Combat strategy

[fw190a8]

Apologies if this has been answered elsewhere. I couldn't find similar threads but do link me to one if it's easier.

I come from a combat flight sim background (mainly second world war) where there is a great deal to think about in any engagement. You have to consider energetic states, energy retention of you versus the enemy, turning ability, roll rate, altitude performance, dive acceleration, maximum speed, etc.

I have not seen much discussion around combat strategy in the game so far, and my experience of brawling in space has amounted to who could turn more quickly than whom. There seem to be 2 strategies that I am aware of, when considering ships with only forward-firing armament: if you can turn more quickly, you do that and win. If you are faster, you pull ahead a few kilometers, turn around, and unleash everything you've got.

So, a few questions relating to this:

Given that my ship can't turn as well and is slower than the one behind me, how should I shake someone off my six?

Can manoeuvring thrusters really play a role in overcoming an enemy that could be tough to defeat without them, such as an identical counterpart?

Are there any good resources to read or watch on the intricacies of the Elite: Dangerous combat system?

 

[Tiamat]

Welcome Commander!

Given that my ship can't turn as well and is slower than the one behind me, how should I shake someone off my six?

Make sure your throttle in in the blue zone as that is your "sweet spot" for turning and gives you the tightest circle your ship can achieve. Also use flight assist off as you can flip around without changing your movement direction to bring your guns to bear almost instantly. With flight assist on you get an atmospheric-style flight model bit toggling it off gives you more freedom to turn independently of your motion direction.

Can manoeuvring thrusters really play a role in overcoming an enemy that could be tough to defeat without them, such as an identical counterpart?

In combat I use these primarily for avoiding being hit. For example when jousting (both of us heading right at each other) I use them to keep myself slightly out of alignment using lateral thrust so his shots miss. If he is behind me I use directional thrusters in a similar way to continually move in random directions. If I see shots go past my left side I assume he is going to correct his aim so I might strafe left or down so I am not in the position he expects when he fires.

Are there any good resources to read or watch on the intricacies of the Elite: Dangerous combat system?

I'm not sure if anyone has done any combat tutorials but search on youtube as there are a lot of videos and at least some should cover combat.

 

[Morbad]

Tactics is the word you are looking for; strategy is a broader, more overall plan of action. Anyway, the two example tactics you have mentioned are over simplified and adhering to them in fights, especially if they involve other CMDRs, will get you killed.

To answer your questions:

- Shaking an enemy that is both faster and with a superior turn radius is difficult. You either need to be able to out accelerate them, allowing you to open up a temporary gap long enough to charge your FSD, or otherwise reach safety, or you need to utilize certain manuvers that allow off-bore velocity to be increase beyond what is possible in a pure forward vector. The latter is widely regarded as an exploit, as it allows almost any ship that can survive for more than a few seconds to disengage from almost any other, with little chance of being followed.

- Maneuvering thrusters are hugely important, both for attack and defense. They are also the key to the maneuverability of ships like the Viper, which despite it's poor pitch rate and wide turning circle is devastating in the hands of an experienced CMDR (especially against CMDRs who habitually confuse circling or jousting with fighting). Here is a video I made a few days ago pitting my stock Sidewinder against a "Dangerous" NPC Asp; I would not have been able to do nearly as well if I did not make extensive use of thrusters to stay in his blind spot as much as possible:
[video=youtube;Be7sHvQyEHU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Be7sHvQyEHU#t=20[/video]

- Best resource is practice and trial and error. Second best is watching the errors of others, various videos and streams online have good examples of combat, and even more bad examples of combat which still show how not to do things.

Make sure your throttle in in the blue zone as that is your "sweet spot" for turning and gives you the tightest circle your ship can achieve.

Does give you the tightest turning radius, at least in the absence of other thrust input, but just leaving the throttle here is usually a mistake.

Also use flight assist off as you can flip around without changing your movement direction to bring your guns to bear almost instantly. With flight assist on you get an atmospheric-style flight model bit toggling it off gives you more freedom to turn independently of your motion direction.

I normally limit my use of flight assist off to being able to do 180s without losing as much velocity, as aiming fixed weapons is extremely difficult to do without flight assist. Generally, I rely on lateral and vertical thrust for high-angle of attack/off-bore attacks.

In combat I use these primarily for avoiding being hit.

They are crucial for keeping a target in sight, especially if that target can normally out circle you.

 

[Falkenherz]

I found this old guide from X-Wing to be very useful and enlightening. I also researched some websites about real air combat dogfighting dogma, as some of the dogma also hold true for this particular space sim.

You can also look up this old thread from this forum.

You might also want to study these particular videos from Isinona, who focus on the newtonian flight aspects:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ty04--bvSig

... and in general all videos from that guy!