How to deal with tons of enemy LRM turrets / support mech

[CondorDrake]

I usually don't have too much problems grinding out approaching mechs, but I struggle in missions where one of my mechs is being hit and knocked down by 5-6 LRM attacks each round. Rushing forward to get the LRMs into sensor range is not really an option, because enemy short / medium range mechs would just tear my mechs apart if I did so.

Is there any good counter tactic to deal with the steady LRM bombardment?

[View The Phenom]

Kill the spotter, or lead with the tank unit(s) so they take the majority of the LRM fire. Meanwhile, have flankers hunt down the LRM mechs.

[wendigo211]

It depends on the missions On most missions you can kill the spotter and then get into a position where you can rush the LRM spammers so they have to deal with minimum range penalties.

However, I had one mission where the OpFor had 3 Catapults and 2 Trebuchets. I just quit that mission, it wasn't worth the repair bills.

[dfhuscarl]

Sadly, there isn't really a one-answer-covers-all because it's so situational; from what the enemy has to what you have to the terrain, it almost always comes down to personal experience and knowing how to adapt to handle the situation.

If you've played the game for any length of time most of this should feel pretty straight forward, but here are some general tips that should hopefully make life a little easier in virtually every situation you might run into...

...also, wall of text warning.



#1. The Rangefinder Mod: I know head hits are a bit of a 'thing', and it sucks having your MechWarriors in medbay healing, but for my style of play, the extra view distance was a real game-changer. I try to put Rangefinders on all my mechs now, but really you need just a single one, or possibly two for convenience. I used to block line-of-sight and rely on sensor locks for vision to counter-snipe at long-range, but that works on a one-unit basis. It was absolute balls trying to snipe down a braced mech. Now I just SEE at long range and rather than having a mech or two idle with sensor locks, the whole lance can participate while potentially viewing more than a single unit at a time. Works so nice against turrets!



#2. PPCs, LRMs, and Autocannons: A mech that just stands up has a +4 to-hit modifier, which equates to a 20% roll penalty. Also, the AI will sometimes brace unsteady mechs instead of attacking. Prioritizing weapon systems that knock down mechs can give you an edge or, at least a reprieve, from eating 60+LRMs each round. The AC/5+++ if you happen to find one, has +4 accuracy and +20 stability damage. There is also a lovely PPC++ that gives +30 stability damage, doing 50 armour damage and a total of 50 stability damage per hit. Delta LRM++ 5/10/15 launchers, while having a +2 stability damage bonus, do 5 stability damage per missile hit, making them VERY effective for knocking over enemy mechs, since line-of-sight isn't required, allowing for easy support regardless of where your lancemates end up in the fight.

My first support mech was the CN-9 with an LRM 15 and two LRM10. I'm pretty sure it carried more tons of ammo than tons of armour. Another respectable support variant keeps the autocannon (Often downgrade to the AC/5 to allow more armour and ammo) and uses 3x LRM 5.



#3. Run Away!: Tho not all map drops support this option, if you're out-gunned/out-ranged or just out-numbered, sprint or jump out of engagement range to try and string out the enemy's forces. It's much easier when the enemy is trickling in one or two at a time. If you cannot run away, you can consider splitting your forces in two (or more) opposing directions and head to opposite edges of the map boundaries. The AI will also split up it's mechs to chase, which means the damage to your units will not be nearly as concentrated; this can help keep your mechs on their feet when facing off against those annoying LRM boats. Plus, you can often get backstabs.

It's a bit of a digression, but I learned this lesson yesterday when I faced off against:
BNC-1E, HGN-733, DRG-1N, CDA-3C, supported by TDR-5S, TDR-5SE, JM-6A, JM-6S

My lance:
ENF-4R (1 Gauss Rifle, 4JJ), 2x TDR-SE (PPC + 2x LRM 5 + 3x Med Laser, 4JJ), HGN-732B (3 PPC, 3JJ)

It was a disgustingly small map, maybe 1km square, with the OpFor starting centre, so I was always in range and one mech was always getting slammed. It was mountainous tho, so there ways to block or limit the line-of-sight to my mechs. But it was tough going because all the enemy mechs dealt tons of stability damage, and 5 out of 8 had LRMs, which meant I was jumping and bracing just to stay standing; it was difficult to deal damage with my lance tucked away in the starting corner struggling to stay upright.

So, after three rounds of that nonsense and giving serious consideration to just withdrawing, I decided I would leverage my jump jets and just see what happens. So, I took my Enforcer and a Thunderbolt and skirted around the map edge, simply bracing the whole way thru, offering the least-damaged sides of my mechs to the DRG, HGN, and BNC. It took only 4 turns to reach the other side of the map area, that's how small it was.

Doing that, the AI started getting 'distracted' with it's units, and they'd move one direction one turn to shoot at one of my mechs, then turn around and run the other direction to shoot at a different mech of mine the next. This let me pop both enemy TDRs in the back, and both died due to LRM ammo explosions. The Jagermechs are glass cannons and alone, were so much easier to focus down - they popped quick thanks to the PPCs, also to ammo explosions. The Dragon I had to kill the old fashion way, which is to say I took off both torsos and a leg before it finally was destroyed. The last mech standing was the Highlander, and I worked very carefully to make sure it was knocked out due to pilot death so I could salvage it.

