MechWarrior Online: We are already dead. We are Goons!

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > MechWarrior Online: We are already dead. We are Goons!

OB_Juan: Nov 24, 2004; Not every day is a good day.; Dinosaur Gum

MechWarrior Online is a Free to Play Online Arena where players smash their GIANT ROBOTS against an opposing team of GIANT ROBOTS to GET PAID.

Or, in the publisher's words: it's "A tactical BattleMech simulation set in 3050 AD. As a pilot known as a "MechWarrior", you are about to take control of the most powerful mechanical battle units the universe has ever seen."

This game was pretty popular back in 2012/2013 with a heavy goon presence during the open beta. Unfortunately the game has seen some pretty unpopular changes, such as:

- 3rd person view, which has turned out to not be a big deal.
- Major cash grabbing: $50 price tags on clan 'mechs which are superior to IS 'mechs (though can now be bought with A LOT of in game money), nerfed in game currency acquisition requiring grinding (f2p.txt), and $500 gold mechs. Yes that's five hundred dollars.
- 8v8 was changed to 12v12, which changed combat dramatically, with focus fire vastly reducing how long a 'mech could survive. Some of the maps are still 8v8 sized, and can be cramped. The addition of larger maps has helped this, however. Also, some of the smaller maps are being reconfigured for the larger teams.
- UI 3.0: The 'MechLab has been improved somewhat!

History

MWO has been a rollercoaster of "interesting" decisions. Rather than going into detail here, I'll just point you to Chronojam's Timeline.

However, after a long slump, the game is fun again! With the recent addition of quirks that significantly improved the weakest IS mechs and some weapon changes, balance (particularly the IS-Clan balance) is much better than before. Clan 'mechs are still very powerful, but Russ has claimed that further tweaking will be held until after Community Warfare drops. Ghost Heat still exists, but the devs have softened their stance on its permanence. Improved communication with the playerbase has done a lot to buy goodwill.

What Happened to Make Things Good Again?

In a single interesting month, PGI announced that they were parting ways with their publisher, IGP, blaming them for a lot of the PR and development issues. Scant days later, they launched a new IP, Transverse (yes, they really called it that). It was pretty much a Star Citizen knockoff from the concept to the ship designs. The plan was to fund it via the lovechild of the MWO founder's program and Star Citizen's Kickstarter. During the month the funding program ran, they collected ~ $10k, and ended up refunding all of it. They also started a new sub-reddit to advertise the game, broke Reddit's TOS, and several PGI employee accounts got banned from the site. PGI Community Manager Nikolai Lubkiewicz blamed the goons, and linked to a previous MWO thread here on the forums. This public relations fiasco may be the reason Russ has turned over a new leaf, but its impossible to say for sure. (Result: Partial Success! Russ still talks too much, and Paul is still kinda bad)

Clans:

Clan 'mechs are now available. Everything in a Clan 'mech is numerically superior to the IS counterpart. This is balanced by Clan 'mechs having a somewhat different customization system, and quite a lot of soft balance (lasers burn longer, cannons fire in bursts rather than single giant shells, LRMs fire in streams rather than clumps). Nonetheless they tend to be very powerful robots.

Quirks:

To give the IS 'mechs a much-needed shot in the arm, PGI added quirks to nearly all of the IS 'mechs, with shittier mechs getting much better ones. Quirk bonuses effect how far or fast weapons can fire, heat generation, durability, and more. This has brought several unpopular 'mechs out of retirement, and made some good 'mechs great. The downside is that builds for individual variants have gotten a little samey, but now at least those variants get played.

Community Warfare:

The Community Warfare Beta has now launched. It's all about Attack/Defend gameplay with dropships replacing fallen mechs. You select a "Drop Deck" of four 'mechs, with a total mass of 160-240 tons. One team defends a complex surrounding a giant anti-aircraft gun, while the other team tries to destroy it.

Current Innersphere Status: IS MAP

Our long-term goal is to to capture and hold [url="http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Butte_Hold"]Butte Hold. Goons MUST control the Butte Hold.

Goon Units:

Both G-Units have been through a purge lately, so you may need to ask to be re-invited if you were purged, or want to join. Ask in the thread if you can't find someone online.

- Word of Lowtax [WoL] - The main Goon unit. Primarily US timezones. Originally attached to Liao, now kinda floats around the Inner Sphere to get people free mechbays from CW. Currently run by Stalkerr.
- ~~Clan Mineral Animal [FLJK]~~[GIRL] - An active goon clan, led by Phorashi and/or Riyott. Attached to Clan Jade Falcon Currently run by Anita Dickinme and BMR.

:siren:

DO NOT JOIN A HOUSE OR CLAN, JUST JOIN A GOON UNIT! THIS WILL SET YOUR FACTION, AND YOU WON'T GET STUPID ERRORS. :siren:

Holy poo poo there are a lot of robots and factions and... ??!?

That's the up and the down side of attaching an MMOG to a tabletop wargame thats like 30 years old, with a "robust" fanbase.

Sarna is pretty handy if you want to know the backstory of what's going on (aka the "lore"). The basic idea is that there are six human space kingdoms full of '80s cultural stereotypes fighting for control of known space (the Inner Sphere). Several smaller, higher-tech human warrior cultures (who are themselves '80s cultural stereotypes) are invading and making GBS threads on everything with extreme predjudice. Elsewhere, there is a single planet with sentient avians chilling out, being awesome, and annoying grognards with their very existence.

But you don't care about the lore, so let's go over the types of 'mechs, and some goon favorites:

INNER SPHERE
IS 'mechs tend to see decades, sometimes centuries of service. In MWO, they are very customizable and the new quirks setup really makes some variants pop. Each IS player can bring up to 250 tons across exactly four 'mechs to a round of CW.

Assault 'Mechs
Slow but heavily armored, Assault 'Mechs are the tanks of MWO. Like an mmo tank, their primary functions are to attract attention and absorb damage. As an assault pilot you want to shield your team from as much damage as possible, spread that damage around your 'mech as much as you can (torso twisting the whole time), and die nobly.

