Missile dodging techniques - What do you do?

[Geiss]

After making Four Corners I got to thinking about what the best way was to deal with missiles. Here were some that I could think of:

- Motion along a straight line. When the missiles are fired, you go forwards along your direction of fire. Once they get close, you pull back really quick so that all the missiles are in front of you to make shooting them easier. An advantage is that the aim will still mostly be concentrated on your current targeted part.

- Motion in a circle. You can get missiles to miss and force them to loop around you. Sometimes they time out but most often you can get most of them in front of you while maintaining fire on your current target. You lose some accuracy but you are a harder to get hit since you are varying two of the x,y coordinates instead of only one.

- Motion in a large circle. This sacrifices concentration of fire (the auto aim often will miss what you wanted to hit if you are making mad circles around the entire level) for more manevering room. Often the best choice when facing a large cloud of missiles. Also note that the two methods above are susceptible to rotate to ship weaponry - most often a load of single shots. By moving in larger circles you won't have to worry about a cloud of single shots blocking you in or that one single shot you overlook that nails you because you stayed in the same general area.

- Motion in a zigzag. This method is related to the straightline approach but you change your location on the screen in a way similiar to the small and large circle techniques. Not much differs between the zigzag and the straightline approach except that with the zigzag you change lines often.

Not sure my terminology makes sense to the rest of you but I thought it would lead to an interesting discussion.

[Redsatori]

Well, I don't use auto-aim anymore, as I seemed to have problems hitting my intended target. I have since switched to keyboard movement and mouse aiming. But basically, I just roam around randomly spraying shots everywhere. Seems to work quite well, especially if you can dodge various single/spreashot bullets.

[Geiss]

I actually still use auto aim. I should perhaps give keyboard move and mouse aim a try again. The first time I tried the advanced movement I didn't like the feel but that was a long time ago.

[Redsatori]

It takes a bit of practice to get down right, especially if you aren't used to playing FPS's or MMO's (which have a similar scheme).

[Geiss]

I've played my fair share of FPS games but I'm still too used to mouse move that I leave my ship in a bad place because I'm watching the mouse instead, lol. It'll take some practice but I can already see the benefits of mouse aim. I have some experimenting to do at any rate.

[swartzer]

I'm also in the process of switching to KB move and mouse aim from the old expert aim. I could never stand auto aim, but expert has its own share of problems.

My big problem now is learning to think about moving and targeting separately. And to restrain my urge to jerk the mouse when something's coming at me, instead of hitting the keys like I need to. But I think it'll be superior in the long run.

Oh, and as for missile dodging techniques, I always used to back off to get them in a line, and if I couldn't shoot them all in time, dodge to the side and make them miss me. Doing that at the edge of the screen makes them fall off and vanish. With mouse aim, I'm starting to pick them off at a distance, then return my aim to whatever part I'm trying to kill, but I haven't tested that on enough levels.

[Zeke]

I think you covered all the techniques that I use Geiss.

I've run into levels without moving objects where, if I'm positioned near the missle launcher correctly, the missles will actually loop around me and go off-screen without hitting me, while I fire away at the launchers. I can't remember the names of any of the levels, but one was a simulated laser gun if I remember correctly. It had a few dozen launchers stacked to look like one. It seems that there is a minimum radius coming out of the launcher that the missles can follow. If you're inside that radius it's like you're invisible to the missle. I've never encountered this with a level that had motion.

Next time I come across one of the levels I'm referring to I'll try to remember to repost with more info and a screenshot.

[swartzer]

I remember that gun-looking level too, though not its name. You're not invisible to the rockets, but they just can't turn tightly enough to get to you. The same effect would presumably happen on a moving level, though you'd have a harder time staying right next to the launcher.

[Geiss]

Placement is everything when it comes to weapons and thats an excellent observation, Zeke. I use that trick a lot to beat those static levels. In the Level design section I made mention of a level where I used a technique somewhat similiar to win.

[Zeke]

Thanks swartzer... and I agree with your theory about how it would work on a moving level. It's probably a rare occasion that you have the opportunity to use this technique.

At any rate, I found the level and got the screenshot.
This level is: http://zetaflow.skylogic.ca/ZetaFlow.php?ID=2007

This level is: http://zetaflow.skylogic.ca/ZetaFlow.php?ID=3522

[Zeke]

Hey Geiss - You posted before I could get my screenshot to my website and my update posted here

This is probably the only "secret move" I've discovered in Zeta Flow. I haven't designed any levels and I'm not sure how much that impacts my understanding of the mechanics of the gameplay.

[Sasadad]

I personally use many different techniques to dodge/destroy missiles, depending on the situation.

[NARFNra]

If the level has sweetspots, then I just fire a spray at where the missiles are most compact and deal with the survivors by just shooting them.

[Fruktfisk]

Missiles aren't to be dodged, they're to be shot! Just keep moving from the real dangers and shoot the missiles before they even get near you!

[swartzer]

That depends on the level. Lots of designers are fond of using so many missile launchers that you can't shoot down every missile and have to dodge.

Also, even if you can shoot all the missiles down, it's sometimes more efficient to lure them off screen so more of your bullets can hit the boss.