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StealthNerf

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  1. You would need to be able to see friendly ship HP during the match for healing scores to be meaningful. Right now it's just hit repair probes on cooldown and hope a damaged ship flies near you. You can't see who is hurt unless you have voice. Therefore you can't really do healing tactically. Something else I'd like to see is an indication of when I rearm someone. I have no idea if my ammo refill is even doing anything, though I assume it is...
  2. Yeah my experience as a new player was the same. Think I've been flying my Clarion for 2 weeks now. This past weekend I got 12 kills 1 death in a TDM and got that 12 kill achievement for the first time. And the match went 50-43, so it wasn't a complete spanking.
  3. More gunships really need to learn to move the moment they come under fire. If I see a gunship I usually fly straight towards them and start firing quads, because most of the time, they won't win, and they'll die. In my experience a gunship cannot take down a Clarion head on, even with a 10K range lead.
  4. I enjoy proton torpedoes because they're easy to use. The sequence is like: 1. Spot someone at half hp 2. Lock on 3. Kill People talk about missile breaks round the forums but this is easier to achieve than it seems... In fact after just a few hours of practice it's so easy I'm at a loss to how anyone can go without scoring several kills per match in their first week. Well they're not using protons obviously. Also it gives you an appreciation of just what repair probes do for people. A healed ship is not a vulnerable ship. Thermites arguably have a higher skill cap and therefore can get better results, but they need the extra step of follow up. You need to be focused on doing this follow up and can't just fire and forget. Thermites, I imagine, become better after you've upgraded your Quads to do a bit of damage and have learned how to hit more consistently. After two weeks I'm ~starting~ to get the hang of Quads a bit more, but it'll probably be another few weeks before I start leveling Thermites. By then I should be a good deal better with blasters and more able to follow up on the thermite hits.
  5. Yeah visually, all ships seem exactly the same in combat. Bombers are really small to what you'd expect.
  6. Sorry, but my experience as a new player is different. It took me under a week to start getting positive kill:death scores in the stock fighter. And I am not an old hand reminiscing on the beta when everyone else was new. I only started exactly two weeks ago. This is not a game where you have no chance as a new player. It is all on you. If you're being killed but gunships that often, you're doing something to make yourself an easy target. Like not using terrain, or being too isolated.
  7. Thanks heaps for the detailed reply. The advice from veteran players is really helping. I have ,actually, switched back to quads. Just kinda frustrated sometimes with the 4K range on lights. Yeah, this is what I discovered by chance...
  8. Yeah the initial purchase cost of components is pretty painful. Especially when many seem balanced around having the level 1 upgrade that you also need to shell out for to get the right feel of the component. You don't want to run direction shields without the level 1 upgrade that stops switches eating your shield, torpedoes without the reduced lock on time, repair probes without the 30 second cooldown reduction etc.
  9. Yeah, looks like I misread you initially and thought you were saying take passives over Wingman. Sorry aboui that.
  10. Updated this according to feedback... * Smoothed out the upgrade path to include level 3 minor components * Added Verain's directional shielding tips * Swapped recommendations for defensive crew and armor to just pure hull HP and shielding following Armonddd's feedback * Created an Imp to see what kind of crew options they have However, I still like my crew recommendation for engineering (efficient maneuvers and power to engines) and tactical (ignoring passive choice in favor of getting the right active) because: 1. If you get the PvE class story ship you should have both of these options unlocked, limiting req spend (just not worth it to spend 1,250 fleet on tactical passives) 2. I really like power to engines in place of efficient fire, mostly because when new most of your kills really will come from torpedo locks, so it doesn't really matter if you run dry on blasters, and it's easy to find yourself out of position. Overall I really like how this ship is coming together as I build it up. Less than two weeks playing GSF and only a week in the Clarion, and starting to get scores like this: http://i.imgur.com/IWkLqsQ.jpg (name erased since I'm stealthy). The ship performs well and brings some great utility.
  11. That's actually really helpful. Was never too sure where to put them.
  12. I guess I just don't understand the point of any of the tactical passives - with other ships spotting enemies for you, they all seem bad, so I choose tactical for the active skill. You make a good point about response tuning, though. I may switch armor to HP and defensive to Doc.
