Me failing at WOHD - Also starring Greenix & KGB1971

[AG-wolf]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7veTv9nL7ak&fmt=18

Can anyone give any constructive hints? :3 Other than practice more and stop hitting walls? I really can't get the hang of Phantom yet for some reason :P I can do pretty well on Rapier, but it seems like there's no point trying to be the biggest fish in a small pond by playing the slower speed classes :/

[crawdad62]

We need to play together. You look about like me. Last night I was banging walls all night. I did get my AG assassin through some miracle last night. My problem is I don't do much playing outside of online (which I should, I know) and I'll race whatever there is to race so I end up racing Venom a lot or Flash or..... well you get the picture. I don't race enough in Phantom to be really good. More like just enough not to embarrass myself.

[blackwiggle]

Your applying your air brakes to late on nearly every corner,also your will find that is basically just learning the timing of each corner.
Imagine each corner as a beat/note in a game like guitar hero or similar,the track is the song.
You know the song and can see the beat coming but your missing it,you should be anticipating it as the song/track doesn't change,only the tempo if you slow down due to hitting something.
Best way to get your timing right is to practice in racesbox speed laps.

Also I find the shadows falling across the tracks at specific points great as marker points for knowing when to start turning,so just look for them and use them.
It will all fall into place.

[Connavar]

I think you're doing ok, maybe not the first 2 laps because you were constantly
zigzagging (lol I was playing exactly like that a few weeks ago), but the others
were good enough, you just need to practice a bit more.
You need to use more sideshifting, including when you hit a wall, to minimize
its impact. Also you should show an easier track to see, it might simply be that
you're not used to this track?

[KGB]

If I were you, I just wouldn't go anywhere near rapier again.
You won't get any faster if you play with pilots that are not as good as you.

You need to bite the bullet I'm afraid and make the step up to phantom, you may suffer some heavy defeats at first which may be hard to take but it is good for the soul to lose sometimes and also makes you a better winner.

Speed lap at Phantom is good training place, if you do enough of them you will suddenly find that you "get" the track

And anyway your not that bad, if its any consolation i got my arse kicked in Avalon not much after the races we had been having. :|

[eLhabib]

From what I can see in the video, you'll be fine in a couple of weeks, don't worry. Right now, you are still reacting to the track, because you don't know all the turns by heart yet. Clock some Speed Lap hours and you'll learn the exact timing of the turns. Btw Metropia Reverse is a particularly hard place to be in if you don't know every turn yet. Good video :+

[lunar]

If I were you, I just wouldn't go anywhere near rapier again.
You need to bite the bullet I'm afraid and make the step up to phantom,

I agree completely. If you aspire to play Phantom, the only way to do it is to just do it, along with some long speed lap sessions to learn the tracks and a bit of zone to acclimatize to the speed. Slower classes will do nothing for you, imo.

HD does take some getting used to and for me suffers from the over-twitchy handling like Pulse, though not quite that bad. I think don`t be afraid to brake-tap a lot to keep the ship going straight while you`re learning it, and training yourself that this is nothing like flying an old-school Qirex at all. Afterwards you can cut down on the braking and start to use more sideshift. I`m still getting to grips with the way this game handles too, but I do really like it now.

[blackwiggle]

AG-Wolf: I just watched that video again and apart from missed speed pads I noticed you weren't doing yourself any favours with your choice of places to use your turbo boost [just before a corner etc],and you didn't BR once and you had plenty of opportunities to,have a look back a few pages in the HD section and there is a post listing best places on each track to BOOST/BR as posted by the top record holders.

Avalon is the toughest sort of racing there is KGB1971,maybe that is what AG-Wolf should be practicing on actually.

Racebox-Phantom-12 race Tournament-Weapons off-Elite AI.

You HAVE to get your racing line correct playing this way [few missed speed pads] otherwise you'll constantly be last,and you have to conserve your shield because there's no pick up's.
This is where you learn ,when and where the best place to BR is,since the Elite AI never BR's this will often win you the race or at least get you a high placing.

