Jousting, how to stop this?
- Thread starter Ichijo
- Start date
I don't have any great solutions.
Fly backwards.
Pick a new target.
I've tried to initiate an FA off turn so that I was flying at them, but facing the same direction as them, basically getting them onto my 6, then boosting in the direction they're flying right as they pass. I'm not a great pilot or anything, but it doesn't work that well.
Good luck.
Fly backwards.
Pick a new target.
I've tried to initiate an FA off turn so that I was flying at them, but facing the same direction as them, basically getting them onto my 6, then boosting in the direction they're flying right as they pass. I'm not a great pilot or anything, but it doesn't work that well.
Good luck.
Use your vertical thrusters and start turning before you pass them.
Practice, practice, practice.
If you boost, you loose a lot of control on your speed,
avoid using boost unless you need to close a gap or run/evade.
Use lateral and vertical thrust, trying to dictate the target where it can evade,
while you plan your next move.
Turn off flight assist in the way past, face their thrusters first then match speed. If they turn towards you, use your vertical thrusters to manoeuvre behind them again. Target the drive or power plant. Try to aim for the flattest part of them. I using gimballed / fixed mounts, more Surface Area exposed is crucial.
If all else fails, throw your ship into reverse and tank the damage. Target their weapons.
If all else fails, throw your ship into reverse and tank the damage. Target their weapons.
What you're saying is so ideal. I wish I can do this but the game mechanics simply won't allow this form of gameplay. I do not know the opponent's speed. NPCs can boost as much as they need while our boost usually ends up overshooting them.
Using the lateral and vertical thrust is so hard especially when by the time you're on their tail, they are turning such that you're already flying perpendicular to their direction of travel. It becomes such a glorified side scrolling shooter.
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You can gain some more control over the boost by boosting-> FAOFF-> full reverse.
Alternatively you can pitch a bit and use vertical thrust to counter momentum in FA:ON additionally to auto-deceleration.
Overtime, you'll get to know the controls. If you end up lagging behind but 1 boost will overshoot, aim directly at them, boost, but also hold F or R (down or up thrusters). That transfers some of the boost into those thrusters. You don't fly past. If you keep pointing straight at them whilst holding down a vertical thruster, you should be fine. Pay attention to the motion lines to see your velocity. If you overshoot, counteract the lines with an opposing force and you'll stabilise. Also, when you're fighting and trying to stay behind them, assign a button for 75% speed. That's the blue zone - most manouvreable. Press the button and if you shift your pips around, it compensates and shifts your thrusters to stay within the margin. That's one less thing to focus on. Always shunt power to the weapons - target the reactor and disable them first. For anacondas, you need to stay close and directly behind. It is easy for condas and cutters because the conda's don't try to face you like cobras do. They try to fly past because they have turrets, And the back is their only blind spot.
Tl;Dr, use all kinds of thrusters and use a lateral thruster to ease off the boost if you're gonna fly past. Fly safe
Just to this point, if you're using projectile weapons, and if you're using leading gun-sights, you can use the target indicator for you projectile weapon to judge speed and heading of targets.
^^This
Using thrusters really helps keep you in position. Importantly - know your ship. Some ships have much stronger thrusters than others, some much stronger in one direction than the other (strong up, weaker down). Exploit your ships strengths and if you know your opponents ship, exploit their weaknesses. Failing that, just kill them quickly and the joust is over
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Downgrade your thrusters!
Sounds weired, doesn't it? Obviously, you will lose max. speed. But as long as you don't have to run or chase a running target, this doesn't matter.
But your boost-frequency will be higher, as the capacitor will fill up faster. Use this to your advantage and boost often!
Execute a FA-Off boost-turn and head towards your target, then boost again to lower the distance gap. Stay behind your target using your vertical thrusters. If it manages to face you and starts jousting... boost again.
With a lowerd boost-speed, you will be less likely to overshoot, which helps with this tactic.
Sounds weired, doesn't it? Obviously, you will lose max. speed. But as long as you don't have to run or chase a running target, this doesn't matter.
But your boost-frequency will be higher, as the capacitor will fill up faster. Use this to your advantage and boost often!
Execute a FA-Off boost-turn and head towards your target, then boost again to lower the distance gap. Stay behind your target using your vertical thrusters. If it manages to face you and starts jousting... boost again.
With a lowerd boost-speed, you will be less likely to overshoot, which helps with this tactic.
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Watch the distance between you and your opponent carefully. Keep it between 500m - 1km. If the distance is narrowing slow down (even reverse if needed). If the distance is increasing then speed up. It really is that simple, even when flying the bigger ships that have limited agility, this will keep the target in your crosshairs. The key is to keep throttling back & forwards - making adjustments sooner, rather than when it's too late.
First thing: You can avoid most jousting by never coming face to face in the first place. Attack from behind and do everything you can to stay there, which means using your vertical thrusters a lot. Once you mess up and come face to face, the jousting starts. You can often break it by rolling 90 degrees as you pass the other ship, so that when you pitch up, you loop round at 90 degrees to your opponent instead of 180 degrees. The NPCs have ESP, so they tend to react immediately by rolling 90 degrees too at the same time, but not always.
If the ship is a Clipper or FAS, don't waste your fire shooting at it when face to face. Instead, put 4 pips to shields and go past him as soon as you can. Use chaff too if you can, then hope that you get a shot at him from the side or behind, where you can do some damage from your fully charged capacitor. 4 pips to weapons as soon as you passed him.
