PvP ++ Circle-Strafing ++ Truesilver's Top Tips [Beginner's Guide + VR PvP Vid]

[Truesilver]

Has somebody with a controller managed to do the diagonal strafing? If so would you share your mapping. It is always one input missing ether yaw or l/r thrusters. Is it possible to achive the diagonal strafing with the alternate control switch?

Hi there,

Hopefully one of the controller guys can give a more direct answer, but I'll just throw in that I use KB+M plus pedals. I have side-thrust (and fw/rev thrust) on the pedals.

In other words, one solution might be to play with controller + pedals.

o7

 

[Smecca is BMFE]

Yea, Ive got some input on this.

With most conventional gamepads you're kinda screwed. Nazradu is correct, you lose either yaw or left/right thrust unless you choose to sacrifice the triggers or "bumpers" for directional controls. Even if you go that route, triggers are awful for any thrust unless you're constantly holding it.

2 controllers that I know of solve the issue. The Steam controller and the Xbox Elite controller. Both come with additional buttons on the bottom side that I use for left/right thrust. In this regard this Xbox Elite controller wins because it has FOUR buttons underneath. As I said previously I use two for L/R thrust. The other two are used for thrust forward and thrust backward.

Now here's the key to this. Your THROTTLE should always be set to the blue zone for max agility. If you need to get closer to your target or slow down, you hold or pulse the fwd and backward thrust until you've reached the desired effect. Release it and boom! You're back to the blue zone for max agility.

With this set up I have primary fire, secondary fire, pitch, yaw, roll, left, right, forward, and backward thrust all in places where my fingers never have to move. You'll need software to help you out here. I use a program called reWASD which allows all these bindings. If you need tips on the setup please PM me.

THIS ONLY WORKS ON PC. Xbox one and PS4 (obviously) are SOL for this setup

 

[Truesilver]

Now here's the key to this. Your THROTTLE should always be set to the blue zone for max agility. If you need to get closer to your target or slow down, you hold or pulse the fwd and backward thrust until you've reached the desired effect. Release it and boom! You're back to the blue zone for max agility.

+1, this is exactly what I do. My throttle never leaves 50% in combat but my speed is varied by fw/rev thrust.

(In case anyone is anxious about the thrusters 'working against' the throttle, hence being weaker, they don't - it's an automatic control override.)

As I observe in the OP, an added benefit for those like me who toggle FA-on and off is that throttle does nothing with FA-off, i.e. it's a consistent control scheme throughout.

 

[nazradu]

Yea, Ive got some input on this.

With most conventional gamepads you're kinda screwed. Nazradu is correct, you lose either yaw or left/right thrust unless you choose to sacrifice the triggers or "bumpers" for directional controls. Even if you go that route, triggers are awful for any thrust unless you're constantly holding it.

2 controllers that I know of solve the issue. The Steam controller and the Xbox Elite controller. Both come with additional buttons on the bottom side that I use for left/right thrust. In this regard this Xbox Elite controller wins because it has FOUR buttons underneath. As I said previously I use two for L/R thrust. The other two are used for thrust forward and thrust backward.

Now here's the key to this. Your THROTTLE should always be set to the blue zone for max agility. If you need to get closer to your target or slow down, you hold or pulse the fwd and backward thrust until you've reached the desired effect. Release it and boom! You're back to the blue zone for max agility.

With this set up I have primary fire, secondary fire, pitch, yaw, roll, left, right, forward, and backward thrust all in places where my fingers never have to move. You'll need software to help you out here. I use a program called reWASD which allows all these bindings. If you need tips on the setup please PM me.

THIS ONLY WORKS ON PC. Xbox one and PS4 (obviously) are SOL for this setup

+1, this is exactly what I do. My throttle never leaves 50% in combat but my speed is varied by fw/rev thrust.

(In case anyone is anxious about the thrusters 'working against' the throttle, hence being weaker, they don't - it's an automatic control override.)

As I observe in the OP, an added benefit for those like me who toggle FA-on and off is that throttle does nothing with FA-off, i.e. it's a consistent control scheme throughout.

Wow! Now I can see the picture! These two post gave me a missing puzzle piece. I use the DS4 on PC and did set l/r thrusters on push LS and push RS. Of course its hard to adjust precisely while pressing your thumbs down and still I lack the fw/rv thrusters. I'll have a look on that elite controller even though I prefer the ergonomic of the DS4. Thank you guys and realy good work with this guide Truesilver!

Something else I did not figure out yet as I have just a couple of hours ingame and did fight only a few times. What is the initial for the strafing? In my mind the ships are moving forward most of the time with some curves of course. What ist the movement a target has to do to know alright time to strafe?

 

[Truesilver]

Thank you guys and realy good work with this guide Truesilver!

Something else I did not figure out yet as I have just a couple of hours ingame and did fight only a few times. What is the initial for the strafing? In my mind the ships are moving forward most of the time with some curves of course. What ist the movement a target has to do to know alright time to strafe?

Hey, no problem. I'm glad it's working for you.

