WHAT IS "PEER TO PEER" OR "P2P"

P2P is basically a method of play where there is no one host - every client in the game is a host and a client. P2P play is better for people who live long distances from the USA where the dedicated servers including PXO servers are located � for example: in New Zealand and Australia P2P play is very common.

PLAYING "P2P"

What is important to note when playing P2P is that every client in the game is actually a partial host. Descent 3 P2P is not actually true P2P because technically there is a true host and clients, but the clients are partial hosts. I.e. the client�s computer decides whether weapon shots from other clients actually do damage on your ship but the true host decides whether you pick up a weapon or not.

In true P2P games (like Descent 2) there is a lot of cheating! So that is why Descent 3 is only partial P2P.

You will notice dodging in P2P to be very easy - if shots don�t connect with your ship, you don�t get hit - however shooting is a totally different scenario�

In reality what you see on your screen in relation to other players means nothing! It�s only a guide as to where you should fire, so unless your ping to a client is very low (under 200 ms) don�t shoot directly at the other person�s ship or you are likely to miss (remember all players act as clients / hosts).

You must hit the player on his/her screen in order for the shot to take effect. Shooting in P2P can be very difficult with more than two players in a game because of the fact that everyone is likely to have a different ping time to you. You must therefore change your shooting lead on each individual player�s ship according to their lag for you to hit them...

P2P is not the preferred method of play for that very reason... however P2P is actually a fairer way to play because of the fact that there are no unexplained deaths in P2P except for the napalm rocket bug where napalm rockets, if hit directly cause your ship to suicide.

There are no invisible smarts, napalms, homers or mega missiles etc. like in the Client-Server (C/S or CS) method.

Many LPBs (Low Ping Bastards) loathe P2P play with a passion! They will tell you it sucks! They will tell you it is crap! They will say it is useless. The reason they say this is because if they play you in a P2P game then their low ping means nothing any more! They will, in effect, have the same ping as you! Because of your ping it may be very very difficult for them to hit you! And because the LPB may not be used to the high lag � you may very well beat the crap out of them if you are used to P2P play�

If you have a high ping to PXO (i.e. over 400 ms) and most of the games shown at PXO then the P2P game style may be the only way you can play! If this is the case � just ask around for players of P2P games in chat�.

Most P2P players are Kiwis and Australians, and they tend to be on very late at night in the USA. Usually after 1am Californian Time.

TIPS WHEN PLAYING P2P GAMES

In P2P the most important thing you MUST get good at is judging your lead to each player�s ship. It helps to hit "F7" and view the pings to each player. This doesn�t work if you are the true host (The host shows all pings to be zero!), this is how you�ll know how much lead you�ll need on each player�s ship.

I have found the best weapon for P2P play is the fusion cannon (see the section on Weapons) because of its wide spread of damage. You don�t have to be extremely accurate in judging your lead and you only need to hit the player a few times to kill them.

Remember not to shoot directly at the ship unless your lag (ping) to your victim is less than 150ms. After your leading skills improve you can begin to use other weapons such as super lasers, microwave, plasma cannon etc.

Once you get extremely skilled with leading use the vauss and the mass driver (MD). But before you get good don�t even bother with the vauss or MD because you�ll just be wasting the ammo�

Also try to use EMD. The EMD is classified as a newbies gun because it�s a homer! It homes in on your victim and you don�t have to judge the lead - it does it itself. You must also extensively use secondary missiles - mostly homers, megas and smarts work very well unless your opponent is an excellent dodger. BACK TO THE TOP

CS play is the preferred method of play and is adopted by nearly all dedicated servers on PXO. CS play is a method where there is a true host (usually a server of some description) and clients. This method of play is only really acceptable when your ping to the server is 250ms or less, any more and it becomes difficult and extremely frustrating.

Unlike P2P, the true host decides whether your ship has taken damage or not. This can be frustrating at high lags (pings) because of the fact that you will loose shields when you are NOT hit on your screen.

Try to join servers with low lag (sub 150ms) this will fix this problem to a degree because you are more likely to see what the host computer says has hit you! Shooting in CS is similar to P2P - you still need to lead your shots but the only ping you need to worry about is the ping to the host computer. For example if you see a player�s ship and your ping to the server is 100ms you will need to lead your shots by 100ms on that ship and every other ship on this server to hit the players. BACK TO THE TOP

PLAYING CLIENT SERVER WITH HIGH PINGS

Unless you live relatively close to a server or you have an extremely fast connection to the Internet it is not always possible to get pings at 150ms or lower. This is the reason I�m writing this section, and what appears below only really applies if your ping to a server is about 300ms or higher...

