D3D doesn't strike me as any more difficult than earlier versions of FFE.
If you come up against someone with a plasma accelerator, pause the game, lock a missile onto them, un-pause the game and fire the missile. Buys you a few precious seconds
The FFED3D Thread
- Thread starter Steve O B Have
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If you come up against someone with a plasma accelerator, pause the game, lock a missile onto them, un-pause the game and fire the missile. Buys you a few precious seconds
I don't think D3D is easier...I actually think that the first time I played years ago I went straight into battle, with the initial ship, which is why I *never* lasted long. Now I've traded up to get several million credits and a tough ship I can at least survive the gnats who sting me.
As for the ship that killed me the other day, as I said, I looked at the scanner and then was dead. Didn't see it or the laser fire. And pausing the game to take a quick look might be something, but a little ungamely really. I'd rather just not play.
As for the ship that killed me the other day, as I said, I looked at the scanner and then was dead. Didn't see it or the laser fire. And pausing the game to take a quick look might be something, but a little ungamely really. I'd rather just not play.
Good luck. Engines-off is the mode of choice for any job requiring precision and swift reactions anyway, it may make planetary landings difficult though - you may consider using nic mod which, among other things, binds backspace (IIRC) to setting desired velocity to 0, so you can get in on full manual, then switch to normal manual, zero your velocity and descend softly, rather than by firing your ventral thrusters in short frantic bursts while trying to limit the drift an not exceed maximum landing speed.
That sounds like it has potential. Reverse thrust is only really necessary when I'm trying to set for a landing - Autopilot handles everything in space. Where is this mod available from? Is it D3D compatible?
I'm desperate to play this game properly again - I've just downloaded the new model of the Turner Class - I am desperate to wield that ship...
Typicaly, I'm attacked by harriers, gyrs and kestrels. I pause the game as soon as I hear the siren and take a look around. Nothing seems out of the ordinary except that they are all a good shot. All 3 or 4 lasers hit at the same time and it's over. All lasers are red. Never seen a green laser. Later today I'm going to check out GLFFE and JJFFE just to compare. The saves are compatible so it shouldn't too much bother.
Capt Zap
Capt Zap
Red lasers are just 1MW Pulse or Beam lasers, pea shooters really.
I can't recall seeing an AI ship with a Thargoid laser. Fortunately
Well, in JJFFE and it's derivatives everything you can do in manual mode can be performed in engines-off mode, thanks to numpad giving direct control over all the thrusters. Manual mode is there mostly for convenience.
Here and no - if you're using D3D port, you'll just have to stick with autopilot and engines off - might be bothersome, but not really limiting.
Red lasers are just 1MW Pulse or Beam lasers, pea shooters really.
I can't recall seeing an AI ship with a Thargoid laser. Fortunately
The only way I can think you would see the Thargoid Lasers would be to attack one of there ships on the Mycoid missions.
The pirates just have beam lasers. Nothing more. And unfortunatly it is just as difficult on all other versions of FFE. They are simply a hell of a shot! I still refuse to believe that it was so hard a few years back. I also cant accept that I'm just too old. So, after eliminating all other possibilities, it leaves just one answer. It must be vista.
Capt Zap
Edit - Maybe not as silly as I thought. Just out of curiosity I set compatibility mode to Windows 98/ME. I survived about 5 fights each with 3 or 4 pirates. I was in a Cobra MKIII with a 1mw beam laser and just 5 sheilds. I could have just got lucky I suppose but I doubt it. But then, I don't see why vista would make the pirates better at combat.
Capt Zap
Edit - Maybe not as silly as I thought. Just out of curiosity I set compatibility mode to Windows 98/ME. I survived about 5 fights each with 3 or 4 pirates. I was in a Cobra MKIII with a 1mw beam laser and just 5 sheilds. I could have just got lucky I suppose but I doubt it. But then, I don't see why vista would make the pirates better at combat.
