Heathcliff’s Magnum Opus
Or,
How to Fly =]
Greetings loyal NRN pilots, and a big **S**!! If you have read my rambling story on the Bacta Tank, you have some idea of my feelings about NRN. I write this document now as a gift to you, the men and women of the Mighty New Republic Navy. It has taken me over two years of hard experience to learn what I have learned: two years of getting beaten repeatedly by the best and beating repeatedly those who are not quite the best; years of helping and being helped by many of you, and by those outside the NRN. In the martial arts there is the term “Sensei” which is sometimes translated as “Master.” However the true meaning has a connotation more like “One who goes before.” There is a path of discovery in these games called X-wing versus Tie Fighter and X-wing: Alliance. I am farther ahead than most of you but the path stretches ahead of me farther than I can see. Therefore, this document may see many revisions in the future. But for now, let us learn together! Practice what you read here and tell me and others of your results.
Use this outline to navigate the document:
I. Principles and Preparation
II. 1v1 Strategies and Techniques
III. 2v2 Strategies and Techniques
IV. Final Thoughts
PRINCIPLES AND PREPERATION
A. Before you can take more than the shortest stroll down the road to being a great pilot, you have to embrace certain concepts and release yourself from others. Be assured of the following:
1. XvT and XWA are learned games. The success a player has and the results he can produce are not simply due to him being blessed by God with amazing talent, blessed by her parents with an awesome computer, or blessed by his college with a great connection. Your trouble trying to fly well is not due to you just being crappy at games, or not having the greatest computer, or being stuck on a dumb modem. You too can shoot like a marksman, turn on a dime, and move like lightning if you will put your mind to it, use the knowledge of those who have gone before, and practice!
2. Although these are learned games, we are limited in some ways by our computers and connections. Lag is a fact of the game; a part of the game that you can’t fully escape but that you can subdue. Sometimes the game will be choppy, and sometimes your shots won’t all count. Some people have worse problems with lag. Sometimes life just isn’t quite fair. As the Curriculum says, 8-player games only work on near-perfect connections; red latencies only work on 1v1, and then just sometimes; packets lost are worse than high latency, but are sometimes “fake”; the host usually has the advantage in games of 4 or more; and the host almost always has a disadvantage in 1v1.
3. When you lose a game, 95% of the time it is because the other pilot or team flew better than you. Just because you suffer lag, don’t assume you lost because of that lag. Do assume you need to learn how to deal with lag better. Be quicker to acknowledge and learn from the skill of others than to whine about how the game isn’t fair.
4. Play with your brain turned on. As I wrote in the Curriculum and as the Instructors often quote, “Think of every death as a mistake that could have been avoided.” Don’t make the same mistake twice. If you get killed, for example, when you or the opponent has a new ship, how can you move so as to survive next time? If you always die right after your wingman does, what strategy can you use to minimize your losses? Think, change, and improve!
B. Proper preparation can make the difference both before you get in the cockpit and once you get started. Follow these instructions and get ready to fumble! Err, rumble!
1. Before you play, close everything you don’t need! That means web pages, programs, utilities, ICQ, basically anything you can close with ctr-alt-del without crashing your computer or impairing your ability to play the game.
2. Set your screen resolution and graphics detail levels relatively low. Take advantage of the fact that there are separate settings for single player and multi-player games. If your graphics settings (especially if you are the host) are demanding on your computer, things run sluggishly and no one has a good time.
3. Program your joystick. If you have a lot of buttons, use them. If you like to use the keyboard for everything, that’s fine, but it’s good to put the buttons you use the most on your joystick. Important ones are “R” for nearest enemy fighter and “T” for next target. I have my power presets on the joystick hat but usually just use the keyboard out of habit. Use the configuration that feels and works the best for you.
4. Set your Power Presets. In XWA (F11 and F12) these can be conveniently programmed in General Options. XvT (9 and 0) requires doing it every time you play, but it’s no problem once you get used to it. [Take advantage of the time when you are in the cockpit but people are still loading]. Set #1 to 1/3 throttle, all power to engines, and #2 to the same but with maximum laser power. Use of these will be explained later.
