To what extent am I just terrible?

[Originman]

I've been playing 3.3 PTU and really enjoying it, but I am finding a few things:

I shoot things over and over and they never die in the PU. I've fired 40+ shots with my Omniski IX's at one of those little data skimmer beacons. I've switched my weapons (to Strife Mass Drivers, Tarantulas, and one time Scatterguns) and still notice that these fights take a long long time.
Is this intentional? Enemy pirates seem the same way, they soak a ton of damage. I also keep crashing into the pirates.

I know there is still lots of development to go, but for someone who is just coming back after a long time away, I feel like combat used to feel better than this (except frames and crashes are way better now). Any suggestions (or just "get good") would be appreciated.

FYI I'm flying a 300i.

Thanks!

 

[Zapper Weisman]

I am no expert on the current state of combat but, the 300i isn't really a fighter so battles may take longer. The 300i is a touring ship that can fight, but against tough ships with better weapons, the 300i falls a bit short, IMO. Perhaps try the 325a?

If nothing else, a rework on the 300 series is due out in the forseeable future. Maybe that will help in this area.

 

[Sirus7264]

Pirates are a bit of a pain and if you don't have big enough weapons to penetrate their sheilds quickly or hit different shields its going to get hard. I have difficulties killing pirates also until i switch out to something with bigger guns then they go down pretty quick. If you don't penetrate the shields and do actual damage they will never die just like you. practice out in arena commander for a bit to get use to killing AI then come back to it. Also try other weapon loadouts using REC to rent different weapons. If you don't have REC yet Arena commander runs will get you there or running through some race tracks.

 

[Printimus]

I've been playing 3.3 PTU and really enjoying it, but I am finding a few things:

I shoot things over and over and they never die in the PU. I've fired 40+ shots with my Omniski IX's at one of those little data skimmer beacons. I've switched my weapons (to Strife Mass Drivers, Tarantulas, and one time Scatterguns) and still notice that these fights take a long long time.
Is this intentional? Enemy pirates seem the same way, they soak a ton of damage. I also keep crashing into the pirates.

I know there is still lots of development to go, but for someone who is just coming back after a long time away, I feel like combat used to feel better than this (except frames and crashes are way better now). Any suggestions (or just "get good") would be appreciated.

FYI I'm flying a 300i.

Thanks!

Flight systems and balances are still in the works. For official inquiries, make a bug report on the issue council.

 

[Radegast74]

The other issue is "de-sync" -- the server thinks the skimmer is in one location, but you are seeing it in a slightly different location. This happens all the time with all objects. It seems to be worse as they work in more OCS stuff and other ways of saving memory. Stay tuned, they keep working on it.

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

The game is in Alpha, meaning that they are still making it, and further to that in 3.3 they have changed the way the entire game loads on your computer so with tech that fresh running in the background things may not work how we expect them to - so don't go thinking you are rubbish, it hasn't been finished yet...

So, theorycrafting what may be happening:

- What you are experiencing may be the result of an intentional decision by the game makers to up surviveability so players don't die as fast - and it just happens to make the beacons and pirates OP too. This has happened before, balancing is a fine art and they aren't going to do it properly until way later in the development process.

- What you are experiencing may be the result of the 300i being one of, if not the oldest, flyable ship model in the game right now. It was built before "Container 2.0" before "Object Container Streaming" and it's only had a few occasional "update passes" to make it still work in the game... there was one patch where the 300i couldn't turn right... so it may not be fully compatible with the game as it is right now... it is getting a full rework as we speak not only to bring it up to date with the games technology, but also to add stuff like a cargo bay, too. The 300i having 3 gun points means it should be as capable in a fight as a Gladius, so if you find someone with a Gladius ask them to put the same guns on their ship and see how long it takes them to take down a Beacon or a Pirate, that should give you an idea as to whats going on because if it takes them as long, it definately isn't you.

- What you are experiencing may be the result of the combination of components in your computer not being 100% compatible with the new way the game loads. Game companies can't test every single setup and this is why some games launch with insane glitches - the glitches would have been ironed out on the ones they tested but they can't test for every single combination of components out there... We are "Play-Testers" and the Issue Councel is where to put this information - make sure you search for an issue first to make sure there isn't already an open report on it, if there is you can confirm and include a report of what you have seen:

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/community/issue-council

I recommend using the Issue Council, as if it is a component combination issue in your PC they will be able to fix this when they do optimization on the game to make it work best on the most amount of computers, and if its another issue for instance if it's the new way the game loads stuff in, then thats letting them know something isn't quite right. Even if it's caused by putting surviveability up, tell them that it sucks and is no fun, as that helps them with further decisions like that in the future.

