Tips for XvT/BoP
Strategy & Tactics
by Scott
(A'Kula) Schimmels
(continued)
Targeting:
Targeting has grown in importance over each of the three X-Wing games. In XvT, targeting is a skill that shouldn't be underestimated. This is mainly because of the large scale use of advanced missiles by capital ships and because of the lethality of human and AI opponents. You can't just cycle through your targeting computer anymore. A good XvT pilot should be able to use his combat display, radar and HUD effectively.
Combat Display:
Critical to your success is the ability to target an enemy quickly before he kills you. If you waste time cycling through the entire targeting list, you will be dead before you ever get to the right craft. An advanced pilot should be able to target whatever he wants to within the push of a single button. To do this, you need to know the best targeting keys to use in the right situations.
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This should be one of the keys you use most often. You use it when your HUD tells you that a fighter is targeting you, when you suddenly start taking laser hits from behind and when you get an attempted missile lock warning. If someone is attempting to lock you, the E key allows you to turn towards the attacker so you have a head start in shooting down the missile. If someone is behind you, pounding you with lasers, you use the E key to put him on your radar so you can employ evasive maneuvers and engage the attacker in a turning war. Another use includes targeting the starfighters attacking you in an enemy flight so you can concentrate on these starfighters first. This is your main defensive targeting key. | ||
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You use this key when you are not being attacked and just need to find a new starfighter to kill. It is also useful when you see a fighter close visually and you want to target it. The R key and the E key are your main starfighter targeting keys. | ||
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You can also use the space bar when you get the launchmissile warning, but I prefer this key. The reason for this is because if the missile was launched from a capital ship, you often have time to do other things before shooting down the missile. You also need this key when you need to shoot down missiles targeted at mission critical craft. | ||
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This is about as close as you get to having an R key for capital ships. It targets the nearest mission critical craft and is particularly useful for inspection missions, because it will target the nearest ship that you have not inspected yet. | ||
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I hardly use this one, but I just thought I'd mention it since few players know about it. This key allows you to target the turbo lasers of capital ships so you can destroy them with ordnance when their shields go down. The only problem with this is that you usually don't have any ordnance left when this happens or you have enough ordnance to destroy the entire ship, so rarely is this useful. But hey, if you only have enough ordnance to damage the ship but not kill it, you might as well take out its turrets while damging it. | ||
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Other human players are the greatest threat to your survival. The P key acts as an R key for enemy players. | ||
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The strategy in using memory locations is so mission dependant that I leave it up to you to figure out the most logical way to use these keys. I personally like to put a human wingman in one of my memory locations so I can find him quickly when he is in trouble. I also like to put dangerous opponents i.e. players in my memory locations. | ||
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This combination will put the enemy target list on the screen. This can be very helpful in escort missions since you can see immediately if any craft are attacking mission critical targets. |
A useful tactic in targeting is to save a member of a group of ships in one of your memory locations. This way, if you want to find all the members of that group, you can target the member you have in the memory location and then find the others by using the T key since groups tend to stay close together in the targeting list. This doesn't always work because XvT has a strange way of inserting other ships in between groups. Still, you should get in the habit of doing this, especially in escort missions.
Avoiding Capital Ship Missiles:
One of the most important skills in targeting is avoiding getting capital ship missiles fired at you. Generally, if you are six clicks away and making a bombing run, it is ok to target capital ships because the missiles take so long to get to you. Otherwise, you want to avoid this distraction. This is why it is important to use the keys detailed above rather than just cycling through the target list with the T key all the time.
When dealing with capital ships, you should only target them once when launching your ordnance from far away. If you need to fire your ordnance closer in, take advantage of the capital ships slow speed and large size and simply dumbfire the missiles. After all, they are hard targets to miss. Also, avoid the temptation of targeting the capital ship when making a strafing run..
Radar is the most important targeting system on your ship. I personally would rather lose my targeting display than my radar. A ship that loses its radar is unagressive and defenseless and you should usually consider ejecting or hyperspacing when this happens.
Radar is where turning wars are fought. You must attempt to maneuver so that your enemy is consistently in your front radar rather than your rear. If your opponent is consistently in your rear radar then you are losing the turning war.
