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You sound almost like me when I first started on some of those points, like how the heck to modify and build my ship properly, etc etc.

Talk to your guild. If you say you belong to the one that is under your avatar, then talk to them. Most likely you've got some or most who are in JTL. Ask them to help you out. I agree the insructions booklet teaches you jack squat about the important things outside of flying a ship. If you have a joystick, which I do myself... learn how to keymap.. it's only way to get used to it. Ask a guildie in game if they have time to teach you pointers.. one on one teaching is the only way your 29.99 you spent won't go completely down the tubes. If you're new to space sims, then yes, it's going to seem bumpy at first, but believe me.. YOU WILL get better in time and practice. It's not that hard, and it is the reason I'm still in the game today. Get aquainted with your ship. Over time, figure out what name fits her. Or him if you think your ship is a he. Paint and texture it.. give it some real flare that fits it's personality and yours.

Hope that helped, for what it's worth.

Patience, Young Padawan. Comments inline.

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Puertoriqueno wrote:

Ok, first, New in here, so some things may or may not have been covered or mentioned before. I just want to add my two cents from an "SWG veteran but new to JTL" point of view.

First, I wanted to explain why I stopped playing JTL so soon after I started. Now, I love it, dont get me wrong........very fun, exciting, visually pleasing, so this is not a rant. This is the reason I set it down and went back to the planet.

I might also mention that......being I was new........I used the base Scyk. I found the whole customizing idea to confusing for now. Again, not a complaint, it is great, but I wanted into the action.

I used my base ship for a few hours when Starsider was down, didn't find it lacking all that much, I occasionally got a loot piece that was better, but not often. I found the relative powers, range mods and HAM costs of weapons confusing back in July of '03...I adapted, so did everyone else, so did you :-p It's just like learning a new game, because essentially it is.

1) Autopilot. Is there one? Looked through the manual, maybe I missed it. The runs between missions points were WAY too long.

Yes, you can autopilot to waypoint. Right click the waypt in the datapad.

2) Lock-on. Not fun. Very hard to pick a target, hard to cycle through targets, especially when using the joystick to do so. I would often have to wait for someone to shoot at me to target them, and that did not work when you have three aggressors on you.

I use the virtual stick, AKA Keyboard and Mouse, but the buttons I use can be easily mapped to your stick. The X key targets whatever is in your reticle, and is what I use most often. Tab also targets nearest enemy. Fairly easy, imo, and reminiscent of theXwing series.

3) Escort or Squadron leader missions early on very irritating.....note I said irritating, I know they should be hard, but to have a situation so early that causes you to spend 30 minutes (perhaps an exaggeration) trying to fend off attackers or kill one single ship only to lose the mission because you took to long is not a good way to start off.

Practice makes perfect :-/ Everyone in the game is used to ridiculously easy missions...and now when they're actually difficult...this is not a shot at you, just a general complaint.

4) A huge amount of loot that APPEARED worthless....again, as a new person, especially with the newbie ship, it seemed to have no use. Purchased a base scyk, found out that out of all of my loot, only two pieces could be used in the ship. Again, IMHO, not a good way to start.

Loot in space takes getting used to, just like loot on land. That exceptional T21 sure looked useless when I was a novice Brawler...ask your guildmates.

5) No big Imp/Reb battles to watch, or Star Destroyers in orbit (was hoping to see this one), etc etc.

Kessel and Deep space...you get both. They don't want newbs to be in the same content areas as aces...which they should be applauded for.

6) No way to board or explore stations. This one was a disappointment......dont get me wrong, I know that can take alot of development, but why not use the base station that is used for newbies when they first start the game and just change it up slightly, have a few npcs, and give it a light ground-like content.......mission guys, entertainment areas, hospitals, bazaar just for space. Perhaps some quests can involve people on the stations. Just a thought........

Oh GOD the lag! You'd essentially be adding a planet for each station. Much as I'd love to see it, I hope they never do it

Anyway, this is what caused me to stop training in pilot before I had even trained the first set of boxes and go back to the ground game. Now I use the ships to travel from planet to planet. I am sure this is not what was intended.

