Right now, you can count one hand the number of active players who A)Know all Damage Overcharge locations on all maps. B)Know the Engine Overcharge locations at Iokath. C) Can fly Strikes, Gunships and Scouts to devastating effect. D) Are known for flying solo. If I go make a new account right now, then stay totally quiet and don't speak to anyone, I give it all of 5 minutes before people figure out / assume its me. I remember this happening when Neutrinos retired. About six months later this toon appears in GSF called Arengesus. He was doing things only Neutrinos could do. Totally destroying other players who considered themselves top tier. Carrying teams that should never win. Dominating the server. Everyone was talking about who it might be. Several names were thrown around, but the stand out popular opinion was that it was Neutrinos. I certainly felt confident it was him. Fast forward about a year and legacy ignore arrived. Arengesus had long since stopped playing. He only hung around for a couple of months. But I never forgot him, and I checked the legacy name, sure enough it was Neutrinos. A while after that another new toon appeared, doing all the same things. This one was called Arteedanel. I checked the legacy name within two games of seeing him play. "Unamed Legacy." But there were only a handful of people capable of playing this way, and Invis + Yui had already openly denied it was them. I mean, there is a chance I am wrong, but I am pretty certain this one was Neutrinos too. People, Malgus regulars who like to think they are good, would regularly create premades to take Arengesus and Arteedanel out. I saw Arengesus - who we know was Neutrinos - get focused so hard he ended the match 2kills to 3 deaths. I saw Arteedanel have a premade of 4 people permanently chasing him, because they knew if they didn't, he would win the match. He managed to still come away with 6 kills to 4 deaths. I felt for him, it almost feels unfair that one person should have people coordinating to shut him down, especially when that person flies solo. These were new toons. One we know was Neutrinos, one we think was Neutrinos. But in both circumstances it didn't matter, he still got shut down hard once people clocked how good he was. The only way to avoid that treatment, would be to nerf himself. Neutrinos eventually retired for good, as did so many greats, and now, I totally get why. I've had several messages of support from people I will not name, but people who were very well known, recognized Aces, who left for the reason I am leaving. Most people don't know what real focus is like. And while I am not putting myself on the same Elite-god-like-tier of Neutrinos, I do for a fact know what its like to be shut down like him. Its actually laughable. I genuinely have been behind my PC laughing my head off out loud at how many people are chasing me around the map. But it also makes the game near unplayable. It doesn't matter how many new toons or accounts I make, it is only a matter of time before the hard focus and verbal abuse starts. And you're either willing to put up with that / laugh it off or you're not. But I am not the first to leave because of it and I will not be the last.

I already did this close to 6 months ago. I've been on all servers ever since. Yes it does help, but not enough. I was accused of cheating on SS only last week. As I said, people don't receive this kind of abuse until you become a top tier Ace. And there is one particular person who insists on chain slicing me every single match. Thankfully he is no threat because he's dire, and couldn't hit water standing on a boat. But even still, it gets tedious. Its like "hhmm, do I want to log into SS today knowing I'm going to be chain sliced? The only other way around this problem is to have more and more alts and keep rotating them every 2-3 matches. Never even complete a weekly in one go. Then don't play that alt again for two weeks. So it only ever plays 2-3 games every 14 days. I know one guy that does this, and manages to escape most of the focus I deal with because he does this. It also manages to reduce the flaming, because people don't recognize the alts. It crossed my mind to do this, but I'm just done with it. And because I post YouTube videos and put myself out there to help people, there are people who work out my alts regardless. I made a new toon a few weeks ago, never told anyone who I was, then within 20 games someone says "Hi Luc" in ops chat. So, because of my presence in the community, I'm not sure persistent alt hopping would work for me.

Invis' training. If I can do it anyone can do it. This is why people say I'm only good with Damage Overcharges, like Domination doesn't exist. All the best Thutmose.

If I return it won't be a for a long time. I need that break from it. Safe skies Stradin.

This is why you have the potential to go far in this game. You saw something unusual that I did, which lead to me destroying you. Instead of getting frustrated, annoyed and throwing curses, you went to YouTube and figured out what I did. I wish I was staying to finish your training, because its a delight to help people like you. But you can do it with out me. My instructional videos are still up and will remain up. Guys on this forum can still answer your questions, and maybe join Sriia's unofficial GSF discord server if you haven't already. Keep watching videos of better pilots and pay attention to what they do. When you feel you are getting the maximum from this ship, and you want to start in Scouts, go watch my Grav and Ramalina Scout Analysis videos, which explain in detail how a Scout should be flown. Safe Skies man, go wreck!

