Anyone playing Planetside? (1 Viewer)

Just got in to open Beta Saturday, took me over 3 hours to download it, I suppose I was one of the lucky ones, most folks have to wait for CDs....

Still getting my bearings in game, just barely got my certs and into a few fights, but keep going LD a lot.

Vanu all the way here =)

Sam

I'm part of the exclusive beta but was one of the people who didn't receive the invite email until the week before last. I downloaded the game and installed it but have yet to even play. I have a newborn son that's currently taking up all of my time. Hopefully I'll get a chance to play a little bit this week to see how it is. BTW, I'm going Vanu too! If you see someone named Vostof, that's me.

officially my computer isn't fast enough .. pfft.. but i want to do the bet. so Tim if ya don't have time i won't mind testing planetside for you on your behalf. and a side question sam what server do you play eq on? im on bertoxx

I have to wait for the CDs which should arrive today along with the Beta 3 SWG CDs.

well I got the planetside disc yesturday. And since the NDA agreement was lifted We can start talking about the game. I haven't gotten the new beta discs of SWG so hopefully that is still going ot happen this week.

I've been playing off and on since Saturday. I've never been able to play for more than 30 minutes before getting the disconnection error message. After looking at the beta boards, it looks like this is happening to a lot of people.

I'm still waiting for that sense of what it feels like to be a part of an epic battle. I've been involved in a few skirmishes, but nothing that feels like a war, yet.

I'm a 65 Wizard, started off on Cazic Thule, now on Ayonae Ro in a non uber guild =)

Played a bit more PS last night, and got some fun groups in. I'm definitly not cut out for squad leader. My biggest complaint is I havent found a good way to /follow teammates yet, that would be handy. Also, you cant cycle through tells, so talking to more than 1 person sucks.

Here is my tip file that I swiped off a few noobie threads:

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1st off read the manual...It really has almost everything.Almost.Asking how you get more certs is annoying.
1st thing hit ALL terminals/Vehicles and weapons in the Sanctuary.Its fast easy exp.

LEARN to drive/fly in the VR training.This way you dont crash everything up in the Santuary.

Find a weapon that fits the way you play...Yes some weapons are better than others...But I personally look for fit more than best.

This isnt UT/Wolfenstein/Q3...Jumping around like a damn rabbit is detrimental to your aiming.It increases your CoF substantially.Take a knee and fire in bursts.There is no body part you should aim for...Go for center mass.

Learn your weapons CoF...Learn how many shots or how long a burst you can get off before your CoF gets huge.

CoF = Cone of Fire btw

The proper tools for the proper job.This game consists of a lot of rock/paper/scissors.Learn whats good for what situation.Some things are a no win situation...ie: see a Full health MAX...Your carrying the basic weapon/gear.Just run...Your not gonna win.MAYBE youll get away and come back to fight another day.

DONT leave vehicles on the pad...PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD and OJ.

Be realistic....Your NOT going to take out 5 Phoenix users with a Reaver head on.Your NOT going to take down a Prowler with a hand gun...Dont come screaming this game sucks when ya loose that fight.

TRY and be part of your squad...It really is a much funner game when you are part of the team.

Cloaked units can be seen when moving.Not easily but can be seen.IF you think ya saw something...SHOOT IT!!

DONT SHOOT ME!!!Im on your team fool!Hitting me will cause me to kill you and add up grief for me...We dont want that do we?

Tips on flying...You have afterburners.They REALLY keep you from getting killed when you use them right.You vs the Towers guns = you lose.Use the afterburners and get the hell outta Detroit

Its MUCH easier to hit targets in 1st person.While its easier and BETTER because you can see idiots that are about to run in front of your vehicle....To drive/fly in 3rd person...The button is "T" to swap views.

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When you receive a tell, use BACKSPACE to reply back.

To change weapon to secondary mode right click,right click again to change back to change ammo configuration hit X, R is for reload, Z is to zoom in. Yeah, I know, all this is in the manual, but not everyone looks there.

