Radar 101 (never get hit by a tom tom again)

[Phasics]

well almost never

I feel compelled to write this thread becuase I'm not that good but I find it easy to get top score and top kills with a long tom. At the same time basically never getting hit by a tom tom when changing into a mech.

For new guys you should know there are 3 radar modes.

...o,O

YES 3

Active Radar
Passive Radar
Ping Radar Mode

So what the hell is Ping mode ?  Its really simple go to passive radar, and when your start getting close to enemy positions double tap the r key "PING" see a red icon well thats your enemy , guess what even in a fast mech even though your radar can't see him odds are he's close to where the ping put him.
In a long range unit find some high ground and look into the diretion you got the hit, you may be able to get a visual. Once you've got a visual guess what, you don't need your radar so leave it off.
(exception to this rule is LRM's you need active to lock, BUT you can fire in passive mode with a tag or narc active so keep that in mind)
if your close range setup then just approch the ping and ping again when your closer if you can't get a visual remeber every time you ping your enemy will see you as well.

Why is this important ? Long Toms have hard time ranging you out in the time you flick your radar on and off. The first time you do it and 4 seconds later you see a long tom shell hit 50m away you'll smile

So is that it ? immune from long toms ? not quite
If an enemy gets you on their radar screen even if your in passive mode you will pop up on the long toms radar screen, however if your outside the radar range of the long tom then he'll get spurts of targetting data dpending on how close the enemy keeps contact with you. While this is harder to range find its not impossible so be wary passive is not some invunerbility shield.

The BA scout can use the above knowlege to help long toms catch people in passive mode. Better yet if you walk and don't shoot the mech your shadowing he won't even know he's about to get slammed by a LT shell.
But at the moment with so many people still using active radar , most long toms will ignore passive targets in favour of more easily hit active ones.

Now for those who still use long toms and I include myself here beucase long tomming can be fun. You still need to use passive radar in a long tom as well. if your travelling to a location to fire from why is your radar on ? it should be off , if your not shooting your radar is passive.
If while shooting you come across a long tom on your radar go passive and MOVE ! sure he may not have seen you but chance are by the time you've seen him he's already lining up a shot on you. Now that you've moved ping radar and move again now you know the approx range and loc line a shot up ping again and quickly fine tune and shoot or just shoot without a final ping.
LT v LT battles can be alot of fun , one time I exchanged about 5 shots with an enemy long tom watching shells hit the ground where I was moments before he finally got me on the 6th shot but was a great duel.


Just a little Story to finish on
Last night I walked an UAC20 Mauler the length of the sandblasted map on the oppsite side of the map that the main battle was taking place. our guys were getting killed by long toms.
I left my radar passive for the whole trip didn't even do radar pings. just aimed for the spot where most mech exit the enemy main base and low and behold a long tom which I proceed to walk up to having not been noticed by anyone.
First he knew I was there was the 2 UAC20 rounds that slammed into him although being on the ball he did eject moment before I totalled his LT. And by a spot of luck I caught sight of a second long tom which I proceeded to "Maul" as well becuase once your under 200-300m range on an LT they have no chance of hitting you. (unless they're setup on a hill and pitched forward so they can hit closer targets)

There is no specific mech you "need" to use to counter Long toms , its all about managing your radar.

[Profane Arbiter]

Abridged:

"When an enemy LT is about, turn your radar on and off quickly and then relocate."

I agree, while I'll occasionally get hit by them it's pretty rare, and they are so incredibly easy to kill by airbounre units.

Also, don't forget to let teamates know when an enemy LT starts lobbing shells. Without fail I'll call out "enemy LT, go passive" and "somebody get an aero and take that thing out."

Long Toms serve the purpose of getting those missile campers moving so they have their place.

[[MPB]OM_Sannyasi]

another tip- don't get to sitting at base and tomming on people

[Phasics]

Also, don't forget to let teamates know when an enemy LT starts lobbing shells.
Long Toms serve the purpose of getting those missile campers moving so they have their place.

This brings up 2 good points, I'm at my happiest when I see Puma, Catapult etc pop up on my long range radar while sitting in my Long Tom. Becuase it means I can just shoot staight no lead required.

And telling people how to avoid LT shells is the easiest way to avoid the inevitable chat spam greif.

