I Can't Hit That Skulk!

bmdavll

<div class="IPBDescription">...and half the marine team can't aim!</div> Here's a question for you marines with killer aim: do you think it's better to "lead"--move your xhair where you expect an alien to be--or "follow"--you try to react quickly enough to catch up to an alien's movement? ...taking into account lag, movement speed of the faster aliens (bhopping/leaping skulk, blinking fade), and weapon choice (lmg, hmg, pistol) Or is it all intuitive and there's no way to *improve* aim?

CEldin

Your best bet is a mixture of the two, depending on the situation. Actually, you may want to lead <i>behind </i> them if they are goin fast; hitbox lag happens sometimes.

Other times just aim for the body and hope to god you hit it.

Cerebrus

well, with leading, i always determine it by testing the projectile speed,
eg
tribes: need to lead alot,
but in NS the bullets appear to be 'instant hit'

so i'd just aim for the skulk.

WarningForever

Projectile bullets in half-life hit instantly

However, hitboxes tend to lag, and aiming directly at an enemy may not be aiming at where the game thinks they are.

Cerebrus

So in summary,

Shoot at the skulk when you got a good ping, shoot behind them when you dont,

if there is server lag, you shouldnt even be there.

jesusfchrist

Just aim at the skulk... it should be all reflexes

I think doing things like aiming behind or ahead of it when it's not necessary actually makes aiming harder

noncomposmentis

Leading isn't as useful as it is in other mods where the enemy moves slower. The best way to improve aim is by learning and understanding how the aliens move. You will understand this when you hear vets whine about not being able to hit newbie skulks because they're bouncing all over the place like crackheads.

The vast majority of decent players move in predictable patterns based on how it is efficient for them to move. You can generally only memorize this subconsciously by playing a lot and being critical.

tjosan

A nice trick to help imporving your feeling for how to track skulks is to try very hard not to shoot a bullet that you're not sure will hit. Burst fire that is. That way you also practice conserving ammo at the same time.

cortex

that's something i gotta practise tjosan <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/biggrin-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->. The way i improved my aim from uber-nubiness to "yay i dont have to waste 10 packs of ammo killing a skulk" was playing on servers with <i>better players</i>

If you have a thirst to learn and adapt and aren't completely ignorant and brain dead, it shouldnt be too much of a problem with the skill difference, and dieing probably helps the process as you can see what the better players are doing and learn from them.
It accelerated me out of my "skill rut" and made me a better player...

hope that helps some <!--emo&???--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/confused-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='confused-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->

Omegaman

Hint: Don't be a compulsive reloader like me.

c4t

dont set yourself up for crap, try not being close to corners if you can.

and do not reload after you kill one skulk unless you are absolutely sure that there are no more around. especially if you have 25 bullets left in your lmg.


aim directly where your hand moves, i wouldnt try to force compensating. if your pin gis bad just complain or move to a different server. dont try to shoot with 200 ping or over ;D

barnzy

Yeah, i normally aim directly infront of it or i just sit there with a shotty in a corner of a room waiting for a alien to appear and if its a skulk i can normally shoot it out the air when it jumps for me. thats probably the best way, hit it straight on and you normally 90% of the time get the hit box. <!--emo&::asrifle::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/asrifle.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='asrifle.gif' /><!--endemo--> hope that helps <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/biggrin-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->

TheAdj

Aim at or somewhere close behind aliens in this version. In b6 aim at them, hitboxes are literally the models in B6.

SaltzBad

How would that change anything? The position of the hitbox is already central and if anything larger than the target, it simply does not move completely accurately with the players visual representation.

Krazy_Glue

Ya didnt the change just affect how hits got registered, no the position of the hitbox in relation to the player?

There will always be lag and with skulks that move as fast as they do i dont think you could ever get the hitbox to where its supposed to be to what your seeing....
This is explained by saraph here <a href='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=83527' target='_blank'>http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/in...showtopic=83527</a>

anyway id think youd be safe aiming behind or toards the back end of the skulk

LeetLlama

Knowing where to stand can increase your aim significantly. I am at best an average shooter, but I know what kinds of shots I am good at, and I make sure I’m only attacked when I can make them. And where you want to instinctively stand, is not the best place to be.

DC_Darkling

if you take it from a no cara hive1 to a 3cara hive3 skulk without any rine ups...

takes 9 bullets and it takes 16 bullets to end a skulk.
You got 50, may I suggest you just start sprayig from behind and then move up forwards? from 50 in a clip 16 are bound to hit em. <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->

Necrosis

Stay to a regular server. Generally this will ensure a consistency in ping, etc.

