Galactic Starfighter - Do people actually play it?

[darkjuggalo2000]

I freakin love star fighter! I play on the Harbinger server, I have a Gunship fully maxed out using full dampening sensors, Ion burst/Slug. Playing on the imp side kind of sucks because The pubs tend to completely dominate but we do get our good matches from time to time... Just got to watch out for a player named Willie that guys is insanley good...

[Ashnazg]

I'm primarily playing gunship so far, so it's not terribly difficult to snipe people. It's just...I don't know how to describe it, I just don't find myself really having too much fun with it. The bright side is it got me a level, but other than that it's felt kinda "meh".

I, personally, find gunship playstyle to be incredibly boring. I just got them yesterday, but found myself going back to my scout almost immediately. Yeah, there is a vast difference in gear (scout is nearly maxed out, whereas the gunship is bare), but scout gameplay just feels active, whereas gunship is a bit of a snoozefest.

I get my jollies out of dogfighting, so that's where my enjoyment is at.

[Lovestar]

In PvE setting I'd love it.

It would add a lot to the PvE story / experience. It's a shame they didn't integrate it, but the logic may have been that they didn't want to inflict a new playstyle on PvE players and that making it optional PvE content would be of dubious value.

But at least some PvE dailies where you go shoot down some CPU for low-pressure / lazy-day space stuff would be welcome.

[Edge-]

It would add a lot to the PvE story / experience. It's a shame they didn't integrate it, but the logic may have been that they didn't want to inflict a new playstyle on PvE players and that making it optional PvE content would be of dubious value.

But at least some PvE dailies where you go shoot down some CPU for low-pressure / lazy-day space stuff would be welcome.

It's pretty much off the table atm according to them. The amount of work that would be required to program AI to work in the three dimensional space, not to mention building new scripting tools etc. would be insane.

[Alvito]

It is ok from what I have seen, but once again another missed opportunity by SWTOR and EA/Bioware. It also muddles the game a bit since this space fighting has zero connection to the rest of the game.

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It's pretty much off the table atm according to them. The amount of work that would be required to program AI to work in the three dimensional space, not to mention building new scripting tools etc. would be insane.

There are plenty of pathing issues on flat surfaces I can only imagine the bounty of glitches in open space.

[namelessone]

Tried it on 47, got in almost instantly (~3 min queue). Maybe it gets better as they are allowing more people in.
I don't participate in pretty much any PvP activities in MMOs, but I actually liked this one, since it felt more arcade.

[Valedus]

Oh my... lol. I tried it last night and did, as far as I could tell, awful. Is the starting ship horrid? It seemed a little wonky with the targetting, even leading targets only like 1/4th of my shots would hit and would barely tickle the opponent. Also, missiles have like a 6 second lock-on. Anyone have any tips? Do different ships perform better, or are they just itemized differently?

[nyyr]

Oh my... lol. I tried it last night and did, as far as I could tell, awful. Is the starting ship horrid? It seemed a little wonky with the targetting, even leading targets only like 1/4th of my shots would hit and would barely tickle the opponent. Also, missiles have like a 6 second lock-on. Anyone have any tips? Do different ships perform better, or are they just itemized differently?

At the beginning, you have two ships, an assault ship and a scout. You might feel more comfortable with the scout since it reacts faster. Once you have enough fleet commendations, you can buy the other scout which feels much better.

Ship component upgrades are key: shorter lock-on times, faster / more accurate lasers etc.

But 1/4th hit ratio is actually quite good

[Valedus]

At the beginning, you have two ships, an assault ship and a scout. You might feel more comfortable with the scout since it reacts faster. Once you have enough fleet commendations, you can buy the other scout which feels much better.

Ship component upgrades are key: shorter lock-on times, faster / more accurate lasers etc.

But 1/4th hit ratio is actually quite good

Haha, I kinda pulled a ratio out of my ass, it was probably lower than 1/4th. I'm probably gonna give it a bigger shot soon, trying too hard to zoom through my Agent storyline. Too good.

If there's a lot of progression and unlocks it sounds like it'd be pretty cool, though.

[Fkiolaris]

I played about a dozen games the last 2 days and I have to say it's more fun than I expected. On Red Eclipse the queues are less than 5 minutes (and practically instant at peak times) and I LOVE that you get the daily/weekly rewards as soon as you are done, rather than having to travel all the way back to the fleet to return them like the regular pvp quests. It also looks that it has quite some depth with the myriad of options available for upgrading/customising the ships.

One downside is the lack of matchmaking, or if there is one then it's just awful. Half my games ended in 1000 vs less than 100, going as low as 1000-25 which is kind of a joke. And this would happen in consecutive games where you can win one badly and then lose the next one in the same way. I would say that some sort of brackets based on the amount of the universal starfighter currency earned (forgot the name, sorry) should be implemented. Oh, and some PvE please.

[Deleted]

I think a lot of the pvp enthusiasts are all over but not very many others. I do the occasional pvp and recently started a grind to get my sin to valor rank 60, but the GSF is where I draw the line. I love the concept and I can't necessarily say that they failed to deliver, but personally I could not like it enough to play; the controls are all over the place, and 360 degree game space disorients me.

I would have liked it if they had done away with the old space missions, that were horrible anyway, and used the GSF to replace it, just as pve content. That would have made more sense to me.

But yes, to answer your question, a lot of people are excited about it and seem to enjoy it.

[Super Kami Dende]

I play it and I love it, Something so satisfying about doing a vertical 180 degree flip and winding inbetween satellites wiping people out of the sky.

[Elim Garak]

It's not tie fighter and it's PvP only. move along.

[MitchMeister-]

I've never had motion sickness playing any game until galactic starfighter. I was actually really surprised how dizzy I got.

