Hello Mechwarriors; My unit has been chugging along dropping in pugs and ocasionally venturing into the 12 man scene. we Normally drop with a great plan but the team is a mixed match of mech classes and sizes. The Idea was to let the players play what they felt they were best at. I feel this is doing them an inservice. we win about 40% of our matches, and this is just not good enough. Do you have any suggestions or ideas i can use?
No limits? Besides obvious 12x DDC / 10x HGN stomp teams, there's quite a bit to try out. Try theese: a) '2x6' 1x Atlas DDC 5x Highlander 5x Jenner 1 Spider 5D b) '4 lances' -> 1x DDC, 2x HGN as Brawlers -> 3x VTRs / CTFs / JM6s as DPS -> 3x SHDs for flanking / harassing purposes -> 2x Jenner, 1x Spider 5D for capping & harassing Use a target caller and practice to move as a unit. Coordinate your pushs with your flankers and harassers.
We used to do 3x D-DC and the rest were 20/10 Jaegers. That didn't seem to work as well against the more prevalent pop tart Highlander 12 man however.
During some 12 mans we ran across this. We were attempting to troll a 12 man that we kept bumping in to but instead ran into Shop and his pals; this was an unexpected treat! How did we beat them? Lots of ECM, some really good pilots and builds that are optimized. Once we figured out where they were (the lance I was in ran smack dab into the center of them within the first 2 minutes) we were able to disengage and set up gorilla tactics; "attack runs".
Nawww our Alpha Lance, myself included, were out scouting and we happened to be the ones to run into the poptarts that were under cover of their 3Ms. They started blowing us apart before we even knew what hit us. I managed to drop an Artillery right before I was popped taking one of them mofos with me. Once we figured out where they were and what they were running we were able to compensate but they wiped out Alpha VERY quickly. Yeah Fuzzy, some of the HJ guys joined UMAD and are some really great guys!
A lot of competitive matches are streamed, you can look for inspiration there. http://www.twitch.tv/runhotordie http://www.twitch.tv/remnantinvitational The staples seem to be Air/Arti strikes, Jenners (D for low tonnage drops, F for high), the occasional SDR-5D, CDA-3M, BJ-1, or HBK-4P for tonnage considerations, AC20+PPC/LPL/2ML SHD, CTF-3D, VTR-DS, and HGN.
Games not competitive, lets be honest. But there are lots of great units out there, I'd just check around on TS servers etc.
Thanks I think i will watch some videos with my focus being what are they driving and maybe our UNIT can learn from others mistakes I see that the Cataphract and DDC and Jenner Shadowhawk is the Meta but I hate playing into a Cookie cutter every match the same kind of mentality.. looking for other ideas that have worked in the past or have tried that worked. Got alot af great ideas here thanks for all the input,,,, Need more Input
I hesitate to chime in since my experience is not with very organized groups (PUGger due to weird hours of play), but the concept is so alluring that I will stick my neck out and say that the basic "input" I would add is any type of organization where you fight on YOUR terms, instead of the opposing team's is going to go over better than letting them dominate the engagement. Like Michael said, even though his lance was decimated quickly, the rest of his team was able to capitalize on the discovery, and adjust appropriately; end result being a win. MWO does not lend itself to a staggering approach, or any such 'real-world' tactics. So basically, any 'honest' fighting is going to be two teams duking it out. Make sure you have the upper hand in positioning (via mechs and / or terrain), cohesion between your teammates as well as the individual lances, and defined roles. And BFG's (Arty / Air strikes / etc.) The rest falls into individual pilot skills and effectiveness, which only experience brings. And always be flexible. A lot of times matches hinge on one side capitalizing on a mistake faster and more efficiently than the other. As for 'cookie-cutter' builds, there are such things because people get used to the mech they fight in, and get good at it. Experience teaches them that there are certain mechs where they will be super-effective, and certain others where they are not so good. In competitive matches, why would anyone bring a mech they do NOT have the most experience in and / or familiarity with? So, cookie-cutters. Effective. Efficient (per pilot). Those would be my 2 credits. --KAT.