King Crab
100 Tons of Crab. It's even got the clamps!

SUGGESTED BUILD: KGC-000

Stalker (85T)

The Stalker has a lot of hardpoints, and can lay down significant firepower. It's hitboxes help it spread damage pretty well, and it's way lighter than an Atlas. The fact that it looks like a walking dong has almost nothing to do with its popularity.

SUGGESTED BUILD: STK-4N

Heavy Mechs
Heavys tend to carry a lot of firepower, and are tough enough to use it. They also tend to be faster than assault 'mechs. Currently, they are one of the focuses of CW.

Thunderbolt (65T)

Goofy looking. IS knockoff of a Summoner. Quirks make it *The* IS Heavy Mech. It got nerfed a bit, but it's still solid.

SUGGESTED BUILD: TDR-9SE

Jagermech (65T)

Has high mounted weapons so you can peek over ridges and shoot people before going back down. Can carry and actually make use of a pair of Gauss rifles, making it a solid sniper mech. Still popular.

SUGGESTED BUILDS: JM6-S

Medium Mechs
Generally faster than Heavies, but not nearly as durable, IS mediums are in a bit of an awkward place currently. Being lighter than a heavy can help them fit in a dropdeck, however.

Hunchback (50T)

Hunchbacks are primarily brawlers, which is a tough role in the current long-range game. Sneaky Hunchbacks can still do work during a push, however.

SUGGESTED BUILD: HBK-4G

Light Mechs
Light 'mechs are one area where the IS pretty well outshines the Clans. To quote Daft Punk "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger".

Firestarter (35T)

Want to GO FAST and SHOOT BUTTS at a college level? This is the 'mech for that. Seriously.

SUGGESTED BUILDS: FS9-A, FS9-H, FS9-S.

Raven (35T)

The Raven 3L is a solid ECM carrier, with a nice hardpoint setup. The other variants have gotten much better via quirks, bit the average Firestarter is still a bit better.

SUGGESTED BUILDS: RVN-3L, RVN-3L.

IS 'mechs and Community Warfare:
If you grab one type of chassis from each of the weight classes, you should have a legal drop deck for CW (unless you get an Atlas, they are WAY heavy, and require a bit of deck tweaking to fit in). You could also do something silly like 3x heavies and one light.

CLAN
Clan Omnimechs run fast, hit hard, and have incredible range. They have the ability to swap arm, torso, and leg sections with other variants of the same 'mech, leading to a unique customization situation. The trade off is that they can't change their engines, and some equipment is not removable. Each Clan player can bring up to 240 tons across exactly four 'mechs to a round of CW.

Assault Mechs

Direwolf

Slow and huge, if not supported the Direwolf is vulnerable to fast harassers. With a little support, it's one of the most powerful in the 'mechs game. Can carry all the ballistics, or all the lasers. Or both?

SUGGESTED BUILD:

Heavy Mechs

Timberwolf

The iconic Clan 'mech. Fast, well armed, and flexible, there was no way this wasn't going to become one of the most popular 'mechs in the game. Surprise! it did.

SUGGESTED BUILD: TBR-PRIME, Laser Heavy

Medium Mechs

Stormcrow

A very flexible and powerful 'mech, the Stormcrow has become a very common sight. Almost certainly the best use of tonnage in the game (maybe competing with Firestarters and Timberwolves).
SUGGESTED BUILD: SCR-PRIME, Lasers or SCR- Streakcrow

Light Mechs

Kitfox

Not as fast as many IS lights, the Kitfox can carry an ECM and up to 3 AMS units (with the correct arm-pod). It also mounts more guns than you would expect.

SUGGESTED BUILD: (Coming Soon!)

Trial 'Mechs:
In the past these things were mind blowingly awful and liable to induce suicide. Luckily all IS 'Mechs have gotten the Champion treatment, meaning they're based on popular community designs, and are now fairly safe in regards to your mental health. Look for the (c) in front of the Trial label or behind a 'Mech's name for a Champion design. Clan Trials haven't gotten this treatment (yet?) so they're a bit dicier, though a few of them are probably alright by virtue of being Clan 'mechs.

Fine, I'll play your robot game. Where do I get it?

http://mwomercs.com/. You can make an account and download the game here.

:siren:

Okay, I downloaded this thing. How do I join the Word of Lowtax?

:siren:

DO NOT JOIN A FACTION, JUST JOIN WoL! IT WILL SET YOU FACTION, AND YOU WON'T GET STUPID ERRORS. :siren:

Joining the Goonrathi Forums (where the WoL offsite forums live):
These are primarily for the Star Citizen Goons, so you need a SC Forums account, too. (at least it's free!)

1) Go make a Star Citizen account. (Goonrathi is the SC Goond unit, they host the WoL offsite stuff as well.
2) Follow the steps over at FLJK under 'enlist'.
3) For your clearance code enter "Sexy BULBASAUR 69" and in the comments write "MWO Refugee"

Once that is done, you should be able to access the Goonrathi/WoL forums, the jabber, the wiki, and the mumble. (hint, the "The state of Goonrathi Infrastructure" will help with this)

:siren:

Just post your pilot name in the thread if you want to join WoL - an invite will occur.

But I can't be assed for that, I just want to shout at goons!

Fine. At least download Mumble.
Server: mumble.goonrathi.com
Username: Anything other than a registered account name
Password: mellon

Get invited to WoL in-game!

Message someone who can invite goons in the game! As of now, the best bet to actually get added is probably with Texas Merc, Baudin, or Shibas as they are on more consistently. Or post in the thread, that works too.

What's even better-better is to post your ingame name in the thread, and someone will toss you an invite shortly.

Play the game!

At first, you'll be limited to trial 'mechs. Your first 25 games will give you a significant increase in payment, which you can use to buy and build out your first fully-fitted 'mech. You should try different 'mechs during this time, to figure out what you like. The heavier robots do tend to have a higher sticker price, but light mech's tend to need a lot of upgrades before they are really tuned up right. Its also worth remembering that Inner Sphere-aligned pilots will only be able to pilot Inner Sphere 'mechs, and Clan-aligned pilots will only be able to pilot Clan 'mechs in Community Warfare. It may be wise to pick one type or the other before you start buying things. Outside of CW, you can drive whatever.

