Do you still mount TAG on your light spotters?

I'm curious.
Since justice has been done to the NARC, I see no reason to mount TAG on my light mechs. I use NARC exclusively, as a spotting device as well as a counter to ECM.



The problem with the TAG is you're required to keep line of sight: then you're TAGed back and your ECM is useless, they spam LLas at you, they might even hit with a twin gauss and you're done.
The NARC on the other hand allows for a quick and sneaky peak-a-boo, and disappear for 40 seconds while the beacon does its job. The only thing that may oppose to your action is if your target seak cover under a friendly ECM (that's why you must target ECM carriers first or your NARC will be useless).
The TAG makes you very predictable and vulnerable, while the NARC preserves all your freedom of action and evasion.

Thoughts?

PS: That being said, I think the TAG still is useful on larger mechs. I use a TAG on all my LRM boats for obvious reasons. Also, mounted on a front line mech it can be good way to help your LRM boat to focus fire to support a charge.

 

I use it for spotting enemies out of narc range (my raven is not a short range mech anyway) I find a good brush over an enemy ecm will usually at least notify my team of their presence. As another use I have for it is to use it as a way to confirm my ER Large Lasers will actually hit my target as the tag is mounted in the same area. This helps to make sure I don't make extra heat shooting at an enemy behind bad geometry or a wall I can't see.

 

I never use NARC at all. Its such a huge commitment weight wise (3t+ammo so usually 5+) and requires modules I don't have to become beasts. I'm usually in lance to counter lights as well so need to fill a role which involves enough firepower to take down a jenner or firestarter. It's a minimal commitment to mount a Tag (1 ton) and I can literally swap out a medium laser to do it. We don't run that many LRM's it has to be said in lance.

If you're a dedicated close range LRM caller in an LRM focused lance I get its usefulness but we rarely run with that and tend to use UAV's/TAG's quite a bit.

 

I never used NARC because of the required weight . I prefer TAG. But nowadays using TAG on anything but heavier units seems to have "shoot-me-I'm-an-easy-kill" written all over it. If you are lucky enough to get behind the enemy lines and tag unnoticed, it's priceless. If not, then it's just a way to give away your position. That's the advantage of NARC, you shoot it, you hide. On the other side you cannot tell your LRM-Support if the target is valid or hidden if you don't check it'S position.
I use UAV's mostly. If they`re placed right and remain unnoticed they give you an enormous advantage. I even use them to counter a nearby ECM Mech.

 

Good points here. The NARC is indeed very heavy, that's 5 tons (3 for the launcher, + 1 tons of ammo)(one less for the clan) while the TAG is only one. But I think it worth it on a dedicated spotter.

Not exactly a spotter tool, but also true.

 

I still dislike NARC and prefer TAG. Even though it's technically a missile, it behaves like a super-slow ballistic (it's even slower than an AC/20 !), which means that to land it reliably you have to get really close. Plus there's the weight issue already mentioned.

The problem you see with TAG only happens if you TAG from within the tagged enemy's field of view and stand still. Either keep running or dancing or preferably TAG from behind. Sometimes I even restrain myself from shooting from behind in order to not draw any attention from my TAGging. Also TAG enemies that are already involved with some other target.
If you draw attention from your TAGging, run away and hide. Note that this is still useful: it means they turned away from whatever they were doing, you can use it to distract or to lure enemies into your team.

Also I've seen people recommending to leave TAG on all the time. This is a terrible idea, just don't do this, even when you don't have ECM.

 

I use NARC over tag because of fire and forget nature. If I have to keep myself visible to the enemy to TAG them, I quickly end up dead. I do mount tag on some of my LRM boats for them to use as their own spotter, but I don't run it on lights. It weights the same as a medium laser, and having the laser is just too tempting.

 

I use TAG on my Ravens sometimes. Take my ECM Raven out and get in behind the enemy and just tag the hell out of them. They often get surprised when missiles are raining down on them and they are hidden behind cover.

 

Tagging from behind is a very risky business, especially in group. It's easy to notice one of your mech is tagged, then to locate where it comes from and send one or two lights or fast anti-light mediums to deal with the spotter without they and their team being able to do anything.
My rule number one in light is "always have an exit door" and moving behind the enemy obviously goes against this rule (the only exception I can think of is the H12 hill on Alpine Peak)(or the wall on HPG).

 

I'm about 50/50 on running the TAG so long as it is not my only energy hardpoint (if it's my only laser option, I'm not using it on TAG). A lot of people don't know that you don't need to keep the target TAGged the whole time, you just need to have the dot on target when the missiles are fired, and then again juuust before and during the missile contact. I'm actually convinced that the reward is currently bugged in game, as I have gotten the TAG credit even when I didn't have it pipped during launch and only applied it just before missile contact. Anyway, when combined with the Adv Target Decay module, you can get a lot of TAG bonuses on the sly so long as you follow epikt's advice and always have an escape route.

And TAG + NARC = win.

 

As someone who typically PUGs and has little to no faith in random people assigned to his team... hell no I don't mount tag. I don't mount NARC either. Does that make me selfish and short-sighted? Damn right it does. But I don't trust these other randoms with the ability to hit anything... even with lock-on missiles.

 

TAG is useful for those without ecm anyways.
NARC is better but that is heavy.
The thing is, you can tag and still brawl.

 

What I mean is that NARC is a single slug unlike both SRMs and LRMs, which makes it more like an AC. And because it's that slow, the effective range is much shorter than the nominal 450m, just like nobody uses ERPPC any more at 810m with the current speed.

I have no idea what happens on groups as I play PUG exclusively, so I design all my builds with PUG in mind. I think group/PUG probably have very different requirements which means different "optimal" builds and different build viability.
In PUGs nobody ever "sends a light or medium" to hunt you down. Someone *might* notice you and chase you, in which case you run back to your team. "Tagging from behind" doesn't necessarily mean being 1km away from your team, and it's not necessarily "behind", just maybe flank enough to be outside their field of view.
I agree about always have an exit route and not being too far away from your team.

About a year ago I would have agreed, as people were all about direct fire with PPC+AC but today lots of people have LRMs even as secondary weapons. I'd recommend to give TAG/NARC another try and you might be surprised, many times it makes the different in a win.

 

Depends on how many E-Slots the Light Mech has - e.g. I mounted TAG on my Jenner F because 6 MLas is simply too hot to handle. It's good to get more XP Points.

 

TAG gives my position away too easily. I don't think I like it on my Ravel 3L.

 

This is something that requires situational awareness. When I'm in my 3L and my job is to TAG the enemy I get in behind and operate the tag with a button; as long as the enemy isn't looking I'm tagging. The moment they take a barrage in the face I disengage my tag and move to a different location but still in the rear visual arc of the enemy. After a while you can get quite good at this and turn it in to an art form. My fatty missile buddies love me for it.

Things might have changed since I've played but they can't have changed THAT much!

 

I prefer to NARC and duck behind cover if I am going to spot enemies.