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Missile Lock woes: bugged or working as intended?


BobBudJones

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I read this comment in another thread (http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=702894&page=5):

 

"The missile lock is an especially bad aspect. I've bought all the reduced lockon time upgrades possible on several of them, and they still randomly stop tracking despite the target never leaving the middle of the aim circle. When I get TONE to tell me I'm locked, it's hit or miss whether any missiles actually fire when I release. I finally realized that SOMETIMES they are firing but playing no visual, but sometimes they just don't fire despite hearing a lock and the target never getting out of my fire zone. Clearly I'm doing something wrong, because other players seem to have NO problem at all getting lockon in amazingly short times." [Courtesy of The_Hunter_Too]

 

I have EXACTLY these same problems. Lock-on process interrupts for no apparent reason (no defensive moves triggered, target still centered), and then the bit about missiles not firing when I release the button after a successful (supposedly) lock. Again, targets are still in range and no maneuvers/cooldowns have been executed. I have the same problems with Sabotage Probes also.

 

Am I screwing up or is something broken here? Both problems seem to happen quite frequently.

Edited by BobBudJones
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I have encountered this as well, to a degree. You should also realize that a projectile like the Photon Torpedo travels VERY slowly unless you have the speed boost on it. You can literally outrun your own missile and hit your brakes, then watch it fly past you.

 

If you use a super fast projectile like a concussion missile or a cluster missile, you shouldn't notice this so much.

 

I've found that while using Photon Torpedoes, the "failure to launch" problem usually happens while I'm firing lasers at the same time as releasing my lock. I may be wrong though. I've got some vid cap of this happening as well as a vid cap of random lock breaks for no good reason.

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FWIW, I use mainly concussion and cluster missiles. But yeah...now that you mention it, I usually am firing lasers at the same time. You should be able to do that though....

 

It could be lag if the ship in fact gets outside your firing arc but the lag causes it to appear inside it....in that case maybe it should be a little less sensitive? I dunno.

Edited by BobBudJones
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The seemingly random lock drops are lag between you, the server, and your target. Your client sees the target in the arc properly, then the server tells it "No it's actually here" which is just outside of your arc, and the lock breaks. They just need to change it where the lock is dependent on if your client sees the target properly in the arc.
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Don't forget the defensive buffs that break missile lock. That could be part of the issue.

 

Yeah, scouts have that at least that break all locks but I don't think that's it. Sometimes, and only against certain people it seems, a missile just won't lock on, it just ends for literally no reason again and again while working fine against others in the same match.

 

Oh and I have a stable 62ms ping so I'm certain it's not on my end, but beween the server and the person I'm trying to lock on to.

Edited by Jandi
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Yeah i have that too..

 

sometimes it's the missile lock breaker of the target but most times it's lag.

 

I also have ships jumping through space quite often. Sometime to an degree that you can hit them with lasers...

 

Simple solution .. who has suck a crappy internet connect shouldn't be able to participate in GS. Nearly all other "fps" games kick player that can't fulfil some minimum ping rate and packet loss ratios.

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Well, if you have a firing arc of 14 or so degrees, and the guy is 4 km away from you and moving relative up while you're moving relative down, and there's a half second of lag... even if you adjust "in time", the fact is that while the server is lagging, it considers both of you to be moving along the last known vectors of velocity. Half a second of moving at the wrong velocity is death for a missile lock. And the best part is, the lag can come from you, the server, or the other guy, so there's three places there for a ****up to occur.

 

This is just one more reason why clusters are the best lock-on weapons in the game.

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To clarify for one responder, it is definitely not an activated defensive ability. You can see when those things happen and it's just not that. It also happens on all types of ships, even bombers who have no way of actively breaking lock.

 

As for lag, I agree with the guy who said "why is lock breaking when I can still hit with blasters?" That makes sense. Also, there are no other indicators of lag (i.e. jumping ships at these times). Furthermore, I just have to think that even if it IS caused by lag, if it's such a frequent problem for so many people, the mechanic simply needs to be changed somewhat if they can't do anything about the lag.