Honestly, I'd thought it was an unwinnable fight at first and I don't know why I stuck it out. But I'm glad I did, as it was a very satisfying win.



#4. Don't Be Afraid to Brace: Just because you can take a shot, doesn't mean you should take a shot. The most common mistake I see is during initial contact; an enemy comes into range and the player decides to shoot. Sometimes they'll even overheat, which is simply unwise.

It's usually better to brace up your mechs in the first round, particularly in situations where the enemy forces move before you. The first round is when the AI is most likely to alpha strike - and you on't, then counter when the AI makes it's own unfavourable moves/overheats. I tend to ignore this rule if I think I can kill the first mech outright and it doesn't look like another unit can get vision on mine.

And again, not every round has to be about shooting. Sometimes the damage you prevent is more important than the damage you deal. It's disgusting how quickly a mech gets mangled when it falls and, there's rarely anything that can be done to save it; you just have to trust in the armour and the RNG.

If you're in a situation where the majority of the OpFor attacks before you get to, it's almost always better to brace/Bulwark. If you're not sure what you're against, bracing doesn't cost you much. I'll often walk/brace until I see 3-4 opposing units, because few things suck like getting slammed with a face full of LRMs and watching your best mech start to sway like a drunk on a windy night.

If you feel like the fight isn't going your way, again, take a turn or, maybe even more, to fall back and simply brace. If you can make each one of your mechs as costly as possible to destroy in terms of spent ammunition and heat, there's a good chance you can win even against overwhelming odds.

If you run your mechs hot, don't shoot one or two weapons unless it nets you proper damage like a kill, destroys a critical location or, knocks an enemy mech down. Rather, brace until you can alpha again. It's typically better to take 2 turns of half-damage to cool off to alpha every 3rd than to take full damage while firing willy-nilly with half your arsenal. The only time you want to do that is if you can deal critical damage - like making a kill, destroying an important location, or knocking a mech over.



#5. Abuse the initiative system/turn order: This is where it gets tricky and, it's vitually impossible late-game where almost all opposing vehicles and mechs will be in Initiative Phase 1; there you have to rely on bracing/bulkwark and exploiting the order-of-play. But up until that point, you can often juggle the opposing force's weapons fire.

Always pay attention to the order of movement, because it never changes. i.e. If a you're facing off against a Locust a Spider and a Commando, they will always move in the same order, which often is fastest to slowest, so the most common order-of-movement would be Spider, then Locust, follow lastly by the Commando.

Also, if a mech gets bumped from a higher initiative phase to a lower initiative phase, usually because it was knocked down/precision shot'd, the AI will move the ligher mech(s) before the heavier mechs.

So lets say the AI has it in for one of your mechs and for two turns now, everything that can, shoots at it. Sometimes you can disrupt the enemy turn order. Sometimes you just have to use brute force.

An example of using the initiative system to your advantage:

Take a medium mech and reserve it during Init Phase 3; it takes damage from enemy medium mechs. Then move that medium mech first in Init Phase 2, allowing it to regain evasion tokens and bracing to remove stability damage before the heavy mechs attack. Presumeably the rest of your lance should be able to disable a mech. At the start of next round, if your medium mech took a lot of damage, you can move your medium mech first this time, again allowing it to re-max evasion tokens and removing stability damage by bracing. Or, if last round/phase went favourably you can again reserve down, looking for an opening to exploit.

You could jump the damaged mech back and jump a fresh one forward to keep visual contact for your support mechs to do their work. Or, you have a dedicated decoy mech with lots and lots of armour and mobility. Any of the 55 ton mechs are great for this.

Honestly, there are so many variantions, and so many situations it's an impossible topic to cover. It's just one of those things that you have to know the fundementals so you can suss out the how-to on your own.

I'm sorry for such a huge read but hopefully something here helps you.

Good hunting!

[Asuzu]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Eagle_of_Fire:

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Asuzu:

Yeah, that's AI.
In reality you get sensor locked, then precision shot into legs/torso with 2xAC/20, gg.
If you aren't down yet, you receive 80 LRMs to the face and knocked down, then still dead.

In SP you can run a lance of 4 Firestarters and kill 10 Atlases, for God's sake...
Doesn't mean its actually viable. It's SP, you can do all sorts of wonky stuff against braindead AI.

Hey, guess what? We're talking about SP here.

Also, "in reality"? Please. Chances to hit do not change facing a human or an AI and I would certainly not take the same steps, tactics and strategy against a human either.

What I love in Steam forums in any game is the amount of people who don't seem to understand what the discussion is about when they try to be snarky.

Man I am not trying to be snarky or anything.. It's jsut obvious that there is nothing you can do with puny Light mech to a King Crab who knows how to deal with it.

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Rabidnid:

Kill who ever can see you. Stay in cover.

This, pretty much.