Author Topic: Stick Stirring, A Resurgent Problem? (Read 913 times)

Vermillion · « **on:** January 18, 2002, 10:26:59 AM »

Have you seen a resurgence of Stick Stirrers?

The reason I ask, is that from my point of view (and some other people I talk too on RW/AHVoice) its becoming very common again.

For those of you that say "What is stick stirring??" Its a defensive manuever that takes advantage of lag and the net prediction code, to make an aircraft either miniwarp, or become very unpredictable in its flightpath. Its typically accomplished by moving your joystick rapidly in a circular motion similar to the way you stir a bowl of soup, and usually is accompanied by rapid rudder movements side to side. In real life, it would do nothing to the aircrafts flight path and be a nonfactor.

A good way to spot it, is to watch the aircraft at low speed as he manuevers defensively. If you see his tail wag back and forth like a fish swimming, and the plane tends to flop left and right rapidly, its a good bet the guy is "stirring" his stick. Alot of guys call the manuever the "floppy fish" cause it looks like a fish flopping around on the river bank.

Some planes do it better, some worse, and the opponents connect quality is also a factor. The worse the guy's connect is, the more effective this "game the game" flight manuever is. And no I'm not picking on Luftwobbles

The aircraft that brought this to mind was a P47, which I killed and I landed safely.

Yes, a while back HiTech introduced his anti-stick stirring routine into AH (which helped immensely when it was introduced), but its my understanding that this was "tuned" back when certain types of joysticks habitually spiked, invoking the routine.

So am I just encountering a few deviant "gamers" in the arena, or is this becoming a problem for the arena as a whole again?

Ripsnort · « **Reply #1 on:** January 18, 2002, 10:30:30 AM »

Its only effective when the servers suck, which they do. When HTC gets the servers *fixed* again, then its my belief that the stick stirring will be a non-factor once again.

Yeager · « **Reply #2 on:** January 18, 2002, 10:34:28 AM »

Ive noticed it alot this past month but I dont think its so stirring the stick as much as its the problematic connection HTC has had since trying to increase its bandwidth.

Sucks...Id rather have half the game and twice the playability then what weve had recently.

Hope the problem gets corrected soon.

Y

MANDOBLE · « **Reply #3 on:** January 18, 2002, 10:55:09 AM »

Yeager, stick stirring is clearly noticeable and very different from poor connection because there is no warp effect.
You see the other one doing nonsense very quick nose moves, not scissoring, not barreling, not skyding, just chaotic nose moves that leads to nowhere. The effect is that the enemy doesn't suffer displacements, and what you see is his nose pointing everywhere.

Lately I've seen a lot of P51/47/38 doing that. Never saw that effect in the "supposed" newbie rides: Spits, N1KJ, La7 ...

Yeager · « **Reply #4 on:** January 18, 2002, 11:37:24 AM »

Alright, let me try this approach:
I havent seek any more of the classic stick stirring than is usual (not much).

What I have seen is the more manoeverable rides
doing their usual business but with these rediculous connects they are painting themselves all over the place. I mean entire seconds missing out of the data stream. Some might think that stick stirring is the cause of this (or as some have suggested, hacks) but Im stating that more than likely its the sh*tty conx which are responsible for the "more that usual" incidence of suspected stick stirring.

The Z&B planes arent suffering nearly as bad as the T&B planes but hell, Ive seen PNZRs and M3s warp back and fourth hundreds of yards at a time this past month at a much higher than usual rate. My connect has been pretty much nominal.
No unusual change.

I think that says it all for me.

Y

olddobe · « **Reply #5 on:** January 18, 2002, 12:13:25 PM »

I have seen this occuring at a more frequent rate.I'm a relative newby to AH,and as such I, don't feel that my input is as important as some of you older hands.I was fighting a Pony 1vs1,in a P38.I gained the advantage,and was about to dispatch the foe,when he went into some of the wildest moves I ever seen in my several years of online simming.I managed to stay close to him all the way to the deck,but shooting would been a waste of ammo.He of course eventually left me in the dust,end of fight.
I have often wondered why people resort to such tactics.Surely they realise that using cheats,only solidifies the fact that they are inept in their abilities.I guess it takes all kinds,and you will always have a few different ones.Ten percenter's is what called them in the USMC.
I enjoy AH a lot,and I won't let a few chislers ruin my fun.They are the ones that have to look in the mirror.

