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How to win.


Ttoilleekul

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So I was having a conversation with a fellow pilot on Malgus. This is someone who I personally consider to be an Ace. My metric of an Ace is someone who can fly all ship classes to equally high standards, works well under pressure, and regularly tops the board even on bad teams. But, he struggles to get a high solo win ratio. 70% or above.

 

So I decided to make a thread about how to win. Its very difficult to cover everything, as its hard to say what makes someone able to get a 70 or even 80% solo win ratio. To that end, guys with high solo win ratios, please feel free to add anything I have missed to the comments, and I can add it to the main body. Drakolich, Sriia, I am sure you will have stuff to add...

 

Anecdote. Some time ago I was shocked to find out that many old school Aces have solo win ratios in the in 70-80% range. So I set about learning to get better. I have now achieved that goal on all servers. These are all things I figured out or learned from someone else along the way. Please note that this is a guide for solo play, not team premade play.

 

Step 1 - Ship Adaptability

To do this you absolutely need to learn to fly Strikes, Gunships and Scouts all to an equal level. Bombers are not so important. To quote something Drakolich told me when he was coaching me, "if you are the best player on your team you should not be in a Bomber." To do this you will more often than not be the best player on your team, so forget Bombers for now. Encompassed in this first step, is the assumption that you have learned defensive flying in these three ship categories too. To put it simply, you should be difficult to kill in anything. If you feel you are stronger in one class and / or a bit weaker in another class, you are not ready for a high win ratio yet. You must feel supremely confident in all three classes, and know for a fact that you aren't kidding yourself. Don't persist with one ship if its not working for that match. Know which ship to be in to give yourself the best chance of winning. Is your Gunship being pressured too much for you to be effective? Switch to a Strike. Is the node too heavy with Bombers for a Battle Scout? Switch to an EMP Strike or EMP Scout. Does the enemy team have a Bomber / GS ball? Switch to a Gunship. Improvise, Adapt, Overcome.

 

Step 2 - Work on your Average Damage.

In order to get win ratios over 70%, you will need to average 60k+ damage. This is your Av.Dmg in your game stats. Achieving 150k damage in an easy match means nothing if you can't break 75k in that close call competitive match where you are being pressured. Work on getting faster and being more efficient. Never stop thinking you can't improve. The faster you can net together damage and kills, the more chance you win. Even in Domination - just do it on nodes.

 

Step 3 - Learn Power Up Locations.

All TDM maps have Damage Overcharge clusters. These win games. Period. One DO can net a bunch of kills even in tight matches. One DO cluster spawn point is active at the most. Iokath also has an Engine Overcharge cluster. Three EO spawn points are active at once. In descending order the Iokath EO cluster is most useful for Gunships > Scouts > Strikes. Learn all these cluster maps. Also know what every power up does and how long they last.

 

Step 4 - Work on Objectives.

By this point you should already be proficient in flying a Scout within comms range of a satellite while confidently taking out enemy ships that are also on the node. So when we say "objectives" here, we are not talking about that. That is a given. Objectives in this step means you go into the match with a plan, be it Domination or TDM. In Domination your plan is to know which nodes are a priority. At Kuat that is B. At Lost shipyards its B+ whichever side node is nearest your spawn. At Denon its whatever you can get, but a fast ship to B at the start helps. Be adaptable. If you can't cap one node, try the other one. In a TDM you need to know where the first DO is. Is it going to be too risky to reach for the first one? Can you mitigate that risk if you play a different ship? If you decide against going for the first DO, can you cover off whoever does get it? Either take him out or make him waste it? Is there someone on the other side you know will hound you for the entire match? Which ship is best to handle him? What does the other team's formation look like? If they have lots of Bombers, what ship is best for this?. Speak to your team at the start. Ask for a tensor, ask for Bomber support for your Scout, ask the team to keep so and so off you so that you can maintain damage output. Again be adaptable, if the needs of the match change, be willing to change ships. You're most likely getting to be a well known big name by this point... so if your team is struggling to cap a 2nd node, can you draw the red ships off by solo attacking one of the red nodes and keeping the enemy focused on you, while your team cap another node - improvise. Do not prioritize KDR in Domination. If you staying on a node until you die means you keep that node longer, then you stay there until you die! Leaving the node because you might die is flawed thinking. Think ahead, always ask yourself how the enemy is gonna react on your next move, e.g. when i go attack C, what is happening to A and B.

