Mechwarrior Online

[eldaec]

I quite enjoyed the Raven 3L, got it mastered and geared, but trying to play a tactical role in PUG's is ultimately fairly futile.

Though trying to enjoy the hunchback was even harder, mediums are were just fodder at the time. Maybe the heat changes have made them more survivable. Might download it again and find out one day.

I find the mediums more fun than anything, the cicada seems to be a better armoured raven, and the kintaro is only thing I've managed to be effective with missiles from.

[Slayerik]

Been running a Centurion CN9-D with 340 XL, 2 MLs and a AC/10 ... surprisingly deadly. It goes 121 with speed tweak, is accurate and can take a solid beating (as long as I don't shield myself with the right side and get my AC10 blown off).

[Ironwood]

Centurion has ALWAYS been a fuck-beast.

[Flood]

Well, after much grinding I was able to drop an XL280 into my Raven-3L.  Before the purchase I was like...ehhh I don't think this will make a marked difference.  But, I'm stupid, because of course it made a huge difference.  Going from 97.2 top speed to 129.3, not only can I act as a more effective scout, it allows me more drive-by opportunities, more pick-off kills, and some sweet sweet light hunting ability. (I never understood the hatred of Spiders and Jenners until I played a bit more, the little fuckers)

So now I'm at max armor, DHS, 2 SSRM2's, 2 ML's, TAG, BAP, ECM.  Before the added weight of the engine I was using 2 MPLAS, which I found very effective, but you can't squeeze it all in there with a bigger engine and keep all your ECM goodies too.  Scouting and spotting is still unrewarding in-game and CBill-wise, but my damage is going up per round and I'm managing a couple of kills every few games.  Still having fun playing ultimately.     

[Ironwood]

Why TAG ?

[Flood]

Why TAG ?

I use it to light up mechs hidden by someone's ECM (seems like it's usually an Atlas) and, when the stars align, to assist the missile boats.  I know that ultimately every mech has the same ability to target another mech regardless of weight, but I'm trying to convince myself there's more tactically to the game as a light then putting in the biggest XL I can in mastering circle strafe.

So, how it usually unfolds in PUGs is that everyone runs to point A in a big clump, I run out and try and scout.  Then everyone starts whaling away, with no plan and no coordination.  I try and flank around behind and light up targets and take a few pot shots.  After a few minutes of this the dude bro's in Jenners and Spiders usually move in to score kills on heavies, so I motor over there and try and pick them off.

[Falconeer]

TAG can be really useful. It's NARC I can't manage to do anything with.

[Ironwood]

Unless you've got your own missiles, TAG is relying on your teammates not being retards.

....

So, an utter waste of time then.

[Kageru]

You used to get a nice XP bonus for using it.

But that was about the limit of using it. Maybe if I'd got the pilot mod for longer duration targeting.

[satael]

It's occasionally fun to flank behind the enemies undetected and to tag them and then just watch the rain of missiles fall... then again it's the worst kind of waste of time if no one in your team has lrms or they just choose to use them on that single enemy light running circles around your team's main force.

[eldaec]

TAG can be really useful. It's NARC I can't manage to do anything with.

As I understand it, NARC is a lock on missile that helps you lock on only after you've locked on?

If so I don't get it.

[Ironwood]

Anyone tagged with a NARC is basically a big 'SHOOT HERE' for Missile Users.  It means enemies get a faster, better lock on you.

With TAG, you have to hold that shit down.  With NARC you just attach it to their ass and watch the missiles fly.

Again, assuming you're not teamed with complete retards.

....

[5150]

I was under the impression that, unlike the boardgame IIRC, in MWO Narc pods only broadcast for a short period of time?

Otherwise (assuming you always hit) you'd never need to carry more than 12 rounds

[Ironwood]

Not sure.  I always assumed they were timed, yes.

[satael]

I (personally) think that NARC duration is far too short, weighs too much, has too short range and hard to aim compared to TAG to ever be worth it.

[Merusk]

Yes on all those points. It only lasts 20s *if* you hit, carries 12s/ ton and the unit weighs 3 tons and takes 2 slots. 

So almost pointlessly short-duration and limited capacity for 4x the weight and slot usage of a TAG. 

[Kageru]

The main problem with missiles, when I tried to play a missile boat, is that there were generally two outcomes.