Try to drop with Goons as much as possible!

I can't stress this enough. :siren:

THIS GAME IS WAY MORE FUN WITH GOONS :siren:

Get on the Mumble, damnit. Also, Goons have limitless opinions on what are good or bad robots.

Fix the settings!

- Turn off Third Person View on mission start (F4 in game, can be permanently disabled in settings) 3PV is okay if you can't remember where your legs are pointed (hint: the minimap shows this), or you want to see your pretty, pretty paintjob. It makes aiming harder, and prevents you from using the map, though. Probably better to get used to not using it ASAP.

- Turn off throttle decay! Unless you are using a joystick without a throttle or (Kerensky help you) a game pad, turn this off. It's a dumb "feature".

- Turn off arm lock! Arm mounted weapons (usually) have a wider/taller arc of fire than torso mounted ones. On your HUD, arms aim at the little circle, while torsos aim at the +. Arm lock prevents these from diverging, at the cost of removing the extra traverse of the arm weapons. It can help certain builds, but it is toggleable in game, so there is no need to have it on all the time.

- Turn on "All Chat"! Disabled by default these days, there is an option to talk to/at the other team. It's worth noting that people can be a little report happy towards "goon humor", so don't say anything TOO stupid. Also, suggesting that Alt+F4 toggles 3rd person view (or anything else) is bannable. We did it so many times however, that the default button for it actually is F4. Cultural Victory!

- Make sure VOIP is enabled. The lower Elo brackets don't use voicecom too much, but it's really handy.

Hey, this game doesn't really help new players out too much, eh?

Nope. While the New User Experience is something that PGI has talked about wanting to improve, your best bet is to play with people who know what's up. Additionally, there is the New Player Help forum.

It looks like it might take a while to get the c-bills together to buy the stuff I want. Should I throw money at the game?

That is up to you. Many Goons are still angry about certain game mechanics, slow development time, and PGI's attitude toward the playerbase in the past. Others have spent $500+ on robots. The nicer paint options all require MC (the real-money currency), as do cockpit doodads and premium time. I'd suggest waiting until CW drops to see how you feel about it. You get a cadet bonus of ~11,000,000 Cbills for your first 25 matches, which should be enough to build a single fully fitted mech, and the trial mechs aren't too terrible these days so you should be able to get a solid idea of whether you like the game without spending any money.

My Gaming Computer is a Piece of poo poo (MGCPOS), can you help me?

Eatpants posted:

A couple people have been complaining about low FPS. Here's my user.cfg http://pastebin.com/wjxmK9tE

place user.cfg in \Mechwarrior Online -- most important is to set it to read-only!

Now you need to go into \Mechwarrior Online\USER\Profiles\yourname and edit Attributes.xml , change this option <Attr name="OptionCfg.sys_spec" value="-1" Make sure it is set to -1

Now set Attributes.xml to readonly as well and launch the game! wooooohoooo bad computers

Also if your videocard is a decent dx11 card you will get a slight performance boost running DX11 instead of DX9

Links

-Goonrathi ForumsThe clubhouse has a fair number of good (and bad) 'mech configs, and houses the offsite MWO Goon forum. REQUIRES AUTHORIZATION, SEE ABOVE!
-Smurfy's MechLab Until the return of Mechomancer, Smurfy is the best web-based 'mech builder. You can use it to share favorite configs, and test fit new ones.
-MWO forums The official MWO forums. "Affectionately" known as the Brown Sea.
-List of quirks All the info on the recent re-tune of the IS 'mechs, in a fairly easy to grasp format.
-Mechspecs A popular 'mech building forum.
-Reddit There are two different terrible subreddits about MWO. This link shows the new posts for each.
-Sync Video It's a site that lets people share Youtube playlists, and watch together. A fun group activity while waiting for drops.
-[url="https://"https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=aweFalafel.mechlab"]Falafel[/url] An Android-based mechlab.

:siren:

THANKS:
oswald ownenstein - Previous OP
sebmojo - Editing Help
Eatpants - user.cfg info
Parametric - see next post
The thread at large - new builds for the OP.

Extra:

Kazvall posted:

We're even getting poo poo early now. It's insanity. If ghost heat is removed I will pluck out all my pubic hair one by one.

OB_Juan fucked around with this message at 04:34 on Nov 10, 2015

# ? Dec 10, 2014 19:30

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? May 29, 2024 15:06

OB_Juan: Nov 24, 2004; Not every day is a good day.; Dinosaur Gum

Washout's Approved Robots Guide:

Washout posted:

Washouts all new approved mechs for dropping against clans.

So I tried to re-edit the last post I made but it started getting unwieldy so I figured I'd just put down a list of the mechs I'd like to see composing everyones drop decks.

Assaults:

Everything but the Stalker-4N should only be used when building an attacking drop deck. Otherwise Assaults are just too slow to be able to maneuver around correctly. The laser drill gets a pass because it's loving awesome and only weighs 85t.

1. Stalker-4N (6LL)
2. Banshee-3E (3LL 3AC5)
3. Atlas-D-DC (AC20, 3SRM6, although maybe 2 AC5 and Large lasers is passable but probably not)

Thats it, right now IS assaults are in a sorry place, but if the LL ghost heat change stays then things are really starting to look up. I'd love to put the crab on the list, but that thing is so easy to kill it's just sad.

Heavies:

This is where most of the good mechs are, everyone should buy a Thunderbolt-9S and a Dragon-1N if you don't already own one, they are amazing. Jagermechs, and Cataphracts just have too many problems to be bringing to clan wars, unless you are some kind of Dual Gauss savant. Jagers are way too fragile, and the Cataphract weapon hardpoints are a mess.