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To perform a Hot Drop, Alt + G.
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TTH = Time to Hack?
TTC = Time to Crack?
CC = Control Console
BD = Back Door
WP = Waypoint
CEP = Command Exp Points
BEP = Battle Exp Points
GR = Generator Room
ET = Equipment Terminal
VT = Vehicle Terminal
MT = Medical Terminal
Hit V to bring up list of voice commands.

In order to call a medic hit the keys on your keyboard in this order V-N-M.

You can talk until you click the respawn button after you die.

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Inside bases zoom your radar in using the [ and ] keys. Once zoomed in you'll see a map of the base showing each room and hallway by the level your on. Very helpful when trying to find your way around.

Text commands...

/t = tell
/l = local area
/b = broadcast
/s = squad
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On the default map view (hit "M") on a continent, you can see bases, but not towers. Hit "Z" to zoom in and towers will show up on the map at a specific level. Hit "X" to zoom back out.
A glowing pillar of light in the sky means your squad leader has set a waypoint. Look at your map for a glowing "1," "2," and/or "3" to see where that waypoint is, and proceed to it on the squadleader's command.

Yes, some weapons will be very powerful against you. I guarantee you though, for every enemy unit that blows you away over and over, there is a corresponding unit on your team that can similarly dominate that enemy unit. If you really wanna start killing MAXes, do some research at your Sanctuary's certification terminal to find out how.
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If you're gonna run out in the road/area out by your sanctuary, LOOK BOTH WAYS.

Just as you would in real life- Many times I see people in their own little world run in front of a full speed Vanguard (mine =(....) without the pilot attempting to crush you... it's not easy to gain momentum in those, and even worse when you get grief from someone deciding, I KNOW! Let's play on the freeway!
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After reading the manual, read the tutorial.
planetside.station.sony.c..._index.jsp
planetside.station.sony.c...torial.jsp
(You need to be in the beta to read those URLs)
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If you see something and its clear running by you, For God sakes, make sure they are not on your team. ie, green bar and name over head = Dont Shoot.
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I must say, one of my greatest annoyances is seeing people running around without even Agile armor on... even after I see them visit an equipment terminal.

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Try to be aware of what is going on around you. Don't jump in front of a friendly MAX who is locked down in the middle of a doorway raining hell. He can defend better than you can, so let him do his work and go around. Don't cross friendly lines of fire, go behind them.
Also, if a MAX is in your way, politely ask him to move. Don't yell.
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Reaver Pilots:
- Do not just Hover.

- Rebind your "Fly Up" key to something like Right Mouse. This way you can look down (and fire if nessary), move around, and still stay fairly high from the ground. All you need to do is hold the button that you bound "Fly Up".

- Rockets take about 2 Seconds to impact at around 100 meters. Lead your shot. ie: Fire rocket where you think enemy will goto.

- Always run away when more then 50% damaged. I don't care if you have full ammo. Get the hell outta dodge.

- Rockets are much better then 20mm cannons for ground targets. Best thing to do is setup a configuration with rocket ammo. I named one of my config's "Reaver Supplies". Don't forget the rifle too. Then open your trunk, and throw away the 20mm ammo and replace them with rocket ammo.

- Attack all air before attacking ground units. Air units are higher priority considering they can kill you fairly easily. This includes the Galaxy! Use 20mm cannons, and if you think you can hit the air unit then fire off rockets.

- Even the Reaver Rockets have a cone of fire, test it if ya don't believe me. Fire rockets in 2 round burst, and don't forget to reload!!

- When making a ground attack against large numbers do not just hover and strafe. Instead get high and dive bomb, as you get close to the enemy throw out your salvo, and then boost the hell out of there. The reason behind this is if your high enough you can actually go a speeds of 105% or more without afterburner, just from diving down, and then you can afterburn out of there without even taking damage.

- Just like anything else in this game, 2 Reavers are better then 1.
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If you spawn at an Advanced Mobile Station, read the pop up text before you start pushing buttons on it. I had nubs undeploy my AMS three times in about 30 minutes thinking they were buying something from the rear terminal, when in fact they were on the wrong end of the AMS.