 

Step 4A - Target Selection.

A sub-category of objectives. Know which target's are a priority. This is very often Bombers in both modes. Bombers on a node can turn a game, even if they are low skilled. Take them out fast. These days Dominations usually have two or more bombers, so get good at it. Next up is any target on a node. Try not to go after people off node unless you have to. In TDM bombers provide area control and safety. More often than not if a team cannot take out multiple bombers they will feed the bomber nest until they lose. Is there another Ace on the other side? Is it better to go after each other for the whole match or farm each other's teams? Neither is wrong, neither is right. Its circumstantial. Be ready to change if you made the wrong decision. Don't go on revenge hunts. This wastes time. Don't let emotions rule you. Do it only if you need to make a point to someone who won't leave you alone. I can't stress this next point enough. Work out which player is holding the other team together. Take him out. Sometimes that is an Ace. Often its a Bomber controlling an area. Or a Gunship who can snipe well if protected but can't do anything under pressure - so take out the person protecting him. Often its the best player on the other side, who probably isn't an Ace, but still gives his team confidence. By forcing him to fall back you break that team's moral and they all fall back. Teams that fall back usually lose. Sometimes its someone who is pressuring a good player and effectively taking your team mate out of the match, and hence letting the other team push forward. So go take him out so that your team mate can get to work. This happened to me recently. I was in my GS and being hounded by a slicer. I had to get very defensive because it was a close match. I asked my team to keep him off me, they did, and we turned the game around. Get an early lead, quite often done with the first DO. Usually teams are cautious at the start. If you can go in with tempered aggression and quickly take out 4-5 of them, that usually puts the momentum with your team.

 

Step 4B - Map Awreness.

Another sub-category of objectives. You may be doing really well clearing and defending the node you are on, but are you aware that your other green node has lost all of its turrets and is flashing? Can you go there? Should you go there? Which node needs you more? Are you over reaching in TDM and getting yourself into unwinnable situations? Do you tunnel on one person completely oblivious to taking damage from someone else? Do you see that mob of red blobs on the map? What is their composition? How are you going to handle it? Are you planning your attacks with an escape route in mind and timing your cooldowns? Or are you just getting aggressive? Can you peel that guy from your Gunships? Can you protect your bombers? Can you suggest a different composition to your team that will secure the win?

 

Step 5 - Mentality.

You need a never-give-up mentality. Sure there are matches where you cannot win, but at this stage that is arguably as little as 20% of matches you are playing. When you regularly turning matches around by the decisions you make, you will realize what a never-give-up mentality does combined with all these skill sets. The difference between the guy that can get 65% win ratio and the guy that can get 80%, is this. The guy who gets 80% knows that when he loses a match, there was no way to win it, period. If a match is a lost cause, a truly great pilot will still find something he can get from it. Whether its learning how a certain person flies, testing out ideas to see if they are effective, and mostly, figuring out why he lost and asking himself what he could have done differently.

 

Step 6 - Miscellaneous

Be logical about this. If you know you're going to face a premade, do you want to fly your try-hard win toon? If I think I am going to face one of the many premades on Tulak, or I see one of the known 3 stronger premades on Malgus is active, I'm not going to ruin my win ratio by playing solo against them. I did it for the 100 try-hard matchers per server experiment, because for that I had to face whatever came my way. But there's no need to do that now. Have a different toon for facing premades. Or, group up to counter them. Balance it. There is no shame in that. No one is saying you have to achieve an 80% win ratio while flying solo facing premades. Solo win ratios mean you only have to worry about machmaker. If premades are in the mix, handle them appropriately.

Edited by Ttoilleekul
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A perfect example of what I am talking about.

This was a game from last night. I lost, but it was winnable. Full disclosure, this is a high kill count game. But the intention is not to brag, its to show you why I lost and what I could have done differently.

