Freelancer - The Void

What about those of us who use brawler weapons, but not in Anubises? :) In my opinion, a brawler has to learn movement and dodging just as well. Of course, most people don't focus on that, since many tend to use VHFs like the Anubis, but what about those of us who use the Viper, or the WA1? (And Deimos, and so on :))  If you have one, you can have almost the same firepower as a bigger ship (depending on your loadout, of course - that's why I used refire rate 4 guns on my Viper, not Annihilators, as most brawlers do), and they are a considerably more agile. Of course, you need that advantage to offset the difference in hull armor. But you still have to learn how to move and evade just as well, especially because a skilled sniper can own you with two or three shots if you fly in straight lines in front of them :P (Not to mention that class 9 shields regenerate slower than class 10 ones, and have smaller capacities as well. That slower regen can really help your sniper opponents :))
Also, if you engage someone head-on with a HF, you REALLY have to strafe and such. An Anubis can take a lot more damage in a head-on pass than you. (I call it jousting :P)

I'm not a big fan of missiles, because I find them less reliable than guns, and they take up the same weapon mounts. (That's valuable space on a HF :P) Torpedoes, however, always work the same no matter how many people are online/in the system, and they take up separate mounts. Yes, it's a lot harder to hit with them, but you shouldn't rely on projectiles anyway :P (Not to mention that you can't really be called a torp spammer :D) That, and imo with torps it's easier to learn how NOT to blow yourself up with your own projectiles, since your opponents can show you the oft-deadly consequences of your mistakes easier :D

And true, the default key layout makes fighting considerably harder, so everyone should change the whole thing to suit them better. I mean, shift+q for torps, q for missiles? No thanks :P

Oh, and good idea for a thread btw!

Actually, some HFs can have firepower (almost) equal to that of an Anubis. I'm talking about the Viper, and the WA1 here: the Viper has 2 class 8 guns, 4 class 10 guns and 2 class 10 turrets. I used to fly it with quakes, nirvanas and punishers, then six quakes and two punisher turrets after a while. That's a very small difference from what I could stick onto an Anubis :) You can do the same with Annis too, you'll just have to buy two that do a bit less damage. (So if you meet an Anubis head-on, you both deal pretty much the same damage - the only difference is that you can take less, and your power will recharge slower.) The WA1, in my opinion, is a bit worse in this aspect: for those two class 8 turrets, you have fewer weapons to choose from. Of course, there's also the Deimos, which has good armor (almost the same as a VHF I think) and class 10 shields, and is a pretty small target: but it has only six guns. You have to be really accurate with them to be on par with a better armed ship. (But you can: I usually had quite a hard time against BasCelik when he was in his Deimos :P)
You might notice I've left the TC out, which is pretty much on par with VHFs both in firepower and in armor/shields. I didn't mention it because imo it's overpowered, which would be bad if it wasn't a torp magnet :D

So, basically, you trade armor, a bit of shield and generator power (and in some cases, a bit of firepower) for considerably more agility, and a smaller target profile. Now that I think about it, for most people, this trade-off might not be worth it.
(Also, a power enhancer helps out with the weapon depletion quite well, and a regen enhancer with the shield regen: but you can't have both :/ Also, if your shields are regening, they drain power too, so the enhancer puts extra load on them.)

But you're probably right that the top two configurations are snipers, then brawler Anubises. Guess I chose my ship and loadout because I don't like nomad lasers, and I found Anubises too slow for my liking :P (I flew those as well, and found them more useful for mass pvp, and less useful for 1vs1.) And let's not forget that an important factor when you play is what ships and styles you're more experienced and better with :)

Btw, I just noticed, you said you "take aim"? Don't you have to have good reflexes (and train them) to shoot instinctively, since you usually don't have enough time to carefully take aim? Or is it just me? (...that might explain a lot of things :D)

[quote="cmdrsaman";p="205181"]
But you're probably right that the top two configurations are snipers, then brawler Anubises. Guess I chose my ship and loadout because I don't like nomad lasers, and I found Anubises too slow for my liking (I flew those as well, and found them more useful for mass pvp, and less useful for 1vs1.) And let's not forget that an important factor when you play is what ships and styles you're more experienced and better with [/quote]

You missed the Conq, a good conq pilot will rip an anubis apart in a few passes + its missile resistance makes it a fearsome fighter and it has a power plant beyond compare, meaning regen enhancers are a massive boon when offseting it against the smaller sniping ships.

So many people underestimate this ship its unbelivable - The Conqueror is the workhorse of the Void.

The main failing of pvpers is using the same pattern over and over again - mix up your run or die.

[quote="Maverick";p="205189"]I second that. It is also a pretty difficult ship to master if you ask me. I still don't have the hang of it.[/quote]



The trick is to use every ships strenghs and use them against other ships weaknesses. - a conqs forward velocity is very good which means you can get a decent separtation distance on the attacker after the pass. Mix that with long range fast refire guns and a power plant that can keep coughing out plasma all day long and your looking at the equivalent of a sliding tank with unlimited ammo.

