Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 1:44 pm
Greetings !
My name is Mumufx and I suck at Allegiance. I suck so much that one may tell me to go back to play "Pacman". Please note that I also suck at Pacman.
In order to desuck myself (yeah, from now, "desuck" is a valid verb and its definition will appear in the coming year 2012 version dictionnary), I applied to AFS but before I can ask any "silly" question to instructor, I told myself that my here under questions could be usefull for any newcomers.
I do know that my questions may be hard to reply to, due to numerous in-game factors, and there aren't any Teh-real-true-answer, but I'm awaiting any "in general" answers such "IF that or that, then USUALLY you should do that".
I. FACTS
Here are the facts :
* very early (read : "beginning") stage of the game ;
* I'm on scout duty (obviously) ;
* miners / constructors have to be protected NOW ;
* I'm too far (due to scout duty) to come back in time to help efficiently ;
* I'm close so I can go to help but my ship is not equipped with proper defense items ;
I'm always considering the worst case : Miners/Cons are killed and I therefore question myself whether I did right or wrong. Obviously, if miners / cons are saved, I may tend to think that what I did was correct (even though it isn't, so you to tell me).
Allllll right, let's go.
II. SCENARIO
Consider a game just started (whatever faction, etc.). As I understood when reading wiki pages, it is most important to scout the nearby sectors and mainly find aleph so that the commander know what to do (and if one didn't read the wiki, she/he can't ignore the "Find aleph!" spam). I usually start launching a scout fully loaded with probes (though there is always a nan in cargo/equipped + a mine pack in case a bloodthirsty-full-of-hate ennemy is willing to have an easy prey or for emergency defense purpose) and going to scout the sector while happily whistling in my cockpit. As far as I know, up to that point I'm not mistaken. I often have direct orders from Commanders to head here or there which helps me. I usually drop probes on the way (probably not the most effective location but as time is of essence, priority is to find Aleph/Base, not to try to find the best spot to drop a probe).
BUT, very soon, usually at the exact moment where I grab a bottle of fresh beer fom behind the cool pipes, the happy time is over : the chat is showing "Protect the miners!" and "Protect the Cons!". For dumb people like me, that message is repeated over and over so even though I'm peeing in cargo, thanks to loudspeakers, I can't really miss the orders.
At that point, I feel rather disappointed as any action I could do seem to be a nearly total failure (worst cases) :
* I carry on probing/scouting (telling myself that more skilled people will attend the defense duty) and we loose miners/cons : I feel guilty as even a single shot of nan could have saved miner/Cons) ;
* I go back home but due to lack of teleport feature it take me ages to get there and, guess what ?, miners / cons are dead ;
* I go back to "under fire" sector but due to lack of defensive stuff (only have that nan), miners/cons are killed.
Don't get me wrong : I'm not taking myself for a powered and knowgeable player which can efficiently keep alive both miners and cons just because I'm showing in nearby sectors (in which case opponents, of course, when they see me, boost away screaming and farting). Of course not. BUT if I were here, in middle of defense duty, it would actually HELP (even a little !) to save cons/miner.
III. QUESTIONS
Q1 : I'm far away from home (and therefore from Cons/Miners) : what should I do ?
Let's assume at that point I'm 3 or 4 sector away from home, no ripcord facility, no more direct order from Comm to go here or there, just the above general orders ("Protect teh miners, you morons !!"). That means I can't be quickly back home or in cons'/miners' sector.
What should I do ? I mean, there are many others players which are closer than me to Cons/Miners, and who could do the protection job. Even though no one go for protection duty (unlikely to happen), by the time I get there all cons/miners would be dead if opponent is already killing. So is it worth to TRY To go there anyway ? Should I run back home or miners' sector and do the protection duty even if it "seems" hopeless (simply because it COULD be usefull, finally) ? Or should I keep on exploring more sectors to find more aleph or more ennemy activity, relying on teammates (closer ones, that is) to do the defense duty ?
Q2 : I'm close home (and beers await in fridge) : what should I protect first ?
Now, suppose I have the possibility to quickly go back home (ripcord available / I'm not that far from home or from the sector the miners/cons are / I know that "take-me-here-at-once" cheat code). What should I protect first : Miners or Cons ?
One could tell me : "Ask the Comm". Yes, I agree, but since it's usually an hectic part (when under attack), Comm may not answer at once and the time it takes to me to take a decision at that point may be deadly for either Cons either Miners, providing either of them (or both) are threatened at that time. I red on wiki that buying even a few seconds might save a lot, so what "reflex" should I have at that moment apart hiding in toilets ?
To me, the Cons has highest priority over the miners at that point, but I may be mistaken so you to tell me.
If miners are attacked : shall I stick to Cons (providing I'm currently escorting Cons) ?