Thanks Chuppy! I remember playing with / against you on Starforge. Glad that my videos have been of help. I will leave my channel up. There's 130 something videos still there. Believe it or not I used to feel the same way about playing against Neutrinos / Invis / Kal Hondo. Eventually if you have the tenacity you can push through that. Especially when I found Invis offering me training and what a nice guy he is! That's why I tried to pay it forwards. All the best and keep on improving!

Funny thing, this was also instrumental in why I quit ground PVP and focused on GSF. The difference is, GSF is in general a much nicer community. You don't really come in for all the trash talking, hate mail and trolling until you reach the top tier levels of skill in the game. Once you achieve that, GSF becomes as toxic as other parts of the game.

Flux my man, thanks for the fun times we had and thanks for the kind words. I was sad when you left to go to SWS, and stoked when you returned! You were also very helpful to me when I was new. I remember when Mendac randomly joined my guild on Malgus, and I was a total noob in GSF at the time. He asked me to group with you and him and I was blown away by how good you both were! Both of you were some of the very first to offer me some helpful tips. Some of which I still parrot to people to this day. Like your "accuracy > damage > kills" and Mendac's "80% of your damage should be from lasers." Things I first heard from both of you guys that stuck with me and I have used in training others. Safe skies man, it was a pleasure

I don't specifically remember, but yes, that's my thing. I do it all the time. So few people can strafe in this game that it throws most people for a loop, and it's all that's needed to make them miss with their arc limited Heavies and Protons. Whilst Rapids can still hit just fine while strafing.

Learning to Piledrive will make a huge difference. Short version - Spam key 1 while shooting. Advanced version - switch to just heavies when you or he retros, then back to spamming Key 1. With traditional Piledriver you had to be more accurate with your timing to get a Heavy shot and a Quad shot to fire at the same time - less so with Alternate Rapids piledriver. You're basically filling the gaps between your heavy bolts with rapid bolts. As for taking too much damage before you are in range to use your maximum burst damage - don't accept the joust until you are ready to. So that means you can fly off-centre, which makes you hard to hit, then line up the joust when you are at your preferred range. Its a Scout trick. Because Scouts need to be very close to joust too.

Touching words Enticy, thank you. Once those flood gates of cheating accusations start, they don't stop. Its a sign of reaching a certain level, and given how much you stepped up in that scout contest, and what I saw of your play afterward, I can fully believe you're getting to that level now. Man, the support here is like a breath of fresh air. Its a shame the toxic few ruin it for most. I don't know if I blame the devs though - short of barring all in game communication I don't think you can ever stop toxicity. Its just the way the world is.

Kind words Elkesha. I know we had some frank candid conversations and I pushed you hard, but its only because you are so capable and talented. Try to heed what I said in our last chat, and you will be an Elite Ace - better than me - if you do.

Thank you Zappa. I've never had a problem with you personally, but you know very well that some of your team mates gave a certain someone the same treatment that I have talked about receiving here. I hope one day those people can recognize that said person is just extremely skilled, and should not be punished or flamed for that. Especially when he is more than willing to help others progress to similar levels. After all, he is the reason I reached the level I did. He's still around, but he's also felt what I feel and has taken breaks because of it. All the best.

Not at all. you can joust people with it really well. Start with Heavies, usually 1-2 shots, then as soon as your Rapids are in range start Piledriving. Clusters make it even stronger, because most people will retro during a joust and then you can land clusters on them. Watch my vids, I joust with it fine. Here's a demo video of that build - but with Concussions - and its in Domination so no one can say it only jousts with Damage Overcharge. Piledriving explanation from Audsen who discovered it - Works with Heavies + Quads or Heavies + rapids.

This is actually the best build for countering Scouts, as long as they aren't an Ace. Clusters are excellent against Scouts and rapids work well too. Learn to piledrive this build, if you haven't.

