24 replies to this topic

[Armando]

SRM and AC/20 Cats are nasty buggers, if one is already in range, and you have no cover near you... chances are you are not going to make it out alive. That said the one thing you CAN do is torso twist. (One of the 'side games' some of my teammates and I play is "how much armor can I lose and still live", the ONLY way to beat us at that game is to master torso twisting.)

As an example...

1st shoot: You shoot him (aiming for his head or ears), keep your chest facing him, he hits you in the chest.
2nd shoot: You shoot him (aiming for his head or ears), turn far right, he hits you in the left arm.
3rd shoot: You shoot him (aiming for his head or ears), turn far left, he hits you in the right arm.

At this point he is either dead, or you are...if not keep taking your shoots and turning to give him the part of your mech (left, center, right) that has the most armor remaining.

Also remember that changes in elevation can help too (take the high, then low ground, then back to high ground)....always keep moving, preferably toward your teammates (never, EVER stop).

[sC4r]

if you want to fight it first of all you need to have correct type of mech -> mech that has high alpha dmg (excluding lrms ofc)
you absolutely must avoid letting him "hug you" or shooting your back, and what you must do is to try at least blow off one ear if and do it in a way like this -> alpha strike ear and turn to him your less damaged arm this way you should be able to withstand several of his shots
if you have really big alpha (my ddc has 83) you may as well try to core him

but if you want to run well you got problem here if he is close enough to you like some 100m for many situations running away will get you killed uselessly so if anything try to kite him into larger group of your mechs and nail him

but in generall try to find if and where they have splat, and focus fire him before he gets in range so you shouldnt have problems with him later... and really with one ear down he is not so much dangerous anymore

EDIT: pretty much the same works for ac20/gauss cats... except shoot these into the face

Edited by sC4r, 11 February 2013 - 11:24 PM.

[MourningZero]

If you're in this position, you either screwed up or he got the drop on you. Best you can do is throw some damage at either the ears or cockpit and try to twist your healthy parts to face him when the SRM cooldown is up. If you've got the speed to get away: 100+ kph, make unpredictable turns until he fires, then straight line away while counting to 4, start juking again on 3 and turn a healthy part to face him at 4.

It's kind of a troll question though. Like: 'What do you do when you are in an open field with no long ranged weapons or ECM and an LRM boat crests the hill 600m away?' You die man. It's the price you pay for finding yourself in that position.

[Bagheera]

Jman5, on 10 February 2013 - 03:40 PM, said:

Assuming you are faster, but not that much faster:

• Priority 1 is putting 150 meters between you two. SRM 6's have crazy-high spread, but can absolutely obliterate you at under 100m. Just beeline it in a straight line for the first leg of your escape. Make sure you are swiveling around randomly to spread the damage during the most dangerous part.

This is, imo, one of the keys to fighting these things. You don't have to be all the way out to 270 to significantly reduce their bite.

[MustrumRidcully]

Kommisar, on 06 February 2013 - 09:04 AM, said:

I love how many guys make these big sweeping statements about how "easy" something is. Like:

"Just keep the range."
"Just shoot off the ears."
"Don't stand in front of them."
"Always know what type of Cat it is."

Oh... I just have to win? Man, if only I had figured that out months ago. Now this game is easy!

Come on. Unless you are a troll or a noob, you know better. Things are messy and never absolute. And even the best pilot can have an SRMCat that he didn't see pop up on his flank. Or three. Or you have the battle where there are, what, four to six Catapults running around. Good luck keeping track of which is which when they are all relatively fast and hugging that ECM blanket close. Or, yea. ECM. The thingie that hides what a mech's loadout is.

Now, add to this that not all of us are in premade drops with Vet players. You know, the ones that will talk to you and support you when you get hung out. For a lot of players, they are doing their best by tucking in close to an assault (preferably a DDC with ECM of their own) and screening him. And, not every map is Caustic Valley with long view distances.

*GASP* Sometimes, the other team is good and/or gets lucky and can sneak in.

So, let's dump all the chest bumping fools that pretend that they are immune to getting stuck in a bad spot during a fight.

Thanks. I really wonder what the people that always assume that only incompetent and stupid people get near SRMs.

Quote

What do you do when you have a nasty AC/20 or SRM6 Catapult pop up inside his optimal range to hurt you?

To be honest, not a whole lot. He's likely going to tag you to some extent.

If you are fast, you should try to blow right past/by him. A LOT of factors to consider in this split second decision. But, if you try to stop, he has you dead. If you try to back up, that means you have to stop first... same result. If you turn and run, he gets to see your back while you are trying turn and flee. So, like a wide receiver in football or a striker in soccer, you punch through and force him to turn to keep up. Mind you, this works best if he is danger close.

If you are slow (assaults, most heavies, some mediums) and cover is not available; your options slim even more. First, prepare to take a hit. It's going to hurt. If you survive it, you had better have already made up your mind as to what you are going to do. Fight or flight. If you lean towards flight, you best have 2 of 3 very important things.

• Speed. If you are slower than, say 65 kph, you're just going to die tired. You are not escaping this guy.
  
• Cover and Terrain. Something to give you that break in LOS. Or even a significant change in elevation can do the trick. Something you can use to buy you time and delay that follow on alpha that will finish you. Or better, if you are lucky and the guy is not patient, actually miss with that next shot. Does happen.
  
• Friends! Friends near-by that can and will help you. Can and will; both.

If you don't have 2 of the above, then fight is your highest probability choice. Very few builds actually pack enough of an alpha strike to reliably take off an arm in one hit. If you have one, then go for it and hope you have enough armor to survive the 3x SRM6 hit coming. If you don't, then stop. Full stop. Aim. And hit that cockpit area. It's a long shot; but possible as long as your alpha is pumping out more than 20 and you don't have serious convergence issues. Head popping a Cat use to be simple; since they shrunk the hitbox back in December, not as easy. If you hit, win! If you don't drop him then he gets another alpha and you most likely will not get a second shot.



If you are unfortunate enough to have more than one on you; your best option is to use your remaining seconds to allow your teammates to kill/cripple them. Lead them out in the open if you can. Or ram one and stop them from moving. Let your friends use your burning, screaming death to get easy shots on them.

Most of the SRMCat pilots use to be Leroys. Rushing out to find their personal Valhalla or something. I've been running into a whole lot of smarter ones of late. In premade teams that run wolf-pack. Smart, quick and talking. It's a lot of the guys that use to run Raven 3Ls all the time that miss their lag shield or got bored. Problems is, they are still good pilots that know timing and how to pick a target. And how to hide and not give up the game like the above guys seem to always assume.

Hope this helps. Not the most optimistic outlook here, I know. But, if an SRMCat gets that close and has the jump on you, you're getting hammered.

This was an excellent, helpful post. Thank you for putting it so eloquently and exhaustive.

Edited by MustrumRidcully, 13 February 2013 - 04:49 AM.