If you're struggling with combat try this

[BlackSpaceCowboy]

Combat finally clicked for me. This is what made it click. Go to a RES site and do the following. Put 4 pips to engines and 2 to shields.

1. Full throttle then pitch up. (notice how slow the turn is)

2. Keep throttle in the blue then pitch up. (turning a little faster)

3. Keep throttle in blue and then boost and then pitch up. (hmm....better)

4. Keep throttle in blue and then boost and then quickly hold FA OFF (now that's it)

(don't just skip to #4. It's better if you get a feel for how each change affects your turn rate)

Also...

a. if your enemy is moving up your screen use thrusters up

b. If your enemy is moving down your screen use thrusters down

If he's moving left or right, roll your ship such that he's moving up or down and follow a or b.

Also...

switch to 4 pips to eng and 2 to weapons during combat. (OR whatever works for you)

Also...

Get used to going full reverse to slow your ship if you're about to overshoot. If you're not reversing you're not using your ships full stopping power.

Finally...

Use flight assist off as a hold button if you can.

Now go to HIGH RES sites and do some bounty hunting. Wait for the System Authority to engage before you join in. Never attack alone until you're better. Use the above techniques to try to maintain an angle where you can hit your target but he can't hit you.

It will take some practice because you're doing so many things all at once.

I was feeling real confident and attacked a Federal dropship. That didn't work out too well.

Edit: I'm really new to this game and I probably got a little too excited after some multi-million dollar bounty runs. Just try this stuff out if you're new and struggling. Read some of the responses for possible corrections.

 

[Cynaqq]

Combat finally clicked for me. This is what made it click. Go to a RES site and do the following. Put 4 pips to engines and 2 to shields.

1. Full throttle then pitch up. (notice how slow the turn is)

2. Keep throttle in the blue then pitch up. (turning a little faster)

3. Keep throttle in blue and then boost and then pitch up. (hmm....better)

4. Keep throttle in blue and then boost and then quickly hold FA OFF (now that's it)

(don't just skip to #4. It's better if you get a feel for how each change affects your turn rate)

Also...

a. if your enemy is moving up your screen use thrusters up

b. If your enemy is moving down your screen use thrusters down

If he's moving left or right, roll your ship such that he's moving up or down and follow a or b.

Also...

switch to 4 pips to eng and 2 to weapons during combat. (OR whatever works for you)

Also...

Get used to going full reverse to slow your ship if you're about to overshoot. If you're not reversing you're not using your ships full stopping power.

Finally...

Use flight assist off as a hold button if you can.

Now go to HIGH RES sites and do some bounty hunting. Wait for the System Authority to engage before you join in. Never attack alone until you're better. Use the above techniques to try to maintain an angle where you can hit your target but he can't hit you.

It will take some practice because you're doing so many things all at once.

I was feeling real confident and attacked a Federal dropship. That didn't work out too well.

Wait.. I don't mean this as an insult, please please don't take it as one. I'm asking because I need the information to help new players.

What were you doing before? I mean before the combat 'clicked' for you?

 

[Drachenklaue]

Wait.. I don't mean this as an insult, please please don't take it as one. I'm asking because I need the information to help new players.

What were you doing before? I mean before the combat 'clicked' for you?

Well I know personally when I was a baby rookie pilot, I had no idea how to use power distribution, or flight assist.

 

[smiths121]

Get used to going full reverse to slow your ship if you're about to overshoot. If you're not reversing you're not using your ships full stopping power.

Not sure this is true, at least in the Type-6 the last ship tried this in, seems like weeks ago! I beleive if you FA off and then go full reverse, your rate of deceleration inceases, but with FA-on pulling back on the stick makes no difference to the computer firing the thrusters.

Gonna have to try it again tonight now, see if I missed anything.

Simon

 

[Cynaqq]

Well I know personally when I was a baby rookie pilot, I had no idea how to use power distribution, or flight assist.

Well, I figured out both in that first combat tutorial mission when I failed to shake the sidey off my back. It took about 5 tries.

First I tried outright reversing but it led to face tanking so it had to be something else.

Then I tried FA off, which made the ship all too unwieldy so I thought 'this can't be the focus of this tutorial, no way a noob pilot can pull this off'.

Then I looked at the screen carefully, tried putting power to engines, the blue range came in a little later and now I could kill the sidey in my sleep with one hand.

This is the absolute basics of playing this game. When did we start pretending it was advanced 1337 stuff?

Again, I'm not intending to be insulting. I genuinely want to help struggling people.

 

[Darrett]

Combat finally clicked for me. This is what made it click. Go to a RES site and do the following. Put 4 pips to engines and 2 to shields.

1. Full throttle then pitch up. (notice how slow the turn is)

2. Keep throttle in the blue then pitch up. (turning a little faster)

3. Keep throttle in blue and then boost and then pitch up. (hmm....better)

4. Keep throttle in blue and then boost and then quickly hold FA OFF (now that's it)

(don't just skip to #4. It's better if you get a feel for how each change affects your turn rate)
.