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I gave it another go today. Upgraded to a Panther Clipper with 300 shields and went scouting for trouble. I did the "Pause to have a look around" thing each time an attack happened, and it was usually either groups of a few Geckos or Sidewinders or Viper Mk2s or Harriers or Eagles. No problem...they didn't even get through 5% of my shields. Occasionally an Asp or Cobra Mk3 was there, sometimes a Spar, but again, no problem.
Then one time, while paused and hunting for the opponent I spotted a Lanner Mk2 right next to me. 2.00 shields, no bounty, but I unpaused and before I knew it he was through all my shields, and it was partly luck that I dusted him with a 4MW beam from my turret and only a few % of damage to my hull, (which my Auto-Repair system sorted.)
Still, after an hour or two of gaming I didn't die once, (apart from the time I messed around and attacked a space station!), and I went from Below Average to Above Average. So I *can* survive, but I wouldn't dare try a big fight with less than several hundred shields!
Really should investigate some of the special missions...haven't done any yet!
Then one time, while paused and hunting for the opponent I spotted a Lanner Mk2 right next to me. 2.00 shields, no bounty, but I unpaused and before I knew it he was through all my shields, and it was partly luck that I dusted him with a 4MW beam from my turret and only a few % of damage to my hull, (which my Auto-Repair system sorted.)
Still, after an hour or two of gaming I didn't die once, (apart from the time I messed around and attacked a space station!), and I went from Below Average to Above Average. So I *can* survive, but I wouldn't dare try a big fight with less than several hundred shields!
Really should investigate some of the special missions...haven't done any yet!
I only had such problems back when I was beginning to play FFE. Sure, back then it seemed that any sort of reaction to the attack was impossible, because not even a second passed between alarm sounding and the destruction of my ship, but now, after I've learned to respond to the attacks, the challenge level seems reasonable, even if the game still isn't very forgiving.
Glad to hear it!
It's funny how people here have complained about being set upon by several enemy ships at the same time. When the attack warning goes off, don't sit there looking at them; hit the third Stardreamer setting. It will only operate for a split second but it's enough to break the groups into single attack ships. You can then pick each one off at your leisure
Not cheat, but a slight "feature misuse" perhaps...like in FE2, speeding towards a space station at several thousand kms and having Stardreaming miraculously slow you down in an instant.
However, using such a feature to overcome what's really a flaw in the game is acceptable in my book. I mean, even with maximum stardreamer, it should still bring you back to normal time-speed when your enemies are a good 10 or 20 km away, not half a km and already firing on you and launching missles at you. (One time I came out of Stardreamer, paused to look around and a vessel was so close to my port-side, (is that the left?), that it almost took up my the entire screen!!
However, using such a feature to overcome what's really a flaw in the game is acceptable in my book. I mean, even with maximum stardreamer, it should still bring you back to normal time-speed when your enemies are a good 10 or 20 km away, not half a km and already firing on you and launching missles at you. (One time I came out of Stardreamer, paused to look around and a vessel was so close to my port-side, (is that the left?), that it almost took up my the entire screen!!
Weird things in FFED3D
Have noticed a few odd things in FFED3D, and wondered if it was normal, or just me;
1) Collision detection between a very near enemy ship and my lasers is questionable. I still need to shoot right at the middle of the laser sight, even though my enemy might be so close he's taking up a good quarter of my screen.
2) Scanner vertical measurements seem to disappear to zero when a vessel is directly above or below me. Let's say something's directly behind me, and I pull up. On my scanner the object will appear to rise up out of the scanner, but then as it moves towards being directly above the centre of my scanner, i.e. directly above me, the vertical bar shrinks to nothing. As I continue to pull up the object then rises again above the scanner, then back down to the level plane when the vessel is directly infront.
3) Hyperspace Cloud graphics don't work properly. The cloud will always appear in the foreground, even if there's an object between me and the cloud.
4) Asteroid graphics don't work properly. As an asteroid spins round it goes from solid to invisible, back to solid again.
5) Spurious sounds in maximum StarDreamer. When flying towards a destination I often hear collision sounds, followed by the sound of my under-carriage going down and up. One time, when entering van Maanens Star without a permit, I paid my $4000 fine and then headed towards a port, then in StarDreamer I was rudely awakened by a loud and constant sound of my hull being devastated by something. The sound continued through a few Viper Mk2 attacks, and I got so annoyed I just gave up and reloaded the previous save.
