A few questions about combat and targeting...

Obu · Post by **Obu** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 12:09 pm

Hi all,

I hope it is the good place to post this.
I finished yesterday a play a bit desapointed....
First, I start my previous game in an far from earth system, undoubtly at the frontieres, because it's full of rlaan ship ! It's amazing the number of vidars, lodurs and other ships

perhaps 200 I don't know !!! But i'm looking for a jump... and to find it cycling with 'n' key is problematic : it takes me several minutes to find it, so many ships to pass before !!! And when unfortunatly I miss it, OK try again and cycle again

So I wondered if there is not another way to get this hell of jump easier that typing on 'n' hundreds of times ???
Second, i finally succeeded to make enugh money to by another ship, because when i finally find this jump, 2 areus wait for me and strike me in just 3 seconds !! I first tried with a gawain, but it's perhaps a bit expensive and i couldn't beat it. then I tried an admonisher... heavyer equiped this time, but not enough it seems... What kind of ship (and what's the most critical weapons) you use to succed against these fucky damned ships

?? Did somebody here beat an areus whit those vessels ? Even with a Llama

?
Perhaps i'm a bad pilot, but i already destroyed other Llamas with my own one... So is it possible to destroy or ariston with it ?
Thanks for help !!

Xante · Post by **Xante** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 12:36 pm

You'll never start your game in the earth's sol system, but allway in the Cephid_17 system. But as far as I know, this has never been a Rlaan system. Then again, since the systems are made randomly, maybe there's a little chance so it can be... Or there was maybe a battle going on there, with Rlaan invasion forces.

To get the nearest jump point, I think you have to hit Alt+K (or was it Shift+K, one was for nearest station, the other for nearest jump point. Ctrl+K is for nearest planet an K alone for nearest friendly ship).

And by the way, if you hit Shift+N, T or U you start circling trough the targets the other way round, so if you "miss" your target you can still go back without retargeting the whole system.

For the rest, maybe you need some practice before attacking them, maybe you have not enough upgrades, I don't know, but for the moment you may be better off fleeing and do cargo missions until you handle the game quite a bit.

Obu · Post by **Obu** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 12:51 pm

Thanks Xante for you reply

Yes, i started the game with Cepheid-17, that's right (i'had never had something else in fact, perhaps have to be more accurate when i write

). The rlaan system in which i'm now is one i reached after i made many cargo missions

But i'm a bit tired to make cargo so wanted to try something else like patrols and other kind of combat.
in fact i already had some success against dodos, hyenas and even llamas (ulns don't like me

), but there, with aeras and there ships, it seems to be another kind of job

()Alf · Post by **()Alf** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 12:55 pm

But i'm looking for a jump... and to find it cycling with 'n' key is problematic : it takes me several minutes to find it, so many ships to pass before !!! And when unfortunatly I miss it, OK try again and cycle again Laughing So I wondered if there is not another way to get this hell of jump easier that typing on 'n' hundreds of times ???

1. Normally "n" key doesn't target ships, but i also recognized in some cases you have a lot to cycle through. When you miss your target you might try the the "N"key (shift + n), that should reverse your search (same with "t" key)

2. It occured to me, that somehow your targeter can't find a jumppoint, then i use the navcomputer (shift+m = on/off) and switch the "nav/info" button to view the systemmap, where you can use your mouse (wheel for (un)zoom) to locate known targets. When you find it click on it and it should be your target.

btw. AERA ships are though

Xante · Post by **Xante** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 1:04 pm

Oh, ok, ooops, I didn't realize that areus are aera ships. I'm quite new here too. Indeed, I wouldn't engage against aera ships with a Llama, even against smallest aera ships, since their tech is quite advanced. I personally have a goddard, wich kicks quite a fiew aera ship's butt, but then again it's a light cap ship. I have something like no experience with fighters, so I can't tell wich one's the best. Maybe you can deduce it by looking at the prices

Then, it seems you're not yet familiarized with game controls, so I suggest you have a look at the manual. Some game details, once known, slightly improve one's fighting abilities

(Like "R" for nearest hostile target, wich I didn't knew for quite a long time).

