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Proton torpedo balancing


theknightof

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Probably been discussed plenty before but I am opening the topic anyway:

Protons are OP, and the obvious first choice for most of us for any ship that can have the component. What bothers me is that it takes away the freedom of choice -- if I try alternative missiles I am compromising performance for the sake of fun. The simplest way of balancing the missiles, and allowing us more viable selections is to nerf the Proton. Of course there is the option to boost most of the rest -- I personally wouldn't mind having other dangerous missiles so the matches will be more intense.

If Proton is to be nerfed, the first things that come to my mind are removing its DOT, and practically limiting its range to 10k (probably by having missile speed & range being the same tier upgrade).

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Two things. One, limiting the range of protons isn’t going to do much, as most ace pilots operate well within 10,000m. In fact, if you main a T3 Strike, you’re looking at an operational range of <4,000m. Two, while protorps are powerful, they aren’t unbeatable or broken. If you have full health and shields, they won’t one shot you. Hydro Spanner counters the DOT enough to let you survive, and the lock-on time is enough to allow a good pilot to los or engine break when the missile is fired. Multiple protorps can be a problem, but so can multiple railguns or multiple battle Scouts.

 

Nothing needs to be nerfed. Instead, players need to learn to play around these things and beat them. If BW nerfed everything that players said needed to be nerfed, we might as well be playing a My Little Pony sim for all the damage people would do in this game.

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Two things. One, limiting the range of protons isn’t going to do much, as most ace pilots operate well within 10,000m. In fact, if you main a T3 Strike, you’re looking at an operational range of <4,000m. Two, while protorps are powerful, they aren’t unbeatable or broken. If you have full health and shields, they won’t one shot you. Hydro Spanner counters the DOT enough to let you survive, and the lock-on time is enough to allow a good pilot to los or engine break when the missile is fired. Multiple protorps can be a problem, but so can multiple railguns or multiple battle Scouts.

 

Nothing needs to be nerfed. Instead, players need to learn to play around these things and beat them. If BW nerfed everything that players said needed to be nerfed, we might as well be playing a My Little Pony sim for all the damage people would do in this game.

 

so which missiles do you choose for a tmd ship? you sound like you don't use protons, or just talking rubbish...

and as you said "If you have full health and shields, they won’t one shot you". under these conditions other missiles won't even concern you.

there is no need to give us a lecture on how to avoid a missile -- you can do the same against other missiles but they won't kill you even if you failed to....

and i'm speaking balance of components here, not of ships.

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Which ship are you flying?

using protons on strikers.

maybe for bomber/gs you has more flexibility (i don't know because last time i played gs is ages ago, and bombers i'd use only in domination where torpedoes are not the component to go for). but on a striker it's a no-brainer to pick proton before anything else.

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I run concussion missiles on my T1F in preference to Protons. The shorter lock and wider arc add up to more missiles fired, which in the long run is more overall damage, which ends up being more kills in the long run. They also have strong utility effects in either piercing or slow depending on upgrade choice. In theory Clusters can also outperform Proton torp, but it requires a flying style where you'd probably be better of just switching to a battlescout and using Clusters on it.

 

On a Pike I'll definitely run Proton + something else, but to really be a mainstay weapon system torps need to be combined with another missile to back them up.

 

The good, and bad, thing about Protons is that they do their damage in big widely spaced out hits. That means it's more likely for any particular hit to net a kill (which new players love/hate depending on whether killing/being killed), but it pays for it with fairly low overall damage output. They are efficient in damage per kill, but higher output systems can put out enough damage to outdo them in total kills through sheer volume of damage output.

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Well, my choices are:

 

T1F - Concussions

T2F - EMP/Concussions

T3F - EMP

 

Proton has 3.0s lock time, and that's enough for me for switching it for smth else.

my protons lock in 2.2 which makes them easy to use. it's a frequent 1-hit kill, and, in my opinion, is not so much fun regardless of which end of the missile you are on....

