Why I hate AutoPilots...

[Jittery-Joe]

Picture the scene:
Phantom class at P-Mar, second lap, me in third in a piranha. Coming up to the first set of jumps and I get an AutoPilot. The AutoPilot manages to take me straight up the rear end of another craft (Auricom I think) just as it launches some mines. The piranha (that had already taken some beating) didn't stand a chance. :evil:
has anyone else had a smilar fate with AutoPilots, or is it just my UNBELIEVEABLE luck?

[Asayyeah]

oh yes definitely it happended to me several time before i noticed something important : when you get your autopilot there's a little period in which the speed growth, so if you have the bad luck to hit the bottom of a F... ship during this quick period , you will block behind him and then probably received any kind of ' fruits ' like mines for example... :cry:

Actually i am also playing Pmar, i've already started to update my old times there ( Vector& venom sr+TT ) and following my next quest by rapier the now...

[HeMan]

That happens to me constantly :)

I like the 2097 aouto pilots much better, it even takes you through the pit stops! :)

[G'Kyl]

Which, let's not forget this, is a bad thing when your shields are at max and with the 2097 autopilot being rather slow even on standard "tarmac". ;)

[science]

autopilots are the AG equivalent of training wheels. Once you know how to ride, you're better off without them. 8)

[Lance]

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sshhhh. *surreptiously unbolts extra wheels from his old ten-speed* *tippy-toes out* *walks loudly back in and whistles unconcernedly*

what's up guys? what are we talking about?
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[Rapier Racer]

Ha ha Lance, as for the auto pilots I simply don't like losing the full control of my ship, ad yes back in the days where I used the occasional autopilot it would go over mines and mines aren't good for an Assegai so it says in the big book of healthy ships.

[Lance]

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''so it says in the big book of healthy ships.''
nicely said

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i don't really use auto-pilots except sometimes on manor-top phantom, where it seems i mostly don't crash when AP stops and it really is faster than my piloting manually through those 90 degree corners. everywhere else when the auto-pilot comes off, i crash 9 times out of 10. except for those occasions when i crash 10 times out of 10
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[G'Kyl]

Lance, you shoudl always try disabling the AP on a straight, just before it turns off by itself. One really learns doing that when playing XL... ;)

By the way, one cool thing about AP is to accelerate hard into the beginning of a series of tight turns, head for the nearest wall and hit the AP right before you crash. I suppose everyone here knows that, but it's fun enough to mention it just one more time. ;)

[HeMan]

Why didn't I taught of turning the AP off? :) With that technique I acheaved the 9. place on W3O SE Phantom race time on hi-fumii, jupi! :)

[Lance]

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i can wait till the ship has straightened out and is pointed right where i want to go, then turn off the auto-pilot, at which point the ship is forced left and crashes into the wall. this has happened way too many times. this generally happens in WO3 NTSC. in WO2, it is more likely to keep going in the direction you have it pointed. in that game i am most likely to have an accident when i try to drop the auto-pilot whilst using a neGcon. this is due to the button configuration i use, but other configurations seem to work less well for me overall
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[lunar]

some autopilot cancellation situations require a simaltaneous cancel-brake-steer maneuver that has to be perfectly timed and is pretty much impossible on a negcon without some very undignified and agonising finger shuffling at least - though I hear there`s a race of aliens somewhere near Alpha-Centauri who have hand configurations that are just right for the job.

now I have a neg I have learned to look down on Autopilots. When I was competing for first places I would use them - whatever it takes to win - but now that this possibility is about as remote as that alien planet near Alpha Centauri I can afford to be pure.........wipeout pure..... sounds like a cool name for a game I think.

this time last year I had between 35 and 40 table topping positions. My last three hung on until recently, and now Arnaud has seized them, like William of Normandy crossing the channel and firing his arrow in my eye, in a most friendly and gentlemanly way though of course. But how history repeats itself. It had to happen. I can take it. :wink:

Of course if an opportunity presents itself, and it requires me to use the autopilot, I will not hesitate.

[Lance]

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well, at least it took almost thousand years for another Norman conqueror to come along. so he picked the Wolds this time instead of Hastings? we may have to blockade that port of Le Havre
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[Asayyeah]

:lol: :lol:

How can i answer to that : ' (...)William of Normandy crossing the channel and firing his arrow in my eye(...)' or that : ' (...)another Norman conqueror ' and tthe best :lol: for the end : 'we may have to blockade that port of Le Havre '

As i can't find a good fun word to answer to those kindly gentlemen :wink: , i have decided to leave definitely my port of Le Havre to emigrate to ' Al-pha -Sartwellis ' near alpha-centauri and join my new Alien's Neggie community...

