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Strategies
These Tips and Hints have been collected from a vast array of MechWarriors. Some of these you may know others might be a new idea.
Superior to the Thor because of its thinner legs, and smaller profile. The Avatar should be equipped with a large engine, and jump jets. You can get one up to 90 KPH (barely respectable) without a MASC, though this might not be fast enough. This 'Mech is good as an autocannoner, but it really lacks speed. Any configuration to this 'Mech should be with weapons meant to stop an opponent quickly. Do not make a laser boat Avatar. There is no reason to arm a large 'Mech with small lasers, since the weapons are light enough that you can put them in smaller, faster 'Mechs.
Though deflection shots are constantly used in aerial combat, it also applies to 'Mech combats. No matter what type of weapon you use (but especially for ballistic weapons) it is important to use deflection shots when the target's also moving. Take into account the enemy 'Mech's speed, direction of movement, range, and lag; then aim ahead of the enemy 'Mech by a second or so (depending on the prior requirements). With practice, a pilot usually gets the so-called "gut" feeling to make the shot count. And during combat, every shot counts!
Heat management is always important. So as soon as a warning noise starts on your 'Mech, you are in danger. To prevent yourself from shutting down, hit the "0" key, this will override automatic shutdown. If you do shut down, you will automatically start up after a few seconds. Those few seconds can make you very vulnerable because you are not moving and people can just shoot you dead-on. It is also important not to reach full red heat; if you do, this could possibly destroy your 'Mech because your reactor will blow.
Jump jets are very useful in Net play. Jumping also makes it difficult for you to be hit. To jump, hold down the J key. When landing, it is important that you speed up immediately. Keep pressing the Full Throttle key, because when you land, your throttle will go blank and you will be at full stop making you a vulnerable target. Bouncing is also a neat maneuver when jump jetting. Try jumping up a little bit, and before you hit the ground for a landing, hold down your "J" key, and you will bounce off the ground a little bit higher then you have originally jumped.
When adding missiles, you must decide whether you are going to range the guy or fight in close range. LRMs or Long Range Missiles fly a long way but have trouble turning to their targets, while SRMs or Short Range Missiles turn well against their targets but have shorter range. It is important to know this depending on your situation. If you want to better use your missiles, the NARC beacon may aid you. Planting a NARC on your enemies make your missiles lock on more easily and fly more accurately. The Artemis IV also helps to get a better lock and aiming accuracy. If you want to fight short range with missiles though, you will have to shoot a ways in front of your enemies because it takes a while for all your missiles to actually "launch."
This is another very effective 'Mech, usually equipped as a laser boat with 16 small ER lasers. These things can be considered a primary battlefield threat. They are fast, and very often piloted by the best 'Mech warriors. They are hard to hit, with a low profile, but luckily they don't carry much armor. Try and kill it quickly, and keep moving, even if it's circling you. Try and use your jump jets to reverse the circle and get a head on.
One of the easiest ways to create a killing machine is to utilize large clusters of ER small lasers, all placed in the same weapons group. 'Mechs that use lots of lasers are generally referred as "laser boats" by Zoners, and the most common 'Mech you will see this on is the Shadow Cat, sometimes referred to in this configuration as a "laser cat." Many small lasers are more effective than using a few large lasers because of heat. A large laser generates roughly 1 point of heat for each point of armor that it reduces off an enemy 'Mech, where a small laser generates roughly half a point of heat for each point of armor it reduces off of an enemy 'Mech. Since heat limits the amount of damage that you can deal out in any given period of time, small lasers grouped together can do more damage as a few large lasers. To create a laser boat, configure your 'Mech with 10 to 16 ER small lasers. When group fired, they will still create a whole lot of heat, so compensate for this by equipping your ?Mech with lots of heatsinks, and watching your heat management closely. When in combat, group fire all of the lasers together. This will take the arm off of a large ?Mech with one shot, and quickly reduce most opponents to ash.
Using 'Mechs with laser weapons gives your 'Mech an added advantage against 'Mechs with missile and cannon weapons. Try to lure the enemy 'Mech into a deep pool of water. If their weapon system is submerged underwater, their weapons will become inoperable. The water does not affect your energy weapons, and it will keep your 'Mech cooled down. This tactic is especially useful when using Pulse Laser weapons. You can keep a constant fire while staying cool. Plus your enemy's a sitting (or submerged) duck!. Only one problem though..... if your in the water luring them towards you. They can just blow you away from outside while you can't move quick enough because of the water.
One thing I cannot stress enough is keep moving. I can't count how many times I've battled (before my connection got screwed) against another Mechwarrior and saw that during even when not under fire they stood still. You have to keep moving even if your not getting shot at, because soon someones gonna notice you standing there and by time you react your dead! As the Mechwarrior soon found out....
