Quote Itkovian Quote: Originally Posted by In that case, why is it that sometimes I will be locking someone in plain sight, far from the edge of my missile arc and far from max range, and my lock will suddenly end, requiring me to right click again and resume locking?



Basically I start locking, hear the beeping, then the low noise indicating a lost lock (with no visible cause whatsoever), then have to relock? Note that the target is not using any lock breaking ability or distruption shields.



Could it truly be explained by lag alone? Lost locks inside of a missile arc, with no action taken by the player on the receiving end of the lock, will typically be caused by lag. In order to ensure lock-ons are legit, they are securely verified on the server, which inevitably causes a bit of lag between communicating various bits of info back and forth. It's something you would typically observe at extremities - like near the edge of the firing arc or near the edge of the range for the weapon.



We've implemented some tricks to keep this perceived lag to a minimum, but it could help explain some of the behavior seen. One tip to possibly minimize the risk of losing a lock-on is to slightly lead your target, and keep them away from the edges of your firing arc.



But it's worth noting that far more often a lock will be broken due to what I explained earlier: your target executing a defensive maneuver or crossing in front of an asteroid for a split second while you have them in your sights.



All of that being said, we're going to investigate just to verify nothing else is going on with lock-ons. We don't want to assume anything!



As for evading missiles, no, there is nothing the player can do to outrun or evade a missile once it is in the air short of executing a defensive maneuver.