 

I end up with a Scoreline of 34-2-4-100k. Most people are going to look at that scoreline, in a match that ended 42-50, and say, you did all you could. That's just matchmaker...... right? Wrong. This is a perfect example of the mentality I am talking about. I let my foot off the gas at the start. It looked early on like the match was going to be a walkover. So I went into cruise mode. You can visibly see the point where I start to work faster, to work harder, because I realize the match is not going the way it looked to be going. There is also one self destruct. If I had played the whole game at 100%, rather than only three quarters of it, and if I hadn't destructed, I am confident I could have snatched the win here. It would have ended up being 40 kills to do it, but that's the difference with people who can net 80% win ratios. They look at a match like this and still blame themselves for the loss. They don't accept that matchmaker and luck were not on their side. Then they correct what they saw, for the next time the same situation arises.

 

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Step 3 - Learn Power Up Locations.

Learn all these cluster maps.

 

How? BioWare still hasn't given us any legitimate solo tutorial PRACTICE session for each map , to go explore and memorize without penalty of "kick the AFK'er!!!!!" or "you are not contributing damage!!!!!" :(

Edited by Nee-Elder
hey BioWare, you know GSF is part of the game still, right? ./sigh
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How? BioWare still hasn't given us any legitimate solo tutorial PRACTICE session for each map , to go explore and memorize without penalty of "kick the AFK'er!!!!!" or "you are not contributing damage!!!!!" :(

 

https://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=958639

Tsk, m8. You didn't even try. Despite the title, this thread contains links with possible DO locations of all maps.

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https://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=958639

Tsk, m8. You didn't even try. Despite the title, this thread contains links with possible DO locations of all maps.

 

Tsk Tsk , you totally ignored the crux of my post. (re: IN-GAME solution, from BIOWARE)

 

I'm already well aware of those outside links & threads , which are , while ostensibly helpful, not a satisfactory in-game constant practicing solution.

 

But go ahead and flame again with your condescending "didn't even try" assumption and defeatist "take whatever we can get" type mindset.

 

And i'll just keep on requesting the bare minimum from BioWare. :ph_cheers:

Edited by Nee-Elder
no wonder players avoid GSF like the plague ....sheesh
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How solo session practice maps is bare minimum for tutorial?

How to go explore and memorize overcharges locations without your teammates shouting at you for being useless? I don't even know, maybe like all the players do? Memorizing while playing, not instead of? Naaaaah, give me the easy way.

 

Number one problem, huh. Fine, keep requesting your bare minimum.

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Nee, Bioware is not under any obligation to show us where the DO's spawn. They don't show us where treasure chests spawn. They don't show us where clickable lore objects are. They don't tell us boss mechanics in operations or flash points until maybe the moment of the mechanic. I mean, at some point, you have to go outside of the game to find some resources. That's kind of expected for MMORPGs. You and I know this was expected for SWG ... its not like they gave us the combination for the Narglatch or the Acklay. I think you are being a little unreasonable here, especially when stickied threads included the links to the maps. Edited by phalczen
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, give me the easy way.

.

 

lol "easy way" , you mean sorta like going to an offline guide written by someone else who did all the work? ;)

 

Annnnyyyywayyys, i'm not gonna reduce this mostly chill GSF section into the typical 'General Discussion' forum fodder , so i'll just say: Take care, fellow PILOT! :sy_starship:

 

Nee, Bioware is not under any obligation to show us where the DO's spawn.

 

Never said they were. In fact, i specifically used the word "request" .

 

I'm simply requesting....hoping...wishing....wanting.... a free-zone version (solo) of each Map , so that players like myself (who enjoy GSF PVP , despite no joystick support ) can just have FUN flying around and practicing loadouts/ships and memorizing and exploring and such; without having to ruin other player's match.

 

That's all.

 

That's kind of expected for MMORPGs. You and I know this was expected for SWG ... its not like they gave us the combination for the Narglatch or the Acklay.

 

I don't think your example is a fair comparison.

 

I'm not asking for cheat-codes here.

 

I'm asking for more FREEDOM to enjoy the SPACE code BioWare created for GSF.

 

I think you are being a little unreasonable here, .

 

How so? My 3 big "unreasonable" asks are: joystick support, PVE space quests/missions, & free zone solo map instances.

