Combat Analysis

Today we are all about combat analysis. We are going to start taking looks at some battles and review what was done right and what was done wrong.


At the beginning of this battle as you look at the player's next, you would see, if you're an experienced online player, that  this is a pretty unique design. The concept behind it not so much. You can also see he is using no right hand weapon. His setup from what i can tell:

63 AN frame
WHEELING01 missiles,
Acrux laser cannon (right shoulder)
Becrux Laser rifle- (left hand)

Many would say his concept would be high risk high gain, heavy hitter. This is a concept i would only reserve for those experienced with this method of fighting or for pros. If you can not learn to wait for your moment to strike you're going to keep missing. And you need to rely on getting hits or you're going to be losing by a large deficit like this player. His enemy on  the other hand is going for the exact opposite. He is using a lightweight- whittle em' down- sort of style. He relies consistent hits to win. But if you were an observant spectator, you would notice that he uses, i think MUSSELSHELLS , and the HUGE SIOUX missiles. He uses a pretty sneaky tactic. He fires the MUSSELSHELL missiles as a distraction and to hide the slow moving but very powerful SIOX missile. The same tactic is used with kojima missiles.

The enemy player is effectively using mobile combat tactics. Presenting himself as a hard target to lock-on. He doesn't stay on his screen for long making it especially difficult for our player to use his energy weapons which require a longer lock on time and decreased tracking ability. He is not so much flanking or passing his  enemy. He is just using good mobile tactics at near-midrange as his NEXT should. I myself favor this strategy.

Team Battle

If you've played team battle like basically anyone who has played online most certainly has, then you will notice trends in the flow of these battles.

     We all hate it that within the first 20 seconds into the match especially on the bigger maps your that one person for whatever reason is being singled out and annihilated by the whole other team. The reason for this is pretty simple. Either You're very good and they feel the need to gang up on you, or more likely you over extended yourself. Too many times, and we are all guilty of it, we just blast away forward ahead of our team mates out for blood. And being the only target in front of the entire team they metaphorically rape you.Then next thing you know you're sitting there wondering where the hell were your teammates.

     Don't rush forward, instead hang back and stay next to your team mates as close as reasonably possible. I myself prefer to stand back behind them. Reason being you want to wait and see who on the other team is the biggest threat to you and your team as a whole.


These are the NEXTs to look out for in Team Battle:

Support: These will be equipped with long range weapons. namely being sniper cannons or more threateningly rail cannons. Rail cannons have a faster reload time than snipers and are more effective in closer rangers while still giving  out really good damage.

Assault: These will be your heavies. BEWARE THE HEAVY!!! They can absorb ridiculous amounts of damage and will dish out insane grief too. These are normally armed with grenade launchers and bazookas. If you're penned in a confined area say like UNDERGROUND or the train within GREATWALL then you may as wells put your controller down. Things are gonna get ugly real fast.
 
Missiles Whores: We've all seen em'. They are everywhere. Doesn't take much skill to be one. They come with one or two WHEELING3s and can be devastating in the early moments in  a match. Your duking it out with one dude till all of a sudden you get hammered with explosive rain. It's always wise to bring flares to a team battle. Just because you can dodge one Hound doesn't mean you can avoid two. It may end up being a different story.

       To counter these support NEXTs then you want to identify and condemn. Start talking with your team and single out the most threatening NEXTs and kill them. Support NEXTs can cause havoc in the flow of  battle and you should NOT leave them alone. But don't worry they are usually not good in head to head confrontations. All of these supports, normally if they are doing their job right, stay back out of the action and just keep whittling down their enemies. The exception to this would be the Assault support. They go in the front where their weapons and armor keep them alive and their enemies dead.

Divide and Conquer

          If you start singling out one of their players and kill him quickly then you leave them at a pilot deficit. It can be very hard to win of you're outnumbered. But WATCH OUT, there are some players who can last a long time against multiple enemies. You usually see this when they are the last ones standing, and they can't seem to finish him off. If the three of you can't kill him quickly move on to the next guy. Kill somebody off. If he starts to run leave him ,and designate a new target from those who are still fighting. This splits them up, and you  can kill off the weak players to have chance against the really good ones. 

