|
|
|||||||
| General Altitude Discussion Discuss anything Altitude related that doesn't belong in another forum. |
 |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
|
#1
06-22-2010, 09:04 PM
|
|||
|
|||
Time Anchor users, read this
(This thread is directed to most of Time Anchor users (of course I advise anyone interested in improving to read it), and I'd really appreciate mike's comments about this, because I don't think there is currently any other good TA users in the game, of course I could be wrong so I apologize in advance if I offend you, this is to try to make you all better)
This part is for BALL, the TBD part is for later. So, for several days now (but it obviously had been going on for much more than that), I've been observing some interesting comportment by Time Anchor users in ladder : every single one of those I saw, in every single game I observed/played in, went something like 5-35 at the end of the game. I'll start of by linking tgleaf's thread about killing in ball, I strongly suggest reading Maimer's post near the middle of the first page. http://altitudegame.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3152 I fully understand that Time Anchor isnt exactly about pressing "up" all the time as loopies used to do when ball mode first appeared, but the consequences are unfortunately the same : you are useless. Well, not exactly, this is maybe a bit strong, let me put it in this way : you are useless in the way you're currently playing ball. Let me explain. When 5 players on the team have decent ratios, not necessarily super epic ratios but when they are obviously trying to kill people, and one guy has 5-35, this player is useless. If the other team has all 6 of their players with decent ratios, that means you're dying much more than they do, which means you're controlling the ball much less, which means that the action is most likely happening in your half of the map more often than in theirs which leads to more opportunities to score for them, and obviously more goals for them. Following the logic so far ? If both teams have time anchor users with terrible ratios, then it's 5v5 with 1 guy in each team trying to be more useful to his team than the other guy is to theirs. Of course, sometimes you get a good pass and you do some magic and score a goal or two, this doesn't make you good, because imagine if instead of just running and trying to dodge planes and bullets you were with your team killing people : you kill the enemy resistance and fly right into the enemy goal and put the ball in it. Simple, more effective. Thats the point in this : RANDAS ALSO DO HAVE A PRIMARY SHOT, which is by the way, pretty effective. USE IT. I'm not saying that Time Anchor is useless, only the way you play it. Seriously, try to press F more and I suspect it's gonna be much better. As already proved, BALL isnt exactly only about the ball. Especially since it's 6v6. If it was 4v4 or something, your use of TA would probably be more effective, but right now, it isnt. TBD Part Okay, I haven't seen a whole lot of TA players in TBD, and quite frankly I'm glad about it, but those I saw also made some mistakes. Maybe more subtle than that big mistake in ball. As I say it pretty often, TBD is all about timings : defend when you have to, attack when you can. You can't attack all the time, if you do, your team is probably gonna be scattered and get destroyed one by one, and the other guys are just gonna bomb your base and win. Most of the time, you have to stay somewhat close to your friends and kill the opponents in groups. Then, you defuse their bomb and your attack timing begins. You have 7 seconds before the whole enemy team respawns (or most of it, there is always one or two guys repairing/flying around in their half the map). You're most likely somewhere near the middle of the map so you better now waste any second of it. Actually, to be more precise, your timing begins even before the last of the enemies dies in the middle, so you have like 10 seconds total. You have to start pushing towards the enemy base when they're almost all dead and the last two/three guys still living are about to be killed (like you see grenades flying towards them, or a randa is about to lazorize them or whatever : you can usually see people who are about to die). The problem with most TA users (honestly, I think the only one who doesnt make this is mike) is that they totally screw this 10 second timing up. They're too obsessed by not being hit and just keep anchoring behind their rock until the last enemy dies (I've even seen some of them anchor one last time when the last guy is already dead). So of the 10 seconds, you easily waste 5 or even 6 seconds, and what happens is that the guys have already respawned when you're getting close to their base, and since your team probably took some damage in the battle, you all get pwned without hitting the base, thanks to the TA user, while a loopy/biplane/whatever would have hit in the meantime. You may not even realize this, but try to carefully look at what a TA user does next time you observe a ladder game, and you'll see that pretty often he loses a lot of time instead of pushing. This is one of the reasons I don't want a TA as our bomb carrier in ACE, because to be good with TA, you have to be REALLY ****ING GOOD, and have a REALLY ****ING GOOD team to back you up. The second part isnt exactly a problem, but even a REALLY ****ING GOOD team have to learn to play with anchor from the moment they start playing together. They can have moderate success with it, but they can't have good success with it : I don't think fLb will be successful with tmic, not because of lack of skill or whatever, but just because it doesn't fit their style at all. So yea TA users in TBD : STOP WASTING TIME ! That is all, thank you for reading, and honestly, think about all this and try to rethink your play, I believe you can all become much better than you are now. Last edited by tyr; 06-22-2010 at 09:29 PM. 
|
|
#3
06-22-2010, 09:52 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Thank you, tyr.
|
|
#5
06-22-2010, 10:23 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Definitely agree with the part about wasting bomb pushes. Everyone has a push or two where they weren't really paying attention and they blew it, but TAs (Mike excluded ofc) seem to do it all the time. I think the key is to watch the kill feed and press tab. That way, you can see when a bunch of their players go down and push for the gap.
|
|
#6
06-22-2010, 11:18 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Now that your done.