Oh and jumpjetting with a long tom on the field is a good way to become primary, soon as I see a mech JJ I know they are 0kph when they land and I'll send a shell to greet them. Catapults I'm looking at you in particular here 

[SquareSphere }12thVR{]

nice post, we covered most of it in the anti tom tactics thread.

I'd only add, if you're going to ping radar, so it standing still or make it super brief.  Why?  If you're good at Tomming then you can predict direction and lead the shot   I've used it to great effect.

[Phasics]

another tip- don't get to sitting at base and tomming on people

not that I condone LT spamming a base but each team does have 2 bases if one is getting spammed switch your spawn point.

better yet if it get to a point where your team is spamming the enemy base switch sides ! one sided matches are boring.

[Phasics]

nice post, we covered most of it in the anti tom tactics thread.

I'd only add, if you're going to ping radar, so it standing still or make it super brief.  Why?  If you're good at Tomming then you can predict direction and lead the shot   I've used it to great effect.

Or change direction after the ping also works.

You'll find once you get used to fighting with passive radar you'll basically never go active unless you want a missle lock.
Heh just for something differen't if you've never tried it, do an entire spawn in passive radar mode, you'll learn alot.

especially during that first light mech/veh exchange at the start of a game go passive trust me you find out somthing interesting

[RabbidFerret]

It's generally a good rule to always ping, even if longtoms are nowhere on the field.

Use it to get a sense of who is where on the field. Running in passive is good and all, but it can get you into trouble if you wander into a group of enemy mechs that you couldn't see in passive mode.

[Redvan]

i never dont ping... unless i'm already spotted by a ton of enemies and just dont care who sees me anymore...

dont forget, that group of enemy mechs that you couldn't see in passive mode were probably in passive themselves... so you wouldn't have seen them anyway

proper visual scanning techniques would help in that area

[[MPB]OM_Sannyasi]

another tip- don't get to sitting at base and tomming on people

not that I condone LT spamming a base but each team does have 2 bases if one is getting spammed switch your spawn point.

better yet if it get to a point where your team is spamming the enemy base switch sides ! one sided matches are boring.

i gave this tip with good reason, don't get used to it

[7.[WD]Poldi]

(exception to this rule is LRM's you need active to lock, BUT you can fire in passive mode with a tag or narc active so keep that in mind)

Sorry, LRMs only lock on NARC/TAG signals if your radar is active when firing the LRMs. But you can go passive again right after the missiles left your launcher.

[Phasics]

(exception to this rule is LRM's you need active to lock, BUT you can fire in passive mode with a tag or narc active so keep that in mind)

Sorry, LRMs only lock on NARC/TAG signals if your radar is active when firing the LRMs. But you can go passive again right after the missiles left your launcher.

hrmm coulda sworn I've let off LRM in passive to ahve them track... maybe I'm thinking SRM's meh as you say flick on to fire and off again works fine either way

[HAARP]

Running around in passive all the time is dangerous aswell. Many times I've missed the Uller or Maddog with ECM sneaking up behind me while brawling with another mech :/ And frankly, you can't ping while brawling very well.

Also, I consider pinging stupid. Either you're active and know the enemy locations, or passive and practically blind. Short active bursts gives you the best of both worlds, without much of a disadvantage. This can't be how it's intended, can it? I propose a 5 second delay for your sensors to "warm up" when going into active during which you are visible

[sleepysheep]

Running around in passive all the time is dangerous aswell. Many times I've missed the Uller or Maddog with ECM sneaking up behind me while brawling with another mech :/ And frankly, you can't ping while brawling very well.

Also, I consider pinging stupid. Either you're active and know the enemy locations, or passive and practically blind. Short active bursts gives you the best of both worlds, without much of a disadvantage. This can't be how it's intended, can it? I propose a 5 second delay for your sensors to "warm up" when going into active during which you are visible

Pinging gives away your postion so I don't mind at all.

[HAARP]

Running around in passive all the time is dangerous aswell. Many times I've missed the Uller or Maddog with ECM sneaking up behind me while brawling with another mech :/ And frankly, you can't ping while brawling very well.

Also, I consider pinging stupid. Either you're active and know the enemy locations, or passive and practically blind. Short active bursts gives you the best of both worlds, without much of a disadvantage. This can't be how it's intended, can it? I propose a 5 second delay for your sensors to "warm up" when going into active during which you are visible

Pinging gives away your postion so I don't mind at all.

Only if you take your time and the opponent stares at the radar screen all the time