[Equipment] Psst? You like to NARC? Let's talk!

Hey all!

It's time to speak about a underutilized equipment, the NARC. Share your tales of good useages, discuss the strong and weak points, counters and methods for using it.

I have mounted it on Ravens, Jenners, Trebuchets, Quickdraws and even on a Misery. Knowing what the enemy is doing and where he is, is valuable in itself apart from LRM targeting! The Raven is made for the task and in my opinion, the best spotter but that doesn't stop the others from being good at it.

The greatest challenge I have seen LRM boats have is on River City, assault. The enemy team is always very tightly packed in and enjoys 2+ ECM sources most of the time. I always dread this map as a spotter, even with UAV, tag and NARC equipped.

Lately, with ECM being so prolific, I have considered running two NARC launchers to enable a quicker counter in multiple ECM mechs. If you only get one in a pair, the NARC is cancelled out by the other.

For example, this.
http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=168&l=f945a00c2ad813e66b26340c9e057dc83a2c9da3

http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=176&l=343ca7970303ec421f34396806bea4768323ec41

http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=33&l=170af9dcbd102d6d7e1998c9e6b512f5c9efeb69

I will play with the new Enhanced NARC module later tonight and give feedback. With the increases of 100 speed and 10 sec duration, that's damn nice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Na8kX9IJJLo​

Here's a short clip of two games I played tonight with the Kit Fox and dual NARC launchers, beyond LRM'ing I'd say we really made a difference in the first game on intel about the enemy team. My teamates seems to swing around and follow the beacons almost.

 

I love the NARC.
I use on two mechs at the moment:

http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=33&l=c7244d52a06dfab4f713598b77c3c37dce62bce0
http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=94&l=7900a3f574a8ab2c114bf4e4a03d8ce71ef4b12b

The first one is a classic spotter, I rarely drop on it without a friend on a decent LRM-boat. The second is a selfish medium LRM-boat I sometime use for solo drops, it works nicely.

I see multiple use for the NARC:
- obviously spotting for LRMs - I really feel sorry for the poor target doing everything to break line of sight, looking everywhere to locate that damn spotter and finally dying without knowing where it came from (in fact I'd like a "you have been NARCed" warning)
- ECM countering - NARC the DDCs that ruins your fun!
- just randomly NARCing mechs so your team has better strategical awareness

All are extremely useful, and I never failed to thanks a good NARCer when I got one in my team (because unfortunately it does not show on the scoreboard and hardly more on the reward).

Does anyone has the precise characteristic of the NARC enhancement module? I know it gives you 10 more seconds (40s instead of 30s) which is already great but they say something about better speed and EMP effect.

I'm not sure about mounting 2 narcs, it's an heavy equipment after all, especially the IS version.

 

The Enhanced NARC module improves the bullet speed by 100, duration of both tracking and EMP by 10 seconds.

http://www.mechspecs.com/forum/index.php?topic=6839.msg46567#new

The clan NARC is only 2 tons though so I'll give it a go tonight.

 

It's tempting to put NARC on my Jenner K and max out it's engine.

 

....No, nope... Nothing to see here. *whistles*

NARC can be brutally effective. My dire wolf got NARC'd in the canyon the other day and despite being behind cover, with the group and twisting like it was the 60s I was dead 20 seconds later.

Practice humane meching: don't NARC your dire wolf!!

 

All hail NARC. i've seen it used brutally effective on either an ECM Commando or an ECM raven (but usually the commando).
It has an odd trajectory, so it's not the easiest piece of equipment to use. If your team is LRM heavy, NARC can win the battle for you.

I don't remember ever seeing a sign on the HUD that you have been NARCed. Your teammates see that you have been NARCed, but not you. (same with TAG)

 

NARCing lights are pretty common since the buff. I don't think its underused.

 

I have a buddy who used to run almost exclusively a lrm A1, and I would load up my Kintaros with NARC. Love it! Of course, I'd get carried away sometimes and run smack dab in the middle of a ball of death, but at least I could NARC a few before I went down!

 

I like how it is now.
It forces you to pick your targets with caution (ECM carriers first), that makes the spotter gameplay more interesting. It's true it can become a chore against multiple ECMs - I remember a game versus 3 DDCs where all I did was basically NARC them over and over so they constantly have a beacon on them, that was fun but also felt like fighting windmills :unsure: .
The TAG already allows to target a mech inside an ECM bubble (with the drawback of LoS requirement), I think it's enough.
And in case of force majeure you still have your trusty UAV.

 

Yes, true it is more common to see people using NARC to provide target locks for LRM's. But my purpose in this thread is to explore if we cannot do more then that. Develop tactics, see other ways to use it and employ it then only for LRM's. Different ways of thinking may give us more fun gameplay.

I tried out my dual NARC Kit Fox last night and had a blast going around NARCing as many mechs as possible. At one time I had five or six with beacons, giving a tremendous amount of intel to my team who used it to good effect. Murder by LRM, they could edge out (River City) around Citadel and find angles knowing exactly when their target was moving/appearing, it was pure murder.

On HPG I managed to succesfully NARC a flank of the enemy and draw my team into a deathball with me NARCing in CQB. I lost both arms and was killed but we won the match so purpose filled.

Here's the build thread: http://www.mechspecs.com/forum/index.php?topic=7172.msg46678#msg46678

 

Very nice one Lan!
I was looking at this and thought of a Raven 3L (3xML, 2xNARC w/ 3t Ammo, ECM, XL280) Had to sacrifice some armor to get the 3rd ML in, or can go with 2 MLs and almost full armor. With ECM and running at 142 (w/ tweak) this is still a hard light to catch.

BTW, NARC ammo is not explosive, is it? It doesn't deal any damage so I actually don't know and would it be safe to place it in CT?

Edit, something like this:
http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=33&l=749199910e531867e44aeafeb50b4ea6b80b64bf

 

I had the feeling that NARC hit detection was broken like SRMs were. Did they fix that or was it just me being unable to aim?

 

Thx.

I don't think the ammo is explosive but will let you know if I do get killed by it. Let me know how the Raven performs!

As for NARC hit detection, no, I think it works fine. I just need to learn the projectile speed. Practice, practice.

 

First post is updated with a NARC video, featuring Kit Fox and dual NARC launchers of course.

For the lazy -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Na8kX9IJJLo

 

Nice video. I'd say both matches you made a massive difference. I'd be as bold to say that your NARC beacons made the difference between winning and losing the first round. The second round would have been a stomp without those NARC's... It was hilarious to see your teammates standing right next to an un-targeted enemy completely unaware of their presence; then a NARC lights them up and suddenly, "OH NOES RED TRIANGLE. KILL IT WITH FIRE."

I noticed someone typed into chat that it was an even match. Hell no it wasn't; you just closed the gap with some very good NARC placement. A loss is a loss, but hey; you lost well.

 

Thanks, Proto!

It was a lot of fun making the video and trying to be sneaky in a new way. Felt like I was headhunting in that second game, noticed that the enemy had 2+ ecm so I wasn't that surprised finding the 3L. Was damn glad for the assist from the blue guy, tried to draw the fight to my lines and it worked with the Narc.