5. Turn Rudder OFF, but program the free rudder keys, 1 and 3 on the number pad, to your joystick hat. If you don’t have a hat, other joystick buttons will work. The rudder should be off because turning it on actually slows down your ship’s straight left to right motion. Slight rolling can also mess up your aim, especially if your joystick has a loose R-axis. Putting the rudder keys on your joystick allows you to use the rudder when it’s beneficial without detracting from control and maneuverability.
6. Prepare your ship for combat:
· Place shields forward (S twice)
· Link lasers to quad fire (X twice, or once for double in A, Z95, T/F, etc.)
· Clear cockpit graphics (Period key, plus Tab twice in XWA)
· Display kill/score box (K in XvT, already there in XWA)
· Target nearest opponent (R)
· Set lasers to even (approach on increased when needed in Z95, A, etc.)
· Set shields full to engines (F10 3 times)
Optional procedures to gain advantage in shielded craft include setting shields and lasers to maximum recharge and shunting two bursts of power from lasers to shields (apostrophe twice). Then at 2.0 km quickly return everything to combat settings.
7. Fire two initial shots at 1.7 km in XWA, or 1.75 in XvT, then get off the line! Note that this is technically not within laser range, but you and your opponent are approaching each other fast enough that it will be. If the opponent is slow or doesn’t know any better you will hit him with these shots. You need to dodge to avoid being hit with his initial shots. If your opponent dodges the same way each time, send a shot that direction to make him run into it! You might have to adjust the distance if you or your opponent is moving unusually fast or slow.
1v1 STRATEGIES AND TECHNIQUES
Serious and competitive 1v1 games are played on a split host, usually 5 minutes each, because this is the fairest way to spread around the lag disadvantage. Unsuspecting newcomers in WOW, Case’s Ladder (or Top Gun training) have often been surprised and dismayed at how many times they can die in so short a time on their own host, often let down after the achievement of beating an instructor or experienced player on his or her host. I will lay out strategy for your own host first, and then things to do different on theirs.
A. Definition of terms: I will use these terms repeatedly in the following paragraphs.
· The Approach: Sometimes called the Head-to-head or the Joust, the period when the opponents are more or less facing each other, between entering laser range and the pass.
· The Pass: The moment when the opponents come closest to each other before turning; the end of the approach and the beginning of the turn.
· The Turn: Sometimes called the Dogfight, when the opponents are attempting to get behind each other and get the first shot and the first kill; lasts from the pass until someone dies or breaks the turn by speeding off to get room.
· Line of Fire: The imaginary line between you and your opponent that both your ships and your lasers would follow if you just held the stick steady and shot. If you have your sights on your opponent, you are considered to be on the Line, whether he is facing you or not.
· Mini-Turn: A change in the heading of your ship aided by cutting your throttle for about second and putting it right back to full.
· Tying the Knot: A procedure used to get a shot on the opponent after the pass without resorting to the “tail-chase” of the Turn. Described by Mad_Dog in his famous guide to XvT, you should use it when you feel you are losing the particular turn, don’t want to waste all your time, or against an opponent who is winning every turn.
B. To win the 1v1 match overall, you must cut your losses on your own host, and, if possible, win it. Even when I play a less experienced player and win both hosts, the scores on my host are generally lower than the scores on his host. This is because it’s hard to do things directly on your host; you can’t just go charging into the fray and come out ahead. You’ve got to be patient and careful!
1. After your initial shots, begin dodging. Remember these instructions in your dodging:
· Be irregular. Experienced pilots have lots of practice at shooting down ships that are simply going back and forth across the line, rolling in tight circles, or dodging each shot in the same direction. Even the famed Corkscrew, though better than simple back-and-forth, won’t keep you alive if it’s all your dodging consists of.
· Don’t cross yourself. This is important both in melees and in missions where you are attacking capital ships. If you move across your opponent’s screen one way, then turn back and go the other way, you are giving him free shots; in a sense you are giving his bad aim another chance to hit you!
· Make wide motions around the line of fire. Rapid movement of your joystick results only in small wobbles that do nothing to make your ship a difficult target. Make your opponent work by flying in wide arcs across his screen. Draw large curves around him with your sights, occasionally making fakes, pauses, and even reverses of the direction of motion (which are not so dangerous when you’re flying around the line of fire).
