lumpybump
Destrier
Huh?
Posts: 113
Karma: 48
Pilot name: OH!! Sorry?
Platform: Android
Clan: recruit me yo!
League: Silver
Server Region: North America
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Post by lumpybump on Apr 21, 2017 12:35:54 GMT -5
I recently signed up with fb mercenaries group and have since been agonizing about being good enough not to drag my team down. There are too many people in that group that I deeply respect/admire and whom I've learned so much from on this forum; not to mention the various Deplorables who keep me lol-ing. I think my hanger is okay for Android/Silver although I occasionally bump into Gold. It is pretty much completely standard builds and distribution although I made some quirky leveling choices and have all level 9 bots with around 6.5 level weapons. I am of course working on leveling weapons now and will probably not stop till they are an average of 9+. Since I started playing in January I have almost exclusively played solo and am concerned that I might have developed some tendencies that would not be appropriate if I were playing with people I cared about. For example I'm one of those guys who races for the closest beacon and sometimes/often lead with a Gareth when I think overall my game contribution is higher when I swap it for a 9/5 Thunder Carnage that I end with. With a 9/6.5 hanger I never have a shot at damage gold and running for the MoC is Pavlovian at this point. I do squad with my kid on occasion for fun and I don't think about it much. Pairing up then is quite fun and surprisingly effective even when my mindset is completely casual. I play with a keyboard and mouse which I think is an advantage or at least I don't think piloting is my problem apart from the occasional tactical mistake.
Comms?
I'm wondering how common it is to have some way of communicating with your squad and reciprocally how you could possibly effectively squad in a coordinated way without it? I've played a little with a [casual] clan but apart from them not being tankers there was little benefit. I hear voice comms mentioned a lot both Discord and Line and one technical question I have is if it is possible to mix game sound and voice comms in a simple way. I'm expecting two devices here but I find game sound helpful in identifying weapon types and to some extent location. Do people play without game sound or is there some simple way of mixing them without interfering with voice that I'm not thinking of? Also I have a lot of questions about the sort of activity that occurs on comms that would probably be best answered by actually doing it. One I will ask now is, is there generally a hierarchy with a designated leader or is it free for all?
Roles?
Do people have roles and different hanger setups to facilitate the role or is it more everyone has a power runner, some knife fighters, and a midrange? I can maybe see a dedicated light/medium beacon capping hanger to be a helpful thing. Does this happen? Are there other roles? What about one or two bots in the squad as anti-midrange sniper(s) for big maps?
Drops?
Once you see the map you have 14 seconds to figure out what to drop. How is this coordinated or is it all just determined ahead of time? A major benefit I can see to squading is the use of synergistic tuples. I'm just going to assume it happens but if anyone wants to give details I'm interested. Also on respawn do you wait for someone else so you can pair synergistically or does someone else ditch for it or what?
Coordinating attack/defence?
I can see something akin to "zone defence" working on tight maps like Dark City and maybe Power Plant, but the Moon is just frogs in a blender. Does this kind of thing happen? Yama (and Canyon sort of) seems pretty straight forward in that most activity revolves around the center beacon so I can see coordinated assaults with supporting midrange and flankers being just sort of obvious. I'm very curious about what goes on in Springfield though. The asymmetry makes for more discrete assault and defence tasking I would think. Anyway how does that work and what is the ratio between coordinated activity and free for all?
I'm too serious right?
