Best pefected move.

frostytheplebe

frostytheplebe

Seventh Part of the Seal
Does anyone out there have a move or manuever they've perfected that they really love? Do you have a name for it? How does it work? Who is it effective against?

Me: I'm sure its 100% unoriginal, but I use something I like to call the "slipstream"
It works in many situations throughout the WC universe. You auto to a nav point and encounter a large number of Kilrathi fighters coming at you. Slam on the afterburners and fly over them only by a few clicks. Once behind em, release the afterburner, and quickly turn your fighter. (If you're quick enough, they won't have enough reaction time.) Then, while the inertia (sp??) is still taking you in the direction of the afterburners, let loose with everything you got. A few IFFs work well in this situation. If you're lucky, you can take out multiple fighters in a few seconds. It also works best against ships with rear turrets as those guns are hard pressed to get a hit.
 
I'm a big fan of targeting all the Light Fighters at the start of fight and cutting loose with all my IR missiles.

This works really well against Skates and Morays in WCP/SO with a ELRIR equipped Vampire. Turning slightly off center after spamming the missiles usually makes them alter course enough that incoming fire won't be able to destroy the incoming missiles. And, since Counter Measures deploy out of the back of a ship, there's little chance of them decoying the missiles.

I can usually cut the numbers in half at the start of fight, and then all I have to worry about is a relative small amount of medium/heavy fighters and the bombers (which are far easier to target without annoying light fighters harrying me).

I don't know if it's a tactic...but I'm a big fan of using MIRV's and Swarm Missiles on clustered skates. It's just pretty to see them take so much damage, even though I think that damage is only applied to one of the ships.
 
WC1 and WC2: Ramming things.

I've perfected it. Seriously. It happens by reflex. Automatically. Unconsciously. Unintentionally. If it's out there, I fly into it. I've perfected it, but I hate it. It keeps changing the music on me.
 
I used to pull a maneuver all the time in WC1 and WC2, that I called the "undercut", and then got annoyed because WC3 came along and gave it (or actually, a slightly different version of it) an actual name...the Shelton Slide...and made it way too easy to do.

Basically, you hit full burners as you see the enemy, and angle DOWN, so that they are near the top of your forward vision. Maneuver to keep them there. As soon as you get into gun range (or actually, slightly before, since your combined closing speeds extend your gun range slightly), let off the burners (and in some fighters, even drop your set speed) and pull up hard. Center the enemy in your crosshairs and fire. Your weapons fire will look like it's flying upwards as it leaves your ship, which is a little disconcerting, but it flies straight at them. As your inertia carries you under and past them, increase your speed to match their's and continue pulling up, finishing the half loop on their tail.

It worked great, because the AI in WC1 was good at deflection shooting, but only to the point where it would compensate for your apparent trajectory, not your actual trajectory (like a lot of human pilots, and maybe the ITTS). So they wouldn't be able to hit you, but they meanwhile would be flying straight at your current position, so your deflection shooting was easy. And you would finish up the maneuver on their tail, ready to finish them off. It was the best method I found for engaging Jalthi, or engaging anything when flying a Scimitar...

The Shelton Slide is basically the same thing, except you go to the side instead of under the opponents. I perferred going under them because, in most WC1 and 2 fighters at least, visibility seemed better above the cockpit than to the side, and against most Kilrathi fighters of that era, their target profile was bigger from underneath than from the side.
 
I was also a big fan of executing "scissors" turns when tailing a heavy fighter/bomber in a light fighter, in WC2 and 3. Basically, you can't park on these craft's tails in an Arrow, because their tailgun chews you up. So you keep your speed somewhat faster than theirs, and weave up and down, or side to side behind them. Each time your gunsight passes them, you let off a salvo, but continue your turn. It makes you very hard to hit, both for their tailgun and for any wingmen/escorts that might try to help them, and keeps you behind them and able to keep damaging them, provided you're good at making "snap" shots accurately.
 
WC1: Measured recklessness. Most missile hits in those games, IIRC, do exactly 70 points of armor or shield "damage". In a Raptor or Rapier, missiles could be met with unflinching fearlessness so long as your shields on that side were full at the time.

In other words, I rammed those missiles on purpose. Yeah. It was *everything else* that I rammed by accident.

Except for Bhurak Starkiller. I would ram Bhurak on purpose.
 
frostytheplebe said:
Does anyone out there have a move or manuever they've perfected that they really love? Do you have a name for it? How does it work? Who is it effective against?

