Using EW successfully

[Andrew0Red]

Hmm, the ultra\20 may be coming of my MAD 3R... I'll see if a bunch of 35 damage works better. (I have little in the way of LosTech yet, so it's either ML+10dmg or regular ER ML.)

Though, that will require redesigning my second supporter... decisions, decisions...

 

[Shark7]

On one of my career runs I picked up a Raven fairly early on and decided to give it a fair try.
I stripped all weapons except 1 Med laser and maxed armor and jumpjets.
It took a lot of getting used too but after much trial and error I really started to get the hang of it and appreciate it's usefulness
I later upgraded to the Cataphract and really appreciated the fact that I could have firepower and EW in one mech.
The EW system is not something you can get the hang of in a couple of missions - it takes a complete playstyle change to really get best use out of it and that can require quite a bit of time and practice.

What I find with EW is that it gives me the ability to really control the engagement. Not only can I get into position without getting harrassed along the way (or having to eat tons of LRMs from the OpFor), but it also lets me better dictate which of my mechs is going to be engaged by the AI first that round. With EW, I usually end up reserving to the last phase, then I move the mech best able to withstand enemy fire first, so the AI will tend to target it the rest of the round.

And I really, really like to combine EW into my end game assault lance. Lots of firepower on the 3 assault mechs, and the EW unit shields them well.

And a disclaimer, I only play with mods these days, so I'm able to put an ECM unit on an Awesome 8Q. Throw on DHS and you still get to keep most of the firepower while being a ghost on the battlefield.

 

[Napoleon1971]

Do they really work well? Just asking because I struggled with mine when I used Gauss, Ultra\2++dmg and 1 ER. With damage reduction being all the rage among the AI these days, I ended up mostly just firing the Gauss (Lancer pilot).

I'm interested since Ultra\20 works so much better for me offensively, but I get queasy using something that frail with no range.

They do work, and Machette is right the UAC2 in theory work better. But, I've just had worse luck with them so went with the multi-UAC5 build. Its nice having lots of shots.....even better than the UAC20 method (which was pretty brutal too, but, required some baiting to get the enemy assaults in range). I know the triple UAC2 method is better on paper, I just swapped to double UAC5 because I had too many times an assault mech lived with 1-3 points left on its head and it was frustrating as heck.

All headhunting does speed up the fights for sure. I try to limit myself if I'm not gunning for a Kerensky career run (haven't finished it yet).

 

[Curtis Cook]

Guys, this is an interesting conversation, but it has nothing to do with electronic warfare. I'm starting a new thread.

 

[Napoleon1971]

Guys, this is an interesting conversation, but it has nothing to do with electronic warfare. I'm starting a new thread.

Yeah, sorry.

My experience with EW was that it was perhaps more complicated than it was worth. Though, it was actually super useful for getting units to close so you could use the UAC20 Marauder to headshot them.

 

[Curtis Cook]

Yeah, sorry.

My experience with EW was that it was perhaps more complicated than it was worth. Though, it was actually super useful for getting units to close so you could use the UAC20 Marauder to headshot them.

Certainly if you have some reason to expect that you're going to be facing EW mechs (not so much EW vehicles, which you can just stomp), it would be much more useful to load up your lance with close-to-medium range mechs and to steer well clear of LRM-heavy mechs. The problem is, how often will you know ahead of time?

If you're the one with the EW mech, do you place it near the front or the rear of your lance? When not involved with escort missions, I tend to run it near the front and allow the slower, longer-ranged mechs to lag behind the EW bubble. My experience is that generally targets I provide on the far side of EW bubbles are too far away for the OpFor to effectively damage.

 

[Shark7]

Certainly if you have some reason to expect that you're going to be facing EW mechs (not so much EW vehicles, which you can just stomp), it would be much more useful to load up your lance with close-to-medium range mechs and to steer well clear of LRM-heavy mechs. The problem is, how often will you know ahead of time?

If you're the one with the EW mech, do you place it near the front or the rear of your lance? When not involved with escort missions, I tend to run it near the front and allow the slower, longer-ranged mechs to lag behind the EW bubble. My experience is that generally targets I provide on the far side of EW bubbles are too far away for the OpFor to effectively damage.

Honestly I have always found it best not to rely on any 1 weapon system too heavily, but to use mechs with multiple types and ranges of weapons so you remain flexible enough to change tactics as the battlefield changes.

 

[Napoleon1971]

Certainly if you have some reason to expect that you're going to be facing EW mechs (not so much EW vehicles, which you can just stomp), it would be much more useful to load up your lance with close-to-medium range mechs and to steer well clear of LRM-heavy mechs. The problem is, how often will you know ahead of time?

If you're the one with the EW mech, do you place it near the front or the rear of your lance? When not involved with escort missions, I tend to run it near the front and allow the slower, longer-ranged mechs to lag behind the EW bubble. My experience is that generally targets I provide on the far side of EW bubbles are too far away for the OpFor to effectively damage.

Oh, I meant when I used EW it was useful to have a UAC20 Marauder in the group. They come in to break the EW, get headshot by UAC20 and medium lasers.

The EW Mech was the bait for the UAC20 Marauder basically. If they don't come break your EW, then that added value and allowed the Marauder to get closer before being hit much.

It was still a lot of work. But, it was not a bad pairing it seemed.