I can still give you a break down on this, and its my pleasure to sign off on this challenge for you. Sub is ending in 4 days though and I won't remain active on this forum even if I still had access. These don't enlage properly, so its hard to see the numbers. But it looks like 58% win ratio, and 39k Av.Dmg? Be happy with that. I wouldn't have expected more to be honest. Don't take that as an insult. This is a major improvement, and lets not forget this is with clusters. 40k Av.dmg is getting into the realms of being a solid vet skill level. Even more so when Protons are not equipped and these are all laser kills.I know you wanted to do better, and that's a good thing, because the best Aces are never happy with their performances or numbers. They always feel they can do better. So one goal you had was to beat 12 kills, and you did that with a 14kill match. You then beat that again with this 16 kill match. Both matches had 70k+ damage, which shows these were not lucky matches. Someone who gets 12 kills with 30k damage is lucky - and mostly Proton kills. Your results are the effect of increasing skill. And then you did it again here, 16 kills, this time in Dom and with a good objective score, which also means you are trying to play on nodes. Excellent. Double volley clusters will give you inflated accuracy numbers, remember that every missile launched counts as a hit. But Rapids can lower those numbers too, because unlike with BLC, its okay with Rapids to correct your lead on your target without releasing the fire button. Not ideal, but permissible. Either way you slice it, 63% accuracy is great, well above average, and proof that the challenge worked. If you're shooting over 50% in tough matches and over 60% in easy matches, you are doing just fine. 46.4 % overall accuracy, would benice to see this over 50%, but remember your last 25 games will have come up a lot. It will be your first 50 games dragging that down. You did great. Accuracy > damage > kills will keep on improving from here, just keep doing what you're doing. Your KDR needs work. Work on survivability. Staying alive. Try to bring your KDR up. Work on coming out of super tough matches (ones where you're losing badly) with a positive KDR. Even if its by only 1. Then work on making it by more. Now that you have done this with Clusters, and are clearly and evidently using lasers properly, switch to Concussions. I bet you'll see your kills going up. Eventually you can go back to Protons if you wish. It's your choice, just make sure you don't lose that priority and ability you have trained with lasers. They should always be 80% of your damage and kills. Atta boy, thats the spirit Report card grade..... A-. If you had managed a KDR over 2.5, I would have given you an A+. Drakolich, take this kid further will you. Please.

I suppose it is the first time I’ve reached that level in a game yes. I was never much of a gamer historically speaking. I mean I had PlayStations and Nintendo’s growing up, but I always preferred to be outside doing stupid things on bikes and snowboards. When my health got bad and I was resigned to being at home, I turned to gaming. Always been a Star Wars fan and naturally was curious about SWTOR. That eventually lead to GSF and the rest is history. I’m back to being outside more now and doing not so stupid things on bikes again. But I wanted to stay playing GSF because I love it, even though I have no need to be stuck indoors any more. But whereas I come home from a ride with mates feeling happy, I end a session of GSF feeling tense or annoyed. It’s a hard time playing top tier solo in this game, but premade stomping holds not interest for me. You come in for a lot of hate and a lot of stress carrying mindless teams. Every top tier player I’ve spoken to has felt the same way. Apart from logging in to do duel sessions, Invis has taken a 4 month break because of it. Everyone wants a piece of you, and most of these fools have zero idea how bad they really are. Bikers and snowboarder, extreme sports community, are a lot more chill than gamers. I guess I’m not used to it. I’m used to a community where if you do something cool people applaud it. Not hate on you . To anyone else watching this. To anyone else reading this. To all those people who wanted to prove a point to me and make me recognize them, if you want to prove yourself in this game. Fly a Scout. No other ship will command my respect, bar maybe extremely good strafe play in a GS. And to all those people who bragged that they only needed one ship to beat me and that I was only good with DO bla bla bla…. I’m gone now. Your toxicity won. But if you really want to find out how good you are, go challenge Invis to a 1v1 duel. Thanks Drak. All the best.

For now I need to just stop. We’ll see what the future brings. Had a nice message from Despon last night. Turns out I’m not the only one who left for these reasons.

Thanks Ram. Always enjoyed talking with you.

If anything makes me feel bad it’s this. Leaving some people before they achieved their goals. But Drakolich can look after you. And failing that, I can put you in touch with Invis, Remus, Vilgrim, Johnny, Krubb. My guild on Malgus. Elite pilots and always happy to train people. My sub runs out in 4 days so I won’t be able to post here. Pm me now if you want me discord details.

It’s been three years of pretty hardcore GSF. 13k games and some good friends made long the way, but it’s time to call it a day. I want to make it clear why. Anyone who has reached the upper echelons of GSF knows you cannot do so without gathering haters and trolls. But perhaps maybe because I am quite vocal and outspoken, because I put myself out there in the community, I have gathered more than my fair share. To be quite honest I am sick of it. I go into a match dreading that I’m going to have someone rant at me. And if they don’t do that then it’s relentless and persistent focus, and then morons thinking they’ve beaten me when I’m being focused, and then bragging about it. If it’s not one thing it’s another. If it’s not one person it’s another. And I can’t get away from it. I haven’t been enjoying my time in GSF because of it. Today was a perfect example of feeling happy, logging in to play and then three matches later being moody and irritated because one person wants me to think he beat me and was bragging even though my team was useless. I get accused of being a cheater every week. I get people who are half my skill level telling me I’m only good with damage over charges or that I suck on a bad team. I dialed down my play time a lot, to see if that would help, but it doesn’t. It still gets to me. I’m tired of it. Fact is I achieved everything in GSF I ever set out to achieve and more. Apart from being able to beat Invis overall in a duel session. But there is nothing left for me to achieve, and certainly nothing left for me to do that won’t end up causing me to have more of the same day by day. That’s what all these posts were about. Every day tops, how to win. Training people who asked for it. I was leaving my knowledge and help behind in preparation for when I would call it quits. Because I knew I was getting close to it. For now at least this is an indefinite break. Maybe permanent. My continued improving health means I can spend more time doing other things. Healthier things. And to be quite honest with you I would like to devote my gaming time to Chess, as that’s one game where I never realised my potential. I’ll leave my channel up, for now. There’s still 130 something matches there. I was steamlining it down to 100, but I’ll leave it as is now. Goodbye, thank for the fun, all the best.

