High-ping + Lock-ons = No warning to pilots

So players using a VPN, or living in a foreign country, have a pretty cheap tactic that they've been using lately. The high ping prevents the target from knowing that he's being locked on until it's already too late, giving them no chance to escape the lock.

I could be wrong. This is based on personal observation. It seems like a plausible explanation, in light of the client-side hit detection.

This is a interesting observation and, frankly, I cant see how it can be fixed.

That is just one of the issues caused by high ping.

High ping also causes 2 people to kill each other at the same time. (not a big problem at least it evens out)
High ping causes people to die after running out of LOS. (Massive issue in PS2)
High ping causes warping of players.
High ping makes it appear players killed you in under 1 second. (I suppose this is the same thing the OP is pointing at, but it's not just lock-ons)

Basically PS2 gives an advantage to players with a high ping. Client side hit detection with no upper limit on ping is what makes having a higher ping an advantage.
The player with a higher ping or using lag on demand, gets an advantage in all the situations listed, so far in this thread.

A ping limit would fix alot of these issues, it would also make it easier for SOE to track players using lag on demand.
Or a server side check that verifies the target is still where the high ping players client says it is.

Of course the servers could never handle any of the lag fixes. They presently cannot handle 2000 players on a continent without repairing, healing, resupplying, med kits and render distance outright breaking, so adding anything more to the server load would require the continent cap to be brought down to something manageable.

If having a high ping is an advantage, all competitive players will have a high ping. That's just how gamers game.

Ever considered that this is not a 'tactic', but instead a simple side-effect of said high ping?

Lagswitching is very beneficial in this game and there is a plenty of ppl abusing it. Most obvious are pilots that fly completely smoothly as long as they have the advantage but the second they got someone on their tail, they start randomly teleporting around and go back to smooth connection when they got something in their crosshairs. Saw that quite few times.

Actually when you lag in a plane you freeze in your spot before you warp (on your screen ur still moving) so that isnt a very smart tactic

Actually such a thing would probably explain why I seem to die so quickly. Often when i'm playing - I seem to die in like 0.1 seconds after being hit with an SMG or LMG - and from the sounds, hit animation etc - it looks like I only got hit with 1 or 2 rounds when it should take 7 or 8.

One explanation could well be the lag i.e. I only start to register getting hit after 5 or 6 of the shots have already landed due to the lag - but obviously I die as soon as the 7th or 8th lands. The time I start to get hit to the time I die seems compressed in time by the lag giving me not time to respond (I play on Cobalt).

Easy fix:

Move lock-on weapons release to server side.

The person being targetted should always get a lock on warning.

Easier fix : kick anyone with more than 500ms ping.

Conversely, this is also the reason why you gain a huge advantage by rushing into a room with an enemy: you can fire at the enemy before you even render on his screen!

This is true for any game. Lag + human reaction time usually gives the attacker the edge and makes it very unprofitable to camp doors. You know when you will be rounding that corner, they don't. Hell, if you're sure of thier position you can even pre-fire.

There is actually a hack going around allowing players hit other players instantly with dumb fire rockets. Make sure you are actually hit by a rocket launcher with a lock on function and not a dumb fire rocket because it might be a hack.

This could be a bigger problem seeing as a U.S. Judge this week ruled that impersonating and IP address is illegal. If said customer were using a VPN to impersonate a U.S. IP address, this could be a violation of court rulings. Just saying...

Which wouldn't matter if they are from a foreign country as that ruling doesn't effect them.

In any case I think high ping/packet loss players should be auto-kicked.

Seems to be a bug with lock on's atm as well .. I will not explain details .. But from the user end it's possible to fire before being fully locked, whether this results in the target not getting a " lock " signal I don't know.

Yes I noticed this months ago while playing on Miller, maxed out lockon timer for A2A missiles in the ESF and the other aircrafts usually have zero reaction. Sometimes I fell victim of it as well, you don't get a lock warning and suddenly die to A2A's.

However that's extremely rare, unless there are still Chinese clans playing on Connery and Waterson.

500 is a bit generous, I'd say around 250 or so.

250 is actually really low, realistically they would probably have to leave it around 900ms

Almost one second of lag in a fps is pretty bad.

Yep, but most the people exploiting the lag will have on-demand pings higher then that.