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Topic: Player-Versus-Player Strategy Guide v0.2 (Read 18443 times)
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Shiver
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Can't you point this stuff out all at once? I'm convinced you're somehow editing new typos into my posts every time I go back and fix the ones that are there.
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Shiver
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The Earthling Cruiser
Some of the crappiest ships in Star Control have managed to prove themselves useful in player-versus-player. Earthling is the poster child of this phenomenon. The ship sucks, I think it would be fair to say that it sucks out loud, but due to its low point value and long ranged homing attack it is the perfect candidate to finish off almost anything that is left standing in the arena with a low crew count. Earthling is not one of those ships which you absolutely must attach to your fleet every single game, but you will rarely be disappointed when you do.
Earthling has mediocre top speed and terrible acceleration, but in most match-ups you will need to use what you've got to run away from your opponent. The longer you can stall, the more damage you will inflict with your homing missiles. If you can make it to the planet, a gravity whip can help keep you alive longer.
Primary Function: Nuclear Missile Launcher
Missiles are one of the simplest weapons in the game to use properly. Turn the front of your ship towards the general direction of your opponent and fire off a nuke. It will rapidly home in on the other player's ship over a long distance, inflicting four damage when it reaches its destination. Missiles are low on maneuverability so they will sometimes miss their mark. Some of the more agile spacecraft will often be able to weave around them as well. It is also remotely possible for a missile to whirl back around and hit you while chasing the opposition, so you may have to use your point defense to protect yourself from one of these. This is a great weapon regardless of its limitations.
The Cornered Squirrel
If you find yourself under attack by a fast flanking ship, you're probably going to lose regardless but here's a little trick which can sometimes sneak in some damage: Reserve enough energy to fire at least one missile, then launch one right into the aggressor's front as they pull in to start firing on you. This is useful because most of the faster ships can easily dodge missiles if they have time to react to them. This tactic can fall flat sometimes; for instance, the Slylandro's lightning weapon will frequently destroy missiles that approach head-on.
Secondary Function: Point-Defense Laser
The point-defense laser is not a weapon, it's a tool. The main purpose of this tool is to break apart asteroids. It does this marvelously. Due to the Earthling's weak propulsion, an asteroid bump will either bounce you off into a bad direction or bring your ship to a near halt for an uncomfortable amount of time. This tool can also take out Ur-Quan fighters, VUX limpets and various other enemy projectiles. The laser will fire on everything in its range simultaneously, allowing you to wipe out a pair of Ur-Quan fighters at once among other things. The Cornered Squirrel tactic is better in most short range combat situations for actual damage, but the laser can still prove useful.
Leave your point-defense laser off whenever you activate your launcher. It does not play well with outgoing missiles.
Ideal Purpose
Although Earthling is both cheap and crappy, it is not a good starter. Under no circumstances should you ever play Earthling as your first ship of any match. Even VUX, normally easy prey for Earthling, will ravage you due to its point-blank arrival. As stated earlier, Earthling is the ideal choice to deliver a finishing volley to pretty much anything, and is also a natural counter to VUX and Druuge. Whether you hold your Earthling in reserve to deal with one of those in particular or throw it into the arena at the first wounded enemy you see is your decision. Both approaches have their merits.
Earthling vs. VUX: Run around lobbing nukes and watch them die. It really is that easy. VUX is too slow and clumsy to seriously threaten Earthling. The point-defense laser can stop limpets, but you probably won't need to worry about that.
Earthling vs. Druuge: Keep your narrow end facing the Druuge any time your cruiser is in their sights. If you give them even one good opportunity to fire on your broad side, that is usually enough to skew the match in the Druuge's favor. The best time to sling your nukes is when the Druuge is moving towards you, though you should be firing at all times rather than waiting for just the right moment.
If that weren't enough, Earthling can also inflict a respectable amount of punishment upon Ur-Quan, Chenjesu or Kohr-Ah by running around and firing off nukes. Don't expect to win, but if you can't find anything better to do with your Earthling then attacking one of these is a good way to go.
Counters
There is only one true counter to Earthling and that's Ilwrath. It is possible to win with Zoq-Fot-Pik as well, but that is dangerous to attempt.
Ilwrath vs. Earthling: This can get a little bit tricky, but if you play it right there's no reason you should lose. Your first priority is to find the planet, so start looking. Turn your cloaking device on so that missiles do not follow you. The cloak does not need to be active all the time, just enough to prevent you from being hit. Try to gravity whip onto the Earthling, then use thrust to return to your default speed once you're close to them. Your top speed is a single integer higher than Earthling's; even if you fail to whip straight into your opponent, chasing the Earthling starting from a short distance away will eventually win you the match. Your flamethrower can shield your front from missiles to a limited degree, which is sometimes useful during an extended chase.
Zoq-Fot-Pik vs. Earthling: This counter is difficult to execute, but completely turns the table on the other player if you manage to pull it off. The Zoq-Fot-Pik is just barely quick enough to dodge missiles and close in on Earthling. You will need to hit them with your tongue attack once, then finish with either the scattergun or a second tongue hit. As you approach the Earthling, missiles can be shot down with the scattergun. Only do this if the Earthling fires straight into you at a medium distance, otherwise you're better off dodging. Zoq-Fot-Pik has a rather high amount of mass, so when it collides with Earthling during a tongue attack it will often send that ship careening off in the opposite direction. If this happens, or if the Earthling performs a gravity whip, stop chasing straight after them and instead prepare to intercept as they wrap around the screen.
Aside from the above two ships, all you can do is chuck something fancy at the stupid Earthling. This is bad in the long term, but you may not have a choice. Use whatever decent ship you can spare in this situation.
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« Last Edit: August 08, 2008, 02:16:03 am by Shiver »
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Shiver
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Detail: You can actually fire a missile while holding down the secondary key. It'll only be shot down if the secondary is off and you turn it on while the missile is still in range.
Yet when I try using both weapons simultaneously against the cyborg, the PDL makes its sound effect and I lose a bit more energy even though the nuke is unharmed. Does it shoot and miss or something?
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Shiver
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it definitely seems like the cruiser is great against a mycon. true?
Nope. The computer's Mycon is stupid. With two players, a Mycon is more likely to win against Earthling than the other way around.
Minor update: I redid the missile picture because that old VUX was horrifyingly pixelated. Refresh your browser to see it.
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« Last Edit: July 21, 2008, 11:24:34 am by Shiver »
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Shiver
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Regarding the Earthling, you say that Cornered Squirrel is almost always better than using the PDL. In what kind of situations would it be better to use the PDL. Just when your battery is low? Or when?
PDL is without question better than Cornered Squirrel against Androsynth. The comet form is fast and friggin' tiny so missiles almost never connect with it. You also want to be maneuvering around in such a way as to make it difficult for Androsynth to hit you. You can't whirl around like a madman and fire off missiles that have any chance of hitting at the same time. Believe it or not, Earthling can manage to defeat Androsynth by doing this. I think EP even lost his 'Synth once to an inferior player. So that's the one big exception. Smaller exceptions involve an opponent with exactly 1 crew left or some such.
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« Last Edit: July 23, 2008, 05:07:34 pm by Shiver »
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