· In making those wide motions, avoid exposing your flank, or worse yet, your rear. A good guideline is to keep the opponent within the edges of your screen, only occasionally letting him drop slightly out of sight (always securely on your front radar).
· Fly with lasers all to engines to increase speed and maneuverability. This item is not really necessary if your opponent doesn’t have great aim. Also, remember we are describing your own host. I fly with lasers even until my opponent has the skill to beat me on my host; then I discharge them and go into full hosting mode. Be sure to charge your lasers when not in laser range to delay running out completely.
2. Shoot as you dodge. Even on your host, you have to keep the opponent on his toes.
· Shoot as you cross the line of fire. Learn to shoot on the move, without pausing to aim; it’s all a matter of timing. Be moving around the line before and after you cut across it, and remember not to cross yourself. Exceptions to this item are noted below.
· Utilize mini-turns. Get used to playing with your throttle on the approach. The same principle that makes the big turn go faster at 1/3 makes any change of heading go faster when you cut throttle. When you want to shoot, cut the throttle (to about 1/3; doesn’t have to be exact) as you cross the line and fire, returning to full throttle immediately (if you don’t want to get blown away). This helps you get your shooting done quickly.
· On your host, shoot only a few times on the approach. If you don’t shoot at all, the opponent can just sit there and aim all he wants. On the other hand, if you shoot too much, you will be too easy to hit.
· Lead the target extra. Leading the target in XWA/XvT is more than a matter of physics and standard marksmanship; it is a matter of lag. This is worse on your host. Aim for points a ship length or so in front of the opponent, or a ship width inside his turning radius, and see what happens.
· Sometimes, in certain craft, it is worth it to pause and aim several shots, even though you are likely to take damage. Note that I said “sometimes.” Usually this is a bad idea on your host, and I will discuss it further in the section concerning your opponent’s host.
3. Turn early. On your host, your lag disadvantage consists largely of bad ghost hits. Since your opponent’s ghost hits are less severe, you do not want a last-minute face-off. Don’t turn too early, or you will just present a target to the opponent, but veer well off the line before the turn so you can turn to the inside as you pass. Experiment to get a feel of this for yourself; but try hitting your preset and turning at about .4 if you’re full to engines or .2 if you’re at even recharge (those numbers are not exact).
4. Turn at 1/3 throttle, no lasers (no shields, no beam). This is most simply done by using your presets. Hit preset #1 when you start the hard turn (right before if you have lasers to engines). Turn so as to work the dot representing your opponent’s ship from your rear to your front radar as quickly as possible. Turn as hard as you can, and when you get a shot on your opponent, hit preset #2 to regain laser power. Go back to preset #1 if they start to get away. During the turn I keep my fingers over F11 and F12 (or 9 and 0) to quickly switch back and forth as needed. Remember that the turn is all or nothing; flying in front of your opponent at 1/3 throttle is suicide, so be turning absolutely as hard as you can the whole time.
5. Continue the turn until:
· You kill your opponent. This is of course the preferable outcome. You will be able to kill poor turners before they know what happened. Against better pilots often you will loop around each other trying to gain the advantage. Practice and experimentation will teach you the little things you can do to win the turn. Find the shortest path around to your opponent; try to get behind him or cut him off.
· You feel you are going to lose the turn. After a number of turning battles, you will be able to “feel” when you’re about to die (from harsh experience). Watch for usual patterns of the way the opponent’s ship moves on your radar that indicate he’s about to get behind you or vice-versa. When you feel this, immediately go to full throttle to Tie the Knot.
· Your opponent breaks and runs. If your opponent gives up and starts flying away (presumably to tie the knot, although some pilots have been known to just run, which is a good way to anger people), immediately go to full throttle and full lasers and shoot him down. If he’s a really good dodger, save your lasers and wait for him to turn around. Go to double fire (or single in TF, etc.) and when he starts to turn toward you, create a wall of fire for him to run into. Remember that in this case, leading the target means shooting inside his turning radius, not in front of his ship. If he does survive to face you, start dodging for the ensuing mini-approach, and start the turning process over.
