How to suck less in dogfighting?

[Thiago Marinho]

Ok, I'm fully aware that this community is all about crashing Auroras. But let's say one finds himself in a situation that he has run out of Auroras to crash and needs to revert to an act of randomly waggling his joystick (no, not THAT joystick, the other one) some like to call dogfighting. How is that supposed to work?

Couple of questions pop to my mind.

1. Is it more important to aim or to manouver? Yes yes, both are important, but when I'm starting from zeroish skillz, would it be more beneficial to first learn how to connect the lasers to the enemy or to move around less randomly?

2. When flying something like, lets say Super duper Hornet in a dogfight, should it be flown decoupled all the time, or mostly coupled and just decouple to do some random waggling when near the enemy? Does this differ in faster and more nimble ships like M50 or 350r?

3. Any advice on how/when to spam missiles. As AC is basically a deathmatch and getting 1-3 kills per game would be good result to me, I usually lock 4-8 missiles to the closest enemy and fire away when I get lock and hope for best.

4. Why I die in seconds in Super duper Hornet against something lame like Deltas or 325a's? Super duper Hornet should be "military grade". Not very high grade in UEE military then, I suppose.

5. Is dogfighting for lamers only and should I just concentrate on crashing into things instead?

My joystick is Thrustmaster T16000000000. It has this kind of throttle slider, which is quite crap but still better than no analog throttle at all. I'm not getting HOTAS anytime soon. And mouse + KB flying is quite... hmmm... lame. (I was gonna say gay, but I'm not that familiar with this board yet to know if it would offend someone and get me permabanned)

'

Hi...

Practice will help you a lot. I have figured out one rule when dogfighting:
Stay alive. Yeah its obvious but i forget it sometimes. That means to avoid heads on crashes, pick enemies that have strayed from the pack, pick your fight, don't maneuver too much when there are tons of enemies around, overshoot your target and wait a while before turning to face him.

There may be others, but thats all i learned so far :P Answering your questions:

1 - Depends on the situation, if you are stronger than your enemy you can afford to take some hits, focus on hitting him back. otherwise work on loosing his lock on you before engaging.

2 - I would say it depends on style, what i found to work best with me and my limited skills is to fly always coupled without gimbal and use strafe to emulate a 'decoupled trajectory', this way you can deviate from shots while predicting where the pip will go. I use the mouse with a sensitivity a little higher than standard

3 - wait for them to lock (red symbol stops blinking), shoot them when the enemy is coming straight at you (usually await for him to pass, turn and come back at me) at a range of 400m or so.. 2-3 missiles at a time, try to get some hits on the shield before the missile hits... If hes not heading at you but you still want to shoot missiles, shoot 2-3 at a time but wait for him to drop countermeasures before launching the next wave.

4 - No idea, seems pretty random, still haven't figured out the health mecanics.

 

[Eiyron]

 

[Mooch]

When you get them in your sights boost, hit as hard as you can. Sure you'll die in the process but youll take them with you glad to be of help.

 

[Grimm_Reaper]

1) Go to Flight sim Arena commander free flight and calibrate your controls. Can be too sensitive or under sensitive.
2) Go to options and look at key board mapping (Pay attention to C , Y and shift)
3) Fly your plane press shift and make a sudden turn and get used to drift which differs in different crafts
4) learn to use S for slowing down breaking and then Shift to Boost accelerate to prevent too much drift
5) Play arena command drone sim.
6) Die many times get the hang of it and become an able dog fighter.
7) Go to forums and complain about how shitty your craft is. Then flame those who don't agree with you
8) Drink beer cause now you are a Star Citizen

While drinking a Mojito a few dead cells in my brain revived and so to add to this

9) Know your playstyle. Are you the guy ....

that almost killed someone but died because you ignored the incoming attacks on you just to get that kill which most times you don't get? Then you are a brawler and need a tanky craft like a Super Hornet or Vanguard

or

the guy that pays more attention to his own ship stats and breaks and runs at the first sign of trouble placing personal surviveability above the rest. Always looking to pick of fighters that your wingman is attacking or being attacked by. You are the light fighter type.

or

the guy that is the last to engage usually the one that attacks from the side looking for a straggler. Pays attention to own stats but generally is skill full enough to change shield face, shield power so attackers can't hurt you as much while attacking or engaging a target. Breaks away at the last possible second to ensure own survivability and quickly engaging again once shields are back up. Confident in your skill to take on single targets? Then a medium fighter is your go to like the sabre.

 

[Blind Owl]

I'm just going to comment here so I remember to read this when I go to fly some more. There are some nifty (yeah, I said nifty) tactics here that'd I'm interested to try out.