Those are the only common glitches I can think of at the moment. Had a weird one yesterday when I was approaching a space station at max StarDreamer. Came back to normal speed and had a "CLEARANCE DENIED" message, but I could hear something colliding with me. Checked I wasn't too near the space station, then switching to external view I saw a Constrictor, just floating there in space, half a km away. After about 20 seconds the Constrictor fired up his engines and started flying back and forth and back and forth. Perhaps he was trying to dock too. Was odd.
Have noticed a few odd things in FFED3D, and wondered if it was normal, or just me;
1) Collision detection between a very near enemy ship and my lasers is questionable. I still need to shoot right at the middle of the laser sight, even though my enemy might be so close he's taking up a good quarter of my screen.
2) Scanner vertical measurements seem to disappear to zero when a vessel is directly above or below me. Let's say something's directly behind me, and I pull up. On my scanner the object will appear to rise up out of the scanner, but then as it moves towards being directly above the centre of my scanner, i.e. directly above me, the vertical bar shrinks to nothing. As I continue to pull up the object then rises again above the scanner, then back down to the level plane when the vessel is directly infront.
3) Hyperspace Cloud graphics don't work properly. The cloud will always appear in the foreground, even if there's an object between me and the cloud.
4) Asteroid graphics don't work properly. As an asteroid spins round it goes from solid to invisible, back to solid again.
5) Spurious sounds in maximum StarDreamer. When flying towards a destination I often hear collision sounds, followed by the sound of my under-carriage going down and up. One time, when entering van Maanens Star without a permit, I paid my $4000 fine and then headed towards a port, then in StarDreamer I was rudely awakened by a loud and constant sound of my hull being devastated by something. The sound continued through a few Viper Mk2 attacks, and I got so annoyed I just gave up and reloaded the previous save.
Those are the only common glitches I can think of at the moment. Had a weird one yesterday when I was approaching a space station at max StarDreamer. Came back to normal speed and had a "CLEARANCE DENIED" message, but I could hear something colliding with me. Checked I wasn't too near the space station, then switching to external view I saw a Constrictor, just floating there in space, half a km away. After about 20 seconds the Constrictor fired up his engines and started flying back and forth and back and forth. Perhaps he was trying to dock too. Was odd.
FFE D3D is by no means the finished article; think of it as being in the "Beta" stage.
A new patch will hopefully be released soon. Due to my non-existent understanding of Russian - and BabelFish's bizarre translations - I'm unable to say whether the bugs you describe will be fixed though.
I seem to recall point 5 happening in other versions of FFE.
A new patch will hopefully be released soon. Due to my non-existent understanding of Russian - and BabelFish's bizarre translations - I'm unable to say whether the bugs you describe will be fixed though.
I seem to recall point 5 happening in other versions of FFE.
Oh yes, but it's quite jerky, even with the sensitivity turned right down in Windows. (Is it just that the Asp is highly manouverable?) I've had a few good hits from extremely close-quarters, as the enemy's turning to fly away, but it's usually been down to luck.
I think I just need to practice...or perhaps work myself up to a much bigger ship than the Asp, where I can load up with 60 or 70 Shield Generators and a Hull Auto-Repair System and a couple of turret-mounted Plasma Accelerators...then I won't worry about getting into a skirmish
Asp is highly manouverable... probably one of the best larger size combat craft there is (the best smaller size is probably vipers of both series). The bigger the ship is, the less desirable it is for combat from my experience. True u can't be killed, however you also will encounter a lot more hostiles in transit to destination because you are slow, which is undesirable if your game is trade/smuggle.
I think the trick is you will always have to accelerate and weave upon the first contact to avoid being train on by laser fire (unless you massively outclass the other ship(s) ) and close as fast as possible, then retro-thrust hard and accelerate to chase their tail and hunt them down. When u close to have to be ready for missiles and keep your finger quick on the ECM.
