What's a good MW player?

[PherdnutChiken]

So what is the mark of a good MW player? Ability to run amuck and shoot straight while torso twisted at any angle? Thinkin' of giving multi a shot.

[DirtPoorChiken]

Depends on the game type.

I considered myself a pretty good player for a while and always went by kill/death ratio when playing TD (Team Destruction) but lately I have been playing almost all TB (Team Battle) and I just go by points scored. I cannot jump very well or torso twist much and still do very well so I don't think those are end all assets (they don't hurt though). Sometimes just having a knack for being at the right place at the right time to mooch kills or take advantage of unskilled players makes the difference.

[InspectorChiken]

Bawk!!!

Or in DirtPoor's instance blasting them with 6-7 Extended Rangel Large Lasers. :P

[CluckerChiken]

Backstabbing ;)

[PherdnutChiken]

But they don't have a Hatchetman... or do they? If they do, I am so in. Although I guess that would qualify more as backhacking.

[Fanatic]

Well, there are different matrixes to judge by indeed. But the most important one beside the obvious piloting and aiming skills is to be 'group smart'.


Hallmark 1: Positioning

Be somewhere on the right place at the right time. Some call it luck, but there is more to it, like battle overview and tactical insight. When it comes down to it, it is finding a spot that covers you, and allows you to cover your teammates when they attract fire (they always will).

My oppinion is that most people (even good ones) fail most of the time on this aspect of the game. Most good players are great in covereing themselfs and show up when a kill is to be made for example. But to be fully effective in teambattle, they aught to do the same thinking for their team. This can be done in more then one way. One is by drawing multiple mechs away and take little to none damage (and in doing so giving other teammates very favourable chances so they can go on the aggression). Positioning near friendly forces is of course paramount here! The other side is to play aggressive and take every oppertunity that is created this way. SO its all about "creating", "seeing" and "utilising" oppertunities and all three are required to be a realy good team player.

Another positioning aspect is where to move to after a respawn. Moving forward to the first defensive position in front of your spawn is always the best thing to do (if one will fall back under fire close to spawn for example that forces the respawning team to turn their backs on the enemy as well on their respawn. The enemy will have a turkey shoot quite literaly!) Move to places on the map that allows you best to do the do the "creating", "seeing" and "utilising" oppertunities in name of the team. There is no point in going left if there is one or two damaged enemy mechs there. Sure easy kills, but it is better to go right then and group up with the rest to make a strong flanking push forward closer to enemy spawn and annihilate them. In the end it will be better for your personal score as well as the team score.


Hallmark 2: Target selection

In every game there are loads of situations where one has to choose which opponent to target and consequently in which direction to move. My vavourite example is that of reinforcing mechs, so here it goes:

A teammate of yours is engaged against a (for him) nearby mech, but enemy support is coming in, which just like you has to make a smart choice of which one to shoot. Your buddy or you. You have the choice to either shoot the mech your buddy is doing a fine (or not) job at or to target the enemy reinforcements. If you shoot the enemy mech already engaged and being taken care off, you risk a few nasty things:

1. You hit your teammate, or you can focus and wait for a oppertunity to make sure you dont. But this will leave yourself totaly unguarded and vulrnable to fire from the incoming mech.

2. You hit the enemy, and it explodes which damages your teammate (or kills him). At the very least you add to his already rising heat problems. ANd as you have just fired yourself, you are unable to fend on the incoming mech, which puts both you and your teammate in very unfavourable positions.

Or.....target the incoming mech. This will allow your teammate to finish his job undisturbed and make smart choices, while it increases your safety. If your teammate wins, it gives him time to cool down and select a new retarget and then it's 2 vs 1 in your teams favour. If he looses, you have time to finish the reinforcement mech and/or fall back. You usualy won't have to deal with the damaged mech that was fighing your now dead buddy as that mech is hot from the resulting explosion. But wait.....hot from the explosion? That is by no means sure is it? Well, if your buddy plays smart, he knows you ain't targeting his direct opponent and is in a good position to decide how to get down. This means, that once he realises he can't win his battle, he moves as close to his opponent as he can and by doing so ensures your safety. It even might work against the enemy directly as the enemy mech might blow his own mech up as well. Or if a new mech comes in and sees your damaged buddy as an easy kill, he kills one of his teammates as well. At the very least he victorious mech gets less points for the kill as he damages himselfs as well.


Hallmark 3: Controlled agression (when to attack or not to and how far).

Agression is the key to win this game, but only so far that it still works in your favour. Go to far forward on any map and you are numericaly outgunned by the enemy due to respawn distances. Stay to far back and you risk loosing out on the strong positions on a map, effectivly forcing you to be defensive (much harder to play well then a good offensive).

Every map has a few good positions that allow you to play out the before mentioned positioning "rulez'. Take control of these and be agressive from there is the best thing one can do. As soon as the signs are good, and the liklyhood of a successful spawn rape is big, push forward. But always let the enemy fight over every inch they want to get back from your side of the map.

