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General Discussion / Re: I suck at piloting
« on: May 30, 2023, 06:07:56 AM »
One thing I'd like to add here is to try and refrain from using Safety Overrides as much as possible, for a few reasons:
1) On a smaller ships it makes them too "floaty", having greater speed and thus inertia. Combined with their subpar overall survivability, extremely low HP on engines/weapons and limited flux pool, this often leads to being unable to retreat in time (if at all) and eating a bunch of ordnance that would otherwise harmlessly bounce off a shield.
2) Hampering the learning process about flux management and fleet behavior on greater scale. You can't vent with SO, and venting is the cornerstone of efficient combat - my finger is glued to the V key 100% of the time, and so should yours. Having enough flux to attack, defend, safely retreat, rescue allies or finish off an overloaded opponent is absolutely crucial at every stage of battle.
Also, while using SO you're most likely playing a twitch shooter type of game, zipping here and there and everywhere, tunnel visioning in a small area around player ship and not doing much else. But the key to victory is learning about your AI friends' behavior - when they deem proper to launch a missile or commit to full assault, when they feel insecure and retreat, when they roam around the edges of battle lines and seek for easy targets, simply derp around and eat a full Hammer salvo to the hull, etc. You might not be the best pilot out there, but a full complement of officers that you've personally studied and understood is a game changer.
3) Limited build potential - SO usually forces player to partake in a knife fight while eating up to 40% of ships total OP. While yes, having a mighty SO flagship is both efficient and fun, newer player would benefit greatly from experimenting with different loadouts, range categories, and learning how individual weapons (besides their on paper DPS and flux/dmg ratio) behave in actual combat scenario.
1) On a smaller ships it makes them too "floaty", having greater speed and thus inertia. Combined with their subpar overall survivability, extremely low HP on engines/weapons and limited flux pool, this often leads to being unable to retreat in time (if at all) and eating a bunch of ordnance that would otherwise harmlessly bounce off a shield.
2) Hampering the learning process about flux management and fleet behavior on greater scale. You can't vent with SO, and venting is the cornerstone of efficient combat - my finger is glued to the V key 100% of the time, and so should yours. Having enough flux to attack, defend, safely retreat, rescue allies or finish off an overloaded opponent is absolutely crucial at every stage of battle.
Also, while using SO you're most likely playing a twitch shooter type of game, zipping here and there and everywhere, tunnel visioning in a small area around player ship and not doing much else. But the key to victory is learning about your AI friends' behavior - when they deem proper to launch a missile or commit to full assault, when they feel insecure and retreat, when they roam around the edges of battle lines and seek for easy targets, simply derp around and eat a full Hammer salvo to the hull, etc. You might not be the best pilot out there, but a full complement of officers that you've personally studied and understood is a game changer.
3) Limited build potential - SO usually forces player to partake in a knife fight while eating up to 40% of ships total OP. While yes, having a mighty SO flagship is both efficient and fun, newer player would benefit greatly from experimenting with different loadouts, range categories, and learning how individual weapons (besides their on paper DPS and flux/dmg ratio) behave in actual combat scenario.