37 replies to this topic

[jper4]

(with apologies to Duran Duran)

anyway thought i'd just mention a few things that i've found to be helpful while pugging all the time. these won't guarentee any sort of win (i'm a couple losses under .500 atm) but at least it can help the situation somewhat and gives us a better chance of working together and/or with whatever premade may be with us.

some cases it's pretty much going to be a stomp but the good thing is that five minutes later you can try again. i've been piloting a hunchy exclusively so these tips may not work for other chassis. some of these can apply to any situation.

1) Look Around- when the game first starts up don;t go charging up into the field of battle. Instead take a look at your teammates. Not only will you get a better idea of what you're working with- but it also allows that person who may be typing up some sort of plan the chance to finish before we get all strung out.

2) See What's On Your Team- simple enough- if you see alot of atlases then the speedier mechs should adjust their speed accordingly so they're not left behind. if there's a lot of cats- many will announce if they are LRM boats or not (apparently there are only LRM cats, gausscats and streakcats in game ) then you're going to need to move a little bit in front of them to spot (lights can't target everything) but not too far because you have to protect the LRM boats from the lights in a little bit. Lots of scouts and i know i'm going to die with low damage totals since i can;t hit those runts very well (i don;t have any streak setups) but more seriously that may turn you into the heavy for that match so watch for the handful of bigger than a lights out there.

3) Find a Partner- as a hunchy the first thing i look for is an assault mech and then follow it as long as i can. this offers them some protection from the light that's running circles around your partner since you can target it while it's attacking the assault. if there's no assault mechs find a heavy or even another medium if that's all you have. LRM boats will thank you though this may result in a few minutes of doing nothing until the enemy closes unless you have long range weapons which i don't. An Atlas facing another Atlas is more worried about the Atlas in front of it thn the hunchy off to the side firing at it (at first at least)

4) Follow the Talker- if someone mentions some sort of plan or even asks for one it's a good idea to stay close to this person since they're at least willing to try some sort of plan and is more likely to have fought with tactics in other fights. may not always work but it's worth a shot. also if there's a premade on your team- follow the premade core instead of running off wherever- they're probably more coordinated than us random puggers so why not use that to our advantage?

5) Follow the Blob- if you go right then see 5 mechs going left- stop right where you are (unless you're a scout keeping an eye on the other side of course), turn around and go left. yes sometimes you may find the entire other team went one way leaving the other open to go for a cap but if the other side is waiting not attacking you get outnumbered on either side and die faster. but staying close can;t hurt- especially if multiple people have AMS to counter the LRM swarms

6) Patience- if you see your team setting up defensive positions and waiting then wait with them. yes you're not doing any damage but you can spot for the LRMs and keep an eye out for any scouts trying to sneak by the other side. besides by the time the enemy gets by all the long range attacks they're weaker and your mech is unscratched so take advantage then instead of running out on your own.

7) LRM Til You Can't- just added a LRM to one of my hunchies and have the idea that if i still have LRM ammo left over at the end i did something wrong. Why not use up every last round you can hitting them before they hit you? (watch for return fire though) so when you do get to brawling range they're softened up more than you. which reminds me- grab an AMS as soon as you can to improve your survival chances against this.

8) Find an Already Targeted Mech and Fire- once the circle brawling begins i try to find either a mech that's already been softened up to target first or i look to see if someone else is caught up one on one and help them. Multiple mechs hitting a target kills it faster than everyone shooting their own personal enemy mech. as a hunchy you don;t want to be target the other guy pays attention to so find a heavy/assault mech that's fighting and help them out. Once you kill that mech i've found the heavy/assault now sticks together with you so now you're a team of 2 (or more) that has shown they can work together against already damaged enemy mechs remaining (yeah you are probably damaged too but it still helps).

9) Careful Focus Firing- while focus firing does kill mechs faster and more effiiecently i've found times where you actually get in each other's way. once the 4th mech starts targeting the same enemy at close range i've noticed quite a bit of damage is being done to each other as circling paths cross each other. i've had to hold off the fire button many times at a clear rear armor shot when i see another mech get in between me and the target. May be a good time to use up those leftover LRMs you may have from a safe distance to finish the kill. especially us puggers who aren;t working with the same people each match so we know what to expect from them

10) BASE DEFENSE!- Once the "base being captured" alarm goes off, i try to make a run for the base. lost many matches where we'd be up 5-3 or something only to lose because no one bothered to go back and chase that jenner sitting on our base. now if you're more than halfway across the map a hunchy won;t make it usually but if you're in a light/cicada then please return home.yeah there may be multiple mechs there and we lose anyway but at least we'd try. and if you're less than halfway from home even a hunchy can get there with time left. Heavier mechs all depend on speed and location as to whether or not to even bother returning.