If this forward "pressure" cant be kept up, this means you have gone to far on the map. But do not turn your back and run, as this will make you loose a lot of ground and most likely costs many team lifes as well in the process. Falling back must be a controlled process!!! The number of screwups I have seen because of breaking this very basic rule are staggering and happen to even the best teams I played in/against. When you lead by a small ammount (2000 pts or less), NEVER EVER fall back. Fortify and let them remove you instead. If you play well, they have to take risks and will take loads of damage in the process, which will keep your team the lead. Regroup closer to the spawn (without giving them a to much of a free run forward) and then engage again to hit the now weakened enemy, that most likely has moved to far into your territory.

So by keeping control over the terrain and when to attack and when to withdraw and at what costs, you win the game. Once this control is gone, you know you are loosing or are going to!


Fanatic

[PherdnutChiken]

Thanks Fan. That's the level of thought I was looking for. Was just wondering whether it was more than a simple shoot-first-or-die game. As much as I like giant robots, I've kind of had my fill of FPSes in disguise.

[DirtPoorChiken]

Thanks Fan. That's the level of thought I was looking for. Was just wondering whether it was more than a simple shoot-first-or-die game. As much as I like giant robots, I've kind of had my fill of FPSes in disguise.


This depends heavily on the server you drop into. A lot of the servers on the zone are indeed shoot first or die, or mindless charge firing until you die games. Even some of the ladder matches turn into these type games. You just have to play a while to figure out the different types of games.

Terms like camper, spawn raper, etc... will come to mind on the zone along with other choice words. Every once in a while though you will get into a high quality game with a well balanced set of teams and the term nail biter will take on new meaning. You will know it when they come and they make playing the game worth it IMO.

It never hurts to be packing 6 or 7 ERLL either :D

Fanatic nailed it, but you will not find too many players like that out there (and most of them are Chikens if you do :D )

[Papa Theif]

You people make this way to hard. What makes a good player is the fact that his aim gets better the drunkard you get. :beer:

[PherdnutChiken]

That sounds good too.

[Anonymous]

I think it's a little simpler than Fan put it. It is a thinking game and that's great, but I've found that the one most important thing that makes a good player a good player is their ability to steal the kills of all their teammates so they get the top score on the team. Face it, you can shoot mechs all day and be a team player, but there is only one way to be recognized as the best on your team, and that's the classic "mooch."

Forget making sure that you have cover angles and angles of fire. Forget making sure that you bring the right variant. If you can wait and shoot only when you see the enemy mech smoking, your kill ratio is going to be great.

WORKS FOR ME!!!

BAWK!

(LMLAO)

[Fanatic]

BAWK!

Well spoken Inno, could not have given a better example myself. And it is so compact, that it would have cut down my writing time tenfold (at least), how efficient of you....

:)

Fanatic

[GladiatorChiken]

bawk

damn kill stealers

[PherdnutChiken]

Just picked up Mercs and a headset. Maybe I'll see some of you lot some time this weekend when I've had a little chance to get acquainted with the game. What's the voice software of choice? (never used any before)

[Fanatic]

We currently use Ventrilo for our MW4 games. Details can be found here (http://chikens.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=323).

[PherdnutChiken]

Hmm weird. Nothing there. Maybe cuz I'm on my my Mac at work right now?

[Fanatic]

** SENSORED **

[Anonymous]

Fanatic! Are you trying to post our Ventrilo server out there for all of MW to see and bug us with? Pherd you will have private forum access on the 15th.

[PherdnutChiken]

'doh! Sorry. Didn't realilze that section was part of the private stuff.

[Fanatic]

BAWK!


No Grace, I was not trying to do that, just helping out a clan member. But I did not realise our download forum was that private, my appology for that! At least it is protected by our very secret pasword :-).

Fanatic

[Anonymous]

ROFLMAO I can hear it now:

"I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-II-I-I-I-I-E-E-E-E-E-E-E has joined the server"

[CosmicChiken]

Good Pilot = Can shoot and knows when to hide.
Great Pilot = Good Pilot who has the uncanny ability to find damaged mechs.
Best Pilot = Great Pilot that can do it all in a Raven....

Coz

:assshaking:

[DirtPoorChiken]

[quote="CosmicChiken"]Good Pilot = Can shoot and knows when to hide.
Great Pilot = Good Pilot who has the uncanny ability to find damaged mechs.
Best Pilot = Great Pilot that can do it all in a Raven....
quote]


Greatest Pilot=Best Pilot that can do it while drinking a beer that he brewed himself which would pretty much describe Coz....

[Anonymous]

My name IZ Raven, real life nickname anyway. That makez me the bestestest!!! ROFL

[PherdnutChiken]

Well, been having a grand old time with single player. I like making really goofy builds and trying them out on Solaris. Nova Cat with five clan flamers and a clan Ultra AutoCannon 20 was perhaps the most entertaining thus far. Nigh impossible to beat one on one once you've nailed the guy a couple times. I think there is some kind of relationship between heat and massive explosions as I was typically taking more damage from standing too close to my victims.

[Anonymous]

Splash damage is a very important thing to always be aware of. It can make or break a team in a match drop for one of our mechs to be splashed. The point is to splash someone when you die and not let them do the same to you.

Starting out with some of the "classic" configs is a very good way to get the hang of the multiplayer game without extra complications. Try variants with ERL for this.