 

Only the first 2 would require significant Dev coding time.

Edited by Nee-Elder
trolls & jerks are everywhere, even in the GSF forums
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How? BioWare still hasn't given us any legitimate solo tutorial PRACTICE session for each map , to go explore and memorize without penalty of "kick the AFK'er!!!!!" or "you are not contributing damage!!!!!" :(

 

If you grab 3 other people, you can easily go into a Custom game for either Kuat mesas Team Deathmatch or Iokath Team Deathmatch and just keep grabbing Do's until you've memorized them all. Hell the 3 other people don't even have to enter the matches, they can simply help you start the game and you can practice for 14 minutes.

 

As for Lost Shipyards Deathmatch, sadly the custom version of that map is currently bugged, so you can't practice that way. However you can still explore the map and head to the spots that are on the Location Maps that we made for you guys. If that's not enough you could just go look at the many Youtube videos of good players playing, Lost Shipyards Team Deathmatch and watch them pick them up in real time.

 

I'd say you have plenty of easy ways to figure it out without having to actually go into a game to do it, which you know is how we that made the maps in the first place did it, since we didn't have all these useful resources you now do.

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If you grab 3 other people, you can easily go into a Custom game for either Kuat mesas Team Deathmatch or Iokath Team Deathmatch

 

the 3 other people don't even have to enter the matches, they can simply help you start the game and you can practice for 14 minutes.

 

I must admit, i always forget about that 'custom' option.

 

Although, tbqh, it's hard enough these days to get a group for actual content , much less do me a 14-minute favor over & over again whenever i feel like it lol . It's just....not a very convenient option sometimes.

 

I'd say you have plenty of easy ways to figure it out .

 

I'm not sure why people keep thinking i'm wanting some sort of "easy mode" or whatever. That's NOT what i'm trying to convey here. Perhaps i'm just not articulating/typing properly (which tends to happen on forums) .

 

I come from SWG JTL , and Xwing:Alliance before that , and even SW:Squadrons now. (all with joystick btw)

 

I'm not some newb looking for easy mode cheat-codes 1-win button fasttrack.

 

I simply want the OPTION to practice & explore SPACE map zones by myself, at my own playtime convenience, without having to either a) rely on other players to group with me ...or b) risk ruining my own team's match.

 

But anyways, these posts are going nowhere fast since apparently my hopeful ideas are just way too "radical" for our community (or BioWare) to handle, so i think i've "de-railed" the OP's helpfully intended thread enough by now. /tip-hat :csw_xwing:

Edited by Nee-Elder
thread title has more irony now after my posts, doesn't it? heh
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I must admit, i always forget about that 'custom' option.

 

Although, tbqh, it's hard enough these days to get a group for actual content , much less do me a 14-minute favor over & over again whenever i feel like it lol . It's just....not a very convenient option sometimes.

 

 

 

I'm not sure why people keep thinking i'm wanting some sort of "easy mode" or whatever. That's NOT what i'm trying to convey here. Perhaps i'm just not articulating/typing properly (which tends to happen on forums) .

 

I come from SWG JTL , and Xwing:Alliance before that , and even SW:Squadrons now. (all with joystick btw)

 

I'm not some newb looking for easy mode cheat-codes 1-win button fasttrack.

 

I simply want the OPTION to practice & explore SPACE map zones by myself, at my own playtime convenience, without having to either a) rely on other players to group with me ...or b) risk ruining my own team's match.

 

But anyways, these posts are going nowhere fast since apparently my hopeful ideas are just way too "radical" for our community (or BioWare) to handle, so i think i've "de-railed" the OP's helpfully intended thread enough by now. /tip-hat :csw_xwing:

 

Look I understand where you're coming from and I agree with you a solo way to open the custom maps would be great for allowing players to practice things and discover the maps on their own. But your first post said "How?" and then proceeded to scream about people kicking you from games, showing that you either forgot or didn't know what was out there that you can use right now.

 

No one is saying we don't want a solo are to practice, we're just offering the tools we actually currently have to do so.

 

 

I also played the hell out of Squadrons, and their practice mode was invaluable in figuring out how to break that game, so much so that the competitive scene all quit because of how much we broke that game and the devs just walked away from it instead of fixing it.