Me: I'm sure its 100% unoriginal, but I use something I like to call the "slipstream"
It works in many situations throughout the WC universe. You auto to a nav point and encounter a large number of Kilrathi fighters coming at you. Slam on the afterburners and fly over them only by a few clicks. Once behind em, release the afterburner, and quickly turn your fighter. (If you're quick enough, they won't have enough reaction time.) Then, while the inertia (sp??) is still taking you in the direction of the afterburners, let loose with everything you got. A few IFFs work well in this situation. If you're lucky, you can take out multiple fighters in a few seconds. It also works best against ships with rear turrets as those guns are hard pressed to get a hit.
Click to expand...

These are my stupid little names for tactics I like using:

- "The Knockout Punch": This is basically a fancy way of saying that I'd ram the rear of an enemy ship when my gun capacitors ran dry, but the hull is exposed to damage. Two or three jams with afterburner, and they'd buy it with my shields taking the impact, thus shielding my own ship from damage.

- "Electric Slide": Similar to an afterburner slide, but I add on a full burst of afterburner immediately after sliding. This allows me to very suddenly change direction and quickly right my ship, giving me what seems to be a continuously unexpected turn radius and recovery. Always seems like an enemy fighter doesn't ever expect to see me coming quite that suddenly...I'd be going one way, then suddenly change course and hit burner directly angling them, putting a good number of rounds into that ship before they have time to react. It's good for quick punches through armor. Good also when doubling up with "The Knockout Punch" from the sheer damage that my afterburning speed seems to afford. This combo comes in VERY handy when taking on a heavy fighter that has a bead on you with frontal guns.

- "Jumping into the Pouch": If I'm close enough to my base ship, and I have a fighter dogging me, I taunt him, lure him closer and let my mama ship open up on him. This works best in Prophecy SO when you're up against about six or so Devil Rays and you're close to the Cerberus. If the gunners don't take him outright, the damage they'll do along with the fact that the pursuing fighter now has to go defensive gives me the ability to turn the tables and have a better shot at taking him out. It also allows you to approach from a different vector, using the Cerberus as a barrier to harmlessly take any enemy fire with its own hull shields...swing around, start your run. Suddenly the Devil Ray is being attacked on two fronts. If you're good enough, you can get him in a Pincer and tag him.

I also agree with taking out the aforementioned tactic of lighting up the light fighters first, as their speed gets annoying quick and their dumbfires, if they hit, can ruin you for the rest of your engagement. My motto: "The less guns, the better".
 
Here is another one for the books...

I always called it Laying an Egg but then WC4 came along and took a similar style of doing things that looked really good...

I use to love to run at Full Burn with an enemy on my tail, slam on the breaks, drop a mine and then hit the afterburners. The AI never seemed quick enough to pull up or do anything except for continuing to follow me and thus blasting through the mine taking heavy damage or exploding in the process.

Then Seether comes along in WC4 and uses the mine/afterburner trick to do a reallly cool exit, made me feel a bit jipped!
 
In Armada, because the enemy could shoot down a missile, I would fire a missile as soon as I got a lock, pull up a bit and then after afterburning for a few moments, bring my sights back to the target and hit it with my guns. Usually, the missile will have plowed into the target head on, leaving its shields down and open to gunfire.
 
In WC Saga, and sometimes WCP, I have a maneuver that I can perform to dodge missiles and confuse them. :)

I call it the "helix" because I think that's the pattern that my maneuver goes in.

The maneuver is achieved by pressing Tab, Q, and the left arrow key all at the same time.

For the latter-handed helix, press Tab, W, and the right arrow key all at the same time.

I'm not sure which hand my helices go in, but I'm sure they're both great maneuvers for thwarting missiles. If you combine countermeasures, the effect is even better.

And just to say it like the rest of the people here: When a missile is launched at me, I like to fire up full burners and bank left while turning left and launching countermeasures.
 
I'd have to consult Houkiboshi as well, but some of the moves in WCP MP I love include the Mine drop. The Shrike and Devastator can very quickly lay a pretty good minefield and as long as you hang close to it can often get others to plow right through it and get a cheap kill in the process.

We try to avoid making all the battles turn into turning battles by AB away from each other or getting into tail chases. It's amazing sometimes to watch 2 or more other pilots duel it out while you sit back a few thousand klicks and watch it play out.
 
Dundradal said:
I'd have to consult Houkiboshi as well, but some of the moves in WCP MP I love include the Mine drop. The Shrike and Devastator can very quickly lay a pretty good minefield and as long as you hang close to it can often get others to plow right through it and get a cheap kill in the process.

We try to avoid making all the battles turn into turning battles by AB away from each other or getting into tail chases. It's amazing sometimes to watch 2 or more other pilots duel it out while you sit back a few thousand klicks and watch it play out.
Click to expand...

I can confirm that hehe...

I love to roll out of the fire in a head to head pass (corkscrew) while firing missiles
 
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