The All Mighty Blowtorch

[Spudinskes 41]

The blowtorch is a very powerful tool that is capable of healing a vehicle more than 3x faster than a gas station can, while also bypassing the pause that occurs when the vehicle is damaged. I myself love being able to endlessly repair torch my steel plating 3 and fast-fix chassis 3 pioneer from a player osmawing over and over.

 

There are also times when I use it where I think it is a little too powerful. The other night I was in a 4v4 mission where the last objective was to hold an amoured truck. We had me in the passenger seat of the truck, and my other two teammates in a pioneer with steel plating 3 and fast-fix chassis 3. The other team had one player car surfing with an osmaw and another car surfing with an alig. Every time the enemy time got close to us while the rocket was reaching the truck, me and the pioneer passenger were able to quickly kill off the alig and then I would be able to blowtorch the truck before the second rocket was reloaded and reached the truck, after which the osmaw player would die.

 

There was also another instance where instead of the enemy team having an alig they had double osmaw. This time we had to change our strat a little bit, since two rockets followed by some pistol shots was able to take down the truck almost instantly. The car surfing osmaws were always able to launch their osmaws before one of them got killed, but our pioneer driver would cleverly drive behind the truck and intercept either one rocket or both and die. Unfortunately for the enemy team I was always able to finish off the second osmaw. We would basically continue this cycle until we won without even being required to make a momentary pit stop at a gas station..

 

Another instance it was just one osmaw and then a person the passenger seat with a regular gun. Either me or the passenger of the pioneer would easily kill the osmaw, leaving the enemy passenger unable to to kill the truck due to low firepower.

 

This got me thinking, if I were on the opposite end this mission would be nearly impossible.

 

1. Target the truck first with double osmaw: enemy pioneer would block one or both rockets, meanwhile both carsurfers are extremely exposed and die quickly to obeyas
2. Target the enemy truck with one osmaw and alig: same case as one
3. Target the enemy truck with double alig: same case as one
4. Target enemy pioneer first with an osmaw and alig: same case as one
5. Target enemy pioneer first with double alig: same case as one
6. Target enemy pioneer first with double osmaw: same case as one
7. Any combination of an osmaw with a regular gun: osmaw doesn't deal enough damage to destroy either pioneer or truck, and would get killed first leaving just the regular gun left which won't be able to deal enough damage to the vehicles or be able to win against two other passengers shooting at him.
8. Don't have an osmaw on your team? /quit
9. Your team is below R195 and can't use carsurfer? /quit

 

Due to the blow torch, after any of the 7 possibilities me and the pioneer would be able to blowtorch our vehicles and never require that we make a stop at a gas station. That allows us to travel nearly 300 meters before the enemy team even respawns, then they have to reach us. Maybe I'm not thinking out of the box enough, how would you take down a group of 4 with a setup like this? So far from my experience it's a very powerful setup.

Edited June 24, 2018 by Spudinskes

[Alani 475]

is this an essay question?

[Spudinskes 41]

1 minute ago, Obvious Lesbian said:

is this an essay question?

I expect a response nothing short of scholarly

[Spheri 66]

The situation you described is really one of the few instances a blowtorch really is a game changer. Hold the truck is a very old mission and when G1 implemented these new modifications they obviously did not think once about how it would impact the game. 
So to answer your question, I believe the answer is to accept your defeat, and hope they change this mission in the future. Running was always considered a dishonorable move, but when the objective is to run, you can't really do much else. Especially since car surfer and blowtorch are locked behind R195, which gives higher-ranked people a definite advantage. You could argue that there's the joker store for that, but that's not really a solution.

[Spudinskes 41]

3 minutes ago, Spherii said:

The situation you described is really one of the few instances a blowtorch really is a game changer. Hold the truck is a very old mission and when G1 implemented these new modifications they obviously did not think once about how it would impact the game. 
So to answer your question, I believe the answer is to accept your defeat, and hope they change this mission in the future. Running was always considered a dishonorable move, but when the objective is to run, you can't really do much else. Especially since car surfer and blowtorch are locked behind R195, which gives higher-ranked people a definite advantage. You could argue that there's the joker store for that, but that's not really a solution.