If the ship is a Clipper or FAS, don't waste your fire shooting at it when face to face. Instead, put 4 pips to shields and go past him as soon as you can. Use chaff too if you can, then hope that you get a shot at him from the side or behind, where you can do some damage from your fully charged capacitor. 4 pips to weapons as soon as you passed him.
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Turn left or turn right...
It is the aim for both sides to bring weapons to bear whether those weapons be on the side or the front, especially if all you have is weapons on the front...
It is the aim for both sides to bring weapons to bear whether those weapons be on the side or the front, especially if all you have is weapons on the front...
Jousting is a consequence of 3D fights and both trying to keep optimal distance, some people say star citizen has fixed it, but no it hasn't really main difference is the insane yaw it has imho, meaning people instead will just be able to face each other, and end up orbiting.
and orbiting happens as well in Elite, depending on ship, what I think could help is changing the ships themselves and shielding methods a bit, or maybe different types of shields? the idea being instead of it being a sphere, equally strong everywhere, it would be weaker at certain parts and stronger in other depending on what kind of tactic you used, like if you are confident you can keep your nose at enemies, you'd get one that was very strong in front, there of course should be some kind of indicator of strength, instead of then just aiming at person and firing people would be motivated to get to a certain attack angle? same could maybe be done for armour?
and orbiting happens as well in Elite, depending on ship, what I think could help is changing the ships themselves and shielding methods a bit, or maybe different types of shields? the idea being instead of it being a sphere, equally strong everywhere, it would be weaker at certain parts and stronger in other depending on what kind of tactic you used, like if you are confident you can keep your nose at enemies, you'd get one that was very strong in front, there of course should be some kind of indicator of strength, instead of then just aiming at person and firing people would be motivated to get to a certain attack angle? same could maybe be done for armour?
The best strategy in all cases is to get above, below, or behind your target using a combination of your ancillary thrusters, boost, and varying your throttle to match your target. A lot of novice pilots overlook these things, especially varying throttle because one of the first things everybody tells them is to keep the accelerator in the blue zone perpetually in combat. This is in fact not always the case. For example for a slower ship like the Corvette to effectively tail or pin down a ship with a faster combat speed you must set your throttle above the blue zone, while with a fast ship like the FDL tailing a lumbering sea-beast of a ship you need to cruise at a reduced throttle to avoid overshooting. In the event the target boosts, it pretty much comes down to instinct and your knowledge of your ships' capabilities vs. your opponent's to decide whether you boost, accelerate, or maintain velocity. Bigger, slower ships tend to need to boost more often while faster ships can often get away with simply increasing throttle especially against slower targets.
Also never pick a fight face-to-face. Always start from a position of strength if you can help it.
Also never pick a fight face-to-face. Always start from a position of strength if you can help it.
It tends to stop once you get behind someone (top tip - Good Dogfighters make the best dogfighters... Consider Eagle, Viper, Vulture - according to budget). "Jousting" mainly happens when you allow yourself to overshoot the target and must turn back towards it. They're doing the same - of course - so by the time you've both come about you're kilometers apart and keen to reengage, so boost back towards each other. Basically it's just a "top trumps" battle of the shields. The trick in avoiding it is to start to turn *before* they pass you, so that by the time they pass you you're gone past 90 degrees, and are almost facing back the way you came, with their thrusters pointed at you. Then shoot them. Never be too keen to close on a dangerous target - you're presenting your canopy to them to be shot at, they will get as much shooting time as your do before you pass and you may collide (usually disadvantaging both ships..).
Practice dogfighting - there is more to it than simply trying to get your crosshairs on the enemy and pulling the trigger. You must consider where your and their advantages lie (who has best shields, who is faster, who has bigger guns!) and play to/against those advantages. You must also learn to predict what they are likely to do and avoid situations where you will not have an advantage. As has been said, F/A off will allow you to turn more quickly (as will keeping the throttle in the blue sector), but will also cause your ship to "slip" like crazy, which is a useful way to dodge sometimes, but can mean you're travelling in a straight line whilst rotating, which makes you an easy target and doesn't close on the enemy.
If you want to practice with little risk, either go and buy an eagle and be prepared to lose it a few times (top tip - be realistic. anything above a cobra is unlikely to be a viable target), play Arena (a GREAT way to practice combat - and you will earn rewards doing it) or simply use the training missions (zero risks!)
Practice dogfighting - there is more to it than simply trying to get your crosshairs on the enemy and pulling the trigger. You must consider where your and their advantages lie (who has best shields, who is faster, who has bigger guns!) and play to/against those advantages. You must also learn to predict what they are likely to do and avoid situations where you will not have an advantage. As has been said, F/A off will allow you to turn more quickly (as will keeping the throttle in the blue sector), but will also cause your ship to "slip" like crazy, which is a useful way to dodge sometimes, but can mean you're travelling in a straight line whilst rotating, which makes you an easy target and doesn't close on the enemy.
If you want to practice with little risk, either go and buy an eagle and be prepared to lose it a few times (top tip - be realistic. anything above a cobra is unlikely to be a viable target), play Arena (a GREAT way to practice combat - and you will earn rewards doing it) or simply use the training missions (zero risks!)
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get back into an eagle, or sidey. both have low shields, both are slow, and both are very manouverable. learn how to get behind a target and follow them. then get a larger ships again, and adapt what you have learned with your eagle to a courier/vulture/fdl, or what you have learned in your sidey to a viper/dbs/vulture/FAS. mainly jousting is a bad habit, the small slow low shields ships teach you manners
