Public Service Announcement: You have multiple spawns--use them!

[Nemarus]

Seriously ... when you die in GSF Deathmatch, before you hit that green Ready button as fast as possible, take a moment to look at the map and consider whether you should change which of the THREE spawn points you are going to jump into.

 

Are there a bunch of red triangles near a capital ship? Don't spawn there. Did an ace just farm you and your buddies in the north end of the map? Consider spawning in the south!

 

GSF is won or lost as much on approach as it is on aim and evasion. Don't fly headlong into your enemies, especially if that's exactly where you came from last time. Work the edges of the big dogfights. Flank. Cycle through targets, looking for enemy fighters that are distracted with someone else. Look for power-ups! Give yourself every advantage you can before you actually engage in combat.

 

Too often, people complain that the other team "camped their spawn". Most of the time I don't think this is intentional. I just know that after I kill an enemy ship, I press tab to find my next target and then fly toward it. If I kill that one, I do the same again. A few kills later and I suddenly find I'm next to an enemy capital ship. It's not because I chose to do so--it's because every single ship I destroy respawns at the same location and then flies toward me again, every time. They build a breadcrumb trail of death from me to ONE of their spawns. Once I find myself in that position, I'll retreat back to the center of the map.

 

But you shouldn't rely on my (or any other ace's) honor to prevent yourself from being spawn-farmed. You have two other spawns! Please take note of that and use them!

Edited March 10, 2014 by Nemarus

[DarthSchmoe]

/agreed

 

I try and spawn where most of the boosts are available.

It is amazing how many players ignore these

[jmjeffw]

That's great advice. Unfortunately most of the people who need to read this, won't. It should be required reading before anyone is allowed to get in a starfighter (along with many of the great strategy topics here).

[Armonddd]

Just got out of a 50-4 match because everyone kept spawning up north.

 

I mean, not that I'm complaining about the win, but it'd be more interesting for both sides if it weren't so easy.

[zaskar]

They have a tutorial on capping a sat too but it seems 90% of people can't find it. It is very poor user experience design to blame.

[Armonddd]

They have a tutorial on capping a sat too but it seems 90% of people can't find it. It is very poor user experience design to blame.

 

The tutorial is also very uninformative regarding realistic combat scenarios. They didn't even put turrets around the satellite you capture, much less actual moving targets to practice on (and for this reason a lot of people don't know what to do with the lead indicator).

[Bolo_Yeung]

Another thing - check for the hyperspace beacons left by friendly bombers - sometimes you can join the fight near satellite again immediately , which can save your team from losing it.

[Irongut]

Agreed, there is no need to be a lemming.

 

Also keep an eye open for bombers on your team who have used Hyperspace Beacon and in Domination matches you can often spawn near a satellite you control. Both can be a great ways to get back into the action quickly and in a useful place.

[BobBudJones]

Agreed, there is no need to be a lemming.

 

Also keep an eye open for bombers on your team who have used Hyperspace Beacon and in Domination matches you can often spawn near a satellite you control. Both can be a great ways to get back into the action quickly and in a useful place.

 

 

Word of warning though, I've seen bombers put down beacons right in the middle of a huge fight, and that's not exactly where you want to spawn.

[Zharik]

How about this for a PSA:

 

If you are in an 8v8 domination match and you are one of the 3 people "guarding" our lone satellite... we're GOING to lose.

 

(I'd actually like to see defensive objective points reward get halved for a loss... or something to encourage people to try and win instead of sitting on a satellite for the extra reqs)

[MaximilianPower]

Word of warning though, I've seen bombers put down beacons right in the middle of a huge fight, and that's not exactly where you want to spawn.

 

 

This, and I've seen them placed directly against objects like rock walls. Use them, and you die instantly. Doesn't happen a lot, but it's happened enough such that I no longer blindly use beacons unless I know exactly where they are, and/or know that the person who placed it is actually competent.

 

But I completely agree with OP's PSA. Wish more people heeded this advice.

[Malox]

I would actually like to see the capital ships attacking people again. The spawn camping hit new heights today as we had 6 bombers and 6 gunners and split them between the three spawn sights and sat there picking off people as they spawned....that is just sad.

 

Well I guess last night since I've been up since 0100 and its now 1730.

Edited March 12, 2014 by Malox

[Armonddd]

I would actually like to see the capital ships attacking people again. The spawn camping hit new heights today as we had 6 bombers and 6 gunners and split them between the three spawn sights and sat there picking off people as they spawned....that is just sad.

 

That was actually completely doable before, since for some reason gunships outrange capital ships.

[Sangrar]

those multiple spawns is crap. 2 days ago I had a deathmatch. It started good, both teams were mostly even but mine was slighty ahead. but then the imps took all their ships to ours and began camping us horribly. we switched spawns yes, but they sent ships to all our ships, and once our people stopped going through one they rushed the other two. It became a complete campfest, and in the end we lost horribly as many of our ships were gunned down and those who managed to get out on a spawn that happened to be clear for the moment were not able to oppose the other team who were not suffering problems getting their team together amidst a huge kill fest.

 

PS: it was not just gunships and bombers, strikes and scouts as well were all littering our spawns, with the scouts especially chasing people right out of the spawn.

 

Bioware if you read this, put up like a shield or something that's only 1 way so you can only exit and with a deserter detection inside to prevent this while also preventing ships from running back there for cover.