Rocket League Catch All

Fedaykin98 wrote:


Just because you can touch the ball doesn't mean you should.

Hah! I have literally typed this in game. The game actually has a significant learning curve, in that once you make the steps forward, playing with anyone behind you can be excruciating. I actually wish people were on mic more often, so many times I've had the perfect shot ruined by a friendly shunt forward on the ball OR realised after the fact I'd done the same to an ally.
Having one team member play back half/goalie will become the norm for any experienced team I bet, as more than four players in the same half seems to make everyone less productive.
I'm also finding it very helpful to get 'wide' of the ball to line up shots, you can feel rookies by the fact they're all cramped up on the ball most times. Also, maintaining lots of boost at all times is pretty key, having good spatial sense on the field is key for that. Does anyone play without Ball Cam? I see advantages there, in that you're far less likely to accidentally hit friendly players and could line up better shots. But being able to have your eye on the ball seems more advantageous to me at the moment.

troubleshot wrote:

Does anyone play without Ball Cam?

I've gotten to the point where I can't play if ball cam is off. It almost makes me sick. The camera is so smooth when it is on and very jerky when it is off. I realize that says more about my driving style than anything else.

I play without Ball Cam all the time. I snap it on to find the ball if I can't, and that's it.

troubleshot wrote:

Having one team member play back half/goalie will become the norm for any experienced team I bet, as more than four players in the same half seems to make everyone less productive.

I think it is more about positioning. Typically when the ball is deep in the offensive zone, having someone sitting at the net is silly (I have seen this happen). Instead the defender should be sitting at mid field (maybe a little bit into the offensive zone) but always ready to get back to the net if there is a turn over. Every now and then one might get through but by having the defender closer to the action, they can help keep the ball in the offensive zone which can lead to goals.

Rotation of responsibility is the biggest key here. If I am playing defense, and I see the ball popping towards the net and everyone flopping around in the corner, I will charge towards the net trying to deflect it in. One of the offense has to move back and take over defense. If done right, the players will rotate in and out of offense based on the corner the ball is in without leaving the defensive zone wide open for a breakaway or a long shot.

I bought PS4 today and am downloading Rocket League to it as I type this. So I am up for playing on either platform. My PSN is Kazar.

You must IMMEDIATELY go watch Elysium play Rocket League.

I've been playing this over most of the weekend. It's super addictive and fantastic.

The biggest adjustment for me is getting used to two things:

1. The speed of the ball, because it tends to slow down when I think it won't (damn you physics)

2. Misjudging how far away the ball is when in ball-cam. I hand a tendency to mis-hit the ball or whiff right past it because I think it's closer than it actually is (or I'll think my car will "float" further than it actually will.)

Can I get an invite to the Rocket League group? This game is great.

blackanchor wrote:

Can I get an invite to the Rocket League group? This game is great.

I'll take one of these as well, please.

I just logged on long enough to tell you all that you are a bunch of filthy enablers.

That is all.

Except that I want to be in the group, and that playing with mouse & keyboard is not nearly as bad as I had feared.

And possibly that I will be very late for work tomorrow.

Edit: I am playing on PC, if that matters.

I played on my PS4 for a number of hours today. Working my way through a season play. I definitely feel myself getting better and I had a number note-worthy moments. What I am really appreciating is the color palate, though. Everything is so vibrant and lovely to look at. The colors pop and makes all the visuals gorgeous to see.

I jumped in and played a couple of online games. I scored the first goal in my first game, but otherwise did not exactly look like I knew what I was doing.

I am going to have to buy this for my kid, too, so I can ruin his college education.

Had a great experience yesterday during a 3v3 ranked game. My team (of randoms) had scored a few goals to zip, and two of the opposition quit. But the last guy kept on truckin' even after we scored a couple more, so I figured it would be fun to make it 2v2. With a quick "I got it!" I rounded out to the other side of the field and became his impromptu goalie. I set him up for a couple of goals but we ultimately lost. My ex-teammates took it well, with ggs all around at the end of the game. Felt good!

Holy cow, I just had a great match. I scored 7 out of the 9 goals that my team scored. Granted part of this is that I seem to have almost mastered the initial ball-strike-in-to-the-goal-combo. Whew. That was awesome. I am sure someone on here will next post how they typically get 14 goals/match on a bad day.

blackanchor, friend me up and I'll get an invite sent to you after work.

