"Incoming Missiles" What do you do?

[Alan Grant]

I want to gauge something among the MWO players here. When you are playing and "Incoming Missiles" lights up....what do you do in the next 1-20 seconds? The answer might be "nothing", "seek overhead shelter", whatever. I just want to gauge what the most common reaction is. And I'm not asking "What SHOULD one do", I'm asking what you ACTUALLY do most of the time, what your thought processes steer you toward. We're assuming you aren't sure where the missiles are coming from when that first flashes up.

If the answer depends on what your driving, that's fine, just please explain that a little.

Trying to get inside the heads of other players in this game. Or maybe I'm writing a paper called "The Psychology of Incoming Missiles", who knows.  :)

[martian]

In order of preferability:

• Seeking overhead shelter
• Moving behind a building or rock
• Moving towards other players

- but ALWAYS MOVING!

Staying motionless is actually the worst thing that you can do, as LRMs will hit you even without lock.

P.S. The only exception is a situation when I know that those "Incoming LRMs" is a harmless flight fired from LRM-5. Then I can ignore them.

[elf25s]

if in slow moving mech try to keep the peed down then put "burst" of speed about  6to 8 seconds either foreward or reverse depending which direction you were going
with jump jets just jump about 3 seconds before impact 8 out of 10 you get missed or just grazed

speed demons just run and weave or hide behind someone bigger to takae the lrm enema

[Wrayth]

The first thing I do is try to move behind cover tall enough that the LRMs will hit the cover instead of me.  If that's going to take a while, I'll do two things: move closer to friendly mechs who have AMS and also twist as follow-on volleys hit me, trying to spread the damage over my mech so that no one location is critically damaged or destroyed.  Alternately, if I can see the person firing, just start plastering him with long range fire of my own.  If it's enough, it might cause him to pull back and break lock, at which point my movement will take me out of harms' way (plus, I might just kill him).

[Nightlord01]

In my Jenner, I tend to snuggle up to the largest hostile mech I can see, nothing like Chaff Atlas. :)

In a slower mech, I will try dropping of a ridge or getting behind a rock, building etc, to avoid the storm.

[Fatebringer]

When I hear the notice, I gauge my situation.

When I'm moving around, I'm already cognizant of the sight lines and where I think the enemy should be and plan my moves from cover to cover so I've already planned for this and just try to get to the next cover as soon as possible.

If I'm in a show down and the target I'm shooting at is sending the Missles, I play hide and seek with the terrain.

But if it's SSRM's, there's really nothing you can do, keep dueling, if you notice your target has 3+ SSRM's, kill them quickly or you will die soon. SRM's, you can dodge most of them, some will hit you, but compared to SSRM's it's not as big of an issue because their ammo goes quick and builds heat.

[NeonKnight]

Of course, the sucky part is....are the incoming missles directed at you? Not been able to tell if the message IS directed at me or not.

And if it is, then I giggle all the more inside as I think of all the times I fire my streaks at an enemy mech on the other side of the map a team mate has targeted just to make him move  ;D

[Fatebringer]

He he he, yeah I do that :) The other day we were on the Canyon and I had some great sight lines to tag folks, but there were about three mechs up on stuff, so I just lobbed some LRM's and  two of them, a Blackjack and Stalker, to get them to duck away and went back to make it rain on a Highlander.

[glitterboy2098]

usually i'm on the giving end not the receiving (instead i live in fear of laser's and AC's at extreme ranges), but on the times it's happened to me i tend to relocate quick, to try and evade them.

[Alan Grant]

Some interesting responses.

One thing I'd note myself. I feel like (and I could be wrong about this), LRMs have an easier time hitting a target that is either moving toward or away from them. If a target is moving left-right, or right-left, I see more missiles come down behind the mech and miss. Not miss completely, just miss 'more'.

Having observed that a few times, as missiles assailed comrades, I have started to move on a heading perpendicular to the incoming missiles. So if I see the salvo at 12 o'clock, I turn my mech about 90 degrees to the left or right and kick the throttle up. If I can do this AND hug some side or overhead cover, I do that as well.

I don't know if that's actually an advantage or just my perception. Just answering my own question.

[martian]

One thing I'd note myself. I feel like (and I could be wrong about this), LRMs have an easier time hitting a target that is either moving toward or away from them. If a target is moving left-right, or right-left, I see more missiles come down behind the mech and miss. Not miss completely, just miss 'more'.
...
I don't know if that's actually an advantage or just my perception. Just answering my own question.

