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DarkSpace Academy - Basic Flight Control - Damage Avoidance |
Drafell
Grand Admiral
Mythica
Joined: May 30, 2003
Posts: 2449
From: United Kingdom
|  Posted: 2005-12-13 08:56
This is going to be an attempt to give some of the best tips for newer players on how to avoid getting damaged in any class of ship. These are what any Veteran player would consider the raw basics of ship piloting.
Rule One: Never stop moving
- The number one mistake most newer players make is slowing down and stopping. A slow target is an easy target and it means you will die very easily. This is most visible in Scout and Frigate class ships.
There is not really any reason a ship should be going any slower than 2/3rds of it's top speed when in combat. The ships are roughly balanced on even energy regeneration when firing constanty at around this speed. Most can go faster and still not run out of energy no matter how frantically you mash that Space Bar.
Rule Two: Dodge!
- This goes hand in hand with never stopping. Just simply turn left for 1-2 seconds, and then right for 1-2 seconds, and keep repeating. Flying in a straight line is another way of asking to be killed. All weapons autotrack, so unless you keep dodging they will just keep on hitting you. Observe how the weapons fire around you tracks.
When you get used to the basic dodging, you can start to see just how it impacts what actually hits you. Once you start understanding the affect this has you can intruduce variations, andmodify your dodging to take advantage of the direction of the weapons fire going at you.
Semi-skilled pilots can easily dodge 80-90% of weapons fire using this simple method in ship up to and including the Destroyer Class. More experienced pilots can do exactly the same in Cruisers and Dreadnoughts.
Rule Three: Keep your distance
- Another big mistake most new players make is in getitng too close to the enemies, because it helps them hit more. The problem here is that it also helps your enemies hit you just as much. You should be keeping at least 250gu away from your enemies until you have learned how to dodge.
Once you get to a stage where you understand the more advanced concepts and exactly how dodging works, you can then consider closing to within 50gu of an enemy and still avoid 90% of the fire. It is another thing which is so simple, and yet I see so few people doing it; then they wonder why they keep dying :-/
Rule Four: Know when to leave the fight
- Never EVER stay in a fight when your armor or shields are getting low. Keep watching these levels, and as soon as you get to about 20% on any facing it is time to get yourself out of there.
If the enemy are running interdiction then you need this time to make your way to a point where you can jump out. Shift + J(Emergency Jump/E-Jump) is your friend, just make sure you are pointing away into empty space before you press this. It saves you the time of trying to select a nav point in F2. Don't wait for the Jump to finish itself. Press "J" to exit the E-Jump early. Otherwise it goes for about 15kgu then will autoexit, and this is too easy for most experienced players to track.
If you are waiting until you are taking hull damage before trying to get out, then the chances are it is already too late for you. This is something that Veterans can afford to do as they have a better understanding of the limits of the ships they fly, but new players just don't. The Vets usually have their escape planned way ahead in such cases.
You might think you can afford top stay in the fight to kill that player, you are so close and he is almostdead. You have 90% Armor damage but he is looking worse so you stay. This is just before his allies jump you and then suddenly you are dead and wondering what just happened.
You gain nothing from actually killing players. Be satisfied that you get some hull damage, then get out while you can and while it's safe to do so. Many pilots die needlessly from chasing that elusive kill.
Rule Five: Rotate your armour!
- This trick is not so much a matter of damage avoidance, but more of damage management. When your armour is getting damaged, try and rotate your ship so that it gets spread across all the facings, not just on one. If your right facing is down to 50% its time to turn so that the left facing gets hit, and it gives the right side a chance to regenerate.
ICC ships have a particular advantage with shields, in that you can reassign the energy form one facing to another using the number pad keys. NP8 = Fore, NP6 = Right, NP4 = Left, NP2 = Aft. Careful use of this feature gives ICC ships a much greater staying power in combat as they do not need to try and rotate thier ship itself.
Those are the basics. Feel free to comment with your own tips.