Dobe

Hooligan · « **Reply #6 on:** January 18, 2002, 12:48:44 PM »

"So am I just encountering a few deviant "gamers" in the arena."

There are more people in the arena and more newbies. This behaviour has some effectiveness and it is easy to discover by accident without necessarily realizing that you are causing microwarps, so probably more of it is being seen just because there are more people around.

As far as the "deviant" part.... I can hardly imagine any MOL guy commenting on encountering deviant gamers. Your RW channel is filled with them, and this cannot come as a surprise. If you wouldn't fly in proximity to your squaddies then the problem would no doubt be greatly reduced. In particular I would recommend avoiding LLB.

Hooligan

MrLars · « **Reply #7 on:** January 18, 2002, 12:59:13 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Hooligan

As far as the "deviant" part.... I can hardly imagine any MOL guy commenting on encountering deviant gamers. Your RW channel is filled with them, and this cannot come as a surprise. If you wouldn't fly in proximity to your squaddies then the problem would no doubt be greatly reduced. In particular I would recommend avoiding LLB.

Hooligan

I think some clairification is in order...or at least a smiley face.

Don · « **Reply #8 on:** January 18, 2002, 01:02:02 PM »

>>>If you see his tail wag back and forth like a fish swimming, and the plane tends to flop left and right rapidly, <<<<

....Then blow his dweebish arse to the nether regions of AH with your guns:D

Don · « **Reply #9 on:** January 18, 2002, 01:09:00 PM »

>>>but Im stating that more than likely its the sh*tty conx which are responsible for the "more that usual" incidence of suspected stick stirring. <<<<

Because I came over here from AW, I find it easy to recognize erratic flight from anything else. The servers over at AW were awful, and I saw all kinds of warps and lag. The servers we currently have in AH are becoming as bad as they were at AW.
Dumps were commonplace and warping, blanks and disappearing aircraft were too.
Good news is, HT and Pyro were once AW pilits and have first hand experiences with this kind of thing also.
I'm betting my money they won't let this continue for much longer.

Note: for those who get hives at the mere mention of AIRWARRIOR,

I only brought it up for a comparison.
Please forgive the momentary lapse

Don · « **Reply #10 on:** January 18, 2002, 01:12:26 PM »

>>>I enjoy AH a lot,and I won't let a few chislers ruin my fun.They are the ones that have to look in the mirror. <<<

Chances are they will have rigged their mirrors too

Skuzzy · « **Reply #11 on:** January 18, 2002, 02:07:55 PM »

You guys should read Pyros post. The servers at tpl are going to be moved back here once the new pipes are in. They are ordered and we are working as fast as we can to get them up.

I beleive this will cure most connect issues, as we seem to have had good luck before HTC had to move to tpl.

Just hang in there, it will get better. If it doesn't, then you can drag me out into the yard, ...tar and feather me, and feed me to the FDB's

lazs2 · « **Reply #12 on:** January 18, 2002, 02:09:39 PM »

"I think some clairification is in order...or at least a smiley face.

__________________
Lars
***MOL***
Men Of Leisure"

wow.. A touchy "Minion Of Lucifer".... things have really gone downhill since they put ol popeye in the home...
lazs

popeye · « **Reply #13 on:** January 18, 2002, 02:14:29 PM »

"As far as the "deviant" part.... I can hardly imagine any MOL guy commenting on encountering deviant gamers."

LLB is not a gamer.

Vermillion · « **Reply #14 on:** January 18, 2002, 02:22:49 PM »

Hey Skuzzy !

While I definitely won't say that connect quality has been down lately, I honestly don't think what I'm seeing is soley an issue of bad connects.

These connects are moderately smooth, but the con's are showing the distinct "fingerprints" of stick stirring. Once you learn to spot it, its quite distinctive.

Of course the bad connects just make the issue even worse.

A "deviant" MOL ? Hell... Deviancy is requirement #1 to even be considered for our squad