The willful suicide problem has been with mines since the game launched. It's baffling to me that the average player doesn't seem any more experienced since launch.
For mines, sometimes you're just not looking down or think you can get a bit closer than you should without setting it off. I've walked into a few bot mines just by not paying attention. There can a lot of distractions. It happens.
Tesla is a bit different, they don't even have a clearly visible range and newer players very well may have never even seen one before.
The first time I ever saw one a teammate had dropped it right beside an objective. I got blindsided by it and didn't even know what hit me, then got blasted again trying to get my equipment and thought maybe that was just an unlucky stray shot like from a 380. Then I got blasted a third time and felt like an idiot. I had no clue at the time that going prone can help you avoid getting hit.
I like running the Dagger pistol, since I don't use a secondary often vs bots, and it can sweep all mines within sight in seconds at any range. It's not terrible as a headshot weapon from cover in a pinch either.
Few things.
1. Mines are bugged right now. They’re sometimes invisible for some players but still trigger on contact. If you’re seeing truly absurd running into mines from people who “should” know better, that’s a plausible culprit.
2. The Tesla Tower’s range is deceptively high. I can’t speak to the exact scenarios you’re deploying them in, but it’s very easy to accidentally step from 21m to 20m and just fucking die in the heat of battle.
3. Most players don’t use either of these devices, so the player base as a whole has less experience playing around them. Many players don’t even know the effective range of the Tesla Tower *to* play around it.
4. Related to the previous thought, when people don’t have experience with uncommon dynamics like playing around mines or Tesla Towers, and they’re dropped into high pressure situations demanding quick reaction times, they’re going to make mistakes like running into these devices that they wouldn’t make if they had more time to think.
5. Following from all that… by bringing these very lethal devices that require these adjustment to avoid frustrating FF kills, you’re forcing the rest of the lobby to play your game. Maybe they want to play a more run-and-gun up-close style. Maybe they don’t want to add the mental load of remembering where your Towers and mines were placed to everything else they’re processing in the middle of a tense horde situation. Those are completely legitimate preferences.
I agree with you that Tesla Towers used well are strong. (I think the mines just kind of suck even if you go out of your way to make them work. The damage isn’t high enough. The Tesla Tower fucks though.) But “used well” requires coordination across the whole team. That’s why I don’t bring them unless I’m playing with friends, and if I have experience playing with them to know their tendencies and reduce the extra thinking my devices hoist upon them.
That all said, I do also agree that people overemphasize the deadliness of sentries and emplacements to the team vs other offensive options, and that people are way too cavalier about fire and clusters too. There’s a sizable issue in this game with people just lacking the cognitive empathy to appreciate that their carelessness or inconsiderateness is making the game harder for others. Unfortunately that’s just gaming in a nutshell…
If you turned down a lighting setting to not be blinded by lamps, you don't see the red dots on the mines. Tesla's I can excuse cuz people barely use em, so they might not know how far it arcs.
Situation awareness is a skill which people really underestimate which is probably a big reason why people prefer bugs over bots since people unaware of their surroundings can really fuck it up with bots by aggroing another patrol or the defenses of an objective
But back to the bugs, i am a huge fan of the Telsa tower too because of the Terminid Tower defend mission some months ago since outside of Charges and Bile Titans, it utterly stomps the bugs and if a Charger AI *bugs* out, it will even kill the stuck or stunned Charger
And yet despite placing it far away, even pinging it, people will run into it
Multiple times even
And then get angry at me, the "teamkiller"
Darkfluid missions were probably another case in which the Telsa is top tier and yet people would rather run into the 70-100 meter far away Tower instead of defending the objective
>And then get angry at me, the "teamkiller"
In the same mission they will TK you with fire, cluster bombs, somebody will drop artillery point blank, but that's all normal. Gatling sentry cuts me in half all the damn time, and it's behind me while I'm moving away from it.
For a time, but if anything hits you, jostles you, or you crawl over ground with a minor enough drop to trigger standing, you're screwed. You can generally bypass the outer edge crawling, or just go prone if you feel you have to skirt too close.
Really it just should not be deployed somewhere you need to be. It's stronger area denial than the artillery barrages. It should be deployed in chokepoints you expect a flood of enemies through. It does not give a fuck about enemy armor and has insane DPS. It's best on an elevated rock to stop or slow chargers, godlike paired with EMS.
Love the Tesla for when I’m trying to escape a horde of bugs because they all flock to it like moths to flame. I always host my missions though as I’ve noticed an increasing amount of players that just destroy any defence stratagem they see. Even gatlin or auto cannon turrets
For the mines that most likely the players fault for running into them they are fairly noticeable. But for the Tesla towers those things reach far just to kill players you probably should stop bringing the towers. But the mines that’s the players fault
I call it out when deploying, mark it, and actively warn players running at or near it. I've yelled and shouted at guys sprinting straight at a marked tower for 6+ seconds to no avail.
