DescentBB

I have a question for you, regarding homing missiles.

I have played Descent 1 to exhaustion.

In Descent 1, I used to avoid homing missiles, by flying in circles. I really enjoy when I avoid a homing missile.

In D2x-xl, I can't avoid homing missiles, they hit me after doing two or three circles. Well, I can make them hit a wall or something, but it just doesn't feel the same.

So my question is, the turn rate of homing missiles in original Descent2 was so high, or this is a *feature* of d2x-xl ?

If I recall, D2's homer turning radius was quite poor, so Checkor must have upped the value.

Turn your frame rate down to 60. If it's over 80, there's no way you'll ever get away from a homer.

D2x-based engines seemed to me to make homing missile dodging absurdly easy, even at 80 fps.

I'm also able to dodge homers at that framerate.

Which video cards do you have?

May be it depends on the computer system, as framerate seems not to affect anything at all here.

who is boots@metalli***t.com (watching this thread) please check the email address for your account, all your emails are getting bounced.

Thanks!

KB

Oh, that's my old account. I only have the checkbox 'notify me when reply posted' which, I thought, only changes the icon in the thread list?

Testi,

Naw that sets the icon AND emails you a noticed that the thread has been added to since your last visit

Not a big deal, just wanted to make sure you knew you weren't getting the notifications that you were expectingg


KB

D2x-XL has a fixed homing missile turning speed that is independent of your framerate.

Exactly. D2X-XL caps homing direction changes at 40 fps.

So, it is faster or slower than original D2 ??

Both.

In other words, it entirely depends what your framerate was in the original D2. If you were running it at about 30 fps (probably similar to the framerates one would get on the common hardware in 1996), you'll find they lock a bit harder.

However, if you were typically getting over 100 FPS, you'll find the tracking a lot less tight. Don't expect homing missiles to follow you around 90-degree corners any more.

What about this tactic? When going up against a robot firing homing missiles, play chicken with the missiles and flinching at the right moment using afterburners. Doesn't really work closeup or in tight spaces, but in open spaces with at least a little distance... I've used this tactic in all Descent games and works pretty well for me. Of course, that's me. I'm not sure about anyone else.

I always employt that tactic. Works for all incoming homing. You can do it in tight places too, you just need to know when the bot/other pilot will fire.

Sounds similar to standard dodging techniques (which I employ whenever I have the space), although I don't generally give the homing missile the run-around first. If you're in the middle of a firefight you probably don't have time to.

It's a while ago now that I have found out that I had messed up homing missile turn speed, causing them to turn rather slow, allowing to dodge them too easily. This has been fixed. Homers in D2X-XL turn fast as hell now, as I had to experience in multiplayer games with a laughing and a crying eye. It looks just awesome if they make an S-shaped curve, going right through a grate towards their target, their smoke trail marking their way.

I usually only dodge mega missiles, because it's too hard to dodge normal homing missiles in D1/D2 (in single-player which is all I go on). Homing Flash missiles are even worse - in Vertigo, if a MAX fires at me, it will definitely hit unless I am very far away with a large space to flee behind. I usually reserve Guided missiles especially for them (which are loads better because they turn as many degrees as you want with mouselook on!)

Once, I fired a homing missile at a robot but then it turned away before it would have hit, and went after the one behind it, which could be a good tactic if it's done right.