How do you even play this?

[SirKaru]

This isn't much of a rant about starfighter, it's more of a genuine question.

 

I've tried several matches now and it seems completely unplayable. I chase and shoot at an enemy for a good minute or two, and their health bar barely budges, but someone shoots at me for 2-3 seconds and I instantly blow up.

 

I've tried the two starting ships, the gunship and the bomber, and in all cases I come out with a solid 0 kills. I've looked at all the guides, played the tutorial, watched Youtube video's and I'm doing all the correct things, allocating power where it should be, locking on, staying in range etc, but I just can't get a single kill in this game.

[SammyGStatus]

Uhm..... Are you serious or trolling, because the two starter ships are scout and strike fighter. You're missing because you're probably shooting at the target, and not the lead reticle, and you're getting blown up because those ships w/o getting some upgrades are foddor for gunships (the real gunships that're only starters when u sub'd back a while ago).

[SirKaru]

I am shooting at the leading reticle, I'm doing damage, just not nearly enough.

In most cases, I'm not killed by Gunships, or at least not their rail gun, just regular blaster fire.

[announcerharris]

Maybe make a video of a few of your matches so people could see what's going on?

[DamascusAdontise]

I am curious to know what weapons your using, and what your accuracy is like at the end of a match. It sounds to me like your missing a lot of shots (which I did at first as well). The other issue is it could be the weapons your using, heavy lasers for instance work best at longer range rather than close, burst lasers are the opposite doing almost no damage at the top of their range and lots of damage very close.

 

These are little nuances of the weapons that are not readily apparent to a new player. The other thing I am guessing (could be wrong) is that your using primarily rapid fire laser cannon and light lasers. Rapid fire lasers do little damage and take a long time to kill, light lasers do good damage but have a tracking penalty to contend with (which can be helped with crew passives and the wingman ability)

 

There are other things like spacial awareness that are very important (especially in the case of the bomber) If I am caught in the open I am toasted, if however I LOS and use heavy cover I can manage to do fairly well. Anyways not sure what the culprit is; accuracy, lag, or just NPS (new player syndrome) but I think its something you could work at, evaluate what your doing and see if there is any area for improvement. Maybe fly with some groups and see if they can help.

[Nemarus]

Also make sure to turn your mouse sensitivity down to 20-30%.

[Cekis]

Be sure you're upgrading your weapons/engines/etc. after each match... basically, whenever you have enough Ship Requisition and Fleet Requisition saved up to buy a new level of upgrade. I wonder if you're simply not upgrading correctly.

[caederon]

GSF is very unforgiving to new pilots, but if you're willing to tough it out through the very difficult early stages of playing, you'll find that your ability to compete will rise continually.

 

First off, you should know that on most servers there is a GSF chat channel that pilots hang out in, look for groups in, and are usually willing to help and offer advice. Just use the command " /cjoin GSF " in the chat window and you'll be on that channel. I can confirm that this exists on Begeren Colony (both factions), Ebon Hawk (I've only played imp), and Harbinger (I've only played pub, and it was kind of like a graveyard there)... likely the other servers, too.

 

I suggest that you mainly fly your Starguard or Rycer, the strike fighter, to start off with. The default scout you get is very weak without significant upgrades. Be sure you're mainly using your Heavy Lasers, as the default short range laser (Rapid Fire) is very inaccurate and low damage.

 

Echoing Optikill's advice, upgrade frequently, and get low level upgrades on everything first, rather than focusing on one particular component. Your Minor Components (Reactor, Capacitor, Thrusters, Magazine) will give you good performance boosts at low cost. Get at least the fist two levels of upgrade for Concussion Missiles, which will reduce the time it takes to lock your missiles. Then just upgrade across the board, bit by bit.

 

As for advice on actual combat: don't worry too much about getting kills. You'll be flying against ships that are far more upgraded than yours in most cases, and this will make it hard for you to kill people. Stick near your teammates, and land some shots on whichever enemy's closest. Any bit of damage you do will help someone else knock off that enemy, and you'll get credit for an assist. Assists are as valuable as kills in earning you requisition. If you stick with it a while, you'll start mixing kills in there, too.