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I run concussion missiles on my T1F in preference to Protons. The shorter lock and wider arc add up to more missiles fired, which in the long run is more overall damage, which ends up being more kills in the long run. They also have strong utility effects in either piercing or slow depending on upgrade choice. In theory Clusters can also outperform Proton torp, but it requires a flying style where you'd probably be better of just switching to a battlescout and using Clusters on it.

 

On a Pike I'll definitely run Proton + something else, but to really be a mainstay weapon system torps need to be combined with another missile to back them up.

 

The good, and bad, thing about Protons is that they do their damage in big widely spaced out hits. That means it's more likely for any particular hit to net a kill (which new players love/hate depending on whether killing/being killed), but it pays for it with fairly low overall damage output. They are efficient in damage per kill, but higher output systems can put out enough damage to outdo them in total kills through sheer volume of damage output.

fair points.

yet, what Concussion has in arc and speed, Proton has in range.

and in my opinion instant kill > debuffs.

it would take lots of statistics gathering to get a conclusive comparison.

and even if slightly nerfed Protons would still be among the most useful missiles -- there is always a room for one that deals so much hull dmg.

it would be hard to make a serious case that nerfing proton would disbalance the missile components.

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...and if we compare Proton to the other long-range torpedo - Thermite - what do we see?

1. Proton has 1.5k longer range (no range upgrade option for Thermite)

2. 15-18sec DOT is not as useful (as in any pvp) as a high burst dmg

3. Target debuffs for a long-range missile -- not the best option...

Are they balanced?

The answer is obvious.

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my protons lock in 2.2 which makes them easy to use.

 

Ease of use depends a lot on how good the target is at defending against missiles.

 

This forum skews heavily toward high skill players, and in that population, getting hit by Proton Torps isn't really a significant concern. "Are you worried about getting killed by torpedoes?" Generally the answer is, "No, they're easy to defend against." They fall well behind Railguns, HLCs, and BLCs on the list of things to worry about, and depending on the game mode or even the amount of teamwork can come out behind utility choices like EMP missile.

 

More of a nuisance than an extreme threat. The nuisance being that you have to be more aware and stick reasonably close to cover if there are multiple Proton launchers after you, which gets upgraded to a really severe nuisance/moderate threat if someone is helping out with EMPs.

 

So in a balance conversation, here at least, you'll get the view of high skill vs. high skill play. In that situation, Protons are decent, but Concussion, EMP, are competitive with it, and Cluster is situationally competitive with it. The lock is slow enough, and the arc small enough that the other missiles hit at a sufficiently higher rate to keep up with Protons.

 

In a random match on a live server, where you're lucky to get 4 high skill players between two teams in a 12 v 12 match, that changes a bit. For a high skill player, it's still not that much of a difference. Blowing up people that don't know how to defend is quick no matter what missile you use. For moderate or low skill players, there's a significant difference. For them the high chance of a Proton hit landing a kill is immensely useful, because they have a much harder time landing follow up hits, whatever the weapons available on their ship. It becomes a significantly superior choice for them in that situation, because the mechanics of Proton usually don't require that follow-up, especially in a piercing heavy Meta where there are a lot of ships flying around with full shields and moderate hull damage.

 

Protons have a set of tradeoffs in their design:

Pros: Range, Shield piercing, Armor piercing

Cons: Firing arc, Lock time, Ammo capacity, Reload time, Lack of utility effects.

 

These pros and cons relate to their role. Proton Torps are a bomber killing tool (distinct from bomber neutralizing tools like EMP), that are also moderately good at pressuring gunships, and adequate but slightly sub-par at generalized ship killing provided the target makes moderate to large defensive mistakes.

 

It's actually the second best torpedo for the job, as if you really really care about killing bombers fast you're better off with Thermite torps. The problem with them is mostly, "They stole my kill," syndrome. With regards to game state, an assist that causes the bomber to die sooner is objectively better than a slower solo kill via Proton, but people get possessive over kills that they haven't actually killed yet, :rak_02: and as a result tend to dislike Thermite even in cases where it's clearly the superior choice.