Obu · Post by **Obu** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 2:45 pm

Thanks to you two ()Alf and Xante !

Ok for the tips ! i see that (but i thought the same think nearly) trying to strike an aeran ship with a llama is just like trying to kill an elephant with a plulme

for targetting, in fact (if i do really understand, but...) 'n' cycle through 'neutral' targets, right ?? So if it is the case, i think it's normal i get them through 'n' key because rlaan's are ok with me. Am i right ?
About manual, yes i've a lot to learn, VS is a pretty big piece of game to understand all those possibilities. And i have another problem which is the use of an 'azerty' keyboard (haaa, those froggy french people

...)... so there are times were i don't find any key matching the one with 'qwerty' conterparts

Even editing the vegastrike.config isn't an easy turnarround as there are characters making the game crash...
That also doesn't help !!

Xante · Post by **Xante** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 3:18 pm

"T" targets just everything
"N" circles through "natural" targets, like planets, jump points. That ships got selcted as well is not the way it should be and a bug I think.
"U" circles through "unnatural" targets, like ships
"H" circles through "hostile" targets, whatever they are (I forgot this one, handy if you want to engage the cap ship behind the fighters first)

"P" is also quite usefull, since it targets the item that is closest to your target cross, so you can "aim" at the target you want to select and then hit "P".

But since you have a french keyboard, you'll have to "translate" all those keys. "W" will then be "Z" etc... I think if you write it down somewhere it can be the easyest way to do.

()Alf · Post by **()Alf** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 3:48 pm

Normally i get navigational fixpoints with 'n'key like planets, jumpnodes and stations (and sun(s)). I don't know why i get more at other times.
The good thing is, you can hit pause and take time to search your target

there are times were i don't find any key matching the one with 'qwerty' conterparts

Well, i think there shouldn't be probs with normal letters, my 'z' is 'z' on my german "qwertz" board. But for instance, when changing 'q' key to another function, it isn't quitting the game anymore on deathscreen because quit wasn't bound to 'q' but to Cockpit::PitchDown command (strange thing).

How about printing the bindings section, so you have a reference and could learn which command does (or doesn't) what.

Obu · Post by **Obu** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 11:06 pm

Xante wrote: To get the nearest jump point, I think you have to hit Alt+K (or was it Shift+K, one was for nearest station, the other for nearest jump point. Ctrl+K is for nearest planet an K alone for nearest friendly ship).

Hello,

looking at my vegastrike.config, i saw that it doesn't contain anything about 'k' or 'K'...

I think my version is old and i will have to look at loading some new one...
For the remaining, works OK

Well, I will try to make a few more money before trying bigger battles : perhaps finding some hyenas or other light ships like that to strike will help to be more confortable with combat...

()Alf · Post by **()Alf** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 10:05 am

Well, I will try to make a few more money before trying bigger battles

It may get a little easier with big ship and more firepower, but in generell it gets harder with every credit you earning to buy these things

Look here:
http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/forum ... hp?t=10308

bgaskey · Post by **bgaskey** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 11:52 pm

learning to fight in vegastrike is mostly just a matter of practice. I used to like flying around in a goddard destroying everybody, but now I find piloting a light fighter is much more fun. I like the Rlaan Taizong or the confed Dostoevsky

Have fun killing pirates!

Boaal · Post by **Boaal** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 3:22 pm

is it me, or did the luddites get a FAT upgrade sheild wise in 0.5? My hyena's weapons do about 4.5 K damage, but I could not get through the luddites shields. The most I got through was the two out shielding, but that last shield held and my weapons needed to reload - one of the beams kept going, but the other three needed a reload or cooldown or somthing.
Impressive.