6. Tying the Knot. The object of tying the knot is simple: get room to turn around, turn around, and shoot the opponent. Actually carrying it out, however, is quite a challenge. The more you practice, the more you will survive this move.
· Run for .35 km. You need this space to accomplish your turn without the opponent catching up to you. Good opponents aren’t going to make this easy. Go to full throttle and get as far as you can, and if necessary put lasers all to engines.
· Dodge while doing so. You will die if you do not, of course. Many pilots like to do a Corkscrew at this point, which is fine against most pilots, but the good ones can lead it and shoot you down. I prefer non-rudder movement, often a wide figure-8 type pattern. During this dodging stage I usually turn as hard as I can while at full throttle. This is good for throwing off their aim, but the downside is you don’t pull away very fast. So fly straighter if you can without dying, to get quickly past that .35 km mark. Incorporate rudder movement if you want, but remember that your ship’s overall agility is better if you keep the rudder OFF and use the free-rudder keys.
· Turn carefully. When it’s time to turn, pull up or down hard while still at full throttle, and weave side to side through the turn. After a second or two of this (when you’ve gotten as far through the turn as you’re going to get at full throttle) hit your main turning preset for a second, but then quickly hit second preset and full throttle as you complete the turn. (You are only at 1/3 for middle part of the turn, to avoid being a slow target, and you are charging your lasers in preparation for a shot or two.)
· Shoot them. This is the vital moment. It can be difficult timing the shot right as you whip around, and you will often die on the way. Practice and strive for control of this process.
· Resume approach pattern or re-enter the turn. If you survive your TTK maneuver but don’t manage to kill your opponent, depending on how much space you have, either go back to the dodging and shooting of the approach or take another crack at winning the turn.
7. Ramming can be useful when your ship is damaged. In a situation where you’re going to die anyway, you may as well take them down with you, right? This, similar to knowing when to tie the knot, is something you will eventually get the “feel” of. If you’re stuck out in front of them and they’re about to kill you, shoot, ram, and trade the kill. Do this only when you have to, though, because in the course several ramming encounters, the opponent will ultimately come out ahead, since you as the host have the ghost hit disadvantage.
8. Recharge between kills. Any time you’re not in laser range is a good time to have your lasers and shields on maximum recharge. Do this during the seconds between your opponent dying and respawning, or whenever you or your opponent respawns outside laser range. This is very important, so you have something to fight with, since undercharged lasers don’t do as much damage as charged ones. When flying shielded craft like X-wings (but not A-wings or Z-95 whose lasers deplete quickly), try shunting on or two units of laser power into shields (with apostrophe key) as you recharge both lasers and shields. Do this at the beginning of the game or any time you are a few km away from the opponent.
9. Be careful turning to face the opponent. After a kill, return to full throttle so you can be ready to start a new approach. Many kills are made against, and sometimes by, newly respawned ships for the player who is quicker to turn and aim. When you know you are closer to facing the opponent than he is to facing you, turn to face him as quickly as possible (by cutting throttle and immediately returning to full) and shoot him down as he completes his turn. If he does end up facing you all the way, you’d better start dodging! In the more common situation, you are either farther from facing your opponent or not sure who can get turned around first. In this situation, do not just turn straight toward the opponent. Gradually come around to face him in something like a tightening spiral, to avoid giving him easy kills as he leads your turns.
10. Keep in mind the place of your host within the 5/5 game. What you are trying to do, in essence, is survive. You want to deny kills to the enemy, a similar concept to the Wingman’s job in 2v2. The game may be won on your host, in the sense that the opponent’s chance to destroy you is taken away from him…it is an oh-so-painful feeling to lose your opponent’s host of a 5/5. However, even if strategically you win the game by being better on your host than the opponent is on hers, the aggressive, crushing blows must wait for her host. You want things to go slowly…nice and relaxed, no killing-sprees (because if they do happen, they will not be in your favor!).
