I think that the skill with caps is not so much about the piloting but more about your tactics. Certian caps have very different abilities to each other and easily outclass each other in a head to head showdown, but thats where the pilot comes into play.
He has to be able to play one ships advantages or his opponents disadvantages.
Two similar ships may have similar advantages/disadvantages. It's much easier to see early on your own ships foibles. If you have taken the time to know his, you have the advantage.
These advantages/disadvantages are often obvious but most cap pilots ignore them and just like to sit there and pummel each other hoping that strafing alone will help them overcome their enemy. It helps but toe to toe, if your outclassed, your very likely to lose on strafing alone.
I have had some success with a pirate cruiser against opponents greater than me and on one occasion, more than one (although recently I got hammered :( ...it happens).
Sadly, against more nimble smaller ships (gunboats or smaller), it's practice and loadout that wins the day, but that loadout may not always favor a cap on cap encounter.
Very few people do it well. I'm not a cap pilot by any standard. I'm acceptable in a Liberty Dread, but nothing special.
Knowing the capability of the ship you're flying is important. The Liberty Dread and other 'fast' battleships like it need a completely different way of flying to the heavy battleships like the Rheinland BB and OC Dread. With the heavy ships the general aim is to get close to your opponent and overwhealm it with your larger number of guns and higher hull rating.
With the lighter battleships you try to incease the distance between you and your opponent and use your strafe and turning to avoid the big guns like the heavy mortar. While using the fact the other guy is a sitting duck with the manueverability of a bungalow to make sure you hit with the big nasty shooters.
It's all about knowing what you ship does well and what it doesn't and loading the thing out right to do whatever job you have it set up to do.
That is just about the sum of my limited knowlege on how to fly caps. I'm utterly hopeless in cruisers and only a little better in gunboats.
' Wrote:Well, yeh, flying caps does require skill.
Very few people do it well. I'm not a cap pilot by any standard. I'm acceptable in a Liberty Dread, but nothing special.
Knowing the capability of the ship you're flying is important. The Liberty Dread and other 'fast' battleships like it need a completely different way of flying to the heavy battleships like the Rheinland BB and OC Dread. With the heavy ships the general aim is to get close to your opponent and overwhealm it with your larger number of guns and higher hull rating.
With the lighter battleships you try to incease the distance between you and your opponent and use your strafe and turning to avoid the big guns like the heavy mortar. While using the fact the other guy is a sitting duck with the manueverability of a bungalow to make sure you hit with the big nasty shooters.
It's all about knowing what you ship does well and what it doesn't and loading the thing out right to do whatever job you have it set up to do.
That is just about the sum of my limited knowlege on how to fly caps. I'm utterly hopeless in cruisers and only a little better in gunboats.
Oi!
Ill have you know, I live in a bungalo and it is more manuverable than the OC dread.
Jinx and Joe have said it best in their posts. It's a much different kind of skill - there are numbers to balance, but there are also tactics and aim involved, and what kind of tactics you use depend very much on your ship and what it does well. It's also true, I'd say, that no, cap pilots don't get a lot of practice. Discovery has made Battleship Jousting socially unnacceptable, which I think is a damn shame, because I used to be pretty good at it. I haven't had a real joust in two versions.
Quote:Quick comment - we thought that Panzer was the Leader, Swift. -Agmen
Well, Ive had Three battleships, a battlecruiser, a cruiser, and countless gunboats... Yes, YOU DEFINATELY need skill to avoid those pesky little supernovas.
For battleships, well you just take the damage but flak them like no tomorrow. Against other caps its the same way, You find a way to minimize damage to yourself and maximize to your oponent, For the larger battleships dodgeing is not an option. (Rhienland, Juggy, Kusari, others...)
Well i have Osiris and let say numbers do a lot in cap ship fights...Of course skill is important but not crucial...
If you fight against other battleship captain who know what he is doing you are dead...numbers talk all...
But if you fight with some skill against some rookie with bigger ship...then you have some chance...
I do not use Osiris for too much PVP but i killed everything smaller than me including cruisers and b-cruisers,gunboats,gunships everything...i am only average in cap fights but know the basics and numbers do the rest. But because Osiris is classed as "smaller battleship" with less hull and "only" 12 guns i got pwned against other "bigger" battleships....
So to say my opinion in shorter way....some skills is needed but numbers talk loud.
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