Pilot Archive
Thread: PvP primer 102 for the Imperial Pilot
A more indepth PvP primer oriented for the Imperial Pilot.
Not covered is expanded details on Re engineering and droid commands.
Should you find anything in this document incorrect, constructive criticism with supporting arguments is appreciated. As accuracy in this document is desired. It, as so far, is the work of only one person, hence there maybe errors that are not visible to the writer. This is document is also, not all encompassing, meaning only the most important points are covered. It will not for example, explain to you how to do barrel rolls, but only basic principles not covered in my PvP primer post.
I made this oriented towards the Imperial Pilot simply because it is the area in which i've had the greatest experience, and not out of any factional bias. I can't in good concious make a rebel one, simply because most of my experience has been as an Imperial. However most of this can be applied to Rebel PIlot as well.
On a personal note, i am getting a little tired of space PvP given how things are working out with ROTW and unresolved bugs and exploits that continue to persist. Im unsure if im going to retire from the PvP soon or not, but it is a thought i am serioulsy considering. Regardless, i thought id make one more contribution to the pilot community since i dont think anyones acutally put much of this info down into one collective post.
I. Flight Geometry as applied to JTL.
(This is being covered first because of its fundamental importance.)
1.) Angle of attack:
Most commonly refered to as "slide", this is the difference between your flight path, and the direction the nose of your ship is pointing. Some ships "slide" more than others, and it can be worked out to your advantage. Often in a dogfight, when two pilots start circling with one another what you'll acutally see is the nose of his ship whilet hes turning, likewise he'll see the nose of your ship while your turning, so both of you are in a turning match, constantly facing each other.
This is "slide" in action. If while your turning and suddenly your ship slows down, you have hit the limit of your angle of attack.
2.) Turns
This is the most fundamental, and most important concept of flying in JTL. Understanding the basic concepts of turns is crucial. As applied to JTL you must understand,Turn Rate and Radius, and Corner velocity.
( There has alwasy been much debate on the exact definitions of these terms, i however tend to subscribe to the philosphy of KISS in this subject.)
a.) Turn Radius
Turn radius is the "tightness" of the turn circle. If you were to take a "gods eye view" the turn radius is the center of the turn circle to the ship making that circle. It is critical to understand that Turn Radius increases exponentially with velocity, or speed.
b.) Turn Rate
Turn Rate is how fast your ship can get around the Turn Radius.
c.) Corner Velocity
The speed at which your aircraft has the fastest turn rate and tightest Turn Radius. Generally speaking, a ships corner velocity will be at 40% , 65% or 80 to 85% throttle. This is dependant on chassis and engine you have installed.
So examine the following examples:
Our example ship has a top speed of 1200
At 40% throttle, your corner veloicty is: 480
At 65% throlle, your corner velocity is: 780
At 85% throttle, your corner velcity is: 1020
Again, i will point out that the size of your turn will increase exponentially with speed. Some ships corner veloicty is at different throttle positions, and this can change depending on the level of engine installed. For example a Rebel A wing's corner velocity with a Lvl 6 engine might be at 80% throttle, however, with an L8 engine, it might be as low as 65% throttle. While on the suject of throttle, it is a good idea to macro your throttle settings. As accurate throttle adjusment in a dogfight is a must, and there is little room for error.I recommend macroing 40, 65, and 80% throttle settings as these are the most commonly used
/throttle .40
/throttle .65
/throttle .80
The key thing i want to get accross is, understanding how this works, and the ablity to get inside your oppoents turn circle is paramount. If your making larger turns, and your oppoent is able to make smaller turns, the odds are greatly increased in his favor. In short, being outside your oppoents turn circle is very bad. Being inside his turn circle is generally where you want to be.
A quick word about engines:
Since this is related to corner velocity, ill include this here.
Your engine for reasons stated above, is the most important part in your ship. If you intend to PvP, a Re Engineered engine isn't a nicety, its a neccessity. Crafted engines, are too heavy in mass, too much drain on the reactor, and too low in YPR. To use a crafted engine is ensure your own death. Typically you'll use a level 6 Re-engineered engine, or a level 8 Re-engineered engine. You want high YPR, high speed, low mass, and low drain, this is not possible to obtain in crafted engines. Furthermore all those nice crafted engines with 120 top speed with 60ish YPR will make your turn cicle fairly large, allowing your opponent to get inside your turn circle and have more opporitnies to fire at you.
