is running with lots of guns, odds are it has an XL engine and you should aim for the side torso. If not, or if you are unsure, just pound it down any way you can.

[baios]

I had the same question in my head for quite some time now.At first i was just aiming for the head(typical fps thing)but i guess it doesnt work that way.After some times i tried to go for the back thinking it as a weak spot,after that i was wondering if i could get a leg out to make a mech fall down.Am glad its not that simple although it would look cool

[Greers]

Loosing one Leg only slows the Mech down. You need to remove two legs to take it out. It's often fater to target other spots to remove it's combat strength (e.g. 90% of most Hunchbacks weapons are in that Hunch. If its gone you can ignore it, if there are more dangerous targets around)

Legging has one important use: more salvage! Every undestroyed component gives money if you are on the winning side.

[Hayashi]

Aim inside the red bracket. It may not be as easy as it sounds against a maxed engine light.

[Banshee Bullet]

IN THE BACK!!!

duh

Kats you shoot in the face, atlas in the back, awesome in the back or face. Hunch: in the back, Cent: in the side torsos (you can't miss em), Dragons: the back, or really wherever. Lights: CT or back.

Of course if they have heavy damage in a particular area, take advantage of them.

[Nash]

If you use lasers use them first to find weak spots in your opponents armor. Best you cross the enemy complete with one single laser shot and if his legs for example appear dark yellow, you know that his weak point is there. So in this case your best option is to shoot of his legs.

Otherwise it really depens on the mech you are facing. (hardpoints, weapons and so on)

But the best thing you could do is to get into the back of your opponent and shoot at his rear torso where the armor is really weak.

[Banshee Bullet]

Nash, on 11 October 2012 - 06:29 AM, said:

If you use lasers use them first to find weak spots in your opponents armor. Best you cross the enemy complete with one single laser shot

don't do that

If you target your enemy you can see what's weak, you don't have to waste a laser salvo on him. And if you think that's stupid because lasers have no ammo... I can't help you.

Edited by Banshee Bullet, 11 October 2012 - 06:42 AM.

[baios]

ok maybe i havent done my homework but how can i see what's weak just by aiming? :S

[Banshee Bullet]

Hit 'R' (default key) and you will select the target you are aiming at.

Plus recently damaged areas glow red-orange (especially w/ the latest patch)

[baios]

Ok,the R targeting i knew. The color part i didn't.
Thanks for that.
And thanks to everybody for the info.

[Banshee Bullet]

the glowing part is not on the mech diagram but on the actual mech btw.

[Fulton]

It is always important to be as familiar as possible with each mech. When tabletop was new my friends and I spent tons of time between competitions scouring every Technical Readout to memorize each mech's stats (variants too). We played with different combinations of mechs / lances to see which would be the most effective. Online it is the same thing... experience and careful analysis wins out. Normal experience and familiarity tells us things like in the back, or CT, or a damaged leg.
I rarely (if ever) post anything online... but I was drawn out by WardenWolf's excellent advice, in particular the Atlas "*If you are close in*, *and you use lasers*, *and the Atlas is standing still*, you can aim at or just above the left eye for a headshot." That is truly valuable info; thank you.

[Spleenslitta]

It also depends on what mech you're using. A light mech should manuever to get to the back armor whenever possible unless the target is heavily damaged at the front but not the back.
Never go toe to toe with any heavier mech when you are in a light mech. If he is aware of where you will be in 5 seconds you're doing it wrong.
Circling the target ain't the only way for a light mech pilot to bring down the big boys. If you want to use a light mech look into the light mech advice thread here-
Light Mech advice

I put up a post for alternative tactics using light mechs in post #7 but there are others who come with good points too.

Edit: I know i give little advice about where to shot. But the point is.....if you trade shots back and forth with your opponent then you both lose.
The best shot is the one your opponent can't respond to.

Edited by Spleenslitta, 11 October 2012 - 07:08 AM.

[The LoneRanger]

I usually try to hit the left and right torsos (to remove most of the weaponry) After that I just try to beat him down (mostly though I get shot before it, Because Rolling with Raven equipped with a gauss, and top speed 45.5)

But it really depends... With atlases I try to weak their armor from afar, and/or hit the face (do friggin' tiny place to hit)
And Hunches I try to hit the huge ballistics/missile pods...

[Nash]

Banshee Bullet, on 11 October 2012 - 06:37 AM, said:

don't do that

If you target your enemy you can see what's weak, you don't have to waste a laser salvo on him. And if you think that's stupid because lasers have no ammo... I can't help you.

u should do this only if your opponent isn't damaged at all...as soon as he is damaged you already could see his weak spots...and actually you don't need a complete salvo you can do this with one single laser...that's enough ^^