Quick dogfight over scavs, i lose = no game: My sollution.

[Knight]

I admit i'm crap at dogfighting. It seems to me the enemy scout or scion cockroach thing always manages to move faster and dodge faster than is possible in my ship (yeah I know the 'crap' part probably explains that). The thing is though, I'm more interested in establishing a roughly equal sized base with good defences and attack groups then going at it to see who's layout, attack strategy, unit/weapon choices, leardership are the best.
 9 out of 10 times in a multi game though i come up against a vet and never get the chance to get to that point. Here is my sollution.
 I start a multi game then turn off 'join'. I then get my extractors set up and build my base to a starter size. I then turn joins on and after one player gets in and accepts the situation i turn joins off so it's just me and him. I then let him know that i wont attach till he's ready. I then get soundly thrashed.
 Ok it might sound like a noobish way to deal with it and the real men among us will tell me to get better and deal with it but I'd rather just do that and be sure of a big duke-a-roo every time.
 The other thing is i try to form an agreement not to use bombers or archers. Archers you can get at but it seems that bombers can't be dealt with (other than invading their base and taking it out) so again the outcome of all the strategy is short cutted.

 Anyway if you see a multi game called 1.3 Strategy hosted by Knight you'll know what to expect for now.

 Any (civil) oppinions?

 Knight.

[Scout]

well since the ai sucks so bad in bz2, even with inhancements in 1.3 ull be seeing humans pwning Ai armys in the battlefield so.. it really boils down to human vs human fighting.. either it be empty-chainer dogfights or the late game blast tanks etc.. its going to happen.. if u arent winning the dog fights.. all the better you kill the pools and scavs... keep a mental note of there scarp bar.. how many pools theyhave= there scrap storage.. keep em down to one and when the time coems take out there last pool thats a hard blow.

if your not doing to good in the fighting deparment, its the best bet that your gona loose to that guys field-commanding as well... the scrap management etc.

me and Dutchboy used to do "arm chair commander" games..

Now those where intresting.

[Jwk the Hemp Monkey]

The new 1.3 Ai are great for distractions /escorts now days. hell, they can even be used as moderatly affective assult units. However the really efficient and fast killing will always be done by the humans.

Still...its nice to see humans run off with Yellow armour after having a fight with just two SP stab sabers. AI's dont win the battle for you now, but they help, unlike before when they were just  waste of scrap lol.

[GJC]

Knight, I recalll a game with you that went this way and Im sure you admit that this isnt fair either. As soon as I was "ready" you rushed my base with 10 maulers or so and that was it.

Fighting for resources and mobility is the soul of BZ2 strat. If you cant bear the oddities of the first person action in BZ2 you better stick to ordinary strat games where you command only.

To become a decent BZ2 player you have to become a good dogfighter in the first place. What you need is
- speed (read the thread about flying and speed in the other forum)
- knowledge about the effect of warp and lag and how to exploit warp and how to predict enemy positions
- experience about when to run and where to die when dieing becomes inevitable

There are players out there who play this style for many years and even the gap between "vets" and "supervets" can be huge.

[Speedy]

When I was new, I found this article to be my savior. Learn it by heart, practice, practice, practice!
http://www.timedisruptor.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=295

Another tip: Learn how to use deploy points. Using the rec's deploy point, you can build turrets and deploy them in the right spot while you're miles away in the middle of a battle. Use deploy points for scavs (especially in the begining), constructors, for everything.

[Knight]

Thanks speedy i'll read the article.

GJC that was probably the 4 play map and as i recall i hadn't learned how to turn joins off by then. I remember making an agreement with the first one in to wait till he was ready but by the time i'd mauled him others wre in and setting up to i just kept on rolling.
 Now i turn join off as soon as one guy is in.
 I like a bit of dogfighting and i'm sure i'll get good but for now i like to have both of us get tooled up before we go at it. Most seem eager to agree so perhaps there is a number of people who like it that way. It's all about personal preference. The heart and seoul of any game is what makes any particular player happy and if he can find others onthe same wave then it's good for them. Just like with the hover exploiters. If they are so pissed at it being taken out they can just host 1.2 games and all meet there. No one is taking anything away from them.
 Same with the base builder lot like me.  

 Knight.