I highly recommend doing the tutorials and getting comfortable with the controls. It will take some practice and time to get good at dogfighting in this game. As for tips and tricks, There are many great videos on YouTube where people break down their tactics and methods.
This game's ships fly like airplanes. But sometimes an airplane control scheme is not the best for space. So just to try to see if it's better *for you*, switch the yaw and the roll axes. Pitch and yaw on the joystick, roll on the twist or on the pedals. If you don't like it, you can go back to the default.
Anyway, the ships dogfight MUCH better if:
* you have grade A engines, grade A distributor (of the maximum size that you can put into the slots, so if it's a slot size 3, 3A and 3A).
* when you're boosting (afterburner speed). You see, afterburner gives extra power to ALL your engines, including the turn ones. So the trick is to afterburn-and-turn-180, so you flip the ship to keep the enemy in sight, and then immediately afterburn again, because now you're drifting backwards and you want to be going forwards towards the enemy. Afterburn-turn-afterburn.
The energy required for afterburning is in the pips / distributor, and you want a grade A in order to ensure that you have enough energy to afterburn twice in a row.
Otherwise it also helps to have a combat ship (they're a lot more maneuverable). Eagle, Cobra III, Vulture.
Until you learn perfect aiming, I would recommend using gimbal weapons, they auto-aim for you a little bit, as long as the target is in front. Multicannons especially, they do good damage by peppering the target with a lot of bullets, so gimbal versions are strongly recommended. Otherwise you won't "stay on target" with them long enough to do significant damage.
Also use the strafe keys, to throw off the NPC aiming, and to stay behind or underneath, in their blind spots.
And NPC enemy difficulty depends A LOT on their combat ranking, which doesn't always match their ship. You'll see elites fly small ships, and you'll see novices fly bigger ships sometimes. An elite will not only fly their ship behind you very well, but will also use chaff, point defense anti-missile, recharge their shields very efficiently mid-fight, and in general kick your ass with serious damage, while you just go out of ammo spraying the void.
Anyway, chaff, critical for making enemy weapons not hit your ship as much. Point defense to provide some protection against missiles. A-grade shields and shield boosters, military-grade armor (and possibly hull reinforcement packs). And boost-turn-boost.
Practice practice. Get a small cheap ship and practice. Every time you win, make a mental note of what you could have done differently to win faster. Every time you die, make a note of what you could have done differently to die slower (or even win, if it was a close fight).
You can do this in the combat tutorials too, if you'd rather not just yolo a bunch of ships down the drain in the name of learning. Downside of that is that you don't get to customize the ships. Part of this learning process is figuring out which weapons work best for you. And while there's some variety to the tutorial ships, you don't get to adjust them yourself.
As stated, the ships in the game act more like aircraft. So, the best thing you can do (along with the suggestions already made) is, in combat, keep your throttle in the blue zone. This will give you the best turn rates for your ship. Use boost in short bursts to do very hard quick turns.
A very good video from years ago, The Art of the Kill, was released as part of the Falcon 3.0 flight sim and features an F-16 pilot teaching about basic fighter maneuvers. Some of it might not be applicable to the ED fighter arena but the basics and theory do fit well. As well, it showcases the right attitude you should have, as only a fighter pilot can have. 😁
I highly recommend doing the tutorials and getting comfortable with the controls. It will take some practice and time to get good at dogfighting in this game. As for tips and tricks, There are many great videos on YouTube where people break down their tactics and methods.
This game's ships fly like airplanes. But sometimes an airplane control scheme is not the best for space. So just to try to see if it's better *for you*, switch the yaw and the roll axes. Pitch and yaw on the joystick, roll on the twist or on the pedals. If you don't like it, you can go back to the default. Anyway, the ships dogfight MUCH better if: * you have grade A engines, grade A distributor (of the maximum size that you can put into the slots, so if it's a slot size 3, 3A and 3A). * when you're boosting (afterburner speed). You see, afterburner gives extra power to ALL your engines, including the turn ones. So the trick is to afterburn-and-turn-180, so you flip the ship to keep the enemy in sight, and then immediately afterburn again, because now you're drifting backwards and you want to be going forwards towards the enemy. Afterburn-turn-afterburn. The energy required for afterburning is in the pips / distributor, and you want a grade A in order to ensure that you have enough energy to afterburn twice in a row. Otherwise it also helps to have a combat ship (they're a lot more maneuverable). Eagle, Cobra III, Vulture. Until you learn perfect aiming, I would recommend using gimbal weapons, they auto-aim for you a little bit, as long as the target is in front. Multicannons especially, they do good damage by peppering the target with a lot of bullets, so gimbal versions are strongly recommended. Otherwise you won't "stay on target" with them long enough to do significant damage. Also use the strafe keys, to throw off the NPC aiming, and to stay behind or underneath, in their blind spots. And NPC enemy difficulty depends A LOT on their combat ranking, which doesn't always match their ship. You'll see elites fly small ships, and you'll see novices fly bigger ships sometimes. An elite will not only fly their ship behind you very well, but will also use chaff, point defense anti-missile, recharge their shields very efficiently mid-fight, and in general kick your ass with serious damage, while you just go out of ammo spraying the void. Anyway, chaff, critical for making enemy weapons not hit your ship as much. Point defense to provide some protection against missiles. A-grade shields and shield boosters, military-grade armor (and possibly hull reinforcement packs). And boost-turn-boost.
Practice practice. Get a small cheap ship and practice. Every time you win, make a mental note of what you could have done differently to win faster. Every time you die, make a note of what you could have done differently to die slower (or even win, if it was a close fight). You can do this in the combat tutorials too, if you'd rather not just yolo a bunch of ships down the drain in the name of learning. Downside of that is that you don't get to customize the ships. Part of this learning process is figuring out which weapons work best for you. And while there's some variety to the tutorial ships, you don't get to adjust them yourself.
As stated, the ships in the game act more like aircraft. So, the best thing you can do (along with the suggestions already made) is, in combat, keep your throttle in the blue zone. This will give you the best turn rates for your ship. Use boost in short bursts to do very hard quick turns. A very good video from years ago, The Art of the Kill, was released as part of the Falcon 3.0 flight sim and features an F-16 pilot teaching about basic fighter maneuvers. Some of it might not be applicable to the ED fighter arena but the basics and theory do fit well. As well, it showcases the right attitude you should have, as only a fighter pilot can have. 😁
Thanks I will do later