Don't take this as criticism, rather take it as clarification.

1 & 2- makes sense, hopefully not news to most.

3- Boost will temporarily increase pitch rate and then reduce it as the initial boost wears off until your speed reduces from the boost to back inside the blue zone. Using a cargo scoop toggle to force fire retro thrusters can help deceleration. Using boost alone is of little benefit in an even pitch battle unless you want to overshoot after the pitch advantage and go into an FA off flip and reverse flight.

4- This will cause you to continue moving on the trajectory you are on when you started the FA off pitch and turn in place. Though fast, you will give your enemy the same opportunity you're about to get to light you up. Only recommended if you outclass the opponent; don't try it in your Eagle against an FDL.

 

[BlackSpaceCowboy]

Wait.. I don't mean this as an insult, please please don't take it as one. I'm asking because I need the information to help new players.

What were you doing before? I mean before the combat 'clicked' for you?

I was just pitching and turning. I knew to stay in the blue zone. I knew boost helped. But the link between boost and FA off didn't really click.

I would be caught in these loops where it felt like I couldn't get the enemy in my sights. And I wasn't using my thrusters to follow the targets up and down the screen.

It think it was explained to me but it's different to really feel how FA OFF effects your turning. It's better if you progressively go through those steps IMO. It's hard when you try to do all of it at once.

Also, I was using FA OFF as a toggle. It's much smoother as a hold.

And somewhere I heard when the enemy is moving up, thrust up. When he's moving down, thrust down. That's so straightforward and easy to follow.

 

[Cynaqq]

I was just pitching and turning. I knew to stay in the blue zone. I knew boost helped. But the link between boost and FA off didn't really click.

I would be caught in these loops where it felt like I couldn't get the enemy in my sights. And I wasn't using my thrusters to follow the targets up and down the screen.

It think it was explained to me but it's different to really feel how FA OFF effects your turning. It's better if you progressively go through those steps IMO. It's hard when you try to do all of it at once.

Also, I was using FA OFF as a toggle. It's much smoother as a hold.

And somewhere I heard when the enemy is moving up, thrust up. When he's moving down, thrust down. That's so straightforward and easy to follow.

Thanks, this is exactly what I was asking.

 

[Mohrgan]

Two bits I can offer to complement the OP.

Be watchful about when you let off the FAoff. Especially when I use it in the Hold manner, I had a tendency to release too soon, and loose the advantage. In my set up, I find that my throttle resets to the speed I'm actually going in the direction I'm facing when I exit FAoff. This means that generally my throttle is at zero, or even in reverse, when I exit FAoff. I've had to learn, make a habit of, resetting my Throttle to 50% coming out of FAoff. (This has something to do with using Keys, rather than a HOTAS for throttle control.) So keep an eye out for this as you develop your FAoff routine.

I was introduced to a very useful maneuver by a great pilot. When pitching up, I will use the down thruster to speed the rate of rotation. This works well but, there is a weird phenomenon, where you pitch faster if you switch from the down thruster to the up thruster at the right point. What I've seen is as you use the down thruster you get to a transition point where you reach a sort of stall point. While you practice this move you can start to anticipate when this point is reached. That is when you quickly switch to the Up thrusters. Your upwards pitch rate will increase nicely.

Good luck out there Commanders.

 

[n4p0l3on]

Wow I didn't realize that the cargo scoop can be used to gain advantage in combat before I read this thread.

 

[monkeymagoo]

Also, I was using FA OFF as a toggle. It's much smoother as a hold

Going to try this tonight, cheers for the tip

 

[BlackSpaceCowboy]

Two bits I can offer to complement the OP.

Be watchful about when you let off the FAoff. Especially when I use it in the Hold manner, I had a tendency to release too soon, and loose the advantage. In my set up, I find that my throttle resets to the speed I'm actually going in the direction I'm facing when I exit FAoff. This means that generally my throttle is at zero, or even in reverse, when I exit FAoff. I've had to learn, make a habit of, resetting my Throttle to 50% coming out of FAoff. (This has something to do with using Keys, rather than a HOTAS for throttle control.) So keep an eye out for this as you develop your FAoff routine.

I was introduced to a very useful maneuver by a great pilot. When pitching up, I will use the down thruster to speed the rate of rotation. This works well but, there is a weird phenomenon, where you pitch faster if you switch from the down thruster to the up thruster at the right point. What I've seen is as you use the down thruster you get to a transition point where you reach a sort of stall point. While you practice this move you can start to anticipate when this point is reached. That is when you quickly switch to the Up thrusters. Your upwards pitch rate will increase nicely.

Good luck out there Commanders.

Wow, thanks. It's not that clear in my mind.