Yea, especially when you need an osmaw and car surfer to really be able to do any meaningful damage, which aren't both possible to obtain through joker tickets every week.

Edited June 24, 2018 by Spudinskes

[Nite 261]

I would imagine the only way to really gain the edge against the Armored Truck team is to remove their escort vehicle from the equation as fast as possible. I'd more so use a 4x4 Vegas, I find it better at ramming Pioneers compared to anything else I've used.

 

With that said, having the chase team use 2 Carsurfers sounds like more of a hindrance than a help, I'd more suggest the OSMAW guy and his driver keep distance, while the second pair is one driver with a Vegas 4x4 and a leaning out passenger with an anti-personnel gun with plenty of ammo (maybe the Rabid or something even) and have those two stay close to either kill the defending team's Pioneer gunner, or just ram them off the path so the OSMAW vehicle can close in.

 

Basically, you have to deal with the escorts first, and quickly, or you got no chance. IMO anyway.

[CookiePuss 5379]

I always ALWAYS switch to my Dog Ear for these missions. Allows you to quickly and easily pick off car surfers (as well as blowtorch healers), deal hard damage, and retreat inside the vehicle when injured since it can be fired out of a window.

I also equip blowtorch myself, and expect my team to do the same.

Ideal setup is1 driver, 3 Dog Ears (Or Wisp from the Joker store), and 3 blowtorches. Makes for laughably easy pickings of carsurfing ALIG or OSMAW / Volcano users, and equally quick work of the armored truck.

 

 

Edited June 24, 2018 by CookiePuss

[Hexerin 1140]

This is one of those niche edge cases, not the norm. The armored truck mission is just poorly designed in general, the addition of the new mods make it even worse. It's one of those very few missions that should just be removed, because there's not really any way to make it "good".

[Spudinskes 41]

8 minutes ago, CookiePuss said:

I always ALWAYS switch to my Dog Ear for these missions. Allows you to quickly and easily pick off car surfers (as well as blowtorch healers), deal hard damage, and retreat inside the vehicle when injured since it can be fired out of a window.

I also equip blowtorch myself, and expect my team to do the same.

Ideal setup is1 driver, 3 Dog Ears (Or Wisp from the Joker store), and 3 blowtorches. Makes for laughably easy pickings of carsurfing ALIG or OSMAW / Volcano users, and equally quick work of the armored truck.

Ah this seems like a really good strategy since it is extremely accurate and does a surprising amount of hard damage. Unfortunately even with me playing with 6+ year vets none of us have ear wigs. Hopefully the prices lower soon so i'll be able to convince them to buy it. $40+ is way too much atm.

5 minutes ago, Hexerin said:

This is one of those niche edge cases, not the norm. The armored truck mission is just poorly designed in general, the addition of the new mods make it even worse. It's one of those very few missions that should just be removed, because there's not really any way to make it "good".

Hopefully they'll get around to mission balance soon but I didn't see it in the roadmap unfortunately.

Edited June 24, 2018 by Spudinskes

[CookiePuss 5379]

1 minute ago, Spudinskes said:

Ah this seems like a really good strategy. Unfortunately even when playing with 6+ year vets none of us have ear wigs. Hopefully the prices lower soon so i'll be able to convince them to buy it. $40+ is way too much atm.

Yeah, I feel you there for sure... I shudder every time I think about how much Ive spent on APB.

And while you can get the ISSRB Wisp (Dog Ear remesh) from the joker store

It would be really nice to see even a no slot version available from contacts in the future... Its just such an amazing weapon.

[Spudinskes 41]

3 minutes ago, CookiePuss said:

Yeah, I feel you there for sure... I shudder every time I think about how much Ive spent on APB.

And while you can get the ISSRB Wisp (Dog Ear remesh) from the joker store

It would be really nice to see even a no slot version available from contacts in the future... Its just such an amazing weapon.

Yea, unfortunately they don't always play consistently week to week to obtain enough joker tickets to buy it whenever they get on, that and the fact that in US there's only one active fight club on any given day. Plus they often have other weapons they want to buy from the joker store.