  13. So I just tried the light laser cannon for the first time. Where have you been these past one and a half weeks. Maybe it's that I play at 300ms latency, but am definitely finding it easier to hit with light lasers than quads and get more kills. So not sure that I'd update the original post. I like lights better, but many people seem to prefer quads. Had a few games today that illustrated just how useful this build can be though. In particular there was one where everyone on our team was a newbie, against a team of vets. The Combat Clarion got 4 out of the team's 5 kills in the match. Just the combination of toughness, being hard to catch, and protons make the Clarion able to hold its own even if your spawn is getting overrun and even when flown with less experience. Is why I recommend at least trying the Clarion to any new player.
  14. I must have just assumed since I started with C2 due to being at level 20 when I started GSF. Of course I'm fully open to corrections and criticism since I don't know that much myself and any input will probably help me too. My experience with heavy lasers / clusters on a star guard in my first week is that so many things escaped me. While I don't have a complete understanding, I have the feeling that clusters require some dogfighting experience to soften the target up before or after, and also benefit hugely more from their tier 5 upgrade for the 30% damage. At low levels they're like throwing tennis balls at people. You might knock someone down but they might just laugh at you. So for me, clusters are a bit of a trap component. As a newbie I found them attractive ("Yay I can lock many missiles!") but soon realized I wasn't killing anything with those locks and switched to Protons and started racking up the kills and assists. Also I didn't like Barrel Roll as an engine maneuver because it didn't allow me to break dogfights. The game that led me to retire my Pike was when a scout was on my tail the entire match and I could do nothing at all. I can evade such situations on my Clarion, but the Pike was dead in the water since it flies so predictably. I don't doubt that the bomber or gunship are decent newbie ships too but they're boring and look awful. I don't want those things in my hanger.
  15. This thread builds on a few posts in Stasie's detailed guide, where Verain suggested it might belong in its own thread due to its subject - what to do when you just start that's the easiest way to get the experience you need to get good. Right now, you can't hit much with blasters, and you don't want to waste req into dead ends. So this discusses how to do well in Galactic Starfighter in a week or less by using the Clarion (Republic) or Imperium (its Imperial counterpart). Although not part of the top "meta", these ships are, imo, one of the best ship types for a rookie to fly. They're surprisingly tough, yet still capable of landing killing shots. You can fly one of these and focus on learning how to fly and shoot, instead of being killed over and over. This was evidenced for myself when, in my first week, I could reliably earn a positive kill:death ratio in my Clarion, whereas such a thing was just harder in my Star Guard or Pike (and I had no intention of flying a bomber or gunship). The Star Guard got me into dog fights I did not win, and the Pike was way too squishy. To top it off, despite not being top meta ships, Clarion's still have a defined role as a group support ships, so still very much welcome in a team. You won't be "wasting" points in a Clarion, even if it's not a bomber or Flashfire. Disclaimer: I am only in my second week of play right now. So don't take this as gospel, but it did work extremely well for me. I am not topping scoreboards, but I am consistently getting more kills than deaths, contributing utility, and usually in the top half of the scoreboard assuming a reasonably balanced match. Basically feeling like I am doing enough to be worthwhile given my experience level. 1. Get good enough crew (2,500 req) After buying your ship, the next port of call is the crew. In order of importance: 1. Offensive crew with Pinpointing and Improved Kill Zone. The first makes blasters easier to hit with and the second makes torpedo locks easier to acquire. Both are important. 2. Defensive crew with Power to Shields and Quick Charge. Imperial starter crew comes with this. Alternatively, you can consider Power to Shields and Response Tuning. Your defensive crew choice needs to be matched to your armor choice. 3. Tactical crew with Wingman or Running Interference. These are at different ends of the spectrum. Wingman helps you hit things with blasters, Running Interference helps you dodge blasters. Imperials starter tactical crew comes with Wingman, Republic starter comes with Running Interference. Since you're choosing your tactical crew for the active skill, they will be your co-pilot. Tactical crew passives don't do a whole lot so don't worry about them for now. 4. Engineering crew with Power to Engines and Efficient Maneuvers. All your agility will come from your engine active ability, so you want lots of engine power for this. If you have a PvE class story ship, you should have unlocked a crew member with these passives. Looking at these crew, you should be able to put together a decent crew for 2,500 fleet req at most. While I'm sure you will be able to fine-tune your crew later, you also need points for buying ship components. 