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Mahal Daj
Mahal Tactical Enterprises
12
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Posted - 2014.01.11 22:10:00 -
[1] - Quote
Dust is a massive game, if you slow down and enjoy it. ItGÇÖs sister game, EVE Online, is not just connected via Tranquility, the massive single-shard server powering both worlds; but also by a sense that thereGÇÖs something deeper under the hood. YouGÇÖll hear words like GÇÿnetwork priority,GÇÖ GÇÿtransversal velocity,GÇÖ and GÇÿorbital strikeGÇÖ thrown around on the many communication channels: the primary purpose of which is to connect with squads of 6 other players. In this game, you want WP. This prospectus will help you pick up a few.
Equipment, and the games finite inventory management system, is at the core of the gameplay experience. YouGÇÖll experience the world in FPS fashion with a controller setup akin to any other popular shooter, which can be modified in the deeper menus. The distinction of roles comes from your dropsuit, popularly referred to as GÇÿframes,GÇÖ where you select from light (stealth and speed), medium (balance and variety), or heavy roles (high HP, low mobility). Inside those suits youGÇÖll find combat specialties: Assault, Commando, Core, Logistics, Scout, and Sentinel. If youGÇÖre wearing the right suit against your opponents, you can go on unbelievable kill-sprees that seem to have an adrenaline factor making your suit more and more deadly. From heavy machineguns clearing a flooding hallway to multi-story leaps for a knife kill, DUST514 really is the thinking manGÇÖs shooter.
YouGÇÖll only be down, never out in New Eden. DUST514 is a place where you must learn from your mistakes. The GÇ£Starter GÇô MilitiaGÇ¥ fits will see you into the beginnings of service as a private mercenary. They are provided in unlimited quantities, the only such things besides the Uprising 1.5 retired-blueprints which could be purchased for Aurum that youGÇÖll find in New Eden. As you develop your skills, youGÇÖll find the starter fits become more deadly and effective. Notice they often have an empty equipment slot.
Eve Online makes its first major similarity to DUST514: there is an economy. Player to Player economic transactions arenGÇÖt available yet, but thatGÇÖs because at some point there will be a fully realized peer to peer trading platform, not just inside the shooter, but inside the spaceborn Eve side of things as well. In deep space; basic minerals are mined by players who are always at war. Eventually, these players will be using their industrial infrastructure to provide arms and armor instead of the arbitrary marketplace we have now. That will be a delicate issue, and CCP employees an economist to be sure they handle those things as intelligently as possible (Trollololol).
Before we discuss the gear, weGÇÖve got to give Dust credit where itGÇÖs due: the sounds, the visuals, and the experience are all out-of-this-world. Dropships will sweep underneath bridges with pulse-engines roaring, light will filter over a battlefield through industrial complexes, and the experience will leave you awed. Turn up the brightness (go for high-contrast settings with deepest blacks) and turn up the stereo (the sounds are excellent). Once you get settled in for the game, youGÇÖve got to purchase a number of limited suits. This is at the core of the economic activity in Dust, you play with what you can afford to lose (it makes the game as delicate as Mario balancing his lives). The Militia fits will always be available, but only represent the most vanilla options afforded to your chosen race. Building on top of that are modules for stealth, weapons, armor, and equipment. Each suit has a unique electronics package and shield/armor combination, similar in style to Master ChiefGÇÖs shield and life combination. There are also vehicles, Aurum gear with fancy colors, boosters, and all that.
You start in the battle academy, a place where people are given just a few cloistered games with fellow blueberries to learn the ropes, usually while getting griefed by players trying to stay under the 1200 WP lifetime cap. Upon quickly leaving this promised land youGÇÖre left with a relatively limited number of gametypes, which will SoonGäó be expanding due to the ongoing development cycles. Funded by the Pay-to-play model (ItGÇÖs not pay-to-win if you look at the skill-to-equipment interaction, I promise), there will always be something new. Uprising 1.7 promised to significantly change vehicles, add new content, and improve the game more significantly than previous releases, and we hope to see more on the path to GÇ£racial parityGÇ¥: the full realization of each raceGÇÖs unique roles and advantages.
