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General FreeSpace => FreeSpace Discussion => Topic started by: Vrets on January 02, 2012, 05:30:11 pm

Title: The Mara Backhand
Post by: Vrets on January 02, 2012, 05:30:11 pm
Maras collide with me at an undue frequency; I think this is because the Mara tries to move like a Scorpion, but is too bloated to pull off that kind of action, and just ends up hitting me in the face. It's funny because from the top/bottom profile (most common collision angle, as it glides right into me) it looks like a giant, evil hand slapping my fighter.
Title: Re: The Mara Backhand
Post by: NGTM-1R on January 02, 2012, 06:36:06 pm
I have honestly never collided with a Shivan fighter. Which, looking back, is more than a little shocking.
Title: Re: The Mara Backhand
Post by: Mongoose on January 02, 2012, 06:46:15 pm
I know I've flat-out killed a Shivan fighter by running into one, though I don't remember which. :D
Title: Re: The Mara Backhand
Post by: headdie on January 02, 2012, 07:40:01 pm
Plenty of collisions here with shivan fast movers, it boils down to the FS collision avoidance in the AI which is abysmal at times, but without an AI coder willing to tackle the tangled mess that is the AI code it is one that will stay for a while yet
Title: Re: The Mara Backhand
Post by: Klaustrophobia on January 02, 2012, 09:29:22 pm
when i played retail, i just assumed ramming was part of the shivans' dogfighting tactics. 


ok, that's not really true.  even at age 12 i could tell it was bad AI. :P  i've never seen that 'backhand' thing though, i've always been hit head-on.  if i ever hit the side of something, it's because i was the one getting overexcited with the afterburner (tapping the afterburner was pretty much my method of throttle adjustment back then)
Title: Re: The Mara Backhand
Post by: Thaeris on January 02, 2012, 09:31:26 pm
I know I've flat-out killed a Shivan fighter by running into one, though I don't remember which. :D

Dragons I presume?
Title: Re: The Mara Backhand
Post by: Black Wolf on January 02, 2012, 09:48:48 pm
If you're in a heavy fighter taking on lighter ones, ramming them and then slamming tempests into them during the 2 or 3 seconds of confusion is a perfectly valid strategy. :)
Title: Re: The Mara Backhand
Post by: MatthTheGeek on January 03, 2012, 12:54:05 am
(tapping the afterburner was pretty much my method of throttle adjustment back then)
...wait, there are other methods of throttle adjustment ? :p
Title: Re: The Mara Backhand
Post by: Klaustrophobia on January 03, 2012, 02:27:56 am
i've since added full kill of the throttle to the mix.  intermediate throttle levels permitted when escorting unthreatened ships.\

seriously though, whatever button is assigned to AB on my stick gets worn out pretty quick.  my cyborg no longer has an up position on the POV hat, and my thumb button is dwindling on my x45.
Title: Re: The Mara Backhand
Post by: BritishShivans on January 03, 2012, 05:12:44 am
I dunno bout you guys, but there's always been Suicide Vasudans and Suicide Shivans in my copies of FS1 and FS2, and even with FSOpen I get the occasional suicide Vasudan.  :shaking:

Seriously, anytime there was enemy Vasudans in a mission, if they were in anubises, they ALWAYS tried to ram me. The same thing applied to SF Scorpions and SF Basilisks before I started using FSOpen, and even so, I got the same Mara Backhand as Vrets did. I actually thought of calling it the Mara Pimpslap :P
Title: Re: The Mara Backhand
Post by: LunarNightmare on January 03, 2012, 05:36:52 am
Maras always want to give me high fives, so i'm a nice person and reply with a wall of Tempests.
Title: Re: The Mara Backhand
Post by: redsniper on January 03, 2012, 08:47:07 am
I once rammed a Dragon out of frustration and killed it. Fun stuff.
Title: Re: The Mara Backhand
Post by: Klaustrophobia on January 03, 2012, 03:46:24 pm
i've tried to ram dragons, but i can't ever catch the little bastards. 
Title: Re: The Mara Backhand
Post by: Thaeris on January 03, 2012, 04:57:12 pm
Oh, you won't catch them, they'll catch you. And possibly explode in the process. :p

^Some of the memorable experiences from "Mystery of the Trinity."
Title: Re: The Mara Backhand
Post by: Marcov on January 05, 2012, 09:39:49 am
Aren't the Shivans especially good at getting themselves slapped by the Aquitaine's massive flak turrets?
Title: Re: The Mara Backhand
Post by: X3N0-Life-Form on January 06, 2012, 03:43:51 am
Well, they're especially good at getting themselves spashed against its hull. I've never seen them getting slapped by the turrets themselves, but that doesn't seen very far fetched ^^
Title: Re: The Mara Backhand
Post by: BritishShivans on January 06, 2012, 11:57:58 am
I had these SB Nahemas get *****slapped by the Aquitaine's flak turrets once, during the Pegasus test mission if IIRC.

It was funny, because they were just derping around colliding with the Aquitaine's hull constantly, and then all of a sudden they all flew into a separate flak turret and get *****slapped by the turrets as they turn to fire on the Nahemas. They lost their shields and half their armor too, so I politely obliged them to a burst of Prometheus S fire and got three extra kills to my twenty I already had.
Title: Re: The Mara Backhand
Post by: Nohiki on January 06, 2012, 06:07:37 pm
No collision with a fighter, but ramming your gunpoints past it's shields is one of my favorite tactics against the Seraphim :D
Title: Re: The Mara Backhand
Post by: Asteroth on January 08, 2012, 12:28:31 am
No collision with a fighter, but ramming your gunpoints past it's shields is one of my favorite tactics against the Seraphim :D
I've always wondered this, but I never really paid enough attention to see if it did. Going inside their shields bypasses them?
Title: Re: The Mara Backhand
Post by: Droid803 on January 08, 2012, 12:43:21 pm
No collision with a fighter, but ramming your gunpoints past it's shields is one of my favorite tactics against the Seraphim :D
I've always wondered this, but I never really paid enough attention to see if it did. Going inside their shields bypasses them?

Yep.
Title: Re: The Mara Backhand
Post by: deathfun on January 08, 2012, 01:59:53 pm
I once rammed a Deimos
It died from my audacity to trifle with it
(Oh fine, I timed the kill cheat to the exact moment I rammed into it)
Title: Re: The Mara Backhand
Post by: NGTM-1R on January 09, 2012, 12:11:14 pm
I once rammed a Deimos
It died from my audacity to trifle with it
(Oh fine, I timed the kill cheat to the exact moment I rammed into it)

I legitimately killed an Aten by ramming it once.

(Then it shockwaved and I died.)