I have some questions about the game UI etc, hopefully you guys can help me out. When in game there is no time to work some things out, ie scratch head wondering about lock-on launchers tends to get you killed. First is my eyesight! I cannot read the text over players names, and the doritos, radar markers, and aiming reticule are all too small. Is there a way to increase the size of these UI elements? Another is the array of lock on launchers, I use a lancer a lot and like it (needs some love I feel though). Whilst I can use that as a go to system, if you are on the receiving end of a good pilot (and gunning crew) it is not enough, you can't even scare them away. What is the best of the loc on launchers (for both air and ground if possible) I have some SC on my account from just after beta days, but wouldn't like to blow it all on one weapon as we all the devs... buff nerf, nerf buff. Thanks for help offered .(I may bump this thread from time to time with more question as they arise, better than spamming out new threads.... looking at you fora mods here!)
Lo, no the ui is pretty static - pretty poor for an 'improved' game. A lot of people have trouble picking things out, especially ex-ps players and especially picking out enemies. It does get better as your eyes adjust. I had no trouble at all in the end but I can clearly remember in the beginning thinking 'there's a person over there, is he friend or..... {dead}' .
About the UI: To my knowledge there is, as of yet, no way to resize UI elements in game, you might be able to resize those by messing with .ini files, but don't take my word for it. Launchers: First Lancer is not a lock-on launcher. Each empire gets 2 lock-ons (1 anti-ground, 1 anti-air)--TR's Striker has a Coyote mechanic for AA, but you have to aim very close to the aircraft (think: near miss) for the missiles to get a lock--then there is NS Annihilator that locks on to both air and ground vehicles, but you can't dumbfire it and its damage per missile is lower than that of a dedicated AA or AG launcher. I hope this helps.
As crash said ui sadly is quite static. As far as launchers go, they are not designed to allow a single heavy to go around shooting planes and tanks down. The lock-ons generally do a lot less damage then the dumbfire ones. All that said all lock-ons function pretty much the same way, though it is worth mentioning the annihilator can lock to both ground and air targets and will be unlocked for all you characters if you buy it with sc. It loses the ability to dumbfire though. The decimator (dumbfire) is the only launcher that can down an ESF with a single hit,and the default launcher will do just short of that, setting the enemy ESF on fire. Lock-ons on the other hand require 2 hits to set on fire, that means ideally you should operate with 2 other friends, or time your rockets perfectly with 1 friend and then finish it off with small arms (even the beamer does enough damage) VS ground targets the annihilator suffers more then any other RL, since even at very close range you have to lock on fully before you can fire, and you can never fire at infantry. Personally I recommend the 250 certs AA RL, since even a single heavy with it is enough to scare single ESFs away, while it still lets you fire at tanks and infantry without lock-on.
Thanks guys, clears things up a lot. That is just plain stupidity that the UI is fixed at that font and indicator size, I take that there is no chance of SOE engaging us on this topic either. Is there any recourse at all for feedback from SOE? Yes the lancer is dumbfire I understand that, I do pretty good with (for me that is!), just sometimes more damage is needed to scare away the better pilots. From what you all say there is no clear option here, and I would be better to trial some of these weapons first. (esp 250cert one Vango) Actually, a combination of launcher and lancer could be quite formidable output from a single trooper. Hit with launcher for big damage then rapid fire a clip from lancer. Not that I am insisting on the Rambo approach, it's just that in the couple of games I have played in two weeks, often I am the only trooper with av capability, much higher BR than I are firing machine guns at aircraft and tanks?!?! At least I have worked out the engies and medics that often surround me are giving me help! I wonder if some HA are wearing the spandex too tight and it is cutting off the bloodflow ! Thanks again guys, watch this space for more adventures and pondering from purple noob trooper