 

Proton is good at what it does, but it does not come remotely close to doing everything, and there are enough non-proton ideal situations in any match so that there are a bunch of other missile choices that are equivalent or better, if you know how to wring the maximum use out of them. The only ship that I typically build Protons into a "standard" build for is the T2F, and even there it's not mandatory. There's a decent argument that a Concussion + EMP build is as good or better than any Proton + combo.

 

In terms of missile balance issues to be redressed: Ion missiles need help (lots of help), Sabo probe probably needs help but no one wants to fly in a world where Sabo probe works really well so it's probably ok to be slightly broken, Thermite Torps are actually fine but armor is so nerfed right now, and skilled team play so rare, that there's not really a reason to take them aside from lulz as you watch people desperately try to somehow out-fly the D.O.T.

 

For what it's worth, when I equip Thermite on a Clarion for silliness with D.O.T.s it doesn't seem to make the ship any less deadly than it is with Protons it just tends to shift a few digits from the kill column to the assist column, and if I want to be maximally effective for the team, I ditch both torps for EMP.

 

What you're talking about, a play advantage so significant that it almost compels Proton use, does not appear to exist in high level play. Turn that around and ask, "What's the best missile if a new player wants a chance of getting a kill instead of an assist on a more skilled player," and then Proton torpedo has a commanding lead over just about every component other than Slug Railgun. That's not really balance per se, though, that's more a new player experience issue.

 

Should there be a missile that's that much easier for new players to use effectively compared to the other missiles? Probably, yes. New players need some sort of rewarding experience, and blowing up other new players in a giant blue ball of doom is fairly rewarding in GSF. As long as a lot of skilled players are inclined to say, "Eh, whatever, take Proton if you like, it's not bad, but I'm taking Concussion or EMP," then the balance is probably still o.k. All of the missiles that work are situational in regards to working. Protons just have the lowest skill barrier to taking advantage of the respective missile use situations.

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so which missiles do you choose for a tmd ship? you sound like you don't use protons, or just talking rubbish...

and as you said "If you have full health and shields, they won’t one shot you". under these conditions other missiles won't even concern you.

there is no need to give us a lecture on how to avoid a missile -- you can do the same against other missiles but they won't kill you even if you failed to....

and i'm speaking balance of components here, not of ships.

 

Snip

 

I literally could not have come up with a better response than what Ramalina put so eloquently. I wasn’t trying to “lecture” anyone. I was pointing out that protorps don’t need a nerf in the name of balance, not talking rubish. Yes, I absolutely use protorps in TDM because they’re effective. But they aren’t the end-all beat-all of secondary weapons. Effective =\= broken. And for your information, I’ve been killed by plenty of protorps and they do concern me. That’s why I got good at avoiding them.

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i believe, Ramalina, you indirectly agreed that there is unbalance in missile components -- even if not strictly speaking of Protons. (...i won't even start on the imbalance of blasters)

just for everyone's info, i am an experienced player with somewhere between 2-3k matches among various characters, 100% gsf achievements, and always flying solo.

and a reminder: gsf has only one queue mode, there is no ranked/unranked, no team/solo, so the topic of components' imbalance is not only high-skilled pilots' concern.

Enticy, as i mentioned, there is the option of boosting some other missiles. You are right "Effective =\= broken" but effectiveness of some vs. low effectiveness of other = broken. Hence, You are using protons, I am using protons, and I bet the % of players choosing anything over protons is unproportional to the number of choices we are given.

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Protons have a set of tradeoffs in their design:

Pros: Range, Shield piercing, Armor piercing

Cons: Firing arc, Lock time, Ammo capacity, Reload time, Lack of utility effects.

 

by the way, it's not exactly true that reload time is a con of Protons -- it equals that of Thermite and Ion; it's lower than EMP; and only beaten by Cuncussion and Cluster.

Ammo capacity is rarely a factor if we add to the equation refill options, and most players don't go through a competitive battle without dying every now and then (though it's personally something i take under consideration because in tdm i'm way below 1 death per match).

I'm leaving Sabotage out of the discussion, it's kind of a topic of its own...

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I think protorps are, generally speaking, pretty well balanced, for all the reasons that others have outlined in this thread.

