Noob Questions - Flame if you want but I have Lurked & looked & couldn't find answers

[2mthsTheSniper]

XP\BEP awarded varies from kill to kill - What are the major factors?
When in a squad how is XP\BEP distributed. Ie is the value of the kill divided between all members?
I've had 500 XP for a one shot snipe kill [Whilst solo] (can't see why it was worth that much) and last night as little as 18 XP for shooting a cloaker with tank shell [squadded up]

What Implants do people actualy find useful and in what roles?

Is it a lack of bandwith or PC spec that causes 'lag' in 'zerg' (?) situations?
[Cos it kills me for upto 10s - and no it's not because I'm dead (though that normally follows pretty quickly)]

TIA

[GreyFox]

It's depending on how long that player has been alive. I don't know if it matters how many kills that player did during his "alive time", but it's basically how good he's been at surviving.

I think now that there is a bonus for doing kills in your own SOI too.


About the lag, I think most of this "lag" people experience is FPS lag, and it's mostly effected by the lack of RAM.
I've heard that 1Gb of RAM fixes most problems with this, and setting your virtual memory to a FIXED size is also a good thing. Like 2 Gb.

And I can't live without my Adv.Targeting Implant.

[Liquidtide]

EXP is based, I believe, on how long your enemy has been alive.

Darklight is a must have implant. After that most people like Surge, Audio Amp, and Adv. Targeting (not recommended).

You need at least DSL, Cable to really enjoy this game, that causes Lag, PC specs will make that lag worse by not drawing fast enough. Your ping might be great but if your PC can't draw it then it doesn't help. Basically you need both.

[undetected]

well the more equipped the person u killed... and th longer it has been since he died... = more xp
not sure about squad points though

[Otherick]

about squads

I beleive that if someone makes a kill in your squad lets say 100 xp then all members of the squad get 100 xp.

Dark Light is good for anyone one

Surge- Nice for cloakers to get out of a tight spot

Silent Run- Good for the cloakers to as u can get out of anywhere quietly

Adv Targting-Nice for snipers so you can pick out the weaker targets and get 1 shot kills

Range Mag.- I guess this is for your run of the mil grunt, making it so that he can tell whats going on around him at long ranges without having to use a sniper rifle.

[TeraHertz]

What Implants do people actualy find useful and in what roles?



Adv. Targetting: Essential for vehice gunners and snipers

Surge: Useful for our manouvering your enemy, or getting closer to them. If you are NC and have heavy assault (I probably shouldn't say this) surge is a must have. Also useful for low level transport and out flanking the enemy.

DarkLight: I don't use it myself, and I get owned by alot of cloakers as a result of it. If you find yourself being killed alot by cloakers, use this. Virtualy useless for vehicle pilots and gunners. extremley useful for Control Console defence.

Personal Shield: Takes a bit of skill and a readily to hand hotkey. Can be the deciding factor in a 1 on 1 fight, but used at the wrong time will drain your stamina and leave you a sitting duck.

Range Magnifier: Only use this if you have maximum view range set in your graphics options. Used by many recon groups before an assault. Possibly the most niche implant, and called useless by many.

AudiAmplifier: detects moving enemy units in your vicinity unless they are using silent run. Personaly I believe the whole radar system to be bugged to hell, and often this implant will not work at all. Sometimes even if you have interlink people wont show up when the should. Nevertheless, a great implant if you like area awareness. Extremley useful in covert attack to avoid enemies, and in defence to tell when people are about to come through a door.

Silent Run: Renders you invisible to AudiAmp. Very useful for cloakers and covert attacks by agile/rexo.

Second Wind: Can save your ass sometimes when you're nearly dead. I find it just tends to postpone the inevitable by a split second. if you're so far gone it activates, its already too late in a close range fight. Useful in ranged battles, or places you can easily pull back safley.

Regeneration: Totaly pointless if you're in a decent squad with a medic, or you're a medic yourself. Useul for the lower ranks, and solo players who are too self centred to cert as something that could be used to help others.

[Mudflap]

Squad xp definitely does nto work as described above. Squad xp is divided! I've gotten kills for 800xp, but in a squad they've never capped 300xp. I don't think it's a straight divide though, so it's probably for a squad of 10 something like xp/6 per person.