If it is multiple enemies you might have to attempt to fend them off by tagging multiples with laser fire and alternate targets, force them dodge.
I agree with you, with one exception - if you encounter PA equipped IE, or even IC with 20MW beam, chances are you'll die screaming even in Panther filled to the brim with shields.
A large fighter, on the other hand, like Asp with >8 shields, will dodge beams from such weapons easily, while being able to take some grazing hits from lesser beams. It is, at the same time, among the fastest and most manoeuvrable ships, so only smallest fighters are able to outpace it.
My ideal combat configuration for Asp is 5-30MW pulse on bow mount, and 1MW beam on the aft. The former is main attack weapon, having high damage-weight ratio (so it packs a punch, but takes little space - 30MW pulse has more hitting power than 4MW beam, but is 10t lighter, similarly, 5MW pulse is 2t lighter than 1MW) and, due to the pulsed nature of the beam, not requiring the pilot to keep their target in their cross-hair to do damage, so you can perform evasive manoeuvres while still doing maximum possible damage per unit of time.
The latter is mostly a 'pesticide'/deterrent - allowing you to hit small and troublesome fighters (annoying pests, hence 'pesticide') while accelerating away from them and forcing them to use most of their thrust to keep up with you, which renders them easy targets; and deterring pursuers if you have to make quick escape, like during photographic missions.
That would be it. Accelerating towards the target and slightly to the side tends to do the trick, then you just have to stick to their six and don't let go.
Good tactics.
So in an Asp you're saying you can pretty much fly around and evade the beam from an attacking ship? Do you use the ENTER/SHIFT thrusters, or the keypad ones?
I know my Panther's very slow, and big, so is bound to take a lot of hits. And yes DraQ, my first encounter with an Imperial Explorer (I think it was...the biggest one anyway) ended with me having only 48% hull left...and I didn't even see him fire at me, even though he was in my sights. (As soon as he appeared I rotated my turret and he was half a kilometer away!!) I'm sure he fired a missile, which hit before I could activate my ECM...could he have fired a nuke to wipe out my 300 shields and half my hull in one hit?!
I know my Panther's very slow, and big, so is bound to take a lot of hits. And yes DraQ, my first encounter with an Imperial Explorer (I think it was...the biggest one anyway) ended with me having only 48% hull left...and I didn't even see him fire at me, even though he was in my sights. (As soon as he appeared I rotated my turret and he was half a kilometer away!!) I'm sure he fired a missile, which hit before I could activate my ECM...could he have fired a nuke to wipe out my 300 shields and half my hull in one hit?!
Yes. The problem is that you can't really afford getting hit by larger (20MW+) weapons (a grazing hit from IC's 20MW was sufficient to burn through my shields, vaporize half of the hull and strip both lateral thrusters off my Asp once); even when facing enemies armed with weaker lasers, your shields won't last long - they are there to protect your ship from an odd hit from a missile or laser, not to allow you to sit there and soak damage, so expect to die a lot at the beginning.
Still, a skilled commander flying a well equipped Asp has little to fear even in the most notorious anarchies, while an equally skilled commander flying a Panther-turned-pocket-dreadnought will probably develop elevated religiousness as well as several new tics each time they see an IE.
Numpad is vastly preferable, but if for some reason it doesn't work for you, ENTER/SHIFT should be sufficient.
Probably a grazing hit from PA.I know my Panther's very slow, and big, so is bound to take a lot of hits. And yes DraQ, my first encounter with an Imperial Explorer (I think it was...the biggest one anyway) ended with me having only 48% hull left...and I didn't even see him fire at me, even though he was in my sights. (As soon as he appeared I rotated my turret and he was half a kilometer away!!) I'm sure he fired a missile, which hit before I could activate my ECM...could he have fired a nuke to wipe out my 300 shields and half my hull in one hit?!
The heaviest missiles on the market (MV2) won't penetrate 14 shields, let alone 300, even thargoid missiles will only penetrate 16.
NN500 missiles, which are basically your only worry if you have NECM can be stopped by 7.