Newbie Needs Help - Way Over My Head

Hi, very new here but seems like a great place to ask for help.

I started about a week ago and have found myself in matches way over my head. I have a Shooter and Fixer at MK2, level 12 and nothing over rare gear and yesterday found myself at 862 infamy facing much better players (I assume I caught a lucky wave of wins that had no relation to my play). I searched around here and found some references to “managing” infamy but have not been able to get back under 600. I used to face other MK2/3 players but now it seems like mostly mk4/5. I’ve come from another game with a plague of tanking (called “floating” here I take it, when you’re afk to drop leagues?) so do not want to impact others. Just tired of dying in 2-3 shots. Don’t even use my best weapons because I can’t get close enough to use ‘em!

Any tips or obvious things I’m doing wrong? I tried using my mk1 speeder and enforcer, changing weapons to try things out (assuming experimentation would drop me more) but can’t even get below 650, which is the #2 spot below me in the Challenger I leaderboard (which still lists me at 862 even tho I am currently 673).

Thanks for any help!

 

Hey Friend,

I would suggest investing in that rare railgun you have. Although weak at first, railgun quickly becomes a POWERFUL weapon. It is very long range, as its damage decreases when you get too close. I would also suggest working on a sniper cannon, the range is great so you don't have to get close.

As for tanking,

I'm sorry. But some people are just a***h***s and enjoy tanking.

PS. Please don't get me in trouble for saying a***h***s. (Grim Repair)

 

Maybe try doing railgun, blast, and standard cannon. Great for one v one-ing and can still do damage. Plus you can’t always get a mortar shot in.

 

Heh, the phrase "managing my infamy" is mine so that was probably me saying it.

For starters you may or may not have caught a lucky wave. The real issue is that you're a noob trying to fight in the "noob zones" but all the high level players are there farming noob content. There's nothing you can do about it other than adapt as best your able since M6's at 300 infamy are getting more and more common.

In terms of how I do it, in the beginning I just tried totally throwing matches but honestly I couldn't cope with that psychologically. Then I got help from my son. Two boats out of 5 can pretty reliably throw a match so that at least made it faster. I didn't like that even more. So nowadays what I do is just play more casually than I otherwise might've. I don't call targets. I don't suggest we follow anyone. I'm more willing to rush in for that kill and I care less about whether I die in the effort. All told it's a subtle effect but it drags my natural infamy from around 1450 to 1100 or so. That won't help you. The reason that won't help you is that you aren't actually fighting in matches. What's really going on is that a bunch of higher level people are either trying to win or lose a given match and you're mostly just along for the ride. When you get a bit higher in infamy that'll change somewhat. What I've noticed is that once you hit around 1500 infamy matches start to seem more reasonable in every way including people actually trying to win them.

So what can you do?

• Dual turbos: Speed was the only antidote I could find. Once you hit 1.5 speed you can drive out of mortar rings and you're fast enough that if you know how to pilot your boat most shots miss you.
• Patience: You'll level quickly at those levels. So I just waited to grow. I'm still waiting but things are starting to look up.
• Work on your uncommons and bank your rares & epics. Spend all your pearls on inventory.
• Drive a speeder: In the end I gave up on my shooter and swapped to speeder (back to that speed thing again).
• Don't upgrade your boat until you can equip it: I don't really understand what I'm seeing but it appears that every time you upgrade your boat or your division/league you see tougher opponents. Given that you're already seeing stupidly difficult opponents don't make it any worse on yourself. So if you're in a M2 take a look at the average gear level of the M3's you fight. Upgrade when you've got that stuff.

Honestly, as long as Rovio encourages seal clubbing then the early game as a seal is going to involve being clubbed a lot. Patience gets you past it. By a fairly robust M5 you're not a seal any more. In the mean time, just grind away and don't care if you win or lose. The goal is simply to get money to buy parts to get stronger.

That's the best I have. It's an unfortunate situation in an otherwise really neat little combat game.

 

I was thinking about this and I thought I'd clarify more. What really helps is just plain not caring one iota whether you win or lose.

• Someone shoot you in the back? Leroy Jenkins time.
• Is your heavy hitter a floater? Leroy Jenkins time.
• Do you just wanna feel like Neo? Leroy Jenkins time.

Honestly, you'd be amazed at how often I win doing that. I think being relaxed generates wins where losses should've occurred. But here's the best part. You don't care if you lose so the fact that you just got clubbed by some guy in a M5 only means "Woohoo... I got my 4k gold. Next match!" While I'm doing that I accumulate vast amounts of gold and sugar and I buy every single blue and purple part in the store. I keep all my blue and purple weapons. Eventually, my gear starts to look like the seal clubbers gear.

 

That's how it looks to me too. Sure, I have to lose more than I win in order to shed a few hundred infamy. But even the losses are spotty with some wins and losses tossed together including some 3 star wins. Once I get down to the "proper" infamy for my newfound poor skills then it looks just like it would if I were playing at my best at that level.

Despite the high-handed moral police on these boards I fail to see how this is any different than just being a more casual player or, perhaps, taking a toke on that bong or having a few beers before I play. I'm not sure where I became morally obligated to lead the team to victory just because I can. Oh the horrors, "I didn't call my targets!" Sure, nobody else on my team did either but I'm the bad guy just because I knew it would add maybe 20% to the chances of winning?

This is why I'll likely never be banned for tanking. How on earth would Rovio separate it out from just casual play (other than, of course, me outright saying so on these boards)? Why isn't it "just casual play"? Even knowing that I do so deliberately, do they really want to start banning people for not calling targets?

 

Thanks all for your feedback and advice! Sounds like a 20+ win streak (where I’m sure I played little if any role) is not unusual, and that by playing naturally I’ll resettle to an appropriate infamy level. I’m fleeing another PVP game that has many tankers, so nothing new to me and not bothered much by playing better/higher levels in early stage “noob zones”. Will heed the advice here and keep plugging as a F2P gamer who knows how to grind.

Cheers!

 

That's basically me too. Grinding has always been the price of freedom (lol) in a freemium game. A simpler way to write what I said before is that "I get into hardcore grinding mode and just blast through a zillion matches. That works to keep my infamy down and my income stream up." Just be aware of your "grinding window".

You're seal-club zone: Take your all time high as the upper-bound. Take that -800 as your lower bound. That's your window of play. If you drop below that you are in seal-clubbing hell (even if you're a seal yourself) and progression screeches to a halt... potentially for a long time. I always track my upper and lower bounds carefully and a large part of what I let the upper become is what I want the lower to be. Right now my lower bound is about 650 infamy which STILL puts me among a ton of M5's and the occasional M6 but in general I should be able to fight my way out of that infamy. I'm mostly in control of my destiny so there's no need to worry about falling below the limit. But what if I caught a lucky wave up to 2000 (a very likely possibility if I let it happen). Now my min is 1200 and it would be trivially easy to drop below that and then fighting back up again would be an utter nightmare.

So I say yeah, grind away. Just be aware that there are multiple boundaries in play and cross them with eyes open.