fire support variants

[1heliguy]

Anybody have any ideas for fire support Mechs
chassis:
Armament:
speed:
Armor:
BAP, LAMS,etc.:

[James Tiberius Kirk]

not as easy to answer as it sounds.
the crucial factor here is the unlimited respawn we find in most games. this changes the dynamics in such a way as a support mech designed for CBT is not suited to MW4 battle.

so the answer is different depending on that factor.

in a no respawn (when your dead your out) league match ive seen ravens ryokens and fleas used to harry an opposite teams spawn zone to mid range while the rest of the team pop snipe from range.
a good pilot in this roll will avoid critical hits while keeping the enemys attention off his sniping teammates, his job is not to destroy just distract and the technique works well. packing narc beacons also helps, but a note on narcs, esp in league matchs......... discuss with team mates first, some ppls missiles can be adversly affected by them. a classic example is using srms on a mech 200 meters in front of you only to see your load fly off into the distance chasing a narc on a mech thats well out of range for your srms, not a happy scenario

longbows do a similar job but from long range instead of short especially if they chain the weaps array, a vulture can do a similar job

in a game where you can respawn the role of support mech does the same thing, but the pilot generally accepts he/she is not going to take home the top score, for the simple reason brawling is more prevalent in a repawned game

a base requiremnt for harrasing roles is speed if your job is to distract then speed and armour take precedence over weaps

[1heliguy]

but , shoulnt every support mech have BAP, i use a longbow, yeoman or archer, and they are good with bap and a thunderIV clusters

[Mr Spock]

Fire support can take on different forms. Missles are one example (and yes BAP does help) I prefer to use either lasers or gauss for a fire support role over missles for better accuracy. It has happened more than once were stray missles can damage or take out a team mate who is engaged in close quarters combat with your target. Especially if your using area of effect weapons like clusters or longtoms. Fire support using lasers, ppc's, or gauss, generally work best with a mech outfitted with jump jets to take advantage of terrain or buildings for cover. Also ECM or the use of passive radar will prolong your survival. The use of this form of fire support has been commonly refered to as "Poptarting" by those who seen to be irritated by its effective use.

Did I mention that it is part of my repitoire of tactics? I use several combat tactics depending on the map and composition of teams, but it seems I use this one mostly when there are several players involved.