TAG, missiles, and battle armor

[Sleepy_Walker]

Now I have played a lot of mechwarrior 4 and up, so I am not completely ignorant to what things are and how things work.  Now I have found a great deal of fun playing as a BA recon element.  Going commando, watching huge mechs walk past and not notice me 150meters away (is pretty close when you think about seeing a lance of mechs wandering everywhere) gives me satisfaction… and I haven’t even done anything proactive besides not dying.  Well as part of my role I use the multipurpose man-portable ppc (helps to disrupt mechs attacking friends, can cause aircraft to lose a couple hundred meters in altitude when hit, splash damage, heat transfer) and a TAG designator system.

Now I did not realize until I did a bit more research that the TAG causes some missiles to home in at the target (previously I just used it to pinpoint to allies enemy locations).  Recently I tagged a heavy clan tank that had an array of pulse lasers (previously killed by those lasers).  Now I was about 370m parallel to the target and the rest of my forces where in front of the tank (think of a triangle).  Well the tank is not moving and shooting pulse lasers almost continuously, it was certainly making a commotion (but there where a bunch of other assets making noise as well).  Well everything seemed to go as planned, and a hail of missiles tracked to it (seemed like over 100 missiles of all kinds).  Even at over 350m away, it looked nasty and I would have not wanted to be the tank driver.  Well the tank was sparking and smoking and withdrew, then an identical tank took its place.  I once again TAG said tank, hundreds of missiles track to it, it also retreats, but having taken less damage.  After that I try to tag some other things, but they are moving and no more missiles seem to track anywhere.  Now right at the end of the match I get a message that whoever is TAGing should stop because said person sucks.

So I have to ask, as I have no wish to hurt the team (as the entire reason I used the TAG was because I thought I could help by showing enemies and helping some of those unguided missiles track better), do I have to give up using my stealthy TAGing ways in order to not mess up some persons battle where they need their MRM to fire dumb?  Is TAGing not useful, unless directed against a mech that moves slow (the tank seemed fairly impervious to missiles) because fast movers are difficult to keep a good lock?  Should I stack up on equipment (NARC grenades and C8) while I essentially suicide (I always seem to get torn apart by pulse lasers and LBX especially by tanks… sad considering the discussion I just read)?  Is there a better way of TAGing for the commando on the go?

Ps.  I’ve also noticed that entire racks of missiles can miss completely, even though I’ve been tagging the target continuously for the missiles to home in from even the max 1,000m away.  Is it more complex than merely lazing an active unit, does laser position on the target matter?  If so, this would mean having to take into account friendly position or always aim for center mass so that the chance of a miss from some dumb missile angle will be mitigated (but overall less affective in the long run).

I will check on this in time, thanks in advance for helpful posts.

[Flyingdebris]

at the moment, the end point of the tag laser according to missiles is functionally identical to a narc beacon.
So if your laser is off by a smigen, or you sneeze, or cannot keep perfect track of a target, any incoming missile swarm is likely to miss.

your best bet is to coordinate with your team and state your intentions, whether you are trying to work with missile boats, or long tom artillery.  Long toms don't need you to keep the laser on target, so much as they just need a good general point to aim at (can be a patch of dirt if you like).  Missiles need perfect steady aim on a target to hit. 

Rule of thumb though, at least with tag, aim for the slow or stationary.  Don't bother trying to track something thats moving at a decent speed unless they are coming straight at you, moving straight away, or you have the aim of a champ.  And always try to keep the target lit up for as long as possible.  Don't blink the laser as that doesn't help anyone.

oh and avoid using tag at night.  The enemy can see your laser if they have nightvision on.

[Kadreal]

A lot of people won't deliberately fire at a TAG, since it usually has a terrible hit ratio due to the need for perfect aim. Often tags are quite useless for anything other then marking locations on the map.

[AlfalphaCat]

Man, I never thought to use TAG to help guide a LT pilot to passive Mechs.  That's brilliant, I don't think I've ever heard tell of such an awesome tactic.  Someone should throw that in the Pro-tips thread!!