Always keep moving; if you stand still, you're a dead target. Make sure that you never charge an enemy directly; doing so is suicide. Hit the enemy at an angle because this makes it easier to hit them and it makes it harder for your enemy to hit you.
It cannot be stressed enough that you must torso twist. Not only does it allow you to hit but it also makes you a more difficult target. This can be done by right-clicking and moving the mouse in the direction you wish to twist. I recommend reconfiguring the controls to set twist and pitch as the X and the Y-axis.
This has to be one of the coolest options in the game. It gives you a free range of vision inside your cockpit so you will be able to look and fire. It also allows you to move left, right, up and down without moving the torso. Combined with a full 90-degree torso twist to the left or right, while freelooking to the right, you can actually shoot behind your Mech with one arm! Hitting L can control Freelook.
These two commands can make killing a Mech and staying alive much easier. Hitting D will pull up the HTAL (Head Torso Arms Legs) bar graph display of damage to your 'Mech and Ctrl D for your enemies' 'Mechs. This will tell you if it will take just one more shot to your enemy's right torso to send them to the ground, or just one more hit from your enemy to send yourself tumbling. So make sure that your damaged area is not in an angle of fire for your enemy. Try twisting away so that your damaged area is away from your opponent and that you can fire at your enemy with your arms. Spread out the damage across your Mech as evenly as possible. The longer it takes for your enemies to kill you, the longer you have to kill them. Or just hurt them more so that when you respawn, it will be an easier kill.
When you design your Mech, make sure you obtain jump jets. At least four jump jets in the legs will help your performance in the game significantly. With the jets, you can only jump forward. To jump left, right, and back you must set the option "relaxed jets" to ON under the main options menu. Jumping can let you close and widen the range between you and your enemy. If you have long range weapons and they have medium range, stay at long range as long as you can, where they cannot hit you. Or if you have short or medium range weapons and your enemy has long range, stay close and don't let them get away to where they have the advantage.
This technique requires jump jets but it's pretty simple to pull off. Hit the Home or J button until about 1/4 of your jets are wasted. Then wait until you are about to hit the ground and hit the J or Home button using another 1/4 of your jets. You will notice that as soon as you hit the ground you don't stop but jet right into the air, higher than you did last time. Continue this process until you are out of jets. Hopping makes your 'Mech and incredibly difficult target.
This is a technique used to compensate for the lag in a game. No matter how good a connection you have, there will still be some lag in a game. A 200 MS game will have about 1/5 of a second of lag delay, and 500 MS game will have about a 1/2 second delay. Use this to your benefit, pull up your enemies' HTAL display and fire a shot at them. If you were shooting at them directly and no damage shows up, then shoot ahead of them. This takes some guesswork on your part, but once you find the general area of an enemy's lag, they're an open target for you. You may want to start by shooting just slightly ahead of their 'Mech. If there's still no damage, move the distance you are shooting ahead to a half Mech length and fire. If there's still no damage, then move your distance to 1 full 'Mech length ahead of your enemy. It is unlikely that your enemies' lag will be over a full Mech length behind, so if you did not hit with any of your shots, begin shooting at them at different distances ahead of them.
Missiles are fairly ineffective in this game. This is due primarily to the equipment you can assign to your 'Mech known as AMS. This is a defensive weapon that fires projectile rounds at missiles as they are coming at you. Most of the time this device does a great job knocking missiles out of the air. But don't just stand there when a rack of missiles comes flying at you! Throttle up and turn sharply to the left or right, or even jump jet. The missiles will not be able to both track you and avoid the AMS combined.
Most electronics in the game can be very effective: Artemis IV increases missile accuracy and turning radius; Narc sets up a homing beacon on a 'Mech for lrms to follow; the targeting computer computes a trajectory needed to hit a specific part of an enemy 'Mech; and BAP detects shutdown 'Mechs. All of this equipment can help a pilot considerably in combat, except that a one-ton device called an Electronics Countermeasure Suite (ECM) will negate all of them. All you have to do is place an ECM on your 'Mech and you won't have to worry about any electronics on your enemy. Make sure you include a ECM in your config. If you do you will dramatically live longer.
If you have any tactics/strategies please feel free to E-Mail me them and I will post it here for all to see.
Avatar
Deflection Shots (lag shooting)
Heat
Jump Jetting
Missile Shooting
Shadow Cat
Small Lasers (Laser Boats, Laser Cats)
Using Water to Your Advantage
Movement
Move! Move! Move!
Torso Twist
Free Look!
D and CTRL+D
Jump Jetting
Hopping
Lag Shooting
Missiles
Electronics