 

[FireEmblem6]

Yep, I plan to read through this more thoroughly later. (Not sure why it was brought back from the grave but thanks non the less :P) I think I basically got the hang of the game, my issue seems to be hitting. Some ships I can line the pip up perfectly and destroy them within seconds. The majority of the ships I have to guess how far ahead of them I need to aim with the pip to get a hit marker. The worse part is when I die within seconds and I have no clue as to why. I have full shields, no damage and then suddenly dead. :\ I have an 80mb dl and 6up so I know my connection shouldn't be the issue.

Just one more tip no one seems to have mentioned. I learned to control my ship faster by doing races. You can learn in free fly but I found it easier when I had something telling me to go here, go there etc. Also, watching other Test members stream the game can help a lot.

 

[The Razgriz]

The best thing I can suggest for getting unsuckish at dog fighting is to pick a ship and stick with it. You can accomplish much more in a ship that you're familiar with as apposed one that you just hopped inside 10 minutes prior. It doesn't matter so much what you fly. It matters how you fly it. A seasoned pilot in a Mustang can dust a nugget in a Saber. You just gotta learn what your ships limits are, and how to push the ship all the way to them. Another thing is find the weapon loadout that suits your flying style. Me personally, I prefer to swap out the wing gimbals on the Super Hornet with ballistic gatlings. The effective range on the gatlings isn't that great, so you gotta get close. In my experience, people don't like it when they have gatling guns going off next to their head, so put your head up their exhaust pipe, and BRRRRRRRRTTT the crap out of them. And, of course, practice practice practice.

 

[DarthMatter]

Any tactical tips for a Vanguard pilot?
I mostly just go "bull-fighting" as I call it. Fly towards target at full/almost full speed, shoot, dodge the enemy ship, de-couple 180 turn and repeat. (AI seem to engage this way, which makes it easy to pull off)
Should I go for lower speeds and try to follow enemy ships more? Do what I do now but de-couple earlier, getting shoots of while passing by?

 

[AwesomeDude]

1. Is it more important to aim or to manouver? Yes yes, both are important, but when I'm starting from zeroish skillz, would it be more beneficial to first learn how to connect the lasers to the enemy or to move around less randomly?
Maneuvering is going to be more important in general because it keeps you from being shredded to pieces. You could get away with aiming but you would need to make sure your weapon loadout is up to date with the meta. Then again I tend to fly more fragile and agile ships like the 325a and the Sabre so you can take that with a grain of salt.

2. When flying something like, lets say Super duper Hornet in a dogfight, should it be flown decoupled all the time, or mostly coupled and just decouple to do some random waggling when near the enemy? Does this differ in faster and more nimble ships like M50 or 350r?
As a nimble ship flyer I don't feel qualified to answer the hornet specific question. but generally more nimble ships can strafe pretty easily and can get away with always using coupled. I personally will tend to strafe around my target in an orbit and if you do that you can end up flying backwards if you want by only having to use strafe and your momentum.

3. Any advice on how/when to spam missiles. As AC is basically a deathmatch and getting 1-3 kills per game would be good result to me, I usually lock 4-8 missiles to the closest enemy and fire away when I get lock and hope for best.
For missiles the biggest thing I recommend is finding out what the best and most effective missiles are in the current build and equipping those.

4. Why I die in seconds in Super duper Hornet against something lame like Deltas or 325a's? Super duper Hornet should be "military grade". Not very high grade in UEE military then, I suppose.
It is probably because 325as and the like are far more nimble and maneuverable than you are and can get the jump on you and start laying into you with their guns very quickly. Even as a 325a pilot myself I find that I dont notice that I am being shot at from another angle until it is far too late.

5. Is dogfighting for lamers only and should I just concentrate on crashing into things instead?
doge fighting is fun so doing it is fine.

 

[The Razgriz]

Any tactical tips for a Vanguard pilot?
I mostly just go "bull-fighting" as I call it. Fly towards target at full/almost full speed, shoot, dodge the enemy ship, de-couple 180 turn and repeat. (AI seem to engage this way, which makes it easy to pull off)
Should I go for lower speeds and try to follow enemy ships more? Do what I do now but de-couple earlier, getting shoots of while passing by?

I don't have any experience with the Vanguard, BUT if it handles anything like the heavy fighters in Freelancer, then your head's in the right place. Following the enemy more will help you to get more "life" out of your ship. Most enemies can't shoot directly behind them, so you'll be able to land more hits and take fewer yourself. Another tactic that you might find useful, if you're comfortable enough with your skills as a pilot, is give the enemy ships little "love taps". Get close to their speed (a little over actually), and just nudge them, then slam the brakes. It's usually enough to through a (human) pilot into a panic, thus opening them up for a full barrage. And as far as your "bull-fighting" goes, you're right on the money with that. I did it all the time in Freelancer (only I called it Jousting). And de-coupling early and scoring a few hits during the pass can only do good. Maybe try, after the initial pass, hammering the throttle and going directly into a chase. You might catch them off guard. And remember to mix up tactics when facing human pilots. Most folks won't fall for the same things multiple times.