[Deleted]

I've never had motion sickness playing any game until galactic starfighter. I was actually really surprised how dizzy I got.

This is the same reason why I can't play it. I've watched on the sidelines a couple times while my boyfriend has played some GSF and I've started feeling immediately dizzy and even nauseous just by watching it. As much as the idea tickles my imagination, I can't bring myself to try it if since it makes me feel awful. :c

And I've noticed that the "veterans" dominate the playground fairly easily in the matches, naturally. If one side that has subs who have had the chance to play for a month or two is pitted against a group of beginners, the results were fairly one-sided and non-surpsising. I'm hoping the battles turn a bit more even and exciting once more people get a chance to try GSF out.

[nyyr]

This is the same reason why I can't play it. I've watched on the sidelines a couple times while my boyfriend has played some GSF and I've started feeling immediately dizzy and even nauseous just by watching it.

It's like with motion sickness in a car: if you drive yourself it's much less likely to happen

And I've noticed that the "veterans" dominate the playground fairly easily in the matches, naturally. If one side that has subs who have had the chance to play for a month or two is pitted against a group of beginners, the results were fairly one-sided and non-surpsising.

That's very true. But there are also the other matches, where advantage is on your side. And, rarely, matches with close competition do also happen.

[May90]

I've played about 5 times yesterday. Generally I quite liked it, reminded me a bit of IL-2 Sturmovik. But... Jesus, is it just that the starting ship is godawful, or am I really terrible at this game? I can't seem to hit anyone like ever, unless I shoot from <2000 m and they fly directly off or towards me. How do you hit moving targets? I tried shooting directly at them, a distance in front of them, at that small circle that sometimes pops up (I still don't get it: it seems to randomly pop up and disappear) - nothing worked. Maybe I just have a horrendous lag (400 ms at the moment since I play in Japan on a European server) and so my shooting is absolutely off. Or perhaps the starting ship is insanely inaccurate, so that I destroyed only 2 ships in 5 games or so. But I just don't seem to get this targeting.

[nyyr]

I've played about 5 times yesterday. Generally I quite liked it, reminded me a bit of IL-2 Sturmovik. But... Jesus, is it just that the starting ship is godawful, or am I really terrible at this game? I can't seem to hit anyone like ever, unless I shoot from <2000 m and they fly directly off or towards me. How do you hit moving targets? I tried shooting directly at them, a distance in front of them, at that small circle that sometimes pops up (I still don't get it: it seems to randomly pop up and disappear) - nothing worked. Maybe I just have a horrendous lag (400 ms at the moment since I play in Japan on a European server) and so my shooting is absolutely off. Or perhaps the starting ship is insanely inaccurate, so that I destroyed only 2 ships in 5 games or so. But I just don't seem to get this targeting.

Not sure about the lag, but yeah, the starting ships (and the components you can buy for them) are not that good. Until you can buy new ones, try to buy ship components with increase accuracy and upgrade them with ship commendation only. Choosing crew members with appropriate passive and active abilities also helps.

Targeting the little circle with your mouse pointer is the right thing to do. The circle indicates the direction the enemy is heading and how much you need to aim ahead of him. It is grey as long as you are too far from him and turns red when he is in range. If there is no circle, it means that the enemy is just sitting in place, so just throw everything at him

Moving and close dogfights are the learning part. Make use of "w" and "s" and space bar. Look for some asteroids and other structures to navigate around, sometimes your oponent self-destructs there However, it is generally a good idea to stay with allied fighters and chase the ones that are not targeting you - this is much easier then keep turning all the time w/o hitting anything.

[Ashnazg]

I've played about 5 times yesterday. Generally I quite liked it, reminded me a bit of IL-2 Sturmovik. But... Jesus, is it just that the starting ship is godawful, or am I really terrible at this game? I can't seem to hit anyone like ever, unless I shoot from <2000 m and they fly directly off or towards me. How do you hit moving targets? I tried shooting directly at them, a distance in front of them, at that small circle that sometimes pops up (I still don't get it: it seems to randomly pop up and disappear) - nothing worked. Maybe I just have a horrendous lag (400 ms at the moment since I play in Japan on a European server) and so my shooting is absolutely off. Or perhaps the starting ship is insanely inaccurate, so that I destroyed only 2 ships in 5 games or so. But I just don't seem to get this targeting.

Don't get discouraged. The first week I played GSF I was surprised at how totally wrecked I got.

Your hit rate won't be stellar because a lot of ships stack evasion armor, so even with a 100% accurate "human" aim, you will have a passive 40% evade chance built in vs scouts (much less vs gunships or strike fighters).

Also, if you are good at piloting, scouts are by far the best ship for dominating the battlefield. The mobility and 3-d awareness can make your scout nigh-invulnerable to damage, much more so than gunship/strike fighter HP and armor, which don't matter at all if you're a sitting duck on the battlefield.

[LilSaihah]

I played it more and got a bit more used to how it flows. It seems better, and it was genuinely fun at times. It takes a lot of getting used to, though- Longer than it should.

But... Jesus, is it just that the starting ship is godawful, or am I really terrible at this game? I can't seem to hit anyone like ever, unless I shoot from <2000 m and they fly directly off or towards me. How do you hit moving targets? I tried shooting directly at them, a distance in front of them, at that small circle that sometimes pops up (I still don't get it: it seems to randomly pop up and disappear) - nothing worked. Maybe I just have a horrendous lag (400 ms at the moment since I play in Japan on a European server) and so my shooting is absolutely off. Or perhaps the starting ship is insanely inaccurate, so that I destroyed only 2 ships in 5 games or so. But I just don't seem to get this targeting.

The game does seem to suffer a lot from new players needing to level up. Only thing to really do is keep at it, but that doesn't really fix the problem, unfortunately.