Edited June 24, 2018 by Spudinskes

[CookiePuss 5379]

Just now, Spudinskes said:

Yea, unfortunately they don't always play consistently week to week to obtain enough joker tickets to buy it whenever they get on. Plus they often have other weapons they want to buy from the joker store.

Oh Im the same, Ive been playing for like 4 years or so now... maybe have 3k joker tickets total lol.

[Hexerin 1140]

6 minutes ago, Spudinskes said:

Hopefully they'll get around to mission balance soon but I didn't see it in the roadmap unfortunately.

The roadmap they posted seems to only be the immediate future, focused primarily on the engine upgrade timelines and other things that are going to happen alongside it. I wouldn't be surprised if mission balance is something they'll get to afterwards. There's no way they aren't aware of how broken half the game's missions are.

[Excalibur! 207]

Is this another nerf thread?

 

[Spudinskes 41]

Just now, Hexerin said:

The roadmap they posted seems to only be the immediate future, focused primarily on the engine upgrade timelines and other things that are going to happen alongside it. I wouldn't be surprised if mission balance is something they'll get to afterwards. There's no way they aren't aware of how broken half the game's missions are.

With how big the other changes are, I'm just thinking the mission balance won't come around for a very long time.

[Spudinskes 41]

1 minute ago, Excalibur! said:

Is this another nerf thread?

 

Nope, I am asking others what kind of strategies would be effective in defeating these types of scenarios in case I ever run into it on the receiving end.

[Excalibur! 207]

Volcano and alig should sufice.

[Hexerin 1140]

11 minutes ago, Spudinskes said:

With how big the other changes are, I'm just thinking the mission balance won't come around for a very long time.

How long a time "long time" is is subjective, but if my suspicions based on the info MattScott let slip are accurate then it wouldn't be inaccurate to say that it'll be a bit before UE4 drops. The way he worded things, it sounds like the game is being rebuilt from scratch on UE4, rather than just porting it over and calling it a day.

 

 

Edited June 24, 2018 by Hexerin

[vsb 6171]

have you tried not chasing behind the objective vehicle? that’s almost always a poor plan tbh, blowtorch or not

 

 

a pioneer or espacio t-bone can flip a security truck onto its side pretty easily, or you could just flank and double osmaw/dmr/alig from a corner

[Defibrillator 132]

55 minutes ago, Spudinskes said:

-snip-

Typical day in bronze district. Find teammates with whom u can learn to fight and defend the objective instead of running.

 

[Spudinskes 41]

3 minutes ago, BXNNXD said:

have you tried not chasing behind the objective vehicle? that’s almost always a poor plan tbh, blowtorch or not

 

 

a pioneer or espacio t-bone can flip a security truck onto its side pretty easily, or you could just flank and double osmaw/dmr/alig from a corner

I'm not sure, i haven't run into this situation yet. I've only been the one giving.

[Spudinskes 41]

8 minutes ago, Defibrillator said:

Typical day in bronze district. Find teammates with whom u can learn to fight and defend the objective instead of running.

 

The topic was for what to do when the enemy does it. Do you think i should ask them nicely?

Edited June 24, 2018 by Spudinskes

[vsb 6171]

6 minutes ago, Spudinskes said:

I'm not sure, i haven't run into this situation yet. I've only been the one giving.

well then i’d heartily suggest not just chasing behind the truck, it wastes time and gives your opp more than sufficient warning, especially if they have a trail car

Edited June 24, 2018 by BXNNXD
typo

[Spudinskes 41]

Just now, BXNNXD said:

well then i’d heartily suggest not just chasing behind the truck, it wastes time and gives your opp more than sufficient warning, especially if they have a trail car

Problem is that a smart team will know to mix up their travel path when they notice no one is chasing them. When I notice no one is chasing behind then the enemy team is probably setting up somewhere ahead. We'll then just turn around.

[vsb 6171]

1 minute ago, Spudinskes said:

Problem is that a smart team will know to mix up their travel path when they notice no one is chasing them. When I notice no one is chasing behind then the enemy team is probably setting up somewhere ahead. We'll then just turn around.

idk what to tell you then, flanking is generally doable 

 

 

the mission itself is definitely one of the more skewed ones tho