Topic: in OP, massive damage from a star?

[TAnimaL]

So a weird thing happened in a OP game the other night that I've never seen before and I wondered if anyone else has seen this.

Multiplayer Free-For-All on a large map with planets, I was in a  Fed XCF vs a player-controlled Rom Megahawk (a SFB ship, similar to a Condor) vs 3 AI Klingon D7s. After the Klinks got toasted, we made a few battle passes with me on the losing end, so I decided to leave. I wanted to discourage pursuit and decided, "Hey, I've never flown close by the star in the system, let's go see." My opponent chose to follow as I flew towards (not at) the sun, passing it at about range 22.

When he got to about range 25 from the sun, his  LF shield (facing the sun), which had been at around 60%, started taking hits, then dropped, and the internals started racking up on his ship. He was forced to slow, and in turning away from the sun, his LR shield took damage and dropped, and a few seconds later he blew up. Victory for the Feds!

Another weirdness to it was that I was just as close to the sun, and my shields held. And the next day I played a solo version of the same exact game vs the AI., where we both hung out at range 9 from the sun with some shields down and it ws only my photons that blew it up.

I'm just really curious if anyone else ever saw this.

[Dizzy]

Yes that happened in a PvP match with me vs Shadowlord and a sun. I took massive damage and he none. It is a game bug and I dont play in missions that have suns anymore even tho they can be hella fun, its bugged and not fair. It has also happened to others.

[Tulwar]

What I've run into is the center for the damage radiating from the star does not seem to be centered on the model of the star.  You can come very close to the star from one side, without much damage, but if you try running past the star, you start suffering heavier damage as you try to escape.  We could just be disoriented by the lack of landmarks in the game, but I think my explanation is likely.

I definitely love to take down the front shields of the AI's and chase them into the sun.  Leading them through ion storms is fun, as well.

[Lieutenant_Q]

Much of my experience with the Large Planets map in Skirmish is that the suns radiation field is quite deadly.  But it can only affect one ship at a time.  And by some strange glitch, it affects the ship further away.  But it affects that ship as if its at the range of the closer ship.  Something I would do in Battlefests, is take my crippled ship into the sun, and let the AIs follow me, when my ship dies and respawns.  I immediately turn towards the sun, and fire a probe towards it (not directly at it because if it hits the sun it only does half the effect).  Imagine my glee when I witness three or four explosions as the probe passes by the star. 

[FA Frey XC]

Q, that's actually not quite correct.

This is a BUG, and therefor considered an EXPLOIT if used against live players.

If you do EXACTLY speed 20, there is a chance that as you cross into the radiation zone of the sun you will suffer no damage. This may continue for the entire game, or it could stop at any time and you begin taking damage from the side facing the sun.

In our Co Op missions with Co-Op Ace, I'm somewhat famous for utilizing the "Freyman Maneuver" which is just what I said above. You'll see many many AI go boom if it works.

If it doesn't?

 



Regards,

[TAnimaL]

I was at speed 26 when my opponent starting taking hits but I might have been closer to 21 when I crossed into the radiation zone. My ship did take a little bit of shield damage, but it was a X-ship; don't know if that matters.

I sooo don't want to open a can of worms a la "shuttle drop on a fighter squadron," but,

as an exploit of a bug, is it a valid tactic?

<ducking under table>

I mean, he followed me towards the sun, after all

[FCM_SFHQ_XC]

I suppose it kinda depends on your viewpoint, while it is a bug, unlike some bugs out there, there can actually be a realistic side to this one, simply not all ships and engineers are the same, as such, some engineers can better compensate the shields to hold back the solar radiation while others might not be able to, and in acting it out, the engineer might or might not be able to keep up with compensating for the sun's radiation damage thus, some ships die, some ships hold on in the solar radiation zone for any period of time, needless to say its actually one of those bugs that *can* bring a realistic element to the game, since Im sure all have seen how ships will try to shake off other hostile ships by diving into a planet's atmosphere, or going near the sun in ST episodes (and other space movies). I just kinda wish it was a little bit more balanced in how the sun does its damage, as since even the best ships will not take 0 damage from the sun but at least this one is somewhat realistic