A very important piece of information that your radar tells you is the angle of attack. This is particularly important when evading enemy missiles and closing enemy starfighters. If you can keep a missile at a poor angle of attack it will likely miss. Likewise, enemy starfighters will have a difficult time hitting you with lasers if they have a poor angle. You produce these angles by keeping the target away from the center of your radar, usually between half the radius and the edge of the radar.
One of the most ignored uses of radar is that it allows you to regain your bearings. When players lose their bearings, usually as a result of a missile hit, they make the mistake of attempting to target a capital ship so that they can right themselves again. Of course, doing this gets a missile fired at them. What you should do in this situation is to look for the largest concentration of dots on your radar and turn towards there. This is usually where a capital ship will be, allowing you to avoid the distraction of a capital ship missile.
Ok, so everybody knows how to target with the HUD, but many people are unaware of the function of the lights above the HUD. Obvious to anyone is the missile lock warning light on the far right. Less obvious and very useful is the far left light which tells you if a starfighter is targeting you. This is your que to press the E key so you can engage the attacking fighter before it gets an open attack on you. Also useful is the beam warning light which is the middle-left one. It gives you warning to use your chaff. The only useless light is on the middle-right. It informs you if you are being targeted by capital ship's turbo lasers, but you really don't need a light to tell you that since it would be obvious visually.
Using the LES:
You should know the basics of how to use the LES (the system where you set the laser, shield and beam weapon recharge settings) from the previous X-Wing games. The use of the LES has changed in XvT. This change is due to one major factor: getting the most maneuverability out of your starfighter.
Maximizing Maneuverability:
There have been a lot of rumors going around about how the LES influences the agility of a starfighter. First of all, everybody knows that putting your ship at 1/3 throttle is where your ship will be most maneuverable at that particular LES configuration. The throttle is the major factor in determining a ship's maneuverability. However, the LES configuration has an impact on agility as well, although it is much less significant. Here is the truth: The more LES energy in your engines, the faster you will turn at the same throttle setting. Also, there is no magical speed where a starfighter will be at its most agile. The factors deciding maneuverability are the percentage throttle, not the speed, and the amount of engine energy in your LES. If you don't believe me, let me just say I have conducted tests using a stop watch to confirm this.
Since the LES has considerably less influence than the throttle on agility, the difference in turning rate using different LES settings is less noticeable, but it is there. What the LES gives you is an edge over your opponents in a turning war. This introduces a whole new set of strategies in configuring the LES.
Configuring the LES:
The LES controls your speed, recharge rates and now, the new factor of agility. Keeping this new factor in mind, there are a variety of LES configurations that are best for certain situations. Here are some I tend to use:
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I only use this when I am not under attack and wan't to recharge my shields quickly. Don't use this one in a turning war. |
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Use this configuration in general combat situations. The idea behind this one is to use the surplus laser energy to recharge shields while in combat. You do lose a little in a turning war with this configuration. |
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This is probably the most popular configuration in a dogfight. Since you aren't firing all the time in a dogfight, the 3/4 charge is adequate to keep your lasers high charged. It also gives you better maneuverability than using fully charging lasers. |
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If you are already prepared to enter starfighter combat with laser banks charged to the fullest, then this is the preferred configuration. The idea is to give you an edge in a turning battle while maintaining enough laser energy to take out your opponent before your lasers become low charged. |
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The idea here is to keep your lasers at full strength, get some extra maneuverability and to occaionaly compensate for your deteriorating shields by dumping some laser energy. |
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This is to give you absolute maneuverability in a turning battle while still maintaining enough laser energy to kill your opponent. Using the same idea is the 3/4 lasers/0 shields configuration. |
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A popular configuration for using dumbfire missile tactics. It gives you the speed and the maneuverability to get behind enemy fighters while not allowing shields to deteriorate. |
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You use this configuration in several situations. If you need to get to a mission critical craft as fast as you can, use it. If you need to escape from the turbo lasers of a capital ship, this is the preferred config. Lastly, this configuration gives you the ultimate in maneuverability and is great for using dumbfire tactics in turning wars. |
Beam Weapons and LES:
According to my tests, the beam weapon recharge setting has absolutely no impact on agility. Only the shield and laser settings alter maneuverability. The beam weapon setting only changes speed and beam recharge rates. I personally keep the beam weapon on maintenance level most of the time.
Since we've discussed the concepts of targeting and energy management, the next topic to discuss is the tactics of using your cannons and ordnance.