I would say that you are right. That's why I have TAG or Artemis IV on my missile boat - it seems to me that it helps with hitting moving targets.

[Cyc]

Stick with ECM 'Mechs, watch for cover and hug obstructions

[Orin J.]

chill, wonder what he was trying to hit with. i picked that AMS out for a reason, Shumway.  ;)

[rlbell]

If you know where they are coming from, turn a shoulder to the launcher and try to break line of sight, by ducking behind something.  LRM's hitting from the side do less splash damage than missiles hitting the back or front.  Running across the missiles flight path is the fastest way to get away from the ballistic impact point, if the lock is broken.  If you are not pugging, huddle as a group with overlapping AMS coverage and you can ignore smaller salvoes and the annoying, and sometimes effective, chain-fired LRM5's.

[JAMES_PRYDE]

not in mechwarrior online, but in real life, would this tactic work ?

Say LRM missiles, 20 launched at you, to avoid them quickly veer left or right, and forward at max speed. It works for me mechcommander.

The real life application would be, that you close the minimal range, so they cannot adjust fast enough, and fly over you, or past you ?

[glitterboy2098]

LRM's are supposed to be fire and forget guided missiles. so rather like with AMRAAM's, Stingers, etc.. the missile is generally able to perform more maneuvering than its target. so i doubt it. you'd veer off.. and the missiles would correct to move their intercept point onto your new path.

the video games often tend to treat them more like unguided rockets.. moving in straight lines or predictable trajectories with no course correction or homing. oddly MW2 was one of the few to go the other way.. to the point of absurdity. LRM's in that game would follow a target in circles if fired with a lock on.. sometimes to the point it looked more like a cartoon than a battle. (i remember at one point i'd played around with a all missile build of an assault mech.. fired so many LRM's that the enemy mechs looked like they had swarms of bee's following them as they ran around..)

[JAMES_PRYDE]

the video games often tend to treat them more like unguided rockets.. moving in straight lines or predictable trajectories with no course correction or homing. oddly MW2 was one of the few to go the other way.. to the point of absurdity. LRM's in that game would follow a target in circles if fired with a lock on.. sometimes to the point it looked more like a cartoon than a battle. (i remember at one point i'd played around with a all missile build of an assault mech.. fired so many LRM's that the enemy mechs looked like they had swarms of bee's following them as they ran around..)

hahaha, yeah, I remember, my first mech game was Mechwarrior 2, with such an easy missile lock, then when three and more four game out, the homing became more harder

[Stinger]

If I am caught out in the open, I tend to turn my freshest armor towards the oncoming missiles.  Works especially well for 'Mechs like the centurion, with no weapons in the left arm.

[rlbell]

not in mechwarrior online, but in real life, would this tactic work ?

Say LRM missiles, 20 launched at you, to avoid them quickly veer left or right, and forward at max speed. It works for me mechcommander.

The real life application would be, that you close the minimal range, so they cannot adjust fast enough, and fly over you, or past you ?

It depends on the missile, but if you are flying perpendicular to the launcher's line of flight, the doppler shift of radar echos off of your aircraft approach the shift of the ground and many radars will reject you as ground clutter.  You do not want to get too far off track and you need ground behind you, as seen by the launcher., so it would be a diving turn followed by a split-s to double back.  The bizarre thing about radar systems is that the smarter they are, the easier they are to spoof.

LRM's are supposed to be fire and forget guided missiles. so rather like with AMRAAM's, Stingers, etc.. the missile is generally able to perform more maneuvering than its target. so i doubt it. you'd veer off.. and the missiles would correct to move their intercept point onto your new path.

The thing with the AMRAAM is that you have to time it right.  You have to perform the sudden maneuver just before the missile's seeker switches on.  The bore sight angle of the tracking radar of the launching aircraft is several degrees (unless the radar is hung inside the envelope of a large blimp), so, at long range, you can veer off by over a mile, before the tracking radar even knows that you have started to turn.  Because of the range, the missile's motor may have already burned out, so it does not have the energy to get to the target, if the missile must perform radical maneuvers.  There is a reason that the hit percentage for BVR missiles is bad against prepared opponents and why radar warning receivers are a must for combat aircraft.

[BobTheZombie]

If I am caught out in the open, I tend to turn my freshest armor towards the oncoming missiles.  Works especially well for 'Mechs like the centurion, with no weapons in the left arm.