Indeed, small arms fire from a squad can kill an ESF (assuming people fire at the ESF from distances less than 100m, ideally less than 70m). The Lancer, for now, is a high accuracy, high speed, low damage rocket, so to speak. Ideally you will charge it to the maximum. It performs rather well, even against high speed ground units, like the Harasser. Against air, it is generally a poor choice, besides hitting slow moving aircraft, like Liberators and Galaxies. Added bonus of the Lancer is the ability to snipe enemy MAXes that run in the open. On the other hand, trying to use Lancer in close quarters or inside buildings is generally problematic. The Nemesis, the ground to air lock on rocket, is a direct upgrade from the default rocket launcher, the S1. You lose a bit of damage, situation awareness (the scope covers big part of the screen), plus it feels it goes to ADS a bit slower (from hipfire to aiming spped). On the plus side, you can use it exactly as the default rocket against ground vehicles, aka dumpfire it, and it retains the flying characteristics (the Decimator has more damage than S1, but is "heavier", thus you need to compensate for drop a lot more. The Nemesis of course can lock on aircraft. Keep in mind that two shots are needed to put an aircraft on fire (and since most of them run with fire suppression, it won't kill them). The Decimator is probably my most used rocket. It is dumpfire, so it's close range, but can one shot ESF, does heavy damage against other air and ground targets and does considerable more damage to MAXes. The Annihilator is a lock on only rocket launcher. It locks both on ground and air. Unfortunately, it can not dumpfire the rocket, so you can't use it on anything you can't lock it on, like MAXes. Of notice is the flying mechanism. Annihilator rocket uses a follow pattern against its target, while the other lock on missiles use a prediction pattern. So depending on the maneuver of the ESF, an Annihilator rocket might follow behind an obstacle, while a Nemesis rocket would hit the obstacle and vice versa. Hades is a ground vehicle lock on rocket. It can also be dumpfired. Since it can't lock on air, Nemesis is preferred due to versatility overall, with Annihilator coming second in versatility when talking about fighting against vehicles. That's pretty much all the VS and NS rocket launchers of note. If I would buy rocket launchers I would buy them in this order: Nemesis, cheapest and most versatile of the lot Lancer, shines when playing with a squad against targets at long range (at least until the PTS changes hit the live servers, then the range bonus will be nulified) Decimator, is really the ultimate dumpfire rocket and an absolute dominator in close quarter and building battles. Since however S1 covers the niche, you really should go after the Decimator when you have covered the other aspects of the HA arsenal.
Thanks for that indeed. Who would have thunk that machine guns are viable... bewildering logic, but hey that's Auraxis for you! Xas, great post, so glad I was rude to you at first Thanks (good luck with EU buddy! sad times for us working people) I have some questions about radar, but you guys have given me so much info about AV, I will have to settle this in my addled pan before I move onto that! Thanks again all <3
Flashes, Harassers, ESFs (Empire Specific air Fighters), Valkyries can be damaged by small arms (infantry) fire. Liberators, Galaxies, Lightnings, MBTs (Main Battle Tanks), Sunderers can not be damaged by small arms and need dedicated weapons for the job.
While you can't adjust the size of the text, you can adjust the colors. I have a bit of trouble seeing things because of colorblindness, so switching to very contrasting faction colors helped a lot. I choose white-ish and yellow-ish text and can read much better now. Maybe the contrast will help you out? When it comes to lock-on launchers, I would choose your factions specific Ground-to-Air launcher(look at the descriptions in game, I don't remember the names). These weapons are good because they lock on to the difficult to hit air units, but you can also dumb fire them at infantry and ground vehicles. It's also only 250 certs. The ground-to-ground launcher is kinda pointless IMO because you can't lock on air at all and the velocity of the round makes hitting air incredibly difficult in dumbfire mode when compared to other options. 250 Certs. The Annihillator is also nice since you can lock both air and ground, but you can't dumbfore making it useless against maxes and infantry. This is 1000 certs and probably could be saved for a later purchase, because ground locking isn't really as required as air locking and it's pricey.
Hehe, that didn't work out as I planned, and I learned something about PS2, a real nooby thing. It turned out two things, the Ani has a lock on range of a hand thrown boiled egg, your are well in the "I am toast" range of the aircraft. At least if I could throw said missile there might egg on toast to eat The loadouts are not under player control, I have to carry a rifle. I actually intended a loadout with two av, and just a pistol for defence against LA and cloakers (keep away from HA until air threat chased off) Ah well, at least you might get a giggle from my lack of knowledge and nooby mistake.. argg WTF again SOE.
I did alter the setting of the UI as you said, will have another go and see if I can find that combination that catches the eye. Thanks for the pointer Tomorrow I will try and demystify the FOF detection. No doubt I will mess that up in the worst way witnessed by this community, perhaps you'll all get some more giggles at my noobness