BTW, all group members have invite privileges, so if I'm slow on the response, others should be able to cover.

C: Is being on a friend list required to invite to group?

Okay, so I fired up the goalie training yesterday and there was a shot that I had no idea how to block. It's on the Pro level and the only way I can describe it is that it's a lob shot that drops into the goal at about the middle of net. It's just high enough that I miss it with a standard double jump, and I can't figure out how to approach blocking the shot.

I've tried running into the back of the goal to come out of the top for some extra height, but that doesn't work. I've also tried running up the outside of the goal and jumping off that way, but there isn't enough time before the ball is already in net.

Now that I'm thinking about it, the only thing I haven't tried is jumping once, aiming the rear of the car at the ground, and boosting. My only concern is that you'd need perfect timing and aiming in order to do that. However, that's probably the only way to be able to block that, huh?

CptDomano wrote:

Now that I'm thinking about it, the only thing I haven't tried is jumping once, aiming the rear of the car at the ground, and boosting. My only concern is that you'd need perfect timing and aiming in order to do that. However, that's probably the only way to be able to block that, huh?

I didn't do the goalie training so I haven't seen the scenario, but, I've seen the "pros" do exactly what you describe in that situation.

-BEP

I am playing on PS4 and would love to join up with anyone. I am not great, but not bad, either. My biggest issue is tending to get to wherever I'm going just about .5 seconds too quickly. I'd be so much better on defense and offense if I could correct that!

PSN: BEPNewt

-BEP

CptDomano wrote:

Okay, so I fired up the goalie training yesterday and there was a shot that I had no idea how to block. It's on the Pro level and the only way I can describe it is that it's a lob shot that drops into the goal at about the middle of net. It's just high enough that I miss it with a standard double jump, and I can't figure out how to approach blocking the shot.

I've tried running into the back of the goal to come out of the top for some extra height, but that doesn't work. I've also tried running up the outside of the goal and jumping off that way, but there isn't enough time before the ball is already in net.

Now that I'm thinking about it, the only thing I haven't tried is jumping once, aiming the rear of the car at the ground, and boosting. My only concern is that you'd need perfect timing and aiming in order to do that. However, that's probably the only way to be able to block that, huh?

Double jump, then tilt back.
Or aerial it.

This game is the most fun I've had swearing at my television in a long time!

Friend me up: JustJoshSea

CptDomano wrote:

Now that I'm thinking about it, the only thing I haven't tried is jumping once, aiming the rear of the car at the ground, and boosting. My only concern is that you'd need perfect timing and aiming in order to do that. However, that's probably the only way to be able to block that, huh?

I haven't done that goalie training, but yes, that's how you'd do it. I haven't used aerial boost much defensively, myself. It requires too much premeditation, and standard play doesn't allow for a lot of that. In your perfect scenario training session, though, it should be relatively easy to pull off.

Played a bunch of games with MeatMan, loved it. One game was a chaos match. 8 cars on the field at once is nuts. I played defence and we blitzed them. One thing is certain, if you have a car on defence and the opposition does not, you're almost guaranteed a win (not that anyone plays this game for anything but fun tbh).
I dream for the day when I can play a chaos match fully stocked with GWJers.

Also, I'm pretty sure the ball is weighted towards heading in 'your' direction when you hit it, almost regardless of the angle with which you hit it. It might not be by a lot, but I'm SURE its there. And by 'your' direction I mean toward your scoring end. There are a few funky false things going on with the physics in the game and specifically the ball such as it almost stopping altogether when it hits those corners. It's weird but seems to be done in the name of more fun I believe. Anyone else find this?

I'm home after two months on the road, so now I have access to a controller. I'm already finding it much easier to control the "dodge" jump in the air, but I've got a bit of learning curve in front of me. Lots of boosting when I want to jump, etc.

Also, I guess I should finally buy a headset so you guys can scream at me?

I played for a few hours last night ( PS4 ) and generally had fun. We had around 5 games in a row ( 2v2 ) where we kept rematching. All were good games. Unfortunately, my connection was getting bad during the last two and was eventually unplayable. The last 3 minutes of the final match was me just rubber-banding all over the place. I was quite sad when I had to disconnect so I could reset all my network devices. It's always a blast when you have some good matches in a row and everyone chooses rematch.