II. Attack Geometry
First, understand the concept of "in plane" and "out of plane".
- "In Plane" is where the attacker and the defender are both in the same plane of motion
- If the defender and attacker are not in the same plane of motion, then you are "Out of Plane".
- When an attacker pulls "Out Of Plane", he is technically flying "Lag Pursuit". As he pulls back into the bandit, he may be flying Lead, Pure or Lag pursuit, depending on the maneuver. Remember, when you are attacking, where you position the nose of your ship is VERY important.
Attack Geometry describes your Offensive ships flight path to its target. Very simply, if you are pointing behind your target ship, you are in "Lag Pursuit". If you are "Nose On" the target, you are in "Pure Pursuit". And if your nose is pointing in front of the target, you are in "Lead Pursuit". Generally speaking, this applies regradles if its PvE, or PvP. It occurs naturally, and you do it all the time. The point of this is so that you realize what is going on.
1.) Lag Pursuit:
Lag Pursuit is primarily used for approaching the target. It can also be used when a bandit pulls out of plane; that is, when the bandit pulls out of the same plane of flight, or motion, as the attacking ship. To fly Lag Pursuit for any extended length of time, you must be able to out turn the target. In a 1V1 fight with like ships, you would not want to maintain a Lag Pursuit for very long. You must be able to out turn the target in order to pull your nose out of lag to shoot guns or a missile. If the target is able to out turn you, or at least match your turn rate, he will be able to keep you in lag and prevent you from getting a shot.
2.) Pure Pursuit:
Pure Pursuit is exactly what it sounds like. You keep your nose on the target and fly straight at him. A Pure Pursuit path all the way to the bandit will lead to an over shoot. This is reason enough not to fly in Pure Pursuit and put your nose on the target until you are ready to shoot him. Use Pure Pursuit for missile shots.
3.) Lead Pursuit:
Lead Pursuit is the "short cut" to the target. You fly Lead Pursuit to close on the target and get into weapons parameters. This is also the most commonly used pursuit for Guns shots. You must be careful not too establish Lead Pursuit too far ahead of your target as any jink left or fight from him will leave you vulnerable and generally left feeling exposed.
III. Imperial ship nonclamature
Understanding the strenghts and weaknesses of what is in the Imperial Navy's inventory is crucial. In theme most Imperial ships have equal validity in PvE and PvP. They tend to be small, and lighter, trading firepower and heavy shielding for speed and manuverablity. Which, coincidnetly are the two most important aspects of PvP, in addition small size equates to small hitbox, which means your harder to hit in a fight.. Blessed is the Imperial pilot. Before i say anything more i want to stress upon you this thought.
Mass isn't a limitation, just a minor annoyance
Overall imperial ships are not newbie friendly in that to properly equip them, requires a certain degree of knowlege of parts, and alot of re engineernig of parts. However with experience, you will have no problem outfiting any of these ships, so i repeat... Mass isn't a limitation, just a minor annoyance.
(*note: some ships intentionally ommited as they have little to no PvP value ).
1.) Tie/ln regular and heavy version. - 40K and 95K mass
Theres two versions of the Tie LineFighter. The pre ROTW 40K mass version and the post ROTW 95K mass version. This ships primary advantage is its fast turn rating, allowing it to turn on a dime. The heavy Tie with an L8 engine installed seems to corner best at about 65% for the smallest possible turn circle. The 40K mass version is around 90% throttle, but can only sport an L6 engine comfortably. This ships primary disadvantage is chin mounted guns, and a hitbox that isnt exactly small as youd think. Chinmounted guns are a disadvantage, because quite simply in a high speed fight whre your target is jinking around alot, trying to score a hit with chin guns is much akin to "trying to hit the eye of a needle, with an needle". Accuracy with this gun layout is something not every pilot can achieve, but it IS achievable. and those who can achieve this accuracty will enjoy a high degree of sucess.