 

It's just too frustrating to repeatedly lose lock (for no good reason) and have to start over from scratch, when your windows of opportunity are generally so small, especially against good pilots. And of course it essentially nerfs any ships that use lock-on weapons.

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It's just too frustrating to repeatedly lose lock (for no good reason) and have to start over from scratch, when your windows of opportunity are generally so small, especially against good pilots. And of course it essentially nerfs any ships that use lock-on weapons.

 

I fly a Pike, it's not amusing at all since missiles are my main weapon. I can take out people with Quads as well, of course, but clusters are my main killing tool and losing locks for literally no apparent reason gets old.

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Yeah but I see it happen even when I'm chasing someone and both are going in the same direction. The lock just drops again and again.

 

If the two of you are relatively close, I can't explain that. If he's relatively near the edge of your lock range, though, even a fifth of a second of boost would take him out of range. Normally you'd be able to do something about it, but lag lol.

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There is NO way this is "server lag". I get this a lot, as I was piking it up today.

 

Typical:

 

Approach enemy, begin lock. Enemy begins boosting- lock lost but he never leaves circle. Begin second lock. Second lock goes live, enemy engines out of the missile midair. Right click right click right click right click (engine component is now over) right click -> begin third lock, immediate loss of lock within less than a second for no reason. Begin fourth lock, lock goes live, enemy takes missile.

 

 

UGHHHHHh

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If the two of you are relatively close, I can't explain that. If he's relatively near the edge of your lock range, though, even a fifth of a second of boost would take him out of range. Normally you'd be able to do something about it, but lag lol.

 

Was just in a match and had trouble keeping a lock on a BOMBER! Was fine on other people, but not this guy, nope. That's ridiculous. I call shenanigans on this.

Edited by Jandi
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This happens to me every single goddamn match.

 

I literally can't use proton torpedoes because of this. I can have a scout at 7-9000 metres, keep them dead centre of the firing circle, and get NOTHING.

 

The lock will drop half way through for no reason at all.

 

I followed a scout for a good twenty seconds while it was dogfighting. I lost lock at LEAST five or six times on the little ***** of a thing, without it leaving my range OR firing circle. And then there are times when I get a solid lock, release the button, and nothing happens.

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The more frustrating thing that relates to this is the instance I often have of enemy seemingly outrunning my missiles.

 

It happens rarely on clusters (obviously due to their speed and close range) but often with Conc and PTorps I will get a good lock, fire, and see the enemy target hit boosters and my missile just.........trails off with no dmg done.

 

Im cool with defensive maneuvers breaking locks, but if I manage to get a lock and get a good missile away, I expect a hit.

 

Given what i have read on the subject, i wasnt aware that this was supposed to be possible.

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Distortion Field, Tier 3, right side choice = "no reason at all".

 

How many times do we have to say that it's not a defensive cooldown? We're not noobs; you can SEE when someone pops Distortion Field. These are not those times. Plus, it only lasts for a number of seconds, when I and others have experienced the problem for longer continuous periods of time. And last I checked, bombers don't have that option. Please take your smug dismissal elsewhere.

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The more frustrating thing that relates to this is the instance I often have of enemy seemingly outrunning my missiles.

 

It happens rarely on clusters (obviously due to their speed and close range) but often with Conc and PTorps I will get a good lock, fire, and see the enemy target hit boosters and my missile just.........trails off with no dmg done.

 

Im cool with defensive maneuvers breaking locks, but if I manage to get a lock and get a good missile away, I expect a hit.

 

Given what i have read on the subject, i wasnt aware that this was supposed to be possible.

 

Engine maneuvers do in fact evade missiles that are already in flight. As the target of a missile, there is a clear distinction between the alerts when being locked onto and when the missile has been fired, and you can still hit your engine ability during the second phase to avoid it.

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