 

However, I wouldn't mind seeing a very minor nerf to them if only because it would teach people to actually bother learning to aim.

 

maybe

 

people can learn to aim right

 

years of experience tells me they still won't but let me pretend okay

 

Nonsense aside, yeah. Protorps disincentivize learning to aim primaries. I would like for people to have a reason to learn to aim, so maybe it wouldn't be the worst thing.

 

I don't even use them regularly on anything except my T2F though so what do I know? For my play style at least, concussion missiles are way better on the T1F, but that's largely because I only use it for the debuff; I get my kills in that ship with the primaries.

Edited by DakhathKilrathi
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So while I don't think Proton is hugely imbalanced like some do, I do think it's a little bit stronger then some other missiles. In my opinion EMP missile is still the best missile in the game, but I'm not sure we want that one to go down in power since it keeps crazy Bomber nests in check, and that's been very healthy for the game so far.

 

I'm not huge on discussing how to balance things, but my idea is a simple one that I think could also bring some other components back into the game making the meta even bigger.

 

Remove Armor Ignore on Proton Torpedo.

Now you'd have a missile that specializes in sniping kills but also has a component hard counter in Damage Reduction builds. Which would give Thermite a new role as the anti armor Torpedo of choice.

 

Having Protons be scary has been very good for the game, since now you can peel for teammates, threatening a Proton on an enemy targeting your teammate needs to convey that level of threat so people have to dissengage, so we get the back and forth we currently have in GSF. Pre 5.5, everyone just played offensively 90% of the time and just ignored what everyone else was doing and hoped their evasion would save them, which it often did.

 

 

Anyways that's just my thoughts on the matter, I'd much rather them keep Proton as it is then gut it and lose that threat of a scary missile hitting someone. However I do think dropping it's Armor Ignore could open up some interesting possiblities.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Ease of use depends a lot on how good the target is at defending against missiles.

/snip

Superb answer, Ramalina.

 

I often run protons on my T1F but I rarely expect them to do much. They are easy to avoid, unless you launch one at someone you just saw use their engine break. Otherwise, I'm actually surprised when they actually land. I don't carry them for the damage, I carry them for the threat of the damage. As Drakolich mentioned, the consequences of being hit by a proton torpedo have to be large for the threat to be relevant. I could carry concussion missiles and get higher DPS out of my missiles, but I like being able to threaten people at 11.5km when needed and some people actually keep track of what you use, thus losing the threatening part of them. Most importantly, living across the globe also means actually getting a missile lock isn't as simple, the system seems to suffer greatly from above average latencies so I don't use missiles much.

 

Similarly, I rarely get hit by protons, unless there's several people locking missiles at me at the same time and I misjudge the threat, or I use my engine ability in the open and someone takes advantage of the opportunity. They do force me to fly defensively, so they have an effect.. they just rarely deal actual damage.

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  • 1 month later...
Two things. One, limiting the range of protons isn’t going to do much, as most ace pilots operate well within 10,000m. In fact, if you main a T3 Strike, you’re looking at an operational range of <4,000m. Two, while protorps are powerful, they aren’t unbeatable or broken. If you have full health and shields, they won’t one shot you. Hydro Spanner counters the DOT enough to let you survive, and the lock-on time is enough to allow a good pilot to los or engine break when the missile is fired. Multiple protorps can be a problem, but so can multiple railguns or multiple battle Scouts.

 

Nothing needs to be nerfed. Instead, players need to learn to play around these things and beat them. If BW nerfed everything that players said needed to be nerfed, we might as well be playing a My Little Pony sim for all the damage people would do in this game.

 

Well I'm always confused, because despite their 10,000m range. Often I never start to get a LOCK-ON until I'm within 5,000 or even < that for range. That's in my FT-8 Star Guard, so I'm confused what I'm doing wrong, despite my ships mostly has Proton Torp's fully upgraded. I also have Efficient Targeting FULLY UPGRADED! Along with many other aspects of the Ship.

 

Often I can find similar issues with Thermite, in other Ships that makes them only slightly better. I never have a problem with Concussion Missiles, so I mostly stick with those! It's always very disappointing!