2.) Tie Interceptor ( T/I ) - 50K mass
The Tie interceptor is probably one of the better ships for PvP, and is my personal favorite. It shares the exact same handling as the Tie Advanced, has a slghtly smaller hitbox then the Tie Advanced, and it sports a quad bolt arrangement instead of chin mounted guns. Quad bolt arrangement is desireable because if any one of the bolts hits, you stil do full damage for the gun that shot it. Which leads me to this ships primary disadvantage of the T/I. It has only one gun. However, that one gun shoots 4 bolts, and if any one of those bolts hit, you do full damage for that gun. So in action you get a wider spread, greater area coverage of the area your shooting at, hence greater hit probablity. Another disadvantage is in PvE, it simply doesnt have the damage output desired for higher teird mobs.
3.) Tie Advanced (T/A) - 65K mass
The Tie Advanced is a ship that is excells in PvE and does reasonably well in PvP..It's a touch larger than the T/I, has 15K more mass then the T/I and sports chinmounted guns. Thats plural. The T/A sports two guns, not one. Think of it is an interceptor with two chin mounted guns and 15K more mass. This gives it greater damage output making it a fine ship to tackle most anything in PvE. Again, because of the chin mounted guns, it requires a high degree of accuracy in PvP. Which is a disadvantage. However, it should be noted that if you score a hit with a T/A , because of its damage output, it's almost a garunteed kill.
4.) Tie Oppressor (T/O) -170K mass
This ship is arguably the best ship in the game, and sadly is often overlooked for various reasons. Primarly because it doesnt handle like a normal tie. But the advantages to this ship are many, its the best PvE ship in the imperial inventory and its an unmatched monster in PvP. Making this ship a ship for all occasions, as it does both exceedingly well. While it does have a large hitbox for a Tie fighter, it also has the smallest hitbox and size of any master ship in the game. It sports 2 gunmounts and 3 missle mounts. It's the 3 missle mounts that make this ship unique, and only the Empire has such a ship.
What makes this ship a monster in PvP, is the fact you can outfit it with three MK II Image-Rec missles. These missles are ideal for PvP in that they aquire lock VERY quickly (1 second), and are not easily fooled by chaff. A single MK II Iimage-Rec missle doesnt do alot of damage. Infact, while most ships have room for a missle launcher, a single Image -Rec missle typically wont kill you. Infact You might even survive two hits depending on your loadout (and luck), but the chances of suriving THREE MK II Image Rec missles are so low as to be almost non existant. This ship is the tool to use to shut down hyper manuverable fighters with a quickness. While you might dance with a fast fighter for up to 15 mins, a T/O can shut that guy down on the first pass.
Also the manuverblity must be mentioned. A T/O acutally turns best at 40% throttle. The T/O has a very high Angle of Attack, so It can practically pivot in place (almost like back flipping ) and can easly get inside an opposing ships turn circle. So if you dont take your oppoent out on the first pass, hit your 40% throttle macro key, and point your nose at him, and shoot him.
This ships primary weakness is its size, and despite what i mentioned above about manuverablity, makes a poor dogfighter. Given its high AOA, it can take a split second longer to recover if your bandit jinks wildly and erracticaly. Thankfully, missles cone of fire.. or the imaginery cone in your hud that your target must be in to obtain a lock, is farily large. Accuracy is not required in a T/O, just get them in view inside your hud. Also of note is that it is theoritically possible a rebel pilot may try to tempt you to shoot missles at a longer range, hence giving him more time to chaff and dodge the salvo. If this occurs you have a little wait before your tubes can fire again, and its at this window of opportunity that the rebel will try and nail you. Again, its theoritical, as missle lock occurs at around 550 meters and theres not much time to chaff regardless.
Another item of mention is holding the missle fire button down, before you obtain a lock. By doing this, your preemtively removing the reaction time betwen getting missle lock, and pressing the fire button. By holding the button down before you obtain a lock, the instant you do obtain a lock, the missles will leave your ship, with no delay from the pilot whatsoever.
