13 replies to this topic

[Cormith]

Hey all,

I have been away from the game for awhile but came back in today and got down to business.

The first thing that I have noticed is that I am way out of date on my info about ECM/BAP/Artemis and so on...

Bearing that in mind, I have noticed a few things I found discouraging across 10 matches, 5 in my Cata(Founders) and my new Cataphract(LRM5, AC5x2 and LL)

Mind, These are the top items I recall of the top of my head as I write them:

1. On RiverCity map, two enemy mechs with in 250M(of me) are taking base, I can see them clearly on my screen they have no little eyeball around their heads and I could not target as they didnt show up with a Triangle above them, so I moved closer to attempt to target and found that I had to go around a structure( I could see the Atlas's shoulders and head above the structure clear line) before targeting took place.
Is this...new? or they had ECM or something that disrupts general targeting?

2. Do people not click target("R") to ID/"Lock" targets? It seems that targets are either not "seen" or ECM is REALLY crazy good...I found myself constantly on the movein my Cata trying to stay at 400 - 700M to give me room to manuever and time to lock on for my missles, instead of sitting at 600 to 700 to give fire support...

I admit it has been awhile since I've played, and I consider my self an Average player, and I prefer the fire support roll since I know that when I get in the thick of it, I get all excited and cant concentrate and become a danger to team mates!

Suggestions would be helpful.

Thanks all

Good Hunting!

[Rifter]

ECM is way overpowered.

For now do not run LRM's and dont bother taking AMS.

Im sure they will tweak ECM and at some later date it will be closer to being balanced.

FYI the only way to target a ECM cloaked mech is to TAG it with a TAG laser from outside the 180M range of the ECM mech.

[One Medic Army]

Also they increased the fraction of a mech you need to be able to see to get a target lock.
Which makes cover more useful in preventing locks.

[PerfectTommy]

Haven't been having any new targeting issues, but I have noticed my ballistics will sometimes appear to have a really wobbly flight path, like a sine wave or something. Instead of the usual smooth arc.

Not always, but quite often.



-PT

[TheGreatNoNo]

Tommy, I have seen that too. Had a WTF moment when someone fired a AC of unknown type across my face, then again and again when I turned to see where it came from, it looks like the TK wave shotgun from borderlands.

[Apoc1138]

Rifter, on 11 December 2012 - 12:13 AM, said:

ECM is way overpowered.

For now do not run LRM's and dont bother taking AMS.

Im sure they will tweak ECM and at some later date it will be closer to being balanced.

FYI the only way to target a ECM cloaked mech is to TAG it with a TAG laser from outside the 180M range of the ECM mech.

I love it that people think this... last night me and my friend were running as a 2 man group, me in an atlas (no ECM, with TAG) and him in a catapult also with tag... people with ECM were running straight at him from 600 meters assuming he either couldn't target them or had streaks, he'd totally soften them up with LRM's and then between us we'd get 4-5 kills per round

[TheCaptainJZ]

Cormith, on 10 December 2012 - 11:18 PM, said:

1. On RiverCity map, two enemy mechs with in 250M(of me) are taking base, I can see them clearly on my screen they have no little eyeball around their heads and I could not target as they didnt show up with a Triangle above them, so I moved closer to attempt to target and found that I had to go around a structure( I could see the Atlas's shoulders and head above the structure clear line) before targeting took place.
Is this...new? or they had ECM or something that disrupts general targeting?

2. Do people not click target("R") to ID/"Lock" targets? It seems that targets are either not "seen" or ECM is REALLY crazy good...I found myself constantly on the movein my Cata trying to stay at 400 - 700M to give me room to manuever and time to lock on for my missles, instead of sitting at 600 to 700 to give fire support...

1. They probably had ECM. Once you are in the bubble, you can target them, though it is "fuzzy" and your teammates don't get that info relayed to them outside the bubble. Also, the game decides what you can see by drawing a line between your mech and theirs, but where the line connects to the mechs exactly, I don't know (is it torso? head?). The object may have been in the way. Hard to say on that.
2. ECM will cloak any friendlies within 180 meters, so definitely possible it hid them.