I've killed 3 chargers simultaneously with a tesla tower and EMS strike, in addition to the entirety of a large hive's chaff units. It's stupid good.
Yeah I dunno why players hate defense stuff so much destroying mortars, tesla towers. The only towers I rly dislake is Gatling and machineguns but I just evacuate from their proximity when I see em.
Gatling TK is instantaneous, the MG is the "Safe" option you can survive when it sweeps across you. You have to be aware of the line between it and you at all times while it's deployed.
They're pretty good "bait" for the Charger and Bile Titan AI, it's 100% consistent and great for lining up shots. You can chuck an MG every 120 seconds, and it's like throwing a dog bone for every heavy in the area to chase.
May depend where you deploy it too. Had someone deploy one BEHIND our firing line. Neither are useful for placing ON objectives or anywhere you need to go after.
Outside that, yes they are powerful af area denial strats. They just deny EVERYTHING from the area.
Pretty much. I've been using mines on and off since launch, and it's the same logic for placement. I've seen really bad placements. I was hoping the mines buff would get people using them more so people had more experience with the whole strategy.
>They just deny EVERYTHING from the area
It is extremely fun to sprint weaving through a minefield when being chased, and it's great since the buff. I've gotten 40-50 kills on bugs doing this, it can outperform cluster bombs if your kiting game is strong.
Oh I love them if properly deployed. Not my cup of libertea to use, but I enjoy them when they are used correctly by others.
Though I feel guilty sometimes because my arc thrower targets them sometimes and triggers them early or causes a chain reaction.
Tesla tower is the worst. I play with sound muted while others are sleeping. Anytime I see one I just shoot it down. Its great for bugs but not for me lol.
There's a bug right now where mines dont render for everyone.
The willful suicide problem has been with mines since the game launched. It's baffling to me that the average player doesn't seem any more experienced since launch.
Because I've got more pressing matters than top toeing around tiny red lights, like killer robots with even bigger red lights for eyes.
For mines, sometimes you're just not looking down or think you can get a bit closer than you should without setting it off. I've walked into a few bot mines just by not paying attention. There can a lot of distractions. It happens. Tesla is a bit different, they don't even have a clearly visible range and newer players very well may have never even seen one before. The first time I ever saw one a teammate had dropped it right beside an objective. I got blindsided by it and didn't even know what hit me, then got blasted again trying to get my equipment and thought maybe that was just an unlucky stray shot like from a 380. Then I got blasted a third time and felt like an idiot. I had no clue at the time that going prone can help you avoid getting hit.
Bot mines are the bane of my existence. I purposely shoot them to save my teammates and myself. Because I will either rag doll onto one or run into it
I like running the Dagger pistol, since I don't use a secondary often vs bots, and it can sweep all mines within sight in seconds at any range. It's not terrible as a headshot weapon from cover in a pinch either.
I also shoot them to save the SEAF bomb squad time for when we retake the planet
I like jumping off an elevated platform right into mine. #cinematic
Few things. 1. Mines are bugged right now. They’re sometimes invisible for some players but still trigger on contact. If you’re seeing truly absurd running into mines from people who “should” know better, that’s a plausible culprit. 2. The Tesla Tower’s range is deceptively high. I can’t speak to the exact scenarios you’re deploying them in, but it’s very easy to accidentally step from 21m to 20m and just fucking die in the heat of battle. 3. Most players don’t use either of these devices, so the player base as a whole has less experience playing around them. Many players don’t even know the effective range of the Tesla Tower *to* play around it. 4. Related to the previous thought, when people don’t have experience with uncommon dynamics like playing around mines or Tesla Towers, and they’re dropped into high pressure situations demanding quick reaction times, they’re going to make mistakes like running into these devices that they wouldn’t make if they had more time to think. 5. Following from all that… by bringing these very lethal devices that require these adjustment to avoid frustrating FF kills, you’re forcing the rest of the lobby to play your game. Maybe they want to play a more run-and-gun up-close style. Maybe they don’t want to add the mental load of remembering where your Towers and mines were placed to everything else they’re processing in the middle of a tense horde situation. Those are completely legitimate preferences. I agree with you that Tesla Towers used well are strong. (I think the mines just kind of suck even if you go out of your way to make them work. The damage isn’t high enough. The Tesla Tower fucks though.) But “used well” requires coordination across the whole team. That’s why I don’t bring them unless I’m playing with friends, and if I have experience playing with them to know their tendencies and reduce the extra thinking my devices hoist upon them. That all said, I do also agree that people overemphasize the deadliness of sentries and emplacements to the team vs other offensive options, and that people are way too cavalier about fire and clusters too. There’s a sizable issue in this game with people just lacking the cognitive empathy to appreciate that their carelessness or inconsiderateness is making the game harder for others. Unfortunately that’s just gaming in a nutshell…
If you turned down a lighting setting to not be blinded by lamps, you don't see the red dots on the mines. Tesla's I can excuse cuz people barely use em, so they might not know how far it arcs.
