Group dogfight tactics

[snork]

Well I had varying levels of success last night.

1) Stopping as soon as I see an enemy group

Surprisingly effective - had never considered not rushing in head first, laser blazing. Sat still and managed to pick off one of the group with a military laser before they got their range and I had to move.

....

3) Aft laser (as front was still a bit hot after 1)

I suck at this.

I do the 1) starting with the aft laser. With the ship not moving, and the enemies almost not moving but towards me*, it is relatively easy to handle.

And the front laser is cool when the real fight starts.
And the aft laser is cool again when I start fleeing and shooting followers.

*sometimes they do not move at all.

[FeelGone]

The Target Sensitive Reticle has definitely improved my confidence in sniping.

Short bursts of witchfuel injection definitely seem to confuse the AI. Rear lasers are also key, as once you get into an enemy ship's six, their colleagues will often try to get into your six; toggling fore/aft views, you can usually hit two at once.

I haven't tried many of the OXP missiles/armaments yet, but the interception missile (Armoury OXP or Missiles and Bombs OXP? can't remember) is valuable at splitting off the fastest escort ships.

I would link to said OXPs, but apparently I'm not allowed to :/

[maik]

Well I had varying levels of success last night.

1) Stopping as soon as I see an enemy group

Surprisingly effective - had never considered not rushing in head first, laser blazing. Sat still and managed to pick off one of the group with a military laser before they got their range and I had to move.

2) Fuel injected through group (while using a bit of up, down, < and >)

This dispersed the group pretty nicely.

3) Aft laser (as front was still a bit hot after 1)

I suck at this. One hit before he was back in range and giving me a kicking. So I turned round and engaged head on and survived. Just.

4) Hardened missile

Going back through the dispersed group I found 2 ships who were pretty handy with their lasers (either that or I just present way too easy a target for them...). One missile distracted one of them (eventually destroying it) while I attempted to destroy the other.

5) One left.

So that left the target of my mission...

Found him. We exchanged laser blasts. He turned to flee, or so I thought... I moved in for the kill... and was promptly destroyed by his aft laser.

Still it was a vast improvement on before so thanks everyone for your advice.

Practice will be key to this!

Good to see you get better, keep going

[Yodeebe]

another technique to follow the initial long or short sniping period, which i picked up from flying the caduceus with it's broadside cannons, is to seat yourself firmly on the side of the ship (F3/ F4 or external), and use the roll controls as up/down, and rudder controls as left/right, keeping your attacker under fire whilst you are constantly flying at 90 degrees to him/her/it, and you are therefore very hard to hit. it also means your resultant flight path will be spinning round & round your target, so any other attackers & missiles will have a hard job keeping track of you.
it's worth keeping an eye on the radar though, as you're not looking where you're going!
i now use the same technique with side lazers to good effect.

oh, you get some very nice eye candy too, which gets missed a lot of the time, with front & rear lazers.

[el_Paraguayo]

another technique to follow the initial long or short sniping period, which i picked up from flying the caduceus with it's broadside cannons, is to seat yourself firmly on the side of the ship (F3/ F4 or external), and use the roll controls as up/down, and rudder controls as left/right, keeping your attacker under fire whilst you are constantly flying at 90 degrees to him/her/it, and you are therefore very hard to hit. it also means your resultant flight path will be spinning round & round your target, so any other attackers & missiles will have a hard job keeping track of you.
it's worth keeping an eye on the radar though, as you're not looking where you're going!
i now use the same technique with side lazers to good effect.

I'm struggling enough with the aft laser
I think it's a case of learning to walk before I run.

[Poro]

I'm struggling enough with the aft laser
I think it's a case of learning to walk before I run.

Wait 'till you start using side lasers

I remember when I first started using the aft laser, I had to say in my mind "Mouse!", and then when I switched back to fore laser I'd mentally say "Joystick!".

I didn't have different devices: that's just the only way I could remember to switch the y-axis in my mind.

[Switeck]

I've put a mining laser on my port side of my Cobra 3. I usually use it while at a dead stop. Asteroids don't shoot back and don't typically zigzag...but it's still good practice. My Starboard Military Laser gets very little use...but at least I could on something large and slow thanks to asteroid practice.

[Commander McLane]

I've put a mining laser on my port side of my Cobra 3. I usually use it while at a dead stop. Asteroids don't shoot back...

You could try with some of the asteroids around a Hacker Outpost.

[Switeck]

Yes...Even Rock Hermits can have an ECM on their asteroid.

But bog-standard asteroids don't shoot back.

[Commander McLane]

Yes...Even Rock Hermits can have an ECM on their asteroid.

But bog-standard asteroids don't shoot back.

Clearly you haven't tried the Hacker Outposts' Sentinel Asteroids yet.

[Dave McRoss]

What tactics do people use for dogfighting large groups of ships?

1)I usually run between the enemies, full military power (100% speed WITHOUT injectors).and ignoring the damage. Doing so I can lose 75% of front shields, but I don't care. Yes I know, I'm thinking of my ships more as a battle tank that a elegant space vessel, but whatever.
During this I try to destroy the offender/fugitive I target.
2)After, I try to attack their back, one at once. Long laser burst, cooling, long laser burst, pirate pie.
3)If I'm going to be targeted by more than two ships, I disengage and repeat attack course.
4)I use cloak in case ECM doesn't work. If it happens I haven't sufficient energy, fuel injector. If I haven't fuel, Energy Bomb/Missiles.
5)If I'm attacked by more than 5 ships, I use Energy Bomb. Why I shouldn't? This is a war and I wanna win 100 to 0, not 34 to 33.
6)Finally, I scooped cargo in cosmic peace.

[docwild]

I have over 1100 kills and I have yet to find the cloaking device, a hacker outpost or probably many other gems. They'll turn up one day. That is what I love about this game.

[Smivs]

The Cloaking Device is an in-built mission in Galaxy 5, so if you're not there yet...
Hacker outposts are an OXP feature, so you'll need to install Hacker Outpost OXP to find these.
Hopefully by now you've found the Constrictor and probably had some more dealings with the Galactic Navy and some Plans?

[docwild]

That'll probably be why.. I seemed to be under the impression the outposts were in the Anarchy OXP.

[Commander McLane]

That'll probably be why.. I seemed to be under the impression the outposts were in the Anarchy OXP.

Yes, they are.

What you have to do in order to visit one is:

1. Jump into an Anarchy system of TL 7-9.
2. Fly towards the planet or the sun until you encounter a Hacker Viper.
3. "Tease" that ship until it reveals the Hacker Outpost's location to you.
4. Navigate towards the "H" on your advanced space compass.