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Thread: HELP: Confessions of a Loser. Or why don't I get anywhere in space.
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Sarnokh
Mon Nov 01, 2004 3:41 pm
#1
Ok, I am clueless, helpless and confess that I am at an end with my wisdom. Maybe you huys and girls are smarter than I am or I should go back to gardening indeed. Here's my story. I would appreciate all honest comments.
First, I played the JTL beta about 3 weeks, I liked it and I was not too bad. At good times I could kill 1 Black Sun per minute with my Starter Ship. I had some left space experience from Wing Commander and X-Wing days, so I am no total noob. But here is the turn.
While all my guildmates wether Imp, Reb or Freelance did their 1st missions relatively easy, I failed it. Always. I played that mission now 8 or 9 times, partol, 3-4 Black Sun Fighters (light) and it always ends in timeout. The fight is somewhat strange. Often the ships don't seem to fly, but nearly jump around. And however often I hit their shields, they don't really go down significantly. I played that same 1st mission 5 hours, I read hints and tips 2 hours. Nothing. I always end with a timeout - taking too long, mission failed.
I really looked forward for JTL, and you can imagine how smitten I feel. Of course I must face the fact I am just too stupid and slow to do it. Don't think I did not get a horde of good hints. Here is what I made sure, so you don't have to repeat:
- I dont fight at full speed always, but adjusted, most times 35% speed
- I follow close enough, usually 150 m
- I am well able to focus some ships for 2 or 3 minutes in front of me, but my weapon power is lost before I make any serious damage to their ships
- as starter I use the Starter Ship of course
- I also tried targetting engine or reactor only, whic changed nothing; all runs as if my weapons had a far too low power to penetrate the shields. If I make a hit, their shields restore even under my permanent fire (and I see the hits by the shield relflections!)
I am really close to give up space, and as this was my last hope for SWG, the entire game. Maybe someone tells me what is behind all this.
AmericanSaint
Mon Nov 01, 2004 11:12 pm
#2
I had pretty much the same problem. Basically I got around it by buying a player made version of the starter craft and outfitting it with the best components I could use. I have terrible reflexes, and I really suck at shooty games, but I managed to finish tier 1 solely by by virtue of some decent guns and excellent shields. Now, if I can only survive tier 2...
SoulFury
Mon Nov 01, 2004 11:21 pm
#3
I don't know about neutral, but with Rebel's z95, if you get within 150m, you won't be able to hit ANYTHING, simple because the lasers go on either side of the thing.
One thing that I suppose could be the problem is a lag problem. If you hit a ship, and get "shield hit noise", but the numbers on the shield info in the targetting box don't decrease, that means that the client (your computer) registered a hit while the server did not. The easier way to fix this is to "lead" the target a bit, the way you used to in old Xwing games. Assuming Black Sun tier1 aren't any different from the tier1 ties I faced, something is going wrong if you're not taking off 5-10% shields with each hit.
fareone
Mon Nov 01, 2004 11:32 pm
#4
Sarnokh wrote:
Ok, I am clueless, helpless and confess that I am at an end with my wisdom. Maybe you huys and girls are smarter than I am or I should go back to gardening indeed. Here's my story. I would appreciate all honest comments.
First, I played the JTL beta about 3 weeks, I liked it and I was not too bad. At good times I could kill 1 Black Sun per minute with my Starter Ship. I had some left space experience from Wing Commander and X-Wing days, so I am no total noob. But here is the turn.
While all my guildmates wether Imp, Reb or Freelance did their 1st missions relatively easy, I failed it. Always. I played that mission now 8 or 9 times, partol, 3-4 Black Sun Fighters (light) and it always ends in timeout. The fight is somewhat strange. Often the ships don't seem to fly, but nearly jump around. And however often I hit their shields, they don't really go down significantly. I played that same 1st mission 5 hours, I read hints and tips 2 hours. Nothing. I always end with a timeout - taking too long, mission failed.
I really looked forward for JTL, and you can imagine how smitten I feel. Of course I must face the fact I am just too stupid and slow to do it. Don't think I did not get a horde of good hints. Here is what I made sure, so you don't have to repeat:
- I dont fight at full speed always, but adjusted, most times 35% speed
what is that mean? u okey?..if u go like that speed u cant shot anythink( u have to know how to use speed.)
- I follow close enough, usually 150 m
for me close enought is 5m
- I am well able to focus some ships for 2 or 3 minutes in front of me, but my weapon power is lost before I make any serious damage to their ships
- as starter I use the Starter Ship of course
- I also tried targetting engine or reactor only, whic changed nothing; all runs as if my weapons had a far too low power to penetrate the shields. If I make a hit, their shields restore even under my permanent fire (and I see the hits by the shield relflections!)
other thinks about money and ur luck(loots) get one crafted ship and start back u will love it
I am really close to give up space, and as this was my last hope for SWG, the entire game. Maybe someone tells me what is behind all this.
warpish
Tue Nov 02, 2004 9:27 am
#5
Some suggestions for effective killing,
1) Be aware of two factors, lag and invulnerable top/bottoms.
What you may be experiencing at your low pursuit speed is the phenomena of attacking the top or bottom of the target (can be NPC or player, the hit modelling is at fault). At certain angles you're never going to register a hit, even without lag. What I do when I see this happening to me is to alter my attack angle. The flatter the angle (closer to their centerline) the more likely a hit will register (either on front or rear sections). If you're mostly normal to their centerline and especially if you're attacking from top or bottom I can guarantee you'll do no damage. Instead you'll just wind up expending your capacitor power and wasting your time. Move in behind them so you see a definite rear-quarter aspect and then open up on them. This will improve your effectiveness and defeat the invulnerability issue.
For lag or reticle lagging, you can select different reticles and then learn how your setup (computer, connection, network lag) are affecting your shots. In beta, several reports of the reticle being off, offset or otherwise inaccurately predicting a hit on the target (aside from top/bottom issues) often meant, it was better to ignore the target point and lead the target manually. This manual targetting varied between ship types and it did matter which ship you were flying too. Speculation is that the lead on the target reticles are 'set' for a certain speed and gun width, as reports from rebel craft with widely spaced guns tended to have more instances of poor reticle prediction. Now, part of this is probably server-client lag and is unavoidable while being transient depending on your network connection, which can be very frustrating. A good starting point to finding the proper lead on a target was to work the area between the targetting reticle and the enemy ship. Don't trust that your reticle is 100% correct, I can tell you it isn't. Don't rely on what your (client side) computer says is a hit, watch the target info for shields and armor dropping when you DO GET HITS.
Think more like a WW1 or WW2 dogfighter, close from the rear quarter, approach as close as you can, then open up on them with guns. Speed is your advantage, so if you wind up making gun passes rather than just hanging on their six, you'll be a better fighter later on. High angle deflection shots are possible, but, if you're not scoring hits, go with the tried and true, get right on their tail, then blast them to bits.
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