If Cons is attacked : shall I stick to miners (providing I'm currently nursing the miners) ?
What if both are threatened and I'm on either of them ?
Do you prefer omelet or fried eggs ?
Q3 : Cargo load : to load or not to load
All right, whatever the decision, I'm heading to either miners or Cons. But, as you remember, my scout was loaded with Probes and, in order to perform properly a Defense duty, I better have a nan (which I always carry so it's even irrelevant to mention it here) and also Prox mines / Missiles / Guns / Picture of Margaret Thatcher. If I had time, I better dock, refill cargo with defense items, launch and head to Cons/Miners. But, unfortunately, I do not have time as minimap is showing miners / cons are already threatened (when not already under attack).
2 worst cases :
* I dock, reload prox and other defense whatnot, launch, head to miner/cons and ... too late, they're all dead and I tell myself "Damn you ! if you didn't dock you could have maybe probably perhaps possibly saved them !";
* I don't dock and directly head toward cons/miner (lowering my signature at maximum) to nan them and I usually hear in communication speakers an evil "Bwhahahahaha !! Do you prefer to be podded or podded ?" right before i'm actually really podded (I could have delay being podded if I had a few prox) ;
The question here is : must I take the time to reload defense items (Prox, ...) or should I head at once to Miners/Cons only using my nan ?
My point is if I go to protect Cons/Miners only with a Nan I'll probably survive a few seconds before I'm podded. Gain of action : zero.
However, that's what I'm telling myself, if I take the time to reload prox, missile, whatever defense items (even if that means I "loose" one minute), opponent may have time to kill a miner but once I'll reach the sector I'll be more able to protect remaining miners even for a few seconds more by firing missiles, dropping prox, (or dropping missiles, firing prox, it all depends on my finger I'd say ^^ ) which would slow down the damage done on Miner (buying time so my experienced teammates rush in and hopefully save them).
Althought that choice may make sense for miners (still, can be a bad idea), it doesn't make sense at all for Constructor : once dead, it's dead (till one is built again but that is a big loss). For that Cons defense I'm totally clueless about whether or not I should reload before. My 7th sense (yeah, 6th one is overrated nowadays) tells me to rush in Cons' defense if it's attacked, even with only a nan, and to refill cargo with defense items if it's not attacked.
What do you say ?
Thanks in advance for any tips, piece of advice, secret way-of-playing or credit card code (don't forget the number at the back) you could give me.
PS : just kidding about secret way-of-playing, of course.
My name is Mumufx and I suck at Allegiance. I suck so much that one may tell me to go back to play "Pacman". Please note that I also suck at Pacman.
In order to desuck myself (yeah, from now, "desuck" is a valid verb and its definition will appear in the coming year 2012 version dictionnary), I applied to AFS but before I can ask any "silly" question to instructor, I told myself that my here under questions could be usefull for any newcomers.
I do know that my questions may be hard to reply to, due to numerous in-game factors, and there aren't any Teh-real-true-answer, but I'm awaiting any "in general" answers such "IF that or that, then USUALLY you should do that".
I. FACTS
Here are the facts :
* very early (read : "beginning") stage of the game ;
* I'm on scout duty (obviously) ;
* miners / constructors have to be protected NOW ;
* I'm too far (due to scout duty) to come back in time to help efficiently ;
* I'm close so I can go to help but my ship is not equipped with proper defense items ;
I'm always considering the worst case : Miners/Cons are killed and I therefore question myself whether I did right or wrong. Obviously, if miners / cons are saved, I may tend to think that what I did was correct (even though it isn't, so you to tell me).
Allllll right, let's go.
II. SCENARIO
Consider a game just started (whatever faction, etc.). As I understood when reading wiki pages, it is most important to scout the nearby sectors and mainly find aleph so that the commander know what to do (and if one didn't read the wiki, she/he can't ignore the "Find aleph!" spam). I usually start launching a scout fully loaded with probes (though there is always a nan in cargo/equipped + a mine pack in case a bloodthirsty-full-of-hate ennemy is willing to have an easy prey or for emergency defense purpose) and going to scout the sector while happily whistling in my cockpit. As far as I know, up to that point I'm not mistaken. I often have direct orders from Commanders to head here or there which helps me. I usually drop probes on the way (probably not the most effective location but as time is of essence, priority is to find Aleph/Base, not to try to find the best spot to drop a probe).
BUT, very soon, usually at the exact moment where I grab a bottle of fresh beer fom behind the cool pipes, the happy time is over : the chat is showing "Protect the miners!" and "Protect the Cons!". For dumb people like me, that message is repeated over and over so even though I'm peeing in cargo, thanks to loudspeakers, I can't really miss the orders.