Edited by Drakkolich
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. But your first post said "How?" and then proceeded to scream about people kicking you from games, showing that you either forgot or didn't know what was out there that you can use right now.

 

.

 

Just for the record real quick: i personally have never (not since GSF began) ever been *kicked* from a game. Not once. Not even when flying my ALT toon's newbie ships with zero loadouts. So when i used that "quote" earlier, i was more so trying to reinforce my point (and wish) than i was speaking from personal experience.

 

I have, however, gotten the red "you must contribute damage!!" on-screen system message quite a few times though , because of simply exploring for a bit or from just innocently escaping enemy ships thru obstacles & such.

 

And no GSF player-pilots (so far) have ever "screamed" at me. Ranked ground PVP? Well, that's another story. :eek:

 

Okay i promise NOW i'll stop posting lol :csw_destroyer:

Edited by Nee-Elder
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Step 2 - Work on your Average Damage.

In order to get win ratios over 70%, you will need to average 60k+ damage. This is your Av.Dmg in your game stats. Achieving 150k damage in an easy match means nothing if you can't break 75k in that close call competitive match where you are being pressured. Work on getting faster and being more efficient. Never stop thinking you can't improve. The faster you can net together damage and kills, the more chance you win. Even in Domination - just do it on nodes.

 

 

I have an issue with scouts semi related to this. I have had matches where I've put out 60k+ damage and ended up with 3 kills. Sometimes we win and I just have 20 assists and some GS with 15k damage has 15 kills because they followed me around all game kill sniping. Other times I have only a couple assists and all my damage came in the form of 1v1s that turned into 1v3s where I had to retreat, or I spent minutes dueling Imperiums doing 10k+ damage but not consistently enough, and their shields regenerate faster than I can take it off. Basically, I find I often have trouble finishing people off. I hate the feel of burst laser so I typically use rapid or quad. Do you have any advice for how to do more useful damage to where it actually gets kills and does matter in games?

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On the subject of learning Damage Overcharge locations, Drakolich has covered it. We have it easy compared to the guys that actually compiled those maps. Bioware didn't even tell them there was a DO cluster. So they not only figured that out, but the locations too.

 

For the record, I learned them while playing. All I did was have the cluster maps up at the same time. When I came across a DO, I would check that location against the cluster map. If it was on the map, bam, you just learned one spawn point. If it wasn't on the map, ignore it because its a random spawn point. Rinse and repeat. Took me about a month to get it all firm in my head.

 

The Iokath EO cluster was a bit different. There are far more spawn points than DO clusters have, and there is three active at any one time. I had about half of them figured out using the above method, but for this one Invis took me into a custom match, and that was all it took. I had the rest learned in the space of that one custom match.

Edited by Ttoilleekul
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I have an issue with scouts semi related to this. I have had matches where I've put out 60k+ damage and ended up with 3 kills. Sometimes we win and I just have 20 assists and some GS with 15k damage has 15 kills because they followed me around all game kill sniping. Other times I have only a couple assists and all my damage came in the form of 1v1s that turned into 1v3s where I had to retreat, or I spent minutes dueling Imperiums doing 10k+ damage but not consistently enough, and their shields regenerate faster than I can take it off. Basically, I find I often have trouble finishing people off. I hate the feel of burst laser so I typically use rapid or quad. Do you have any advice for how to do more useful damage to where it actually gets kills and does matter in games?

 

This is a common problem. Firstly let me say don't be discouraged - I felt exactly the same as you at one point. Even the dislike of Burst Lasers. Its just practice. Scouts are the highest skill ceiling class in the game. They require knowledge and understanding of the game as well as abilities with your buttons that long range Strikes do not require. I would suggest you watch these analysis videos from my channel which go into good detail on how to fly Scouts proficiently.

 

 

 

Apologies for Grav's analysis being split up, that was before I figured out why I was restricted to 15min videos.

 

Basically it comes down to positional flying, speed and efficiency. When I say speed here, I don't mean ship speed. I mean speed and efficiency that you can execute kills. Which in turn will come from positioning your ship correctly to do the most damage.