The one down fall of a conq is its inibilty to cope with cd spam, I think its the placement of the cm launcher on the ship model, but once stopped its an accident waiting to happen.

Ive always flown this ship - its all round usefullness is good, but if you want to master brawling which is hard - first master the Conq which is even harder - but it will pay off.

I rebuilt an old skool conq today with annis and tizzys [R]-Litany-Of-Fury-[R] and tbh it was just awsome. The only thing to kill it one on one was a sniping Titanuim Crusher - Nessus - who isnt an easy kill. But I got him the next match. Everything else its met today has just died.

I was once told by a very experienced player that if you can get your setup tuned right - ie make sure your gun projectile speeds are the same -that way -regardless of range, when you are close up and personal your shots are arriving at the same time.  Also if you can master the Anubis MK2 then pretty much anything else is gravy.  

As Shonen has stated - getting your keyboard and gamepad or whatever set up right is VITAL - mine is still a bit scattered and with all of these things too - PRACTICE makes perfect.  I still have problems combining movement with aim and firing - I can aviod players but cant hit them and when I stop to hit them I become a sitting duck...!  I guess I will be like Kahless - never much good or very lucky where PvP is concerned.  :)

You need to spend time with those that are good at it in order to improve - my PvP has improved slightly but is still nowhere near the best - why?  Because of the number of hours put in and the time spent experimenting and practicing with setups, ships and weapons.

What makes the VOID a very special place is that veterans and experts are prepared to take the time to show players how its done - why? Because in order to have fun here you need to have oponents that are worth the challenge - most veterans dont get a kick (too often) out of the mass slaughter of new players!  ;)

Good thread with good advice - well done all.

Zebs right. I posted this years ago, but here it is again

Understanding Projectile Speeds

Projectile speeds on guns essencially means how fast from firing your shot will fly/reach the target



The green arrow is your screamer with a very high projectile speed the red + is the targeting reticule ( the thing you aim at )



As you can see the screamer (shield killer ) out runs all you other hull damage fire



The screamer fire has hit as you fired at the targetting reticule. Freelancer will always set that targeting reticule to the FASTEST gun your carrying, projectile speed wise.



So as you see you get this problem, your screamer ( the fastest gun ) has hit but all your hull guns have missed.

A simple way round this is to use shield guns with a lower projectile speed than you hull guns Cids for example or too fire your shield guns as a key or separtate weapons group.

Shooting VOID style 101 - -----  I like it mate - NICE

Arnt my drawings the greatest thing you've ever seen


 :-?
#-o

Ah brilliance in its simplicity. Ent made it quite clear. This can be one of the mean reasons holding you back from developing your skills, as most players are reluctant to change their weapon setup once they got used to it. I have used Anni's + Screamers for ages, but only recently dumped the Screamers and added 2 more Anni's.
Now you would expect I would have trouble taking down shields? Think again. If you have good aim, the accumulated damage output of all the Anni's on an Anubis or Conq is more than enough to take any shield down in literally the blink of an eye. And you have 2 more guns to do hull damage.

Anni's FTW!!!

You all forgot to say that a good trick (I don't consider myself a good pvpr) is to calm down and think before doing anything. I know you don't have much time to do it, but it will help you a lot. Try to scan your opponent while he's coming, what guns is he using?, is he alone? are YOU ready? cm is on auto? got enough ammo? etc. Let's say you have 0.5secs to do that  :P
Afterthat try to use all tactics explained before.
I have only 11 fingers free to press keys and 5 of them (one hand) are in the mouse, so idk how you guys can do the "boxing" dance.
If you have a slow pc like me, brawling is the only option. It happens many times that using a sniper setup, when you're ready to release all your power at your enemie, the computer does a little brake and then he flies away. So you'll be forced to "spray" and pray for your missiles to reach the target, and be patience if someone calls you spammer.

Problem with that tho mav.

If the enemy is carrying a shield regener and your abilty to break his shield is always going to be lagging behind ( no shield gun ) the ship that can break yours faster, if the skill lvl is the same will kill you.
While your shield is charging back up we have passed my shields already back ( shield regener ) up and your taking hull damage while my shield breakers are keeping your hull open to damage.

Becker trained me. I remember the first thing he ever said to me.

"If you dont lose your shield you cant lose your hull if you dont lose your hull you cant be killed"
Sounds like a very obvious thing to say, but have a think about it.

I was in sparta yesterday with some VERY seasoned fighters on this server who were amazed when I showed them a fast torp ( a torp that travels faster than a cd ), tbh I thought everyone knew all the tricks to freelancer - with folks being around for so many years. So if there is anyone with any questions on anything in realation to killing other ships, please ask, Ill be glad to help if I can.

Still some life left in this old dog yet  ;)