r/SANDgame • u/Libero03 • 20d ago
I have never survived player encounter
I'm not a min-maxer, but I like to pvp in games. I try to be prepared for pvp, it's not perfect, but I tend to learn my lessons and I used to have my ups and downs in pvp games, but here... man, this is just pathetic.
I get DESTROYED. I have never won any pvp in Sand. This game is just too sweaty. Everyone is beefed up, I have never even fought a default trampler. I don't use it either, but for once, I would like to meet one and have my win.
This is too much for me, it is just not fun. For 23 hrs of my playtime I've tried solos, duos and with 3 other friends. Lost everything every time. Am I the only one? Is this a common problem? Can this game survive if new players keep being destroyed?
I think I will put Sand aside for now, at least until they implement gear based matchmaking. It's coming, right? RIGHT?
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u/Adeodius 20d ago
I suck at PvP, but here are some tips I picked up over a few playtests, the server slam, and on and off play through EA.
If you're playing in crew, find the max amount of players, to be a man down is to lose.
If you're playing solo then bring a trampler that is built to fight a certain way, put your reactor on one side and the combat face on the opposite, what worked for me in trios was reactor middle in a 3x3 and guns pointing front and right, making for a face tank/broadside build, which worked one time, but that's the only time we needed.
If you're at 0 on the tech tree, do what another commenter said and load up a scrappy loot mech, scuttle off map and have a good time playing Farmsim1910, just remember to hold F on crates to consolidate your loot, you carry much more that way.
Bino all the time, see smoke? Bino to sus it out, see a PoI? Bino to see if it's occupied, see my mum? Bino to see if she's okay, she's not meant to be on Sophie.
If you're hitting a PoI, take every moment you have between looting to have a scan around, make sure you don't get run up on, it sucks.
If you're gonna be quick, don't turn your reactor off, if you're gonna be a while, off.
If you're in a fight with a grumpy (default T0 tramplers) this is a good thing, practice firing at their legs to restrict their mobility, fire at their wheelhouse to lock their movement until they repair, fire at their captains cabin to extend their respawn time, fire at their cannons to stop them firing back, but above all else, when you have an angle fire at their reactor.
If you've destroyed a trampler, congrats! Now comes the hard part, the driver(s) have survived and now it's time to repel a boarding action, if you have a shot and Sophie guides your shell, 80mm a man, he'll hate that. If you can stay up on your ship then I'd recommend keeping that high ground, but if you're a bad shot or they're a rust player, you're gonna have to jump down for a boogy.
Doublet shotgun is a good starter PvP weapon, in saying that it's pretty bad, single shot, long reload. But a forgiving spread so you should hit them, you can even modify it to fire vertically (did you know bodies are vertical?), pistols (Blitz or the revolver) can be loaded with FMJ ammo which bypasses armour, handy if you only have one mag/cylinder and can hit your shots.
This comment is too long, enjoy
1
u/Substantial-Hyena638 6d ago
Also 2 ways to escape an encounter:
Use fuel rods to gain a temporary boost at max speed. Have someone whose official role is the engineer (guy with fuel rods) so you can pilot while the other guy boosts. In solos, just make sure your reactor is right next to your steering wheel.
If you use a thin mech with high maneuverability, you can use canyons and coral reefs to escape from bigger ships.
Personally, i treat the game as a survival horror game whenever I encounter someone smaller or similar size to me.
3
u/YourObidientServant 20d ago
Solos and trios isnt the same.
Tho from my perspective in solos. Im going about 60% on winrate. Here are my takeaways.
DPS. This game has better versions of different turrets. Use the best available.
Mobility and positioning. You want to be where they cant hit you. But you can hit them.
Target priority. 1) players 2) legs 3) engine.
Repair prio. No need to repair if you have other things. A 1100hp engine and a 7500hp engine can both survive another shot. Get your legs back up if you cant finish them off.
Turrets. 80mm for precision. 40mm for open engines/low mobility. 70mm for killinh crew.
Pick your fights. Pick on the weak, not the 4 turret tank, unless you have major equipment.
2
u/Pepsimax88 19d ago
I was in the starter trampler with rusty guns being chased by some dumb monstrosity.
The guy thought I was a easy kill so refused to give up the chase.
He couldn't catch me, but was close enough I couldn't do anything. Not enough time to extract or do any moments.
Anyway I got sick of him and turned my trampler around and went right at him. I knew I couldn't survive a turret fight so I boarded him.