Last night, I encountered people rage-quitting more than I ever have. I saw a lot of quitting after the other team gets up 2-0 in the first minute or so and other situations like that. Being down 2-0 is just a great opportunity to have a sweet comeback!

I also saw my first chat DBags last night. They were sending fairly offensive text chats anytime we'd score. I haven't looked, but I wonder if there is a way to report folks like this.

I play a lot of defense ( or attempt to ) and had my first run-in with a "goon" last night, too. This guy was constantly just boosting into me to destroy me, even when the ball was down on the other end. Bumping the goalie is a valid style of offense, but constantly doing it through the whole match is just bad form.

I did get a friend invite from someone on here last night. Thanks! I hope to be able to play together at some point. I don't have any chat going at the moment - I can't find the earbud things that came with the PS4. I do have some older ( pre-5 ) iPhone earbuds that may work. Earbuds fall out of my ears all the time, but it's my best option at the moment.

If anyone wants to add me on PS4, my ID is: bepnewt

Back to work...

-BEP

I've run into goons too. We had a rematch series with some randoms one night and after we won a couple games, he went full goon (in 3v3) and they ended up winning one game before we got savvy. It's pretty easy to avoid once you know it's coming. Since they have to take a big run up, you just move forward or back a little bit and they miss and burn all their boost. (A single straight up jump might work just as well, though I haven't tried that.

Localgod54 wrote:

I've run into goons too. We had a rematch series with some randoms one night and after we won a couple games, he went full goon (in 3v3) and they ended up winning one game before we got savvy. It's pretty easy to avoid once you know it's coming. Since they have to take a big run up, you just move forward or back a little bit and they miss and burn all their boost. (A single straight up jump might work just as well, though I haven't tried that.

Like I've said before I play mostly defense. That means I am sitting idle in the goal a lot. Sometimes I come out to mid field, but I feel safer sitting in the goal. That being said I've gotten pretty good at avoiding the goon tactic with a simple hop. I've also noticed, once you do that two times in a row, it stops. Sometimes it only takes one time.

Localgod54 wrote:

Since they have to take a big run up, you just move forward or back a little bit and they miss and burn all their boost. (A single straight up jump might work just as well, though I haven't tried that.

But you don't have to boost and go for the kill to be a good goon. Just a solid t-bone can seriously reposition the opponent and make a big opening for your teammate. Or hit them on a corner to spin them around. There's lots to that strategy just waiting to be discovered.

EverythingsTentative wrote:
Localgod54 wrote:

I've run into goons too. We had a rematch series with some randoms one night and after we won a couple games, he went full goon (in 3v3) and they ended up winning one game before we got savvy. It's pretty easy to avoid once you know it's coming. Since they have to take a big run up, you just move forward or back a little bit and they miss and burn all their boost. (A single straight up jump might work just as well, though I haven't tried that.

Like I've said before I play mostly defense. That means I am sitting idle in the goal a lot. Sometimes I come out to mid field, but I feel safer sitting in the goal. That being said I've gotten pretty good at avoiding the goon tactic with a simple hop. I've also noticed, once you do that two times in a row, it stops. Sometimes it only takes one time.

Some of the public matches where I've stayed back and played a goalie have seen their 4th get frustrated at my saves and coming after me. They've been persistent, too - not stopping after a few hops, but dogging me until they manage to knock me out of the goal or blow me up.

I've definitely noticed I make a better midfielder or half-back. If you can communicate well enough in Chaos so that you get two strikers, a defender, and a midfielder, that seems to work really well.

The game also has a really solid soundtrack, which you can buy off of iTunes. Like, really solid, considering you barely hear any of it in the game itself.

I agree regarding selectively used "goon" tactics. I actually don't consider a nice "check" to be "goon" tactics though. If you're strategically using physical play such as a well timed goalie check/interference (even without blowing him up), that's just good play. A goon would be a player who goes for the check/demo even when it doesn't really make sense.

I play a lot of defense too. I tend to sit back and clean up the odd bouncer or pinch up when the opportunity presents itself. Every once in a while, I get caught, but I'd like to think the +/- on offensive opportunities and helping keep the play in the proper side of the field offsets the odd time a goalie lines up a long shot I can't get back for or a side bounced clear finds the net. In fact, I'm guessing the +/- is pretty heavily in my favor.

Edit: I find the mix of soccer and hockey terminology in this game appropriate and amusing.

It's soccer, but the momentum makes it like hockey.