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Sunflare technique
I'd want to know the best way of dodging them! :(
And then maybe figure out how to hit someone with them :p
And then maybe figure out how to hit someone with them :p
Well, if you're A) trading and can't get away, then try to boost in a zig-zag pattern using the mouselook to check behind you for when the rockets are coming.
B) If you're fighting someone, *use physics mode!* Fighting a rocket rammer in arcade mode = certain death. Why? Because you will always be moving in the direction you are pointed in so getting a shot in always means eating a rocket. When you are in physics mode, face your opponent and try to always keep between 300-500m between the two of you. If they advance, start backing up. If they retreat, start advancing. If they boost toward you, fire a rocket and either strafe or boost out of their Line Of Sight.
As long as you keep at least 300m between the two of you, rockets are fairly easy to dodge. As soon as you see them on your screen or radar, begin strafing. I find that first strafing left or right and then up or down works well. Try not to become too predictable in which way you dodge first, because a good opponent will begin second-guessing you and fire a second volley in the direction they think you will dodge. Don't do the barrel roll when dodging because your opponent could still spam kill you using the sunflare's large prox radius.
Also keep in mind that most people in the game aren't skilled enough to score a kill with rockets at 300+m, they tend to make a mad rush at you before they fire and this is the perfect time to make them eat a rocket. As soon as they start getting in your space or boosting straight at you, fire once then dodge away from their LOS.
Another useful tactic is to equip one energy weapon (gauss is particularly useful) along with your rockets and pepper your opponent with it without ever letting them come within firing range. It's funny as hell watching some noob in a tri-flare valk try to rocket ram you when you are doing this. Keep backing up, never let them get so close that you can no longer dodge the rockets in time, and if they boost at you give them a rocket volley to chew on and either strafe or boost out of the way.
Hope this helps....
-Phaserlight
B) If you're fighting someone, *use physics mode!* Fighting a rocket rammer in arcade mode = certain death. Why? Because you will always be moving in the direction you are pointed in so getting a shot in always means eating a rocket. When you are in physics mode, face your opponent and try to always keep between 300-500m between the two of you. If they advance, start backing up. If they retreat, start advancing. If they boost toward you, fire a rocket and either strafe or boost out of their Line Of Sight.
As long as you keep at least 300m between the two of you, rockets are fairly easy to dodge. As soon as you see them on your screen or radar, begin strafing. I find that first strafing left or right and then up or down works well. Try not to become too predictable in which way you dodge first, because a good opponent will begin second-guessing you and fire a second volley in the direction they think you will dodge. Don't do the barrel roll when dodging because your opponent could still spam kill you using the sunflare's large prox radius.
Also keep in mind that most people in the game aren't skilled enough to score a kill with rockets at 300+m, they tend to make a mad rush at you before they fire and this is the perfect time to make them eat a rocket. As soon as they start getting in your space or boosting straight at you, fire once then dodge away from their LOS.
Another useful tactic is to equip one energy weapon (gauss is particularly useful) along with your rockets and pepper your opponent with it without ever letting them come within firing range. It's funny as hell watching some noob in a tri-flare valk try to rocket ram you when you are doing this. Keep backing up, never let them get so close that you can no longer dodge the rockets in time, and if they boost at you give them a rocket volley to chew on and either strafe or boost out of the way.
Hope this helps....
-Phaserlight
"Fighting a rocket rammer in arcade mode = certain death"
objection!
objection!
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"Fighting a rocket rammer in arcade mode = certain death"
objection!
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true. i use arcade mode exclusively. i can dodge sunflares as long as i don't get too close.
"Fighting a rocket rammer in arcade mode = certain death"
objection!
------------
true. i use arcade mode exclusively. i can dodge sunflares as long as i don't get too close.
Zig-zagging will almost always get you killed, unless you're using a Valk, Centurion, or Vulture. A Valk rocket rammer will always have the advantage of acceleration. You can zig zag all you want in that ship of yours, but that Valk will close in on you for every time you hit and let go of that boost button. Ironically back when boost tapping was available this was never a problem (at least for me).
Well, now that boost tapping is gone, I actually find I rarely have to zig-zag either. The classic medium/fast charge combo meal is normally enough to leave any would-be rocket rammers far behind when I am trading. When boost tapping was in I had no idea what boost tapping was or why everyone seemed so much faster than me so I had to zig-zag like my life depended on it.
I only meant zig-zag as a last resort dodging technique, if running or standing and fighting are not options.
I only meant zig-zag as a last resort dodging technique, if running or standing and fighting are not options.
It aint rocket science, oh wait, it is.
Just wanted to point out that if your in a valk or cent with good agilty, then strafe up and strafe down are your friends. You can strafe either UP/DOWN/LEFT/RIGHT and dodge almsot any rammer, at the same time you can curve your rockets to flight paths that will catch even experianced pilots by surprise. This works great 1v1 or 1v2 against average pilots, any more enemies then that and you should use the turbo zags.
Things to remember
--------------------
A rocket's vector is detmermined by a few things: Speed and direction of your ship, and the natural (55 m/s) speed of the rocket. Most rockets will be fired at 155 m/s to 240 m/s speed. Yes, you can travel backwards at 55 m/s or more and have a rocket that stands still or even moves backwards, which is fun to watch because of its tail.
The reason people say to stay 300 m or so away to avoid rammers, it takes about 1/2 secound to strafe out of the way, and you will want a little breathing room to fire your rockets as you strafe. Note that the rockets will follow your strafeing path, this effect is adversly correlational to your forward/backward momentum, in other words, the faster you are moving forward/backward, the less your rockets will curve. This is why I like to sit still to dodge rockets, I simply strafe and fire without moving forward at all. I like my rockets curving (its not really a curve, its a straight line, but it feels that way).