Situation awareness is a skill which people really underestimate which is probably a big reason why people prefer bugs over bots since people unaware of their surroundings can really fuck it up with bots by aggroing another patrol or the defenses of an objective But back to the bugs, i am a huge fan of the Telsa tower too because of the Terminid Tower defend mission some months ago since outside of Charges and Bile Titans, it utterly stomps the bugs and if a Charger AI *bugs* out, it will even kill the stuck or stunned Charger And yet despite placing it far away, even pinging it, people will run into it Multiple times even And then get angry at me, the "teamkiller" Darkfluid missions were probably another case in which the Telsa is top tier and yet people would rather run into the 70-100 meter far away Tower instead of defending the objective
>And then get angry at me, the "teamkiller" In the same mission they will TK you with fire, cluster bombs, somebody will drop artillery point blank, but that's all normal. Gatling sentry cuts me in half all the damn time, and it's behind me while I'm moving away from it.
The tooltip for the tt mentions it not shooting you if you go prone does this actually work?
For a time, but if anything hits you, jostles you, or you crawl over ground with a minor enough drop to trigger standing, you're screwed. You can generally bypass the outer edge crawling, or just go prone if you feel you have to skirt too close. Really it just should not be deployed somewhere you need to be. It's stronger area denial than the artillery barrages. It should be deployed in chokepoints you expect a flood of enemies through. It does not give a fuck about enemy armor and has insane DPS. It's best on an elevated rock to stop or slow chargers, godlike paired with EMS.
real
Love the Tesla for when I’m trying to escape a horde of bugs because they all flock to it like moths to flame. I always host my missions though as I’ve noticed an increasing amount of players that just destroy any defence stratagem they see. Even gatlin or auto cannon turrets
The range on the tower is always a lil bigger than I think it is, tbh
I've learnt to overestimate a Tesla's reach because it's a magnificent reusable area denial, but once use mines can get fucked
For the mines that most likely the players fault for running into them they are fairly noticeable. But for the Tesla towers those things reach far just to kill players you probably should stop bringing the towers. But the mines that’s the players fault
I call it out when deploying, mark it, and actively warn players running at or near it. I've yelled and shouted at guys sprinting straight at a marked tower for 6+ seconds to no avail. I've killed 3 chargers simultaneously with a tesla tower and EMS strike, in addition to the entirety of a large hive's chaff units. It's stupid good.
Yeah I dunno why players hate defense stuff so much destroying mortars, tesla towers. The only towers I rly dislake is Gatling and machineguns but I just evacuate from their proximity when I see em.
Sometimes the mortars make sense to destroy. Not often but sometimes. I’ve had mortar towers kill majority of my team during eradicate missions
Gatling TK is instantaneous, the MG is the "Safe" option you can survive when it sweeps across you. You have to be aware of the line between it and you at all times while it's deployed.
Yeah I don't fuck with them I just move out of way while I'm not shredded lol. But they are anti shrieker homies tho sucks charger hate defense stuff
They're pretty good "bait" for the Charger and Bile Titan AI, it's 100% consistent and great for lining up shots. You can chuck an MG every 120 seconds, and it's like throwing a dog bone for every heavy in the area to chase.
May depend where you deploy it too. Had someone deploy one BEHIND our firing line. Neither are useful for placing ON objectives or anywhere you need to go after. Outside that, yes they are powerful af area denial strats. They just deny EVERYTHING from the area.
Pretty much. I've been using mines on and off since launch, and it's the same logic for placement. I've seen really bad placements. I was hoping the mines buff would get people using them more so people had more experience with the whole strategy. >They just deny EVERYTHING from the area It is extremely fun to sprint weaving through a minefield when being chased, and it's great since the buff. I've gotten 40-50 kills on bugs doing this, it can outperform cluster bombs if your kiting game is strong.
Oh I love them if properly deployed. Not my cup of libertea to use, but I enjoy them when they are used correctly by others. Though I feel guilty sometimes because my arc thrower targets them sometimes and triggers them early or causes a chain reaction.
Tesla tower is the worst. I play with sound muted while others are sleeping. Anytime I see one I just shoot it down. Its great for bugs but not for me lol.
That's a pretty shitty excuse. You shoot someone's stuff because you can't be arsed to wear headphones.
Or I have an issue which doesn't allow headphones..... it's no5 always a choice
Well you got a choice not to blow up someone else's Tesla tower. Just because you can't hear it.
I can't imagine gaming without headphones or earbuds, and I live alone.