At that point, I feel rather disappointed as any action I could do seem to be a nearly total failure (worst cases) :
* I carry on probing/scouting (telling myself that more skilled people will attend the defense duty) and we loose miners/cons : I feel guilty as even a single shot of nan could have saved miner/Cons) ;
* I go back home but due to lack of teleport feature it take me ages to get there and, guess what ?, miners / cons are dead ;
* I go back to "under fire" sector but due to lack of defensive stuff (only have that nan), miners/cons are killed.
Don't get me wrong : I'm not taking myself for a powered and knowgeable player which can efficiently keep alive both miners and cons just because I'm showing in nearby sectors (in which case opponents, of course, when they see me, boost away screaming and farting). Of course not. BUT if I were here, in middle of defense duty, it would actually HELP (even a little !) to save cons/miner.
III. QUESTIONS
Q1 : I'm far away from home (and therefore from Cons/Miners) : what should I do ?
Let's assume at that point I'm 3 or 4 sector away from home, no ripcord facility, no more direct order from Comm to go here or there, just the above general orders ("Protect teh miners, you morons !!"). That means I can't be quickly back home or in cons'/miners' sector.
What should I do ? I mean, there are many others players which are closer than me to Cons/Miners, and who could do the protection job. Even though no one go for protection duty (unlikely to happen), by the time I get there all cons/miners would be dead if opponent is already killing. So is it worth to TRY To go there anyway ? Should I run back home or miners' sector and do the protection duty even if it "seems" hopeless (simply because it COULD be usefull, finally) ? Or should I keep on exploring more sectors to find more aleph or more ennemy activity, relying on teammates (closer ones, that is) to do the defense duty ?
Q2 : I'm close home (and beers await in fridge) : what should I protect first ?
Now, suppose I have the possibility to quickly go back home (ripcord available / I'm not that far from home or from the sector the miners/cons are / I know that "take-me-here-at-once" cheat code). What should I protect first : Miners or Cons ?
One could tell me : "Ask the Comm". Yes, I agree, but since it's usually an hectic part (when under attack), Comm may not answer at once and the time it takes to me to take a decision at that point may be deadly for either Cons either Miners, providing either of them (or both) are threatened at that time. I red on wiki that buying even a few seconds might save a lot, so what "reflex" should I have at that moment apart hiding in toilets ?
To me, the Cons has highest priority over the miners at that point, but I may be mistaken so you to tell me.
If miners are attacked : shall I stick to Cons (providing I'm currently escorting Cons) ?
If Cons is attacked : shall I stick to miners (providing I'm currently nursing the miners) ?
What if both are threatened and I'm on either of them ?
Do you prefer omelet or fried eggs ?
Q3 : Cargo load : to load or not to load
All right, whatever the decision, I'm heading to either miners or Cons. But, as you remember, my scout was loaded with Probes and, in order to perform properly a Defense duty, I better have a nan (which I always carry so it's even irrelevant to mention it here) and also Prox mines / Missiles / Guns / Picture of Margaret Thatcher. If I had time, I better dock, refill cargo with defense items, launch and head to Cons/Miners. But, unfortunately, I do not have time as minimap is showing miners / cons are already threatened (when not already under attack).
2 worst cases :
* I dock, reload prox and other defense whatnot, launch, head to miner/cons and ... too late, they're all dead and I tell myself "Damn you ! if you didn't dock you could have maybe probably perhaps possibly saved them !";
* I don't dock and directly head toward cons/miner (lowering my signature at maximum) to nan them and I usually hear in communication speakers an evil "Bwhahahahaha !! Do you prefer to be podded or podded ?" right before i'm actually really podded (I could have delay being podded if I had a few prox) ;
The question here is : must I take the time to reload defense items (Prox, ...) or should I head at once to Miners/Cons only using my nan ?
My point is if I go to protect Cons/Miners only with a Nan I'll probably survive a few seconds before I'm podded. Gain of action : zero.
However, that's what I'm telling myself, if I take the time to reload prox, missile, whatever defense items (even if that means I "loose" one minute), opponent may have time to kill a miner but once I'll reach the sector I'll be more able to protect remaining miners even for a few seconds more by firing missiles, dropping prox, (or dropping missiles, firing prox, it all depends on my finger I'd say ^^ ) which would slow down the damage done on Miner (buying time so my experienced teammates rush in and hopefully save them).
Althought that choice may make sense for miners (still, can be a bad idea), it doesn't make sense at all for Constructor : once dead, it's dead (till one is built again but that is a big loss). For that Cons defense I'm totally clueless about whether or not I should reload before. My 7th sense (yeah, 6th one is overrated nowadays) tells me to rush in Cons' defense if it's attacked, even with only a nan, and to refill cargo with defense items if it's not attacked.
What do you say ?
Thanks in advance for any tips, piece of advice, secret way-of-playing or credit card code (don't forget the number at the back) you could give me.
PS : just kidding about secret way-of-playing, of course.
).