When to precision strike?

[Don Cool]

While I have been doing well trying to grind easier missions I suck at precision strikes, they hardly ever do anything and trying to hit the head is a waste of time for my mechs, they never hit.

This is probably my fault since my 4 55 ton mechs are mainly composed of LRM´s and medium lasers, only one boasts 2 small AC´s to one shoot those pesky vehicles.

Also the only way I have found to reliably dispose of a mech when its fallen down is by stumping on it, that usually destroys the center torso.

Is it my heavy use of medium lasers and LRM´s that is at fault here?

[Vidicus]

I put AC20 on all mechs when I am looking for salvage. Then I precise aim for a leg, I almost always destroy the leg in one shot... here is how I do it.

1. first mech....Precise aim for leg, leg is destroyed, mech falls down.
2. second mech.... shoots down target, aims for other leg. Mech is destroyed, I get two salvage.

rinse and repeat. itis hard to get a headshot kill, or to incapacitate a pilot end game, so I go for the leg kills to guarentee two salvage.

[nilus]

Use it on tanks to concentrate fire and take them out quicker.

[Chameleon_Silk]

Originally posted by nilus:

Use it on tanks to concentrate fire and take them out quicker.

I try to avoid this because then you don't have ways to disarm the enemy mechs.

also I don't usually shoot arms instead i core side torsos to remove more firepower and also the arm, why shoot arm armor if you don't have to.

a few exceptions would be like a PPC on a panther... removing arm is safest way to completley neuter them down to an SRM and so is worth just to shoot the arm since its useless afterwards anyways.

[Carog the Fat]

6 tactics will give you a 5% chance to head shot this is worh using if you have at least one weapon that can delete the head (an ac 5 is good enough v rmhackle heavies you meet initally) I literally just killed Grim Sybil in first mission with a called head shot with an AC 5

[Chameleon_Silk]

Originally posted by Agent Orange:

6 tactics will give you a 5% chance to head shot this is worh using if you have at least one weapon that can delete the head (an ac 5 is good enough v rmhackle heavies you meet initally) I literally just killed Grim Sybil in first mission with a called head shot with an AC 5

AC5 is not enough later on, 45 armor + 16 structure, you would need AC5+ or previously hit the head.

[C4Warr10r]

In addition to the tips and pilot skills mentioned, it helps to know a mech's loadout. I played tabletop for years so I've got most of them memorized. However, the game tells you what's in a section when you mouse over it.

One good tip to remember is that if you destroy a side torso, the associated arm goes with it. Another is that hits on legs give bonus stability damage, and any excess dame will transfer to that side torso. With a called shot against a leg that does excess damage (transfered to the corresponding torso section) wot can knock a mech's pilot out in one salvo.

The odds you see for called shots to hit are percentages of a percentage. Let's say you have an 80% chance to hit with a called shot, and the Center Torso shows 50%. You have an 80% chance to hit the target and a 40% overall chance to hit the CT.

Called shots to the head with Precision Strike work slightly differently. They have a reduced chance to hit overall, as some of your shots will just go over the target's head, and the game would be imbalanced if everyone could just call headshots.

Mechs that have fallen or are shut down don't suffer the same to-hit penalty, you're just more likely to hit the rest of them.

Personally, the strategy I use is LRM-heavy, to cause stability damage and keep my mechs out of the harm's way. Called shots against moving mechs are all but useless with indirect fire, but with direct fire they can be devestating, even moreso when the first mech the enemy closes with goes into melee and knocks them over, and/or heat-criticals them with flamers.

Every hit against an armor rupture is a chance to cause a critical hit. I'm not sure what the math for that is in this game, but the more stuff in there, the better the chance.

So to use precision strike effectively, you need to cause armor breaches in the right places, and then hammer those breaches. It onoly takes a second to mouse over an enemy mech and see where it's going to be vulnerable to internal hits. Legs are always good, but not always the targets of opportunity. Pay attention to your odds and decide accordingly.

I hope that helps.

[Takoita]

The most reliable way to kill something in this game is to do a precision shot from behind right into their rear center armor / the ground vehicle equivalent. It will reduce the salvage you can get from the thing, but that would be one threat down. Even weapon loadouts that otherwise would spread their damage around are lethally effective that way.

You can do similar things with melee, but that cannot be quite that precise.

Doing call shots for the head tends to be a matter of luck, but you can sway it in your favour, even if you don't have pilots with lots of skill points on had. Every head hit is a pilot injury, regardless of armor penetration; MGs can be stacked to fire off quite a bit of shots and don't suffer from the same limitations in regards to headshots that missiles have. If you are firing missiles to the head, more launchers fired in the salvo gives you more headshot to hit rolls, even if the actual missile total is less.

