Tips for a crappy dogfighter?

[Bajau]

Ok... it's a fact. I dogfight worse than anyone I know (or will ever meet I expect) . Even the geeks sent out to prevent me delivering low level stuff seem to own me in a furball.

Are there any useful suggestions for tricks to avoid getting my insurance papers restamped every day? Missiles? Bribery? RSLG?

B.

 

[Chris Simon]

Ok... it's a fact. I dogfight worse than anyone I know (or will ever meet I expect) . Even the geeks sent out to prevent me delivering low level stuff seem to own me in a furball.

Are there any useful suggestions for tricks to avoid getting my insurance papers restamped every day? Missiles? Bribery? RSLG?

B.

If you want to just avoid fighting altogether while doing missions, mines and good thrusters are everything you need.

If you DO want to take on fighting, it would be best to ask someone to tutor you, show you the tricks, etc...

 

[Robinson]

I'm guessing you don't have a good HOTAS? Avoiding or submitting to interdiction is always a choice once you get the hang of it.

 

[Vardaugas]

Practice. And maneuvering thrusters. If all fails, turrets.

 

[Faded Glory]

A couple of guidelines for combat / dogfighting...

Keep your throttle in the blue zone (on the right of your scanner) as this gives you the greatest maneuverability, and then use directional thrusters to move about.

Try to learn a little bit of FAOFF, just to increase your turn rate, which will give you the best chance of getting behind, above or below your enemy, even if only for a few seconds. It's not vital, but a useful trick to have.

As above, turrets or at least gimballed weapons if your aim is not great. Keep in mind that NPCs will spam chaff if you use gimbals, so use the time they are doing that to let your weapons cool down and your WEP capacitor to refill.

For pips, start with 4 to SYS for strong shields, and 2 to WEP. Personally now though I prefer 3 1/2 to SYS, 1 to ENG and 1 1/2 to WEP. It really does depend on your load out, but the 1 pip to ENG does seem to increase maneuverability. As you get more experienced you can alter pips during the fight to put power where you need it.

Most importantly however is this. Check on the rank of the NPC you are thinking of engaging. Competent and below should offer much easier fights, and Expert and above, especially from Dangerous up can be quite a challenge. Try to evade or escape from higher ranking ones until you start to get the hang of combat, and practice against those lower ranked ones where you will have a much greater chance of success.

 

[Limoncello Lizard]

Get a FAS, armour, HRPs & MRPs, plus engineering. Add a biweave, some PDs and chaff. You've then got a ship that can survive everything in a CZ shooting at you for long enough to escape. Add some weapons and you have a fun ship that will give you time to learn while being able to survive making the odd mistake.

 

[Bajau]

I'm using the x52 HOTAS and I can 'usually' avoid the interdiction but if I goof up then it all goes to the bottom quickly... Turrets are a good idea. Hadn't thought of that before.

 

[sovapid]

Just run.

Engineer your thrusters, boosters and shields and you should be able to get away from any npc that interdicts you.

Unless your normal ship is a type 9.

 

[Codger]

I'm too old to dogfight. So I just fly big ships bristling with turrets and one big gun in the front. And I engineer my shields and boosters, at the very least. That gets me by just fine.

 

[NW3]

OP, have you tried playing the in-game combat tutorials? They are listed on the in-game menu. I found them quite helpful. I didn't actually start playing the game (for real) until I successfully completed all of them.

 

[MrFailfactory]

Sometimes, this forum is depressing - a few who clearly didn't read what you asked, and some who are telling you what motorcycle to buy, when you can't ride a bike yet.

The best way to learn how to ride a bike, is to start with a glider. Learn how to balance and steer, then get on a bike and learn how to pedal.

Also, as Mr. Miyagi said: "First learn stand, then learn fly."

You haven't mentioned what you are flying primarily, but take that ship out someplace that has moving ships that aren't going to shoot at you, and follow them. Watch what they do, and also attempt to keep yourself in a position to fire. Once you are comfortable with that, then hang out at a Nav Beacon shooting at Wanted ships. Let the security forces engage first, then join in.

Also, as NW3 suggested, spend some time in the Combat tutorials.

Riôt

 

[Limoncello Lizard]

Or get in a ship that can handle a pounding, then pick a few fights. One approach won't work for everyone.