Implants to have....
Darklight is important for taking out cloakers, but it's not worth much in a vehicle.
Advanced Targetting is very beneficial for us Lightning drivers. We can't handle a tank, unless the crew is inept, but we can take out one if it's half damaged pretty easy.
Surge is important for several reasons. Surge lets you escape nasty situations quickly, get to a safe spot and heal up. It also shortens long walks and lets you close in on enemies quickly. I try not to use it as an offensive weapon though, because it's kinda cheap.

[Krinsath]

XP\BEP awarded varies from kill to kill - What are the major factors?

1) How long the target has been alive

2) What kind of armor he's wearing (MAXes are still worth slightly more than an equivalent infantry kill up to 600BEP as I recall)

3) Inside of friendly SOI (i.e. - defending) will produce a slight bonus (I believe around 50BEP per kill)

4) If the target is inside of a vehicle (these kills can be worth a ton...especially if you down a loaded transport)

5) Any empire population bonuses (don't think I've ever seen those get higher than a 3% boost or penalty since beta)

When in a squad how is XP\BEP distributed. Ie is the value of the kill divided between all members?

There's a very bizarre equation that determines this...I believe it is something along the lines of:

(BEP value of kill)/(Number of people in squad) + (Number of people in squad) * (bonus variable that I don't remember) + SOI/population bonus (if any)

In *theory*, a squad will produce more kills, thereby making that bonus work in your favor. In *practice* there are too many support soldiers and enemies killing you to make that actually work like the math says. The Devs won't concede the lunacy that is being able to out perform the BEP you get in a squad in three hours with an hour of solo play (which, IMO, should *never* happen...not even once)...so that flawed equation persists to this day. That's why you get 500BEP for one and 18 for the other. Really, the only reason to squad in terms of XP is if you're a support soldier who isn't going to get many kills on their own.

What Implants do people actualy find useful and in what roles?

Adv. Targeting, Dark Light, Range Magnifier. Surge is useful if you want to be one of those who exploits the flaws in PS's engine (not their fault the Devs haven't fixed it...). The others, I haven't really found a real use for...although the Audio implant is useful if you're SpecOps and need to know where enemies in a base are hiding.

Is it a lack of bandwith or PC spec that causes 'lag' in 'zerg' (?) situations?

Both...and neither. It all depends on what's going on. Type in /stats during a zerg and keep your eye on your ping. If even in the worst zerg it doesn't drop below 300ms (assuming your norm with nothing going on is around 60ms), you probably have enough bandwidth. If your FPS are dropping, that's a sign that you need more RAM, hard disk space, Video memory, adjusted settings or a combination of them all. Finally, if you have decent FPS and a good ping in a battle and you're *still* lagging...the problem rest with SOE. I was on Ceryshen last night and there was quite literally a four and five second delay on EVERYTHING. My FPS was between 20-30 and my ping in the upper 90s. Left, went to Searhus and things improved slightly. The sad fact of Internet gaming is that no matter how many things you do to fix lag, there will just be a new source that pops up.

[SilverLord]

The sad fact of Internet gaming is that no matter how many things you do to fix lag, there will just be a new source that pops up.
I love this game but so true my friend.

[Fenrys]

1) Darklight
2) Surge
3) Adv. Targeting


I use Adv. Targeting when flying a reaver, but if you don't get behind big guns often, go with Audio Amp.

[UltraDude]

Terrahertz have you ever played a vs MAX? Regen is neccisary unless your medic follows you 100% of the time and that includes running and jumping on towers.
I for one dont like wasteing a medpack on 10 health damage.

[Madcow]

Terrahertz have you ever played a vs MAX? Regen is neccisary unless your medic follows you 100% of the time and that includes running and jumping on towers.
I for one dont like wasteing a medpack on 10 health damage.

The Quasar is the only MAX where it's remotely possible to run out of ammo. Starfire and Comet have ridiculous amounts of ammo, and there's no reason you can't keep 2-4 health packs as well. I don't waste my health packs at 10 damage either, I still have all my armor and it's not like my health is going to take a beating during a fight unless I'm in a bad way anyhow. Just wait a few more jumps and then down the health pack.