Hi everyone. Let's talk about something other than new slots and ship computer modules.
Here's where I am, and what I feel like I need:
I came up through some ships, and generally have touched on each part of the game, but this is about combat so for that aspect for me, I've flown combat in Sidewinder, Cobra III, Vulture (this was a big wow), then I got a Krait II which felt very powerful but I wanted to get back into that speedy, dedicated combat ship thing. I tried a Chieftain, but I didn't like the hull tanking and the small hardpoints where just too small and left me feeling ineffective. So I traded Chieftain in for the FDL.
At this point I had decided to go through and unlock the rest of the engineers; so I get to the point where I'm flying CZ for combat bonds. Obviously this is the highest intensity combat I've been involved with so far, as it's quite a bit more demanding than RES battle. Here's what I'm finding:
In my FDL (which is mostly engineered, not all to G5 as I'm still unlocking) I find that I can hold my own and evade pretty well. Keeping shields up and I have no trouble taking ships down, big and small, as long as there is at least somebody else there to distract them once in a while. But as soon as it's a one on one, I find I'm in a boost turning battle that I just don't know how to regain the advantage in. Even when the other ship is a python (which I should be able to outrun/outturn all day) I can't seem to get behind them in a way that doesn't leave me needing to boost again right away.
So. I'm taking very little fire since I'm able to stay pointed at them way more than they are pointed at me. That means I can run pips at 0-4-2 (or sometimes 0.5-3.5-1.5) I can boost constantly, shields stay solid, enough left for pretty good uptime for weapons. In this case it's 4 med beams (efficient G3) and 1 huge PA (Efficient G5).
The trouble here is that in these turning battles I can't get a good enough position for long enough to land any PA shots, so it's a constant cycle of melt shields with the lasers, then take maybe 2 to 4 % from the hull before the shields come back up and I start over. It takes AGES to bring down a Python this way.
So I'm asking for tips on how to do this boost turn battle differently to gain a positional advantage long enough to land a PA shot.
I've watched quite a few combat tutorial videos, even ones specific to FDL and the plasma accelerator; but they mainly focus on RES combat which is totally different. Is there a video that would help me with this? I know it's not going to be easy, but I don't even know what I'm doing wrong, or not doing at all, that would change this turning cycle thing.
I guess I could describe what I'm trying to do so y'all can poke holes in it. And I'll say up front that I'm really bad at FAO and hardly push that button at all so, maybe that's it:
Since everybody in the CZ is boosting a lot, I have to boost to keep up even in the FDL the positional thrusters aren't going to keep be behind them without boosting. So when I find the enemy pointing their nose toward me I boost and turn. I've tried:
Boosting straight, aimed behind the enemy, then turning to face them after getting velocity >>> Works to evade but since they are doing somewhat the same thing, I end up being behind them but too far away so I have to repeat right away... Cycle on.
Boosting facing them and applying directional thruster to move to the side and wrap around >>> this doesn't seem to be better, maybe worse, and with the same outcome.
Trying to break the cycle by taking a few hits and boosting later, after their boost. >>> My idea here is to soak a few hits but then catch them in their turn lag to land the PA shot. This doesn't seem to work as in CZ we are all spamming boost and there isn't enough turn lag. Also my position is still too far away, usually.
Tried not boosting at all but instead using directional thrusters to try to evade fix weapons while closing distance so maybe I can get behind them eventually. >>> this seems to get me shot much more than I want to be and they usually boost when I get close and then I'm chasing their boost... As far as I know this is the worst of the 3 positions to be in since my boost cycle will now always follow theirs. (until I break the cycle by taking a hit)
So which is the best starting point and how should I improve on it?
Thanks so much!
Here's where I am, and what I feel like I need:
I came up through some ships, and generally have touched on each part of the game, but this is about combat so for that aspect for me, I've flown combat in Sidewinder, Cobra III, Vulture (this was a big wow), then I got a Krait II which felt very powerful but I wanted to get back into that speedy, dedicated combat ship thing. I tried a Chieftain, but I didn't like the hull tanking and the small hardpoints where just too small and left me feeling ineffective. So I traded Chieftain in for the FDL.
At this point I had decided to go through and unlock the rest of the engineers; so I get to the point where I'm flying CZ for combat bonds. Obviously this is the highest intensity combat I've been involved with so far, as it's quite a bit more demanding than RES battle. Here's what I'm finding:
In my FDL (which is mostly engineered, not all to G5 as I'm still unlocking) I find that I can hold my own and evade pretty well. Keeping shields up and I have no trouble taking ships down, big and small, as long as there is at least somebody else there to distract them once in a while. But as soon as it's a one on one, I find I'm in a boost turning battle that I just don't know how to regain the advantage in. Even when the other ship is a python (which I should be able to outrun/outturn all day) I can't seem to get behind them in a way that doesn't leave me needing to boost again right away.
So. I'm taking very little fire since I'm able to stay pointed at them way more than they are pointed at me. That means I can run pips at 0-4-2 (or sometimes 0.5-3.5-1.5) I can boost constantly, shields stay solid, enough left for pretty good uptime for weapons. In this case it's 4 med beams (efficient G3) and 1 huge PA (Efficient G5).
The trouble here is that in these turning battles I can't get a good enough position for long enough to land any PA shots, so it's a constant cycle of melt shields with the lasers, then take maybe 2 to 4 % from the hull before the shields come back up and I start over. It takes AGES to bring down a Python this way.
So I'm asking for tips on how to do this boost turn battle differently to gain a positional advantage long enough to land a PA shot.
I've watched quite a few combat tutorial videos, even ones specific to FDL and the plasma accelerator; but they mainly focus on RES combat which is totally different. Is there a video that would help me with this? I know it's not going to be easy, but I don't even know what I'm doing wrong, or not doing at all, that would change this turning cycle thing.
I guess I could describe what I'm trying to do so y'all can poke holes in it. And I'll say up front that I'm really bad at FAO and hardly push that button at all so, maybe that's it:
Since everybody in the CZ is boosting a lot, I have to boost to keep up even in the FDL the positional thrusters aren't going to keep be behind them without boosting. So when I find the enemy pointing their nose toward me I boost and turn. I've tried:
Boosting straight, aimed behind the enemy, then turning to face them after getting velocity >>> Works to evade but since they are doing somewhat the same thing, I end up being behind them but too far away so I have to repeat right away... Cycle on.
Boosting facing them and applying directional thruster to move to the side and wrap around >>> this doesn't seem to be better, maybe worse, and with the same outcome.
Trying to break the cycle by taking a few hits and boosting later, after their boost. >>> My idea here is to soak a few hits but then catch them in their turn lag to land the PA shot. This doesn't seem to work as in CZ we are all spamming boost and there isn't enough turn lag. Also my position is still too far away, usually.
Tried not boosting at all but instead using directional thrusters to try to evade fix weapons while closing distance so maybe I can get behind them eventually. >>> this seems to get me shot much more than I want to be and they usually boost when I get close and then I'm chasing their boost... As far as I know this is the worst of the 3 positions to be in since my boost cycle will now always follow theirs. (until I break the cycle by taking a hit)
So which is the best starting point and how should I improve on it?
Thanks so much!