1. Dragon-1N
2. Thunderbolt-9S
3. Thunderbolts of other flavors
4. Quickdraw-5K with 3LL and 3ML might be alright?

Mediums:

Most clan mechs can do 30 damage alphas at 600m, so you need to do your best to come close to that with mediums especially. And if we are going to use any LRMS then at least don't use up a lot of tonnage with your LRM boats. I personally love the 4J with 6 small lasers, but it might be better for CW with 4 mediums.

1. Wolverine-6K/Shadowhawk-2K/Centurion-AL/Enforcer-4R (Large lasers)
2. Trebuchet-3C/Hunchback-4J

Lights:

The idea for lights is to have a lot of ECM, so much that you overwhelm all their bap and counter ECM so that they become completely unable to lock with streaks. A lot of clanners will take 2 streak boats. But with some counter attacking drop decks a starting light rush of firestarters to kill a lot of timberwolves or whatever is a good early rush tactic. Firestarters are probably relegated to only being used for this kind of surprise rush at this point. I've seen a few people do amazing things with a Panther and 2 LPL but I'm not sure how good those would be in CW.

1. Spider-5D/Raven-3L
2. Locust-PB/Cicada-3M/Firestarter-A/H/S

Once again, links to all the above robot builds can be found here: http://metamechs.com/mwo-tier-lists/is-list/

Some info on piloting lights from Paramemetic:

Paramemetic posted:

Here it is guys, the results of entire minutes of mindless timewasting while at work over the last few days. For submission to the wiki and linking from the new OP, I submit to you:

The Official Consolidated IS Light Tantra

I have been asked to expound upon how to murder everything in lights. Though I am an inferior robot man, I shall pass on what I have learned from the light masters.

Praise to Ohsh, whose metal babby inspires all who would go fast without care. Praise to modpud whose brand is synonymous with high scores. Praise to VariousCheeses whose Raven is never seen.

So you want to play lights?

Are you really sure? Because everybody else finds other robots a lot more fun I guess. Goons love brawling. Goons love rolling up heavy and pounding guns into one another. Lights don't do this. But maybe you are retarded, or maybe you have the need for speed, or maybe you just need some lights so you can bring a pair of Atlases to CW. Whatever your reasoning, you want to learn how to light mech. Okay, I'll tell you.

Go fast. Shoot butts. Die hard.

But of course there's (slightly) more to it than that. By way of bringing a bit of consistency of terms, and solidifying a doctrine for future newbirds, I offer this guide, drawing on the wisdom of better mech pilots than I, and the knowledge of our supreme mathwarriors.

But really, what the gently caress do I do?

So the first thing to consider is what you are doing in a light mech. Light mechs essentially have several completely different roles, but their primary roles are scouting and interference. While it's possible to steal just boatloads of kills in a light mech, especially one with MGs, light mechs shine in other areas and are arguably more beneficial before the kill stealing phase has begun.

Light mechs roles can be summed up as scouting, intercepting, and skirmishing.

A scout is exactly what it sounds like, it goes fast and looks for robots. With the new rewards, you make a sweet 2k cbills every time you are the first person to target a robot. So mash R a lot while running around. Once you've spotted things, tell people. Information is what you communicate, and communication is, after all, key.

Intercepting means responding to other lights and scouts. If you see them, chase them off. If someone says "there's a loving firestarter on me," generally just running straight at that light will chase it off. This allows your heavier teammates to keep doing poo poo that matters without having to swat flies.

Skirmishing takes two forms, which is brawling and harassing. Harassing is the much more important form for lights. In this activity, you'll pop out behind the enemy and shoot them in the butt until they turn around, at which point you'll get the gently caress out of dodge. During a big brawl, if you can get a couple enemy robots to turn around, you can literally win the day without even doing meaningful damage. With that firepower focused on you, or, in the best scenario, chasing you fruitlessly across the map, it isn't shooting the vanguard of our company as it pushes.

That sounds like a lot of words about autistic nerd poo poo, can't I just shoot robots?

The Basics of Lights

You're gonna get rocked if you try to be a hero, kill poo poo, whatever, early on, but there are some things that can help. First, go fast. You range from having paper armor to tinfoil armor, but not much more than that. Your defense is that you can outpace everyone except other lights in a straightaway, and it's easier to reposition yourselves. Do not always just run away though! Some mechs literally cannot shoot you if you close the gap. Not long ago, I ran up to a Banshee in a FS9-A and he couldn't shoot back as I opened him up. (I ended up killing their last 5 dudes solo, it was sick). Basically, consider going fast as your second defense, with your main defense being timing, waiting until other mechs are engaged or preoccupied.

Second, aim your shots. This really, really matters. Indiscriminately spraying damage is great when you're flying by, but once you've committed to fighting a dude, you want to be methodical. You don't have twin gauss and 4 PPCs to blast a dude apart, you alpha for 20, so punch the same spot. On mastered mechs, I usually use Fast Target Acquisition because it brings up targeting info fast. And on that note, never not hit R. Compulsively hit R every time you see new robots, every time a robot you're killing dies, or just periodically if you don't have a specific target. If you are in combat and you don't have a target you are wrong and bad.

Related, prioritize your targets. Lights pack a lot less weaponry than bigger robots. If a target is completely fresh, and you're alone, you can expect to maybe kill it if it's stupid as gently caress and gives you its back for 4-5 vollies. More realistically, you can maybe take a leg on a stupidly designed heavy or assault, or you can maybe take shoulders. Truth is, you don't punch out enough damage to solo poo poo unless it is truly solo - if you catch a lone WarHawk you can probably kill that in a good light, but you'll use up all your ammo if you have ammo (missile robits like Huginns, Oxides) or you'll spend a ton of time with lasers. You should aim for open torsos or red armor. If it's an open torso, use MGs, if it's a red armor, strip that poo poo then use MGs. Which relates to . . .

MGs are good now! I know you remember them being bad, or think they might be stupid, but each projectile has a chance to crit. These things fuckin' wreck open torsos. So, a good thing to consider is packing a fair bit of punch to strip armor, then opening up the MG firehose. This is the secret to Embers being the Primo poo poo. This is why the Huginn is a Decent Robot despite not having a single energy hardpoint.