I had to lock it, which sucks because I like to give other people the option to move it if it's been discovered and I'm not around.
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Look at everything that has a planetside logo over it, it gives you free xp.
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Learn how to find you squads Galaxy.
Use M to bring up the map, Z and X to zoom in/out. Find numbers. Go toward numbers.

Press right mouse button to set a waypoint for yourself. Very useful. Attacking a facilty - set a waypoint. Defending the fac. and enemy just took a tower next to it - set a waypoint, get ready.

Never go into radio silence. Reply if people are talking to you. Especially the squad leader. Especially when everybody is waiting in the Galaxy...
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Also, don't stand in front of people that look experienced when your base is being attacked. I got over 200 grief points last night, defending a base from a bunch of MAXs (I was in reinforced using 6 round bursts of the rocklet) and newbs kept running right in front of me in spawn armor, spawn armor / weapons stand NO CHANCE against a max, unless there's 20 of you in a circle around it, so if someone's got heavy weapons (MISSILES) move aside until they die. Also, squads give MUCH better exp and a lot faster, so concentrate on grouping and helping out a bunch.
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I may have lost this in the shuffle, but I've found that once you've got a handful of certs and can fill in multiple roles, it's a good idea to bind your favorite loadouts for those roles to the favorites spots on the menu. If I need to duck out of sight quickly, I can jump out of a spawn tube, hit an equipment terminal and be invisible in seconds. Likewise, if there's a need for someone to repair something, I can use/hack an equip term and be decked out for repairs in two keystrokes. I've had the shave off in seconds mean the difference between stopping a hack and losing another 15 mins to a waiting game of re-hack.
Oh, and I'm sure it's semi-obvious, but everyone should carry a REK. Y'know "just in case."

Sorry if any of this is lame and/or repeats of something futher up. I thought I read it all, but this game's been keeping me up till 6AM for a couple weeks now. It's starting to take its toll...
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Dont spam the chat when the server is down.
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Don't be a squadleader unless you are going to lead. Squadleaders who don't lead are worthless.
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When you enter/leave a base, use [ and ] to adjust your HUD Radar accordingly. Always try to be zoomed in as far as possible inside bases, so you know where you are going.
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Press ALT + NUMBER OF THE SQUAD MEMBER to talk to just that member, IE ALT + 1 talk to just squad leader.
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Keep moving. Yes, he already said it, but it's that important. A hovering Reaver is dead meat and easy to hit. This doesn't mean you should be flying straight all-out all over the place; if you're going to hover, strafe. Just don't stand still.

Learn when to use your afterburners. Do NOT use them up approaching a location you know or even have the slightest hint that may have enemies in it. You will need them to haul ass if you start taking fire over an enemy base.

Learn the art of the quick takeoff. This is crucial if a base of yours is under attack and you're scrambling to get a Reaver off the launch pad. Get in, press E (or whatever you have bound for fly up) to get a few feet up, yank your mouse back so you're pointing up, hit Q and spacebar to fire your afterburners. I can be off the ground, at high speed and gaining altitude in about 5 seconds this way. The faster you get off the ground and in the air, the less chance the enemy has of denying you your flight.

When in pursuit of an enemy vehicle, either ground or air, pay close attention to their speed. One of the best tactics to use if you're going full speed and a Reaver is pursuing you? Easy -- stop. Reavers don't have the best braking speed, and if you're lucky, the Reaver pilot will overshoot you and have to come around again, which might be the time you need to whip out an AV weapon (if ground) or to escape/get on their six (air). Conversely, if you're flying a Reaver and are being pursued by an air unit, trying stopping and moving up or down, especially if you've lead your opponent on a chase. Chances are they will be at full speed/afterburners and may not have the reaction time to stop.

Learn to land quickly. The ground does not have to be completely flat, but be careful of hilly areas. Fly in fast towards the ground, nose down, until you are near the earth, then level out, reverse speed, and hit your "fly down" key. Landing with just the "fly down" key and no forward momentum can kill if enemies are around because it's so slow.

