Hissatsu wrote:QUOTE (Hissatsu @ Jun 26 2011, 01:11 PM) New newbie, new bunch of newbie questions!
1) How do i make a "practice" game? Can i somehow make a game with only me to try out controls, different items, etc? I tried but it tells me that each team needs at least 1 player...
You sure can. Create an empty game, join one side, then you can turn off the opponent side with a checkbox.
QUOTE 2) Why doesnt the targeting cross appear sometimes? I mean the one that indicates where should i fire to hit a moving target (leading ahead of it by the distance i need to offset my aim to cope for target velocity). My crosshair is already green yet i still dont see that thing, and i miss my shots (even though crosshair is green). I know i shouldt rely on crosshair color, but why isnt the indication of where-to-shoot-to-hit shown?[/quote]
Lead indicators are only relayed to you if you have a friendly carrier in the sector. Some ships also have them on permamently (Giga luxury ships, stealth fighters, turrets on bombers).
QUOTE 3) How the fk do i survive the training arena? The enemy that comes for me, he has perfect aim (its pointless to strafe, he hits you every time) and he has same equipment meaning only way to win is to hit him with missile and try to aim almost perfectly, but then, he has a second one who also helps, so you are outgunned by perfectly aiming enemies... what do i do against it?[/quote]
It takes a while.
Don't sweat it too much, though ... it's actually not a very realistic simulation of an actual dogfight, someone who has perfect aim that flies directly for you, and never uses missles.
QUOTE 4) Why when i probe the area, my probes disappear? I am sure there is no stealth somebody doing it, i was probing in a game with like 4v4 or 3v3 on a huge map and still, i come into new sector, lay 3 probes, then lay the 4th one and cannot see any of those 3 i layed before. WTF? I can see enemy probes on the map fine, but my probes are disappearing. I also thought that maybe i am ramming them into asteroids by dropping them at high speed - started to slow down or drop them in a direction where there is no asteroid - they safely stop completely, and then again, they disappear![/quote]
Not sure what you are refering to. Maybe you have to demonstrate this to someone in-game. Perhaps you are dropping proximity mines rather than probes? Or another possibility is that your radar grid isn't set to "all". Use "I" to toggle.
QUOTE 5) How do i know if i can teleport to an area? How do i know if my ship has the ability to teleport? Is the teleport interrupted by actions, or, can i maneuver while countdown is ticking?[/quote]
Most ships can teleport; interceptors being a notable exception. You can only teleport to sectors that have a teleport receiver (in which case the sector will be colored in your team color), or to carriers (or to SR scouts, if you are Rix). Ripping to carriers takes energy from them, and if they don't have sufficient energy you will hear "teleport aborted" at the end of the countdown. Boosting won't cancel your ripcord (and use this to your advantage, boosting and ripping from persuing enemies). Most other maneuvers will cancel it, however.
QUOTE 6) Can i dock to any base, or only specific bases?[/quote]
You can dock at any friendly base that has a green door. Refineries and teleports are the only bases that don't have any doors.
QUOTE 7) When scouting and probing at start, is it more important to find every aleph and go into next sector, or to scout every asteroid's kind and find tech/cash?[/quote]
I'd say it's most important to get across the map fast. Your goal is to find out where they enemy cons are going, so that they can be intercepted -- or, if two enemy cons are going to the same sector, that the appropriate defense is mobilized. After the initial constructors have built, the next priority is to find their miners, which are usually in the sector behind their initial outpost.
QUOTE 8) Do i have to "detect" asteroid to see it? Do i have to get closer to know asteroid kind, or after i see an asteroid, i am instantly seeing its kind (ie has it helium or not)?[/quote]
Yes, asteroids have a signature just like anything else, and if you are in a low-scan range ship, such as an interceptor, a sector will look mighty empty until a scout comes in. After an asteroid has been spotted, you will know its type immediately.
QUOTE 9) If i'm podded very far away from the base, is there any way to suicide myself to get back faster?[/quote]
Yes. Ram an enemy ship, if possible. Or their prox mines. Or head straight up or down towards sector boundary -- this takes about 2 minutes, and will erase your KB, but beats being in a pod for 5 minutes.
QUOTE 10) I have been podded, i click base-autopilot, then i hear something like "hang in there" and see a command ordered to accept pickup. I click insert. Now i am flying to some bizzare location like enemy space or something. then another command is issued. Then i click insert again. Then i am coming to some waypoint in some blank space where there is no enemy and no friendly... wtf happened?[/quote]
Probably someone is trying to pick up another pod in another sector. It's considered good hygenie to just give the 'cs command (I got you, hold still) to specific people, otherwise it goes to the whole team -- but sometimes people don't have time, or don't know how to give voicechats to one or several specific people.
