Hello,
I have been playing CQC for the last month and I would like to share some insights with new players as to make their entry into CQC easier. I do not claim to be an expert or best pilot, there are way better ones. Also, there might be some tricks I am not aware of. I hope that after reading this players will realize why they got steamrolled and instead of losing constantly they might get a shot and score some kills. In turn this might lead to people staying in CQC and having pleasure playing it. Let's start:
You are outgunned
Your PIPs are wrongly assigned. In case the enemy is in front of you and wants to trade shots your PIPs in engines are wasted. How much? Let me see... Your default 2 PIPs in shields supposedly translate to 9% increased shield strength. 2 PIPs in weapon mean you’ll run out of weapon power quite soon. If you were against somebody with 3 in Shield (37% increased shield strength) and 3 in Weapons (he wont run out of weapon power) you’ll get hammered purely on math basis. He has more offense and more defense than you. How to counter this? Assign PIPs where needed, where they count. For example no need to have them in weapons when you want to get away. Put them to weapons and engines when in pursuit (0/4/2 or 0/3/3); shield and weapons in shootout (3/0/3 or 4/0/2), engines and shield when being chased (2/4/0 or 4/2/0 in rare circumstances 3/3/0).
You are outbuffed
Experienced players take buffs. All the time. If you are fighting one, there is a very good chance bordering with certainity that he has at least one on him. It’s hard to win if they do double your damage or absorb three times what you do. Preferably both. Learn to pick up buffs. They are very important to success.
Weapons: You do double damage or so. Favorite one.
Stealth: You disappear from radar. You'll probably start a fight with huge positional advantage, most players won't be able to fight you effectively unless you reveal your position to them by firing on them. Favourite combo is Weapons + Stealth. You’ll get wrecked in seconds without having a clue where it came from.
Shields: Better than a poke in the eye.
Speed: Short and very circumstantial. Weakest of them all. Has its uses mostly in ice asteroid field, Capture the Flag and getting to a another - more valuable buff earlier. And escaping, of course.
Get to know the map, especially buffs. There is always one weapon powerup. Learn its location. Try to pick it up as often as possible.
You are outmaneuvred
There are three reasons for this. Your manoeuvres are not optimal. Try to stay in blue speed zone for optimal turn rates. You don't have enough PIPs in engines. Enemy is using Flight assisst off and you are not.
Learn at least basic maneuvres in Flight assist off. Turn FA off, go forward, pitch upwards and use lateral thruster. Furthermore if you manage to stay in blue zone the effect will be way stronger. OR (and this is risky) change to backwards, pitch up and lower thrusters. Experiment with it. You don't need to learn fly with FA off perfectly. A few tricks will take you 80% of the way. Just learn enough to counter most FA off pilots. Or at least do as much damage on them as possible before you die. ;-)
Learn to read radar. Radar tells you where around you enemies are and if they flash yellow in DM it means YOU are under attack. IT will also tell you where the shoot at you from, relative to you. In TDM it means somebody is shooting or being shot at. You can tell at glance if you need to run or gun.
You are using the wrong ship
Out of the four ships there are three types
You have tanky sidewinder. You can take a lot of punishment, your dps is decent but you'll get outmanoeuvred very easily. Experienced pilots wil go FA off and circle around you while laughing at you. By flying this ship you get a false sense of security. You are a sitting duck. Upside is that most people will leave you because they couldn't be bothered to waste time killing you. Sidewinder is very good in Capture the Flag for carrying the flag for example.
Eagle. I would call this the most offensive ship. You'll get outmanoeuvred by Eagle and Condor but your dps is insane. Everything would be okay except you don't have chaff. Silent running is almost useless against experienced players. Eagle is big, easy to spot, easy to hit. So in the stealth you are a sitting duck (slowly cooking itself inside out). While it might be viable to fly this ship, nobody does so and I wasn't able to master it myself.
Imperial and Condor. The only two ships you'll probably fly. Fast, manouevrable. Take chaff. There are some differences between them but you should try them and decide which suits you better.
Chaff vs silent running
Silent running has been in my experience pretty much useless. Chaff gives you a very good defense for a short while, but the short while is usually enough to tip the fight in your balance. There might be uses for silent running.
Heat sink. Tried this, don’t like it. In my opinion this should be a default extra on eagle to make it the bird of pray. Silently creeping on enemy and then unleashing devastating attack from stealth. Things are not like this now. Try and if'll have success let me know.
Human factor
Learn times when people play. As of now the best time seems to be UTC 20:00. This may change over time and there may be several player spikes depending on timezones. Get virtual friends. This will ensure that you'll know when people are online and you'll be able to get into matches. There is a HUGE difference between logging in alone at random times vs logging in when you know there are six other people going to play CQC. Besides being shot down by a friend hurts less than being trained by some stranger over and over. And might get to TDM and CQC too.
One escape trick
This is a simple trick I use quite often. In CQC you dissappear off the radar when the line of sight is broken. You can use this to your advantage. There is one little trick that's fairly hard to counter. Go around the corner/asteroid/whatever and employ backwards trust. This usually results in enemy flying over your position and in front of you. You are now the one who has a free target practice. The chances are you'll return all the damage he did to you while he chased you plus some more. Of course this doesn't always work. The upside is that enemy can't really do much about it. If you don't do it all the time there is an uncertainity if you will or if you will not do it. He can either slow down but risk you getting away in case you didn't try this feint or if he keeps chasing you full speed he risks falling into this trap.
That's all for now, might add information later on. Good luck!