I have not moved over to 3.3 yet but have all of the 300's, so good luck! Your moments reporting may make 3.3 better for me and all other 300 series ship owners

 

[Mich Angel]

As many already said there are a lot not optimized and balanced do be done yet when it come to weapon, flight and combat. it's far from done.

BUT!

Then pirate ship don't have default load out on their ships, they have upgraded's shield weapon..etc.etc.., so yes they are a bitch to kill sometime but that is intended not a bug.
To take on and out a group of 3-5 Aurora and Cutlass pirate ships, you do best in a dedicated medium, heavy fighter or you are likely do get your but kicked.
A group of 1-3 Aurora pirate you could hold of and win over with a Aurora MR, Mustang Alpha or a 300i but that would not be a easy task.

Conclusion!
For a attacking group pirate entanglement a medium fighter is advised for such a task or take a chance, if you're in a small fighter I say, run then live to fight another day.

CHEERS!

And so we are clear that I'm not theory crafting, guessing or making shit up : -P

Side note: Make note that this 15-19 wave fights take around a hour or more to do on your own, so it's not a walk in the park I've lost countless times too.
Single player practice pirate/vanduul swarm alone or Private with TESTies against each other or together against pirate/vanduul is what give you most skills.
AC Competition high score hunting, not so much but it's a good experience to try every now and then but do it for fun not for score then your focus is right, something to keep in mind.

CHEERS! Happy fighting!

 

[Carlos Spicyweiner]

To me, combat is all about strategy and tactics. I highly recommend this book:
Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War
This really changed my paradigm as regards flying a combat spacecraft. Boyd's OODA loop is a particularly useful tool in combat. OODA stands for Observe, Orient, Decide, Act. I OBSERVE the situation(number and type of adversaries, etc.)I ORIENT myself to the threat, I DECIDE on my course of action, then I ACT. To be sure, my action has always been the same(scream like a little girl and run away), but I do it in an orderly, disciplined fashion.

 

[Radegast74]

To me, combat is all about strategy and tactics. I highly recommend this book:
Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War
This really changed my paradigm as regards flying a combat spacecraft. Boyd's OODA loop is a particularly useful tool in combat. OODA stands for Observe, Orient, Decide, Act. I OBSERVE the situation(number and type of adversaries, etc.)I ORIENT myself to the threat, I DECIDE on my course of action, then I ACT. To be sure, my action has always been the same(scream like a little girl and run away), but I do it in an orderly, disciplined fashion.

+10 internetz for mentioning the "OODA Loop"! It is an on-going, continuous action...not sure what they are teaching the kids nowadays, but that's what I was taught eons ago!

 

[Deroth]

I use the same techniques I developed back in the 90s playing Knights of the Sky.

 

[Hybus]

Weapon balance, time to kill, weapon typing all needs to be tweaked. For example, last night I took a cutlass out with 4 size 3 disruption shotguns.(buy them on grim hex) They weren't doing squat to NPC pilots besides a little shield damage. So I asked a friend of mine to help out. Two bursts and his hornet was dead in the water, shutdown. He'd power back up, blam, down again. Couldn't move. He would have been easy pickings for a turret gunner or if I had a wingman along in another ship.

TL;DR I'm thinking NPC ships are behaving very differently from player ships

 

[Vavrik]

To me, combat is all about strategy and tactics. I highly recommend this book:
Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War
This really changed my paradigm as regards flying a combat spacecraft. Boyd's OODA loop is a particularly useful tool in combat. OODA stands for Observe, Orient, Decide, Act. I OBSERVE the situation(number and type of adversaries, etc.)I ORIENT myself to the threat, I DECIDE on my course of action, then I ACT. To be sure, my action has always been the same(scream like a little girl and run away), but I do it in an orderly, disciplined fashion.

I'll send another +10 for the OODA Loop, but I would to also recommend the book. It's useful to learn the principles for more than just flight combat too.

 

[Carlos Spicyweiner]

I'll send another +10 for the OODA Loop, but I would to also recommend the book. It's useful to learn the principles for more than just flight combat too.

Oh yeah, I use it every day. Boyd was a radical genius, and I couldn't put that book down

 

[Bambooza]

Great, Admiral flippers not only wants to rule the sea but now they be reading books on the principles of flight and how to rule the sky as well. What next they be thanking us for all the fish as they conquer space flight?

 

[Radegast74]

Great, Admiral flippers not only wants to rule the sea but now they be reading books on the principles of flight and how to rule the sky as well. What next they be thanking us for all the fish as they conquer space flight?

well, next on his agenda is making sure all sausage-type foods are of sufficient spiciness!