How to actually hit enemy ships?

[Verain]

There's four sorts of ways to shoot in this game. The two that seem to make sense to me are the missiles and the railguns. The railguns travel so preposterously fast that they have no travel time, and at any range you can aim them (15km) you can be effective. The missiles seem to have a lockon that takes a few seconds, can be broken by several actions of the enemy, and require that the enemy remain inside a small reticule that is fixed to your ship's nose and is in the center of the screen.

 

 

So, there's two types of free fire things. The first is the rocket pods, and the second is the blasters themselves. Versus stationary, very close, or targets who aren't breaking my direct line, these work ok for me.

 

So here's my questions:

 

 

If an opponent is flying in front and I mouse over them while chasing (so the "firing arc" large circle contains my small "blaster aim" circle) and I press the button that I have to target them (I'm using E), that targets them. But it by no means guarantees hits. The game draws a small line and a second circle to indicate that I must lead my target. Anything that "hits" the opponent then goes to a table of effects- he could "evade" or I could "crit". But I'm not asking about that stuff, when I say "hit" I'm happy just to be rolling on that table.

 

1)- If I shoot at this circle properly is the guy hit? In other words, is the circle "aim here if the enemy keeps moving in this same direction" or is the circle "if you click here perfectly, your hit is guaranteed"?

 

2)- What about with rocket pods? Do they have the same speed as blasters?

 

3)- Does someone need to be targeted for them to be hit? I think this is a no, but I'd like to know for sure.

 

 

 

 

Thanks.

[Wainamoinen]

1)- If I shoot at this circle properly is the guy hit? In other words, is the circle "aim here if the enemy keeps moving in this same direction" or is the circle "if you click here perfectly, your hit is guaranteed"?

No. Two reasons. First is your initial example: the shots/rockets have a travel time, and the target reticule (the little leading circle) predicts where you have to aim to hit your target if he continues on his current speed and heading. You'll spot the obvious point there - he might change speed and heading before your shots arrive. If someone is a long way away, you'll often see the target reticule rubberbanding all over the place as he boosts or steers, because his predicted position in the time it would take your shots to arrive is gyrating wildly. You need to shoot where he is going to be, the target reticule is a guide, and may be wrong.

 

Second, less obvious reason. There is an accuracy vs evasion mechanic going on. Even if your shots are in the right place, you only have a [your weapon's accuracy] - [target's evasion] chance to connect. If he's got the Distortion Drive button active (big evasion bonus), you probably won't hit him even with a whole salvo of fire delivered right to him. There are lots of componenets and abilities that affect accuracy or evasion, and weapons have varying accuracy at various ranges, plus a "tracking accuracy" that seems to mean they miss more the further your shots are from dead centre. Rocket Pods are very bad for this, 5% per degree IIRC.

 

If you go to Preferences > Starfighter there's a tickbox to turn on extended coponent details in the hangar,. where you can check up on the weapons.

 

2)- What about with rocket pods? Do they have the same speed as blasters?

Same velocity, different fire rate. But as mentioned above, they seem to suffer more when you're not shooting them dead centre.

 

3)- Does someone need to be targeted for them to be hit? I think this is a no, but I'd like to know for sure.

No. I've damaged and even killed people with blasters without having them targeted, but it's tricky because unless they have zero angular momentum relative to you (i.e. stopped, or heading directly toward/away from you), you'll have a very hard time guessing where to shoot to account for their movement without the guidance of the reticule.

Edited December 13, 2013 by Wainamoinen

[Grayseven]

Also remember that the closer you are to the edge of your firing arc (the big outer circle) the lower your chance to actually hit. I believe you lose 1% accuracy per degree away from dead center of your arc and there are upgrades to the ships that let you get farther from dead center before the accuracy degradation kicks in.

[Nethgilne]

I've also noticed that you need to rest your reticle on the lead indicator for a few fractions of a seconds to increase your chances of landing a hit. During this time you might notice your reticle turn a lighter blue and change shape. This is obviously much easier when your target is flying straight and level.

 

But still, it doesn't guarantee you land your hits, i just find that it increases my chances. And with fast firing lasers I've noticed that firing in bursts helps me hit ratio, but this could just be all in my head.

 

Finally, Yes. I've managed to score hits on enemies that I didn't have targeted (I believe). I've definitely done this with turrets and *pretty* sure i've managed to land one on a player but I can't remember exactly when.