How 2: Crane In CFO

[lollipopsparkleberry]

Forgive me, but I just can't figure out how to swing the magnet forwards and backwards in any consistent manner. You gave the directions to "swing" forward, and "swing" this way and that way, but what buttons on the keyboard are you pushing when doing this? Okay, this is what I did: I was craning and holding a goon, I centered the magnet using the left and right arrow keys, and then I began pushing the up and down arrows to get it swinging but it never got any momentum. It just kinda slowly moved forward and backward, and when I released it the goon just plopped down on the floor in front of me. And sometimes pushing the down arrow key seemed to halt the momentum altogether, but I couldn't figure out any other way to gain the power and speed needed to propel it forward. What oh what am I doing wrong??! I did CFO with the CCG today and zero of us knew how to crane! This is the fourth time I've ended up in a group with no craning ability. We ended up dying after about twenty minutes of trying our best to throw things at the CFO. Can anyone give me a specific example of the buttons they push and how long to push them in order to strongly swing the magnet forward? I would really appreciate it!
Darlene

[momcat]

Hi Darlene,
I had the same problem as you. I think i may even have been in one of your no crane ability groups. LOL. A very awesome tune by the name of Boodini took pity on me and sent me this message. You can't imagine how much it helped me. (please don't get mad at me for posting this Boo.) I hope it helps you or anyone else with the same problem we have.

Craning help
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I saw your battle report and just wanted to see if I could be a little help. Crane is not hard, most important thing is always bring the arm all the way back when you get a goon before you swing it forward, this stabilizes the line a bit. Next look in front of you at the red square, you want to point your front of the swing arm at the point of the square. when you are in the back position and have your crane ready pointed at cfo hold the arrow up until it swings at his head, you should have enough swing by the end of the " arm stretch" to be able to hit him square in the face
retract and repeat. If your swing gets "wild" just pull the crane back and it will become more stable.
If he looks at you while swinging and you can hit him do so, that will stop him from gearing you, if you don't have a goon on the magnet or are not ready to hit him step off the crane( it is ok to drop the goon) so you don't get the -10 point hit.
Once you get the hang of it it is quite easy.
Hope this helped a bit.

[Mr Red Bull]

Firstly it's the arrow keys that control crane. And Ctrl key that activates magnet.

Right and Left arrow turns crane and give you the direction, Up and Down arrows swing crane forwards (outwards from resting position as mentioned in guide) and Backwards (back to resting position).

Don't think of the crane as a swing where you need to swing backwards and forwards to get momentum, this is a mistake many people make and just slows you down or makes you lose control.

When turning you press the direction button until crane turns to line you want to swing outwards to. (Remember only turn when full back, resting position)

When you swing forwards you press button until you need to release/pick up goon or safe, if you start in backwards position (resting) you have enough momentum to pick up goon within full crane range which extends out to undercarriage opening and along a line to outer wall. You also have momentum to reach CFO even enough to throw something over his head.

Take a look at this video done by Kit.T.Kat. It may give you more understanding on how craning works and shows arrows as they are being pushed, just note you don't have to be as fast at turning and swing as done in video, take your time you should not need to make slight corrections, leave speed for when you more experienced and confident

The symbol '^' indicates Ctrl Key pressed





'Keep it Kool '

[uncommongirl]

Um...I'm so confused. I've tried following your guide but I still can't even land a single hit on the CFO. I don't know what I'm doing wrong.
I think it has to do with the timing of the release. My magnet can't reach him (it won't extend far and I can't get enough momentum for some reason) and when I try to release a goon, it either bounces off of him or just lands on the floor, same thing with the safe. I've tried releasing early, after passing the top of the undercarriage like you said, still didn't work. Almost everytime I try to crane I keep going sad because I can't get a single hit. I feel like I'm dragging down the team
Also, I have a question, when you press the arrow keys to move, do you keep pressing down on the arrow keys or do you just tap them once? Silly, I know, but I think you do, right?
Honestly, I feel like almost giving up craning, at least I know I can stomp a goon. You make it look so easy. I'm just really frustrated because I can't get it right. Everything else I'm okay with, it's just crane. Really would appreciate it if you could point out what I'm doing wrong and tell me what I shuld be doing to correct it.

[Mr Red Bull]

Well on the keys issue, you have to keep key pressed. It's a powered crane momentum is generated by power applied, not by swinging motion (some people tend to forget this).

Providing you start with the goon held on magnet in the furthest back position ('resting position' (while in line with line in ceiling hold down arrow till crane stops, so it is still or virtually still)). When you press up arrow and hold it you should get strong enough swing to not only hit CFO but clear him completely (with goon).

However even when applying what is quite simple procedure something called delay/lag can affect things. I for example have had times in the busiest areas when I can't get hit of safe on knock off or goon bounces off. Now I know I am a very good craner, so much so I know that I'm not making mistakes so they should be hitting.

I have on rare occasion had to give up crane as I knew that I was not helping if I can't get hits in under normal circumstances. This I put down to a delay/lag, not lack of skill .

This maybe your problem too, if you don't having powerful gaming PC or tend to experience delay in busy areas then this is even more likely.

So I would say try:

1) practice a couple more of the forward swings as just mentioned above, holding keys to move crane in direction not tapping.

2) Read the three posts above yours in this thread there is more info there, also watch the video, now don't try to copy it, Kit.T.Kat is experienced and video is not so much a training video to be copied at basic level, but example of good craning. What is good about video is that at also shows basic keys as they are being pressed. In particular watch how he picks up goon swings in and swing back out, remember though you don't have to do that as quick as in video, if you slow down doing it, you don't need to make the correction to line that is in video, a straight back, turn to line in ceiling, wait till crane stops moving and swing forward should work fine.