Obu · Post by **Obu** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 3:37 pm

Flying for fight in vegastrike is quite a great trip yes

and i'm sure that it will take time before i'm a good pilot

the problem is that i don't own allready a goddard (a bit expensive perhaps

) and fighting 2 areus and a hyena at the same time is quite a suicide with a llama

OK, i'm being killed in 2 seconds each time and i respawn immediatly, but they are here again each time i try

The only solution i found is using TC

not very clean to save like this, no ?
Well, i leave now my admonisher for i while, and go back to commerce and cargo to make more money onboard my llama... that didn't allow me not to be destroyed a few times again, but TC and saved games permit to progress slowly and surely

Post by **jackS** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 7:31 pm

Boaal wrote:is it me, or did the luddites get a FAT upgrade sheild wise in 0.5? My hyena's weapons do about 4.5 K damage, but I could not get through the luddites shields. The most I got through was the two out shielding, but that last shield held and my weapons needed to reload - one of the beams kept going, but the other three needed a reload or cooldown or somthing.
Impressive.

I don't recall buffing the Redeemer shields significantly, if at all. I am assuming the ship in question was a Redeemer. If it was a Mule, then yes, the shields have been upgraded.
Which weapons are you using? Many of the weapons have had their long-range integrity altered from 0.4.3 to 0.5 -- a number of weapons have much more noticeable damage falloff with range than before. However, a much larger number of weapons do at least some shield piercing damage now.

eracc · Post by **eracc** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 8:37 pm

Boaal wrote:is it me, or did the luddites get a FAT upgrade sheild wise in 0.5? My hyena's weapons do about 4.5 K damage, but I could not get through the luddites shields. The most I got through was the two out shielding, but that last shield held and my weapons needed to reload - one of the beams kept going, but the other three needed a reload or cooldown or somthing.
Impressive.

I noticed this too with quite powerful weapons, then I tried (l)ocking the targeted Luddite. They now die like th' dogs they are.

It appears the (l)ocking now helps one get more or better hits on the target. I use it all the time in 0.5 as a result.

bgaskey · Post by **bgaskey** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 8:57 pm

wow i've never tried locking on. maybe it has an effect now. I don't think it did in the stable vers.

Post by **loki1950** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 9:20 pm

It had an effect but it was subtle.

Enjoy the Choice

bgaskey · Post by **bgaskey** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 10:44 pm

does it help with autotracking?
i've found that in the svn autotracking beams seem to fire on the target but miss slightly. THey only seem to hit when your crosshairs are very close to the target. I wonder of they are bugged or just got less rigged since the stable version.

Post by **loki1950** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 11:32 pm

For sure remember all mounts have some measure of auto-tracking adding the auto-tracking upgrade brings them to mil-spec

hitting the lock toggle engages them.

Enjoy the Choice

bgaskey · Post by **bgaskey** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 11:35 pm

Wow i should nave been doing that all along.

I'm gonna have to not post for a while b/c im getting really behind on homework

Hopefully I can stay off for a couple days until midterms

Post by **loki1950** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 11:43 pm

Yeah real life can interfere with fun but ace those mid-terms so you have brownie points for when you ask for that new rig

Enjoy the Choice

Obu · Post by **Obu** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 9:18 pm

Just been stroke by a hyena... just one shoot and i'm dead

How is this possible ? What kind of beam a hyean can use to just at once crush an admonisher with full shield ? I thought hyenas could only mount lightweapons !!!!

Post by **loki1950** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 12:24 am

Are you sure that it was a beam,dumbfire missiles only need one hit

Enjoy the Choice

()Alf · Post by **()Alf** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 11:36 am

,dumbfire missiles only need one hit

Seems im really sucking at dumbfire shots, cause i never killed a light figter with 1 dumbfire

Obu · Post by **Obu** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 12:36 pm

Well i didn't know that dumbfire could kill a ship all shields and hull functionnal just at once !
In general, i need several dumbfire to strike a ship, and i have to shoot its shileds before with lasers

But well perhaps, i don't know in fact...

Whatever, i think this will change for me because i tried yesterday the upgrade of VS using SVN...

whooowww, the big difference it makes i find !! Keyboard layout seems better managed for azerty, game starting totaly modified, the game's also better looking and so ... I'll try to move my saved games to this version, but i think i will soon try the 0.5 if the diff is so great also !!