Was in a Domination this morning against an overall superior team. I used my Spearpoint to grab Kuat-A early. Rest of my team secured C, but the other team got B.

No one came to support me at A (as I guess they were trying and failing to take B?). So I was forced to hold it myself. I very quickly had 4+ Strikes all chasing me around the sat. I was evading so frantically that I couldn't pause to type "HELP".

At first they tried to outfly me around the node, which didn't work for them. Then they got smart and parked above, below and on various sides of the satellite. My high Evasion (DF, Lightweight, Crew) made me able to dodge their lasers reliably.

The Strikes continually tried to lock onto me with missiles (mostly Cluster I think), but I was flying full speed around the node (sometimes with Tensor Field) and flipping sides frequently, so I was able to break most locks with LOS.

Those few that did complete lock were thwarted by me using Distortion Field. I couldn't use any engine abilities to break missiles--doing so would have immediately conceded the node and left me without any cover.

Without DF's missile break, I would've been dead very, very quickly. But with it, I was able to hold the node against 4, then 5 ships, all by myself, for several minutes.

The only thing that finally killed me was Seeker Mines from a Dronecarrier that came in.

I don't know what the dev's intention for Distortion Field is, but it really felt like those Strikes--who outnumbered me at least 4:1 and were doing all the right things--should've been able to clear me off the node much earlier, and without a Bomber's support. Without Distortion Field's missile-break, they would've been able to.

This is by no means meant to be an exhaustive analysis. Just another anecdotal data point.

And for what it's worth, my opinion is that Scouts should be great at rushing to put quick pressure on a node, but once a node is taken, they shouldn't be the ultimate node holders--the only reason they are able to even do so is that they get a missile break that doesn't require them to leave the node.

I mean, this is basically the worst possible scenario for the strikes, and it still wouldn't have worked if they were decent pilots.

Right, but without Distortion Field's missile break, their Cluster Missiles would've killed me very fast. I could LOS a lot of them, but not all of them, especially once they (correctly) got a Strike covering both top and bottom.

And they were solid pilots. I was under very constant pressure--just never quite enough.

And with my Spearpoint build, there's no way they could've gotten to the node before I captured it at the start of the match.

Right, but without Distortion Field's missile break, their Cluster Missiles would've killed me very fast.

Without distortion field, their cluster missiles would have done ~780-880 damage to you ever 20s, of which 8% would hit your hull. (And your shields would fully recharge between shots.) So it would have taken them 3 or 4 minutes to kill you through hull attrition.

And that is the lower-bound estimate of their TTK on you w/o dfield.

And they were solid pilots.

No they weren't, they all picked strike!

In general, what you describe is one of my main beefs- the mobility of scouts can be used to hold a node in 3/5 maps, and that really seems not to be what mobility "should" be about. The defensive flying in this case is not from node to node or amongst debris or superstructures, but is instead predictable but almost unstoppable. If the four strikes were substantially better than you, or more had clusters, this could have ended earlier. I tend to equip clusters just FOR this reason on my strikes- because a frequent situation is, I'm at node and a scout comes over. Scout unkillable. I can't leave node, I have to wait for a bomber or scout to come over and hold the node, or call for snipes.

It is absolutely joyless, and it's the #1 reason I relish bombers as part of the meta- they just scrape these flies into fine flour, while actually having a set of vulnerabilities and strengths that aren't infuriating (four strikes on a node can kill a bomber easier than a scout).

But yea, what you describe is definitely a pet peeve. Btw: if you take k-turn, you can hold that node with another break, because it won't take you out of cap range- mostly this is its only strength.

It seems they were missing were basic tactics. Playing Mario Kart around a satellite isn't going to cut it in Strikes vs Scout. This is a 3d game. One should have gone above, one below, and one to chase. Then you would have been an easy kill. That is the lesson to be learned from this.

No they weren't, they all picked strike!

Nailin (one of our guildies) is back to flying; I know he'd love to test your philosophy of strikes.

It seems they were missing were basic tactics. Playing Mario Kart around a satellite isn't going to cut it in Strikes vs Scout. This is a 3d game. One should have gone above, one below, and one to chase. Then you would have been an easy kill. That is the lesson to be learned from this.

 

 

 

Nailin (one of our guildies) is back to flying; I know he'd love to test your philosophy of strikes.

Reread.

They only chased me at first. Then they set up one below, one up top, one chaser, and one circling on the outside rim. This forced me to both circle and flip.

And Kuci, your math assumes I dodged every Cluster Missile except one every 20 seconds. I didn't. I was taking hits pretty consistently, such that my shields were rarely full. I saved Distortion Field for crisis moments, when I couldn't evade a lock and my shields were already low. Basically I used it to avoid what would've been killing blows. No point in blowing DF when shields will do just fine.

Looking back at my OP I could've made that clearer.

Reread.

 

They only chased me at first. Then they set up one below, one up top, one chaser, and one circling on the outside rim. This forced me to both circle and flip.

