Hijackers

[r34ch]

I've been slowly learning how to use various units in the game and currently I'm struggling to use these guys, After discovering that these work on live vehicles and not husks, I have tried a few tactics both online and against AI, with similar results.

So far I find flanking a column of tanks with a loaded APC the best method. Usually the slower soviet tanks with slower turning turrets are easier to capture, although this requires you to take out their support behind them. I have more success splitting them up into 2 APCs incase one gets sniped although its harder to get the timing right. I find players tend to prioritise APCs or when they see hijackers, keep driving forward. Mostly though, I fail miserably because I can't deal with the support behind the tanks.

What tactics are good with them?

[JOo]

the hijacker .. same as the mechanics (new) ability to capture husks ... is more of a gimmick then anything else ... imo

better dont use them directly in a battle where your enemy has its eyes on it ... he will do everything to take out the hijackers or , as you allready mentioned ... just move his vehicles forward

a better way is , to use em on ore-fields , and capture (preferable "full) unprotected harvesters with em .. this will hurt your enemy really hard

other then that , i cant tell you much about it ... the meta hasnt yet changed to hijackers ... people dont use em often ... because its a expensive strategy with less chances of success ... and even then , your enemy will hunt down the captured vehicle

from the development-perspective (i was pretty much following the whole process) i can tell you ... that the plan was , to make him "reusable" ...

that means , once you have captured a vehicle ... and your enemy destroyed this vehicle ... he jumps out of it ... and you can use him again (assumed that you keep him alive)

but this has not been developed yet ... and its not a 100% decision

[kyrylo]

a better way is , to use em on ore-fields , and capture (preferable "full) unprotected harvesters with em .. this will hurt your enemy really hard

I don't think you ever tried to capture a harvester with a hijacker. It's nearly impossible, because harvesters move faster and they usually never idle. Hijacker simply cannot reach them.

[BaronOfStuff]

I don't think you ever tried to capture a harvester with a hijacker. It's nearly impossible, because harvesters move faster and they usually never idle. Hijacker simply cannot reach them.

What? Yes it can, it just requires micromanagement and interception while the Ore Truck is moving towards or around an ore/gem field, not sending one Hijacker to the target from across the map with an "okay do your stuff" attitude from the player. If an enemy player spots your Hijacker then yes, forget it, but if the Ore Truck's simply going around its business automatically while your enemy is occupied with something else then it's incredibly easy to steal one. The real question is if it's actually worth doing at that particular moment.

[kyrylo]

I don't think you ever tried to capture a harvester with a hijacker. It's nearly impossible, because harvesters move faster and they usually never idle. Hijacker simply cannot reach them.

What? Yes it can, it just requires micromanagement and interception while the Ore Truck is moving towards or around an ore/gem field, not sending one Hijacker to the target from across the map with an "okay do your stuff" attitude from the player. If an enemy player spots your Hijacker then yes, forget it, but if the Ore Truck's simply going around its business automatically while your enemy is occupied with something else then it's incredibly easy to steal one. The real question is if it's actually worth doing at that particular moment.

If it's true (and I highly doubt that), you usually don't have time to do this micromanagement. Just try it yourself. A hijacker chases a harvester and he reaches it when it's unloading ore at an ore refinery. When he comes close, the harvester rides him down. If your opponent has many harvesters at one ore patch, there's a high chance that your hijacker will be ridden down as well. This unit is incredibly useless in reality, but the idea is very nice.

[BaronOfStuff]

If it's true (and I highly doubt that), you usually don't have time to do this micromanagement. Just try it yourself. A hijacker chases a harvester and he reaches it when it's unloading ore at an ore refinery. When he comes close, the harvester rides him down. If your opponent has many harvesters at one ore patch, there's a high chance that your hijacker will be ridden down as well. This unit is incredibly useless in reality, but the idea is very nice.

Someone's definitely doing it all wrong then. Go test it against AI if you don't believe me. I know that's not the same as trying it against a sentient player but the point is that it's very easy to steal a unit if you know what you're doing (external interferences aside).

