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[Wiles]

Great! See you guys Sunday! Do any of you use voip? We could use the Bay12 discord (if it still exists, I've never actually used it) or we could use something else if any of you have other preferences.

And yeah I sold the engines that I had that were the same tonnage as slightly bigger engines (an XL 275 and an XL 250). I'm not sure where I got them, but I suspect I bought the XL 250 when I was new and didn't know it weighed the same amount as the XL255.  I tend to swap out my XLs between mechs because they are so expensive.

I'd love to hear about good tactics for lights in the various modes, or even just skirmish. 
In conquest and assault I can use my speed to capture objectives, or fall back on skirmish type strategies.
In skirmish for the most part I first go out ahead, try to scout out the enemy, usually take some light armor damage running away from whatever I find, then spend the rest of the fight either hanging out with my team if they are decently well grouped, or if not I just try to find enemies who are engaged with my allies and shoot them in the back.

It depends on the map, the game mode and the light mech in question for me. Sounds like you've already got it mostly figured out though.

I find that I'm usually in one of three modes. Long range harasser, scout/skirmisher or support.

For the long range harasser I'll use a fast mech with 1 or 2 ER Large lasers and find an angle on the enemy team where they won't notice me straight away and start firing on them. Once they notice me I'll go somewhere else and repeat the process. If you can tempt them into chasing you that is a bonus because there will be a few less mechs skirmishing with your team.

For a scout once again I'll use a fast mech. I'll cautiously go to where they usually end up on the map and pop a UAV (though I don't recommend wasting your cbills on uavs if you're new and saving up for new mechs). What I do next depends on which mech I'm in. If I'm in a fast, small, hard hitting light I'll try and find stragglers or LRM boats and shoot their backs out. If I'm not confident that I can do that I'll just go hang out with the team and fight with them. It really depends on the map what I do as well. In Polar I'll scout then go back to the team because people are usually pretty tightly grouped on that map and it's easy to get stuck without much cover. On Terra Therma I'll run around to the ramp the enemy is at and shoot them in the back because more often than not they are looking in to the middle. Last time I played Terra I killed two heavies in my cheetah before they turned around and started shooting at me.

For a support light I'll usually be in something a bit bigger and slower and I'll just go find the biggest meanest mech on the team and hang out with them all game. It can be useful if you bring something to help them as well like ECM. One important job you have is to keep the enemy lights from killing your slow mechs that have a hard time hitting agile light mechs. I don't chase them too far though because they'll usually just lead you back to their team. Sometimes I'll break out my triple AMS Kitfox when LRMs seem more popular than usual. I've considered buying the AMS overdrive module to make it even better but I always end up buying something else instead because to be honest I don't use AMS all that often.

[Flying Dice]

I've got a mic, yeah.

As Wiles said, if you're not sure what to do with a light, you can always hang out with your assaults to keep enemy lights off them and focus on burning down their targets. That's one place where boating small pulses on Locusts can be really good (another is sneaking around legging things), since you can chase down other lights no problem and ruin their day.

Spoiler: More Locust fanboy rambling (click to show/hide)

Speaking of, had a match yesterday in my Pirate's Bane that almost went really, really good. It was the usual 4x SPL, and on Forest Colony. In the end it was me (lightly damaged) vs. a Marauder (with one crit leg, courtesy of me), a Warhammer (both legs cored as well, guess who), a Spider, and... maybe an Executioner? Something big, nasty, and almost fresh. Over the course of ~4 minutes I slowly wore them down with hit-and-run attacks, legged the Marauder, and eventually pulled them apart enough that I was able to get in and brawl long enough to kill the Warhammer and Spider.

Problem was, I only had two minutes left and two 'mechs to kill, so I had to get risky and just all-in against the Marauder then try to turn. Almost managed to kill the Marauder but I got worn down eventually by the other guy since I had to stay in rather than backing off and circling around. If I'd had a couple more minutes to work with, I could have won it, 4v1, in a Locust, purely because of speed and going for leg shots with the pulses. You can beat any 'mech solo with a SPL build on the PB or 1E as long as you've got your experience maxed and an XL-190 inside, barring bad luck handing you an SRM facial, because the circle-game is absurd. The 1E's admittedly better for it since you get that sweet 24 damage (rather than 16) alpha every couple seconds and no ghost heat; even an assault can go down in <45s if you only go for leg shots and are willing to pop a coolshot to keep the damage coming. Also helps that a lot of builds like to store ammo in/strip armor from the legs.

[MrRoboto75]

You could also poke stuff with TAG or NARC to assist those LRMs that your team inevitably boated.

[Kanil]

Why would I take an engine like a 185 when a 190 is the same tonnage, but higher speed? 

You wouldn't, at least not in MWO.

