Tutorial Buoys for Connecticut

[Karlotta]

Here are a few texts that could be put in buoys in Connecticut, to have an easy to access tool for teaching new people the basics of combat without players being forced to type the same thing over and over again.

Although there are already lots of tutorials on the forum, an easy-to-find easy-to-access tutorial helps the casual player enjoy his early stay in Sirius more.

This is not a replacement for players helping players, but a tool that will help players help more players more effectively, and leave them more time to explain the other many things one needs to know.

Help with editing the text for easy and fast understanding and ideas for additional subjects would be greatly appreciated.

The bold underlined title would be the name of the buoy.

Press F9 to Read

The information relayed by these buoys will teach you important strategies and tricks for surviving hostile encounters. Read and practice them early on to prolong your character’s lives! For more extensive PvP tutorials, check our forums at discoverygc.com!

Survival

The most important asset for survival is to know how to not get hit by enemy shots. In order to dodge projectiles, change your vector often by:

-turning (move the mouse from one edge of the screen to another)

-strafing in alternate directions (move sideways using A and D keys or verticaly with customized controls)

-altering speed with your thruster (press and release Tab key)

Pressing TAB to thrust will make your turns more effective at dodging fire, but keep an eye on your energy so you don’t become a sitting duck when it runs out. Learning to Engine-Kill will help you save energy. Keep in mind that dodging fire becomes easier with greater distance and slower projectiles. Turning (mouse movements) while thrusting is the most effective way to dodge when you aren’t fire at an enemy yourself, but strafing allows you to avoid enemy fire while still aiming and firing in front of you at the same time.

You can practice these techniques when fighting against NPCs in Sirius or against players in Connecticut. The more agile and smaller your ship is the better it is at dodging fire, which is why small craft often survive longer than large ones in Player vs Player fights (see Tactics and Strategies). Light Fighters are nearly impossible to hit when controlled by a skilled pilot, while Heavy Fighters, Very Heavy Fighters, and bombers are balanced for agility, firepower, and armor hit points.

Purchasable armor upgrades will multiply your ship’s base armor by a certain factor so it can survive more hits. Be sure to mount the armor in an engine shop on a station so you don’t lose it when your ship explodes. Learning skills like quick-docking with lanes, gates, and stations will not only get you hit less while docking, but also allows for faster travel.

Quick Docking

Docking sequences with lanes, gates, stations, and planets can be made near-instantaneous if docking is initiated by pressing the F3 key when in the right place.

The optimal location for trade lane docking is closely before the center of the lane ring that points towards the direction in you want to travel. The green lights in the corners indicate the correct side of the lane ring, red lights indicate it's the wrong way. The optimal docking location for jump gates is shortly before the closed opening in the "teeth", while jump holes are best docked with while you are directly in them (except for large chunky ships, in which case the best moment to press F3 is shortly before entering the hole).

Stations commonly have quick dock points near airlocks (grey squares) or tower lights. Planets have their quick dock points at the mooring fixtures.

Gun/Turret Choice

Consider all the attributes when choosing the right gun or turret:

-Speed: Faster projectiles increase the likelihood to hit the target when shooting at the cross-hair, because of lesser time for the target to change vector and avoid the shot.

-Refire Rate: Higher fire rate raises your hit rate on small targets, which gives them less time to regenerate shields.

-Range: Being able to fire at longer ranges gives you an agility advantage if the target is too large and slow to dodge shots even at a distance.

-Energy Efficiency (damage per energy): Higher energy efficiency lets you to deal more damage before your energy is drained.

-Hull Damage per Second (hull damage x fire rate): Arguably the most important characteristic of a gun. But one should also consider that high projectile speed and refire rate will raise the number of shots that actually hit an agile target, and that energy efficiency matters especially when you drain your power to zero by firing continually. Hull damage is only dealt if the target's shields are down.

-Shield Damage: Certain types of guns deal heavy damage to shields and almost none to hull. These guns are useful to raise energy efficiency by splitting weapons into "Shield Buster" and "Hull Buster" groups that are selected depending on whether the target's shields are up or down.

Aiming

The red cross-hair seen when targeting a ship is drawn making these assumptions:

-The target's movement vector stays constant in the time it takes the projectile to get to it
-All activated guns (highlighted green) have the same projectile speed

The more these assumptions are deviated from, the less likely it is to hit when shooting at the cross-hair.

For example if you and your enemy are both turning, shooting in front of the cross-hair instead of directly at it is what lands hits. That's because the ship's movement vector isn't constant during the projectile's trip. If your opponent uses predictable evasive maneuvers such as regular turns or regularly dodging left and right, shooting where he is likely to turn instead of aiming at the cross hair can land you more hits. Grouping your weapons to match up projectile speeds can also enhance your aim, especially when using capitol ships with multiple weapon types.