IV. Imperial ship nonclamature - post ROTW
The content added with Rage of the wookie has very subtly but substantially effected JTL.. Primarly because most of the ships added are outside of the balance paradigm that existed in JTL prior to ROTW. For the most part, the more manuverable a ship was, the less mass it had. Obviously following a lighter = faster mentality. Conversley, heavier mass ships had less manuverablity. Ships like the Tie interceptor or the rebels A wing were the benchmark and pinnacle of this balance where mass to manuverablity was concerned, and ships like the Xwing or Dunelizard were the middle of the road with mediocre manuvaerablity and mass ratio.
ROTW breaks this mold by adding ships that are more manuverable then the interceptor, smaller in size then an A wing, and enough mass to come close to middle of the road ships like the Xwing. Hence sony has thrown balance into the wind, and it has effected the game in subtle, yet serious ways.
Note the following are my personal observations.
1.) Level 6 engines are obsolete, Since the ROTW fighters have the mass, most people are strapping in level 8 engines. Hence achieveing greater speed and greater manuverablity. Any ship you cannot equip with a lvl 8 engine is probably at a disadvantage, and subsequently obsolete.
2.) Lvl 8 shields are more common now. This effects what weapons will be effective. For instance while a single Lvl 7 gun was sufficent before, it is not enough firepower to get through to the bandits subsystems now.
3.) Because of above 2 and 3, the orginal Tie interceptor is more or less obsolete.
4.) Because of reason number 1, for Tie Advanced to remain compediatve will probably have to drop a gun to make room for a lvl 8 engine. Which removes its perk of extra firepower.
5.) The Royal Guard Tie, now replaces the old Tie Interceptor. It does everything the T/I does and more. This is one of the best PvP ships in the game.
6.) For obvious reasons, the Actis Interceptor (AKA Jedi Starfighter or JSF) is the new baseline to remain compedative, and hence is the the "composite in space" that many of the pilot community never wanted to happen. You will see some rebels going imperial, just to get this ship.
7.) The Tie oppressor is, as ever, a monster, and a tool not to be ignored or unused. Espeically in the post ROTW game.
V. Rebel ship nonclamture
1.) Y wing, (150K mass) Y wing Longprobe(170K mass) and B wing (210K mass)
Not commonly used. Both sport two missle mounts and like the oppressor manuver best at low speeds. If you see them, expect a salvo of two MK II Image-rec missles, as theres really no other reason to use these ships. In speicific to the Y wing, a smart rebel might attempt a head on fight, with his ship painted brown/black. A Ywing has a very small profile at head on, and dark paint schemes make it difficult to see exactly what way their nose is pointing at long distances. It should be noted that the Y wing has a rear turret gunner, the Y wing Longprobe does not.
2.) Xwing(100K mass) and Advanced Xwing (180K mass).
These ships, while large and easy to hit, are not to be underestimated. Primarly because they have the same Pitch and roll as a Tie intercpetor, and have a gunspread of 6 bolts assuing the pilot has equiped 3 blasters. These ships have excellent gun coverage, so you really dont want to get one on your tail. Think of being infront of an xwing as being infront of a rapid fire shotgun. Headon engagements against an Xwing should be avoided. A smart rebel may paint his ship black/dark in color to try and obscure which direction his nose is pointing. Because of the poorer yaw, while having excellent pitch and roll, you can expect to see the pilot using these two attrbutes the most, particualrly rolling. All that said, once you get behind them, or in a position to fire, the odds are in your favor as xwings present a rather large target.
3.) A wing (65K mass)
This is the preimere rebel PvP ship. It has a smaller hitbox then every Tie excepting the royal guard, and has a fairly decent gunspread. Not as wide as a T/I but not as narrow as a chin mout gun. Again, some rebel pilots may paint these ships black to obscure their movemnt somewhat. These ships are generally fast, hard to see, and hard to hit. Other than an Rebel flown JSF, this ship presents the greatest threat, and is the prefered ship of seasoned and experienced rebel pilots.
4.) Jedi Starfighter - The greatest threat.
Not much to say here. Its an A wing on steroids. Smaller than an A wing, wider gunspread (more area coverage), more guns, more mass, more manuverable. Any rebel alinged Jedi starfighter you may as well assume is an experienced pilot. Few rebels will give up faction ranking and alliance navy piloting skills to go Imperial to obtain this ship unless they are serious about piloting, and if their that serious, you may assume they are that good. Another safe assumption is they'll be runing an RE'd level 8 engine and shield. Making them really fast, really manuverable, and hard to kill. Combined that with good piloting skills and you have a juggernaught on your hands.
VI. Droid commands
Im not going to go into this in detail. only to state for PvP purposes, you should, at the very least be running:
(RO4) Reactor overload 4
(EO4) Engine Overload 4
(CO3) Capcitor overload 3
(WO3) Weapon Overload 3
Do your repairs in Deep space. As it will repair all the stress damage without decay upon existing deep space.
For PvE, run all of the above, only at level 3, not 4, and repair at station between commands.
VII Strategic analsysis of space
(Note: this is a post i made on the pilot forums awhile ago)
Its all about farming FP, or stopping the other faction from doing the same. GCW wise, thats all there is in space at the moment. Wish this had more depth to it.
Past thesis:
Control of DS is vital because of the FP yields. More FP = more bases = more control of ground in GCW.
Current thesis:
Depends on faction.
- Imperial: control of DS is important
- Rebel: Denial of DS is important.
Rebel FP farming:
- Has multiple teir 4 spawn areas in normal space (Primarly in the Endor sector,).
- Teir 4 destroy duty ( Located in Yavin4)
- Kessel & DS farming
Imperial FP farming:
- Very limited teir 4 spawns in normal space. (Endor sector, rebel frigate near endor space staton)
- No teir 4 destroy duty
- Kessel & DS farming.
Conclusion on FP farming:
Rebels can circumvent any *need* for DS or kessel via destroy duty or various teir 4 spawns in normal space. Stopping rebel FP farming is extremly hard because you have more areas to patrol. Imperials are more or less funneled into DS. Stopping imperial farming is easier because they're funneled into DS. This presents a strength for the rebellion and a logistical weakness for the Empire.
All this said, rebels tend to Farm in Deepspace due to it being a no decay sector, and out of convienance. But they really dont need DS at all.
Blockading
- By blockading a deep space station, you can deny access to deep space and kessel in one fell swoop.
Running a blockade:
Rebel DS station:
- has two local rebel stations to declare overt
- is spaced equally between two hyper points. (6K or so)
Imperial DS station:
- Nearst declaration point is 9KM from DS station.
- DS station has 1 hyper point near it, at 3KM range
Conclusion on blockade:
Rebel station is harder to blockade as they have more nearby ways to approach. Imperial station is easy to blockade and is highly vulnerable to spawn camping from the hyper point. In a serious fight if we were to blockade the rebel sation, rebels could resupply more attack waves from 2 approaches that are not far from their DS station. Where as if our station were blockaded, we can be cut off from the nearest hyper to their DS should the rebels resort to load killing. This will force a much larger travel time, making Imperial resupply waves more sparatic.
VIII: "Live fire" training.
Inspite of all that ive written, there is one thing that is ultimatly the best teacher. And that , as you guessed, is experience.
To that end, practice duels in space are the best training aid you can get short of the real thing.
Heres the parameters.
1.) All participating ships should equip a lvl 1 disruptor.
2.) All particpating ships should otherwise be equiped for PvP.
3.) All ships should run overloads like they would for PvP, excepting WO3.
4.) Establish in a clear area, two waypoints, approximately 3000 meters apart as sort of a boxing arena. Establish another waypoint for observers.
5.) Participants should retreat to their perspective waypoint and iniitiate a duel with one another.
6.) First hit wins the match, both ships retire to waypoint and try again.
Whats more, you have the opportunity to learn and experiment.
For example try playing around with the following:
1.) your throttle. See its effects
2.) your lead. Learn how it works, where the bolts fall, and where you have to aim to land a hit.
3.) manuvering. Experiment. PvP isnt just circling until someone scores a hit.
4.) etc, anythign else you might wonder about.
Remember, this is an opportunity to observe infilght physics, behaviors, and experimenetation that you wouldn't otherwise have the opportunity to learn except by being vaporized. That way later on, in a real PvP fight, you'll have a better understanding of what works, and what doesnt.
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Some flight geometry info taken from:
http://www.sci.fi/~fta/tactics.htm
For further information visit this site. Realize it is intended for atmopsheric flight, not space flight. However many principles still apply.
EOF.
Message Edited by Ducimus on 07-31-2005 07:57 PM
Ya your right. Sad thing is i might be the one who coined that term. (back in the jousting AI patch) Just not somthing i normally think about.
>>"up there, you don't have time to think. If you think, you're dead."
Yup, thats why i adversise practice duels. TO engrave training as 2nd nature.
>>Additionally, in a turning engagement, it behooves you to make use of ALL engine axes, not just pitch and yaw
Yup, i forgot to mention that didn't i? oops. Honeslty that was for the manuvering section that i was going to do but didnt because i got lazy and didnt want to paint myself in a corner by having to desribe how to do a barrell roll or somethng. Might save that for primer 103.
>> my "obsolete" L6 prenerf?
Depends on the RE job. If you hit 70+ your still good. Probably should have mentioined that. Remember ,most ppl wont have Prenerfs. As for EO4, remember it also boosts your YPR in addtion to your speed.
Ducimus wrote:
>> Rather than calling it backflips and whatnot, you might want to call the maneuver "turreting."
Ya your right. Sad thing is i might be the one who coined that term. (back in the jousting AI patch) Just not somthing i normally think about.
>>"up there, you don't have time to think. If you think, you're dead."
Yup, thats why i adversise practice duels. TO engrave training as 2nd nature.
>>Additionally, in a turning engagement, it behooves you to make use of ALL engine axes, not just pitch and yaw
Yup, i forgot to mention that didn't i? oops. Honeslty that was for the manuvering section that i was going to do but didnt because i got lazy and didnt want to paint myself in a corner by having to desribe how to do a barrell roll or somethng. Might save that for primer 103.
>> my "obsolete" L6 prenerf?
Depends on the RE job. If you hit 70+ your still good. Probably should have mentioined that. Remember ,most ppl wont have Prenerfs. As for EO4, remember it also boosts your YPR in addtion to your speed.
Hmmm, I need to try EO4 then... I've been sticking to 3, just due to infamilliarity with it. I have to agree with the statement about using all of your axes in an engagement.
Last night I was jumped by two Rebs that were blockading the DS station, their first hit caught me completely by surprise. I had just decided to test my new loadout, for some reason my booster was bugged and not working, so I decided to head off to Kessel to see how I could do without it. Anyway, their first hit knocked out all of my front armor, killed my 1st gun, so I was down to one. I engaged the first, his friend was attempting to get on my 6, but by generally rolling to keep my AOA "up" in relation to me, I was able to down him, then the second. I can honestly say that I didn't expect to be able to take both of them. I must compliment Joce and Kal (sp?) last night on a great fight.
Anyway, what I learned (in my third ever PvP battle) was that you NEVER fly on a single axis, always continue to roll, pitch and Yaw.
Additionally, I've found it best to manually adjust my throttle (increase W, decrease S) from the keyboard, things just stay too fluid for me to rely on a specific speed percentage. I do recommend using the keyboard throttle, as you should keep your hand near various hotkeys anyway. I have yet to use the throtle slider on my joystick. I also don't recommend using the Match target key (default M) simply because again, combat speeds are too fluid to rely on a single setting.
Thanks for all of the help Ducimus, your ealier guides helped me get this far and it would be a shame to see you drop PvP. I can only hope that teh Devs are aware of the issues and are going to fix them.
Additionally, decent primer. However, in the immortal words of the now-schizophrenic Tom Cruise - "up there, you don't have time to think. If you think, you're dead." Inexperienced PvPers usually lapse into what's called a "flopping fish" routine, which can be varyingly effective depending on the state of the server, as it can result in the server unsyncing the ship from real time and create a dreaded "bumble bee" effect...only in PvP.
Additionally, in a turning engagement, it behooves you to make use of ALL engine axes, not just pitch and yaw. I can't tell you how many people I've engaged who never make use of their engine's rolling ability. In a turning match, rolling STACKS on top of the turn. So if you're in a situation where you're reaching your max AOA, and the target juuuuuuuuuust won't centerline, work in an arcing roll into the angle and you'll find you have the killshot leverage (if the idiot stays on a linear turn track, in which case he should just stop dead and LET you kill him).
That being said, it doesn't help to roll ALL THE TIME. Rolling should be reserved for:
1) Getting inside an opponent in a turning match.
2) Corkscrewing at the onset of the engagement. EXCEPTION: if you're in a ship like the X-Wing, Krayt or other large ship that understandably presents a LARGE TARGET when you present a broadside. The X-Wing casts a remarkably small aiming point from the front, but as any Imperial pilot will tell you, anyplace in front of an overt player's X-Wing at less than 600m is not a good place to be, and any experienced pilot will instinctively "flinch" right before the 600m mark...or he finds himself with a face full of blaster fire, and possibly even a missile closing at twice the current engagement speed because he's headed right for it.
Some experienced X-Wing pilots will analyze past encounters and think they know which way a particular pilot is going to pitch off in, but it's best to mix these up. Ninety percent of people are right-handed, so assume he's going to, at least on a subconscious level, think you're going to pitch off to HIS left (your right), so bearing that in mind, mix it up. Plus, most people don't expect a DOWNWARD pitch - take advantage that there's no ground to plow into.
Conversely, however, in a ship like the IGI or A-Wing, rolling as much as possible can be beneficial, as you're constantly altering your hitbox shape and position. Obviously we keyboard/mousers have a larger problem pulling off continuous roll over the joystickers. One thing the KBMers DO have is a MUCH better control of their throttle response and fine tuning. Simply put, it's easier to press a throttle hotkey than d*ck around with a throttle slider or HOTAS setup, at least in THIS game.
Lastly, it pays if you're a seasoned DS PvPer to map out the boundaries of the zone. The LAST damned thing you want in an engagement is to plow into the side of the zone. That can end sh*t REALLY fast. So fly to the different corners, then, if you're truly serious, plot out the points on the cube - edges, centerlines, center, etc. I've had a few engagements where pilots try to run for it (presumably to attempt a hyperjump), and they run right into the damned Fourth Wall. You get that warning text about 500m from the edge, so pay attention to it.
-----
Also, what does it say if I've never used EO4 and somehow seem to always beat people using EO4ed L8s and crafted L9s in my "obsolete" L6 prenerf? Perhaps I should start using EO4 and truly get people to start disliking me.
That, or seriously step up my L8 collection and become invincible.
Message Edited by KaylBreinhar on 07-11-2005 03:23 PM
I was trying to hard, and saying a whole lot of nothing.
That and the WYSIWYG editor pwned me, it really sucks.
KinjiruSpleen wrote:
Hmmm, I need to try EO4 then... I've been sticking to 3, just due to infamilliarity with it. I have to agree with the statement about using all of your axes in an engagement.
Last night I was jumped by two Rebs that were blockading the DS station, their first hit caught me completely by surprise. I had just decided to test my new loadout, for some reason my booster was bugged and not working, so I decided to head off to Kessel to see how I could do without it. Anyway, their first hit knocked out all of my front armor, killed my 1st gun, so I was down to one. I engaged the first, his friend was attempting to get on my 6, but by generally rolling to keep my AOA "up" in relation to me, I was able to down him, then the second. I can honestly say that I didn't expect to be able to take both of them. I must compliment Joce and Kal (sp?) last night on a great fight.
Anyway, what I learned (in my third ever PvP battle) was that you NEVER fly on a single axis, always continue to roll, pitch and Yaw.
Additionally, I've found it best to manually adjust my throttle (increase W, decrease S) from the keyboard, things just stay too fluid for me to rely on a specific speed percentage. I do recommend using the keyboard throttle, as you should keep your hand near various hotkeys anyway. I have yet to use the throtle slider on my joystick. I also don't recommend using the Match target key (default M) simply because again, combat speeds are too fluid to rely on a single setting.
Thanks for all of the help Ducimus, your ealier guides helped me get this far and it would be a shame to see you drop PvP. I can only hope that teh Devs are aware of the issues and are going to fix them.
Ducimus wrote:
Nah, let it die.
I was trying too hard, and saying a whole lot of nothing.
Nah, I like it. Besides, you wouldn't be you if you weren't trying to educate the masses