2. Upgrade Power Dive (3,500 req) Your first two upgrades should be in Power Dive, getting it down to almost no engine power consumption and a 10 second cooldown. This gives you excellent speed, a 10 second missile lock break, and ability to escape a dogfight. Power Dive works by sending you flying downwards at a 90 degree angle at high speed, and flips you upside down in the process. If you use this mindlessly, you'll probably impact on a nearby asteroid. But you can use it better by angling your nose upwards first, then power diving, so you end up parallel to your original heading, or at least only marginally downward. This serves two purposes. One, you gain a lot of speed, even taking into account the time lost by angling upwards. This can be used to fast travel to satellites, or to escape swarms of angry ships. Starting domination maps, a good tactic is to hit power to engines (F3) as you hyperspace in, orient yourself towards an objective, face upwards and power dive, afterburner as soon as you come out of power dive, and as soon as power dive is off cooldown use it again in a similar manner. You should find yourself quick on the objective and able to contest it (i.e. fly around the satellite with all power to shields hoping not to get hit). If you're feeling really gung ho, you can even power dive towards an enemy gunship, should they be isolated (do not power dive into the whole enemy team). You may be in a rookie ship with the inability to hit much if anything with blasters, but gunships may not expect such sudden movement towards them and you will be really annoying at worst, and get a kill at best. It's like having an angry shopping trolley you thought was flying the other way suddenly coming straight at you. The second purpose of Power Dive--and perhaps more important, is you make it very hard to hit you. The first angle upwards reduces a chaser's distance to you, and then the dash downwards gets you out of their sights, possibly confusing them and making them overshoot. With a 10 second power dive you can become ridiculously annoying to chase, contributing to your survivability if you can convince your attacker that you won't be an easy kill. 3. Ambush and don't get into a turning fight Now that you have Power Dive, you can start to explore the playstyle of this ship more - which is as a patient ambusher. You can go fast in sudden and surprising ways, but you still have the overall maneuverability of a school bus. This means you need to use your range and unconventional movement style to ambush people, and if you ever get into a turning fight, escape it with Power Dive as soon as possible so you can get back to torpedo range (5K - 10K). Be patient. Unless you're deliberately rushing an objective or trying to evade an attacker, don't rush in. Just cruise along, minding your own business until someone strays into your sights. If you think about how a shark hunts, you have a pretty good idea how you should fly. Your torpedoes have a long range, and you can escape with haste if needed, so you don't need to be flying particularly fast when not under threat. Holding back is the best way to learn the situational awareness needed to be a good pilot, and the best way to avoid bumbling into traps. 4. Upgrade Proton Torpedoes (3,500 req) At first, all your kills will come from Proton Torpedoes. Sure, you may land the odd lucky shot with blasters, but at this stage, Proton Torpedoes are your best bet due to their good hitting power. The first two upgrades reduce lock on time of torpedoes and give you +10% crit chance. These two upgrades make your torpedoes quite dangerous against wounded ships. You can expect your torpedoes to finish off most things that aren't a bomber that have 60% or less hull. The proper way to use them at this stage is as you're cruising around, look for people within 5K - 15K range with damaged hulls. If you can get a torpedo off, you'll probably land a kill. If, after a bit of trying, you don't manage to get a lock, be careful of being suckered into a turning fight. Just break it off and go back to cruising. Remember patience. With practice you should get better at attacking from ambush positions that give the best chances of success. Torpedoes can also put pressure on satellites. The Clarion's toughness means that often your best action is to be the annoying ship weaving in and out of the satellite. But if there are others holding the fort, you can try backing off to about 5km directly above or below the node, and going for a torpedo lock. Often ships go very slow around the satellite and are loathe to risk missile breaks in such close quarters. 