Send a Hijacker to wait near an ore field. When the Ore Truck is moving to the field, move the Hijacker closer to where the Truck is probably going to resume mining. Chances are you'll miss the opportunity to capture on this run, but that's not a problem because Ore Trucks always return to the same cell (or a neighbour) to continue mining (unless manually ordered elsewhere), so when said Truck makes its way back you'd have to be some sort of idiot to fuck things up and get your Hijacker crushed. Congratulations! You (hopefully) just hijacked something and realised that it's actually pretty easy!

(Don't make me record a video of this.)

[JOo]

I don't think you ever tried to capture a harvester with a hijacker. It's nearly impossible, because harvesters move faster and they usually never idle. Hijacker simply cannot reach them.

thats bullshit , send a apc full of hijackers directly near a couple of harvesters ... and i tell you , you will capture a harvester ...

you have no time to "micromanage" stuff like this , when your busy with managing the basics ... means ... when youre still a noob then its more of a timewaster that costs you money ... and isnt worth the risk

[kyrylo]

I don't think you ever tried to capture a harvester with a hijacker. It's nearly impossible, because harvesters move faster and they usually never idle. Hijacker simply cannot reach them.

thats bullshit , send a apc full of hijackers directly near a couple of harvesters ... and i tell you , you will capture a harvester ...

you have no time to "micromanage" stuff like this , when your busy with managing the basics ... means ... when youre still a noob then its more of a timewaster that costs you money ... and isnt worth the risk

A hijacker costs $500. An APC costs $850. An APC full of hijackers costs $2850.

A harvester costs $1100.

If I was your opponent, I would be happy that you wasted $2850 (even if you successfully hijacked a harvester). You speak from the point of theory. In practice no-one uses them.

P.S. It is indeed possible to hijack a harvester only when it's rotating (that is, not moving) on the same cell to change its direction. It's not possible to hijack a moving vehicle.

[BaronOfStuff]

A hijacker costs $500. An APC costs $850. An APC full of hijackers costs $2850.

A harvester costs $1100.

If I was your opponent, I would be happy that you wasted $2850 (even if you successfully hijacked a harvester).

Except it only takes one or two to successfully steal an unguarded Ore Truck, which is $1000 at most. The APC doesn't explode or cease to exist so that's not exactly $850 'wasted', and the other Hijackers are still around too.

Yes, I am being incredibly pedantic with this, but to imply that stealing one Ore Truck invariably amounts to first spending $2850 every time isn't quite logical.

[JOo]

If I was your opponent, I would be happy that you wasted $2850 (even if you successfully hijacked a harvester). You speak from the point of theory. In practice no-one uses them.

and i allready mentioned this in my first post ...

other then that , i cant tell you much about it ... the meta hasnt yet changed to hijackers ... people dont use em often ... because its a expensive strategy with less chances of success ... and even then , your enemy will hunt down the captured vehicle

[newwe]

kyrylo has a point that a) taking an ore truck really isn't that easy and b) basically no one uses them sucessfully. Literally the only time I've seen it was in one yellow vs taylor swift game, and I've played a lot. Perhaps a buff is in order (increased speed, reduced cost?). I tested them out in debug mode and they seem to teleport on occasion slightly away from the targeted vehicle.

[squirrel]

If you like it or not, actually (at release 2014 10) the hijackers are the most useless unit in the game (sorry MAD tank, but you´re cool). Hijackers CAN do their job but their pathfinding is shite, can be squished and they are too slow for catching ore trucks. They need a speed buff... or atleast make them camo when standing still (like C&C Generals)

[Prince Blueblood]

If you like it or not, actually (at release 2014 10) the hijackers are the most useless unit in the game (sorry MAD tank, but you´re cool). Hijackers CAN do their job but their pathfinding is shite, can be squished and they are too slow for catching ore trucks. They need a speed buff... or atleast make them camo when standing still (like C&C Generals)

seconded for GLA-like stealth stuff, but maybe in exchange, the hijackers could be made sightly more expensive too.

Hijackers are too micro heavy units. While when used right at the right timing, they can absolutely devastate enemy economy (although that was a gamble still), they aren't working at all when your enemy bum rush you first.. adding stealth will make their APC dependance being far less, and they could act as "unit stealing mine", just like GLA games.

[squirrel]

We need more feedback about this

[jaymanxyz2]

We need more feedback about this

Well, as a non-competitive OpenRA player (i.e. n00b), I can attest to the fact of many of my hijackers being run down by enemy harvesters