Once youGÇÖve left the battle academy (more than you get in Eve), youGÇÖll be at your own mercy to take over the galaxy (or Molden Heath) [include the featured data site with the pretty graphs] through Corporations, Alliances, Coalitions, and Empires. Your first step should be to join squads while in battles by pressing the SELECT button and choosing GÇÿjoin squadGÇÖ in the team chat-menu. Play with people until you find a cohesive group of players and youGÇÖll eventually have a corporate sponsored squad to play with. You can also play with other players in different corporations by being a part of chat channels that you can add or be invited to [is there a list of chat channels]. YouGÇÖll be at the mercy of concurrent players [include statistics website] and may have a hard time finding a squad. If this is the case, others are likely playing alone as well.
Boost your squad's points by 40%, learn to use the Squad Wheel!
I provide training: 1M isk: 90 Minutes of Basic Command
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Mahal Daj
Mahal Tactical Enterprises
12
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Posted - 2014.01.11 22:11:00 -
[2] - Quote
YouGÇÖll earn ISK and SP through battles. ISK (interstellar currency)[link to the dust-pedia] is that currency that will come and go (I know of top-tier players that are both broke and rich), but SP (skill points) [link to the skill planner] stays with you, and is arguably the more valuable. Once invested, itGÇÖs permanent, and allows you to access better equipment, and use your equipment better. GATE suits aside, youGÇÖll want to use better gear, but it gets expensive. YouGÇÖll hear some rage over the comms, especially when people unexpectedly lose priceless Officer-grade: meta 10 weapons, but most players have enough experience to GÇÿfly what they can afford to loseGÇÖ to borrow a term from the Eve side of things. YouGÇÖll be able to talk to players in Eve; although itGÇÖs still an infant relationship with the mighty capsuleers.
Suit values can range wildly from (free to) 3,000 ISK to over 200,000 ISK with common variations on fittings. The value and quality is measured on the scale: lowly GÇÿmilitiaGÇÖ, standard GÇÿbasicGÇÖ, improved GÇÿadvancedGÇÖ technology and coveted GÇÿprototypeGÇÖ items. You can combine nearly anything, if the CPU/PG fitting allows, but youGÇÖll find that most of the suits par best with other items on their tier. Protip: if you fit an advanced module or weapon, you typically sacrifice your equipment; but you may still be able to fit a compact nanohive to replenish your ammo and armor when pinned down.
I regularly use fittings costing 8,000-12,000 ISK and pull out some insanely more expensive suits when an appropriate situation arises. You can expect to earn 70,000-120,000 ISK net revenue per game, but as you advance your skill and top the scoreboard, youGÇÖll be rewarded with 500,000 ISK payouts and the nearly priceless Officer weapons. Vehicles play a major part in the game, changing the dynamics of typical infantry combat: ranging from typical 100,000 ISK field transports to 2,500,000 ISK tanks, they represent further specialties on the battlefield. Each one is a force to be accounted for, and are called in by drones that deliver your precious vehicle in a whirlwind ride of anxiety to somewhere, and possible somewhere really cool, on the battlefield. [youtube tank video]
Speaking of the adrenaline rush, the most coveted and overwhelming position on the battlefield is the Squad Leader, this player can call targets, drop the mighty orbitals, and reward players with a 20% bonus to their points, while earning a commission themselves. Squad Leaders can range from CEOGÇÖs to random players, and while some provide a mediocre backbone of leadership, others will direct the warzone and keep the enemy at the redline. If you havenGÇÖt been squad leader, just askGǪ many people are unwilling to accept the responsibility of a full squad, composed of 6-players. If coordinated, acknowledged, and rewarded, each player will show their strengths. Each time a player gives you the single-crouch of thanks, youGÇÖll remember that your 25 Warpoint reward for GÇÿtriageGÇÖ saved that player a suit that may be worth more to him than the payout of your entire round. YouGÇÖll make friends on this game, and enemies. The best place to make friends is in the chat channels, where certain acronyms are part of an undertone of conversation, which if followed, can lead you to the most rewarding of Dust. Rf4 means GÇÿroom for 4;GÇÖ lfs means GÇÿlooking for squad;GÇÖ and x refers to an institutional call for GÇÿreadyGÇÖ from PC players. The Squad finder is a valuable tool for this, but once you start to find those trusted allies, youGÇÖll be focused on the channels, where cryptic friends share thoughts on the deeper advantages in the game.