5. Quad lasers to level 2 (5,500 req) Occasionally, and with practice, you might start hitting stuff with blasters. Quads are pretty good if you get the opportunity to fire them, and you'll get better at this as you go along. Although this is pretty late to buy quads (you can take them earlier if you want) the mainstay of this ship really does come from its toughness and torpedoes, so quads are an add-on once you get used to hitting things with lasers. There are a lot of tricks you can do, such as maintain the correct range to shoot at (4K), slow down your ship to reduce your turning rate, reduce your mouse sensitivity to avoid mouse jitter, and blow your Wingman buff. But these all come with practice. For now, having the first two upgrades in Quads definitely helps. You might want to give light lasers a go alternatively. Quads are easier to use, but lights I find better for DPS and close quarters fights, but it's a playstyle thing. Both are much better than Rapid Fire Lasers. You should definitely give light lasers a go after buying some other upgrades and before you take quads higher than level 2, to see if you like them. 6. Directional Shields to level 2 (5,000 req) The Clarion, like all Strike Fighters, has good shields, and Directional Shields are the best shields you can get. These give the best average shield strength with the least drawbacks, and taking them to level 2 gives your shields a nice boost. You don't have to fiddle with the directional controls too much, though with practice you will notice particular situations that benefit one direction over another. Verain's tips: 7. Buy Repair Probes and reduce the cooldown (3,000 req) With your main agility and offensive weapon in play, you can start taking a look at group support and toughness. The big reason to fly a Clarion long term is the Repair Probes. For now, you can use them to repair the nicks and scratches you get as you cruise around looking for targets. Later, you can use them to resupply Scout rocket pods. Short term, just get them on your bar and reduce their cooldown to 60 seconds. 8. Armor and Reactor to level 2 (5,000 req) The next biggest upgrades are personal toughness. For an investment of 5,000 req you can upgrade your reinforced armor and large reactor to level 2. Both these components come with the ship and give you a bigger HP pool for shrugging off hits. You should only go with the Reinforced Armor option if you chose a defensive crew with Power to Shields and Quick Charge Shields (Starter Imperial crew or Republic Doc). If you chose a crew with response Tuning ,you are running an evasion build, and so should pick Lightweight Armor for an extra 1,000 requisition. 9. Capacitor to level 2 (2,500 - 3,500 req) While we're upgrading our blasters, may as well put points in the capacitor. All the capacitor options are OK, though which one I prefer comes down to weapon choice. Range is great for quads, though I like the default Damage Capacitor for light laser cannons. The cheapest and most flexible option (since you both start with it and it works well with all laser types) is damage. 10. Torpedoes to rank 4 (15,000 req) We've finally got the ship a bit spaceworthy and can start thinking about easing off the small upgrades and invest the big bucks to improve our Killing Power. Rank 4 Proton Torpedoes with the 4 degrees fire arc are really great since they have a huger lock on radius. You'll get much less frustrated at things flying out of your fire arc. Alternatively you can try the torpedo speed increase, though you'll find locks harder to acquire, especially before buying increased turn speed. 11. Power Dive to rank 3 (10,000 req) Rank 3 power dive lets you take +10% turn rate, which is great for both easier torpedo locking and easier blaster tracking. You still don't want to get into a turning fight, but for 10,000 req you will be a slightly more agile shopping trolley and land a few more torpedoes per match as a result. You already have great straight line speed with Power Dive's active use, so you don't really need even more, so can safely ignore the +10% speed option. 12. Capacitor, Reactor and Armor to rank 3 (7,500 req) This investment of 7,500 req to master your three minor components is handy now to give you a bit of a boost to both damage and toughness. 13. Repair Probes to rank 5 (lots of req) You now have a ship that performs pretty good, so can think about what you can do other than power diving and flinging torpedoes. A straight-up investment in ammo supplying Repair Probes lets you be a force multiplier, rearming other classes who run out of ammo a lot. I.e. scouts, who can never have enough rockets. 14. Mop up (even more req) Your ship is fully functional now, so you can look at upgrades that make life a bit easier. More torpedo range here, experiment between quads and light lasers there. But by now you should be getting positive kill death ratios in most matches and be contributing to the team.
  16. Thanks for the comments! I know this build works cause I just die so less than on my other strikes with it, but it's always nice to read feedback by more experienced players. Yeah I'm sure many options like the T3 ammo refill is pretty great eventually, but problem is more that don't have enough req to get that for a while, so am just looking for what gives the most immediate benefit right now.