 

[IndigoWyrd]

Pick up a nice, cheap ship, like a Viper IV, and load it up like this: https://coriolis.edcd.io/outfit/vip...mf59v6mFeKhdAgAA.EweloBhBGA2EoFMCGBzANokMK6A=

Then head out to your local Nav beacon, scan for wanted ships and blow them apart. Repeat until you have to withdraw - either due to damage or lack of ammo. Cash in, and repeat until you're comfortable enough to visit a Low RES site, rinse and repeat there until you're ready to move up to a High RES site, and finally a HAZ RES site.

You'll get the hang of it, make some decent credits, and probably learn a few things in the process.

Otherwise, find a wing to fly with and engage in bounty hunting - if you find me, I run a "support" ship and keep pretty much anybody alive in a firefight, and I think I'm at least a decent combatant.

 

[Bajau]

Thanks for all the advice Folks! [up] The Egosoft Forums for all the X games showed me just how useful these boards can be at times. Relevant replies below.

• Over the years I've played Elite, Freespace, X, X2, X3 and now am back to my 'roots.
• Have always been a Trader and Builder rather than a Fighter. I usually avoid conflict until I'm driving a Tank with weapons out the Wazoo.
• Flying a Cobra MkIII at the moment and have upgraded most of the modules to A-Standard but I'm still not too sure on weapons, fire groups and combat flight.
• I played the tutorials and killed the first opponent (the harmless git that didn't shot back) but got my backside handed to me in a bucket from the next bloke...
• Am relatively familiar with the radar but will try to improve if it's really important. In all the other games it was just a way of seeing who's in the vicinity.
• I've not looked into the Engineering side of the game yet. Will look up some tutorials.

B

 

[Frenotx]

Just sent you a PM. A lot of the stuff I do is difficult to describe with text, but if we're free at the same time I could show you some stuff in-game. Some recent examples of some of my flying:
Fighting in a Keelback.
Fighting in a Taipan.

 

[GunnerBill]

Ok... it's a fact. I dogfight worse than anyone I know (or will ever meet I expect) . Even the geeks sent out to prevent me delivering low level stuff seem to own me in a furball.

Are there any useful suggestions for tricks to avoid getting my insurance papers restamped every day? Missiles? Bribery? RSLG?

B.

Yeah - do this!

 

[UnhappyDev]

• Have always been a Trader and Builder rather than a Fighter.

Therein lies the heart of the matter

Take some time out from trading and building, get a cheap combat ship and head to a RES.

I'm not the greatest, but things that helped me when learning combat:

- Pip management. Put pips into SYS when under attack, ENG when maneuvering and WEP when firing. Get into the habit of always doing this.
- Boost. Don't present yourself as a slow moving target!
- Throttle blue zone. Use it when turning!
- If you get into trouble, bug out!

Have fun!

 

[Marra Morgan]

Just a couple of tips from me;

- Pay attention to your directional scanner and develop situational awareness. Don't become another poster whining about "accidental" (read: careless) fire.

- Stick to small ships whilst your're learning. Losses are lessons learned; keep them cheap and cheerful!

 

[Dan Diplo]

If you want to avoid rebuys then as soon as your shields are down run. Do not hesitate, even if you think you could still win. Put all pips to engine, boost and boost again, withdraw hardpoints and jump as soon as you are able. It's a good idea to bind a dedicated key to supercruise as then you don't need to have a destination plotted to low wake.

 

[Siranui]

• Am relatively familiar with the radar but will try to improve if it's really important. In all the other games it was just a way of seeing who's in the vicinity.

Use it in conjunction with the target attitude scanner [the wireframe of the enemy] and you can get a good picture of what your foe is doing, whih direction it is travelling in and what it is doing, even if you cannot see them.

Start to experiment with the thrusters while making manoeuvres and note how it changes the way you turn. It soon becomes instinctive.

Make your mistakes in something cheap and built for combat.

Don't just leave your pips on 4-2/311 or whatever: If you are on something's back and it can't shoot you, shift pips out of sYS and into something more useful.

BOOOOOST. Practice using boost more aggressively and offensively in combat.

Stick to Gimbals until you have got the real swing of things.