 

I mean it's not like they are evading the LOCK, it doesn't even start LOCK-On till I get <50% of the maximum Range. So I'd love to know what I'm doing wrong? So ANY help would be greatly appreciated!

Edited by Strathkin
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I think proton torpedoes should stay the same. The thing about proton torpedoes is that it makes it a bit easier for the average player to get a kill. The top players are good at using all their weapons and get higher burst damage. They get more kills because they do more damage before their target can evade or escape. The lower skill players do less damage with their blasters and are not as good at following up to finish the target. But GSF is a multiplayer game where many ships might be in a confused melee. There is always a chance that you lock your missile on an opponent who is low on energy, been hit by something like EMP missile or remote slicing, or has just used their missile break. So you have a chance to get a kill. I think in a game where all skill and experience levels are mixed together in the same match, giving less experienced players a better chance to get some positive reinforcement might help them stay in GSF long enough to improve and enjoy it more, which would help the whole game.
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I think proton torpedoes should stay the same. The thing about proton torpedoes is that it makes it a bit easier for the average player to get a kill.

 

...

 

There is always a chance that you lock your missile on an opponent who is low on energy, been hit by something like EMP missile or remote slicing, or has just used their missile break. So you have a chance to get a kill.

 

Well I can't even FIRE Proton Torps / Thermite Torp (95%) of the time, let alone even engage a LOCK-ON! Often I have to be within < 4,000m of the Target, despite the claim Proton or Thermite Torps 10,000m - 12,000m range! The guy I quoted above said, "In fact, if you main a T3 Strike, you’re looking at an operational range of <4,000m." so hence the reason I quoted him. I'm often flying my FT-8 Strike Fighter though with Proton, yet rarely ever get LOCK-ON with the Torps!

 

So I'm trying to figure out what I don't understand about either of them! Only my Concussion Missiles seem to lock-on regularly, and will then also Fire when I release and within Range!

 

I've spend several months playing, and starting to want to GIVE-UP on GSF for that reason alone. :(

Edited by Strathkin
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Well I can't even FIRE Proton Torps / Thermite Torp (95%) of the time, let alone even engage a LOCK-ON! Often I have to be within < 4,000m of the Target, despite the claim Proton or Thermite Torps 10,000m - 12,000m range! The guy I quoted above said, "In fact, if you main a T3 Strike, you’re looking at an operational range of <4,000m." so hence the reason I quoted him. I'm often flying my FT-8 Strike Fighter though with Proton, yet rarely ever get LOCK-ON with the Torps!

 

So I'm trying to figure out what I don't understand about either of them! Only my Concussion Missiles seem to lock-on regularly, and will then also Fire when I release and within Range!

 

I've spend several months playing, and starting to want to GIVE-UP on GSF for that reason alone. :(

 

More information would help. One of the key ones being, what's your network latency to the SWTOR servers.

 

So step by step:

 

Select a ship as a target. Cannons, railguns, and rockets can all fire without a target selected, missiles and torps cannot.

 

Get the target ship inside the missile/torp firing arc (the smallest one if using torps). The lead reticle that's used for cannon aim has nothing to do with missiles. Get the actual ship you want inside the arc. If it goes outside the arc, even for a fraction of a second, the lock on is broken and must restart. The same holds true if any object gets between you and the targeted ship. Latency above say 175 ms or so can be an issue with this, if where your client thinks the ship is and where the server thinks the ship is are different. To help with this, move your firing arc so that if the target ship flies in the direction it currently is going it will have about 66 to 75% of the circle to still cross, don't center it. This gives you some buffer for maintaining the lock if there's significant latency.

 

Make sure the range is valid, 10 km baseline for torpedoes, and hold the right mouse button until the lock is complete, then fire by releasing the button. There's an audio tone, and arrows that progressively march into the center of your cursor/reticle as it locks.

 

Note that if a ship has used an engine maneuver within the last 3 seconds, it will be immune to missile locks and you'll have to wait out the immunity to start locking. I believe the same is true of EMP field with some of the upgrade options. Distortion field can also break the lock on process, but doesn't have a subsequent immunity period.