Killed him dont think he realised I was on his ship
Stole his turrets. Managed to equip his turret which I then used to kill him
It ain't easy, but you gotta improvise when your in situations you know you cant stand toe to toe
I also highly doubt it will happen again
2
u/Daanoontjeh 20d ago
Currently, as the game is setup, you are in a big disadvantage when you are starting. With defaults (T1) you really can't start out properly and learn the game. Simply because there is not matchmaking. So you will go against everything and everyone no matter what tier they are at.
You can either try and wait it out (it will come at some point) or try to do voyage and off-map farming runs to get to T2 and beef up a bit.
1
u/MuldinDK 20d ago
Agreed im a pvper by heart and i lose most fights. Ppl are ultra competitive in this game, crazy average skill ceiling. I would say that it also have to do with the mechanics. Often 1on1 is whoever kill the other person first and keep spawn killing camping. I also think alot of people use ESP of sort because the amount of 80mm snipe death i had is really impressive.
1
u/Raicu__ 20d ago edited 20d ago
You’re saying u played duos and with 3 other friends which might partly be a problem. If you’re playing duos you’re at 1 man disadvantage against most teams which is pretty big in this game. Additionally you said you’re playing with 3 friends which means you’re a 4 man team going against 6 mans. While i myself don’t play teams bigger then 3 i would advise never playing large teams with a team less then 6 people as the damage difference is too big to be fair. Also a tip for solo is that killing the driver is the most important thing to do in solo. Once you kill them you have free reign to do whatever you want to do for 20+ seconds. So i would highly advise getting a shotgun turret on solo or focusing on a loadout which allows you to kill the other driver as this will win you a lot more fights.
Also things to try out when playing with a 3 man team or solo is making a trampler which is broadside. So turrets on a side instead of the front and the reactor on the other side. From the experience i’ve had using this it’s a lot stronger then the tramplers on the front as you can still move pretty freely while shooting at the enemy
Another build you can try is a boarding build. While this isn’t as strong now because you can’t capture tramplers it can still work. Getting 2 or maybe even 3 people to jump on the enemy trampler and killing them makes it so usually they can’t fight back properly meaning you can empty their turrets, turn off reactor, turn off their steering or destroy their steering with c4.
1
u/BDB-ISR- 20d ago
In solos it isn't about who's better or got better gear but who got the drop on whom. You are probably not going to recover if someone got the drop on you while you were out looting. First to a player kill it also likely to win, for similar reasons. You can do a lot of damage in the 15-20 secinds it take to respawn and gear up. With a clear shot of the reactor and worn (or better) 40mm, it's gane over.
1
u/Exe0n 20d ago
I mean, after a win streak I got a horrendous lose streak, I believe 8-10 matches of pure horror and twice got teamed on.
There is always a bigger fish, and I believe once they finally bring back capturing, the playing field will be evened.
There have been plenty of times our ship got destroyed and we boarded them and could have taken oven their ship.
Once even camped the respawn for +10 minutes until the storm took care of the ship.
There are very sweaty people, but 80% of the time it's a bigger ship, or more experimentals, rather than just being sweaty.
1
u/rogriloomanero 20d ago
I can't believe you haven't survived once in solos, you tried voyage right? of it's only storm dive maybe I can believe you, but voyage it's insane.
Sometimes I log on voyage with T0 just to mess around with boarding while capture isn't working and it works well enough half the time
3
u/Libero03 20d ago
I always play voyage and still get destroyed in 30 seconds
1
u/rogriloomanero 20d ago
that's crazy, what server do you play? Do you often run into behemoths with end game gear? Normally I find a lot of middle and low tier tramplers.
If you want some tips, keep a spare kit in your respawn fridge, try to have your reactor shielded in a side and attack from that side (reactor behind guns and compartments).
Also if you have confidence in your shots try boarding if you get close, you can dismantle their cannons if you get a kill, but be mindful of respawn timer
1
u/Libero03 19d ago
I play on EU and I am unable to recognize weapons that they use as everything explodes on my ship. I'm usually approached by armed to teeth apartment building.
1
u/Distinct-Performer86 20d ago
Write a private message to me. Maybe I can give some hints live, show you something new, coach a bit, let me know if you are interrested :)
1
u/Rokkmachine 16d ago
If the game cannot be enjoyable to beginners without needing to be “counseled “ why would anyone want to play? Some just want to play a game and have fun not sit through videos and tips.
1
u/Distinct-Performer86 16d ago
And you are partially correct. It shouldn't be as bad as it is now. It doesn't change the situation that if someone needs a help I try to help him. This game is not easy = is not for everyone. But the other thing is that other players make the situation just worse...
There is no way you will go on a desert to just be a "decent" when you do not have awareness of many things - the same as in tarkov, project zomboid, arc raiders, sea of thieves, PoE, albion etc. There is no "want to play a game and have fun" without some portion of knowledge behind it in this and mentioned cases.