[Apoc1138]

you can start to target a mech with ECM at 200m, but at 180m you stop being able to send that info to team mates, so the old addage of press R for LRM boats to target is now very tricky...

however TAG can see through ECM and make mechs targetable... if you are running an LRM boat, then you need a TAG

[PerfectTommy]

Lost One, on 11 December 2012 - 12:30 AM, said:

Tommy, I have seen that too. Had a WTF moment when someone fired a AC of unknown type across my face, then again and again when I turned to see where it came from, it looks like the TK wave shotgun from borderlands.

Even better now, I fired at a close range target as we ran past each other, and I saw the shell whip around my target a couple of times before impacting.

I think possibly that the "sine wave" wobble I saw earlier was my shells tracking the hitbox of my target, as it bobbed up and down from walking?



-PT

[Rifter]

Apoc1138, on 11 December 2012 - 01:23 AM, said:

I love it that people think this... last night me and my friend were running as a 2 man group, me in an atlas (no ECM, with TAG) and him in a catapult also with tag... people with ECM were running straight at him from 600 meters assuming he either couldn't target them or had streaks, he'd totally soften them up with LRM's and then between us we'd get 4-5 kills per round

Yes in groups this works if you can count on people to TAG for you.

OP sounded like he was solo pugging, NEVER count on anyone for spotting or TAG'ing in a pug game EVER, it never end well when you rely on pugs.

Better to use weapon systems that ECM does not effect in pug drops IMO.

[Cormith]

Wow, I have been away for awhile. Ok so LRM's = TAG now, and yes I was solo Pugging, and ...well ****. Weapon suggestions then..? heheh Ty all for posting, and more importantly Posting constructive answers. Good to see we have some serious folk on here.

[Rifter]

Cormith, on 12 December 2012 - 05:32 AM, said:

Wow, I have been away for awhile. Ok so LRM's = TAG now, and yes I was solo Pugging, and ...well ****. Weapon suggestions then..? heheh Ty all for posting, and more importantly Posting constructive answers. Good to see we have some serious folk on here.

Feel free to friend me in game and we can drop together if i see you online, i have no issues helping people learn the ropes. Its hard for people that dont play alot to keep up from patch to patch.

For pug drops right now i reccomend laser and ballistics, as they function just fine when being jammed by ECM.

SRM's are also good but remember if you have artemis it will not function when being jammed by ECM but the SRM's will still fire just with the larger spread of non-artemis SRM's.

Actually artemis is a total joke with ECM the way it is so i probably wouldnt bother with it either.

I find it best to pug in a low cost medium to grind cbills. Personally i grind in a standard hunchback with a AC20 and 2 MPL. Its cheap to fix, effective with and without ECM/spotter support, and packs a punch with that big old AC20.


You mentioned having the founders cat, im running mine with a large XL engine and 2 SRM6 launchers and 4 MPL. Its also got DHS upgrade. This is a very effective mech and i find works great for a brawler support mech. Wait for the assaults to engage and then jump into the fight 10 seconds later when everyone is focusing on the assaults and you can lay down some serious damage fast, and no one focuses on cats right away in a brawl because they generally arnt good brawler mechs but you can make it work for that.

[PurpleNinja]

LRMs are gone, lasers are the new trend.

[Havyek]

ECM isn't overpowered.

That being said, I've noticed that for LOS targeting, you need to see a good chunk of the enemy, like most of their torso before they show up as being a target.
However, you also need to check and make sure you're not being jammed. They may not have had ECM, but a Commando sitting behind you may have had it and was jamming you.

As to the R, well ECM could be causing havoc, but I've also noticed that because many people have given up on lock-on weapons for fear of being jammed by ECM, they're not bothering to hit R to target.