I've been taking my Stormcrow into the solo queue to try to rack up some wins on this weekend's challenge, and I've had a couple of really good matches. I just got done with one on Alpine Peaks, and I'm really just writing this to kill time, while I calm down enough to jump back into the game. For easy reference, I'll be using grid coordinates supplied by Smurfy's map.
I spawned with a lance of fast-movers in the G4 sector. It was lucky that we were light and medium mechs, because we were able to quickly rendezvous with the lance that spawned in F6 and aid them in capturing the ridge on H9, overlooking the base on G10 and G11. That's a popular spot to fight over, so our team rushing it in force put us at a distinct advantage.
I actually moved to the gap between the two peaks at G9 to harrass targets in the base with my LRMs, instead of following everyone up the ridge. Our third lance cut off the enemy team in the F9/F10 area, protecting my position and bottling the entire hostile team up in the low-ground position of the G10 base. This split the enemy team's attention in three directions for a minute, but eventually, the hostile team found effective cover, forcing myself and the F9/F10 lance to reposition. The score at this point was three-to-one, in our team's favor.
Our mechs all regrouped on the H9 ridge and massed our fire on the units in the G10/G11 base. After forcing the lance on the northern flank to retreat to our main force, the enemy regrouped in the base, which made for a pretty bloody back-and-forth between our two firing lines. I was able to continue dealing damage, using indirect LRM fire, protecting myself from return fire, with several thousand tons of rock.
One enemy lance attempted to charge the ridge and, with the aid of a pair of artillery strikes, made some short-term gains. In fear of getting smashed by heavy autocannons and PPCs that the charging mechs were carrying, nobody wanted to crest the ridge long enough for me to connect with my LRMs, which motivated me and a friendly Adder to take some higher ground on the side of the hill at I9. Aided by our targeting efforts and ranged firepower, the rest of the team was able to finish off the charging force.
This returned us briefly to the status quo of trading fire between the ridge and the base, but as our numbers thinned, and our survivors' armor weakened, the team became more timid about cresting the ridge to continue firing. As they became more timid, I became more aggressive, popping up to lock my own targets and add my ER medium lasers (which I'll note are almost functionally identical to Inner Sphere large lasers, save for weight) to the mix. Eventually, though, I was the only one cresting the ridge, and though I hadn't taken a lot of return fire, owing to my habit of constantly repositioning, I didn't want to press my luck.
And so, with an eight-to-five score in our favor, there was a respite.
After about a minute, the Adder, a Spider, and myself began poking our heads up to see what was going on with the base, and rather predictably, it had cleared out. The remaining enemy lance, led by an ECM-protected Kit Fox had followed the road to the north, all the way around to the low ground at G8. That Kit Fox was shockingly effective with its two ER large lasers, killing two of our mechs, including the Stalker that was our team's main missile boat. Nobody was returning fire, except for me, and I was rather impotent, being at the very edge of my lasers' maximum range and unable to lock my missiles.
Eventually, we all saw the writing on the wall and abandoned the ridge, around the time the only-slightly-battered Battlemaster took the high ground on the southern slope of the H9 peak. I engaged in a ridiculous, physics-defying jaunt along the east slope of that same hill (which is about a 60º slope, mind you) to get back to the gap at G9. Our Spider retreated along the same route, but I lost track of him, while focused on just trying to keep my mech's footing.
The kills came fast and furious, while I was on the move. When I descended from the gap to the road to reengage the hostiles at G8, the score had shifted, eight-to-nine.
I raced down the road to see our Timberwolf totally fixated on the hostile Battlemaster. I tried to get the two Kit Foxes away from his ankles, to no avail. The Timberwolf chased the Battlemaster over a small ridge and got obliterated for his boldness. At the same time, I managed to sweep the legs out from underneath one of the Kit Foxes with my lasers. This sent the other Kit Fox into retreat, up the H9 ridge, leaving the Battlemaster without ECM protection. Using my vastly superior speed, I kept that Battlemaster locked between 200 and 220 meters and focused all of my weapons on his center torso, which the Timberwolf had kindly stripped of armor. I don't know if he was running hot or out of ammo, but all the Battlemaster managed to fire back at me were a few medium laser shots, which my relatively fresh armor had no problem shrugging off.
The fight with the Battlemaster was over quickly, allowing me to immediately pursue the retreating Kit Fox, as it made a turn from the H9 ridge to try to mount the peak immediately to the north. His legs had also been stripped of armor, so with two volleys from my lasers, I managed to sweep the legs out from underneath this Kit Fox as well.
Glancing at the minimap, I saw our team's only other remaining survivor, the Spider that I lost track of earlier, pressing itself against the final enemy mech. Without any other real options, I locked my missiles and fired a volley, crossing my fingers and hoping not to finish off the friendly Spider. The onboard computer warned me of a retaliatory volley being launched, but my missiles arrived first, destroying the hostile mech's engine and ending the match, before I even bothered identifying what kind of mech it was.
In the final talley, I scored five kills--counting one early on, that my LRMs stole from someone else--and four additional assists, dealing about 890 damage. Better still, the Spider survived, making it my second match of the night where one of my medium mechs and another light mech carried a victory against superior numbers, including at least one assault mech. (The other involved a Stormcrow, a Firestarter, and a Dire Wolf against my Hunchback 4P and another Spider on Canyon Network.)
Happy hunting, and please, feel free to add your own boasts of success or lessons learned through failure.
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