From that basis, experiment with leading shots, or lagging shots. Narrow it down from there. With a regular server you can be sure that the only factor is your aim. If you keep changing servers then you will be changing ping, player skill, etc etc.

Another tip is try to face aliens from the front/rear, that way you'll always hit regardless of lag or other circumstance. Ideally the rear, as you won't last long in FRONT of most aliens, hehe.

Jmmsbnd007

I always have aimed right at the skulk.

IBT

for skulks, if anyone remembers the thread...
i aim for the hat <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->

BulletHead

Best advice- use short bursts

Keeps your screen unobstructed by muzzel flash, conserves ammo, and many more advantages!

Jmmsbnd007

<!--QuoteBegin-BulletHead+Nov 19 2004, 12:08 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (BulletHead @ Nov 19 2004, 12:08 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Best advice- use short bursts

Keeps your screen unobstructed by muzzel flash, conserves ammo, and many more advantages! <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
You're kidding, right :o

Cypher

If there's a situation where you can actually aim at a certain place on the skulk and track him there, then you're probably going to kill him anyway...

amnesiac

NS is hitscan. Unlike for example, CS:S
Since there is no recoil, I'm going to use the pistol which has no spread as an example. If you fire 10 bullets they will go exactly where your crosshair is and deal 200 dmg (20 x 10) But, sometimes your ping, or even your FPS can effect this. That's how you get shot around corners and what not...
the diffirence between Hitscan and projectile is that with hitscan, your bullets hit instantly, where as projectile, time + distance + curver plays a role.

lagger

<!--QuoteBegin-Jmmsbnd007+Nov 19 2004, 05:14 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Jmmsbnd007 @ Nov 19 2004, 05:14 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> <!--QuoteBegin-BulletHead+Nov 19 2004, 12:08 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (BulletHead @ Nov 19 2004, 12:08 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Best advice- use short bursts

Keeps your screen unobstructed by muzzel flash, conserves ammo, and many more advantages! <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
You're kidding, right :o <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
I hope you mean to stop shooting when he leaves your FOV. If not... I'm not sure how lowering your overall dps is a good thing. My advice is simply to aim directly at the skulk unless they have celerity/blink/flying lerk. In which case you usually have to aim a tad behind them (use hit animation as an indicator).

Malevolent

Aim at the skulk. Having your sensitivity lower helps you track the skulk. That way you won't overaim (if that makes sense). This way you can hold down your fire button. Some people say it wastes ammo, but it doesn't. If you track the skulk properly, almost all of your bullets (if not all of them) will hit the skulk. Always use your peripheral vision to look at the kill corner of the screen too, so you know when he's dead; or you can just memorize the death animations (although sometimes it's hard to tell for sure). This way, although you have been firing the whole time, you can stop right away and conserve ammo. Don't reload right away either (this is the reason a lot of people die). Make sure there aren't any coming. If it is clear or you think you have enough time, reload and back away so you have space between you and where the skulks usually come from.

Cypher

...set your sensitivity to what ever feels nice... it cant be too high or too low.

you can even go for the negatives if you like feeling drunk when you play ns

Swift_Idiot

You can set negative sensativity? :D

HAHAHAHA!! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I know what I'm trying after the Stoly tonight.

Cypher

I cant count how many times I've set mine to -20 on late nights

Vader6

I lead my targets, especially with the HMG, but I prefer to take down stuff head on.

VS skulks: I get my back to a wall and can normally hold off as many skulks that attack me till I hafe to reload.

VS fades: I fire at them till they get close (they close the distance pretty dang fast!) then go into a circle maneuver, I am fine unless hes a real dang good fade, often predicting my circle maneuver and turning around the opposite way and pwning me.

VS onii: similar to the fade technique, but if I ever face these its normally in HA, so I stay back, backpedaling as I open fire on the onos, if he gets close, which happens most at a marine base or outpost, I attempt to direct his interest to a building, normally the stupider onii will head for the TF, which is where I like to put my mines.

VS lerks: take em like they are aircraft: lead them and make sure all the vents are secure.


<!--emo&::tsa::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tsa.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tsa.gif' /><!--endemo-->

AvengerX

I've never really put that much thought into shooting at skulks.. I just kinda see em and go crazy, maybe thats a bad thing but I do ok in games so I'll stick with it

I guess an importent thing to is aiming with your pistol, lets not forget your 100 pin point mid range sniper , that little side arm in the rines arsenal can do wonders when ambushing a skulk running around the corner, just kill em with that and if you miss and have to swith to your lmg, then just hose em down with that