Edit to Add: SHOOTING BUTTS IS REAL. When I say shoot butts in this guide, I mean really shoot butts. Shooting a butt will put damage on the front CT because magic. Since during a brawl your brawler teammates will be shooting front-CT, this is good because it continues to concentrate damage in one spot, on the front . . . from behind. Like a reacharound.

So this leaves us with three principles:
1) Go fast.
2) Aim your shots.
3) Prioritize your targets.

How do I put out insane damage scores like the great masters?

My damage score is usually half of that of ModPud or Ohsh, but the general idea in casual play is that if you pluck torsos off you get tons of damage points, and you should always shoot weak components off if you get a spare shot and the dude isn't about to die. ModPud particularly has mastered harassment, he plucks components and fucks dudes up once the battle has started while people are paying attention to other things. This is a really important strategy, and falls under the Harassment tree. This is also how VariousCheeses' LPL2ML Raven used to own (the timings are off sync now, RIP). Ohsh does his with just being a savant at running through the battlefield. Scientists will probably have to autopsy his brain to discover his actual secrets.

Basically, though, insane damage comes from prioritizing targets.

"Advanced" poo poo lol

Piloting lights is basically that: don't engage until the brawl has commenced or the battle has started, shoot weak poo poo like a predator picking the sick and dying out of a crowd, chase other lights off your dudes until they're the last ones left or just run them down like dogs. However, there are more complicated ways to think about that can bring your game NEXT LEVEL. Most of this is learned by experience, but I will elaborate on a few points that come to mind.

First, while most people don't think much of lights, they really can turn the game around, but often this involves selfless sacrifice. Generally, good intel early on wins matches, so for Serious Business, consider packing UAVs. Drop these as close to the enemy as you safely can without being spotted, or along paths you know the enemy is likely to take. In pubs and non-serious drops I see lights basically brazenly running through the enemy group and making GBS threads a UAV in the middle of them, but I am not sure this is good doctrine for CW. CW comes with rewards better than individual money rewards, for us, the return to our ancestral homeland of Butte Hold, for the pubs, dumb canon sperg poo poo. So people will probably be playing harder and more cautiously in CW. First, this means that they will be expecting UAVs, so they'll know what's up if you do a run through. Secondly, you will probably get hosed up if this happens, and even if you survive you won't have been able to do much because a run-through before the brawl commences means you'll be shooting fresh robots and doing inconsequential damage, rather than shooting hosed up robots and doing critical damage.

Timing is everything. Your best defense is timing, not speed. Speed is how you use timing, but speed alone will just get you killed faster. There are techniques to making speed work better, such as jumpjet hopping and jumpjet turning, which can make straight up running away much more survivable, but generally speaking running at an angle to an enemy and jumpjetting over an obstacle to break line of sight is going to be better than zigzag running. Your real defense is not being spotted or targeted until the battle has commenced. This does not mean hanging back with the blob, unless you're a particularly brawly build that will get eaten alive by other lights (Oxides, Huginns). Rather, be sneaky, use lots of cover, plant strategic UAVs, and make yourself known at the right time.

What is the right time? Coordinate with your main blob. Light doctrine is different than standard goon doctrine, but it works together really well. Standard goon doctrine is traditionally the deathblob brawl. It's less about the deathblob, and more about the brawl - goons like a short range, high damage game. Goons like to close the gap and punch each other. For goons, this is a rockemsockem robot simulator, not a sniper robot simulator. For obvious reasons, this is difficult for lights to participate in directly, however, there are two ways to work well, and this is where timing comes in.

Depending on the map, the position of your team, and so on, lights want to hit either just before or just after the brawl commences. Hitting just before the brawl commences is harder to coordinate, but potentially much more game changing. The idea here is to distract and turn the enemy, steal a kill or two if possible, but not really to get kills or even really do damage. Often, the blob will form up in a way that there are two deathblobs facing one another, but around a corner or on opposite sides of a hill or ridge. Generally, if these two blobs run into one another, it's going to be down to the catherders on each team who wins - good focusing on primaries, and good decisions on primaries, will determine who goes down first. Lights can change this game by turning or scattering the blob. This happens with concentrated strikes on a run through, and high risk, high reward suicide circles.

The suicide circle is a technique where lights pick out their weaker or more important target in the middle of a blob, lock the throttle on high, and start circling and shooting. It's similar to the suicide shuttle, which is where you run through the blob hitting loving anything you can once or twice as it zips by. Both of these work, but the circle is better for "real" combat for two reasons: 1) you have chosen a primary that you will gently caress up. If you know who the commander is on the other team this is awesome because you can distract him during the push. If you don't, but you shoot a heavy hitting brawler, you take a heavy hitting brawler out of the fight for a moment at least. At the moment when you know all eyes are on you, your team crests the hill or rounds the turn and starts loving poo poo Up. With the red team busy trying to swat flies, the main force will get to smack one or two dudes with very little return fire. A good company commander can point the pain train at the heaviest dudes on the other team, clear them out, and then the roflstomp is on.

Chances are, you will die. You may not even get much damage or assists. That's okay, that's what pub matches in the solo queue are for. For CW, you have done a much better job of securing our glorious march to Butte Hold by allowing us to stomp some dudes. Your service will always be remembered.

The second, easier for us but not as game changing, time to hit is just after the blob strikes. In this scenario, your dudes have rounded the corner and run face first into the enemy. Now your goal is to steal every possible kill. The reason for this is simple, but the benefits are enormous: the faster a dude dies, the quicker you can move on. The quicker you move on, the faster another dude dies. Lights pack weapons that make for great finishers: namely, machine guns and point damage you can focus on bright red poo poo to turn it into no poo poo. Once a brawl starts, the catherder will be naming "primaries." You want to be watching those primaries and machinegunning or shooting the bright red bits as it shows up. If you have a good swarm of lights, you can actually let the command dude know that you're on it and allow him to switch primary just before it's killed. You can also work to neuter the assaults and heavies by plucking off arms and torsos, or by plucking off legs. Do this whenever you can by shooting things like direwolfs from the profile side. This forces them to either turn to face you or lose the torso. DWFs, STKs, and other big assaults cannot torso twist enough to take their profile away from you, so you can always be hitting the same point, and that is perfect. Atlases can torso twist enough, but that just reveals their meaty rear torsos, so that's fine too.