Grouping Weapons

Splitting weapons into groups can improve tactics, energy efficiency, and aim.

To create weapons groups activated by number keys (above the letter keys), start by selecting "Options", then "Controls" in the F1 menu. Then go to "User Interface" and scroll down to assign the number keys to "Activate Weapons Group" 1 through 6. The number keys will now activate weapons groups on all your characters and all accounts, so this step is needed only once on every computer you use.

To assign or un-assign certain weapons to a group, press the number key to select the group, then click on the weapons in the lower right window to activate (green) or de-activate (light blue) them. Pressing this number key will now de-activate or activate what ever weapons you put into this group.

The most common use of weapons groups in both small craft like fighters/bombers ("snubs") and capitol ships like cruisers and battleships is to separate guns that do more damage to shields or hull. This allows you to quickly switch weapon type depending on whether the target's shield is up or down. A common layout is to have group 1 with both "hullbusters" and "shieldbusters" active (quickly takes down enemy shields when your energy reserves are high), group 2 "hullbuster" only (used when the enemy's shield is down) and group 3 "shieldbuster" only (used when the enemy's shield is up and your energy reserve is low).

In multi-turret capitol ships, you'll also want to separate guns with fast projectile speed (good for defense against fast moving targets, but these guns commonly have low range and energy efficiency) and guns with slow speed but high damage output, range, and efficiency (good against heavily armored slow moving targets).

Using Engine-Kill

Shutting off your engine in order to drift freely is one of the most important techniques to become a proficient pilot.
Its uses include saving thruster energy, being able to fire multiple Cruise Disruptors (CD) while still moving at cruise speed, out-maneuvering your opponent in a dog-fight, and firing without getting in the way of your wingmen in group fights.

Go to the F1 Options/Controls Menu and assign Engine Kill to a key that is easy to reach without moving your hand away from the A,S,D, and W keys (mostly used are X, Y, or Z depending on your keyboard). Press the Engine Kill key and you should hear the sound of the engine being turned off. Then press and release the thrust or strafe keys, and you should keep drifting in the same direction even after releasing the trust/strafe key, and even when turning your ship with the mouse. Pressing the Accelerate or Decelerate keys turns the engine back on.

You can use Engine Kill to move at thrust speed for an unlimited amount of time without draining your energy to 0, by simply keeping your engine off and tapping the thrust key from time to time. You can also dodge enemy fire doing this, if you turn in different directions while thrusting.

Engine kill also works while cruising, which is useful for firing cruise disruptors (CDs) at a a fleeing target without having to slow down.

Killing your engine to keep drifting in one direction while turning your ship around is a good way to get an enemy into your gun sights during 1 on 1 fights. When done right, it also allows you to out-turn your opponent in a way that keeps you out of his/her gun sights. Check the tutorial videos on discovery.gc and practice this technique if you want to become a dog-fighting ace.

Keep in mind that while you drift in a straight line you are easy to hit, so don't do it at the wrong moment!

Cruise Disruptors

Apart from its main function of keeping an enemy from fleeing, the cruise disruptor can be used as an offensive and defense weapon. It detonates mines and missiles within its blast range, and can thus be used to blow them up in your enemy's face instead of your own. Cruise Disruptors have excellent homing capabilities, and therefor dropping multiple Counter Measures (CMs) is recommended when trying to escape them. CD hits also keep an enemy from cloaking as long as the cloak is still charging. CDs with large blast radius are more effective at stopping large ships, but tend to make NPCs hostile to you more if they get caught in the blast. Using a Mosquito CD which has small blast radius can help avoid making friendly NPCs angry at you to some extent.

Tactics and Strategies

Fighting players is very different from fighting NPCs. The most important lesson to learn while fighting players is that not the biggest best armored best equipped ship will automatically win or survive. The most likely winners are players who correctly assess the situation, who know the limitations of their ships, and who have the right skills and strategies.

Fast and agile craft will always be able to escape without being killed by slower ships, unless they make the mistake of getting too close. It's therefore recommended you become a halfway decent fighter and bomber pilot before you get an expensive ship of which you don't know the capabilities and limitations. Even if you favor larger ships, learning to fight caps in snubs will teach you the basic combat dynamics early on. Learn techniques like weapons groups, dodging fire, and observe and train how every snub or cap weapon is used most effectively.

A good way to quickly learn useful aspects of the game and have fun with friends is to join an existing player faction. Player factions commonly have prefixes (tags) like [LN] or K'Hara- in front of their names, so feel free to ask tagged ships if they are recruiting. You can find more information about player factions at discoverygc.com.

Don't forget that the goal of the game is not to win every fight, but to have fun. Disrespecting players (not role play characters) and poor role play will often result in people wanting to see you explode to get rid of you. But don't expect to not be attacked just your role play is good, as conflict and combat is part of role play too.

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