As a wise person once said "SHUT UP AND PLAY!" Less coffee and more booze now that the holiday is over.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2017 12:59:37 GMT -5
Howdy lumpybump . In short, you are overthinking it. All of your questions are great, but they are more "What does a high level clan think" than what its like to squad with the forum deplorables... My experiences with the forum crew are that we are generally very casual about gameplay, and don't get too caught up on individual results. Our strategy planning sessions usually sound like this: Paps: "That last match sucked. I'm hungry." Rockwelder: "Jibber Jabber sucka! Did you see me shoot that Griff last game? Bam!" Stark: "Gotta go guys, my GF is outside to pick me up" Panda: "Yeah, she just left my house 15 mins ago" Xander: "What should we drop in next game" Viva: "Dunno, depends on the map. But I sure do like Rhinos" Comms are great but not required. Planning is non existent usually as it's too much work. Playstyle is just to go hard and not quit. Forum mercenary crew generally plays all maps. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2017 13:08:09 GMT -5
Comms are helpful for discussing and executing strategies in games. In the last time I was on comms with a clan mate, we managed to win 9 out of 9 games.
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Post by Firebeard on Apr 21, 2017 15:12:15 GMT -5
From reading your questions I can tell you have a strategic mind. That is a boon to a Team. However, most don't or can't see this.
You're absolutely correct. Your questions correspond to an effective fire-team. Some can't seem to grasp the idea of maintaining their fire sector(s) to ward off flanking or to bring effective firepower to the Enemy. This causes one, such as yourself and myself, to run "interference" to increase the Teams survivability. This costs us Mecha and makes the after action report seem like we had no real input. I run one Grunt, one fast attack and one mobile missile platform for this purpose(s).
SPRINGFIELD: If you drop near the dam, juke left and keep near the outside of the center "Farm Beacon." This position gives you good line-of-sight to the battlefield and you can quickly dive to cover when needed. You can cover 3 Beacons from this area. My most effective load out for Springfield is: Pins, Molots.
There is no "I" in Team. Some say there is a "Me" but Team is not an anagram. "Me" is if you spell Team backwards, which is Meat - and that is what you are to the Enemy if you go rogue ..
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Post by tectonic on Apr 21, 2017 15:34:52 GMT -5
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Post by moody on Apr 21, 2017 17:54:55 GMT -5
I hate to say. I don't get playing differently in a squad vs. solo. Because I play the same.
Had a discussion in my clan a while ago trying to figure out what was different - aside from comms. I play for the team regardless.
What can be good if we ever do it, is specific pairing of bots at the beginning of a battle. E.g. Galahad and thunder carnage. Combined shields, flanking shots etc.
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Post by shaolinrogue on Apr 21, 2017 18:05:55 GMT -5
From reading your questions I can tell you have a strategic mind. That is a boon to a Team. However, most don't or can't see this. You're absolutely correct. Your questions correspond to an effective fire-team. Some can't seem to grasp the idea of maintaining their fire sector(s) to ward off flanking or to bring effective firepower to the Enemy. This causes one, such as yourself and myself, to run "interference" to increase the Teams survivability. This costs us Mecha and makes the after action report seem like we had no real input. I run one Grunt, one fast attack and one mobile missile platform for this purpose(s). SPRINGFIELD: If you drop near the dam, juke left and keep near the outside of the center "Farm Beacon." This position gives you good line-of-sight to the battlefield and you can quickly dive to cover when needed. You can cover 3 Beacons from this area. My most effective load out for Springfield is: Pins, Molots. There is no "I" in Team. Some say there is a "Me" but Team is not an anagram. "Me" is if you spell Team backwards, which is Meat - and that is what you are to the Enemy if you go rogue .. What do I have to do with this.... |
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Post by shaolinrogue on Apr 21, 2017 18:10:06 GMT -5
Howdy lumpybump . In short, you are overthinking it. All of your questions are great, but they are more "What does a high level clan think" than what its like to squad with the forum deplorables... My experiences with the forum crew are that we are generally very casual about gameplay, and don't get too caught up on individual results. Our strategy planning sessions usually sound like this: Paps: "That last match sucked. I'm hungry." Rockwelder: "Jibber Jabber sucka! Did you see me shoot that Griff last game? Bam!" Stark: "Gotta go guys, my GF is outside to pick me up" Panda: "Yeah, she just left my house 15 mins ago" Xander: "What should we drop in next game" Viva: "Dunno, depends on the map. But I sure do like Rhinos" Comms are great but not required. Planning is non existent usually as it's too much work. Playstyle is just to go hard and not quit. Forum mercenary crew generally plays all maps. I second this, Mercs is all about a good time. You will find that once you play with the same people enough you already know their typical bot order, who does what on what map etc. The match below was only the first maybe the second time we played together & especially the Lancelot deployment at the end looks downright choreographed. No comms just good situational awareness & keeping your squadmates in mind. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2017 18:34:52 GMT -5
I'd say covering a sector and preventing flanking is important. Staying in one spot and clumping up is bad, real bad. I see lots of randoms doing this, and no one ever going for a flanking attack. Almost every map and place has somewhere you can go and flank. In my old clan, there was little communication, but usually my mates had my back so that was good. Just watch out for the back of your blues, and help them. It was a lot more fun playing even semi-coordinated, so just do your best.
