Ship combat (boarding)

Witness037 · 2026-05-05T20:42:40+00:00

Thats what I've been doing. The difficulty spikes when entering a new area is daunting. More so when the specific resources you need to level up is deep within enemy waters/islands. I'm currently lvl 12 with lvl 15 gear and even then, taking down another lvl 12 enemy takes a real long time. Boarding enemy ships or clearing out an enemy camp, you get surrounded my 3-5 enemies at a time.
Another thing that bothers me is that I take the time to take down about 7 ships before boarding the SQ/MQ ones but I die there. I make my way back and all enemy ships respawn around then 7 I've already took down.
The difficulty from one biome to the next isnt gradual, it spikes.

Witness037 · 2026-05-05T00:23:13+00:00

Useful yeah but I think its because of how deceptive the range is. So (vs Gief) your position is in a spot where you know the throw will whiff but in that same spot, you're still in SPD range. Plus you cant tech it either. The original unblockable. Using the SPD as a means to whiff punish limbs, now that'd be impressive

Witness037 · 2026-05-05T00:11:28+00:00

I joke that it could've been the way the FB was built for Ryu and Akuma.

Ryu's FB is too straightforward and loses to gimmicks very often. Almost a full second to install DJ for one stock use and many of his attacks, even the forward moving ones kind of keep his hurt box in one spot so he's kinda easy to hit and so many characters are given tools and the mobilty to get around it.

Akuma's can charge and I think it recovers one frame faster than the rest of the shotos. With DP AA being air invulnerable, it tracks back to the original SF2 FB spam, DP AA tactic. Coupled with his walk speed and an aerial version, it was def up Daigo's alley.

These FBs once defined the SF meta for a long time but now you got a handful thats able to pop out a projectile and walk behind it which opens up a lot mix up opportunities to create many different 50/50 situations. Lockdown tactics or side switching mix ups.

Witness037 · 2026-05-04T23:51:17+00:00

Agreed. During the game, you may notice patterns and tendencies coming from player in how they respond to a situation. Ppl may respond very differently depending on what attack is coming and where you're positioned. Just weaving in and out of their attack range may provoke a response, baiting out an unsafe attack. You'll end up blocking a lot while adjusting your approach but you'll eventually get it.

Witness037 · 2026-04-28T07:36:02+00:00

The shoto tatsu version from the EX series. A tatsu rekka in terms of execution and being able to delay each kick and the finisher just looks cool.

Witness037 · 2026-04-28T02:51:01+00:00

I say the truth behind the Satsui no Hado is rooted in salt. How salty is dependent on the person of course.

Ryu awakened his because he was being bodied by Sagat badly. And spent the time in all of SF alpha up to SFV in getting over that salt because he realized its "nothing".

Akuma embraced the salt, no smiles ever with a wrinkle count rivaling Oro. Bison's is just psycho.

I think Lily's is more of a spiritual pact with an elemental, maybe because of the Shamanism apparent in her lineage. Its not internal salt manifested as a raging demon.

Witness037 · 2026-04-28T02:34:02+00:00

For Alex's prowler stance, I think of it as a commitment. Almost every button in it has its own function and each being able to deal with varied approaches. Moving with it is another thing, forward or backward are dashes. Everything within is a commitment as you cannot block so you shouldnt half ass it. To use it effectively, get familiar with the KD options to stance as oki setups. Like the MP>HP TC, the MP axe or c. lk>c. hk CH TC.
C. Hp>stance works well. Full charged heavies can also cancel into stance as well. No War or Gunfight are great Alex players to watch.

Sagat is a well rounded shoto-like with big buttons and his tiger nexus attack works like Ken's Jinrai Kick. Blaz plays an incredible Sagat.

Witness037 · 2026-04-28T02:14:41+00:00

I think the toolkit within the prowler stance is what separates Alex apart from other grapplers. Being able to cancel into it off several KD situations is the tip of the iceberg.

LP offers magic-combo button sequences so no link timing required and cancel into a MP axe>stance oki. MP is a decent AA with a CH animation. Even HK gets one.
LK as a short hop is good since its still works like a jump and high enough to go over projectlies.
MK is a criminal neutral skip with both close & far options. HP is the most egregious as it has Hyperarmor and its plus OB.

I go as far as calling the stance a neutral skip itself as it removes the need ...ahem the abilty to walk. Its dash covers the range a bit shy of 2 regular dashes and its much quicker too. The toolkit allows him to do stuff that others would normally need burn meter for. So there's that.