I have been playing CQC for the last month and I would like to share some insights with new players as to make their entry into CQC easier. I do not claim to be an expert or best pilot, there are way better ones. Also, there might be some tricks I am not aware of. I hope that after reading this players will realize why they got steamrolled and instead of losing constantly they might get a shot and score some kills. In turn this might lead to people staying in CQC and having pleasure playing it. Let's start:
You are outgunned
Your PIPs are wrongly assigned. In case the enemy is in front of you and wants to trade shots your PIPs in engines are wasted. How much? Let me see... Your default 2 PIPs in shields supposedly translate to 9% increased shield strength. 2 PIPs in weapon mean you’ll run out of weapon power quite soon. If you were against somebody with 3 in Shield (37% increased shield strength) and 3 in Weapons (he wont run out of weapon power) you’ll get hammered purely on math basis. He has more offense and more defense than you. How to counter this? Assign PIPs where needed, where they count. For example no need to have them in weapons when you want to get away. Put them to weapons and engines when in pursuit (0/4/2 or 0/3/3); shield and weapons in shootout (3/0/3 or 4/0/2), engines and shield when being chased (2/4/0 or 4/2/0 in rare circumstances 3/3/0).
You are outbuffed
Experienced players take buffs. All the time. If you are fighting one, there is a very good chance bordering with certainity that he has at least one on him. It’s hard to win if they do double your damage or absorb three times what you do. Preferably both. Learn to pick up buffs. They are very important to success.
Weapons: You do double damage or so. Favorite one.
Stealth: You disappear from radar. You'll probably start a fight with huge positional advantage, most players won't be able to fight you effectively unless you reveal your position to them by firing on them. Favourite combo is Weapons + Stealth. You’ll get wrecked in seconds without having a clue where it came from.
Shields: Better than a poke in the eye.
Speed: Short and very circumstantial. Weakest of them all. Has its uses mostly in ice asteroid field, Capture the Flag and getting to a another - more valuable buff earlier. And escaping, of course.
Get to know the map, especially buffs. There is always one weapon powerup. Learn its location. Try to pick it up as often as possible.
You are outmaneuvred
There are three reasons for this. Your manoeuvres are not optimal. Try to stay in blue speed zone for optimal turn rates. You don't have enough PIPs in engines. Enemy is using Flight assisst off and you are not.
Learn at least basic maneuvres in Flight assist off. Turn FA off, go forward, pitch upwards and use lateral thruster. Furthermore if you manage to stay in blue zone the effect will be way stronger. OR (and this is risky) change to backwards, pitch up and lower thrusters. Experiment with it. You don't need to learn fly with FA off perfectly. A few tricks will take you 80% of the way. Just learn enough to counter most FA off pilots. Or at least do as much damage on them as possible before you die. ;-)
Learn to read radar. Radar tells you where around you enemies are and if they flash yellow in DM it means YOU are under attack. IT will also tell you where the shoot at you from, relative to you. In TDM it means somebody is shooting or being shot at. You can tell at glance if you need to run or gun.
You are using the wrong ship
Out of the four ships there are three types
You have tanky sidewinder. You can take a lot of punishment, your dps is decent but you'll get outmanoeuvred very easily. Experienced pilots wil go FA off and circle around you while laughing at you. By flying this ship you get a false sense of security. You are a sitting duck. Upside is that most people will leave you because they couldn't be bothered to waste time killing you. Sidewinder is very good in Capture the Flag for carrying the flag for example.
Eagle. I would call this the most offensive ship. You'll get outmanoeuvred by Eagle and Condor but your dps is insane. Everything would be okay except you don't have chaff. Silent running is almost useless against experienced players. Eagle is big, easy to spot, easy to hit. So in the stealth you are a sitting duck (slowly cooking itself inside out). While it might be viable to fly this ship, nobody does so and I wasn't able to master it myself.
Imperial and Condor. The only two ships you'll probably fly. Fast, manouevrable. Take chaff. There are some differences between them but you should try them and decide which suits you better.
Chaff vs silent running
Silent running has been in my experience pretty much useless. Chaff gives you a very good defense for a short while, but the short while is usually enough to tip the fight in your balance. There might be uses for silent running.
Heat sink. Tried this, don’t like it. In my opinion this should be a default extra on eagle to make it the bird of pray. Silently creeping on enemy and then unleashing devastating attack from stealth. Things are not like this now. Try and if'll have success let me know.
Human factor
Learn times when people play. As of now the best time seems to be UTC 20:00. This may change over time and there may be several player spikes depending on timezones. Get virtual friends. This will ensure that you'll know when people are online and you'll be able to get into matches. There is a HUGE difference between logging in alone at random times vs logging in when you know there are six other people going to play CQC. Besides being shot down by a friend hurts less than being trained by some stranger over and over. And might get to TDM and CQC too.
One escape trick
This is a simple trick I use quite often. In CQC you dissappear off the radar when the line of sight is broken. You can use this to your advantage. There is one little trick that's fairly hard to counter. Go around the corner/asteroid/whatever and employ backwards trust. This usually results in enemy flying over your position and in front of you. You are now the one who has a free target practice. The chances are you'll return all the damage he did to you while he chased you plus some more. Of course this doesn't always work.
The upside is that enemy can't really do much about it. If you don't do it all the time there is an uncertainity if you will or if you will not do it. He can either slow down but risk you getting away in case you didn't try this feint or if he keeps chasing you full speed he risks falling into this trap.That's all for now, might add information later on. Good luck!