Builds

This is not my post  I came around this post while searching to increase my knowledge. This was written by Johnny G  on a neoseker forum post. This is a very good post.

I'm starting this thread in part because of the number of PMs I get from other forum members asking for help or advice with the game. It's not generally an issue or someone being "stuck" somewhere, but rather people asking me for my opinion on designing or recreating cores. And I'm happy to do it - AC construction is my favourite part of the game. Even so, I figured the forum could use a thread like this, a place for veterans to share their advice with newer players. Just the same, newer players can ask questions or share their own personal experiences... basically anything goes. Discuss your personal principles of AC design or your combat tactics; some people win through superior designs, others through superior piloting skills. The true masters with through both.

I'll start this off with some core principles behind AC design which I have learned through many hours of hard work creating new setups. 

Versatility is critical to any AC setup. Now sometimes we'll go out and make cores that are specifically designed for a single purpose or theme, but any real "signature" design is going to have to be versatile. Signature design referring to a core that a person would use often. In order for a signature core to function properly in that role of being used alot it must be able to handle just about any situation. If the core is not balanced it will struggle in certain situations and glaring weaknesses will emerge. As far as I'm concerned, versatility = victory for any really well designed core. How do you make a core versatile? Well, there are several ways.

Balance is critical to versatility. Your design must have a proper balance between weaponry, speed and defense. However, this does not mean that these three factors must be equal; they merely need to be balanced. Take for example my Phaedo core, a heavily armed heavy biped. It can bring a lot of firepower and defense to the table but as is to be expected it isn't the fastest design on the planet. However, I designed it to have enough mobility to suit my purposes and my combat style. For that reason the speed is in balance with the rest of the core, even though the speed is not directly equal to the attack or defense ratings. Variety in your weapon selection is also going to be a key factor when constructing an AC. Now that the left arm slot can be equipped with "standard" weapons there is a lot more freedom in what you can do. Generall however, there are certain elements in weapon choice that a versatile AC will need.
Long Range Weapon: You're going to need a long range weapon for your core. This can come in the form of a sniper rifle, a missile setup or perhaps a large cannon that has a fast shot speed (ie. MWC-LQ/15). This gives your AC some teeth at range and gives you an advantage early on in matches, as well as providing support in the event that you need to back off. Mid Range Weapon: You'll be spending most of your time in your opponents mid range so having a good weapon for use here is going to be important. It can be an automatic (Chain/Machine gun), a big gun or cannon... anything with a high offensive edge basically. Close Range Weapon: This doesn't necessarily mean a blade, though it very well can. Other great close range weapons include shotguns, EO cannons and fast energy pulse cannons. These weapons will come in handy when you find yourself in close and can bail you out of tight situations.

Set your primaries - know which of your weapons you are going to use most often and make sure you are good with them. Even though most ACs have four or more different guns on them that doesn't mean that you will use all of them equally. Make sure you know which guns to use when and how best to operate them when in battle.

Know your strengths... and your weaknesses. We've all got them so try to work around these factors when building a core. Ideally you'll want a design that enhances your strengths while diminishing your weaknesses. For example, if you can't dodge worth shit why bother fronting anything? Build a massive AC that survives based on its defense over its speed. There's no sense in committing yourself to a core that is going to force you to use a specific tactic that you struggle with. The whole purpose of being able to build your own core is that you create something which works for you.

Are you feelin' it? In my personal experience the one factor above all others than gives a core lasting value is whether or not you enjoy using it. You could go and create an awesome design that looks great on paper and in battle... but if you aren't having fun with it you aren't going to want to use it. When you come across that perfect configuration you'll know, trust me. You'll become hooked on the design and you'll never really want to use anything else in battle. Why do you think I never shut up about Phaedo? That core breathed new life into my waning love for the series.

This may be about older games but the concept still applies to the new ones too, and will continue to apply to future games.