Next:- - DarkSpace Academy - Basic Flight Control - Combat
[ This Message was edited by: Drafell on 2005-12-13 15:31 ]
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c0ld
Midshipman
Joined: June 24, 2003
Posts: 342
From: UK
| Posted: 2005-12-13 12:14
Quote:
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On 2005-12-13 08:56, Drafell wrote:
There is not really any reason a ship should be going any slower than 2/3rds of it's top speed when in combat.
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Except of course when you need to turn inside the track of a torpedo that's behind you or for the matter a ship that's behind you. Just like driving a car, braking hard into a turn and accelerating hard out will allow you to decrease the angle of the turn.
[ This Message was edited by: c0ldfury on 2005-12-13 12:14 ]
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Enterprise
Chief Marshal
Joined: May 19, 2002
Posts: 2576
From: Hawthorne, Nevada
| Posted: 2005-12-13 14:20
Note : Cruisers and below are the only ships capable of effectively dodging - however keeping moving is the single most important thing in every and all situations.
Except if your in a station.
With scouts, they can turn on a dime, and Frigates just as much and even Destroyers are fairly adept.
Advanced Dodging Techniques :
1. Learn to time your dodging.
Timing your dodging is just as important as not staying straight. You must really have excellent spacial perception of the ships around you - and especially focus on what your attempting to target.
This may be overwhelming for newbs - but its a cruicial matter.
By timing your dodge, it is simply enough turning away, or into (depending on your direction) the second, or right on the second, your enemy fires, so they miss most, if not all of their shots.
If you are moving towards them, you want to turn away from their shots - if your moving away, your going to want to turn into their shots - reducing most of the fire.
2. Your speed is just as important.
Using your speed as a method of dodging shots is especially helpful at long ranges. It involves starting at a slow speed or high speed, and as their shots approach, slow down rapidly enough that the shots miss.
Most effective for scouts.
-Ent
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Diabo|ik
Grand Admiral
Joined: August 16, 2002
Posts: 327
From: Quebec, Canada
| Posted: 2005-12-14 15:04
NOTE FOR NEW PLAYERS, these tips are valid for human factions only for the most part...
1- Dodging advanced
Dodging is quite an art that can be pushed by some players to the limits, if I'd be playing this build extensively in big ships right now, the one thing I'd do first is try to pick the EXACT speed at the EXACT angle and distance from the torpedo firing ship to determine how I can make them just grease my arcs, for those I know that just mash the bar and don't remote detonate, and I'd try to avoid em completly against smart pilots ( and I do have a list of players in my head, that I update as I play... very usefull ). Then I'd repeat the process for all the torp types, missile types, cannons types and so on, it can go that far. Yes, that's why most of you guys got your asses handed to you on a silver plate by yours truly in the past  . Knowing your enemy can save your ass, and shorten his lifespan considerably at the same time...
2- Basic K'luth navigation. A K'luth pilot should NEVER be afraid of moving within 250gu of a target, unless he isn't cloaked and/or is approaching from the front, then he should do the only thing he "can" do, run like hell.
3- Advanced hit&run technique ( Some of this info can also work to some extent for other factions ships ). On the approach, make Xtra 100% sure you weren't detected by looking at how the ships turn etc. Approach from the rear, calculate at which range to uncloak using your current velocity ( which should rarely be below half speed ) so that you can hit from all disruptors at max range once the uncloak timer runs out, carefully look which way he rotates his ship to chase you, turn the other way, you can even feint going one way, then going around the other and while you do so ( and your first alpha of ruptors is about to wear off ) you must determine if you will be in position to deal another blow to the enemy before he gets outta range/frontarc, if you think you can squeeze in another alpha, go for it, if you can't, recloak AS SOON AS YOU FIRED YOUR FIRST ALPHA. Then run like hell, dodge those beacons and pray to your favorite deity that the spray cannon fire won't reveal your position, speed and heading.
Have fun!
[ This Message was edited by: Diabo|ik on 2005-12-14 15:11 ]
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ME!
Cadet
Joined: July 02, 2006
Posts: 43
From: beaufort SC united states
| Posted: 2006-07-03 21:45
very nice representations drafell you did very nice with the explanations and all, i give you props.
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