Are Assaults Easy Mode?

...and I'm not being facetious or trying to offend anyone, I'm just wondering what the general consensus is. I can do OK in my DDC but there's times you look around and it's just like... geez louise this thing feels unkillable... you stomp around, throw out like 600 damage, you're getting punched in the face from like 8 different directions and it just doesn't die! I take damage that would kill me in a heavy like 3 times over...

I kinda feel like maybe it promotes sloppy play or something?, I dunno... I wonder sometimes that maybe I do OK in it because it's so slow and my natural stupidity can't get me into trouble as fast as in something else... is there really such a thing as being skilled in an assault or is it something that pretty much anyone can do? Like "Yeah no kidding, you get more kills and survive longer in a 100-ton mech" ... or are good players just good players regardless?

It's not like I don't have some good ratios in heavies, but I wonder if the DDC is more me or more the mech I think... I dunno if good numbers in it are really something to be proud of, kinda thing...

And if anyone in the competitive ranks can speak to it, are assaults a big part of competitive team play? It strikes me that if maybe it takes less skill to do well in then upper-echelon competitive players might shy away from it... that's just purely ignorance on my part though, I really have zero idea...

Just some questions in my head tonite, for whatever reason...

 

Uhh, duh...

Assaults have been easy mode for almost half a year now...

...not that there's anything wrong with that...

 

I wouldn't know. I haven't piloted an assault since before the end of Closed Beta.

 

Well that's that I guess...

 

Easy mode, a whole class? Don't agree at all. Certain mechs and mechbuilds have been easy mode, yes. But a whole class? Not IMHO.

 

I'm in the same boat as Archwright, haven't piloted an Assault since closed beta. But from what I have noticed since then, most players I spectate in a game that are in assaults (primarily Stalkers and Atlas) are usually the worst players on my team in random drops. They usually pick bad routes and can't hit the broadside of a barn. Then at the end of a match they usually show decent numbers. IMO all of that armor really makes up for their lack of skill in a mech. Watching them play is also why I have never purchased an assault. I just imagine myself in their shoes and how much havoc I would have wreaked. With that, I have to agree that a lot of people use assaults as a "crutch". But I don't see anything WRONG with that. It just means that players looking for a more challenging game (like myself) probably shy away from them.

And yes, it really all comes down to how effective the build is, but that is true on any level.

 

I partially agree. I do think that it's the easiest weight-class to rack up OK damage (300+), but actually being useful and worth your slot in the team roster? I think they can be one of the hardest!

Perhaps it's because I'm primarily a light/med pilot and only recently bought my first assault, but the constant map awareness needed to position yourself correctly whilst piloting the slowest thing on the field and the fact in PUGs you rely on people backing you up if you lead the charge etc means I have to think many more steps ahead than when I'm in my cent/jenner.

In short, easy to do damage, harder to actually be (more) useful (than a heavy).

 

Unkillable? I don't think so. In my experience assaults are taken off very quickly because they draw a lot of focusfire and because they are sluggish they cant avoid damage easily. Either you are lucky to spread incoming damage by torsotwisting or you die a painful death before reaching the Enemy. Personally i get better scores with Heavies.

Besides Assaults are not always the same. An Awesome affords to be played more carefully and from a safer distance than an Atlas while Victors and Highlanders are agile enough to be deadly Snipers.

 

Very well put VeryVizzy.

I can see the weight class being difficult to compete with because (I would think) there is a higher expectation of an assault pilot. You are expected to not mess up you positioning and to do a superb job delivering a massive amount of damage brawling. In a position to absorb a good amount of damage and divert attention away from the rest of the team, but not so much to be in a position with not hope for survival. Sounds like it would be a hard line to walk in a competitive environment, especially a lot less forgiving than some other weight classes (forgiving on a team-wide scale). If the assaults get boned because of a lack of skill, then the other team has to make up for it.

assaults in random matches are a completely different vibe as I stated before.

 

"With great power comes great responsibility"

You should have some of the highest firepower of the team, you have the heaviest armor, you take the most tonnage if the game is well weight balanced.

Yes, it is easy to whack up 300+ damage compare to, say, a spider. But that is part of your main purpose. In fact, 300+ damge is not even decent for an assault some of the time. I know, if you just compare the damage Assault does seems easy, but to win a game, assaults have to play the cards right.

In a balanced game, yoou may be still ok if you lose a light early, but if you lose an atlas early? Well, that is quite some difference.

It is not easy more, but rather, you are gambling with more.

That aside, it is easier to farm cbills, in a way.

 

Being assault and having more armor also means you are way slower. Longevity is by no means assured. Yes, one vs one you have better chances. So? How often do you actually end up in a 1 vs 1 in a assault? Atlas in particular that has to expose so much of their body in order to clear their weapon ports, with so slow speed they have to stick to the middle of the maps or risk being bypassed and never catch up?

