Here’s a short article on improving the survivability of your units. The thing that I’ve noticed is that everyone wants to shoot at the target that is the easiest to hit. Now that in and of itself makes sense. But the decision to target exclusively on that criteria does not make sense. Consider this fact. In the first turn of the game, you shoot at the target that was the easiest to hit. Now in the next turn, that target with damage is now harder to hit due to increased move mod or whatever. I would say, I tend to see the next round of fire target the easiest to hit target, not the most damaged target.
Now think of the implications of what I just said. A rational person knows that you are always better off trying to eliminate return fire and get numbers up. In nearly most situations, its always better to finish off a target because typically, no matter how much damage they’ve received, they can still contribute to the combat. However, I tend to see more of an emphasis to target the easiest target.
So this brings me to my point about dictating your opponent’s fire and targets. Say you are in a lance vs lance situation. Say all of your units are 5/8 speeds. What you would do, is every turn, run three units 8 (3 mod) and one units 5 (2 mod). Each turn, you just rotate which unit in your lance has the low movement modifier. This way, you protect your damaged units longer. Also, an interesting concept to protecting a heavily damaged unit, you achieve highest move mod possible, and minimize your shooting penalty for all other units. Then they will be forced to miss a lot trying to finish off your damaged unit, while the rest of your units can hit easier.
I’m probably not explaining it the best way imaginable, but I think I get the concept across. One thing I would recommend doing, play using this tactic and see how your opponent reacts. Do they shoot the easiest to hit target, or do they bypass for a more dangerous target and try to take it out no matter how bad the to hit mods are. Once you see their play style, which will allow you to select units and formulate movement strategies based on their play-style preference. Having this knowledge of your opponent’s targeting style, should allow you to wield a significant advantage during game play.
Feel free to discuss in the comments or on our forum at: https://ourbattletech.com/forum/campaign-advice-and-tactics-discussion/tactical-discussion-dictating-your-opponent’s-fire/
I think this is called rotating units and I saw it in sci-fi space battles.
Good intel to have.
Where did you get the wonderful piece of art atop this page?
You know, I’m not sure. I picked it up somewhere online. I’ll see if I can track it down. I’ll let you know.
This tends to work well on newer players and units with similar weights – I’ve noticed how ever in many of my matches that my opponents aim for the largest of my machines rather then easiest to hit which often works to my advantage as I can use lights and mediums in closer while my larger mechs (generally a support fire machine such as longbows and archers) pound them from a distance – even with the longer ranges they only see the damage and size of the unit and tend to tunnel vision on them and I can sweep around with smaller units and hit them from behind or lead them into traps such as hidden infantry or battle armors – the same is true about units with large main guns such as hunchbacks and blitzkriegs – using this natural fear of such units you can get them to aim at these units first allowing you to get frailer and faster units in close to really begin causing chaos in their ranks – I used this to get 4 locus behind a command lance unloading rockets from each into the commanders mech (black knight) taking him out of the fight – so watching how players react to larger – more heavily armed – or easier to hit mechs – you can use this to lure your opponent into playing by your rules rather then theirs.
I personally enjoy using my command lance as the primary target with heavily armored mechs in it with long ranges – then having my lighter units pound the lowest armor mech as with each mech retreating or falling I have less return fire coming at me and more concentrated fire pouring into them – its simple and sometimes risky but I’ve won more then lost with this strategy so be wary when a unit seems to easy to reach all of a sudden