 

And Kuci, your math assumes I dodged every Cluster Missile except one every 20 seconds. I didn't. I was taking hits pretty consistently, such that my shields were rarely full. I saved Distortion Field for crisis moments, when I couldn't evade a lock and my shields were already low. Basically I used it to avoid what would've been killing blows. No point in blowing DF when shields will do just fine.

 

Looking back at my OP I could've made that clearer.

If that's the case you still could have survived ~40-60s without dfield.

If that's the case you still could have survived ~40-60s without dfield.

Yep. That feels about right. Maybe even 2 minutes based on my mad LOSing skillz.

But I lasted far longer than that. Given that the node immediately flipped when I died, and it was the last node to flip, and we lost the match 1000 to > 950 ... then by my math I solo held A green for at least 5 minutes. When I died and lost the node, our team had at least 600 points.

Reread.

You are right! I can't read well, too much maths in mah head. I wonder how long it took for that realization to come - I know I get caught up in the chase. But 5 a 5 minute hold... man, those are the times!

You are right! I can't read well, too much maths in mah head. I wonder how long it took for that realization to come - I know I get caught up in the chase. But 5 a 5 minute hold... man, those are the times!

Eh, it was thrilling at first ... but I couldn't take even a second to try and shoot back at anyone ... or type to warn my team that A was in trouble. It was just endless circling/flipping and careful use of cooldowns. And I could almost feel the seething frustration of the 4-6 guys there trying to pry me off.

While I enjoy the ability of one skilled pilot to make a game changing difference in a match, I do feel at some point that my team deserved to be punished for their poor deployment and match awareness. Especially since the guys trying to pry me off weren't derping, but instead mustered an impressive measure of coordination.

Hello. I'm new to the forums. I'm by no means an expert on GSF, but I'm developing a playstyle that works for me. I can only drive scouts--the other ships seem too clunky to me. I don't use weapons that lock on, I use laser cannons and rocket pods. I use Distortion Field, and have it mastered with the missile break option. I'm still on the fence between lightweight armor and deflection armor. I rely *very* heavily on Distortion Field's missile break to stay alive.

Anyway, it seems to me that if I had been attacking your node, it would have been a different story because it would have been a lot tougher for you to outmaneuver me.

So the opposing team should have sent a scout after you. I don't see the problem.

I mean, you think four strikes shouldn't be enough?

That's a lot of strikes!

Obviously a bomber, gunship, or scout, in place of one of the strikes would have solved the problem. That is, in and of itself, a really damned big problem.

For your question- take take lightweight armor.

Hello. I'm new to the forums. I'm by no means an expert on GSF, but I'm developing a playstyle that works for me. I can only drive scouts--the other ships seem too clunky to me. I don't use weapons that lock on, I use laser cannons and rocket pods. I use Distortion Field, and have it mastered with the missile break option. I'm still on the fence between lightweight armor and deflection armor. I rely *very* heavily on Distortion Field's missile break to stay alive.

 

Anyway, it seems to me that if I had been attacking your node, it would have been a different story because it would have been a lot tougher for you to outmaneuver me.

 

So the opposing team should have sent a scout after you. I don't see the problem.

Because of my combination of Distortion Field, Lightweight Armor, and crew members, my Evasion is such that you would rarely ever hit me with lasers or rocket pods, both of which are affected by Evasion.

Missiles and mines are the only weapons that really work against heavy Evasion builds, and Distortion Field protects against missiles too.

Obviously a bomber, gunship, or scout, in place of one of the strikes would have solved the problem. That is, in and of itself, a really damned big problem.

But--isn't that why we can choose a different ship when we respawn? Isn't it supposed to be a rock/paper/scissors type of thing? If so, why would four rocks beat paper? EDIT: Also, isn't that what teamwork is for? "Hey guys, can we get a scout, bomber, or gunship to help out at B?" I haven't seen any matches in which there wasn't a variety of ship types on both teams.

As for my lasers and rocket pods not hitting high-evasion targets.... I've definitely noticed that. I rarely try to gun down other scouts, though I am experimenting with short term accuracy boosts. I don't hesitate to dogfight a strike fighter, though

If this game is rock paper scissors, it's a pretty terrible versions. Strikes don't "beat" anything, and being able to push a guy off a node should not require that much effort.

This is just another thing that means strikes need buffs, it's not new.

Actually.... the fact that I, as an average pilot, can go into a 1v1 dogfight with *any* strike fighter with confidence, tells me that you're right. Buff strike fighters.

EDIT: I have noticed though, that a single bomber with a little bit of time to lay mines can hold a node for just as long.

Yea, a bomber is definitely better at node holding than a scout.

I'll point out the bomber actually pays for that though!

Nemarus - could you tell how were these ships specialized?

Ions and heavies should have killed you fairly quick if you were caught between even just two strikes.

Nemarus - could you tell how were these ships specialized?

 

Ions and heavies should have killed you fairly quick if you were caught between even just two strikes.

Heavies were definitely used. I didn't hear any Ions.

I do agree that Ions + Clusters on very skilled pilots would've probably removed me sooner than 5 minutes. How much sooner is hard to say.

Hitting a scout on node with heavies is not exactly trivial.

If someone was above and below sitting and waiting, then it should have been.