:lol: :lol:

More seriously, yesterday night was a great wipeout meeting in my home sweet home 'cause today is our national fest, so i invited 3 wipers for dinner : Sleeh-0003(Anthony), Vic/cachou(David) & Skippou (Jean-Robert) and to play i-link 2097 ( 2 tv+ 2 Neggie) during 6 hours!! We just ended that at 4.30 am :oops:
We have only played Talon's reach and Sagarmatha using feisar in Venom and then in rapier class to equalize the chance for everyone and we really had great time challenging eachothers.

The ' Le Havre/crazy/wipers/team' are greetings all the members of Wipeoutzone : cheers buddies :D

[Foxdragon]

Autopilot is pointless...it slows down your craft, whilst the competion just overtakes.

[HeMan]

If you can drive through all the shikanes faster than the autopilot, than respact man :)

[G'Kyl]

What game were you playing, Foxdragon? ;) Unless the AP runs into mines or you are being hit by any ordinance while on AP, it never slows down your craft so fast others could overtake you. On some rare occasion...yes, maybe. But usually it does a fine job at getting you steady around some sharp turns (1 and 2097) or even makes up some time over your competitors (3/SE). At least as far as I know. And I have been using AP a LOT at times. How do you come to such a statement?

[Rapier Racer]

Maybe it's the Fusion autopilot witch is the biggest pile of crap ever, man it rocks your ship from side to side like the pilot is pissed!! The autopilot on Fusion is so poor that I never use it, it's not needed anyway since the tracks are so wide, what happened to it? it smashes you off walls and everything and it slows you down. You could control the craft better whilst wearing a blindfold

[Foxdragon]

What game were you playing, Foxdragon? ;) Unless the AP runs into mines or you are being hit by any ordinance while on AP, it never slows down your craft so fast others could overtake you. On some rare occasion...yes, maybe. But usually it does a fine job at getting you steady around some sharp turns (1 and 2097) or even makes up some time over your competitors (3/SE). At least as far as I know. And I have been using AP a LOT at times. How do you come to such a statement?

Wip3out: SE. I usually drop it as soon as, just that I prefer to remain in control of whatever craft I'm in control of, and making good use of the turbo-pads...something which the Auto does not.

[HeMan]

I dont think AP needs the turbo pads.. :)

[Asayyeah]

yes it needs , obviously the difference is quite big ( in term of time) in SE & W3O in each classes; i have noticed that very often. just before hitting a blue pad and engage AP, use first your boost and see what happend...

[Foxdragon]

yes it needs , obviously the difference is quite big ( in term of time) in SE & W3O in each classes; i have noticed that very often. just before hitting a blue pad and engage AP, use first your boost and see what happend...

I know about the Turbo-Hyper trick, basically it'll send your crafts speed to Max., but only for a short while, plus it also depends on whether the Turbopad is a Single or a Double.

[Asayyeah]

Yes, you are right Foxdragon. In speaking about AP in 3 or SE, did someone notice that sometimes in Manor Top Phantom, your AP is going largely outside the track , searching to get back the road again but loosing 3 or 4 sec to succeed. This happended to me after the little shorcut and just before a tricky difficultie ( the big chicanes )

Btw these chicanes are extremely hard to deal with an icaras, as a matter of fact you can see many pilots using Assegai with his cool handling on higher class of speed, but i have decided to change the rules :D Despite of his handling like a Ford T :o , i run with it , trying to get topping positions in 3 and SE... hard task but great challenge vs Al's Assegai :)

[science]

Al ran Icarus in single race phantom on manortop. That is the only place that I know of that autopilots can pay off.

[Asayyeah]

Joel :i agree with you; ive checked the NTSC tables : Al is using an Assagai for TT in Phantom and SR rapier . He used only icaras in phantom SR. ( btw great job with your amazing race times in phantom TT & SR : you push Al to his limit !! )
However i don't have that version; i ve played W3O Pal & SE and Al used basically Assegai on Manor Top( except for Phantom SR Se and laptime phantom SR W3O)
I must say that's Assegai could be the ultimate ship in TT for that track and icaras for SR ( make a pray for getting 1 AP per lap...).
So my Manor Top session is ended and the result is : I ve missed 4 topping positions only in W3O ( Rapier race time SR and TT , rapier laptime TT, phantom TT racetime), get all First place in SE. 8)

[username]

i agree with all said above 8) but :arrow: there is one other good use too:
when on the final lap keep an autopilot!! that way if you have low shield and hear a warning ENGAGE AUTOPILOT IMMEDIATLY even if your ship is eliminated it will keep you moving on for a little while longer- its helped me over 5 times 8) (if your near enough the end of the race it will take you over the last checkpoint--- :lol:

:twisted: this will not work on fusion :twisted: