Cadet PRS Proximity Mines
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Proximity Mines
Ahhh, prox. The single greatest weapon a scout can carry. Most of the time, this is what you will be killing other pilots with. Pity that it masses so much that it destroys the single greatest asset a scout has - maneuverability. It is always a delicate balance between the two, and it is up to you to discover how much prox you feel comfortable carrying for any given task. I suggest next time you are sitting in the F4 loadout screen try adding more prox and check how it affects your acceleration stat.
Prox is a defensive tool, and using it offensively takes a lot of skill. As with dumbs, there are three things you should know:
- Prox does damage proportional to how fast you travel through it.
- Prox gets weaker the older it is.
- Prox takes 5 seconds to activate after you drop it.
Now some people say it has a four second activation time, but I've also heard 4 second activation plus 1 second deployment time. I'm not sure what's true but I stick with 5 because it's easier to multiply by 5 than by 4. You see, whomever you are trying to drop in front of, you want to multiply their speed by 5 and that's the distance you should drop in front of them. If you manage that then the prox will be just activated (at maximum strength) as they enter it, and it gives them the least time to react and avoid it.
Example Your opponent is doing 80mps (metres per second). In the next five seconds they will travel 400m (80*5). So you want to drop the mines when they're about 400m away.
If you're not good at math, try multiplying by 10 and halving it - may not sound it, but it's much simpler.
Tip: Prox drops to the rear of your scout, unless you are side-strafing. If you are thrusting back they drop in front of you, strafing right and they drop to the left, etc etc.
The Aleph Drop
You are probably familiar with this tactic already. Someone is chasing a scout, scout flies through an aleph and drops on the other side, enemy chases at full speed and dies. The only tip I have is that you should wait a second after passing through the aleph before dropping. That way the mines are in front of the aleph, not through it, as shown in this picture.
The Red Door
Drop prox on the red door of the enemy base so that everyone launching gets damaged. Useful in all sorts of scenarios.
The Green Door
If the miner is trying to dock you want to ram it aside and at the same time drop prox in front of the green door. It'll turn around and head straight into them! And you can ram it through them the other way and then drop some more!
This can also be used against cons, as they always try to line up on the same spot on rocks.
The Open-air Drop
Great fun if you pull it off against an int or such. What happens is an enemy is flying in a straight line and you get directly in front of it. Keeping a careful eye on their speed and their distance, drop smack bang in front them at the 5 second distance. Take care if they're accel- or decelerating though, dropping further or closer respectively.
Most useful against enemy bomb runs and htts. It can be done on miners and cons, but be aware that they are extremely good at swerving in time - good way to delay them for the rest of your team though! This trick is best pulled off by Bios scouts, due to their cloaking device your opponent doesn't even know you're right in front of them. The ultimate version is the Pook-manuever, where you drop prox in front of the enemy then get behind them and ram their ship through it.
Defending miners and constructors
Dropping prox around a defended miner or constructor can prevent the enemy from ramming it. A good group of prox scouts will create a prox "bubble" around the miner or constructor.
The Pied Piper Drop
Most players know that if they're chasing a scout they shouldn't follow directly behind, since they'll end up eating prox. They follow parallel to the scout. To counter this I spin around and start back-thrusting, so I'm still flying away but I can now see them on my screen. Then I drop prox and side strafe to line up my prox between me and them. Back-thrusting also allows you to lob dumbfires down their throat.
Mine packs vs. Prox
- Mine packs take the same time to reload, arm, and activate as prox do.
- However you can carry two MP for every prox, giving you double the ammunition and you have to reload half as often.
- Two MP weigh more than one prox, meaning an even greater detriment to your acceleration. (someone double check this) I checked - 1 prox and one mine pack both have the same mass: 3
- When an enemy fly through MP it does more damage per metre than prox.
- But a deployed MP has a smaller volume than prox. In fact, it's so much smaller Seymor calculated that if an enemy were to fly all the way through a MP field they would take less total damage than if they were to fly all the way through a prox field at the same speed.
- MP have a shorter duration than prox.
Plasgens
A note on plasgens - they are similar in prox in that they need to be dropped in front of your target or near a stationary target, as they only have a 150m range (plus splash) and take 5 (or is it 4) seconds to activate. Flux scouts are the only faction that can carry two nans (adv and heavy versions only).