I have roughly 600 games in the Atlas chassi and around 200 with the Victors and they are extremly different due to the speed and mobility. With the Vic's XL engine you can relocate much easier then the Atlas can and thus survive longer. The Atlas has about 100 pts of armor worth in the CT, that's ten full on blasts from a LLAS or a PPC. If the Atlas goes up against three enemy heavies, he's toast in about 12 seconds. If the Vic goes up against three enemy heavies, he will get the hell out of Dodge and use his mobility to his favor but in a straight up fight he'd die too.

Difference is staying alive longer and doing more damage during that time...how do you think the lights who tote two ERLLAS do hundreds and hundreds of damage? Over time.

The Atlas that dies in the 4th minute may have less then 300 pts, but who's to say those weren't done while giving his team a shot at pushing forwards?

It's too simplified a question, there are no easy modes IMHO. Only easy mode builds on certain chassi.

 

12 seconds? damn, he must be a good TorsoTwister! In most of the games i play, we can kill an Atlas within 5-10 secs with three heavies.

But if you stay with your mob, you can deal plenty of damage in an Atlas. So never think you are unkillable and so never go solo

 

That was my #1 mistake back when I had a barren mechbay and wanted to try the Atlas on trial. I would think "this thing is huge, scary, and can take anything" and with this mentality, charge forward hoping for a team push. 99% of the time, the rest of the team stayed behind, and I quickly went up in smoke.

 

Solahma you mentioned something that is very important (to me at least) concerning assault employment. Not just dishing damage but TAKING damage as well. However with 12 vs. 12 it is a little less important.

Nothing used to scare me more as a MED/HVY pilot than when an assault player tells the team "LRMs please lock targets"

Now that is one less assault that is in the thick of things, taking damage while the heavies and mediums maneuver around for the proverbial hammer and anvil. He will sit back as the meds and hvy's take all the punishment, then wonder why he gets surrounded by 2 mediums, a heavy, and a light at the end of the game. His presence on the front line or 4-500 yard back supporting line could have turned the tide of the primary engagement.

 

Short answer: yes

Long answer: yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees

 

Agreed in most cases.

I can understand a dedicated awesome LRM boat, but things like Atlas and even Stalker should be around the frontline. Maybe things like victor should not be taking damage too much as the Atlas (that's cause everyone shoots at the Atlas/Stalker first), but at least he should still be in the frontline dashing out damage while other mechs are busy shooting and twisting and mangling brawling wityh the enemies.

By moving with the frontline you catually take less damage in the end cause damage would be a bit more evenly distributed as more threats are presented to the enemyline at the same time. IF the enemies are stupid enough to all concentrate their fire on that atlas or two in that situation, then while they are doing it they would all be down to thew criticals if not more by friendly heavies like the Jagers and the 'practs.

Simply put, get in the frontline and go WITH the group. You don't have to be the frist mech to charge, but you should definitely be one of the first guys to be shooting at them creeps.

 

It all depends on the situation and reason behind its choice. There are some REALLY good Assault pilots out there but WHY are they good? Because they have good aim? Because the assault mech is large enough to keep them alive through their mistakes? I guess we could debate that point either way.

I think there are two main situations at work in the game (with assaults).

SITUATION #1 - The Crutch:

Personally I believe many assault pilots are more novice players who think that bigger is better. Most kids will sit there and think "Wow, 80+ tons I can be the biggest baddest most invincible killing machine on the battlefield" and so they take an assault mech. It is sort of like a crutch for newer players. As their skills develop they diversify their mech portfolio.

Bigger isn't always better.

I know of one assault pilot who is actually used as bait by his drop commander because he has a habit of rushing up over hills and getting himself killed in his eagerness to "brawl". His drop commander puts that to good use and uses it to draw out the enemy and getting them to engage. In this situation it is more for a crutch than anything else. The only reason that individual survives at all is because of the sheer tons of armor the mech has onboard but a lot of the time even that doesn't save him. Think "Atlas on Theta's upper ring in Mordor, out in the open and totally exposed".

SITUATION #2 - Nothing Else Carries As Much Firepower:

In competitive drops a lot of people run assault mechs because they CAN carry the most firepower or highest DPS weapons, then they focus their fire (as a team) and it becomes almost insta-kill time. Remember when 4+ PPC Stalkers were the king of the battlefield? Or Highlander Jump Snipers? 3-4 enemy mechs all looked your way at one time and you were literally vaporized?

If you look at a lot of the really good teams you will see that they are pretty heavy in the upper portion of their drop decks. They don't ignore the other classes (lights are needed for conquest mode) but for the most part they are packing some serious weight/firepower. This is where the assault becomes an almost critical component of your drop deck; anything less and you will get rolled.

 

Combine firepower with ECM and it's no surprise see an entire lance of DD-Cs in a 12-man drop.

 

I think inherently, certain mechs in all the different classes are easy mode. On the other end, some mechs are hard mode. I list some examples below. Disclaimer, these are my opinions.

Easy Mode:
DDC Atlas
Stalker
Cataphract
Jager
Spider

Hard Mode:
Commando
Dragon
Awesome

 

Awesome is painful. Dragons are ok if you build and treat it as a big medium. Comando is fun in maps with buildings and water.