Note that even if the friendly ship is in the same sector, if they are moving perpendicular to you, the autopilot will try to fly an intercept course instead of directly chasing the person who gave the command. So often you have to accept the command to find the person who gave you the pickup order, but then click off autopilot and hand fly to them to get picked up.
QUOTE 11) How do i fight a stealth ship? He just comes in, shoots, then hides! Wtf? He can just turn off shields, missiles, then fly behind me cloaked, shoot me in the back, when he sees me turning he will cloak again and go behind me again and repeat... how do i counter it save for teleporting out?[/quote]
So, first off, nine times out of ten, you should only shoot at things that aren't shooting back at you -- bomber nans, constructor nans, bombers, constructors, people attacking your miners/constructors, etc. Randomly dogfighting rarely acheives much else than you stuck in a pod, a long long ways from home. So ripping out / running away is what's called for. Especially if you're in a scout.
If the SF is in your sector with a base in it, the base will often spot them for you. Stay close to base.
Also, the time-honored trick in a scout to get people off your tail is to head for the nearest aleph and drop a proximity mine two seconds after entering, in which case it will be perfectly placed to catch anyone who is chasing you. (Flip side of this: never follow a scout through an aleph if you are four or more seconds behind it, because that's how long it takes for prox to activate).
QUOTE 12) Is there any quick "gtfo" command like b-p, in order to teleport away to ANY friendly teleporter (to avoid being podded)?[/quote]
No, just R for ripcord, which will teleport you to the nearest base -- which may not save your bacon, if that teleport is only 2k away from you to begin with. It's better to use the minimap to rip to a specific sector (one that you know has a teleport -- ripping to a carrier may not work due to it having low energy).
QUOTE 13) Shall i really bother placing probes below or above blue net? Heard it helps them staying alive...[/quote]
It helps some. Probes have a signature of 30%, and will therefore be spotted by a scout 720m, unless it is behind them, in which case their scan range is diminished. You want to avoid putting probes in high traffic areas if you can avoid it. Usually that means "in plane" but also routes directly between two alephs, or between a base and a He rock, or directly in front of an aleph are bad places to put probes. Just something to keep in mind. No place is 100% invisible, and if you're in a hurry sometimes it's not worth the extra effort -- but yes, all else being equal, a probe 900m above or below a He rock will survive longer than one placed to the side of it.
QUOTE 14) How many probes shall i really place and where? I heard something like "900 away from asteroid/aleph" but is it 1 probe for each object or one in the middle of 3 asteroids is okay?[/quote]
One probe in between two He rocks is generally a good thing.
QUOTE 15) Shall i put proxies in front of every aleph in friendly system? shall i mine somewhere else at regular basis?[/quote]
The best way to get a lot of kills with prox mines is to mine the aleph between where you are mining and the nearest enemy sector. This takes a bit of planning to do right -- you have to anticipate a bit where your miners are going in order to be at the right aleph by the time they are at their rocks, munching happily away. Fill up on prox mines, sit 200m on an aleph, backthrust briefly and drop -- and they will be in the perfect location. Repeat this until you are out of mines, then go back and do it again. Another more advanced technique is to swoop back and forth across the aleph (makes you less of a target for savvy enemies who go slowly through the aleph rather than boosting on in).
QUOTE 16) At what range advanced (fighter or interceptor i dont remember, but it has 3 slots for guns and guns are kinda advanced, big, fire some blue shells, and it has very slow acceleration and like 80 or something max speed, and has boosters) is actually seeing things? I found some miners mining, tried to kill one, couldnt manage to kill him faster than he regenerates (took all my ammo to take him down to 33% armor). I came to base, swapped my scout, came back and couldnt find any miners. I thought they may be gone, then i went into another system (both had enemy refinery). Noone there too. Then i went into an unexplored system and couldnt see a single asteroid. It looks like the detection range is like 3 or 5 times smaller than scout. So how do i hunt those miners? With scout i cant kill em, with fighter i cant see them?[/quote]
I think you're describing an interceptor. They have very low scan range. Yes, you're right, they often need the assistance of a low-sig (missles and shield unmounted) scout spotter to tell them where the miners are. Some advanced players are good at predicting where the enemy comm is going to mine next, and they'll just boost at the right rock, or to the refinery.
Miners are built to be not easy to kill. It often takes a reload or two to kill one, if you go alone. Teamwork raises your chances of a succesful miner kill significantly.
Ripping is interrupted if you use your controls, as it takes full engine power to charge for the rip, if you use the engines to manoeuvre it interrupts the charging and aborts the rip.