 

 

The range with respect to a Clarion has nothing to do with torpedo range. That's default max cannon range if using RFLs or LLCs.

 

The farther out you are, the easier it is to lock torpedoes because trigonometry operates in your favor by reducing the angular velocity of the target ship across your firing arc. The tradeoff is that at longer ranges the target has a bit more time to use an engine maneuver before the torp hits. The arcs on torpedoes are small enough that they become significantly more difficult to lock at ranges of say, less than 6 km.

 

Firing arc upgrades in the component upgrade tree and from Offensive category crew members can help with ease of keeping targets in the firing arc.

 

If Concussion missiles are working for you, then in principle the torpedoes should also work, as the mechanics are exactly the same, it's just that the torps have longer range and smaller arcs.

 

This is why I somewhat suspect latency issues. Concussion missiles have an arc large enough so that there's some built in buffer space against client/server disagreements about whether a target is inside the arc.

 

 

Oh, unlikely option, but possible, if you have hardware issues with your mouse, like a worn switch on the right button, if the button press isn't continuous due to bad electrical contact that could also do it.

 

 

If the above doesn't solve things post again and we'll work some more on getting you sorted out. Happy flying.

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More information would help...

Select a ship as a target. Cannons, railguns, and rockets can all fire without a target selected, missiles and torps cannot.

 

Get the target ship inside the missile/torp firing arc (the smallest one if using torps). The lead reticle that's used for cannon aim has nothing to do with missiles.

 

The arcs on torpedoes are small enough that they become significantly more difficult to lock at ranges of say, less than 6 km...

 

I don't really ever notice LAG, and connection very good. I don't think that's the problem. As I said they are often right in front of me, no grey lines thru them or behind object. I read your comment about Missile have better Arc's, yet I see nothing stating the default Arc's for Missile or Torpedo Weapon when looking! Yet I'll try a few things identified above and hope that works. If they identified or expanded the Tutorial by 3-5x, they should focus more on Torpedoes, as well as Rail Gun, and other Weapons. Not to mention other Offensive or Defensive abilities! Yet as I said most target's are often in front, lined right up. My connection speed is also quite fast.

 

The guy I quoted at on last page responding to someone else, said "Two things. One, limiting the range of protons isn’t going to do much, as most ace pilots operate well within 10,000m. In fact, if you main a T3 Strike, you’re looking at an operational range of <4,000m. Two, while protorps are powerful, they aren’t unbeatable or broken."

 

I'd agree with his comments, yet confused why he said <4,000m. I'll tell you my Strike Fighter, yet my several other ships are also fairly upgraded! Despite having tried for 3-5 months, I'm almost ready to give it up...

 

https://i.imgur.com/khWhPEM.png

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

FT-8 Star Guard

First PRIMARY Weapon:

Heavy Laser Cannon: Fully Upgraded *PRIMARY*

2nd PRIMARY Weapon:

Heavy Laser Cannon: Fully Upgraded

Rapid-fire Laser Cannon: First 3 Upgrades till it Ignores 100% of Enemy Armor

Ion Cannon: First 4 Upgrades till Blasters Drain 4 Engine Power from Target, and 5% range increase.

Quad Laser Cannon: First 2 Upgrades

SECONDARY Weapons

Concussion Missle: Fully Upgraded - Range 7,700m

Proton Torpedo: Fully Upgraded: Range 10,000m (only LOCK-ON often <4,000m) --best to use Rapid-fire Primary!

CAPACITOR

Damage Capacitor: Fully Upgraded

MAGAZINE

Efficient Targeting: Fully Upgraded

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

 

I'm tired of being 3-7x more likely to get hit by Missile/Torp than to ever ENGAGE LOCK-ON for my PROTON or THERMITE Torps! I don't have that problem with Concussion Missiles. I also following ships: Strike Fighter FT-8, FT-7B; Scout Nova Dive, Sprearpoint; Bomber Sledgehammer, Warcarrier; Gunship SGS-41B.

 

I do realize Missile / Torps are BEST for LONG RANGE attacks of 5,000 - 10,000m that is obvious!