11) Know the Odds- just remembered this. hit your tab button when our friendly neighborhood afkers/suiciders/disconnects strike- if they're on your side you're short handed so it's even more important to keep together and be more cautious. if it's on their side you can be a bit more aggressive.

that's all i can think of right now but i'd like to think it's helped me play a bit better and maybe it can help some of the newer players too. granted i don;t always follow my own advice but i try (then i find myself alone while the one enemy's 4 buddies all turned up while i wasn;t looking ) sorry for the TL;DR, the post got longer than i thought.

Edited by Tanar, 01 December 2012 - 12:37 PM.

[8RoundsRapid]

This is some damn good advice on how to pug properly. +1.

[Dagnome]

Good advice, possibly. Falling on deaf ears, gaurenteed.

[stjobe]

Good, solid advice. Well done.

[xenoglyph]

Wait a sec, hold on. You mean as a pug I'm not supposed to rush the enemy team Rambo style and then complain via global chat the rest of the match about my stupid team not backing me up?

[Kdogg788]

All great advice. Please pin this thread. Although I'm in a group I find many times I run randoms because I'm multitasking at the time and don't want to make the group wait for me while I'm AFK between games. I've done all of these things.

-k

[Fajther]

Good advice, more pugs need to read it.

[elbloom]

bump, also doing 100 damage means only hitting an enemy 5 times or so - in an entire match of 10 minutes - a measly 5 times !
if you do under 100 regularily... ahemm, consider playing hello kitty

[Tangelis]

This should be stickied for all PUG'ers to read. In fact there should be a forum strickly for lone wolves with this as the READ ME FIRST tag.

Well done brother.

[Pancakeman]

While agree on all points, I still don't see a reason to ever PuG. Even if you don't have a mic, most players at least have sound, which allows them to coordinate with others on Teamspeak.

[Mr 144]

Nice read OP....Consider Editing in Bold, underline, italics, and color to the original as it's well worth the read, but some don't have the patience. At least underlining and bolding the first sentence of each numbered point, would be a great start.

Mods, please 'Sticky' First Read for Lone Wolf Pugging

Mr 144

[Aaron Knight]

Tanar,

This is great advice for the times when your running solo. Thanks for throwing this up. Hopefully it won't completely fall on deaf ears.

Kudos,
Aaron

[8RoundsRapid]

Pancakeman, on 01 December 2012 - 11:49 AM, said:

While agree on all points, I still don't see a reason to ever PuG. Even if you don't have a mic, most players at least have sound, which allows them to coordinate with others on Teamspeak.

And I don't see a reason for you to post useless off topic garbage in a good thread.

[JimSuperBleeder]

Each map has its own strategy and once everyone learns the basic idea then it will all fall into place with the hivemind.

Meaning everyone will know what to do instinctively as a group.

[Logan Pryde]

great pugger's guide!

[Pancakeman]

8RoundsRapid, on 01 December 2012 - 12:01 PM, said:

And I don't see a reason for you to post useless off topic garbage in a good thread.

I'm not. I just think that people on the forums here probably already use TeamSpeak. The community that uses these forums on a regular basis is fairly small compared to the bulk of players. New players need to be encouraged to try to do everything in the post in addition to getting on comms with a group.

[8RoundsRapid]

Pancakeman, on 01 December 2012 - 12:08 PM, said:

I'm not. I just think that people on the forums here probably already use TeamSpeak. The community that uses these forums on a regular basis is fairly small compared to the bulk of players. New players need to be encouraged to try to do everything in the post in addition to getting on comms with a group.

And that's fine. But that's not what this thread is about. This thread is about how to PUG better, not how to join a group. That's kind of the opposite of the entire point.

And ya, this should be stickied or somethin.

[Fiachdubh]

Great post. Think a lot of pugs are playing to those rules now and it really shows in game.

[Lefty Lucy]

Pancakeman, on 01 December 2012 - 12:08 PM, said:

I'm not. I just think that people on the forums here probably already use TeamSpeak. The community that uses these forums on a regular basis is fairly small compared to the bulk of players. New players need to be encouraged to try to do everything in the post in addition to getting on comms with a group.

since new players would need to come to the forums to figure out how to get on coms in a group, any kind of forum-based efforts to help them are kind of misguided anyways. Everything the player needs to successfully group up should be included in the game in an intuitive manner. Right now nearly nothing is. For many games only about 30% of the player base even reads the forums *once*.

[jper4]

thanks for the input guys. i bolded and underlined the points to make them stand out better- bit color blind so the coloring part doesn;t really work too well for me. my playtimes are rather random and in short bursts so doing the whole comms thing isn;t really worth it to me personally. i'd rather just jump in and try and get as many games as i can in. i have noticed a lot more 7/8-4/5s than 7/8-1/0s playing lately though which is always a good thing.