 

[DarthMatter]

if you're comfortable enough with your skills as a pilot, is give the enemy ships little "love taps".

"love taps" usually happen by itself when the enemy ship and I try to avoid each other in the same direction. The only damage I usually take is loosing the Revenant, which is sad but I'm more of a laser guy anyway. The enemy is often smaller and dies on impact or after I fire blindly at it while intertwined with it.

And remember to mix up tactics when facing human pilots. Most folks won't fall for the same things multiple times.

Never fought a human pilot, but I'll keep it in mind :)

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[xNoairx]

Lots of good advice here, but the first guy to write you back is right. Joystick's are not good for dogfighting that simple.
I have seen a lot of really cool joystick setups, with lots of money into them, while being totally cool, they cant beat a mouse pointed at you the whole time.

 

[Dawnshie]

How to dogfight 101.

a few simple steps to take your dogfighting to the next level.

1. always run with da pack. (Note. if you do not have a pack we can supply one.)

2. Always let others go before you. never lead the pack.

3. If you pa k is taking losses. call more pack.

4. Revel in the "Pink-me stratagem"

5. If the above steps have failed. be the fastest running away.


***silliness school class dismissed**

 

[DarthMatter]

How to dogfight 101.

a few simple steps to take your dogfighting to the next level.

1. always run with da pack. (Note. if you do not have a pack we can supply one.)

2. Always let others go before you. never lead the pack.

3. If you pa k is taking losses. call more pack.

4. Revel in the "Pink-me stratagem"

5. If the above steps have failed. be the fastest running away.


***silliness school class dismissed**

I nominate the battle-hungry Linux penguin as pack-leader!

 

[CGPepper]

I just want to add that violence solves nothing. Always seek peaceful solutions.

• Instead of shooting at each other, try taking shots of delicious Vlankagrad brewed Vodka.
• Instead of seeking kills, try seeking Pils, which is the softer German/Belgian beer.

 

[marcsand2]

The best thing I can suggest for getting unsuckish at dog fighting is to pick a ship and stick with it. You can accomplish much more in a ship that you're familiar with as apposed one that you just hopped inside 10 minutes prior. It doesn't matter so much what you fly. It matters how you fly it. A seasoned pilot in a Mustang can dust a nugget in a Saber. You just gotta learn what your ships limits are, and how to push the ship all the way to them. Another thing is find the weapon loadout that suits your flying style. Me personally, I prefer to swap out the wing gimbals on the Super Hornet with ballistic gatlings. The effective range on the gatlings isn't that great, so you gotta get close. In my experience, people don't like it when they have gatling guns going off next to their head, so put your head up their exhaust pipe, and BRRRRRRRRTTT the crap out of them. And, of course, practice practice practice.

Or you take it for granted that you don't excel in every ship, but instead improve your skills in fighting all kinds of ships.
Light fighters force you to improve your evading skills, strafe, boost.
Heavy ships force you to pick your firing position well because you can't follow the nimble ships, they also improve your shield management. They also learn you to respect the asteroid ;)
Medium fighters don't learn you anything, best to practice your skills in other ships and use them if the fights get tougher :D

Any tactical tips for a Vanguard pilot?
I mostly just go "bull-fighting" as I call it. Fly towards target at full/almost full speed, shoot, dodge the enemy ship, de-couple 180 turn and repeat. (AI seem to engage this way, which makes it easy to pull off)
Should I go for lower speeds and try to follow enemy ships more? Do what I do now but de-couple earlier, getting shoots of while passing by?

I particular maneuver I really start to like.
- Engage your target at full speed head on.
- When in firing range start to strafe away from your target, keeping it in your gunsight, start shooting the 4 nose guns. This keeps your firing distance longer good.
- if you are at 90 degree/ target starts to pass you, reverse strafe toward target to avoid leaving firing distance, with the vanguard I would do that at 45 degree due to its slow turning rate
- when close enough add the gatling to your fire.
Most of the time I even won't get behind the target because it is destroyed already. The strafe keeps your firing distance OK and prevents incoming fire.
Never pick the closest target when at close quarters combat, hand pick the closest target in sight. That way you won't have to turn too much thus losing speed to lign up with your target.

 

[marcsand2]

Also very important when engaging multiple targets: pick the last one, not the closest unless you are sure that you can kill it before you are behind it, otherwise you wil have one or multiple on your six

 

[Dawnshie]

I nominate the battle-hungry Linux penguin as pack-leader!

that would be the fearless leader in the auroa. not the battle sorry penguin.

 

[DarthMatter]

that would be the fearless leader in the auroa. not the battle sorry penguin.

I nominate the battle-hungry Linux penguin as fearless leader in an Auroa!

Better?

 

[Dawnshie]

I nominate the battle-hungry Linux penguin as fearless leader in an Auroa!

Better?

Only if you can fly faster than me in reverse.