You barely even gave it a chance! Pick up that helmet, get in that cockpit, and fly!

I just wanted to start with that. Remember, I love this addition, I just would like to see something to grab new guys and hold them.

I picked it up and haven't dropped it since launch. Love the space game to DEATH.

Next, I would like to talk about uniforms, specifically the rebel uniforms. I noticed that the X-wing and B-wing helmuts are not available to rebels. Seems to me this is something that should have been in place from day one.

Not like you can see the pilots from space, but the Rebel Ace helm is basically the X-wing helmet with a Earth-style face mask.

Finally, planets........I know you cant make Hoth and Coruscant playable planets, but can you at least make them ones we can visit in space?

Would love it. Though Kessel looks like Coruscant should... -_-

Thanks for your time, and feel free to pick this apart.

No picking, just helping :-p

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Puertoriqueno wrote:

1) Autopilot. Is there one? Looked through the manual, maybe I missed it. The runs between missions points were WAY too long.

I've had issues with autopiloting to a waypoint, but I find that /follow works when I have a non enemy ship/station I can target.

2) Lock-on. Not fun. Very hard to pick a target, hard to cycle through targets, especially when using the joystick to do so. I would often have to wait for someone to shoot at me to target them, and that did not work when you have three aggressors on you.

easily changed by mapping one of the many target options to a joystick button, or learning the keyboard equivalents. cycling is almost never needed except a few cases where ships are yellow until you hit them

3) Escort or Squadron leader missions early on very irritating.....note I said irritating, I know they should be hard, but to have a situation so early that causes you to spend 30 minutes (perhaps an exaggeration) trying to fend off attackers or kill one single ship only to lose the mission because you took to long is not a good way to start off.

learn to disable engines and move on. finishing the kill for xp and loot is nice, but sometimes you have to focus on the greater goal when trying to finish a storyline mission that gates your progress.

4) A huge amount of loot that APPEARED worthless....again, as a new person, especially with the newbie ship, it seemed to have no use. Purchased a base scyk, found out that out of all of my loot, only two pieces could be used in the ship. Again, IMHO, not a good way to start.

Did you understand armor and weapons when you first began the beloved ground game? is a high percentage of your ground loot useful? the learning curve and usefulness scales are both steep in JtL, your issue comes not from a flaw in the game, but from a lack of desire to acclimate to the different system.

5) No big Imp/Reb battles to watch, or Star Destroyers in orbit (was hoping to see this one), etc etc.

again, name a place you can see a truly impressive engagement right off the bat in the ground game. there are plenty of POIs in space where the NPCs go at it hard, and while it would be suicidal to hit Kessel in a rookie ship, its an option. better yet, try to get a slot as a gunner on someones MP ship.

6) No way to board or explore stations. This one was a disappointment......dont get me wrong, I know that can take alot of development, but why not use the base station that is used for newbies when they first start the game and just change it up slightly, have a few npcs, and give it a light ground-like content.......mission guys, entertainment areas, hospitals, bazaar just for space. Perhaps some quests can involve people on the stations. Just a thought........

were bunkers and bases weren't in the ground game at launch? I wasnt around to know, but I saygive it time. personally I agree, but I much prefer having a decent flight engine in place at launch over a few extra frills.

Anyway, this is what caused me to stop training in pilot before I had even trained the first set of boxes and go back to the ground game. Now I use the ships to travel from planet to planet. I am sure this is not what was intended.

I just wanted to start with that. Remember, I love this addition, I just would like to see something to grab new guys and hold them.

I was grabbed and held from beta onward, sorry you weren't. Heck I suffered through 2 weeks of being gated at Smuggler's Alliance mission 3 because of kill stealing back when mission spawns weren't keyed to the player, yet I never stopped flying.

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but why not use the base station that is used for newbies when they first start the game and just change it up slightly, have a few npcs, and give it a light ground-like content.......mission guys, entertainment areas, hospitals, bazaar just for space. Perhaps some quests can involve people on the stations. Just a thought........

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Message Edited by wasj2004 on 02-06-2005 09:53 AM