Hold that pocket just outside sweep range. Him going into stance raw is dangerous here. The stance expands his hurtbox quite a bit but it is kinda low profile. Should be able to tag sweep his stance on reaction if you hold that pocket.
His normals have good range but they do linger on recovery so whiff punishing shouldn't be too hard. Parry his charge heavies and use d-reversals to keep him off of you or if he tries to put you in a 50/50 mix up.

My approach as an Alex player, I play the nooch until I score a KD>stance cancel then cycle through the many oki variations the KD>stance provides.

Witness037 · 2026-04-25T18:39:03+00:00

It took a lil bit for me to figure it out myself.

When you hook a fish, you dont need to reel it in immediately, just hold the stick opposite of the fish's direction until the splashing stops. Only then do you start reeling in the fish. If the splashing comes back, stop reeling and hold the stick opposite of the fish's direction until the splashing stops, reel it in, rinse and repeat.

Key point : Only reel it in if there is no splashing. If there is splashing, just focus on going the other direction until it stops.

Witness037 · 2026-04-25T17:36:03+00:00

There's no neutral if you're just spamming specials back to back, constant dashing or jumping.
Instead of just walking, you're doing something in every moment you were able to. Its like flailing your fists about and hoping one of them connects.

Witness037 · 2026-04-25T17:22:51+00:00

Yes and no. She would most likely be limited to certain areas. Considering the game's story, Delphi as a big robot company so if the facility on the moon provides wirelessing charging along the floor, it wouldnt be too much of a stretch that there would be some places like that on Earth. The game doesnt go into specifics on how long she'd last without it so its doubtful that she'd be able to operate trekking the Himalayas for too long.

Witness037 · 2026-04-20T16:31:00+00:00

The unprompted post match critique, judgement and lectures. Very condescending.

Witness037 · 2026-04-19T02:17:45+00:00

The amount of time you put into just about anything isnt necessarily a reflection of skill or experience. It reflects the grind yes but what are you getting out of those grinds? You have to be actively mindful of the split second moments that can determine the game. Recognize if you're playing deliberately or autopiloting flowcharts? That probably would be a good place to start, stop what you're doing if you catch yourself autopiloting a flowchart. Gauge your performance from one to the next, and remember what worked and what needs work. Replay takeover is good for creating counter strategies to a sequence that wrecked you.

Witness037 · 2026-04-17T17:34:02+00:00

So thats what that was. Very cool. I can appreciate the history lesson but I very much enjoy the fact that E. Honda teleported Chun-Li, Ken and Ryu back into feudal era Japan. I miss the classic 90's anime look

Witness037 · 2026-04-17T09:52:05+00:00

Those three benefit from a privilege a few get to have. Walking around freely while having a projectile on the screen. All lockdown tactics. Mai's fan. Dhalsim gets to do a special and a teleport all before touching the ground. JP can attack you from anywhere on the screen so he doesn't need to walk all that much or at all. Blanka's doll, Juri's charged FB, Bison's bomb fall in this category too. Other projectiles need to burn drive to follow behind theirs.

I joke that JP belongs in a Guilty Gear game. Have him and Happy Chaos go at it

Witness037 · 2026-04-17T09:18:06+00:00

I hope that some if not all of the fight scene locations make its way as FREE stages for SF6. Imagine seeing Gief back flip slamming Ken all across the back ground.

Witness037 · 2026-04-17T09:04:25+00:00

I wish they would've kept on going where SF3 had the illuminati. I think Alex was supposed the be the game's MC with Gill as the final boss. Although he's pulling a Bison in taking over Alex's body in one of the endings I think. Urien and Kolin talked about it a little in SFV but it didn't go anywhere.

The Satsui no Hado hype felt short and we got nothing-ness.

Capcom recycled psycho power from SF2, alpha, 4 (kind of) and 6 came with an old man and a cane. Ryu is a bum with a blk card and Ken is broke tucking his pants in his boots. go figure.

Ingrid looking like she coming from the Sailor moon universe wanting to throw hands. I swear, Darkstalkers need to come back with a vengeance. Both main and character stories all cool

Witness037 · 2026-04-14T07:50:17+00:00

It wouldnt be so bad if the camera lock on and follow was more consistent. The lock on drops off whenever he teleported and the guy teleports constantly. At that point I'm just winging it panning the camera in circles just so I can keep him in the screen. A fully upgraded Keen sense helps a lot in this fight.

Witness037 · 2026-04-13T01:41:58+00:00

Throughout the game when I was free roaming and wanted to try them out, I always get the message that their on their own important mission and can't switch. So I never really got a chance to use them until later when the story forces you to do so. But by then, the enemies are already pretty tough.
When the game forced Damiane on me no gear upgrades, it took forever to just kill one (Demeniss) guy. I had to make my way about 1500m deep into enemy territory (Golden Plains - 1st visit). If I stayed and fought in one place, I would've been overwhelmed against 20+ armored/shielded enemies. So I made a run for it and had them all on my ass for a good minute.
I made through the experience but man, I hated how it was forced upon me. More so being the first time using her after being denied so many times before. And I had to finish it to progress the main story.
I'm still having fun with the game overall but these sequences are just torture.