About the 'when to strafe?' question, I think here you really need advice from one of our PvE specialists, but my immediate answer would be 'always'. I pretty much never fail to be applying side thrust in one direction or the other, in addition to whatever else I'm doing. This confuses the aim of most NPC's and many players. The effect will be much more limited with 0 pips to Eng on most ships, though.

The real decision, for me, is not so much whether to be applying side thrust but the extent to which I want to bring in up/down thrust and, always, the extent to which I'm trying to use fw/rev thrust to hold range, or move closer or further away. Ultimately there's no substitute for 'flying hours' when it comes to this sort of decision-taking, of course.

Where it gets more complex is when you want to start boosting for rapid strafing acceleration and switching between FA-off and FA-on for rapid strafing deceleration. This is covered more in Part 3 of the series, linked at the bottom of the op.

o7

 

[nazradu]

Hey TS! Thx one more time! It took some practice and I died quite a few times in a CZ, but with your guide and some other tips I managed to take down a Anaconda 1v1 as we got seperated. That was amazing but that brick had no chance against my little Viper Mk3

 

[Mohrgan]

I agree with TrueSilver, but I will admit that while fighting a single ship, that's mostly how I try to do it, I will let off the thrusters when my target has their back to me, or when I am in need of closing ground. Moving in an axis other than forward will slow your forward progress. As soon as I see my target turning his nose towards me, I'm back into a multi-axis corkscrew to avoid as much in coming fire as possible. I feel like you can expand the diameter of the corkscrew by varying your proximity to the blue zone on your throttle. The closer to the blue zone, the wider the circle it seems.

 

[A D]

I understand the Xbox controller problem - Cmdr S!lk, founder of Adle's Armada, uses a controller and does not use L/R thrust, therefore. He's happy with it.

Indeed, one of the most successful and respected PvP pilots in the entire game is Cmdr BreakfastMelon, who does not use L/R thrust but instead does exactly what you say here.

However, exceptions may merely prove the rule ... Mr Melon has legendary aim and situational awareness and personally I would not be without both up/down and left/right thrust.

In particular, most of my manoeuvring involves using both at once. Getting technical, the combined input increases acceleration (with FA-off) or top speed (with FA-on). But more importantly I think it is more confusing for the opponent.

So I guess what I am saying is that it is possible to pilot at the highest level without L/R thrust ... but I still think for most players, your game will be improved with them.

Good guide thanks Truesilver.

A short note re the Xbox controller (which I use). Clicking the left thumb stick changes the right thumb stick to L/R thrust, so it's possible to use the right thumb stick to adjust L/R and up/down thrust in an almost (not quite) single motion by swivelling the right thumb stick - definitely not continuous though.

 

[Manticore]

What a great read. I'm sure anyone looking to improve in combat, or even just plain flight, would benefit from this guide.

Absolutely. Great read OP!

 

[ALGOMATIC]

Majority of PVP fights are FAS and FDL, both those ships FA off with DD5 are extremely maneuverable (FAS being the most maneuverable ship in the game actually),

I dont believe this tactic will work well against any of those ships, correct me if I am wrong.

 

[Mohrgan]

Majority of PVP fights are FAS and FDL, both those ships FA off with DD5 are extremely maneuverable (FAS being the most maneuverable ship in the game actually),

I dont believe this tactic will work well against any of those ships, correct me if I am wrong.

It certainly will work, with the proviso that your opponent is not versed in the C-Strafe. Especially if either of those two ships fit Fixed weapons, and you use gimballed. If I can avoid a fixed weapon's firing solution, I take that weapon away from my opponent.

In PvE, you only need to use your favorite 'spin', but in PvP you need to vary it up. Changing from a clockwise rotation, to a counter-clockwise, altering the mix of lateral, and vertical thrust you use, and changes in speed, to reduce the chance your opponent can anticipate your path.

 

[Truesilver]

Majority of PVP fights are FAS and FDL, both those ships FA off with DD5 are extremely maneuverable (FAS being the most maneuverable ship in the game actually),

I dont believe this tactic will work well against any of those ships, correct me if I am wrong.

If you mean, 'Will we see one guy visibly circle-strafing the other in a serious PvP duel', no of course not - that can only occur if the weaker relies almost entirely on pitch and roll and has yet to understand lateral thrust.

However, the same techniques that are demonstrated at an introductory level in this thread (controlling the straight line fw/rev, up/down and left/right thrusters relative to the curved inputs of pitch, roll and yaw) are the very essence of evading fixed weapons and securing ToT in a higher-end duel. They're why back in the old 2.0 rail hull tank meta, a pilot like BreakfastMelon would pretty much always take his opponent's Powerplant to 0% with his own (in an identical FdL build) still at 100%, or why the old-time greats like Hercules4 did what they did.

By way of illustration, in the third in this series of guides, although unfortunately extremely difficult to perceive from within the cockpit on vid, I'm effectively using the same techniques the entire time. I'm literally never not using fw, side and down thrust (or some similar combination) in the three vids featured:

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/341107-Truesilver-s-Top-Tips-No-3-Gimballed-Duelling