However all the construction rules are taken straight from TT, and in TT your choice of engines is more limited. A 'mech that can run a 190 engine is unable to mount a 185 (and vice versa) so the fact that they're the same weight doesn't matter. Furthermore, since XL engines are just half the weight of a standard engine, they're much more likely to be rounded to the same weights (IE: a 10 ton and 9.5 ton engine are both 5 tons when XL'd)

[Wiles]

Another good learning resource is this thread on the mwo forums: http://mwomercs.com/forums/topic/166699-hitbox-localization/

It will show you where the hitboxes are on mechs. I was surprised to find out how big the side torsos actually are on a lot of mechs. Also knowing which inner sphere mechs usually run XL engines is helpful to know when to aim their side torso instead of their center torso. I'm not sure what a good resource for that is other than checking the popular builds out on metamechs. Although if you're playing lights you're probably better off legging them like Flying Dice wrote.

[Rince Wind]

Good thing I ripped the XL out of my Marauder 5M.
Though I have to admit that the payload is kinda pathetic for 75t now with 3 LPL and 2 MPL. I would also like some more range, so I have to experiment a bit.

And about the engines...my 3 HBKs have to share a single 250, the Marauders use the same 300 one. But hey, the Locust has its own XL 190! I need more mechbays, though I only have about 5mil at the moment, so couldn't really afford another Mech and its armament/engine/stuff.

I can probably play on Friday and Sunday, so whatever suits you best. Mic is available and I am also on EST (wait, is that European or Eastern Standard Time? I am in Europe.)

[Kanil]

EST is usually Eastern Standard Time (-5). Europe typically goes by GMT (0) or CET (+1)... and confusingly CEST (+2) in summer.

[Wiles]

Yeah, I was referring to eastern standard time. If that's too late in Europe I'm open to playing earlier if it works for everyone.

[Flying Dice]

Another good learning resource is this thread on the mwo forums: http://mwomercs.com/forums/topic/166699-hitbox-localization/

It will show you where the hitboxes are on mechs. I was surprised to find out how big the side torsos actually are on a lot of mechs. Also knowing which inner sphere mechs usually run XL engines is helpful to know when to aim their side torso instead of their center torso. I'm not sure what a good resource for that is other than checking the popular builds out on metamechs. Although if you're playing lights you're probably better off legging them like Flying Dice wrote.

Well, it depends. If you're running a close-range brawler light, absolutely go for legs, since you're guaranteed to always be able to hit them regardless of your angle of attack. If you aim for the body while circling, you spread damage across eight of their ten armor elements, and if you're doing <5 damage to any given component per shot it'll take a day and a year to get through a lot of stuff.

OTOH if you're running a sniper or a splat light, aim for torsos or cored components, since you have better control/higher burst.

Like he said though, you'll develop a feel for when you should XL-check an IS 'mech, and the primary tell is if they're carrying a lot of weapon tonnage for their chassis and still moving pretty fast. IS lights and most mediums will always run XLs, so if you see an open shoulder go ahead and hit that. Among larger 'mechs, certain ones (Jagers especially) almost always run XLs, while others (Marauders, most assaults) almost never do.

Also worth doing is leg-checking certain 'mechs, namely Jagers and Riflemen, because people like to use builds that strip a lot of leg armor from them - they're natural hill-humpers and normally shouldn't be exposed much below the shoulders. If one or two shots makes the leg armor go orange, it's a sure sign that they skimped.

Another tip, when trying to backstab in the CT, aim for the crotch. It can be tricky to land all of your damage if you shoot for center-mass but almost nothing has side torsos that reach that far down.

Plenty of other 'mech-specific stuff. If you see a Hunchback always try to shoot the hunch since that mounts most of their firepower. Same deal in general, there are a lot of 'mechs and builds that corner-stack most of their firepower into one side of the 'mech, if you spot one go ahead and carve that off. If you're trying to kill a Stalker, just fucking leg them, they've got a shitload of armor and structure, wonky hitboxes, and a body perfectly shaped for shielding (speaking from experience, I've driven certain of my Stalkers into brawls against 4-5 enemy assaults/heavies and come out with 1-2 kills while also living long enough for the rest of the team to show up and clean house). If you spot someone boating standard PPCs or IS lurms and there's not too much around, go ahead and rush inside their minimum range and fuck their shit up even if you take hits doing it. If you're driving a really small, fast light (read: Locust, Arctic Cheater, Spider, &c.), you can be a dirty bastard: if you spot an enemy 'mech trying to back up away from your team, just run up and stand behind him, as long as there aren't other people there to shoot you off of him. Don't even need to shoot, just be the invisible immobile pebble until he dies.

I mean, there's a mountain of little things to pick up. One I'd suggest is ignoring the armor spreads on Smurfy until you're comfortable with a chassis, a lot of the meta ones strip the backs super-thin - great if you can keep your back safe, but it sucks massively to go down to one shot from behind. There's nothing more satisfying than one-tapping someone with an AC/20 to the rear CT, and if you use one of those 4-6 rear armor builds without playing carefully you'll be on the receiving end a lot. I usually settle down at 8 (10 for assaults, excepting only super-lights like the LCTs that barely get 20 armor on the front CT if they take 4 in the back) once I've got the skills finished and am comfortable with shielding on the chassis, anything less and a single gutsy splat light or well-positioned Gauss boat can ruin your day.

