Or you could just keep playing because the you find the game enjoyable. Also, don't you also gain Fleet coms at faster rate for mastered ships?

I usually load up my Star Guard with Ion Cannons and Cluster Missiles for a pretty reliable 1-2 punch. I keep the heavy lasers for long range plinking. I've been playing with the quad/ion cannon combo lately but switching between the two is taking me too long.

this is a weak argument against gun ships. Balance breaking I can understand. But trying to bring logic into a science fantasy game will always be a non starter. For every hypothetical argument against why gun ships would make no tactical sense, someone else could make just as many hypotheticals arguments for them.

I would have liked to see some mechanism to limit the endless circling dogfighting that 1v1 dogfights would get into. In most ww2 sim's this comes in the form of energy management and getting into a contest of tight turns will bleed off a speed, eventually leading to stalls. I thought it would great if something similar were implemented to GSF, where continuous tight turns would use up engine power, leaving the pilot a sitting duck if improperly managed.

I can never understand this argument, as if people have been using MORE joysticks over the course of PC gaming. Yeah, it's 2014 and EVERY player has a keyboard. Its not like we're phasing these things out anytime soon. Also, as others have pointed out, the majority of complains are failures on the OP's part to do a modicum of research before complaining. I'm a little embarrassed for him, actually. Navigation maps are on the weak side, however. I have to admit that is a valid complaint.

A few times I've tried to follow a team member to keep their backs clear but its really easy to lose track of them. Can we get some way to target a team member so I can find them quickly? Thanks.

as far as upgrades that i can see being frustrating for a new player to deal with: 10% shield pierce of heavy lasers, engine drain on ion cannons and double salvo on cluster missiles to be the most overwhelming. But since these cost so many req points i would say that the player's actual experience would be, by and large, the be deciding factor against a fresher pilot

I agree, Ion cannons are effective. But for someone struggling to get more kills the added multitasking might not be the way to go. The short, unsatisfactory answer to OP's question is that there is no one secret to killing fighters. It's a combination of reflexes, situational awareness and experience. But if I had to go with one piece of advice, based on the problems you have with tracking, is to use the strike fighters heavy laser cannon, shuttle all your energy into weapons and engage from max range. Try to pick out targets that are preoccupied with a turret or a teammate and there's a good chance you'll severely damage or destroy them before they realize what's going on.

I'm straining my eye's trying to figure out who's flying what at the beginning of matches. This is especially tough for the republic side where the strike fighter and scout silhouettes are so similar to each other. Could you put up an easy to read counter that'll display how many scouts/strike/gunships currently make up the team? Thanks

Well that's pretty much life isn't it? Some things are hard to do and other people that have been doing them longer are better at doing those things. If you quit because of that is it really the games fault? Your original argument was that they've all upgraded their stuff within 4 hours of play and the "staggering" gear differential is what's keeping you from playing the game. But now that that argument is proving unsustainable you've labeling the game unplayable because, to paraphrase: "other's are better at it than I am, so therefore this sucks" If your complaint was constructively centered about your issues with the controls I would have an easier time understanding where you're coming from, but with 3 games you wouldn't even have enough hands on time to form a coherent opinion or feedback on those.

Because I don't like my hulls collapsing under a strong breeze.

I understand if you feel that the game is a little twitchy and therefore more on the "arcadish" side. But reducing the lead reticle will actually make the game easier, as it's harder to track the moving reticle of the lead indicator of a ship that's rotating as well as moving. Real world physics will always take a back seat to game play mechanics, so it's probably better we left them out of any argument. same goes for taking away obstacles from the maps. With more open space, you actually have a MUCH simpler game to the point where the kill invariably goes to the one with the longest range weapons and whoever isn't attacked first.

Woah dude. no one call you out for being stupid. you kinda volunteered that yourself. Looks like you're just feeding people kills no matter where you go, eh buddy?

