13 replies to this topic

[Captain Mediocre]

I am a light mech pilot I use ECM and I have likely ruined your day. I will admit ECM is OP but I also use a Dragon for killing lights with great success. Here is what I’ve found works from both sides of these encounters. These are some simple and effective things that other users just aren’t doing.

• Stay together: If your big, slow and alone I will run around behind you and pick away your armor (I have cored Atlases). One other friendly nearby makes me think twice before attacking you.
  
• Protect Friendly ECM: Kind of the same as stay together. If your Medium or heavy protect ECM atlas. If you’re a non ECM light and you can keep up follow your ECM lights and watch their back.
  
• Limit my options: I am most often killed when the opponent uses terrain to force me to attack from a direction of their choosing,
  
• Carry Weapons just for me: Your large lasers and gauss are great against another stalker or atlas but you’re not going to hit me (Except for one atlas pilot I keep running into. How did you core me on my first pass two matches in a row?). Try these weapons; two or more SRM 6, LBX10 and Pulse lasers are all scary when wielded well.
  
• Aim Low: If you leg me I’m dead it’s that simple and it’s also rather easy with the weapons above. Obviously if my torso armor is already low then just core me.
  
• Anything with ECM is a priority target: Obviously if you’re in an assault facing an assault mech don’t turn to squash the raven. But if you see two ravens and one has ECM kill that one first
  
• Use Reverse: When your being circled as they pass behind you go full reverse and turn. If timed correctly this will throw the lights off and give you have for 1 or 2 extra shots as they pass. This is not my idea but I had this used against me and he almost got me. I then used my dragon to try this and managed to fight off 3 ecm lights (2 dead 1 ran).
  
• Lead your target: All weapons but lasers have travel time and they’re moving fast you need to aim where they will be. Even lasers need a bit of a lead due to lag. Look for your target reticule to turn red that’s where server thinks they are. (Hat tip Capt Jester)

When I die it’s always because the enemy team has done at least one of the above. I also have little trouble with lights in my LBX equipped dragon.
Any more tips from other users would be welcomed.
I hope this helps.

(Please refrain from making this another OP/Not OP thread)

Edited to add more tips

Edited by Captain Mediocre, 22 January 2013 - 08:21 AM.

[Ragor]

Great post.

For me the most successful weapon to hunt down lights is always the LPL - but I am aware that many players avoid it due to... forum complains about the heat.
... which is not really an issue for me since I spent more time in game than in the forums.

[Regrets]

If it isa mando, ignore it. Almost all are running SSRM6 which is useless vs heavy+ cause can't be aimed.

Cicadas and Ravens are more dangerous. Put you back to the cover. Honestly, if you are walking around with no cover you deserve to die.

[StalaggtIKE]

Captain Mediocre, on 15 January 2013 - 09:51 AM, said:

(Please refrain from making this another OP/Not OP thread)

MMmmm.....* must keep mouth closed!...*

You gave some good tips.

Edited by StalaggtIKE, 15 January 2013 - 10:57 AM.

[Splinters]

ECM counter wolfpacks are the best counter.

Get 2-4 lights with ECM equipped, have pre-designated counter switch order (1st-3rd for 4 man group), hunt down the lights one by one even if they are a wolfpack.

Lights just don't stay together much in pugs, but if they do they can usually find one single scout to take down. If it's a pack, bring them back to the main group and then focus fire. Quite often it's the dispersal of light mechs that cause a team to loose a mech first more than anything.

-S

[Dropdeadfred]

As both an ECM Comm and ECM Raven pilot, I agree with a lot of things the OP said. I now stay away from SRM-6 Catapults when I'm in one of those...lesson learned. Stalkers are too slow though, I'll pick on them. 2 heavies hanging out near each other? I'll shoot one of them with the streaks, hit the other with the lasers (for the kill assist bonus) and move on for a better target. The best thing a pilot can do to counter me is to back up against some terrain. I now can't circle you and constantly stay at full speed while moving laterally against you. At some point I'll have to either stop, or turn back around the other way, allowing you get a good bead on me. I'll almost always just leave and move on to some other hapless pilot.

It doesn't matter what mech I'm in, I ALWAYS gun for the ECM light when it shows its face. My ECM Atlas runs streaks purely for the ECM lights out there. Counter ECM, target the Raven. Hit the heavy/assault I'm facing with lasers and gauss, pop the raven with the streaks. Lets them know I can see them, usually gets them to turn out of the main fight for a bit.

[NRP]

Thanks for this thread! With the introduction of the Spider, there are light mechs all over the place now.

[joedawg39s]

Great guide, the more I think about this the more it reminds me of WW2 air combat in the pacific. Early on the Japanese had better maneuverability and speed with the zero and the American wildcat while slower was built like a tank. In a 1 on 1 fight the zero would beat the wildcat in a turning battle but, when 2 wildcats worked together they could take on a larger force of zeros. This is how they did it. http://en.wikipedia....iki/Thach_WeaveSo remember your history and work together.

Edited by joedawg39s, 16 January 2013 - 04:43 PM.

[Capt Jester]

If using lasers, take advantage of the reticule. It will turn red if the server detects you're pointing at where it thinks that little guy is. Lead your shots until you get a good idea of how far you have to lead, and then keep that up.

I would also say keep moving; a standing target is easier to pelt with both lasers and SSRMs than a moving target where that raven going at 150kph really has to twitch side to side to get a solid shot with the lasers.

[Narcissistic Martyr]

Channel your inner Ms Cleo and lag shoot the legs best way to win until PGI puts their new fix in (which will hopefully work).