Mic or no Mic? [this should be the distinction] It is the great question on Dust in terms of style. If you donGÇÖt use mics, youGÇÖll hate to be in a game against those who do. When youGÇÖre not using a mic, you only have the visual and aural interface of the game, and this can make for games more like chess, where opposing sides can only coordinate over the PSN typey thing from hell, or the squad commands, or shooting at each other to say GÇÿhey wait for me, I would like to fly to the top of the spire with you, I am a dedicated logibro that has (R) nanohives, a revive tool and repair gun. /rant for my logibros nüè. IGÇÖd like to shout out to the logibros!
By the time youGÇÖve played your militia fits a few times, youGÇÖve probably found some overarching portion of the game youGÇÖd like more of: speed, defense, or attacks. Fortunately the game allows you to customize nearly every parameter of the game through your modules. Armor repairers, stealth module, and a deep variety of weapons will allow you to move at your own pace.
The next place where dust and EVE come together is that dustGÇÖs vast distances and unique server-side feel mean that interactions are relative. If youGÇÖre sitting still, and someone has aimed at you, they will usually winGǪ if you are out-strafing them in toe-to-two combat, you can finish with a perfect slit of the throat. The homage to tracking, sensors, and racial variations are keen, and the more adrenaline you can run, the more the game will stand out. These are immortal soldiers, death brings knowledge to them, and they continue to fight over ground for the massive powers in space. Where the future will take them, and what challenges they will face, are as much of a mystery as the mighty New Eden herself.
Boost your squad's points by 40%, learn to use the Squad Wheel!
I provide training: 1M isk: 90 Minutes of Basic Command
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Mahal Daj
Mahal Tactical Enterprises
12
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Posted - 2014.01.11 22:12:00 -
[3] - Quote
One of the most important ratios in New Eden to remember is that meta levels are used to determine player advantage redeemed from equipment; strategy is different story, and can be effectively said to mean: a player with meta 2 gear in a fair fight will win against an opponent using meta 1 gear. From this logic comes the verb: proto-stomping.
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxfA4-Um14s] and the terror known as the freedom mass driver. ItGÇÖs generally assumed youGÇÖll jump a price tier for each level, and be able to take on 2 of the lower tiered suits at a time in a fair fight. I still get sniped by militia fits all the time, and IGÇÖve knifed some proto-assaults in fair combat in an open field using my beloved ZN-28GÇÖs. To some: wealth matters, to others KDR matters, but Dust doesnGÇÖt force you to play by any rules other than your own.
IGÇÖd like to delve deeper into the suit distinctions. They are important. There will always be the feel of paper-rock-scissors logic in New Eden. Each one has a certain role, and you should find your playstyle. Once you do, donGÇÖt mess with your suits too much, youGÇÖll start to get the hang of them. There are two camps: those who use the max of a skill-chain, and those who broaden into the 30-variation cap. I recommend a healthy smattering of level I skills, so that you can experience the entire game, as you develop more refined style, youGÇÖll know where to put those excess skill points. I always find IGÇÖm not even as good as the gear IGÇÖm using, and have a bank of nearly 2,000,000 SP from which to respond to any whim or goal, but others ride the very edge of specializations. Once you have unlocked the V/III for the Officer weapon, you have committed to a certain level of professionalism with a certain weapon, and will find the variations intriguing. While I stand by the fact that while Nova Knife hit detection does not match the animation, once I was strafing a corner on a guy with an AR, he decides to break cover, and through as much luck as practice, I put my knife to his throat and he goes down in a lump with barely a noise. It was my most glorious kill, and demonstrates the profound depths to be found in the game, and the shared New Eden. Gun fights are longer than those in many games, people from the grand strategy FPSGÇÖs BF: Bad Company 2 and MAG will be right at home in the political, rewarding, and beautiful world of DUST514; and if youGÇÖre the type of player with a proto kincat scout, stop and see the artistry of the game that has found a niche unlike any other I have experienced.
Remember, you can always come back, and youGÇÖre only losing things you already paid for. The best part of Dust is letting your hands rest and taking a break. It will be there, in all its glory when you return. If youGÇÖd care to try Dust for the first time, I get some stuff if you use this link, and you get some stuff too. If youGÇÖd like to join me for some adventures, be sure to check out the Scouts United chat channel where a lot of good people reside.
Hailing from the squad: Tactical Esponionage Action and the channel: Scouts United. GÇôDaj (which would be Daj Mahal if I were flying) Fly safe o7.
Boost your squad's points by 40%, learn to use the Squad Wheel!
I provide training: 1M isk: 90 Minutes of Basic Command
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