3) If you are CFO'ing in the busy districts like River/Summit maybe should try slightly quieter ones when may have to wait for few toons to make team, see if things get easier in less busy place. Also look at CCG Clan sections (as mentioned at end of guide), and go to training runs, these will be in quieter districts and should be less pressure on you as people will be trying to help you, not take your crane when you do wrong.

4) Try waiting till last sec for release, try seeing if you can get goon over CFO or hit very top of him, this may compensate for any delay. Once you find a couple of hits this would be YOUR release point.

5) Unfortunately though, you may have just accept that for what ever reason, craning will not work for you, whether it be you PC, connection or another reason, if goons/safes will not hit CFO then it may never happen. If you've tried all above and still it won't work, then maybe a life of stomping is the way forward, at least till something changes, like new PC, different connection or something else. Try once in a while to see if anything changes, but mainly concentrate on what you do best


Whatever you choose, hope it works out for you.



'Keep it Kool '

[racecarrocks]

ummmmmmmmmmm I just did really bad the last cfo i did byt i won hmmmmm
could you give me some tips?

[Mr Red Bull]

Well read last 6 posts, aswell as guide and any links that there are. If after that and another few goes and you still don't get it.

Sorry to say that maybe you will have to accept you never will. However never give up time will tell, try those CCG runs where they do training maybe this will improve your skills.

Other then above I don't think I can add any more tips that would serve any new purpose.

Craning is what I call an instinctive, action based, arcade skill. You have it or you don't, you can learn to a certain degree, but the best were born with it. That's the way I see it anyway.

Good luck anyway.


'Keep it Kool '

[Salty Pinkercrumbs]

Thanks so much! I did my first attempt at crane today (at 121 laff and level 40 baron) and while observing my skills I was impressed "was that really me?" I thought. Thanks to your guide I've been transformed from a noob craner (like I've been since CBHQ opened) to someone who can actually participate! I still need a little practise though but your guide has made me so much better already

[Moonmist]

This is an fantastic guide, thanks for posting it, thank you Kit T. Kat for the vid, and thank you for making it so fun to read =D

[Doctor Weaselroni]

In the first picture the edits made me lol so hard. The thing that was really funny was " Grab at blah and knock the CFO's blah blah " and made me almost choke on the food I was eating! This is a VERY nice guide GREAT for first timers!

[Lady Murky]

I would like to add something about crane operation I have come across from personal experience.

I have always been a good craner for the most part but one thing I had struggled with was I could NEVER knock a safe off the CFO's head no matter what technique I tried. I tried for well over a year different release heights, angles etc... yet never knocked more than one single safe off the CFO's head by the time I maxed.

A friend of mine who is an IT professional asked me one day (after I was again lamenting my lack of Helmet-knocking-off skills) what kind of computer I was playing on. It was a year old laptop but after doing some research I discovered it had a poor video card.

Well a few months ago I finally upgraded to a gaming computer with a 1.5gig video card and the first place I headed to was CFO. Whoa Mama!! What a difference! The crane flew around wildly and I almost had to relearn how!! But the first time I tried to knock off a helmet guess what?? It came off! So did the next and the next and so on!

The point I want to make is that some of you that are having difficulty craning may want to try upgrading your equipment to see if that is the issue rather than assuming its your ability or timing. You may be doing everything exactly right but your computer isn't processing the information in the way that you need to succeed.

It made SUCH a difference in my craning ability and hopefully works for many of you as well

[Mr Red Bull]

Originally Posted by Lady Murky

The point I want to make is that some of you that are having difficulty craning may want to try upgrading your equipment to see if that is the issue rather than assuming its your ability or timing. You may be doing everything exactly right but your computer isn't processing the information in the way that you need to succeed.

It made SUCH a difference in my craning ability and hopefully works for many of you as well

This is true a computer that doesn't meet the recommended requirements will struggle to give you the gameplay that others with gaming machines will get, not just in craning but doing glitches etc. and as TT is 3D intense one of main areas that if upgraded can seriously improve this is graphics card based.

I being instinctive craner can almost do all the advanced techniques described above with my eyes closed, you just get a feel for these things, but when was playing without graphics card on PC for while (it blew up, had to use on board one), I had days when knocking off safes & even hitting with goons was just a near impossibility. I know it was not my technique so could only be the latency of PC without the graphics assistance involved.

So yes even then if you get your technique down you may still be let down by your machine.



'Keep it Kool '

[Salty Pinkercrumbs]

Once again I'd like to applaude this thread for helpfulness in my own experiances!
I finished a crane round just now in what seemed like 5 seconds flat (in reality probably about 3 minutes!!) and I was on a crane!
I never thought I'd be able to crane at all; thanks Mr Red Bull!

[Mr Red Bull]

Originally Posted by Salty Pinkercrumbs

Once again I'd like to applaude this thread for helpfulness in my own experiances!
I finished a crane round just now in what seemed like 5 seconds flat (in reality probably about 3 minutes!!) and I was on a crane!
I never thought I'd be able to crane at all; thanks Mr Red Bull!

Well the guide just explains the basic no-nonsense way to operate the crane, to become good requires practice, some skill and more importantly learning when to throw what. So well done to you, you can say you're a class craner now.



'Keep it Kool '

[chucklestheclown]

I am a quarter away from my cash suit. I heard I shouldn't crane on my first cfo, but I REALLY WANT TO...