At 300ms and above playing CS can be extremely difficult and/or frustrating! Especially if you are playing on a server where there are players with sub 150ms pings! You will find yourself loosing shields for no apparent reason and you will notice players not facing your ship while they are shooting and your shield indicator and your shields will be dropping/flashing.

There is not really much anyone can do for you in this situation - it all comes down to lots of luck and great timing!

DODGING FIRE IN HIGH LAG CLIENT SERVER GAMES

First of all I will cover dodging homers and mega at high lag. When u see a homer coming for you do not attempt to dodge this missile because there is the possibility that the moment you attempt to dodge, the server tells your computer the homer has impacted your hull already.

The only ways I have found to dodge homers with 300ms plus lag is to firstly, put a wall between you and the homer. Secondly if there are no walls and you are out in the open - wait till the homer is almost upon you, then strafe and use afterburner in any direction then immediately strafe back and hit the missile head on! This way of dodging is a very big gamble and unless your timing is perfect - sorry to say this � you are dead! Use the first method if at all possible.

You will also notice more and more invisible napalms/mortars/smarts etc. as your lag gets higher and higher to a server. The only way to really avoid getting continually hit by these kinds of weapons is to listen. The moment you hear a secondary weapon such as a smart, mortar, napalm being fired � don�t wait for it to hit the floor and see where its headed because the chances are that it�s already hit your ship on the server... RUN LIKE HELL... even if you don�t hear the "missile lock" sound anymore, keep running and cross your fingers!

The only way I have found to successfully avoid primary weapon fire is instead of dodging, fly into their fire and continually do this! Very tricky and you may think suicidal but think about this - if you see a shot hit you on screen and your lag is at 300ms then obviously it hasn�t hit u on the server seeing as you are 300ms behind in what the server sees. Don�t attempt this method if a shot is coming straight for your ship! In this case, slide as quickly as you can out of the way. Again a huge gamble and if at all possible don�t play on laggy servers! It�s not much fun and it really is very difficult to be competitive.

KILLING PEOPLE AT HIGH LAG

Unless your lead to a server is spot-on I�m afraid you�re up Shit Creek no matter how good you get at surviving! The only assured way of being competitive at high lags is to kill the players before they have a chance to kill you! This means good lead! The only weapon I have found to be of any use at high lags is a fully charged fusion - because you only have to get your aim right once or twice and your opponent is dead.

Remember the less contact time you have with other players the longer u will stay alive. Try to avoid direct confrontations - standing and fighting is a BIG NO NO! Shoot then run - shoot then run � shoot then run! Otherwise the LPBs will kill you in no time at all!

PINGS AND NETWORK LOSS

Try to avoid laggy servers at all costs! This will make game play much more enjoyable for all parties. Conventional wisdom says that the minimum ping for competitive play is 250ms. At pings over 500 you should NOT be playing Client Server games! It�s that simple! If playing at extreme lag i.e. 800ms you will die for no reason and find it impossible to kill people without seeking weapons.

Don�t play on any server when the network loss is bad i.e. consistently above 7% loss.

What is loss? Loss is a percentage of packets lost in the lines. Packets sent from your machine (or the server) only have a limited life span � usually less than a couple of seconds! So, if a packet is not delivered in two seconds or so, it gets dumped (or lost) when its time is up!

Why is loss bad? Loss makes your game play considerably more laggy than what your ping read out is i.e. a ping of 100ms with bad loss could become a ping of about 500ms or more even though your ping readout still says 100ms.

There is a "Network Loss" indicator on your HUD display. If it is over 6 or 7% then it�s not worth playing! At 10% it is virtually impossible to play. Anything over that and some very weird things start to happen! Ships begin to skip, weapon fire doesn�t do damage etc. So try to avoid lossy servers.

Keep an eye on the Loss indicator and make sure it is 0%! If you find that you can�t pick up weapons, it is probably very high loss causing it!

What to do to minimize loss and speed up ur connection

refer to http websties such as modem tweak / 3d tweak/ modemhelp.org/ etc etc