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Post by shaolinrogue on Apr 21, 2017 18:58:29 GMT -5
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Post by Paps on Apr 22, 2017 5:36:02 GMT -5
Don't sweat it too much. I play for fun, primarily. Not too worried about bein' a pro-star mech driver. Winning is nice, don't get me wrong. But for sure not everythin'  |
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Post by Firebeard on Apr 22, 2017 6:25:46 GMT -5
From reading your questions I can tell you have a strategic mind. That is a boon to a Team. However, most don't or can't see this. You're absolutely correct. Your questions correspond to an effective fire-team. Some can't seem to grasp the idea of maintaining their fire sector(s) to ward off flanking or to bring effective firepower to the Enemy. This causes one, such as yourself and myself, to run "interference" to increase the Teams survivability. This costs us Mecha and makes the after action report seem like we had no real input. I run one Grunt, one fast attack and one mobile missile platform for this purpose(s). SPRINGFIELD: If you drop near the dam, juke left and keep near the outside of the center "Farm Beacon." This position gives you good line-of-sight to the battlefield and you can quickly dive to cover when needed. You can cover 3 Beacons from this area. My most effective load out for Springfield is: Pins, Molots. There is no "I" in Team. Some say there is a "Me" but Team is not an anagram. "Me" is if you spell Team backwards, which is Meat - and that is what you are to the Enemy if you go rogue .. What do I have to do with this.... I don't understand your rhetorical question/statement .. do what you want with it. |
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lumpybump
Destrier
Huh?
Posts: 113
Karma: 48
Pilot name: OH!! Sorry?
Platform: Android
Clan: recruit me yo!
League: Silver
Server Region: North America
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Post by lumpybump on Apr 22, 2017 8:13:16 GMT -5
Hey all, thanks for that. I do over think stuff, no surprise.
Now all my self doubt is about "situational awareness" which I acknowledge is something I'm still growing in and was just lumping in with "tactical" but really deserves it's own comma.
Also I'm still interested in doing voice comms in a full squad. I don't need to be a pro but I also don't think I'm "doing my best" if I don't actually pursue every possibility for improvement.
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Post by amidf on Apr 22, 2017 9:25:26 GMT -5
What do I have to do with this.... I don't understand your rhetorical question/statement .. do what you want with it. You wrote "rogue." OP should squad with Ferro Magnus. He just tells me what to do. -Amid |
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Post by Firebeard on Apr 22, 2017 12:47:28 GMT -5
I don't understand your rhetorical question/statement .. do what you want with it. You wrote "rogue." OP should squad with Ferro Magnus. He just tells me what to do. -Amid Ohhh .. LOL I meant, " Rogue" as in the operating outside of parameters. He confused the context of my Post. No worries .. |
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Post by amidf on Apr 22, 2017 13:01:43 GMT -5
You wrote "rogue." OP should squad with Ferro Magnus. He just tells me what to do. -Amid Ohhh .. LOL I meant, " Rogue" as in the operating outside of parameters. He confused the context of my Post. No worries .. I took it as him being funny. He could work on the delivery. Too deadpan. -Amid |
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