[-SM-SUCKER]

Do not aim the tag right on the mech itself. Aim for the ground it is running on. This way the mech is almost always hit. Even if you slide off a bit.

[dCK-Apriori]

-SM-SUCKER is right, because of a simple fact. If you happen to miss the target only for < 1s the TAG point is very far away (unless its standing at a wall), because the laser is projected further. Therefore

1) aim for the ground under the mechs - or
2) aim from a much higher location than your target.

Also, please, talk to your team! TAG absolutely cripples MRM-pults and I was often seriously annoyed, when a BA kept tagging even when I asked it to stop.


@AlphaCat:
Its much easier for an LT pilot if you guide him by giving exact coordinates of the target. TLL invented the "mobile phone" detailed subgrid, dCK sticks more to the "numpad grid" method.
The method is quite simple. For each quad e.g. C5 you assign 9 subquads for more precision (e.g. C9_9 being C9 top right following the numpad grid). This precision is often enough for a LT pilot, because the LT shots have huge splash to hit the entire subquad (well, that depends on the map of course). TAG is required when this subgrid method is no longer precise enough [its hard to actually find e.g. D4_44]  (e.g. on DeathValley) or the LT is not in a remote, isolated position in which the pilot can expect to have the time for trial & error shots and needs more precision right away.

[Frostiken]

I've been using X.0-9 coordinates...

If they're in D4, really close to the bottom left, means they'll be in D.9/4.3.

[Stahlseele]

Question:
What about NARC-SRM for BA?
Would make it a bit easier than just grenades.

[Warhammer WHM-6R]

If there are MRM assets active then you can always ask them to turn off their radar as then the MRMs will act as normal and you can TAG.

Also sometimes people get frustrated and take it out on other players. I try to ignore any comments at me that are not friendly/constructive. I will also confront and communicate with my team about what I am doing or have been doing. If they do not like it then they should give a valid reason so I can change my tactics.

In fact an incident like this is how I got into contact with the TLL. A TLL member was having a bad day and took it out on me and my NARC tactics. I PMed him on the forums and we talked it out and he was really cool. He was just having a bad day. In the end you should enjoy the game and try to keep it friendly, usually the other players are also really cool and will try to help if you ask

@Stahlseele:
Post the NARC-SSRM for BA on the suggestions forum. I like it.

[=KoS= Saber15]

oh and avoid using tag at night.  The enemy can see your laser if they have nightvision on.

FYI, enemies can also see the muzzle flash of the laser, even with night vision off. It'll appear as a glowing red dot, which is what I use to hunt for BA.

[Stahlseele]

@Stahlseele:
Post the NARC-SSRM for BA on the suggestions forum. I like it.

done that.
linkie
http://forum.mechlivinglegends.net/index.php/topic,11898.0.html

[dsi1]

I've been using X.0-9 coordinates...

If they're in D4, really close to the bottom left, means they'll be in D.9/4.3.

I wish that the devs would subdivide the grids with thinner lines so we could use the keypad format, D4kp1 for instance. (look at the keypad on your keyboard for order)

About TAGs: I always see them bouncing around like crazy on my radar so I've grown to ignore them.

[Stahlseele]

Thus my wish for giving the little nuisances NARC for their SRM.
Even if i am so going to regret that, if they really do put it in <.<

[Brainwright]

Or, you know, you could make TAG worthwhile.

TAG should lock on to a target and then start transmitting a signal.  That way, it works just like a NARC beacon you can point.

Optionally, you can leave the standard map ping for when you're not marking an active asset, but you'd also need some way of determining the range to the map ping so it's actually useful for something other than letting you know someone's TAGing.

Otherwise, you're better off removing the point-and-TAG to prevent misuse and abuse.

[dCK-Apriori]

If there are MRM assets active then you can always ask them to turn off their radar as then the MRMs will act as normal and you can TAG

Ohm, I think this is not correct. TAG works on all missiles that currently don't have a lock. So it actually does not whether you go passive or active. If you don't have a look the missiles will go for the TAG and thats the exact source of the problem for a MRM-Pult pilot. You need to 1) activate your radar, therefore revealing your position to the enemies and 2) you need line-of-sight for a lock-on.