General compendium of information about D1?

by **Entropy** » Sat Jul 11, 2015 8:17 pm

A friend of mine that I'm trying to get into this game has asked for a guide or something, and I've realized that while I have read a few (from like 1999) they aren't very good.

Is there a more up-to-date guide that includes things like: weapon specs, chording strategies, efficient maneuvers for around the map (like bank + yaw > pitch) or dogfighting, general map strategies for popular maps, ship handling specs (time it takes to rotate 180 degrees, time it takes to tri-/bi-/mono-chord down X number of standard cubes), common maneuvers like manipulating doors for sounds, snapping back when you know they've seen you to misdirect them, and stuff like common strategies with examples of how to approach certain situations?

I come from the competitive scene of smash and here's an example of the type of literature that has been created:
http://smashboards.com/threads/falco-hi ... ta.300397/
http://smashboards.com/threads/falco-di ... ad.256826/ (this thread was created by one of the top 5 players to ever play the game, and it's over 500 pages long)

I think it would be cool if resources were made available that reflected the 'modern era' of Descent 1. And as the smash scene has shown, providing this information to newer players is among the best ways of getting them into the game and to the point where they can actually sort of play the game. Melee is kind of similar to Descent, with its high skill ceiling and technically demanding intricacies, it takes like a year before people can really even 'play' the game. Access to robust documentation has lowered the amount of time it takes by a pretty large margin.

by **Morfod** » Sat Jul 11, 2015 9:20 pm

Oh jeez, didn't MD-1224 have the definitive training literature in couple of text files?

by **Sirius** » Sat Jul 11, 2015 11:27 pm

by **PPski** » Thu Jul 16, 2015 12:54 am

This is one that I've come across: http://1devilishdude.deviantart.com/jou ... -393754815

I get the feeling it's one of the ancient ones you've read. It's clunky and certainly not comprehensive, but could make a good framework if someone wanted to make a more complete compendium. It's amazing that someone put over 500 pages worth of effort into Smash! I can't imagine how long it would take to compile everything about Descent tactics into one place. Perhaps it's something that could be done as a community, particularly since no single pilot knows every strategy? (Or do they??)

by **Ryguy** » Thu Jul 16, 2015 4:16 am

Perhaps a wiki of some sort?

by **Sirius** » Thu Jul 16, 2015 10:39 am

There are some pilots that come close, but that's probably true.

The principal weakness I can see with the "Tao" series is that, while generally helpful, it is written by a mid-level (at the time) pilot. There are always exceptions to the rules, and at the top level, the advantage of surprise is often gained by knowing when and how to break them.