New Players Read Here! Short Easy Tips to Win By!

[Verain]

I updated my post with some other stuff that new players might want- some guidance on requisition spending.

 

As far as "50% of players play X", I don't see that either. I will say that there are some clear imbalances in this game, and many of them are likely by design. For instance, it's pretty clear that the bombers are meant to be very solid at holding nodes. I don't think it's fair advice for a new player to be told "play bomber" or "play type 2 scout" or whatever. Not only might the power change with a patch (or even with a meta), it's by no means a guaranteed fit to their playstyle. It's also likely temporary advice- if you had a build that could instantly defeat a gunship but was literally helpless before scouts and strikes, you wouldn't play it- most games involve characters who ONLY have scouts and strikes, for instance. The meta will shake out as more players have more ships, and if a new player is playing something that he actually likes, he's much more likely to be playing at all.

[Armonddd]

I think the tendency to gravitate toward any class that seems to have an edge is more from the misguided notion that the edge (whatever it may be pr how strong it is) means the player will have fun.

 

Games are about problem solving. The most common problem is "how can I succeed in combat?" which quickly turns into "how can I become most effective in combat?". We as humans just don't consider the implications of our success -- call it an evolutionary thing, where more success meant "man we've got all this venison whatever shall we do this is so terrible". Jesse Schell goes into this in detail in The Art of Game Design, and it's really rather interesting imo.

[Storm-Cutter]

Use your first few games to kit out one ship - Don't try to kit them all out at once. - Practice a lot on one ship.

 

Always pick up the daily and the weekly. On fleet or capital planets or PvP terminals.- If you want to maximise your rep, fly all ships at least until the 2x rep runs out. Anything more than that is a bonus.

 

If you have CCs to use, use them to transfer rep from one ship to another - buy additional ships and farm the daily/Weeky. - Rep accrues form daily & weekly to all ships in your hangar.

 

Don't chase kills off a defended node. But try to encourage the enemy to chase you.

 

Take out defence turrets in dom. - They're worth rep for very little effort.

 

Practice flying close to fixed objects- mesas, structures etc.

 

When firing blasters try to get a missile lock at the same time. - It only works a small percentage of the time, but you can occasionally luck out.

 

Consider upgrading shields, evasion and engine power at the very start - Surviving longer gains more rep - Then spend points on upgrading offensive.

 

Don't be afraid to hang back. Defending gunships or nodes or staying on your half in Domination is contributing - dying is only helping the opposition.

 

Blast anything that passes your reticule. An assist will gain you a few more points. - Finish off any ships that are down on HP and shields for easy kills.

 

Don't be afraid to run and hide- Every second alive means extra power regeneration.

 

Try sneaking up on Gunships and bombers. - a direct line to them is often a quick death guarantee.

 

Co-ordinate at the start - use chat to say which node you are after or who you will attack/ shadow / defend. - say where you are going to lay mines or repair probes. Use the grid system - "Repair probe at D2" for instance.

 

Use GSF chat channels to find friends. Queue as a group is faster pop than solo.

 

Use GSF to level any character under level 55- use XP boosters if you wanna level up quick. At 55 Do dailies etc. between matches.

 

Get your friends to try GSF. A few newbies that co-ordinate are =/= as good as an average solo player.

 

Don't rush in as soon as the queue pops. - You usually have 30-40 seconds to finish anything you are doing. Send your crew out on 10 minute gathering missions. If you waiting on fleet, do some crafting, or sort out your inventory - chat or RP- don't just stand and wait.

 

TL;DR: Don't give up . Practice makes perfect. The more players that stick with it, the better it is.

 

See you out there.

[Sidenti]

Off Topic:

Brevity is always preferred, so long as understanding is conveyed. If comprehension of your point is not transmitted in the amount of words you have chosen to limit yourself to, then your brevity has no more effect nor affect than a belch.

 

Further Off Topic:

What is the "-bp" you sign off with? Curiosity begs me to ask.

 

 

*burp*

[Sidenti]

Maybe it's me, but MMO players tend to gravitate towards the easiest/most powerful classes/items/equipment available. This is a pretty common fact.

 

When 9 out of 10 people playing with you are all flying the same ship, this doesn't say, "Oh 90% of people have the same playstyle", but rather, "10% of players choose not to just wtfpwndominate."

 

Call it playstyle if you will, but people don't theorycraft MMO's to have the most entertainment. They do it to min/max. Same with everyone tending to fly the same ship.

 

...crap. You're right. You know, I never even really wanted to consider this possibility - I've always been a challenge guy myself so I don't understand intentionally nerfing oneself by going for the "easy button" - but I guess it's time to ponder that.

 

Maybe the majority really DOES want Easy Mode. But why? -bp

[Armonddd]

Rebind power to weapons/shields/engines to something you can more easily hit. I have a naga, so they're on the bottom row of buttons (10-12), where I can very easily hit them with the knuckle of my thumb. I can see them working well on zxc, too. Some people bind them to mousewheel (up for weapons, down for shields, modifier-up or modifier-down or maybe even click for engines), but that interferes with railgun zoom.

 

Change your power settings constantly. The first thing you should do on spawn is hit power to engines and boost towards the satellite. You get a very real boost in engine power regeneration (even while boosting) and flat-out speed by doing so. If you're shooting someone, swap power to blasters. If you need to regen shields, swap power to shields (but try to remember that there's a period of time after being hit where you can't regen shields -- default 6 seconds, reduced by turbo reactor and directional shields T3 left -- where power to shields won't do you any good).

