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Thread: Actually hitting things in space
Well, the lead indicator is pretty much only a heading indicator. If it is in the very center of the enemy ship, then its coming right at you or running straight away, and that is the only time you should be sure you will hit the ship by shooting the lead. As a rule, fast A-wings and tie fighters force you to shoot ahead of the lead, kimos and similar bombers need to be shot well inbetween the ship and lead.
The only reliable way to hit a ship is to watch where the shots pass and hone in from there. If you are pulling on a ship while its turning, its turning rate as well as speed (both will vary) have a huge impact, so you can best hit by observing where you are missing. If you see the shield hit graphic, but do not see damage, that is the 'client side effect' you are seeing, and the server considers it a miss. When that happens, its lag, and your best bet is to break and try another ship or try another attack line, but within a few minutes it 'pops' back so you can hit them again.
If you ever hear a high pitch beep when you shoot, you are shooting a player or a special NPC ship associated with someone else's mission (or an ally NPC).
Use the force dude;
Just kinda shoot around the baddy until you "plink" him (you'll hear it) and then keep shooting in that area.
Trust your instincts, not the targeting system. I have even found that turning off everything (ctrl-h) and just shooting where I think I should usually works better.
You've got built in tracers, just shoot at your target until you see you are hitting him and then aim in the same area. Get on his tail and just keep hammering, after awhile, you'll figure out what works best, then you will be walking all over them saying "This is too easy, give me some harder targets!".
And trust me, you will get harder targets.
Kin-Char_Bamin wrote:
Use the force dude;
Just kinda shoot around the baddy until you "plink" him (you'll hear it) and then keep shooting in that area.
Trust your instincts, not the targeting system. I have even found that turning off everything (ctrl-h) and just shooting where I think I should usually works better.
You've got built in tracers, just shoot at your target until you see you are hitting him and then aim in the same area. Get on his tail and just keep hammering, after awhile, you'll figure out what works best, then you will be walking all over them saying "This is too easy, give me some harder targets!".
And trust me, you will get harder targets.
That's kinda what I do with one exception...
Sometimes the enemy ships are just all over the place. They dance around in front of me making no sense whatsoever. And, any attempt to hit them while they're in this 'wacky state' is futile. Though, interestingly enough, they have no trouble hitting me. Then, after 1 to 5 minutes of this, I "snap" back, and they fly smooth again and I can hit them. I chalked this up initially as early JTL code errors, but when recently going back to it, it does the same.
The problem persisted through a new modem, new router, and new NIC's even. 
Learned to live with it, but wish I knew how to fix it or at least if others are suffering the same.
LuxDiazepam wrote:
OK, so... is it normal to hit them multiple times (tier 1 fighting a tier 1) and still not do any damage? Some one bought me a ship, and all the parts to make it work (guildmate...... they've been trying to get me to JTL since it came out...I've been trying not to).
At any rate, I can not tell if it is because I am just stupid and can not shoot a gun (tried for almost an hour on ONE ship.... could never get a hit in on it). ven chasing right behind them (classic 6 o'clock) nothing. The shields and every thing else is right at 100%.
Only time I was able to destroy something was when this guy in a tie fighter came zipping past, and shot it. And those 200 points are the only xp I got in 3 hours last night.
I tried in ront of the crosshairs, behind them, on the ship, baside the ship.... hell I even tried random space (yep, I was a little frustrated). I can see the little blue glow around the ship, like i'm hitting it's shields.... but nothing... no damage.
After going on about this for a while, the thought came up that maybe it's my connection (satelite)?
Message Edited by padren on 06-02-2005 09:53 AM
Message Edited by padren on 06-02-2005 09:54 AM
I would just like to mention that I am, as much as I hate saying this, a noob in SWG. I'm an allience pilot (as Thievee Crestingflier) and am currently on the 'Blast 4 TIES' mission. (Sad story related to this, i'll tell some other time.) Anyway, to shoot down anything in space, (w\ my Z-65 headhunter w\ virtually no upgrades)I generally am circling them at half (vs normals) or full (vs TIES) throttle. Maybe i'm a natural, or maybe i've got a faster connection, but generally I peg those TIES by firing in their general direction at around 400 meters (once I pulled it off at 40 meters). Don't have any trouble taking them down by firing into the formation. Maybe you should try it.
Meis122 wrote:
So it seems there is no science to the shooting... do you guys have just as bad of luck as I do?... I swear I fought one tier 1 Tie fighter for 15 minutes and only brought his armor down to 65... I am usually keeping my cross hairs in the green indicator... except when they make a sudden bank... but I usually get them back in my sights within 10 secs.
Yeah, I remember having a lot of trouble my first day with JTL. I guess you could say that the "science to shooting" is not using the indicator the way it is usually meant to be used. 
90% of the time I'm shooting I'm aiming just outside the indicator, not inside it.
Try using the indicator as a very general guidefor where to aim. And adjust your aim outside of it until you hit your target.