 

In Domination matches, as a new player your best role is a supporting one. Look for the satellites your team controls, they're marked in green on the A B C indicator on your screen. Head for one of those satellites and defend it, or if your team is contesting a satellite's control, go there and chip in. Satellites have a zone of influence that determines who is controlling them. If you hang in near a satellite, you're helping your team to maintain control and earn points. Don't attack an enemy-held satellite on your own. You will get chewed up and destroyed in short order. Certain kinds of fully upgraded ships can pull that off, but you're not going to be at that point for a while, so go with the flow. Wherever you see the majority of your teammates, head there and contribute.

 

Don't fly in straight lines, especially if you're being shot at. So many new pilots fall prey to this. They focus on a target they are chasing, fly in a straight line, and don't deviate when I am shooting them up from behind, then they die. Take some evasive action, move around, make it hard for people to kill you. Again, don't worry about getting kills. Just do some damage and stay near your teammates. Survive, be hard to kill.

 

As you get more comfortable with the controls and contributing, learn power management. Your function keys alter the power balance between your Weapons (F1), Shields (F2) and Engines (F3) or balanced (F4). You start in balanced state to begin with. When you spawn into a match, hit F3 to boost your engines and enable you to get to objectives faster, or to replenish your engine power pool when you're not being shot at. When you're defending a satellite and don't need to move around too much, use F1 to get a boost to your blasters, and F2 when you're in need of regenerating your shields. That all sounds complicated, but it becomes second nature the more you do it.

 

It's a lot to take in, especially when you have people blasting around you in better ships, but if you focus on surviving and supporting your teammates at first, and seek to get advice from or group with veteran pilots via the GSF channel or /t messages, you'll get better and enjoy the game a lot more.

 

If you're on Begeren Colony or Ebon Hawk and see Despon online, that's me, just ask and I'll be glad to chat and offer help. Other good imperial pilots to ask for advice from on BC are Paloga (he's on Ebon Hawk too), Kyyle, Aegona, Aphelion... there are lots more who are happy to offer guidance, and likely so on other servers as well.

 

Good luck!

 

- Despon

Edited July 31, 2014 by caederon

[RebekahWSD]

At a guess I'd say you're probably using rapid fire lasers since I think that's what the stock strike fighter starts with. This is a mistake as Rapid Fires produce about the worst damage per hit in the game. This would account for your experience of hitting but not doing enough damage. Switch to a combination of Ion Cannon and Quads or Heavies (the tier one strike carries two primaries). The Ions will melt shields then switch over to Quads/Heavies to finish off unshielded targets. Edited July 31, 2014 by RebekahWSD

[Storm-Cutter]

And there's also more to GSF than just shooting stuff. -Though every shot is a potential assist - You also can capture nodes and defend them, peel enemies off the staellites, hoover up the power-ups in the enemy's side of the map - Lay minefields, or defend gunships - Or use repair probes around contested areas, or in a place your team-mates can run back to if they get a little cooked. Hyperspace beacons and comms sensors carefully placed can harass the enemy and aid your team too.

 

You can also get the attention of the enemy and lead them back to the minefield, or into the range of your other team, or back to a satellite that has turrets up.

 

I personally upgrade shields and/or evasion before anything else - coz staying alive is my number one priority in a stock ship - If you unlock a companion with Hydro-spanner it'll repair your hull for you as well - you can always swap it out later as you go up the skill trees.

 

-Probably best to concentrate in kitting up one ship at a time -That way you'll earn req a bit quicker - and don't forget the dailies and weeklies for the extra req. If you have spare CCs to spend, you can swap req earned on one ship to Fleet Req and this enables you to spend it on another

 

Progenitor server chat channels are 'GSF' on imp side and 'Aces' on Pub.

 

Good luck and keep at it - coz after a few games and some upgrades, GSF rocks!

[SirKaru]

Thank you for all of the great advice!

 

I've been playing with the Flashfire for a little bit now, and I adore it. I think this was a case of New Player Syndrome (as mentioned above) and it was a case of just trying and trying until it all clicked, but your advice has definitely been a huge a help.

 

Hopefully I'll see you all in the battlefield

 

-Karu

[TheGreatSatan]

Be careful what you wish for ^_~