From: rjones@itchy.dsd.es.com (Ray Jones - Perp)
Subject: Re: the endless quest for the perfect keymap
Keywords: keymap
Organization: Design Systems Division, Evans & Sutherland, SLC, UT
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 92 05:57:51 GMT

In article <fortony.714287599@murphy> fortony@sonne.cso.uiuc.edu writes:
>rjones@itchy.dsd.es.com (Ray Jones - Perp) writes:
>
>>In article <fortony.714262107@murphy> fortony@sonne.cso.uiuc.edu writes:
>
>>>Space bar as pressor is the One True Keymap.  Especially in light ships,
>>>where you really don't want to be any closer than you have to.  I think
>>>I snagged this habit from Spiff or Red Shirt, one of whom sent me his
>>>keymap when I was a wee lad.
>
>>Lies!  Blasphemy!  And from a SC bomber, no less.  
>
>Look, Ray, you bleating, verminous gutterweed, I am *the* scout bomber.

So I've heard you say, which always makes me wonder when I see so many:

GOD->FED <planet> taken over by sunscreamer (F1)

At least I have the ability to say "I'm ogging" and still *do it*, you
scumming little showboater.

>>Space Bar is and shall always be MAX WARP.  Especially for SCs, where
>>pressoring and tractoring only differ in that one puts a 'P' and one puts a
>>'T' in your status bar.
>
>I have escaped from Mojo Riser.  I have escaped from Videodrome.  I have
>escaped from, yes, even Ged.
>
>The extra little warp 2 or so that you get by fighting the tide 
>can be everything.  If I am near enough to someone that they are
>grabbing onto me and seeing how many licks it takes to get to
>a sunscreamer pop, I'm already going maxwarp and struggling
>to throw headfakes with the mouse.  I don't need to try to find
>a pressor key at this point.

You obviously run too much, if you are able to always be going that fast
before they're even near you.  Try to stay and fight sometime.  :)

That being the case, though, I can see why you'd need to waste such a nice,
BIG, SLEDGEHAMMERy key on such a wimpy, weak, depressingly boring action.
I personally prefer to wait for them to *try* and grab hold of my slippery
DD of Death, then hit that crowbar for all it's worth, cross their T and
dot their I with a stream of torps, and the added bonus of a tractor.  BBs
and CAs are just tooo slow to react when they see those marbles of death
rolling their way, while I nimbly dash away to take a planet, leaving them
wounded and wondering just who was that masked man.

>Also, I dogfight like a quadruplegic chihuahua.  When I do try
>to fly up a ship class or two, I want to be able to get some
>breathing space and/or put the hex on incoming uncloaking oggers.
>Pressors are the lifeblood of .5 ratio/.5 defense people like
>myself.

Hey now, don't try to out-low-rating me, my tiny-shipped friend.  I have a
double 0.4 on most servers, and for the INL I can drop them down to 0.3...  

But seriously, have you considered that you might dogfight better with a
key *specifically tailored* for the smaller ships' abilities?  Such as
their amazing accel/decel rates?  I rest my middle finger on 4, my thumb on
space, and my index on tractor/pressor, and I'm raring to go.  Shoot at me
when I'm repairing, I'll be out of the way and bearing down on you at full
speed, ready to crack you open to get at the white meat.  If you fire
again, suddenly I'm going the other way, and yor fuel is slowly drifting
into space behind me.  I'll drop my shields and repair again, just to show
how little I think of your big, lumbering BB.  Lots of power.  About as
much manueverability as a beached whale.

Constantly changing speeds is the way to go.  *Anyone* can tractor/pressor.

>rear ensign sunscreamer
>
>(gotta use that undertow directional pull, you know)
(combined with tractors, and the right conditions, you can just throw your
enemies into third space, and then take the planet while they are coming
back through customs.)

>-- 
>a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
>Felix Sebastian Ortony	fortony@murphy.gis.uiuc.edu

Ray 
(in way over his head)
--
                                          rjones@dsd.es.com