[Slicer]

Im a recent light mech pilot, falling to the darkside of OP sweetness of the streak/ecm. My KDR has skyrocketed and when i go light i lead my teams light wolfpacks (anywhere from 2-4) to vicious results. Spot, isolate, and hunt down enemy ecm lights, preferably faaar away from the enemy main battleline, so you dont risk LRMs raining in on your party or random beams and shells slamming into you (oftentimes from even your own teammates trying to potshot the lights youre dog fighting with). I tend to find that the team with superior light fighters will win the match 95% of the time, especially on conquest since even if the main battleline loses, the ecm lights can outcap/run the enemy to victory. However oftentimes when the enemy lights are taken care of, thats when my crew of merry ******** are gonna zone on enemy LRM boats and snipers first, then on the enemy wounded for the decisive win.

As a light driver the things i find the most terrifying are obviously an opposing team of coordinated (ie on TS) ecm lights, where it becomes a battle of hide and go streak and if one side is lucky a bunch of LRMs zeroing in on our dogfighting butts.

Be afraid of the clever Atlas DDC pilot with 3 streak 2s. This guy is DEATH to unsuspecting light mechs, as he has 3 streakers to take you down quick. Avoid this guy at all costs since obviously he can take out your stealth bubble unless you have ecm numbers on him.

After that K2 ac/20 and gauss cats scare me since a lucky alpha can outright core or take out a leg. Splat (SRM) cats dont worry me too much since my lag shield tends to protect me from them most of the time anyway. Large lasers boats are worrisome as the smart ones will sweep your legs and 4 LLs to the legs even with lag shielding will wear you out and gimp you, especially if youre a reckless pilot constantly taking fall damage. MLaser boats come next, as a lot of mechs can pack a bunch of em leg sweep.

As a smart light mech pilot you just have to curb your urges to go all hunter killer mode on big mechs. Scout and focus on killing the enemy fast movers and the battle is as good as won. Avoid those guys i said earlier and for the most part youre gonna be impervious to enemy big guys and even little guys if they dont have ecm and streaks.

Other clever tactics to fight lights that work is to bait a light mech into shooting you in the back. Its counter intuitive, but stop moving. Just dont move and oftentimes a naive overaggressive light mech will slow down or stop to hammer you from behind and BOOM your buddies (assuming they're on TS or were watching) will wtf pawn that light mech in one or two salvos without the lag shield protecting him. Of course if its a Raven 3L their screwed up hit boxes will usually save the little ******** ***, but with Commandos, ouch, taught me a harsh lesson whenever i try to be cute like that.

Mech gods save me if they ever fix the net code. I'm hardly an ultra elite badass, but with lag shield and ecm exploiting im damn near unkillable unless i teamed up on or caught up on a wal.

[Captain Mediocre]

Thank you all for the support. I’m adding more tips to the top post.

Ragor, on 15 January 2013 - 10:02 AM, said:

Great post.
For me the most successful weapon to hunt down lights is always the LPL - but I am aware that many players avoid it due to... forum complains about the heat.
... which is not really an issue for me since I spent more time in game than in the forums. file:///C:DOCUME~1CBOUMALOCALS~1Tempmsohtmlclip11clip_image001.png

I agree large pulse lasers are great. I run 2 on my dragon but would run large lasers for long battles with larger mechs. But I play hit and run/ support.

Regrets, on 15 January 2013 - 10:28 AM, said:

If it isa mando, ignore it. Almost all are running SSRM6 which is useless vs heavy+ cause can't be aimed.
Cicadas and Ravens are more dangerous. Put you back to the cover. Honestly, if you are walking around with no cover you deserve to die.

You just keep ignoring commandos that suits me fine.

Capt Jester, on 16 January 2013 - 05:27 PM, said:

If using lasers, take advantage of the reticule. It will turn red if the server detects you're pointing at where it thinks that little guy is. Lead your shots until you get a good idea of how far you have to lead, and then keep that up.

Thank Jester that’s a good tip. I’m going to paraphrase it in the main post

Edited by Captain Mediocre, 22 January 2013 - 08:17 AM.

[Regrets]

Captain Mediocre, on 22 January 2013 - 07:57 AM, said:

You just keep ignoring commandos that suits me fine.

I run ECM Mando. It is really no threat to a Heavy+. You can do 15 untargetted damage, and 5 targeted damage. I'm not saying if you have nothing else to do then let it shoot you in the back 10 times, but in the fray of a battle with higher priority targets, the mando is wayyy far down on the list. I suspect spiders are very similar. It is almost a total waste of ammo for the mando to fire it's SSRM versus a heavy.

Edited by Regrets, 22 January 2013 - 08:33 AM.

[MagicHamsta]

Captain Mediocre, on 15 January 2013 - 09:51 AM, said:

Carry Weapons just for me: Your large lasers and gauss are great against another stalker or atlas but you’re not going to hit me (Except for one atlas pilot I keep running into. How did you core me on my first pass two matches in a row?).

Me may not be the same Atlas pilot, but me has been taking down numerous ECM ravens while piloting my Assault mechs. Simple.
1) Me weapons can swivel faster than you can run.
2) Flimsy armor means it doesn't take much to take you down & my ballistic weapon will hurt whatever component it lands on.
3) Inherent weaknesses such as the lack of jumpjets/"tall" CT profile also means me only has to focus on your horizontal movements rather than compensating for a possibility of vertical flight/fall such as the kind me has to do against Jenners or Spiders.