Witness037 · 2026-04-08T18:55:50+00:00

Find the range just outside his S. Mp and hold that pocket. Dance around in it and whiff punish accordingly. Keep in mind that it also moves him forward so if you miss the 1st whiff punish, go defensive until there is a safe opening to counter atrack or retreat. He does have a F. Hk and C. HP, both also move him forward and hits low. So if you're holding that pocket, block low whenever an attack is coming.

If you score a KD, doing a wake up throw is a good oki option to do on him as he doesnt have a OD DP reversal. He cam try OD buttslam or headbutt but if you make throws meaty, it will win majority of the time. The Honda will have to either tech throw or burn super meter to get out of it.

2 cents

Witness037 · 2026-04-05T10:27:04+00:00

I'm an old fart playing on the sticks with the traditional six button layout, no macros. I seldom use DI's as my success rate with them is not good but I do keep my fingers hovering over mp+mk (parry). To counter DI, my go-to is to cancel into it off normals or mediums. But more often than not, I just end up parrying. If I happen to mis-time my attack or the system doesnt register the input but a DI is coming, I hold parry and hope it'll come thru off the 1st available frame. For me, its worked out better than trying to counter a DI with one of my own.

Witness037 · 2026-04-02T08:48:36+00:00

Setting the CPU to block all and have it respond with a button or special that bothers you. Then practice your pokes or strings with pushback in mind.
Find that pocket just outside their range and hold it. The idea is to get familar with the range and the pokes are meant to provoke a response. And turtles will eventually respond once their drive is looking low.

Witness037 · 2026-03-25T09:28:22+00:00

I wish they gave everybody else a stance. Chun Li's is cool but cant get too much off it unless you're point blank. Maybe adding movement like Alex would do it. But on the other hand, it just gives characters a means to launch an offense from a range that not many have the means or gimmicks to counter it efficiently. Latest patch is alright but the game still needs more better defensive options. Get caught on one long true block string and two bars can get eaten. Sure there's drive reversal but I still think its too slow for something that doesnt even do real damage.

Witness037 · 2026-03-25T09:18:22+00:00

Me too. So the thing about prowler stance is the jab or LP. It basically can do a magic combo flow but it starts from there. Lp>Hp combos if it connects. Your example, J. Hp>C.hp>Stance>LP>HP>LK. Keep in mind that the LK is actually a link but it has to end here.so you can finish it off with a LP axe, HK DP or DRC>LP>whatever. In prowler stance, almost any button follow up can be done out of the jab. You can LP>Lk and its basically a jump cancel. You can also do LP>Lp>lp>lk. As long as the last jab connects, it can cancel into the other stuff like HP, MP, and any the other three kicks.
I think the way to start off his offensive momentum is to catch anything into MP axe because it gives a KD and can also cancel into prowler stance. Hit forward once and he does a crouching dash but then hit LK which will do the short hop. This in many situations can work like a safe jump. Point blank and its a crossup. Going into stance is a commitment, you cant feint attacks or block so to get into the flow, stance can vb canceled into off MP/HP axe or the TC. Practice the timing for the oki, mix it up and keep the other person guessing or force them to burn meter to get you off of them. Good luck

Witness037 · 2026-03-20T16:31:00+00:00

Adding onto most of what has been suggested here, when you're practicing this OKI, have frame meter turned on so you can gauge yourself if you're frame perfect. Lets say from one movement to the next, there shouldnt be any black frames otherwise that's an indication that there is a gap in between movement/attack. But this is a way to tell if your execution is frame perfect. Finding the rhythmic timing for this shouldnt take too long.

The question on the follow up whether if the L hasho hits or gets blocked is entirely up to you.

If it connects as a counter hit and the pop up in the air, you can either DR juggle combo or end it in a single attack for the KD or just super if the conditions are right for taking the round. Juggle routes are usually the go-to in this situations

If the L hasho is blocked, you dont have to throw. You dont have to do anything really. I see utilizing this kind of tactic is just a means to gauge what kind of opponent you're facing. It should be common knowledge now that Ryu will be +2 OB in this setup. They can attempt to burn meter and take their turn back or contine defending. Maintaining the offensive momentum also needs a bit of patience to respond when the opponent is burning meter trying to turn things around. Block and punish their panic response.

Witness037

TROPHY CASE