I'm going to err on the side of saying Super Serious is not for anyone much below Ace level. Very strong veteran at least. The clue is kind of in the name. If you start putting people in super serious matches who are not extremely good, then they are no longer super serious matches. You can learn all of the above from normal matches. I love training people and I love watching them get better, but super serious matches are meant to be where top level pilots can experience the game at a top tier level, without worrying about having someone on their team who is not cut out for it.

Really great conversation about Scouts, but getting back on topic of "How to Win," I had a match last night that typified everything I talked about in this post. It was an absolute nail biter. I started in a GS, had to deal with being pestered by numerous people at the start. One guy began to pester me more than anyone else, so Ship Adaptability came into it, and choosing a build that would counter him without slowing me down.Target selection became critical - there were bombers patrolling areas which my team were feeding into. Map awareness was essential to not die too much - not over reaching. And perhaps most of all - that never give up attitude. The belief that it could still be turned around, despite trailing by as much as 7 points with moments to go. And finally, all important DO control. Did we win? That's for you to watch....

This. If you top the board in a Scout, everyone knows you did a better job than them, even if they won't admit it. Because most of those high scoring Strike pilots still can't get the same results in a Scout. I am not going to deny it, that's why I like them. Tiera - a phenomenal Scout Ace - once told me a Scout is the way to show off your skill. When I was maining Strikes, it was Scouts I dearly wished I could fly, and Ace Scout pilots I most admired. Seeing them still wreck a TDM in a Scout, was the ultimate, and still is, highest definition of "you've made it as a pilot."

So I actually disagree with this. Circumstantially it can be true, but its not a given. I actually stopped flying traditional Piledriver a long time ago, because as I became more and more proficient with a Scout, I found Piledriver to be too limiting. I got used to being able to attack any target from any angle, where as with long range weapons on a Strike, you are very limited in your attack vectors, and its too easy for someone to get evasive, meaning you have zero chance acquiring an angle on them if they don't let you. Just how many times have you evaded a Strike with heavy lasers and protons, in your GS? Its all too easy to do. But what if that person is flying a Scout? Suddenly its not so easy to evade them, not if they are good! This was why I switched to Rapids / Heavies Piledriver + Concussions. It gives you more versatility in TDM, closer to what a Scout can do. Ideally I'd like to run double turning with it, which is the perfect Strike build for me. At Iokath its a no brainer because I have EO's to play with, but at LS and Kuat, you can end up running out of engines. As for survivability, Its really situational. There are times when I find the more tanky Strike to be better, there are times when I find evasion + disto to be better. And this is why I made my hybrid Scout build for TDM. BLC + Clusters, Single turning, Regen thrusters, Disto, Retro thrusters, Reinforced armor, and TT with extra evasion and range options, + range cap, and Hnydrospanner. You can mitigate chip damage with spanner. You can survive a Proton. But you also definitely don't eat Protons as much as you do in a Strike. You have a tonne of evasion still, and more if you have an EO. And using range cap and range on TT means you can now joust Strikes without being at a range disadvantage. Factor in having a DO and timing your cooldowns and its easy peasy. You've still got more turning than a double turning strike, but you can boost for days because you have regen thrusters. I love this build for TDM, and there are not many situations where I feel I would rather be in a Strike. Certainly no more than the times I need to ditch the Strike for a GS. If I ditch this Scout build in TDM, its for a Gunship, which would have happened if I'd been in a Strike too. Sometimes I fly my Strike and really miss Disto, knowing this Scout build lets me do things a Strike can't do. I did 100 Scout games with that build, and only a few times felt myself wanting a Strike. Most times that you see on my videos me flying a Strike in TDM, its because I don't have a 2nd Scout on the bar to dedicate it to this TDM build.