Wait.... did you play 3 games or 4 hours? are the controls too obtuse? or did the elite players master simple skills like "click on mouse button" and also, how do you know that the other players are better geared? is there a way to check the loadouts and gear of other players?

Has OP considered the possibility that his (or her) friend is simply a better player? Also, do we have the ability to check other players loadouts and upgrades purchased? If not, how are we getting this information on how many people are spending how many CC's to convert to fleet reqs? Word of mouth? Communication from OP's friends? OP is leveling some pretty serious claims against this particular practice calling it "unfair" and "despicable" It would be unfortunate if the magnitude of these claims were simply exaggerated by hurt feelings from a series of losses.

Still. I'd like the option to fly back to my cap ships for a refill, heal up or even change ships without having to die first.

I remember from a community cantina that they wanted unlocks applied over legacy but there were technology hurdles that prevented them from doing this in a timely manner. Can't find the quote or source though, sorry

Have you considered the possibility that the controls would feel more intuitive if you didn't have to play through hardware stuttering? Aside from that, I guess it wouldn't be impossible to bind pitch and yaw to key-binds, leaving the mouse for targeting only. It doesn't sound optimal for me, but i don't think its balance breaking either. Furthermore, rebinding movement axis to key presses doesn't sound like it would be as hard to implement as full joystick compatibility. Yeah. the more I think about it the more I like the idea. Spend the dev time to give the players an alternate control scheme that's still keyboard and mouse. Overall I think this might be a good suggestion. OP, You may want to consider re-titling your tread to attract more attention to your solution instead of how you feel about the problem.

I actually kinda like this idea. maybe have the target characters portrait show up somewhere in the corner. kinda reminds me of some of the old wing commander games.

It might be personal preference, but i'd recommend the strike fighter with heavy lasers if you're having a hard time doing damage. Sure the DPS isn't the best, but it's accurate and individual shots do good damage. Best of all you won't have to do any fancy flying to get into range. Next time you're coming up on the target, shuttle your power to weapons and start plinking away at 'em the second they enter max range (like 6km). And of course, remember to aim at the lead reticle and only fire when it turns red.

Wait, are you sucking because of EA or does EA just happen to be there while you're sucking? pointing at your inadequacies. I need more details to form a proper mental picture here.

I've noticed that gunship heavy teams tend to lose. Too many players holding back sniping and none of them going for the capture point. If some players are using turrets as hiding spots, then that is definitely an exploit that needs to be resolved

I remember the first weekend the PTS opened and it was like a turkey shoot for someone like me that cut his teeth in the closed beta over 3-4 weekends. But people tend to catch on real quick and the following week I was back to my mediocre place in kills vs deaths. I happily expect the same to happen here. So yeah, I guess some people are naturally better, but I suspect they 1) enjoy this type of game play and environment and 2) are resilient to getting blown up a few times and quickly learn how to avoid doing so I suspect the first and biggest hurdle a new player will have to overcome is learning how to keep an eye out for hits and to evading at the first sign of being attacked. Being new to the game its very easy to be overwhelmed with the HUD elements, lights and sounds of the pew pew and explosions. this is applies 10 fold when they have a target in their sights and are tunnel visioned on that first kill. Last night I bag plenty of guys taking hits while continuing to go straight and slow. I doubt this will continue for more than a week.

To piggyback on my last reply, here is a video of Dulfy dominating with the S-13 Sting. Intimidating to watch, yes. But it also illustrates some key gameplay elements like firing only within range and power management.

You're definitely supposed to aim at the lead reticle but as you said, shooting there doesn't guarantee a hit. I don't know if there's some kind of calculated hit roll, but I have noticed that weapons with higher accuracy scores will hit more (kinda obvious), also that the chances of hitting increase as the angle of attack between you and the target decrease, that is the closer your target is to moving directly away or towards you. so I guess the take home message would be to hold your fire until you can get a clear shot at your opponents 6 to maximize damage on an unaware target.