Back to your post, to dodge a rocket ram, you must understand the ways rockets can be used. Pick a 3x flare valk and bot in your home sector for a while. Flip into physics mode and try trick shots at your station. Rockets have a certin feel to them, after you have that feel you can sense when msot people will fire.
The rear radar is your friend. If the yellow dots are right behind you in the middle of the radar, your in trouble! This proably means the bad guy is directly on your six. Turbo zag out of the way or strafe. Some good pilots can fire at people they are chaseing from angle, this is very hard to predict and dodge by radar alone, using mouselook can help here. These pilots are fairly rare, though all the vets do get lucky with it about 30%, most of the times by just fireing a stream of the things... If you want to practise angle pursuit, the defense bots in your home sector are good targets.
Almost forgot, sound can help you a little with rockets as well. If you hear the angry whoosh, check the radar and dodge!
-homestar "engrishfordummies" runner
Just wanted to point out that if your in a valk or cent with good agilty, then strafe up and strafe down are your friends. You can strafe either UP/DOWN/LEFT/RIGHT and dodge almsot any rammer, at the same time you can curve your rockets to flight paths that will catch even experianced pilots by surprise. This works great 1v1 or 1v2 against average pilots, any more enemies then that and you should use the turbo zags.
Things to remember
--------------------
A rocket's vector is detmermined by a few things: Speed and direction of your ship, and the natural (55 m/s) speed of the rocket. Most rockets will be fired at 155 m/s to 240 m/s speed. Yes, you can travel backwards at 55 m/s or more and have a rocket that stands still or even moves backwards, which is fun to watch because of its tail.
The reason people say to stay 300 m or so away to avoid rammers, it takes about 1/2 secound to strafe out of the way, and you will want a little breathing room to fire your rockets as you strafe. Note that the rockets will follow your strafeing path, this effect is adversly correlational to your forward/backward momentum, in other words, the faster you are moving forward/backward, the less your rockets will curve. This is why I like to sit still to dodge rockets, I simply strafe and fire without moving forward at all. I like my rockets curving (its not really a curve, its a straight line, but it feels that way).
Back to your post, to dodge a rocket ram, you must understand the ways rockets can be used. Pick a 3x flare valk and bot in your home sector for a while. Flip into physics mode and try trick shots at your station. Rockets have a certin feel to them, after you have that feel you can sense when msot people will fire.
The rear radar is your friend. If the yellow dots are right behind you in the middle of the radar, your in trouble! This proably means the bad guy is directly on your six. Turbo zag out of the way or strafe. Some good pilots can fire at people they are chaseing from angle, this is very hard to predict and dodge by radar alone, using mouselook can help here. These pilots are fairly rare, though all the vets do get lucky with it about 30%, most of the times by just fireing a stream of the things... If you want to practise angle pursuit, the defense bots in your home sector are good targets.
Almost forgot, sound can help you a little with rockets as well. If you hear the angry whoosh, check the radar and dodge!
-homestar "engrishfordummies" runner
If youre in a heavy, its a little more tricky to dodge but not impossible. If strafing out of the way, and they fire on an intercept to your strafe, DO NOT strafe in the opposite direction. Takes too long. Strafe down or up, its a lot faster.
If youre in a prom and they start ramming you, ram them back. You have almost twice their hull and theyll have to back off.
If youre in a prom and they start ramming you, ram them back. You have almost twice their hull and theyll have to back off.
I've had a big problem fighting rammers with rockets simply because backstrafing just slows my rockets down to nothing while theirs are coming at me at around 200m/s. I'll try that sitting still tactic sometime homestar, but it could by tough in some of the less maneuverable ships.
Phaserlight, what if the Valk rocket rammer behind you has a medium/fast combo also? Screwed again.
I have had very little luck with even a vult dodgeing by strafe alone. You want to strafe at a 90 degree angle to to rockets. Up and Down strafeing seems very effective, my theory on that is two fold. First, most pilots dont expect it. Secound, the valk is more wide then it is tall.
I have an ingrained fear of proms I have never lost, must be an Itani reflex. The proms rockets can keep one at bay, and the autogat can strech the proms operational range. I still feel that the best way to kill a prom/wraith/muad is to get up close with guasses (not only because my aim sucks, but the guass also has a greater angle of attack) and dance around it. The getting close part can be tricky.
-HSR
I have an ingrained fear of proms I have never lost, must be an Itani reflex. The proms rockets can keep one at bay, and the autogat can strech the proms operational range. I still feel that the best way to kill a prom/wraith/muad is to get up close with guasses (not only because my aim sucks, but the guass also has a greater angle of attack) and dance around it. The getting close part can be tricky.
-HSR
HSR: ahhh vults and up/down strafe sooo nice, it's really good against energy weapons too.
I'd agree with the first reply (phaserlight's) except I'd say when you get good enough at dodging you want to stay between 100m and 200m if you're in a cent, vult, or valk so that you can hit them with your energy weapons.
I'd agree with the first reply (phaserlight's) except I'd say when you get good enough at dodging you want to stay between 100m and 200m if you're in a cent, vult, or valk so that you can hit them with your energy weapons.
*bump*
I realized the other day that this tactic can work very well when using a warthog with a heavy engine/battery and an advanced gatling/sunflare loadout. I was able to beat a veteran pirate in a 1-gauss 2-flare Valk one on one using this technique.
I realized the other day that this tactic can work very well when using a warthog with a heavy engine/battery and an advanced gatling/sunflare loadout. I was able to beat a veteran pirate in a 1-gauss 2-flare Valk one on one using this technique.
Yah, a Warthog with the heavy/heavy combo and adv gatling gun is quite deadly. Only problem is you can't run anyone down with it due to the crappy nature of the heavy combo. It makes a very good defense ship otherwise.