  17. As a new player who started only a week ago, wanted to say thanks heaps for this thread. Best guide I found that helped me get up to speed. I've tried the Pike and Star Guard based on recommendations here, but settled on this Clarion build as the ship that's giving me the most fun/effectiveness at such an early stage. Clarion Dive Bomber (not actually a bomber) This is a shoot and scoot build with the ability to act as a moving target / distraction, break from a dogfight and outrun other ships with minimal req investment. I don't claim this build is any good when you have all the ship options and the experience to use them (a week in, I have neither). But it does give you a fighting chance against more experienced players and is a great way to learn how to shoot and maneuver without the frustration of getting killed over and over. I play it in TDM because of how slippery and tanky it is. Going 4 kills 1 death is much more beneficial to the team than going 6 kills and 4 deaths on a Pike. Often I accidentally find myself in enemy territory but dive and evade back to friendlies with no trouble -- and hopefully give them something to shoot at while the rest of my team lands kills. In domination I play it for the same reason - holding points and generally wasting people's time when they try and attack me. None of the gear used on this build is higher than level 2, so you have no fancy options. So we're just using basic stuff you can get after a few days. Quad lasers (level 2): Seems like the best short-medium range weapon for this ship. Don't expect to get many kills with them, but you can occasionally land a lucky shot and are fun to spam. The first two upgrades are useful for getting these to a point where you might actually hit something. Proton Torpedos (level 2): Better for a newbie than the Thermite that are often recommended, these give you a large whack of damage that will finish something by themselves, rather than expect you to close in with quads (which is really really hard after just a week of play). The first upgrade is mandatory for reducing lock on times, and the second upgrade is still cheap and gives the chance of a lucky shot. Repair Probes (level 1): If you're trying to draw fire while minimizing deaths, you can't get pecked to death by shots that get through your shields but don't kill. The tier 2-3 upgrades aren't that fantastic for this build so just get the reduced cooldown and forget about spending more points on them for now. Directional Shield (level 2): Bit more tanky than the Shield Projector. These let you throw all shields to aft while you power dive all over the map, bringing us to... POWER DIVE (level 2, but level 3 is great too if you can get it): In caps as it is the core of this build. Power Dive speeds you off at a right angle downwards, so if you use it wrong you'll troll yourself with a controlled flight into asteroid. However, once you get the hang of pointing your nose directly up first, then power diving, this is the greatest thing since sliced bread. With the tier 2 reduced cooldown, you'll have more mobility than many ships. I've managed to lead more experienced scouts around in a huge circle on TDM maps just power diving all over the place. Eventually most players give up in favour of a less annoying target, letting you go back to locking on torpedoes. Bonus points if you can power dive lead people in front of a line of friendly gunships, so always try to have a plan for getting in, getting attention, and having a destination. Power Dive is also handy for satellite rushes in domination. When you spawn, hit F3 for more engine power, then point your nose up and power dive, then afterburner as you come out of the dive. You'll be upside down, but also ahead of other ships. A 10 second cooldown means you'll have it free to use again as you approach the sat, and two power dives and afterburner can let you contest a sat even at the same time as an opposing scout. Then you can fly in a circle around the sat with all power to shields and repair probes, and they typically won't have the firepower to dislodge you by themselves. Lightweight Armor (level 2): Evasion is pretty good as it reduces the damage that gets through the shield, meaning less need for hull repairs. Range capacitor (level 2): Helps you actually hit stuff with Quads, since you have a longer range window and hence less tracking penalties. Large Reactor (level 2): More shields means less hull damage. Between these and other bonuses, your repair probes can cope with their workload. Sensor: Doesn't matter at this low level so leave it stock. Later on I'm thinking communication range to help support the role as a rabbit. Crew Offensive as pinpointing/Field of Fire: Standard offensive crew choice here that means you might hit the broad side of an asteroid with your quads. While you're using torpedoes to get kills mostly, a blaster-oriented crew is still useful as it turns your quads from "pointless" to "might get lucky". I like those odds. Defensive as power to shields/response turning/Bypass: More shields and more evasion means less hull damage in a prolonged fight. Bypass is an interesting ability that means your quads might kill something once in a while if you get a good attack run in. Plus Nadia seems to really enjoy power diving, judging by her cheers. It's a real party. Tactical as crew with Wingman or Running Interference: At low levels not sure if the tactical passives do anything (maybe communication would help the rabbit role), but right now I spent points unlocking a crew with Wingman for a great offensive buff as an alternative to Bypass that help you actually hit stuff with Quads. Not sure which one is better - either way your blasters are mostly entertainment value, so is good to try both. Running Interference is another fine choice since you're actually trying to get shot at, but I prefer the offensive options as I'd rather have the option to make my blasters useful than completely forget about them. At low gear and experience, a buff is really helpful to making blasters work. Engineering with efficient manuevers and power to engines: C2-N2 is a big fan of power diving so enthusiastically tunes your engines so you can power dive all day. So that's the build. Not the most offensive ship, but it is very possible to reliably go 4 kills to 1 or even 0 deaths in matches and lock down objectives after just a week in GSF, which after a week is I think the most you can ask for and helps your team more than getting farmed.