In this scenario, you can finish the fight faster and help the blob, and you can get mad kills and damage, but your role is not as definitive.

In either scenario, have a light or two designated to work as interceptors. Better interceptors are lights with lasers, as SRMs are unreliable in light on light skirmishes. FS9-As and JR7-Fs make the best interceptors in the game right now, followed by LCT-3M and -1E, and then other poo poo. Huginns and Oxides, which are the brawliest lights, make the worst interceptors, because SRMs can be hard to lead and they lack the point damage to wreck a leg or CT on a fast running light.

Brawl-Blocking

If you are a good dude and ready to sacrifice the body, another thing you can do in a light is stand directly behind big assaults while shooting their butts. Faced with a push, 9/10 dudes jam on the reverse. If you stand directly behind them, they can't go backwards, and this confuses the gently caress out of them and lets our dudes shoot them a lot. It also lets you shoot them in the butt. If the other team sees you they will destroy you immediately because you're standing still and a free kill, so you have to do this wisely, again, timing is crucial. You can also do this to other dudes who are advancing to slow their advance, especially in a Locust or Jenner or other small profile things, or against extra tall robots with high mounted guns like Banshees, Jagermechs, and Shadowhawks. However, if you stand in front of a dude to stop them, know that they WILL just try to go around you, and also that you will have your back to your own dudes who will probably friendly fire you with SRMs.

SIPDE
My universal algorithm for how to light mech can also be broken down into the "defensive driving" tactics taught to emergency vehicle operators and I think in some driver schools? But with some alterations. The acronym is SIPDE:

Scan for robots to shoot at. Alternatively, Scout for the enemy.
Identify the best robot to shoot. Identify the enemies you've scouted to the catherder.
Predict how likely this dude is to gently caress up your poo poo. How likely are you to gently caress up it's poo poo? Where can you run away to esape?
Decide whether the time is right to gently caress up its poo poo. Is this a good time to die, or are you wasting tonnage? Do you have a plan for bailing out if your poo poo gets hosed?
Execute your plan, by attacking, strafing, whatever. Bail out as necessary.

Repeat.

Scouting
When scouting, it's best to give as much information as possible for as little risk as possible. I know this is detestable, but consider using third person while just under ridges, as it lets you see a little more while exposing a lot less. Toggle back to first person when combat starts though 3rd person sucks for precision aiming.

Give all the information you can to the group leader.

Pertinent information includes:
1) Where are you going? Tell the dude where you're going. Scouting is the only time it's a good idea to be out alone in a light. Bring an accountabilibuddy everywhere else, but scouting you should fly solo.

2) What do you see? Once you've spotted something, give as much information as you can about the actual things you see. If you can get a lock, the best format is target ID, robot type, location. So for example, you're on Caustic and you run out to the D4 ledge. You pop over and quickly get a lock on a DWF coming up C3. Your report might go like "Delta, Direwolf, C3."

A lot of times though, you can't get a lock either because it's out of range or because there's ECM or whatever. In that case, more detail is still better. In the same scenario, let's say you see a bunch of robots. Maybe there are 3 Stormcrows, 2 Kitfoxes, 2 Timberwolves, and 2 Direwolves trailing. Chances are good you're not going to get those numbers, you ain't got time. If you can do that exactly, that's great though! So wait a second to think about what you're going to tell your team. Again, timing is the key here. It is way more useful to tell a dude "hey there are 2 direwolves and 3 timberwolves just below the bottom of the hill" versus "OH poo poo LOTS C3" if the blob is still forming up. If however they are pushing to crest and poo poo's about to go down, it's not at all useful to say "hey there are 2 direwolves and 3 timberwolves loving your poo poo up right now." So basically, slow down for a second, and assess what is useful. More detail is good early on, but it's too much to be talking about specific bullshit once the catherding has started. And once the brawl has commenced you want to limit comms to only essential details, because dudes need to be able to hear their primaries. It doesn't matter if you see a firestarter. Go fuckin' shoot it, the blob doesn't care. Lights might care, so maybe a message like "lights, firestarter India" but keep it short.

3) Where is it going? Once you see some poo poo, where is it going? Direction is good, location is good, ETA is best. If you can say "hey there's some DWFs in G2" that's useful, if you can say "and they're heading up the 2 line" that's better, "and they'll probably be to your location in 3 hours" that's best.

TL;DR: Fast mechs, calm minds. Enter the meditative samadhi of light robots. Own everyone with the top shelf owns. Most importantly, be prepared to sacrifice yourself in order to turn a blob, the road to Butte Hold will be built on the corpses of our enemies, and the corpses of our enemies will sometimes be built on the corpses of our light pilots. Sometimes, it is best that a locust must die so an Atlas can punch a dick so hard it pops. It's all good, if ever you lose faith, recite the mantra of light robots: HOLD ONTO YOUR BUTTS, and remind yourself of the greater goal.

Editing to add:

Light Mech Dossier by Role:

Scouts: Every light mech is a scout. The best however are probably Spiders with ECM and JJs. Second would be Ravens, and third would be Locusts. Locusts make great scouts because they go fast as the dickens, and the Pirate's Bane might be a contender for all around best scout with ECM at 170kph, however, do not bring a light mech for scouting only because scouting only lasts for the first 2 minutes.