 

As for Burst Lasers - again pretty common problem. The slow rate of fire and very short range is tricky for most people to get the hang of. The videos cover how to use it, but seriously, it is the best laser choice on a Battle Scout, bar none. Go back to it, work on it.

 

Also read this thread - Luc's everyday tips - and pay particular attention to the tips that cover how to shoot.

Edited by Ttoilleekul
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On the subject of learning Damage Overcharge locations, Drakolich has covered it. We have it easy compared to the guys that actually compiled those maps. Bioware didn't even tell them there was a DO cluster. So they not only figured that out, but the locations too.

 

This isn't exactly true, while they didn't tell us how the DO clusters worked or how many spawns there were or anything like that. They did tell us that the DO clusters existed.

 

Here's a link to the original Forum post by ChrisSchmidt one of the Devs on GSF.

https://www.swtor.com/community/showpost.php?p=7385962&postcount=4

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This isn't exactly true, while they didn't tell us how the DO clusters worked or how many spawns there were or anything like that. They did tell us that the DO clusters existed.

 

Here's a link to the original Forum post by ChrisSchmidt one of the Devs on GSF.

https://www.swtor.com/community/showpost.php?p=7385962&postcount=4

 

Ah fair, didn't know that.

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As for Burst Lasers - again pretty common problem. The slow rate of fire and very short range is tricky for most people to get the hang of. The videos cover how to use it, but seriously, it is the best laser choice on a Battle Scout, bar none. Go back to it, work on it.

 

Also read this thread - Luc's everyday tips - and pay particular attention to the tips that cover how to shoot.

 

I appreciate the videos, they were extremely insightful. My issue with burst isn’t the rate of fire, it does incredible damage so it’s clearly worth it. I just find times when it is useful to be extremely niche. Defending nodes in domination it works great because everyone is near you, but in TDM i only find it useful when I’m in a tail chase 1v1. Every single other scenario I feel disadvantaged because I cant effectively use it outside of 2000m, so I have to chase players into disadvantageous situations to use get kills.

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Every single other scenario I feel disadvantaged because I cant effectively use it outside of 2000m, so I have to chase players into disadvantageous situations to use get kills.
This is the real trick, isn't it. That's what a proficient Scout Ace can do, get inside 2000m even in TDM and deal out tremendous damage. If you apply the things I talked about in those videos, and keep practicing, it will come together. I assure you it works fine in TDM. Its just situational. Of course there are situations where you can't fly a Battle Scout in TDM without being peeled too easily, but the same can be said of Strikes and Gunships. That's the ship adaptability I mention.

 

Edited by Ttoilleekul
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This is the real trick, isn't it. That's what a proficient Scout Ace can do, get inside 2000m even in TDM and deal out tremendous damage. If you apply the things I talked about in those videos, and keep practicing, it will come together. I assure you it works fine in TDM. Its just situational. Of course there are situations where you can't fly a Battle Scout in TDM without being peeled too easily, but the same can be said of Strikes and Gunships. That's the ship adaptability I mention.

 

 

This question might be cynical, but what’s the point? If i want to really be effective why not just roll a strike? I can consistently get 10-20 kills just lobbing proton torpedos across the map, with virtually 0 practice or skill required. And I’m about 3x harder to kill than a scout at the same time. Although i love the feel of flying with scouts, it seems almost masochistic to push myself through the massive learning curve when there are ships so easy a 7 year old could do well with them.

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This question might be cynical, but what’s the point? If i want to really be effective why not just roll a strike? I can consistently get 10-20 kills just lobbing proton torpedos across the map, with virtually 0 practice or skill required. And I’m about 3x harder to kill than a scout at the same time. Although i love the feel of flying with scouts, it seems almost masochistic to push myself through the massive learning curve when there are ships so easy a 7 year old could do well with them.

 

Because despite your skill with Strikes, there are just some situations where a Scout would do better. Some matches require speed and nimble flying; two things that no Strike can provide without a downgrade to their damage or defenses. Also, high skill ceiling equals better results. I promise you that a well-practiced ace Scout pilot does more damage and contributes more in terms of solo kills than an ace Strike pilot at the same level.

