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Thermite Lock-on Issues


Hanak

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I was chatting with a guild mate and we both have been having lock-on issues with thermite torps. The bomber is still in our targeting reticle and hasn't left but the lock will breaking now and then. Initially I thought it was my right mouse button acting up, but when I mentioned it to a guildie they confirmed that this was an issue that they too were facing.

 

Wondering if anyone else has also experienced this?

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Yeah, thermites seem to have this problem. Lock-ons will just break repeatedly. The first few times I saw it happen I assumed it was latency....but then I had a target in the center of my firing arc that didn't turn at all and the lock broke 3 times. He didn't use an engine ability, and as it was a strike fighter he couldn't have broken it with distortion field or EMP pulse either.

 

I'd be sure it was server lag, but in the same set of matches I never had any issues with proton torpedoes, which also have a small firing arc and a long lock on time.

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Unlike lasers and railguns, which seem to do all checks purely on your own machine, missiles require a round trip to the server. This means any amount of lag on you or your target could result in a broken lock. It happens with all missiles, but it's the worst with torpedoes because of their narrow firing arc.
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What Nemarus said. You get the "world of both world" with missiles- if you break it on your side, it's broken, and if you break it server side, it's broken. So a target moving laterally could be, depending on your connections, impossible to lock.

 

I definitely recommend the accuracy/+angle companion (Qzen,Jaesa) and, if you can, take the T5 talent to extra wide if you are having this problem. It does give enemies more time to break the lock than the speed one, but it can be better if you are seeing this annoying bug a lot.

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I've gotten it on protons plenty of times. From what happens, I don't think the target even needs to ever exit your targeting circle during the lag, either extrapolation of positions or some sort of timeout is at work, as it can occur when the target never gets even remotely close to the edge of the firing arc. Can happen in very short latency episodes too, like less than 250 ms.

 

I just consider it a mild annoyance though.

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This happens to me with almost all torpedoes/missiles. It seems to me that they break for no apparent reason on occasion, a second or fraction of a second before the ship leaves the targeting circle. This makes me wonder if it may be a lag issue? I.E. ship hit it's boosters/turned sharply and left the circle before it showed it doing so on the aggressor's screen, there by dropping the lock.

 

If this is the case, we may need lag compensation on the longer lock missiles. Perhaps similar to the Team Fortress 2 second headshot hitbox behind the physical character, allowing for the leading of shots even with slight lag.

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I've been using Thermites for a while now and have just now experienced this specific activity occurring much more frequently with the last patch.

 

Thank you all for confirming this was not a figment of my imagination.

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I think server side should have a bigger reticule for ALL missiles than client side. That would make it much more likely for a legit lock, but keep low odds on illegitimate ones. It definitely is frustrating to have a guy with modest lateral motion simply be unable to be locked.
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I think server side should have a bigger reticule for ALL missiles than client side. That would make it much more likely for a legit lock, but keep low odds on illegitimate ones. It definitely is frustrating to have a guy with modest lateral motion simply be unable to be locked.

 

Same goes for the range. It's extremely frustrating too see the lock breaking at 9700.

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Wondering if anyone else has also experienced this?

I have experienced it with all the missiles. It becomes especially noticeable with bombers though, since they don't have a missile break (yet).

 

In addition to the problem you mentioned, I find my missiles are 1 lock tone off occasionally. For example, if it normally takes 3 tones to lock, sometimes it will take 4, and i'll have screwed up my lock by releasing early.

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