Interceptors:
Bad: Oxide (no JJs, harder to aim)
Eh: Huginn (JJs, but poo poo weapons for lights, wastes too much ammo)
Good: Locust-3M, Locust-1E, Locust-PB, Spiders with lasers, Ravens with lasers
Better: Jenner-D, Ember
Best: Firestarter-A, Jenner-F

Skirmishers:
Bad: Commandos and Spiders and poo poo. They are great for harassing but they lack the staying power of 35 ton lights, and can't dump much damage.
Eh: Locusts. They have a decent alpha and can get into a brawl but they have tinfoil armor and die if a Stormcrow even looks at them from like 20 miles away.
Good: Oxide. Pretty much the only thing it's good for. Still not very good.
Better: Firestarter-A, Jenner-F, Huginn (this is a great brawler but the lack of lasers means it can't be a best since it's ammo limited unless the pilot owns)
Best: Ember, Jenner-D, Huginn with a good pilot, Nevermore (Raven-3L with SRM10 and 3ML)

Harassers
Bad: Oxide (lacks range and JJs for escapes)
Eh: Locust-1V (you'd better not bring this thing in CW gently caress you 1ERLL is poo poo)
Good: Jenner-D, Ember, Huginn, Nevermore, Locusts but you have to do lots of hit and run and have your poo poo together on how to bail out
Better: Firestarter-A, Jenner-F, Locusts maybe with a good pilot who knows what's up
Best: Raven-3L with 2ERLL, Raven-3L with the LPL2ML, Commandos/Spiders with large lasers or w/e that can gently caress poo poo up from far away but can also be immortal in close quarters due to hitboxes

OB_Juan fucked around with this message at 19:47 on Feb 27, 2015

# ? Dec 10, 2014 19:31

Baudin: Dec 31, 2009

A quick note about this game: the highs are pretty high (legging a light with a dual gauss hit, reducing it to a crawl so it can be killed quickly, getting a miraculous headshot, slicing a mech in half with a well aimed large pulse laser shot). The lows are terribly low (getting cored out before you can shoot back, eating a ppc or three to the head, winding up alone and friendless, surrounded by enemies because everyone left you behind).

Newbirds don't try to learn by flying around in assaults. You'll spend most of the match trundling toward the fight before you get cored out by some long range sniping enemy assault with way more experience or some idiot running around in LRMs in the matches where you live that long.

In the matches where you don't some jerk in a firestarter loaded with small pulse lasers will core you out from behind while you try desperately to turn and face him. For your sanity try learning in medium or heavy mechs.

e: I also have a bunch of other assault builds that I prefer, once I get a chance I'll put them in here for you all to mock relentlessly (especially the XL engine crab!)

XL Gauss/PPC Crab:
http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=237&l=8bc1ddd281ff6b2962ca03e3c72508f456b519bd
Runs very cold, is fast (for a 100 ton assault), has a very nice alpha and can generally kill things at 100 to 500 meters. Excellent against other assaults/heavies but suffers against lights that get in close. Never be alone with this thing, you'll die horribly.

Baudin fucked around with this message at 23:54 on Dec 23, 2014

# ? Dec 10, 2014 19:36

Kazvall: Mar 20, 2009

Of course you added my toxx to the OP. Thank you.

# ? Dec 10, 2014 19:38

Mjilaeck: Jun 10, 2012

Never not be on mumble.

# ? Dec 10, 2014 19:40

DOMDOM: Apr 28, 2007; Fun Shoe

IGP assets for sale: http://raymondchabot.com/en/assets-for-sale/26192

Who wants to buy Tactics

# ? Dec 10, 2014 19:41

Kazvall: Mar 20, 2009

I challenge you all to be thread king of this new thread.

# ? Dec 10, 2014 19:46

OB_Juan: Nov 24, 2004; Not every day is a good day.; Dinosaur Gum

Kazvall posted:

I challenge you all to be thread king of this new thread.

I will do my best.

# ? Dec 10, 2014 19:48

Great Beer: Jul 5, 2004

None of us will ever be as spergy about robots as you, Kaz.

# ? Dec 10, 2014 20:01

Arquinsiel: Jun 1, 2006; "There is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look to themselves first."

God Bless Margaret Thatcher
God Bless England
RIP My Iron Lady

You just repeated the Firestarter image for the Spider. Might wanna fix that.

# ? Dec 10, 2014 20:05

I said come in!: Jun 22, 2004

Okay so last time I checked, clan mechs were pay to win only mechs. Has that changed? Do you still have to pay real money to have one? Cause all I really want to do is play around with a Timberwolf.

# ? Dec 10, 2014 20:05

Kazvall: Mar 20, 2009

Great Beer posted:

None of us will ever be as spergy about robots as you, Kaz.

Naaaaaah there are bigger spergs than me.

# ? Dec 10, 2014 20:10

Aesis: Oct 9, 2012; Filthy J4G

Spider pic in op is Firestarter :colbert:

# ? Dec 10, 2014 20:11

Kazvall: Mar 20, 2009

I said come in! posted:

Okay so last time I checked, clan mechs were pay to win only mechs. Has that changed? Do you still have to pay real money to have one? Cause all I really want to do is play around with a Timberwolf.

You can buy a Timbow with CBills now.

# ? Dec 10, 2014 20:11

I said come in!: Jun 22, 2004

Kazvall posted:

You can buy a Timbow with CBills now.

Fantastic. That's how it should have been from the start. I'm gonna play this dumb poo poo again.

# ? Dec 10, 2014 20:13

PoptartsNinja: May 9, 2008; He is still almost definitely not a spy; Soiled Meat

I'm amused that the "Spider" you show is actually the Firestarter. That is precisely the amount of effort MWO deserves.

# ? Dec 10, 2014 20:16

Fil5000: Jun 23, 2003; HOLD ON GUYS I'M POSTING ABOUT INTERNET ROBOTS

Hey! I'm not the only one in [COQ]! There's like five of us!

# ? Dec 10, 2014 20:28

Jade Star: Jul 15, 2002; It burns when I LP

Didn't see a suggested build for a Cataphract, so figured i'd throw up something I put together last few days that bizarrely works really well. Critique and/or improve on, whatever.

CTF-1X Jade's Big Gay Brawler

Lots of reliable damage output and it will be the last thing in a prolonged firefight to overheat.

# ? Dec 10, 2014 20:34

OB_Juan: Nov 24, 2004; Not every day is a good day.; Dinosaur Gum

Fil5000 posted:

Hey! I'm not the only one in [COQ]! There's like five of us!

Okay, will fix in a moment.

PoptartsNinja posted:

I'm amused that the "Spider" you show is actually the Firestarter. That is precisely the amount of effort MWO deserves.

Aesis posted:

Spider pic in op is Firestarter

Arquinsiel posted:

You just repeated the Firestarter image for the Spider. Might wanna fix that.

Argh, I had it right at one point. Fixed.

# ? Dec 10, 2014 20:34

Baudin: Dec 31, 2009

Fil5000 posted:

Hey! I'm not the only one in [COQ]! There's like five of us!

Space hipsters :colbert:

# ? Dec 10, 2014 20:36

Aesis: Oct 9, 2012; Filthy J4G

Fil5000 posted:

Hey! I'm not the only one in [COQ]! There's like five of us!

Literally 5 of us :v:

# ? Dec 10, 2014 20:39

Baudin: Dec 31, 2009

There are a lot of mechs out now and builds do change depending on the whims of PGI. We really should make an effort to stock the wiki with good builds and make the wiki accessible for newbirds.

# ? Dec 10, 2014 20:49

Arquinsiel: Jun 1, 2006; "There is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look to themselves first."

God Bless Margaret Thatcher
God Bless England
RIP My Iron Lady

I will totally join [COQ] when I reinstall for CW to see if it still sucks and is even more unplayable on my marginal machine.

# ? Dec 10, 2014 20:50

Baudin: Dec 31, 2009

I also preferred the last thread's title, it was the only thing going for it.

# ? Dec 10, 2014 21:05

Kazvall: Mar 20, 2009

Less talk more squawk in here, IMO.

# ? Dec 10, 2014 21:08

Kazvall: Mar 20, 2009

A reminder to new birds. Don't talk about apple bottom jeans, or the Sega Dreamcast in chat or you might get temp banned.

# ? Dec 10, 2014 21:14

Legit Businessman: Sep 2, 2007

Kazvall posted:

I challenge you all to be thread king of this new thread.

How the gently caress did I have 100 posts in the last thread? That's not loving possible!

Also, everyone prepare to be whelmed for the release of Community Warfare^(Beta).

Also also, Kazvall needs to post less. :colbert:

# ? Dec 10, 2014 21:42

ArchangeI: Jul 15, 2010

I didn't even know the Fighting Cocks had separated from WoL, I thought they were just an informal unit. I'll join you guys as soon as I find Fil online, I guess. I mean, who doesn't want to play with cocks?

# ? Dec 10, 2014 21:46

Kazvall: Mar 20, 2009

Post more you say? I can do that. I'm not honestly sure how I racked up 400 posts but I guess drugs, Satan, unclean women and Scientology are to blame.

# ? Dec 10, 2014 21:52

Devorum: Jul 30, 2005

I reinstalled last night, and played a couple of games. It's pretty fun again, but....I noticed that the Panther (the first 'mech I ever played in TT, and therefore my favorite 'mech ever) is being released soon and that is making me want to spend real, human dollars on this game. I've been clean since Phoenix, man!

# ? Dec 10, 2014 22:03

Eye of Widesauron: Mar 29, 2014

I can do the post more thing.

# ? Dec 10, 2014 22:04

Kazvall: Mar 20, 2009

Widestancer posted:

I can do the post more thing.

Play the game god drat!

# ? Dec 10, 2014 22:10

high six: Feb 6, 2010

I played a good bit of this back in 2012. Have they made joystick support any better? I've got a pretty nice setup but was sad when I couldn't get it working.

# ? Dec 10, 2014 22:20

dogboy: Jul 21, 2009; hurr; Grimey Drawer

ArchangeI posted:

I didn't even know the Fighting Cocks had separated from WoL, I thought they were just an informal unit. I'll join you guys as soon as I find Fil online, I guess. I mean, who doesn't want to play with cocks?

We didn't seperate, the COQ is still a part of the greater WOL body.

# ? Dec 10, 2014 22:24

evilmiera: Dec 14, 2009; Status: Ravenously Rambunctious

Not too intrigued by this anymore. But then, my greatest fun with the game was running into and tackling other mechs, an effective strategy against over-ambitious lights.

# ? Dec 10, 2014 22:24

EoRaptor: Sep 13, 2003; by Fluffdaddy

high six posted:

I played a good bit of this back in 2012. Have they made joystick support any better? I've got a pretty nice setup but was sad when I couldn't get it working.

It works now, but it's also hopeless, as joystick will never beat keyboard/mouse for an FPS, which is what this is.

# ? Dec 10, 2014 22:24

Tank Boy Ken: Aug 24, 2012; J4G for life; Fallen Rib

I guess it might work if one person would steer the Mech (leg/jumpjet control with Joystick) and the other person would use M+KB for shooting poo poo. Sadly most companies think that no one would want to multi crew anything. That's the reason why :gaijin: isn't doing Multicrewing for bombers and heavy fighters (War Thunder). They think it would be boring for the not-pilot.

# ? Dec 10, 2014 22:27

Fil5000: Jun 23, 2003; HOLD ON GUYS I'M POSTING ABOUT INTERNET ROBOTS

dogboy posted:

We didn't seperate, the COQ is still a part of the greater WOL body.

This, basically. I grabbed the unit tag so we'd have it if CW was worth playing and if we had enough euro timezone people to make it worth having. If needed we can shut it down and migrate to a bigger goon group.

# ? Dec 10, 2014 22:39

high six: Feb 6, 2010

EoRaptor posted:

It works now, but it's also hopeless, as joystick will never beat keyboard/mouse for an FPS, which is what this is.

Boo. Fair enough. I suppose I'll just play Mechwarrior 4 when I wanna use the joystick and the like.

# ? Dec 10, 2014 22:40

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# ? May 29, 2024 15:06

Kazvall: Mar 20, 2009

Mutlicrew in WWII online is some of the most fun I've had while gaming. Shout out to Banano.

# ? Dec 10, 2014 22:41

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > MechWarrior Online: We are already dead. We are Goons!

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