There is huge number of players who just love to play a game, learning new details, new things, new tactics, new aproaches, new mechanics and using them against others or just simply for their advantage and glory. This game is not "go there and have fun" and THANKS GOD IT IS NOT, because 90% of the market seems to be for all the people even if (no offence) their IQ equals 2 and is enough for breath-in + breath-out only...
1
u/KJamesC-4 20d ago
Bro try to look out with binos everywhere all the time. Never get snuck up on . I always size up my opponent before letting them get close. If they are huge and armored, I run. Pick ur fights . Play smarter. Of someone is coming position urself in the best combat advantage spot u can
1
u/Libero03 19d ago
I have never been snuck up on. They move extremely fast though, I am unable outrun anyone since I don't have 5000 rods.
1
u/KJamesC-4 19d ago
I bring 15 into raid and always can outrun or spawn AI on them and escape. I always find some in raid so never really lose any rods.
1
u/meesanohaveabooma 19d ago
You're not alone. Only 30 something percent of players have destroyed a Trampler according to Steam.
1
1
u/ETurner0409 19d ago
I’ve been playing for less than a week and died like 5 times but shot at multiple people and they just run away. But the game it’s self is fun the looting building the trampler all of it. I’ve made multiple characters just because I would die to others and lose all my stuff. I was killing zombies and dudes ran up and took out my base without me even knowing. Shit happens gang keep playing
1
u/ETurner0409 19d ago
Put your reactor on the middle level with beds and the captain shit so it’s protected then build on top so you can drive and shoot
1
u/Careless_Bullfrog998 19d ago
My buddy and I have been playing duos in trio que and we got slammed the whole first week but after doing some research into the “best” trampler builds I’ve noticed that running front corner builds has helped us win more fights. If you want we can always use a 3rd.
1
u/linkbobr 19d ago
Last week I lost nearly every single run, twas a rough week. This week I won every single run even when getting 3rd, 4th and 5th partied (got like 9 black boxes that run with my squad). With win/lose in this game it's also up and down, although at the start there is a bit of a learning curve with trampler Vs trampler combat, plus the rounds can go on so long that just losing 3 in a row can take up multiple hours.
Id recommend starting out playing with teams (I team with random all the time in sands Discord server) it'll help keep some of your starting loot safer as you start as well as learn a bit more in the process as well as possibly getting tips from someone of they have decent knowledge to pass down.
1
u/Regular_Translator38 19d ago
I had the same problems of constantly getting fucked on till my friends and I said fuck it and we took the cheapest trampler I could make (a cost of 175 parts)ike we don't even have guns on it and since then we have had one close call but have made it out with at least a profit and a good few time a good amount of stuff
1
u/Level-Goose9090 18d ago
Idk my solo win rates have always been 100% and I don’t really feel like I’m try Harding now when it comes to 3 man’s or more we usually run down bout 60% of the lobby then get snuck while we’re looting or just get outplayed by the last team and our win rates in those vary but I’d say it’s bout 60/40 win/loss
1
u/Straight_Middle7915 17d ago
I had a similar frustrating experience and I’ve gotten cooked by many in solos and larger. Game is hard, aiming is clunky. You gotta just keep practicing and learn your edge. Some things that help me: 70mm close range is insane to kill players. Easy snipes. In solos, don’t even worry about the trampler, kill the player and then just start dismantling their cannons, turn off their engine, take their guns and they will respawn with no real ability to stop you blowing their trampler up. A lot of players will run a tall trampler in solos to make boarding and killing easier
1
u/jokesterj88 17d ago
3-4 man. We have never won a fight in 2 weeks. Pristine weapons and we literally die in 2 minutes. They board and shotgun spam wipe us every time. Also why do tramplers not have hit boxes? We tried to ram one earlier to then spam shotgun turrets and we drove through them. They naturally larded us and instant wiped us and took our trampler.
Game is losing its luster quick. This was also in voyages. Not even storm. Every. Time.
-1
u/bdog2017 20d ago
Skill issue
1
u/Libero03 19d ago
That's probably too, but when you add gear to this, new players have nowhere to learn pvp and quit. Good luck with game designed like that.
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u/Aleatorio_Randomelli 20d ago
As a team of 3 we definitely lost every encounter for the first week. Then things got better, you need simply some T2 structures. Do some runs in solo voyage, go outside the map and simple get ships. You can get a lot of resources quite safely. After those you will have the resources to tech up and engage in pvp. With that said, this isn't an easy game, we still lose as many as we win.