Pilot Archive

Make any idiot mistakes lately?

I think i suffer from a bad case of target fixation. Heres my two recent "oopys" (only 1 of which caused a death but still....)


1.) Dogfighting an oppressor. It suddenly dawns on me to get away from him and force a long range missle luanch. He does, i chaff, and move back in. Now, ive been having problems with lag at the time So as im moving back in.. im thinking:

"Ok wheres my damn aim point... Hmmm *pull trigger* too low, not there. *pull trigger* too high, not there, gotta be right about......".

KABOOOM

" ah crap."

2.) FP grinding. Im like.. really occupied. Spamming the Z key as habit. targeted a player,didnt quite sink into my fat head theres a real threat, so instead chased after the Tie fighter i was shooting at, and then the next one.. then i see these orange laser bolts fly right past my 9 oclock.
"oh ya..... hey whered he come from.... oh duh.... how come hes 2KM out, didnt i seeh him before?!"

Give chase, he hypers as i get within 600 meters.

Me, "duhh...... i should be dead".

I guess it was some rookie, took a potshot at me, missed, losed his nerve and spilt.

I've only had my ass handed to me on an even keel twice.

Once was because I was impetuous and didn't plan before barging in. I had history with the target and felt like teaching him a lesson. It might have been one-sided had I not lucked out running into him in Dant space. Should've heeded my Sun Tzu - "Generally the one who first occupies the battlefield awaiting the enemy is at ease; the one who comes later and rushes into battle is fatigued."

The second was my first defensive engagement against an A-Wing in Kessel. I knew I was close to the side of the map (definitely not a good place to be if you get in a PvP knifefight), so I engaged my trademark 17-second booster and ran to what I assumed would be safer ground. I later learned he loaded in partly because I'd splashed two of his guildies twice an hour or so before (once in a bloodsucker, the next in an attempt for retaliation where they succeeded in only damaging my front armor plate) - he didn't expect me to still be in Kessel.

I couldn't run towards the center to force a wide open engagement because that was the direction he was coming from, and based on his tenacity I didn't want to take the chance that he'd miss in a head-on pass. Judging by distance calculation, he was EO3ed on an REed pre-nerf L6, because at 100% throttle he was only gaining in spurts using his booster.

Unfortunately, my gambit didn't work - I ran from one edge of the map straight into a corner - entered into a fight, engaged defensive, with him for about a 45-second corkscrew, and must have hit the side of the map, because he got a shot in. I haven't got to pay him back just yet, but had a long conversation with him on tactics afterward.

Well, one of the fundamental mistakes someone can make in PvP is STAYING locked on to a target up until they enter the 1km threat zone. If you still have a target bracketed when you cross into that 1km radius, he'll hear the battle music...and if he's not currently engaged he'll know something's up and probably find you even if he hits tab OR "z."

This is also assuming he knows to hit "z" when he hears the "plink" targeting noise out of place (currently the only sign another player has targeted or examined you).

The better bet is to target, take a bearing that leads inside his current flight path, press escape to break lock, then approach by stealth and only rebracket upon entering the killzone.

Message Edited by KaylBreinhar on 05-25-2005 04:15 AM

I would not really call it a mistake, although it did end badly, but when my wingman and ymself were chasing an awing in Kessel for 5 + minutes, the ship always staying in front of us, out of range, we were wondering why he did not hyper out. The conversation went along those lines:

"Why doesn't he hyper out?"

"You think it is a trap?"

"Probably"

"Right"

And we still flew after him until his wingman hypered in and the dogfight started.