Pretty short, illustrated guide to the first basic step towards advanced maneuvering.
A shows a plain right angle turn.
B shows what happens when you side-thrust INTO the turn (it becomes sharper).
C shows what happens when you side-thrust AWAY from the turn (it becomes wider).
Obvious use: going around obstacles.
Running away from something (or towards an objective) as fast as possible.
Maintaining your distance and improving your angle to the target during a dogfight.
I haven’t seen it mentioned before, but in a circling dogfight it can help to do a hard reverse while turning to regain weapon view.
Sadly, I do it out of habit and I’m not sure it’s because of skill.
I like this sort of thread, its useful to new folks!
Also, reversing + side-thrusting helps when you’re piloting a fat frigate. Same goes for downward thrusting (upward thrusting puts the enemy on your blind spot below your ship).
When piloting frigates you really want to minimise your profile and reduce the angles in all axis from which enemies can attack you.
When piloting frigates you really want to minimise your profile and reduce the angles in all axis from which enemies can attack you.
When an inty rushes you, I do prefer to turn and kill it before it slips behind me into my blind spot. I usually hide behind a rock or something so when I reverse I’m moving into cover anyway.
When an inty rushes you, I do prefer to turn and kill it before it slips behind me into my blind spot. I usually hide behind a rock or something so when I reverse I’m moving into cover anyway.
Exactly.
Sadly, I do it out of habit and I’m not sure it’s because of skill.
Skill. There’s an incredible amount of people not having a clue how to use it.
Obvious use: going around obstacles.
The best use of it is actually active dodging of enemy shots and missiles if done properly and regularly in the most chaotic possible way, yet not losing your direction and awareness of the battlefield.
Good short guide too, +1
I do those and similar things out of habit and latent training in other games surfacing. But it is a nice guide for totally new pilots !
+1
I’m almost always down thrusting and strafing while circling a target so I can keep my nose pointed at them at all times…it’s kinda like drifting around a corner.
Sadly down thrusting while circling and strafing to the left make the client quit on a mac (command+q, i’m playing on an azerty keyboard, so q is the strafe left key), and since you can’t remap on the mac client (interface doesn’t work), i can’t make liberal use of those tactic unless i want to relaunch my client every 10 seconds. After some time i can now mostly do it when right-strafing, and manage to prevent myself to do it the other way, resulting in much less client crashes 
have you tried making a windows partition on your mac and installing the game there?
all you’d need is leopard or newer and a windows install disc. OS X will actually create the partition for you and take you right up to the point where you install windows. then you won’t have weird interface issues like these…also it’s great for applications that are only available for pc that you might want in the future.
Sadly down thrusting while circling and strafing to the left make the client quit on a mac (command+q, i’m playing on an azerty keyboard, so q is the strafe left key), and since you can’t remap on the mac client (interface doesn’t work), i can’t make liberal use of those tactic unless i want to relaunch my client every 10 seconds. After some time i can now mostly do it when right-strafing, and manage to prevent myself to do it the other way, resulting in much less client crashes
I can remap my keys and I use a Mac. Alternatively, if I’m not wrong, SC opens in “full-screen windowed” mode (i.e. it looks like a full-screen app but it gets affected by Cmd + Q and other stuff like hot corners). If you change it to full-screen (non-windowed) the problem should disappear. Some of games I play don’t respond to Cmd + Q and hot corners, so I’m just assuming and hoping that it would work.
have you tried making a windows partition on your mac and installing the game there?
No offence, but :facepalm:
I can remap my keys and I use a Mac. Alternatively, if I’m not wrong, SC opens in “full-screen windowed” mode (i.e. it looks like a full-screen app but it gets affected by Cmd + Q and other stuff like hot corners). If you change it to full-screen (non-windowed) the problem should disappear. Some of games I play don’t respond to Cmd + Q and hot corners, so I’m just assuming and hoping that it would work.
No offence, but :facepalm:
i have no idea how macs works, but whats wrong with having 2 OSs installed on it?
It’s the fact of having a port suitable for release but being at a disadvantage because of your operating system.
I have a linux partition.
i have no idea how macs works, but whats wrong with having 2 OSs installed on it?
Macs are nowhere as good as PCs when it comes to gaming.
The base purpose of a Mac is to work with document type of files or anything that is not labeled as ‘gaming’ on it for your job / business / programming / whatever. It excels at managing files and it is (as far as i know) a virus-free network since people don’t seem to bother with it (so safer to keep important documents in it). The PC is more of a general machine and it’s the easiest to use and tweak for any use, however there’s the virus threat that sometimes the antivirus overlooks and once every 1-2 years you happen to be hit by one or there’s just something awful happened in the registry or the way the PC runs and you need a complete reinstallation of the OS and a general cleanup (someone confirm wether this is needed on Macs too or not).
I own a PC, not a Mac, but that’s how i understood they work.
Then there’s the complicated hardware builds depending on what kind of machine you need (yeah, it’s WAY more complicated than you might think / know since it doesn’t only have to do with ‘get the latest-most-boss gpu on the market and cpu!’).
Macs really aren’t virus-free. At all. It’s just that nobody bothers making viruses for them because of how the file structure is handled, software-wise. Not to mention that PCs rule about 80-90% of any company’s working machines.
I can tell you right now. I work at a media station. The ONLY places Macs are used are in the art department (which is handled by an external company) and the PVP/PAPs (Post-video/audio production). Everywhere else is PC-central.
PCs are excellent to work with. They may not be the most effective machines on the planet but they are cheap and reliable and that’s what attracts people to them. Not to mention working on a network is prime for these machines, no matter the task. It also makes the perfect gaming machine because you can tweak it whichever way you want it to go. Need more RAM? Slap a new one on the slots and voila. Need a new HDD? Sure thing, put it in, plug it and job’s done. Your graphics card blew? Not a problem, get a new one, remove old, place new, install drivers and you’re set.
Macs, on the other hand, work great if you have to work with a massive file system or something related to artwork. For gaming? They’re the worst thing you’ll ever have. You can’ modify it without the machine throwing a hissy fit and if something breaks, you’ll either need a new one or wait 2-4 weeks (or more) to get it back, repaired. Not to mention that they are the most expensive things on the planet and that basically makes no sense in the computer industry.
On topic: Strafing is a key element in surviving and killing in SC. How you use and handle it can decide the outcome in a minor skirmish (ie, taking/keeping a Beacon) or the entire battle (ie, Captain in Recon). That’s a good tutorial on explaining the basics of strafing and could use some expanding in the future.
Cmd q does not work for me in star conflict on my mac