That, or your most expendable side (e.g. the centurion arm). Usually you have enough warning to find which way they're coming from and react.

[Burning Chrome]

P.S. The only exception is a situation when I know that those "Incoming LRMs" is a harmless flight fired from LRM-5. Then I can ignore them.

I love it when the enemy thinks that way...thanks for the assist!

[martian]

I love it when the enemy thinks that way...thanks for the assist!

What assist? My 'Mech has twin AMS. Your LRM-5 won't even scratch my paint.

[BobTheZombie]

My 'Mech has twin AMS. Your LRM-5 won't even scratch my paint.

Exactly why I love AMS so much.

[Cyc]

Only use for a single LRM-5 is "I wonder if that light is sprinting behind those building because he has friends there?" and forcing people to burn up their AMS some.

[Mordegald]

I tend to play lights, so LRMs are a weird mixed bag of not at all threatening and scary as hell depending on the situation (that is moving and with intervening cover, or not and not). In order of favorite to least favorite ploy (not necessarily most to least effective), my strategies for dealing with them are:

1: Seek cover behind a nearby enemy 'mech. Because let's face it, inducing friendly fire in the enemy team is half the fun of playing a light.

2: Seek cover behind very tall or overhanging terrain. Nothing makes the artillerist cry like an indestructible roof.

3: Run straight at the firer. If I'm caught out in the open, this can save my butt. LRMs seem to have more trouble tracking you if you move towards their point of origin, or at least more trouble than if you run directly away. Even if it works though, this tends to worsen my issues with being exposed to fire.

4: Hide behind nearby friendly 'mechs. If I'm all out of other options, sometimes I'll resort to this. I hate doing it, but that friendly Atlas can usually shrug off a slap from an LRM-10. My Commando can't.

[glitterboy2098]

What assist? My 'Mech has twin AMS. Your LRM-5 won't even scratch my paint.

i always scratch my head when i spectate and see people with 4-6 LRM5's in a build and are chain-firing them. they literally never hit anything, yet they keep trying...  :D

[Jayof9s]

i always scratch my head when i spectate and see people with 4-6 LRM5's in a build and are chain-firing them. they literally never hit anything, yet they keep trying...  :D

What really gets me is people with artemis on their LRM5s. Such a waste of tonnage, unless I'm missing something massive.

[Hptm. Streiger]

3: Run straight at the firer. If I'm caught out in the open, this can save my butt. LRMs seem to have more trouble tracking you if you move towards their point of origin, or at least more trouble than if you run directly away. Even if it works though, this tends to worsen my issues with being exposed to fire.

True - never turn and run away from the missiles (they are faster) (only when you expect to get above a range of 1000m) - always charge the direction of the incoming missiles.
I always take a glance to the map - and try to figure out if i can break through and get those LRM Mech at short range

Its interesting how often - i found a single LRM Boat standing in the middle of no - where - spamming missiles as fast as possible... and as usual i think about the look in the face of that pilot - when he founds himself - face to face with my Assault Mech -
I'm a little pitty that they removed the LRM Stalker - that was easy prey.

[Fatebringer]

I can't say that using LRM 5's is completely counterproductive. I did use a Catapult A1 that had 2 LRM 15's and 4 LRM 5's because I could spam the LRM 5's and reaaaally run the enemy dry on AMS Ammo before pelting them with my full spread. I mean, when your carrying 1800 LRM rounds. 1000 AMS rounds just isn't enough ;) Plus I just love continuously rocking the enemy. :P

I've trained the A1 and the C4, and have my final Catapult, the C1 (Because I can have a pair of back of ML and Tag). My personal feeling about using LRM's is that having more Tubes isn't always better. The extra heat, the tonnage costs. I'd rather have more ammo and programs to help me hit more. My C1 Carries 2 LRM 15's w/ Artemis, TAG and Beagle Active Probe along with the Target Decay and Sensor Range 2 mods. With 1800 rounds and that kind of accuracy added in, the only thing you need is some patience. No, I'm not sporting 50 tubes like I did with the A1, but I've got back up weapons, TAG and just as much ammo without running into the heat issues because I'm not firing the ML's all the time.

Anywho. When you know your facing the rain, you can't count on AMS to save you 100%, but it sure helps.

[Burning Chrome]

i always scratch my head when i spectate and see people with 4-6 LRM5's in a build and are chain-firing them. they literally never hit anything, yet they keep trying...  :D

Odd, as the results of such a load out in my KTO-GB contradicts your statement... 8)