 

Remember that power to one thing not only makes you better at that thing, but worse at other things. Power to shields increases maximum shield capacity and shield regeneration rate; power to weapons or engines reduces both. Power to engines increases base speed and engine regeneration rate; power to blasters or shields reduces engine regeneration rate. Power to blasters increases damage dealt by 10%; power to shields or engines reduces damage dealt by 10%. Balanced power (default f4) doesn't have these disadvantages, but it also doesn't have any advantage -- it's terrible because of that, since you can swap power around so quickly.

 

Maybe the majority really DOES want Easy Mode. But why? -bp

 

It's not really a "want" thing, per se. See my previous post.

[Zoom_VI]

Am I the only person that finds the default controls to be the convenient to use?

[Armonddd]

Am I the only person that finds the default controls to be the convenient to use?

 

Yes. WASD is awful.

[Zoom_VI]

Yes. WASD is awful.

 

Fine ill use RDFG instead.

[Armonddd]

Fine ill use RDFG instead.

 

RDFG is also awful. ESDF is homerow master race.

[Zoom_VI]

RDFG is also awful. ESDF is homerow master race.

 

Unless your left handed then its IJKL

[LilSaihah]

Something that might be worth adding: Picking up shield/weapon/engine power powerups will refill that power bank, and weapon power will refill special ammo.

[DamascusAdontise]

Thanks to everyone for the input. Added a bunch of stuff to the guide based on everything said here. Also added a Lingo section, figured that might help a true newbie "decode" this GSF forum lol. Its a bit of a work in progress, apolagies for anything thats wrong

 

Edit: I use WASD without any issues. Took a little getting used to but ive got it mastered now. Whatever works for you though =)

Edited April 28, 2014 by DamascusAdontise

[Kuciwalker]

Am I the only person that finds the default controls to be the convenient to use?

 

Nope, I have no problem with WASD or F1-F3, and use them all for ground game as well.

 

That said, I have an Apple keyboard, and that makes the function keys somewhat more convenient than on many regular keyboards.

[-Streven-]

I hate reaching for function keys and power management is so critical I remapped them to the number keys (1-4) for quick access. To each his own.

 

Number one tip for new pilots. Get to know the friendly vets on your server and ask questions. There are a lot of folks who want to help people and very few people ever ask for help. Most vets could shorten your learning curve exponentially with the advice they can give.

[Armonddd]

Thanks, everyone, for rubbing in how weird I am for using ESDF. I'm like the only one I know that uses it. :<

 

(That said switching over from WASD was a huge mindf*ck and I would not recommend it to anyone who is trying to learn to fly)

[DamascusAdontise]

Hehe dont feel bad most of us are too afraid (I think) to change them once your used to it, eventually ill rebind the power toggles. I do hate reaching for them (the damn F keys are so far away)

 

This is tough for me though, ive got most of it down to muscle memory, changing it could be perilous =/ Maybe ill roll on a new server with some random name to do it before sacrificing my stats too much.

 

Jennifer and the rest of the pub crew have already done a pretty good job at that lately, they dont need anymore help (some great matches today, bad on the stats but had a blast, especially toward the end when adrenaline finally worked for me - LoL)

[Zoom_VI]

Thanks, everyone, for rubbing in how weird I am for using ESDF. I'm like the only one I know that uses it. :<

 

(That said switching over from WASD was a huge mindf*ck and I would not recommend it to anyone who is trying to learn to fly)

 

What is the point of switching binds over exactly one column?!

Its like no different except its even more annoying to reach for ctrl

[Kuciwalker]

What is the point of switching binds over exactly one column?!

Its like no different except its even more annoying to reach for ctrl

 

I think the theory is that ESDF opens up more of the number keys to the natural reach of your hand.

 

This strikes me as fairly pointless in GSF, which only contains 4x2 buttons.

[Zoom_VI]

I think the theory is that ESDF opens up more of the number keys to the natural reach of your hand.

 

This strikes me as fairly pointless in GSF, which only contains 4x2 buttons.

 

hmm I suppose that's true, but WASF is grants more total binds since it places ctrl, shift, and alt in more convient locations.

but w/e

[Armonddd]

I think the theory is that ESDF opens up more of the number keys to the natural reach of your hand.

 

This strikes me as fairly pointless in GSF, which only contains 4x2 buttons.

 

Yeah, exactly. It has exactly zero use in GSF, but I'm used to it from years of gaming like that.

 

hmm I suppose that's true, but WASF is grants more total binds since it places ctrl, shift, and alt in more convient locations.

but w/e

 

Shift and ctrl are just as accessible with almost the exact same movements. That said, I've never used modifiers because I hate them (and I can't figure out what I'm supposed to do with alt -- use my thumb or something?).

[Kuciwalker]

ctrl is important because push to talk. Edited April 28, 2014 by Kuciwalker

[Zoom_VI]

Yeah, exactly. It has exactly zero use in GSF, but I'm used to it from years of gaming like that.

 

 

 

Shift and ctrl are just as accessible with almost the exact same movements. That said, I've never used modifiers because I hate them (and I can't figure out what I'm supposed to do with alt -- use my thumb or something?).

 

Yes you use your thumb, and if your key board is roughly the size of mine (or hand) then alt should be where your thumb naturally rests anyway.

For the ground game I use all three modifiers and because of that nearly all my binds (except S, F, C, and on a few classes X) are on the number row (because naga.)

[Zoom_VI]

ctrl is important because push to talk.

 

nah that's what mouse button 5 is for.

[SammyGStatus]

nah that's what mouse button 5 is for.

 

My mouse button 5 is (for the GSF profile) strafe downward. Gah! Not enough real estate on a naga!!