 

So to me they really seem useless, and I think they pitiful... Cause why have Torp's with long range, if I can't fire or even engage LOCK-ON till <4,000m 85-95% of the time. Only once have I managed to fire a Thermite Torp on a Target at around 7,000 - 8,000m. So I keep trying to LEARN what I'm missing about TORPEDOES! :(

Edited by Strathkin
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Cause why have Torp's with long range, if I can't fire or even engage LOCK-ON till <4,000m 90-95% of the time.

 

My guess is that you are not keeping the target within the protorp targeting circle. It is the smallest of any missile. The target must remain in the circle for the entire lock on or you have to start over. Check if you have the targeting circle increase selected in your Protorp upgrades, that will help some. The small target circle and the long lock on are to be expected for the missile with the biggest damage. It will be the smallest of the 2 circles, the wider one is your primary blaster weapon.

 

Does it start lock at first then lose it? Or does it never start lock at all?

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My guess is that you are not keeping the target within the protorp targeting circle. It is the smallest of any missile. The target must remain in the circle for the entire lock on or you have to start over. Check if you have the targeting circle increase selected in your Protorp upgrades, that will help some. The small target circle and the long lock on are to be expected for the missile with the biggest damage. It will be the smallest of the 2 circles, the wider one is your primary blaster weapon.

 

Does it start lock at first then lose it? Or does it never start lock at all?

 

Not sure why Torpedoes are so Horrible to engage LOCK-ON at least for me!

 

https://i.imgur.com/khWhPEM.png

Correct, it does NOT even ENGAGE LOCK-ON 90-95% of the time! 50% of the time I have far more LUCK at <4,000m which others say is FAR harder! My Proton Torp's are also FULLY UPGRADED! I also have Efficient Targeting (enabled) and fully done giving 16% reduced LOCK-ON time. That doesn't include the other 14% reduced lock-on time as Proton Torpedoes FULLY UPGRADED; along 4% arc increase. Yet I can't even get it to start... :(

 

https://i.imgur.com/z3Y95YG.png

I do my best to keep them LINED-UP which I consider to be in this area. 50% of the time I have far more LUCK at <4,000m which others say is FAR harder! Other times I can't engage LOCK-ON at any time. I don't see enemy suddenly changing direction, or a rapid increase in speed so no defensive maneuvers; because I'm not even starting LOCK-ON! Yet can't get them to LOCK-ON, let alone FIRE!

 

▬▬▬▬▬

Still having done 5 months of GSF, despite I've learned a lot; except perhaps haven't really used Rail Guns. Mostly cause I've struggled so long with Torpedoes! I'm also 5x more stubborn than my friends, and most of them don't even play it or like GSF. I'd say that's generally true with our Guild too. They'd be wise to expand Tutorial making it far more comprehensive (3x longer) perhaps, and a TRAINING mission or two as well.

Edited by Strathkin
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https://i.imgur.com/NAVXIQT.png

I do my best to keep them LINED-UP which I consider to be in this area. 50% of the time I have far more LUCK at <4,000m which others say is FAR harder! I don't see enemy suddenly changing direction, or a rapid increase in speed so no defensive maneuvers; because I'm not even starting LOCK-ON! Yet can't get them to LOCK-ON when it's 4,000+ which is just dumb!

 

Still having done 5 months of GSF, despite I've a lot; except perhaps haven't used Rail Guns. Cause I just want to LEARN how to use Torp's and they frustrate me far more than they should! I'm also 5x more stubborn that my friends, and most of them don't even play it or like it. Tutorial should be 3-5x longer, and they should offer a few TRAINING missions to teach more difficult aspects...

 

Ah, well this is helpful. So in terms of having the target in the firing arc you are doing just fine, those green boxes are well within the arc and you'd have to have horrendous lag to have that not register with the server.

 

 

I'm short on time now, but tomorrow I'll do a short walkthrough video for you on one of my starguards, and try to get it posted and linked for you to take a look at.

 

As far as data about components for GSF, make sure you have advanced tooltips turned on in preferences, otherwise it hides a lot of rather important information.

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