[The Colgate King]

Originally posted by Don:

While I have been doing well trying to grind easier missions I suck at precision strikes, they hardly ever do anything and trying to hit the head is a waste of time for my mechs, they never hit.

This is probably my fault since my 4 55 ton mechs are mainly composed of LRM´s and medium lasers, only one boasts 2 small AC´s to one shoot those pesky vehicles.

Also the only way I have found to reliably dispose of a mech when its fallen down is by stumping on it, that usually destroys the center torso.

Is it my heavy use of medium lasers and LRM´s that is at fault here?

Dont bother going for the head, its a waste of time. Get accustomed to knocking down other mechs (this gets easier as mechs start taking more damage) and go after the left or right torso. Use precision strikes to rip a shoulder or leg off a mech that you want to capture and the pilot is near dead or on something like a party back to neuter his loadout.

[Chameleon_Silk]

as someone said a precision strike to the rear CT is a death blow to almost all mechs as long as its an alpha strike with enough potency to clear the armor, this is absolutley devastating with weapons that don't spread damage around, so ACs or PPCs work wonders with this tactic, best way to use a sniper is to get the enemy to chase frontliners exposing the backside.

[Sloul Des Tucs]

3 SRM6+++ targeted on CT can kill any mech under 70T
And it can also kill 70tonners, but not 100% chance.

The best way to target any part of a mech is to put it on knockdown. The easiest way to achieve that is to use 2 LRM20+++ to full its barre nad make it unstable.
Followed by any kind of attack with stab damage (I would go SRM6).

You can one shot most of the mech with LRM and SRM combination, and no need to use precision strike either.

[Asmosis]

check the layout of enemy mechs closely. Sometimes blowing off a side torso will remove not only the large arm weapon attached to it, but also destroy the ammo for the large weapon on the other side of the mech.

More commonly i use it with assault mechs to just one-shot heavy mechs through their CT. If morale is getting a bit low, just lob a couple lrm volleys off one mech and follow up with any other stab damage to topple it.

Thats how i got my king crab, one mech fired two LRM15's at it, and another followed up with a PPC blast. Pilot was dead before i'd barely scratched the armor. Felt like i had cheated afterwards (but still kept the mech).

Originally posted by Chameleon_Silk:

as someone said a precision strike to the rear CT is a death blow to almost all mechs as long as its an alpha strike with enough potency to clear the armor, this is absolutley devastating with weapons that don't spread damage around, so ACs or PPCs work wonders with this tactic, best way to use a sniper is to get the enemy to chase frontliners exposing the backside.

A SRM6 or LRM20 will generally do more damage to the specifed location than a PPC. it spreads, but really not much at all if your targetting the CT. Feels like missiles have atremis built in already.

[zAcEz]

Originally posted by Sloul:

3 SRM6+++ targeted on CT can kill any mech under 70T
And it can also kill 70tonners, but not 100% chance.

The best way to target any part of a mech is to put it on knockdown. The easiest way to achieve that is to use 2 LRM20+++ to full its barre nad make it unstable.
Followed by any kind of attack with stab damage (I would go SRM6).

You can one shot most of the mech with LRM and SRM combination, and no need to use precision strike either.

2 LRM 20+++ is overkill (180 stability damage) I work with LRM 15+++ instead and use the extra heat & space saved for other weapons.

[Sloul Des Tucs]

You'll find soon enough that 2 LRM15+++ aren't enough.
And you'll also notice, that the heat consumption is more interesting on LRM20.

[zAcEz]

Originally posted by Sloul:

You'll find soon enough that 2 LRM15+++ aren't enough.
And you'll also notice, that the heat consumption is more interesting on LRM20.

its only not enough when fighting an entrenched mech or one standing in marsh.
You're better off shooting at another mech in that case.

You cant take more than 100 stability damage anyway, so you still need a minimum of 2 mechs to knock one down. Its a design balance.

2x LRM 20s run too heavy

My sniper/artillery mech is the 85 ton stalker running x2 LRM 15+++ (+50% crit, +2 stability dmg), x2 PPC++ (+10 damage), 10 Heat Sinks, x3 Jump Jets (A), x3 LRM ammo, Gyro (+3 Hit Defense), TTS (+3 Missle Hit), Comms++ (+3 Morale)

His job is to just rock mechs for knockdown.

[David]

As others said. Don't always go for headshots. I usually go for CT unless its already missing a leg. The direction I'm shooting from matters too. Some people like to go for max salvage instead.

When you precision strike you get a large accuracy bonus too, so I use it for boosting hit chances on hard to hit enemies.