Missile Dodging 101

Absolutely the boomer is the rock to a honeybadger's scissors. Its not just the missiles, its the devastating cannon that put the odds in its favour when taking the A-80 on head to head, which is a favourite tactic of many A-80 pilots.

Didn't realise that those other things foul weapon locks :\

longshot wrote:Absolutely the boomer is the rock to a honeybadger's scissors. Its not just the missiles, its the devastating cannon that put the odds in its favour when taking the A-80 on head to head, which is a favourite tactic of many A-80 pilots.

Didn't realise that those other things foul weapon locks :\

Agreed.
I'll fly straight towards a Barracuda in my Stingray and blast them away with the heavy cannon. This usually takes out any incoming missiles, too.
If they aren't finished by the time we ram, I'll often be the one to survive a head to head collision with enough shields left to go hunting for more.

I've noticed it's sometimes harder to get a missile lock, but haven't narrowed it down yet to what's causing it. If missiles or rockets can interfere with a lock, I don't see why you couldn't lock on to a torpedo; that would actually be useful. Sounds like another feature request...

yeah... missiles and rockets definitely foul a weapon lock. I'm seeing more and more Aces take advantage of this... virtually anyone in any ride; even mamba's can take the A-80 down using this trick on the approach and then getting the A-80 into a turning duel it can't win.

Makes the A-80 good for little more than bullying new pilots... and if thats ALL its good for, it frankly doesn't belong in the game.

longshot wrote:Absolutely the boomer is the rock to a honeybadger's scissors. Its not just the missiles, its the devastating cannon that put the odds in its favour when taking the A-80 on head to head, which is a favourite tactic of many A-80 pilots.

Didn't realise that those other things foul weapon locks :\

If it were just the cannon that would be one thing, but the stupidly fast lock & load means that the Stingray basicaly denies the A-80 any shot at all unless it's dumbfired. I can take not being able to survive head to head against one ship or another, but not being able to lock onto something thats clearly right in front of me and in the open is infuriating.

Starting to seriously look forward to that refund of creds, so I can try something else.

well theres more to it. If a medium fighter, for instance, had the ability to jam weapon locks or launch counter measures as a special ability, that would be seriously cool. And having rockets be able to take out missile with the burst is ok too.

Having my weapon rendered near useless by incoming weapon fire, especially a tracking missiles that will probably hit me twice on approach, and then being locked into a turning duel and the same tool they used to jam my weapon is now a weapon that they're hitting me with... granted it may take a good pilot to use it that way, but that strikes me as too multi-functional for the damage dealt.

Similarly, now rockets can be used either to foul the lock (and possibly do damage) OR to take out missile with the burst. Nighthawk aces have become absolute nightmares for an A-80, JUST USING ROCKETS ALONE.

Heh, Nighthawk aces are absolute nightmares full stop, and I know of no way to counter them. If you're in a light then one zap kills you & no matter how much you wiggle in your flight patterns it doesn't help - they're an ace & don't miss If a medium, pretty much same result except its 2 zaps & you're usually deep red before you get close enough to start shooting back. If a heavy ... still 2 zaps and you're such a huge slow target.

Add in the ability to foul missile locks with its rockets ... I know it takes a lot of skill to wield, but seriously that thing is wildly overpowered in the right hands.

that is interesting... i cant say ive ever seen my rockets prevent missile lock but i have seen other missiles disrupt my missile lock on occasion (very very rarely). as far as i know this has always been the case - when acquiring target lock you need to ensure that the closest object is the ship youre trying to lock on to.

ive gone head to head with a80's in a nighthawk enough times (possibly more than anyone else, idk) to say that ive yet to see this happen - every time ive fired rockets in head to head, even after compensating for lag i can't confirm that it prevents missile lock... i will be trying this out to confirm either way...

apart from Rabbanah doing this to me on a regular basis, & longshot doing this to me with FH-90 missile spam, I've started doing this to A-80's in my G5.

Some hapless A-80 thinks he's virtually unassailable in the clear void far above the carrier, & approaching straight at him , in the open the whole way there, I prove him wrong. Just about their only chance to stop me is to take advantage of the fact that I'm doing a straight on run, & dumbfire (which renders the oncoming, unlocked missiles as visible as a rocket). I haven't run across very many A-80 pilots who dumbfire their missiles, let alone as often as I do.

Thanks for the tips on dodging your missles . I'll absolutely have to try some of these.

Shade wrote:Wouldn't be right to call this dodging per say, BUT if you time it perfectly, the blast radius of a rocket is big enough to destroy missiles behind your ship. Yes, that's right.

This requires some very careful timing, use of the Rear View key, and no asteroids in front of you. (in addition to a ship with rockets...)

Bonus points for using it successfully against both missiles from an A80