If FA is OFF and you're pitching then you're rotating freely relative to your velocity vector. I'm not sure how your thrusters would improve your turn. But your thrusters would help you adjust your position relative to your target. Is the ideal position above but angled behind the target?

So, my guess is this saddle point or transitional point is the point at which you're perpendicular to the target?

It sounds like ideally you would want your thrusters thrusting you in the same direction as your target as you pitch towards him. Is that right?

The combat is really challenging in this game. I like that. I just generally like tough games. I grew up back in the day before continues were popular.

 

[Daniel Cloudsifter]

Also...

a. if your enemy is moving up your screen use thrusters up

b. If your enemy is moving down your screen use thrusters down

Hmm, I will try this. I was actually doing it the opposite way.

Finally...

Use flight assist off as a hold button if you can.

Now go to HIGH RES sites and do some bounty hunting. Wait for the System Authority to engage before you join in. Never attack alone until you're better.

I would add "Never consider the System Authority your friends." One little mistake and they'll all be after you. What kind of mistake? Attacking a member of a wanted wing that you haven't scanned yet. Doesn't matter if he's actually wanted or not... if you shoot him before you see the wanted status, you get charged with assault (400 cr bounty). The bounty is trivial. The attention you receive because of it is anything but...

 

[Draven Darken]

One thing I do with thrusters and turning (via a pitch up*) with FA On is this: if my speed is below corner (i.e., below the blue arc), I'll thrust down as I pitch up, because this tends to increase my overall speed (by applying more thrust toward the current vector of momentum of my ship, which drops below the nose during a pitch up) and gets me into the blue arc very quickly, resulting in a faster turn rate. Conversely, if my speed is above corner, I'll thrust up as I pitch up, because this decreases my overall speed and once again quickly gets me into the blue arc and gives me that improved turn rate.

* I almost always turn via pitching up. Generally I only yaw to fine tune my aim (it is too slow for anything else), and pitching down too often results in the target being below my window and out of visibility, which is a bad situation. And it is also probably because my ACM skills, such as they are, were learned mainly through atmospheric flight sims like Falcon and Jane's F/A 18. I even drive to lag in EDH, something I really shouldn't do, given that there isn't the loss of speed and maneuverability over time that one experiences when continuously turning in atmospheric flight. Fortunately (from my perspective) EDH does emulate the atmospheric style of combat a bit more than it would if it were being entirely realistic about flying in a vacuum.

 

[Mark Lock]

4 pips on Eng 2 on weapon? I would say 4 pips Sys, 2 on weapons, engine only when not hit

 

[Koen]

I think this video by Vindicator Jones explains things very well:

[video=youtube;hElXzArVdmM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hElXzArVdmM[/video]

 

[Ayra]

a. if your enemy is moving up your screen use thrusters upb. If your enemy is moving down your screen use thrusters down

Is that actually the case? If you have a ship of comparable maneuvrability to your opponent, in my experience if you thrust in the same direction you are turning, you just end up at like 100m distance and keep looking without end. If go the other way (thrust down while pitching up), you put some distance and end up with the enemy in your faster (so does the enemy though; it's similar to the FA Off turn in effect).

 

[BlackSpaceCowboy]

Is that actually the case? If you have a ship of comparable maneuvrability to your opponent, in my experience if you thrust in the same direction you are turning, you just end up at like 100m distance and keep looking without end. If go the other way (thrust down while pitching up), you put some distance and end up with the enemy in your faster (so does the enemy though; it's similar to the FA Off turn in effect).

I mean let's say you've pitched and you're now perpendicular to your target. If you thrust in the same direction your target is moving you can maintain this position more easily and you'll have to pitch less.

 

[Bacalao]

I mean let's say you've pitched and you're now perpendicular to your target. If you thrust in the same direction your target is moving you can maintain this position more easily and you'll have to pitch less.

That works well if he's just cruising straight, if he is also pitching up you're going to end up really close and passing each other or just kissing. If you pitch up and thrust down you end up further and further behind your target, or if he is also pitching up hard you'll end up hovering above him (this is very dependent on ship maneuverability). It all really depends on what he's doing and what he's in. Is he going into a boost turn, just coming out, throttling up or throwing it in reverse? I won't say it gets complicated, but it does get nuanced.

 

[BlackSpaceCowboy]

That works well if he's just cruising straight, if he is also pitching up you're going to end up really close and passing each other or just kissing. If you pitch up and thrust down you end up further and further behind your target, or if he is also pitching up hard you'll end up hovering above him (this is very dependent on ship maneuverability). It all really depends on what he's doing and what he's in. Is he going into a boost turn, just coming out, throttling up or throwing it in reverse? I won't say it gets complicated, but it does get nuanced.

I'm using throttle full range so when I get too close I just pull back and reverse to put some distance while maintaining thrusters in the direction he's traveling.

And before what I was referring to is the "boost flip"

[video=youtube;tFOZ7KgZ5cM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFOZ7KgZ5cM[/video]