[Mercenary] Difficulties with high-speed combat

[Iralith]

Hi all--apologies if this has been discussed extensively. I didn't see anything specifically related to it (other than some very basic tips) the last time I went looking, though. So here goes:

I'm having a problem in (single-player) Evochron that led me to bail on the game a few months ago, and I was recently thinking that I'd love to figure out how to solve it and get back to playing. The difficulty is yer basic fighter-vs.-fighter dogfighting.

Right now, the combat missions I'm taking tend to be against groups of small enemy ships that typically do something like 3,285. That's a speed I can match with my engine and my IDS goosed way up, or of course with inertial. But it's so fast that combat turns into a slow, intensely fuel-consuming affair:

1. A ship and I will fly at each other, and there'll be a single pass that doesn't do enough damage to either of us to count for much.
2. Then the enemy ship will haul out of there, accelerating to this super-high max speed, while its buddies follow the both of us.
3. I can catch up to the enemy ship, slowly, by pouring on huge amounts of speed. This gets me a few shots, likely not enough to do much lasting damage . . .
4. . . . although a lot of time the enemy manages to whip around on some new bearing and I go plowing off into the distance, with a huge amount of speed to messily bleed off before I accelerate after him again.
5. Lather, rinse. I can typically take out a small wing of enemies eventually this way, but it's very time-consuming and not especially fun. And I can't handle a multi-waypoint mission, because one of these fights burns too much fuel.
   [/list=1]
   If this weren't Evochron, a game by a dude who's been writing space dogfighting games for more than ten years, I'd consider saying it's the game's fault--some combination of AI and physics resulting in a not-fun situation. But I expect that's not the case!
   
   Rather, I'm guessing there's something I'm missing, something about ship builds (should I upgrade something to give me super-fast acceleration and deceleration?) or weapon choices (should I be spamming missiles like crazy?) or flying style (should I be sucking less in some specific way?) that I'm not getting. Any thoughts?
   
   [Edited on 4-24-2013 by Iralith]

[49rTbird]

Hello Iralith, welcome to the forum and the Sim. A lot of pilots have trouble at the start with the way the AI fight. It will come to you as time and experience happens. A good way to learn about combat is to jump onto MP if you can. You can then join others in missions at times and also fight other pilots with the intention of gaining skill.

[Edited on 4-24-2013 by thetiebers]

[Vice]

Sounds like most of what you've been dealing with involves falling for the bait of the chase. That is, the AI pilot gets you to follow them, then continues to fly away at high speed, hoping you'll give chase and follow them out for a while, giving them more time to call in reinforcements while also getting you to waste fuel and missiles (definitely do -not- launch missiles at speeds and pursuit engagements like that).

A few early tips are to avoid that situation and also avoid flying straight in at your target(s) (which can have the opposite effect on you in terms of damage/vulnerability). Avoid falling for the bait, actually slow down (but still try to stay above 1000) and watch for another opportunity around you (if there are any other hostiles nearby). Watch for the next closest one and go for that target next (and quickly!). The original hostile will likely soon turn around and come back in after they realize you didn't fall for the pursuit bait. So keep watching for the nearest threats and break engagement, re-acquire, and escape to recharge/repair as needed. The other side of this approach is to watch out for getting bunched up into the middle of a pack of hostiles. Keep your flight lines wide and fast, avoid getting baited into the middle.

This is also good timing for a question like yours. I just uploaded a new series of training videos, one of which focuses on combat flight tactics. Chasing is one of the topics discussed. So you may also want to review the video for additional information: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=us9Oeu1G9o8

[Edited on 4-24-2013 by Vice]

[Iralith]

Thanks, both of you!

Vice, knowing that you put that behavior in there as a baiting tactic is super-helpful. Because of the way my current weapons vs. my current opponents' shields add up, I'd developed a tendency for target fixation--a feeling that I needed to stick on one target as aggressively as I could. Which means I'd just been seeing that one enemy "baiting" behavior over and over again, and wondering if it was just the way the AI imagines every fight should go, and it was driving me crazy. (I'd been noticing that missiles aren't too handy at crazy-high speeds, as you point out; I was trying to figure out if I was "supposed to" do some crazy missile-intensive alpha strike on that first pass or what.)

Five minutes into a more switch-up-targets-y, stay-at-around-1500-y flying style, I'm seeing good results so far. Will look at those videos!

[SeeJay]

Hi and welcome.

Surrounded is good!

As a commander once said:
- "Sir, we are surrounded".
- "Great, then we can attack in any direction!":P

You can also use "Combat Jumps" out there.
Plot a destination for a tactical advantage and jump. (Maybe in front of a running enemy)
This will also slow your ship down faster if you travel at great speeds.

See ya out there!

[Maarschalk]

Hi Iralith welcome to the game and forum!.....Hope to see you out there some time!.....

[Marvin]

As a commander once said:
- "Sir, we are surrounded".
- "Great, then we can attack in any direction!":P

Including up and down. (I think this would be a perfect motto for SG: "We can attack in any direction.")

[Star King]

We normally PVP in Saphire at 0.0.7 on the Ceti Alpha 5 server around 8pm - 10pm CDST on a nightly basis. Flash, Captian Cronic, InkMike, Hawkeye, Cargo, Space Panda, Cindy and others battle. We can show you the ropes. This game is riot as long as you don't take it too seriously. Of course we are all naturally competetive which increases the fun. So please come learn and have fun.

[Edited on 12-25-2008 by Star King]