When to thrust in combat
- Thread starter ringus
- Start date
Thrusting downward while chasing someone who's turning up can help you stay on their tail easier, up for when they turn down from you.
I like to thrust down and to the side when I end up in a head on pass with someone. And slowly turn my ship as I pass them to keep firing longer.
I like to thrust down and to the side when I end up in a head on pass with someone. And slowly turn my ship as I pass them to keep firing longer.
Guess you mean boosting the thrusters. A good time to do it when you need to get away a bit to power the shields back on. Switch back more pips to SYS and rest to ENG and keep boosting away until they come back on and then turn back to face the enemy.
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The other good thing to use the boost for is turning. You get maximum turn speed when boosting, and although you also get that by being in the blue range on your thrusters you go fast while turning which makes you harder to target.
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Im sure you can get more/better tips by more experienced fighters, but thats what i do at least.
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The other good thing to use the boost for is turning. You get maximum turn speed when boosting, and although you also get that by being in the blue range on your thrusters you go fast while turning which makes you harder to target.
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Im sure you can get more/better tips by more experienced fighters, but thats what i do at least.
When you're turning, try applying and releasing vertical thrust in the opposite direction to the way you're pitching, ie thrust down whilst pitching up and vice versa - it will change the shape of your turns and can allow you to bring your nose on to the target quicker.
As above - very useful for keeping a target in front of you. I find that if you're in a head on pass with an enemy ship, thrusting up and left/right, yawing in the same direction and rolling in the opposite direction (i.e thrust & yaw right, roll left and vice versa) allows you to put more shots on your target as you pass them, and turn quickly to get back behind them (takes a while to get used to, but very useful once you get the hang of it).
Also try holding FA OFF, take the throttle to zero, pitch up then thrust down - sounds a lot to do but can really help to catch up with something that can out turn you normally.
thanks all, I have been trying the downward thrust while pitching up
Problem
it seemed to me that my rotation was slowing i.e I wasn't turning in a tight loop.
Positive ( am I right?)
If I am looking straight down on my target a downward thrust does seem to have an advantage I seem to slide in behind the target. Also trusting downwards (will try and to the side) seems to avoid a lot of head on damage.
Problem
it seemed to me that my rotation was slowing i.e I wasn't turning in a tight loop.
Positive ( am I right?)
If I am looking straight down on my target a downward thrust does seem to have an advantage I seem to slide in behind the target. Also trusting downwards (will try and to the side) seems to avoid a lot of head on damage.
Thrusting down while pitching up makes you do a sort of 'powerslide', so doesn't tighten the turn as such but can still help bring your guns to bear. When a ship jousts at you try pulling underneath it, full back on teh stick and down thrust until you turn 90 degress, then release thrust and let the nose swing round. If timed right it lets you strafe their underside. Also works well to do the same while throwing your ship into reverse as they charge you. Combining lateral thrust with yaw and roll also works well and lets you 'corkscrew' around.
Basically a lot is trial and error, play around with it on easier targets whose attacks you can soak up to get teh hang of what works.. it will vary with different ships depending on the maneuverability of your loadout.
Basically a lot is trial and error, play around with it on easier targets whose attacks you can soak up to get teh hang of what works.. it will vary with different ships depending on the maneuverability of your loadout.
Applying downward thrust when pitching up is counter productive, slows down turn. In my experience, applying upwards thrust slightly decreases turn radious. I find thrusters most usable when target is flying vertically to you. Also to avoid enemy fire and strafing.
The above diagram is a little too simplified, you could write an entire book on thruster usage in Combat. Use of downward/upward thrust in turns (or pitching) depends on your distance between yourself and the target, your velocity, type of weapons you are using, FA OFF/ON and whole bunch of other factors.
Since no official guide exists, experimentation and adapting thruster control to your flying style is the only option. It's not a simple case of one is better than the other.
Regards
Since no official guide exists, experimentation and adapting thruster control to your flying style is the only option. It's not a simple case of one is better than the other.
Regards
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Yes, I agree. It's very simplyfied, but I made it just to show the base maneuver and what happens with your ships position in relation to your pretty straight flying opponent when applying thrust in either direction. It does not take into account various distances to target, target varying speed, if the pitch rate is somehow affected by the thrust (which I do not know if it is), or if you're using FA-OFF (wich I understand makes pitching a bit faster?).
So, silly simple diagram, but it's something. Not a big fan of FA-OFF myself, tend to use it mostly in calm situations e.g when approaching a station. When in a fight, I just spin totally out of control when I try. Love to watch those awesome FAOFF-videos though. But it feels like I might aswell learn to play the violin instead.
ignore him, its a very useful diagram, especially for beginners.
If he wants to criticise then he should perhaps write his book first, as his post was of no actual help to the thread.
Yeah I'll get back to you on that book 'Anten'... Down rep? Get a life bro.. @Trashberg, I wasn't trying to put down the effort you put in
My comment was geared towards the whole philosophy behind combat using thruster's. Yes it is a very good guide for beginners, I don't think it's bad to say it is simplified, I'm sure you would agree! The point being that for those wanting to use advanced techniques, a similar more indepth set of diagrams and instructions would be great.It came across as a criticism..yet another snide "learn to play the game" type of post without any attempt to help people learn.
If it wasnt intended that way then you have my apologies.
Edit:
OP
look here also: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=33091&p=647361#post647361
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Well that was definitely not my intention.
EDIT - Your link is exactly the kind of thing I'm talking about
Cheers
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Essentially, thrust up when pitching up makes you turn more tightly, thrusting down makes your turn more open. The choice depends on situation and opponent, your speed, and many other things. For fast opponents, you'll usually want to make your turns tighter, for larger opponents, a more gradual turn is more likely to bring you out into the sweet spot directly behind them.
I sometimes use horizontal thrust when running away, if you create a spiral as you run like hell you can use yaw, roll and horizontal thrust to make the spiral faster and you are much harder to hit.
I sometimes use horizontal thrust when running away, if you create a spiral as you run like hell you can use yaw, roll and horizontal thrust to make the spiral faster and you are much harder to hit.
The correct one at the right time.
Yeah I'll get back to you on that book 'Anten'... Down rep? Get a life bro.. @Trashberg, I wasn't trying to put down the effort you put in
Well, no hard feelings here 777. It's a basic concept. Reason for the pics were mostly because OP wanted to know if there were any reasons for using thrusters in combat, and some of the responses addressed these two possibilities. Since I have been thinking about how it really should work in theory, after testing those two option, I made some pictures for fun. And from experience this theory seems to be right.
To OP, another thruster manuever, when engaging larger, slower vessels, might be to line up beside them, aim at them, slow down and "strafe" left/right thrusters in the direction they are going. Use roll to keep heading in the right direction when the target changes direction, use up/down thrusters to circle around the target (finding subtargets/avoiding turret fire). Pitch to keep aiming at the target and fine tune with yaw. Use back/forward thrusters to keep your distance/close in if you're out of weapon range, or set them to 50% if you need maximum maneuverbility for a period.
Since you use all thrusters, and you put yourself in a more exposed position, it can get out of hand pretty fast, if you're alone with a 'Conda and he really, really wants you dead. Since you try to stay at his side, following his movement, you're only a quarter turn away for him to aim at you. If there are multiple ships engaging your target, this way you'll also keep out of friendly fire, which is nice. It's probably best used with FA-OFF for those who master that skill, but it works with flight assist aswell. Just need to keep pushing those thrusters, otherwise you'll stop dead in space.
I'll probably not draw a picture...
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