Definitely make an equipment setup that includes Reaver ammo in your inventory. Now that my character has basic engineering my setup is something like this:

AMP (main firearm) and maybe some ammo.
Nano gun and ammo -- to repair the Reaver.
Reaver ammo -- your choice.
Jamming/frag grenades -- for when you've been downed in a hornet's nest and want to escape or go out in a blaze of glory, which I occasionally do

With this setup, and using some of the techniques I listed above, if I'm damaged at 50% or more, I'm able to afterburner away from an engagement, land, repair, and rearm my ship and be back in the action in a minute, minute and a half, tops, compared to spending an entire engagement with next to no armor and ammo and risking being blown up without a way to get a new Reaver close at hand. Having the repair equipment also helps my squad when things calm down, as I can help repair facilities in the base, etc.

I also have an equipment setup that is the above but without the repair equipment, and is just Reaver ammo in the backpack. Both setups use the Agile suit, BTW.

I love the Reaver! I feel uncomfortable on the ground...I love the freedom and mobility the ship affords. And most of all, I love the way the afterburners sound when they kick in...feel like I'm piloting Airwolf or something.
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To use grenades you must move them into one of your weapon slots (ie pistol slot). Then you have to put the pistol somewhere in your inventory but can use grenades.
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To reiterate the use of a REK. It is my opinion that if you are in anything other a MAX suit, you should always have a REK in your second one handed slot. I personally even load one up in my MAX suits' inventory in case no one has.
Also, ANYONE can hack a CC. You don't have to be certified to do basic hacking. I ran into this three times this last weekend, with people who obviously just started playing. I'd have a tower locked down in my MAX suit, waiting for someone to come hack the CC to capture it. Someone walks in and I say "Hack the CC". They say "I can't, I don't have that cert", or "I don't have the REK".

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Dont Leave your Transportation in front of the V. term in the VR room. Move it to the side then get out.
It sucks to have 20 things sitting in front so you cant get off the pad.
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Squad Chat: Click the Send button on the chat window and select Squad to chat only to your squadmates. Easier than typing /s each time.

Ammo: Hit X to swap between normal and armor-piercing (AP) ammo. Use this to damage different types of units (i.e. MAXs, vehicles, turrets, etc. should be hit with AP ammo). This can make all the difference in the world.

Favorites: Use the Favorites tab on the Equipment Terminal to save your favorite weapon/armor configuration. It saves a lot of time when you respawn.

Auto-Run: Hit Q to auto-run (instead of having to hold down W to run). Nice, especially for MAX units. Note that MAX units cannot use weapons while running like this.

ESC: Common sense. Hit ESC key to close pop-ups. Also, I *think* you can hit CTRL+P to turn off the pop-up help system altogether.

Character Sheet: Hit O to open your character sheet. There's also a nifty Stats button that lets you see your kills. Now, if I could only figure out what those two columns mean....

Friends: Getting along real well with a squadmate? Formed an outfit? Tag some players as Friends; PlanetSide will tell you when they come online or go offline. Hit P and go to the Friends tab. I think the player has to be online at the time you make them a friend, though.

MAX Special Abilities: When in MAX armor, hit spacebar to use the MAX's special ability (differs with each empire). For example, the VS MAX gets a jump-jet effect.

MAX = Easy Want to get right into the action with no idea what you're doing? Try your hand at a MAX. It's easy, fun, and will satisfy your bloodlust. =P

Squad Benefits: Get into a squad. You benefit from the xp earned by the group -- a big plus. And squadmates usually try to help out the new guy with advice, etc.

Speak Up: If you're a specialist of some kind, let your squad know. Tell them you are an engineer, hacker, galaxy pilot, etc. Don't make them ask you -- say it loud and proud.

Have Fun!!
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Sam

Thanks for the tips, I just printed out the manual to read and the patch just finished downloading. As soon as I get off of work I plan to play for a few hours tonight.

The tutorial is better than the Manual, print that out first!

Sam

Its a damn fun game. been playing for abit over a week.

The game has tons of potential.

I'm a big Tribes fan, and I just applied for the beta. Any Tribes veterans playing PlanetSide? What do you think?