Wonder what the flame level on this is... oh well... I can agree with you on all levels for a TA randa. They don't play aggressive. Infact in general randas don't play aggressive. TA in BALL still haven't figured out how to control being aggressive and controlling the ball. Meaning they don't take 80% of the chances to kill an enemy but rather wait for their team mate to push through where ever they are going. This would be for all types of randas I would point this towards. Now seriously TA randa does not belong anywhere near a ball. Every TA randa I have seen anchors way to much and costs the game most of the time. They would only work more effectively with 1 TA and 1 Trickster Randa. Other wise a solo TA randa like you said in any game type needs a good team. None of that anchor 50 times and then score idea that they get in their head. When I play TA in ball, I only ever anchor to intercept a pass or if I can go a different way. Thats about it. Randas rush way to much in ball, keep your cool and slow down a bit. We are driven to wanting the goals. Before your post tyr, which I am glad about is that even with a ratio of say 25-20 or 20-24 whatever, I can still score 3-4 goals per-game, just as much as your average rusher. It just means that a randa can do both and doesnt have to give up one to have the other. Tricksters; Slap on some HA and start killing you can get health from dead planes.  Don't be afraid to die by the meanie whales that think they can fart out mines on you. In my opinion a good trickster randa is better than a pro TA randa, Trickster randas can assault the ball carrier better.TA in TBD is only cost effective because your not passing like you would in ball. Haven't really witnessed any randas time anchor besides Mikesoul on youtube can't say much here. I do know that in order to actually be useful in TBD with TA is that you have have have to control your energy that means start killing more, and anchor less. Heres a perfect example if you have the bomb say in a middle bomb spawn and a loopy or whale is also there what are you going to do? anchor back and kill the enemy? I would think not. It would be more cost effective to turn towards the enemy, use your primary shot and most cases you can kill said plane. You can disagree with this because some loopys are just crazy and will get that emp off pretty fast. Whatever. The plane in general has a issue with serious balancing meaning you have to be careful with not having something stronger than the other unless thats aiming of course. Also a small hint; every plane has a skill that helps randa players get so much better. I am glad this is one of the hardest plane to learn, other wise Randa would be another boring plane like loopy or bomber. Correct me if anyone thinks something is not what they think. Of course this is not everything I have to say but it's enough. Last edited by Hollywood; 06-23-2010 at 04:35 AM. Reason: Typo
|
|
#7
06-23-2010, 04:16 AM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
Tyr, I think there is a nice ring of truth to this, especially for the TBD segment. Also, you forgot to mention to 90% of the anchors out there: don't be so damn predictable.
|
|
#8
06-23-2010, 04:26 AM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
I am sorry for offending you, The post was not about all randas, just the ones that are off track of the learning curve that so many people want them to be on.
|
|
#10
06-23-2010, 05:08 AM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
|
|
#14
06-23-2010, 11:01 AM
|
|||
|
|||
|
randas are predictable because they are randas, I can't really blame them for that. Only the highest level players can maybe start to be a bit less predictable, but that comes with a lot of experience. But thats okay since abusing of their predictability also comes with a lot of experience imo.
|
|
#15
06-23-2010, 02:31 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Tyr,
I largely agree with what you're saying and I hope many of the up and coming time anchor users read this. I remember many months ago when I was first gaining fame amongst time anchors - I would often have like no kills and would have to rely on my team's superb killing ability. I would warp around and make these types of mistakes all the time. Nowadays if you see me in a ball or tbd game things are very different. I conserve my energy rather than just holding up across the map. I also try and kill people a whole lot more - which is exactly what you are saying. When I get stuck with a time anchor on my team who is going 3-35 I immediately stop playing time anchor and switch to explodet or bomber so that I can try my best to pick up the kills / slow the enemy. Your point about not charging fast enough is also quite fair. While yes, sometimes the best strategy is to hang back and wait - other times it's much better to charge forward. You'll often see me charge into someone's base recklessly and die. But then again you'll often see me charge in and get a hit - or charge in and die and have ufo swoopie bomb it. That's one thing that took a lot of getting used to that I had to work with my team on. They know that I'm going to die when I charge in - and we have to counter attack as fast as possible generally. They have to be ready to pick it up and hit their base. Often times I do not get the most base damage because of this. But ya good TA post 
|
|
#16
06-23-2010, 03:33 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
Take for example this I have noticed a lot. A randa will throw the ball to clear and then anchor/reverse back rather than take a forward path that would/could gain them the advantage they need to get the goal. I've scored many many times where I only have 1-5hp, but with the right timing it works. The Team Base Destruction topic about randas has been covered so really I can't repeat anything but the fact that they waste time. Quote:
Finally, I don't think that randas are necessarily aggressive; I just think they can never be successful by being either too passive or too protective
|
|
|
|
Linear Mode
