Too Comfortable Controls?

[Sir_Brizz]

So I've been using the same controls now for about a year and a half or so on my n52 and I think I'm just way too incredibly comfortable with them. Part of what made me feel good before was that I had to do a little bit of thinking to pull out the weapon I wanted to use, but I feel like I'm trapped into set patterns of pulling out weapons now rather than what I want. I've bound to esdf with the nostromo and have all sort of keys but I seem to just be missing thye mark on skill as far as I wanted. So here's some questions:

1) Does anyone feel the same (too comfortable with their controls and stuck in patterns)?

2) How do I get better at getting hits with the Flak/Rox? I seem to miss all the time even when I know I'm aiming at the right place... Newnet's fault?

3) How often do you change your control scheme?

[ThirtySixBelow]

The only problem I have with my controls, is that i'm used to switching from lg to flak and shock, that i do it too fast sometimes and so I won't shoot my weapon and then I will switch to my other weapon wasting precious time. If I changed my settings I wouldn't miss them because I would have to pause to think of where the flak is. I would rather try make a concious effort to fix this rather than change all of my controls though.

[T2A`]

1) Occasionally, but I often feel uncomfortable with them. Often I'll get in this mode of assuming I have a certain weapon, and when I hit the button and nothing comes out my brain doesn't know what to do and I end up doing nothing and dying before I realize I need to switch to another weapon. Oh, yeah. I also do what -36 does a lot. I guess my brain is in UT2003 mode when I play or something, because I switch weapons before I pop a shot off quite a bit.

2) You're not aiming right, then. Adjust your whole view on where you're shooting and see if that helps. For instance, if you like shooting in front of people's feet, try shooting behind them. The only thing newnet does with projectiles is push them forward a bit when they spawn to adjust for your ping. If you're leading too much, tone it down a bit.

3) I change a couple keys for binds and stuff quite often, but my main control scheme never changes (WASD for life!). I did just rearrange my weapons a bit, though, since I got a G5 and it only has one thumb button, where I used both on my MX510 for weapons. If you want to make things less comfortable, just move around your weapon binds a little. I still hit R for mini when I need to hit X occasionally, as R is rox now because that was the front thumb button on my MX510.

[DaBeatard]

1) I know what you mean by feeling too comfortable with the n52. I felt the same so I ditched it and went back to the keyboard, and I don't regret it at all. Now my problem is finding a comfortable position for the keyboard to be in.

2) Whore them. It will piss people off, but you'll become more accurate.

3) Every year or so I'll make a hardware change that will require some set up changes. Other than that, once I have a setup I'm comfortable with I stick with it.

[Renegade Retard]

2) As you know, I use flak and rox a lot. The thing I do with these is to try to force the opponent out of his comfort zone and make him move where I want him to go. For example, I'll fire the first rox/flak towards his left side. Normally, his reaction is going to be to dodge right, away from my first shot. This is exactly what I've planned for him to do and I'm already lined up with my second shot to try to hit where he lands. If he doesn't move where I want him to, I'll reposition myself and attempt again. Note that the initial shot is still close enough to do damage.

If there's a wall nearby, I usually try to force them to move towards the wall, using the same practice as above. If I can get him near the wall, I can sometimes get him in the air. This leads to "juggling" your opponent, which again is predictable. Also, with the wall, you get more splash effect damage.

Again, IMO, splash is all about forcing an opponent to move in a more predictable manner. Where many people make the mistake is, when learning to do this, they themselves become to predictable, often moving very little or in a predictable manner. To play like this, you must move a lot, and in a very unpredictable manner. What's the drawback of that? You have to have quick mouse movements, which don't really work well with low sensitivity. A few months back, I was working to get better with my hitscan, so I kept turning down my sensitivity. My hitscan improved quite a bit, but my overall production was getting worse. I realized that I had lost my "strength" - splash. I've since turned my sensitivity back up, and I'm working on getting my strength of splash damage back. Anyone who's played with me lately realizes that I've been focusing on it a lot.

(Side Note: I firmly believe that some people are just more suited to a specific playing style, whether it be hitscan, splash, etc. Not everyone can be a hitscan whore, but everyone can be very good at what they do best.)

I had another point to make, but I haven't taken my Geritol today, and I can't remember what it was....

[T2A`]

^ He did that "make opponent jump into the wall" thing on me last night on Betrayal. That was doubled by the fact that I suck at running backwards, so I got stuck on my own trying to jump out a window, and then he forced me into the corner and I got flakked in the face.

[Sir_Brizz]

I'd love to do some Splash damage training... although I'm not sure how such a course would be run.

I used to be really good with rockets and flak. It seems like it's been since newnet came out that it's suffered both with newnet on and off. I find that I'm able to predict where people are going and see their movements, but as soon as I try to make a projectile intersect with where I see them going it's either ahead or behind and they have changed their direction or I have missed. The reason it bugs me so much is it seems like other people can shoot a rocket down a mile long hallway and manage to hit me in the face but I have a hard time hitting them when they are standing still right in front of me.

[Renegade Retard]

Brizz, hit me up sometime and we'll jump on a server and practice it.

