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The creative Descent Multiplayer Tactics Site |
advanced flight tactics |
introduction to advanced flight tacticsThe best flight Tactic for you depends on your flying skill, the connection
to your opponent and on the speed of your Computer. People with slow Computers
or a bad Connection (just in case you are using KALI or KAHN) have real
difficulties in dogfights. People with faster machines have less problems
flying in large halls with two or more opponents. With a P 200 and a VooDoo
3D Board it is not such a big problem to dogfight against two other people
compared to a 486 with 5 Frames per Second in the same situation.
All in all reality shows that there are 3 basic flight tactics:
Dogfighters
stay in large rooms where they have enough room to dodge enemy fire or
get rid of a homing missile. They are fast flying and have the abilitiy
to aim and lead precisely. They use all the 3 axes to move and to turn.
While dogfighting it is a major problem to find out when to change the
direction of movement. This does not mean that a dogfighter takes the risk
to fly for more than 3 seconds into the same direction. It means that during
dogfight it happens very often that both pilots have no chance to hit the
other one because they turn around each other too fast. It ´s hard
to find out when to dive down and change the whole set of directions. Start
to think about it: Dogfighting is too complex to just write about it. Try
it!
Note: There are two sorts of Dogfighters: The real dogfighters shoot with
Laser, Plasma or Fusion Cannon. They lead their shots and feel like Aces
of the Pacific or the Red Baron. The others, I call them Jetfighters, use
Vulcan and Gauss Cannons. They don´t need to lead their shots and
in my eyes they aren´t real dogfighters. Nevertheless both sorts
of them are heavy opponents while battling them in large halls.
Tunnel fighter prefers low rooms, low halls and tunnels. They can maneuver extremely fast in small areas and have a feeling for the best "Fire-Row". Hit and Run is part of their game and very often they have a great efficiency while collecting not too much kills during multiplayer games. Sometimes they build traps with Smart Mines and sometimes they collect all the afterburners in one corner because no one can escape anymore.
Bombers fly with a search and destroy tactic: Search for good weapons
like Earthshaker, Megas or Smart Missiles and use them to destroy the other
ships. Good Bomber Pilots have the ability to dodge Earthshaker Missilies
but normaly they suck in all other tactics ;-)
To be honest: A good bomber Pilot is also a good pilot in other situations.
For their opponents they just seem to suck because they build their scores
on these "cheap kills" with heavy weapons. I have seen discussions
in the Newsgoups about Earthshaker against Dogfighter which ended in the
result that each tactic has its pros and cons and that a good pilot is
still a good pilot, even if he tends to be a bomber. Bombing can be the only working strategy
on slow computers.
Every pilot has his different skills and weapons he likes or dislikes.
Get to know your opponents and you will find his strengths and his weak
points. Knowing your opponent is part of every skilled pilot and after
some experience you won´t need more than 10 minutes to classify someone.
To win a game you have to break your opponents tactics. If he is a good
dogfighter but a medium tunnel fighter your task will be to get him out
of his area into "your" tunnels. Descent isn´t a fair flight
sim. Descent is wide Cyberspace with a lot of room for different Characters.
In the end it is your mind flying against his mind. Start to think what
he could think and do not wait until he comes into sight. Shoot where you
think he could show up. If you are wrong you made some noise; if you were
right the last thing he can see is a row of quad laser 6 beams...
By the way, a good pilot can change his tactics. There are a lot of people
out there who are skilled in all tactics and mix them together how they
need them. This should be the goal of every pilot. All these "tactics"
have weak points and those who rely on one tactic will not find the way
to the top.
For those who want it the long way:
The best way to fly against a dogfighter is dogfighting. Normally a
dogfighter is used to that and maybe you are not. So you will need tactics
to get the dogfighter out of "his" hall. Use heavy weapons to
make him flee and follow him. Try to get on his nerves with Guided Missiles.
Fight with Gauss and Vulcan Cannons. You have to make him play your game,
not the other way round. If he is always waiting for you in a big hall
start chatting that this is not a really fair tactic (keep in mind that
this is also not very brave).
The heavy weapons the Bomber needs normally show up in the tunnels.
The bomber has to come around and you won´t have too much problems as
long as you can find most of "his" missiles.
A skilled Dogfighter should have no problems with a normal Bomber. The problem for the Dogfighter will be dodging of Earthshaker and Megas. Megas are easy to evade: fly towards them and use the afterburner while you slide left or right.
The Earthshakers are a little harder to dodge: Head to the point where the missile will detonate and keep distance. When the missile explodes and the bomblets start to home on you fly towards them and dodge them like a mega. This is pretty hard to do and normally a special move of bomber pilots against each other. Alternativly you can try to get around a corner.
The bomber hides and keeps silence until he finds a chance to get behind someone. Then he finishes him off with Megas or Earthshakers. His goal is to have the first and the final shot.
Donīt even think about performing the 180° flip. First of all this is a form of cheating, second this is one of the most disorientating maneuvers. I havenīt hear of anyone being satisfied with it.
Framerates are more important than the resolution!!! You can detect the "Frames Per Second" with typing "frametime" within a game. Multiplayer fps is of course lower than in single player mode.
To increase the framerate you have a bunch of possibilities:
Keep flying: the slow computer will make you fly really good. After upgrading to a good system it will be YOUR TIME!!