Flight assist off in combat

[Dissentient]

Can anyone fill me in on useful combat maneuvers that can be performed with flight assist off?

At the moment I can't find any reason to turn it off during combat.

The main issue I have with it is that it's absolutely impossible to aim without flight assist. In fact, it's impossible to even make ship stop rotating after performing even a slightest roll, pitch or yaw.
So I was thinking, wouldn't it be useful to add a flight assist mode that compensates roll, pitch and yaw, but doesn't do anything about ship's velocity?

 

[Namix]

Ive only turned flight assist off on a couple of occasions and that was to flip end over end to get the guns facing at a ship chasing me, i have it set to "hold" so as soon as i release the key, assist comes back and stop rolling etc, the fiddly part is making sure your throttle is set correctly so as soon as you turn assist on your ship doesnt just slow down and fly straight at the chaser. (i have not got it mastered which has resulted in some amusing collisions)

 

[CaptainKremmen]

I use it to break out of a tail-chasing loop, when turning circles are similar. I double-check my speed is in the blue zone, hit FA OFF, zero the throttle, and coast in a straight line out of the turning circle chase. I flick FA On again, bring throttle back to where I want it, and engage.

Also, if you're getting shots into a fleeing fat ship (like Lakon), trying to shoot open its cargo hold, it's easier for me to use FA Off... if said fat ship is doing a straight-line run.

 

[lreese]

I haven't found any use for it either. Flipping the ship over faster in a turning match seems to be the only use for me, however, I can't say for sure it's more helpful than simply putting 4 pips into engines and apply vertical thrust.

Earlier, before my time, in Beta 2 and 1 FAoff seemed to work a bit differently as it was used quite a lot in combat.

 

[Berien KorGlaens]

With the latests options (from Beta2) for fine tuning mouse control in relative mode, I mostly use FA/Off now. This has made FA/On only useful for flying straight rushes or pursuits, and some emergency docking situations, which are harder to achieve in FA/off. I find fights more tense and impredictable, and I really love the way the ship slides during manoeuvers while you have to adjust all ship's vectors with vertical and horizontal thrusts + acceleration, decelerations. That gives the pilot a real feeling of his ship's mass.

 

[mollymawk]

I can't see how you survive a fight without using FA off.

To learn, I flew around outside the station and watched my smoke trails.

experiment with FA off using thrusters and joystick in all combinations. Look at what your cloud trail shows you what happens.

Yaw and side thrusters are good. and spinning round verticly really fast then banging into reverse.. watch the trails.

I find im 50/50 on and off in a fight. if its a harder target to hit i may be using FA off 70% of the fight.

 

[Dissentient]

I can't see how you survive a fight without using FA off.

Well, it's probably because I have never engaged in PvP (well, because the game gives me no reasons to).

 

[Zephyriel]

I sometimes use FA Off when locked in a turn fight, so I get a little distance and manage to get the target back in my sights.

What I don't like about FA Off is that no matter how skilled you are, you can't get a perfect trajectory like you get with FA On. For example if you pull up, even using full vertical thrust your trajectory will align with your orientation much slower than with FA On. For this reason I don't use it much. Though I intend to try to get better at it in the future, because it's pretty badass when you master it.

 

[Raf von Thorn]

I cant turn the FA off... Whenever i try i get two messages: "FA off" and right away "FA on"... Is it because i use the mouse and keyboard settings?

 

[Commander_Tin]

I cant turn the FA off... Whenever i try i get two messages: "FA off" and right away "FA on"... Is it because i use the mouse and keyboard settings?

In settings, change the FA switching mode from "hold" to "toggle".

 

[Dissentient]

I cant turn the FA off... Whenever i try i get two messages: "FA off" and right away "FA on"... Is it because i use the mouse and keyboard settings?

It's because the button mode is set to hold. Either hold the button for the entire time you want it off, or change it to toggle in the settings.