If you can end up in 3rd place or better at tournament end your doing really well.
It's NOT easy,a lot of pilots at this forum would have trouble doing it over 12 races,myself included.

That form of practice will get you zooming around and holding your own against the fastest pilots online in no time.

[rdmx]

Someone who zig-zags more than me! *hugs*

[KGB]

Blackwiggle: I don't really agree that Avalon races are the hardest at all. Once your on your racing line then nothing much can go wrong apart from the odd mistake. You do need to know where your speed pads are and how to get to them though. On the other hand trying to make your way round a track that's littered with mines, bombs and the like, is what makes a great pilot. (I am far from that though!). Don't get me wrong, i love Avalon races.

AG Wolf: You obviously know your way round the tracks at Rapier speeds so you need to ask yourself what's changed. Simply, you need to input your commands quicker (this is a very cold way of putting it). I'm no expert at these tracks but there is a rhythm to all of them that is there to learn and I'm still struggling with some myself, Half the trick is getting back into the rhythm once you get blown to bits out of it.


Please add me as a friend and ill race you any time. Keep an eye on all your race records on Phantom and I'm sure they will drop very fast once you get into it.

[blackwiggle]

The hardest thing about racing with weapons is getting them before the other racers.
A real pain if your running a close second,first place gets the weapons,you run over an inactive pad, and it reactivates for the racer coming third so they get the pick up.
Being the meat in an AG sandwich has caused my demise on the race track far to often.:frown:

[Connavar]

^ I agree, but normally this should only happen with opponents of your exact
level, normally the leader would be a bit faster (so you can pick up a weapon
at some time), or a bit slower (then you can overtake him normally) ...
if the level is the same then maybe it's wise to slow down a bit, to get all
those weapons (turbo, missile, quake)!

[xtriko]

AG-wolf, hi there. i can also give you some advices. 1st of all. Metropia reverse is not a good track to start phantom. those blind turns can be really hard. one thing you should start doing is. pitch. on this track is very important to not go so high on the section that is before the wierd loop. even if you pitch down, you can do a barrel roll. the other thing is Side Shift. this is SO usefull. try it and find a way to use it in a helpful way. don't oversteer. be more smooth. :) but you are in the good way ;) see you soon on the tracks :D

[H3avyM3tal]

AG, I'm in the same boat as you. I have time to play HD only on weekends, and by the time I do get to play I need to get accustomed to Phantom speed all over again. 5 days of no HD action is having it's effects on my skills, so I'm just like you (In a way): Can do weel on Rapier, but trying to fly with the big guys is kinda out of my league :)

[Greenix]

Don't be hard on yourself AG-Wolf, to be honest with you your racing is a lot better then most pilots'. I can't really give any advice without copying what other's have said. Just go over and over each track in SL. I will however emphasize the points which have been made about Side Shift. I noticed that you never used it. On the blind turn and the turn just after (leading to the hill with a weapon and boost pad on) I use side shift and it saves just that little bit more time. Side Shift is also great for getting off a wall quickly when grinding.

Overall i'd say start using Side Shift to free yourself from a wall (this will most likely be during nasty turns) and with practice and time, you will naturally start to side shift before hitting the wall instead of afterwards, therefore increasing the quality of your lines, turns and cutting down you race times :+

(phew, hope my long reply hasn't killed anyone of boredom)

[rdmx]

If you think that's long, you should see ProblemSolver's average posts :dizzy

[Darkdrium777]

He cheats, he skips lines. D:

[CaptainWipeout]

Phantom is a completely different race from the others - slightly different techniques apply - i.e. for steering and braking you are simply touching the pad for a split second at the right time in most of cases.

Also - I find Icarus great in other classes of race but it's annoying in Phantom so I use Mirage. Different teams may make a difference.

If I don't warm up before hand on a campaign phantom race I'm useless if I go in straight away on a tournament 'cold'. I need to get into the 'zone' and get used to the speed which only takes about 5 minutes.