1. The enemy mech has cover and knows how to use it -> The enemy team can do damage further and faster than you can acquire and hold a lock and don't have to loiter out of cover, wait for flight time and watch most of the missiles hit an obstruction.

2. The enemy mech is out of cover and distracted / engaged -> He's probably dead before your missiles land anyway.

In neither of those did a narc, or even a TAG really, make much difference. Missiles always seemed like a "filler" or a suppression weapon. But I was in a low tonnage mech so I either carried meaningful missiles and not much else or don't bother, and playing a pure missile boat was not fun.

[Ironwood]

I don't agree.  The game has changed.  It's no longer totally about long range instant mega death.  I find that some LRM pebbling will really, really help survivability and let you chew the other guy up.  As to cover, yeah, it's bad when you meet someone who knows how to use it, but come on.  Of the tiny amounts of maps that we have, only one is really a godsend for cover and even then most assholes just wade into the water.

I would say the only reason that missiles get a bad rep in the current state of the game is the fact that a lot of people don't mind using the 2.5 tons on AMS.  As such, it's a waste to fire your LRM5 x3 at groups.

My Highlander has 2xUAC, 2xMed and 3xLRM5 and I chew shit up good.

[Falconeer]

I really like where LRMs are now. They are not OP because there's many ways to counter them (and the smart LRM user doesn't waste missiles), but at the same time they are awesome at pinning down enemies or forcing them to take another route. Try to close the gap in open terrain to a damn Lurmer that has some mysterious scout 800+ m away handing them your position, and you will find yourself hiding behind a rock for a long time while waiting for backup.
They also are great to force panic into an enemy force often scattering them or confusing them enough to turn their backs on you. Granted, what I just said is very situational and depends on many things, how many LRMs do your team have, how many scouts are painting targets for you, how many ECMs do they have, how many anklebiters are they sending at you, but in general I like that they have become a strong support weapon that can be extremely powerful if left unchecked but at the same time has its own blatant weaknesses.

Reminds me of some long range casters in PvP in certain MMORPGs: you want to kill them first because they are not that great at defending themselves AND even if they are not really nukers they will wreak havoc if left alone.

That's why scouts are learning to equip a TAG (but wouldn't equip a NARC launcher because they cannot afford the weight).

[satael]

I'm having fun playing a missile boat right now (example) but I'm not too good at it so I use an atlas (but since it's pugs I don't really care about wasting 100 tons of drop weight).

[Ironwood]

Sorry, couldn't really watch beyond 2:33.

You missed. A Lot.  Mostly because you seemed to be aiming at people that were almost certainly in cover, but also because you, like 90% of other users out there, break locks before the missiles hit.  When you do that, they break lock too.  Which usually means that the missile that's streaking towards a moving target keeps moving, but no longer tracks.

Meaning a LOT of your missiles probably hit the dirt about a meter and a half away from the target. 

Not getting at you or being an arsehole (on purpose anyway) but I see a LOT of other users from their cockpit view doing the same thing and it's almost as irritating as the Assholes who let fly with 40 missiles at under 200meters.  Or those guys who have normal PPCs and plink away at the Raven at their feet.

Arg.

[satael]

Sorry, couldn't really watch beyond 2:33.

You missed. A Lot.  Mostly because you seemed to be aiming at people that were almost certainly in cover, but also because you, like 90% of other users out there, break locks before the missiles hit.  When you do that, they break lock too.  Which usually means that the missile that's streaking towards a moving target keeps moving, but no longer tracks.

Meaning a LOT of your missiles probably hit the dirt about a meter and a half away from the target. 

Not getting at you or being an arsehole (on purpose anyway) but I see a LOT of other users from their cockpit view doing the same thing and it's almost as irritating as the Assholes who let fly with 40 missiles at under 200meters.  Or those guys who have normal PPCs and plink away at the Raven at their feet.

Arg.

As I said, I suck at it (but going atlas means I got 3 kills and 3 assists in that match). In my defense most of the early match missile spam is to keep the enemies moving from cover to cover instead of going allowing them to go straight to the target (funny how people look for cover when they get the "incoming missiles"-warning).

[Falconeer]

Yesterday something was really wrong with either the matchmaker or stars alignment. Me and my poor playing friends (they have a K/d ranging from 0.90 to 1.20) played exactly 10 matches together (a group of two at first, then a third joined). We did not just won all of those ten matches, we dominated them. Not only it doesn't happen often to win 10 games in a row, in fact I don't think it ever happened to me before, but it is even less common to win them so easily. I ended the night with 22 kills and 2 deaths (believe me that is NOT my average), and my friends, who usually struggle to get a kill here and there, racked up doubles and even triples easily. It felt like we broke the game, like we were hitting jackpots on a rigged slot machine and we felt bad when around 1am we had to call it a night.

Not sure what was going on, but I felt like sharing. Especially because we are aware that this is not gonna happen again. Our nights are pretty much always 50/50. Even my global score, after about 3000 drops (since last reset) are 50.1% win and 49.9% loss. But yeah, this is not a story of mad skills. It's the story of 10 coop matches of flipping a coin, and getting tails ten times in a row. Weird.

[Ironwood]

Either the good players have left, or the influx of noobs worked out for you.

 

[Falconeer]

New Hero 'mech announced for next week. It's an Atlas named "Boar's Head".

[satael]

On the positive side MWO's launch is so great that there haven't been any server queues (the wait time to get a match hasn't gotten any shorter with the launch either) and no need for any patches during the first launch week (if you really want to find some good sides to no new content) 

[Falconeer]

 

Anyway, not sure about you but after they loosened the grip of the matchmaker a couple of days after the patch, I still get a game (grouped or solo) in a time varying from 5 to 30 seconds. I definitely can't complain about that. Is it worse for you?

[satael]

Anyway, not sure about you but after they loosened the grip of the matchmaker a couple of days after the patch, I still get a game (grouped or solo) in a time varying from 5 to 30 seconds. I definitely can't complain about that. Is it worse for you?

Well, it's down to less than a minute but the match I had between this and the last post I made ended up 12-2 in less than 5 minutes played (luckily I was on the winning side) so I think I'd almost take the longer queue times.
As a bonus: Razer Cockpit Dice (you need to register but otherwise you can get it for free)

[Falconeer]

Thanks. The dice are stupid, but hey a freebie. I still love my nVidia fairie from last year so I am not spitting on this. The annoying part is that it seems to require for you to install the Razer product to register. Not a big deal, (install, register, uninstall), but not the same as a 5 seconds website registration.

[satael]

Today's the launch event and there's a live stream starting 1pm PDT at twitch.
I might actually check it out to see if IGP has the will/skill to host a good live tournament stream 

[Falconeer]

I made a new thread about it, in case someone (me and you) feel like discussing it while it happens.

[Falconeer]

"Breakdown". , where the Devs spill some more beans.

CERES METALS R&D [St.Ives]

Wednesday Sept 30, 3050
Ceres Metals Industries
Research and Development B5, AAlcadis Revised Underground Complex
St.Ives
13:12

Thomas Dziegielewski, Sr Gameplay Engineer
Nice day here on St.Ives. The caverns boast a comfortable 37C near the Sun-Tzu Cooling Vents on level 3.

Ceres metals updates are back online after a much too long hiatus. The 104th Division took over the AAlcadis building for military purposes. We are now located in the basement, sort of. There goes my view... I'll use Breakdown to showcase and explain some upcoming gameplay features released in the not too distant future.


Seismic Sensor Upgrades
* No Seismic sensor detection while moving
* Weapon Hits to Terrain and Weapon Fire cause Seismic events

XP / C-Bills Rewards
* XP/CBills for using Counter ECM advantageously
* XP/CBills for using UAV in an advantageously

Screen Shake and additional effects
* When a dead mech falls to the ground
* Immediate area of a Strategic Strike (Airstrike/Artillery Strike)


*Features are subject to change
*Estimated release date Nov 4th 3050

[Slayerik]

Still playing this, and enjoying it. Found a new sexy setup I like... Kintaro - 20 , I rock an XL 360 with FF and ES, 2 Medium Lasers and 3 SRM6s. Stripped the armor off the arm with the energy slots, and added more DHSes. This thing does 106 without tweak, can take a solid beating and really fucks things up once you get on them. Fun mech.

[Falconeer]

Kintaro started like the shittiest 'mech ever and evolved into a really cool thing. I love the scout hunter -18, but I have a build similar to yours on my -20 and I have a lot of fun with it.

[Shannow]

I just put two gauss into my CTF-4X, I feel dirty.

Is there a heavy/assault that has a nice high release point for fire? I'm tired of trying to shoot shit from behind cover and it hitting the wall in front of me.
Stalkers?