[Sir_Brizz]

That would be great!

[-AEnubis-]

Damn ren, that doesn't sound retarded at all.

I think I'm gonna drop by and spec next time I see you on vipers. Apparently, playing with Ci had done you much good

Pretty much though, that is the best advice you can give for any weapon. Whore it. Whore it until your comfy with it, then try to incorporate it evenly into your game. The tricky part is not over doing it, and losing the weapons you are currently good with. Like my weak weapon right now is easily goo. I used to be damn decent with it, but I guess I've been focusing too much on link and SG, and really pushing my rockets when range approprate for goo.

I havent' changed from ESDF since Tribes. I've tweaked certain things, and about to do the same now, but just small stuff.

T2A: Do you use any piped switches at all?

[dc]

Originally Posted by Sir_Brizz

1) Does anyone feel the same (too comfortable with their controls and stuck in patterns)?

Yes.

Originally Posted by Sir_Brizz

2) How do I get better at getting hits with the Flak/Rox? I seem to miss all the time even when I know I'm aiming at the right place... Newnet's fault?

Don't know what to say about this. It could be newnet, and it could just be you. It happens to me though..just depends on how I'm playing that day.

Originally Posted by Sir_Brizz

3) How often do you change your control scheme?

I've changed 2 things since UT2003 iirc. Put shock on keyboard instead of piped with mini on the mouse, and added an assault rifle bind on my scroll-wheel

[JohnDoe641]

Originally Posted by Renegade Retard

(Side Note: I firmly believe that some people are just more suited to a specific playing style, whether it be hitscan, splash, etc. Not everyone can be a hitscan whore, but everyone can be very good at what they do best.)

I find that too be a well rounded player, you should be good at both splash and hitscan and have a good sense of near and far. I'm still as good with splash damage weapons as I should be, the same goes with hitscan. I still working on it though.

[ALG]

I used to be bad at hitscan compared to close range weapons. Now I am bad at close range compared to hitscan weapons.

[Capt.Toilet]

I remember in 2k3 i was crapping out on pretty much all the weapons. Lately though my flak skill has greatly improved and that makes me a happy panda Now i just need to work on projectiles and hitscan.

As for playing style, i used to use the good ole arrow keys for movement until around mid '05, then i started using WASD. I havent budged since.

[Sir_Brizz]

This isn't a newnet complaint.

However, upon turning newnet off in UTcomp the game just feels so much better and I can actually hit people with projectiles now.

[-AEnubis-]

Just doing it client side?

Though I think my problem with it was more on the recieving end, then the giving end... that'd be great if you could disable it both ways, lol.

[Taleweaver]

Originally Posted by Sir_Brizz

1) Does anyone feel the same (too comfortable with their controls and stuck in patterns)?

I don't understand the problem. Being comfortable with something is a good thing. Granted, it can lead to a situation where you rely too much on certain weapons. In that case, you've got to change your setup...make sure you have one that allows for all weapon access within touching distance.

Originally Posted by Sir_Brizz

2) How do I get better at getting hits with the Flak/Rox? I seem to miss all the time even when I know I'm aiming at the right place... Newnet's fault?

I don't think Newnet changes as much for the explosive weapons as it does on the hitscan. As a result, hitscan weapons will be a much better choice. Some of you might recall my playing style from the pre-newnet FragBU's: I never bothered to use the LG, because it would never hit. It wasn't until it was added that I've become better with these weapons. The fact that I turned off windows mouse acceleration and began practicing with AM's target practice mutator also influenced this style.

Originally Posted by Sir_Brizz

3) How often do you change your control scheme?

I used to change it almost weekly. I've probably tried about every bind, setting and idea. When I finally got a setup that didn't had any weak spots, I sticked by it...that's about 6-9 months ago.

[Sir_Brizz]

Originally Posted by -AEnubis-

Just doing it client side?

Though I think my problem with it was more on the recieving end, then the giving end... that'd be great if you could disable it both ways, lol.

I simply turned it off client side. The nice thing is that everything is rendered on your screen correctly so you see people where you should see them instead of where newnet is trying to project them (or as limited by your ping). It took some getting used to, but my projectile accuracy went WAY up with it turned off and my hitscan is still as good as it ever was before we added newnet because I can actualy adjust based on what I see now instead of just relying on the stupid crosshair.

An intermediate solution may just be figuring out the command that diables newnet and adding it to all of the projectile weapon binds, although I found that in most cases having newnet off even helped with minigun accuracy and the like.

Also, it felt way different having it off on the [Ci] server than it did on Vipers. I assume because the tickrates are different. On the [Ci] server I had tons of invisible projectiles and crap on my end (not really from who I was playing).

[T2A`]

Uhh, so now newnet changes player positions as well? Or are you just making up more stuff to fit your argument?

[Sir_Brizz]

Originally Posted by Turns2Ashes

Uhh, so now newnet changes player positions as well? Or are you just making up more stuff to fit your argument?

That wasn't what I was saying. It's pretty common knowledge that the area within which you can hit a person is different in newnet than the standard netcode.