[Wiles]

Yeah low back armour seems more suited to when you're dropping with a group. If you're in a coordinated 12 man group your team has your back. If you're in PUG queue nobody has your back most of the time so you're better off with a bit more back armour to save from dying to a backstabbing light (like an Arctic Cheetah or an Oxide Jenner). The 6 small pulse laser Cheetah can kill the more fragile heavies (like a Catapult) in two alpha strikes to the back if they're running around with low back armour. As a light pilot I like metamech's armour suggestions since people seem to follow it even in PUG queue.

[Damiac]

In my locust I've found I can strip a ton of armor off my arms and head safely, I never get any significant head damage, and arm damage is rare, and typically I've lost a side torso before I lose an arm.

I run it with 5 mls, a BAP, and as many double heat sinks as I can jam in. 

My other locust is 2mls and 6 srms (2 on one side, 4 on the other).   I had a great day with it in scouting mode in CW, everyone thought I was crazy for bringing a locust, but I won all three I was in, and got kills each game.  Nobody seems to expect the little locust to pack such a punch.  The missile build is not quite as good in 12 man games though, I tend to run out of missiles and then I'm stuck poking with my 2 little MLs.

The PB locust looks great, but of course it's MC only.  I may end up saving my CW MC (assuming I ever get any) to buy that.  EMC on a locust? Yes please.


I see a lot of people seem to prefer the SPL over the MLs on the 1E locust.  I guess it makes sense, but I really like having the option to poke at range, especially when I end up far behind the enemy team fairly often.  Although that's also one of my biggest issues right now, I tend to lose situational awareness chasing some guy and run into their entire team.  Sometimes I can weave through, get some shots off, and get away, but not usually.  I spent my XP early on buying ML range and cooldown, which are level 5 and 4 respectively.  I'm now saving up for radar derp, which I should have done first, obviously...  So I'm kind of committed to the MLs.

Oh, by the way, what is the best way to get into matches in CW mode? Is it just the 4 or 5 missions over on the side panel on the right, or is there more to it?  I created a 1 man unit so I could be a merc, I was following some steam guide that seemed to suggest I should be a merc, but I only seem to get merc rep, and no loyalty rep, not even with the faction I have a contract with.  I guess I don't quite get that mode...  And I'm not even worried about the actual territory capturing stuff, just finding a match and doing some pew pew.  So I can get more mech bays, to fill with more mechs, to do more pew pew with.

[Wiles]

Oh, by the way, what is the best way to get into matches in CW mode? Is it just the 4 or 5 missions over on the side panel on the right, or is there more to it?  I created a 1 man unit so I could be a merc, I was following some steam guide that seemed to suggest I should be a merc, but I only seem to get merc rep, and no loyalty rep, not even with the faction I have a contract with.  I guess I don't quite get that mode...  And I'm not even worried about the actual territory capturing stuff, just finding a match and doing some pew pew.  So I can get more mech bays, to fill with more mechs, to do more pew pew with.

Yes, the missions over on the right panel are the only ones available to you. Sadly the faction play mode doesn't have a lot of players most of the time outside of when they do faction play events.

You do only get merc rep from being a merc. Unfortunately they changed the system. It used to be easy to pledge loyalty to a faction and then break that contract once you got your mech bay reward. Now you're locked out of joining another faction for a while if you're a loyalist and decide to switch factions.

The best way to get matches is probably to join a unit that focuses on faction play. If you're interested in playing with a group but not interested in joining a unit sometimes specific factions have teamspeak servers where you can coordinate matches. I've never done that though so I don't know much about it.

[Rince Wind]

I think you need to play CW for a while, drop with people, before they accept you into a unit (as a unit has to pay for getting more people in, the bigger the unit the more it costs).
I can only speak for the FRR, and they are usually chill and have groups most evenings. You don't have to be in a group and can still drop with them. They have a TS server and when in a group with them it is usually used, especially as they have a room for people looking for group.

(damn, I want to keep writing "fleet" instead of group, damn you Eve.)

[Damiac]

Wow, I was thinking these players in the heavy mechs and assaults not getting any kills must be really bad, but I tried them out...

It's trickier than it looks.  I mean... an assault with a ton of LRMS is simple enough, but one that's actually in the fray... in many ways it's harder than playing a fragile light.  And it seems like a lot of that extra weight it taken up by armor, rather than firepower.  In an assault I'm doing double the alpha strike damage of my light... but in a much, much slower frame.

[Rince Wind]

Yeah, armor, a much heavier engine that propels you to lower speeds, the internal structure is stronger, but also adds weight, and then you don't even have more criticals.
I play my Marauders in quickplay from time to time, but I am better with the mediums.