11. Fly with honor. Many words have been thrown about over the years about flying with honor, and people have different ideas about it. A top ladder pilot once accused me of “running” because we spent most of our time on my host in TF looping around each other. Is it my fault he didn’t have the courage to break away for space to turn and shoot? If the pilots are caught in an endless loop, it is the joiner’s responsibility to break it off if he wants further chances to shoot it out. On the other hand, actually running is considered dishonorable and you should avoid it. Never fly away from your opponent just to avoid contact. Always tie the knot before .5 km or so (after .35). Even if your lasers need recharging, don’t fly directly away from the opponent, as it is quite upsetting to them. Flying at angles on the approach is acceptable, but doing this too much may be perceived as dishonorable and cowardly. Hopefully you are familiar already with more basic matters of etiquette, concerning hyperspace, the nav-buoy, etc.
C. The opponent’s host is the time to attack aggressively. The lag is now holding your opponent back, and it’s time to take advantage of this.
1. Get all the kills you can on the approach. You want the 5 minutes on their host to go bang-bang, boom-boom! Wasting time looping around each other is not to your advantage. This does not mean you can stop dodging though; if you fly lazy my lasers will find you no matter whose host we are on. Keep dodging, but increase the frequency of your fire on the approach. For example, in a typical game on my own host in T/I I will fire once or twice at laser range and two or three times before the turn. On the other host I will fire two or three times at laser range and take three or four shooting passes that may include more than one shot.
2. Sometimes, in certain craft, it is worth it to pause and aim several shots, even if you are likely to take damage. This is often the case in X-wings and other shielded craft, and is an occasional exception to the standard practice of shooting on the move. You have to weigh the benefits of aiming versus dodging. Since to totally avoid getting hit in an X-wing requires very large and wide dodges, often when you go in to shoot your opponent you will get hit. If you just dodge close to the line and “shoot from the hip,” so to speak, you are getting hit and not guaranteed to score hits yourself. If their flying and your aiming is such that at a particular moment you feel you could finish them off with two or three well-aimed shots, go for it! Just make sure you dodge on the way into the first shot and out of the last shot.
3. Get all the kills you can at close range, right before the turn. Close range is where an average pilot can make the most use of his lag advantage on the opponent’s host. If you don’t quite have the coordination yet to pick off the opponent at close range, concentrate on dodging until you get within about .3 km, when you have an easier target.
4. Don’t turn early. Remember that on the opponent’s host you want direct confrontation, face-to-face shootouts. Let him be the chicken. Right before the turn, when he may already be thinking the approach is over, do a mini-turn and cut in right toward him, shooting him as he passes you. Then turn if this unsuccessful.
5. Sometimes it is good to turn late. Many pilots have experienced frustrating X-wing games where all they could seem to do is trade kills with the opponent as the fly past them, turn around, and ram each other. By flying on past your opponent for a second or two before turning to face them you can put space between you that allows time to shoot them and then get out of the way of their carcass.
6. Ramming can work to your advantage on the initial pass. This is applicable mainly to shielded craft like X-wing and Z-95. Get those last-second shots in, even if it means grazing the opponent a little bit. They will usually come out in worse shape. On the turn back around however, don’t let them ram you; you want to finish the kill cleanly and escape with enough of a ship to take them down again.
7. Do all you can to generally increase the speed and intensity of the game. Try to get momentum going and drive them into a frustrated stupor. Kill them quickly when they respawn nearby. Keep your guns primed by recharging them between kills, and show no mercy (except in extreme cases).
D. In cases of poor connections, the host sometimes has the advantage. The previous two subsections assume a reasonable connection. Most 1v1 games you play with most people will include worse lag for the host. However, it isn’t as though the host were the only one to be lagged. In general, the host suffers ghost hits, while the joiner suffers choppiness. With high-latency connections the host will often have the advantage because he has a smoother view of the game, while the joiner has to struggle with jerky flight control. In these cases, alter your strategies as you see fit to compensate.
2v2 STRATEGIES AND TECHNIQUES
This section is coming soon; for now, refer to Ionforce’s document.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I hope my observations and instructions will prove beneficial to those who read them. Here’s to each and every NRN pilot improving his or her flying skills to the glory of the Mighty New Republic Navy, and to the greater enjoyment of the XWA/XvT gaming community!
**Salute**
Commodore Heathcliff
NRN Academy Director
NRN Rogue CO
Version 1.0 completed 9-10-2000