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I appreciate the videos, they were extremely insightful. My issue with burst isn’t the rate of fire, it does incredible damage so it’s clearly worth it. I just find times when it is useful to be extremely niche. Defending nodes in domination it works great because everyone is near you, but in TDM i only find it useful when I’m in a tail chase 1v1. Every single other scenario I feel disadvantaged because I cant effectively use it outside of 2000m, so I have to chase players into disadvantageous situations to use get kills.

 

This is more or less correct. There's basically nothing the T2S can do in TDM that the T1F doesn't do just as well and with better survivability. There are always going to be edge cases, but generally speaking, you should save the scout for domination and try something else in TDM.

 

Because despite your skill with Strikes, there are just some situations where a Scout would do better. Some matches require speed and nimble flying; two things that no Strike can provide without a downgrade to their damage or defenses. Also, high skill ceiling equals better results. I promise you that a well-practiced ace Scout pilot does more damage and contributes more in terms of solo kills than an ace Strike pilot at the same level.

 

In TDM? Nah. In domination absolutely, but in deathmatch a scout is at a significant enough disadvantage that this isn't true.

Edited by DakhathKilrathi
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This question might be cynical, but what’s the point? If i want to really be effective why not just roll a strike? I can consistently get 10-20 kills just lobbing proton torpedos across the map, with virtually 0 practice or skill required. And I’m about 3x harder to kill than a scout at the same time. Although i love the feel of flying with scouts, it seems almost masochistic to push myself through the massive learning curve when there are ships so easy a 7 year old could do well with them.

 

You can consistently do this to players that don't know what they're doing. If you ever face a team where most or all of the players do know what they're doing your ability to get kills, and your ability to survive will pretty much disappear if you rely on casual Proton lobbing.

 

In the current game balance, scouts make an ideal skills test/skills developer platform for generic GSF skills. They can do all of the basic tasks, but are balanced in a place where if you fail to do a good job on the basic tasks the ship will not let you fake your way through to success. It does still have the power to be extremely successful in most games though.

 

Strikes have never had quite the skill ceiling of scouts, but before 5.5 they were the ship class that wouldn't let you get away with mistakes. They just didn't reward you with anything if you flew perfectly. Scouts stepping into that role is a significant improvement. They show weakness in your flying, but also reward nicely if you address those weaknesses. The skills are also portable. The fundamentals of flying a scout really well are applicable to every other ship class, and the scout will give you a very honest answer to the question, "Are my fundamental skills as good as I like to imagine they are." Same as a Super Serious night. Getting better just by practice can work, but some information on what to practice speeds the process, and a scout can help tell you what to practice.

Edited by Ramalina
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Strikes have never had quite the skill ceiling of scouts, but before 5.5 they were the ship class that wouldn't let you get away with mistakes. They just didn't reward you with anything if you flew perfectly. Scouts stepping into that role is a significant improvement. They show weakness in your flying, but also reward nicely if you address those weaknesses. The skills are also portable. The fundamentals of flying a scout really well are applicable to every other ship class, and the scout will give you a very honest answer to the question, "Are my fundamental skills as good as I like to imagine they are." Same as a Super Serious night. Getting better just by practice can work, but some information on what to practice speeds the process, and a scout can help tell you what to practice.

 

Despite the ~100 hours I’ve played since galactic seasons started, I find it fascinating to see how skin deep my understanding of this game is. Your post could explain why it’s infinitely more satisfying to get a 15 kill scout win vs a 15 kill strike win. And I don’t dare go to Super Serious Night, I would get absolutely demolished.

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This question might be cynical, but what’s the point? If i want to really be effective why not just roll a strike? I can consistently get 10-20 kills just lobbing proton torpedos across the map,
This is a mentality that is all too common and flawed thinking in GSF. Why? Because when you face an Ace you're going to get squished, that's why. Then you have to decide if you're the type to scream "cheater!" because you can't understand how that ace an do what he does, or are you going to step up your play.

 

And I’m about 3x harder to kill than a scout at the same time
. For you yeah, but not for a Scout Ace. How easy is it to kill Scout Ace? Not easy. P-dive + disto, a nuch of evasion and double turning is not easy to shut down unless the team composition doesn't suit a Scout. Edited by Ttoilleekul
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