  18. Hot pursuit synergizes with pandemonium, not snap shot. It's a useful combo for sabotuers, since it allows you to close range to blaster whip, and blaster whip hits about as hard as trick shot. But that's the only real use for it.
  19. This nerf just makes the gunslinger/sniper talents that add to crit damage more powerful. Don't confuse gear nerfs with class talent buffs. This is especially that surge is a difficult stat to get. Most of our gear loads accuracy/power. gunslingers/snipers comparatively become more powerful because our natural surge talents become more important.
  20. If snipers actually did 33% more damage than gunslingers their wouldn't be so many sniper complaints. That'd be overwhelming DPS. It's fairly balanced, and means that accuracy isn't as pointless for us as it is for snipers.
  21. Will we receive additional gearing options than having one obvious set of pve or pvp gear per class? (I.e. as a gunslinger only the field tech set is focused on my class).
  22. VOIDSTAR Strategy When You're In A Good Group? Protect doors, DoT people up. Strategy When You're In A Poor Group? Lose the match. CIVIL WAR Strategy When You're In A Good Group? Call out enemy strategy. First side to commit loses if the other side responds appropriately. Strategy When You're In A Poor Group? Lose the match. HUTTBALL Strategy When You're In A Good Group? Focus flag carrier. Protect own flag character with pulse detonator. Strategy When You're In A Poor Group? Run around racking up kills.
  23. I've been in a guild with 300 members and I was like the only level 50 gunslinger. That got me into raids just fine. The whole 'play a scoundrel and you'll be invited to groups' thing is backfiring in this game. I find that there's an overpopulation of healers. And if you want to PvE DPS, Gunslinger is superior in almost every situation. Yeah, you're always going to be in the DPS role. But you'll be pretty good at it and unique.
  24. I found Bowdarr much better overall as a sab. I only bothered to use sabotage charge against a silver, and in that case I was taking it. I could let Bowdarr lose against normal mobs and just toss grenades into the scrum. His AoE taunt is amazing here since it keeps the melee enemies next to the ranged enemies, and you just thermal grenade them. Plus Corso whines over EVERYTHING you do. Shoot someone - whine. Steal something - whine. Take a bit of damage in space missions - "I hope you have escape pods". Shut up Corso.
  25. I find my agent weird compared to the gunslinger. Frag grenade has some horrible stiffness where the character braces themselves before throwing. Thermal grenade is just a smooth lob. I don't consider the sab charge issue a big issue. For both our trees that use sabotage charge often (sharpshooter and saboteur), it's optimal to manually cast the charge upfront, instead of concurrently with another skill. Sharpshooter: Sab charge - aimed shot - instant charged burst - trick shot. This is the same timing as if sab charge was instant because we're just replacing the instant sab charge with instant charged burst. Same number of GCDs. Doing it this way also allows us to fit sab charge into prep time if we want to flash grenade the enemy first, as the charge won't break the flash. Sab: sab charge - aimed shot - speed shots. You don't want to go aimed shot followed by sab charge, because doing that would trigger the global cooldown and delay your damage. You couldn't launch straight into speed shoots from aimed shot. The dirty kick root is a bit more serious, but I honestly always save it for cover defence, so don't notice it half the time.
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