Combat is too hard with a keyboard

[vaxon]

I've reconfigured the keyboard for the combat mode, having direction controls and laser close together.
I'm not the slowest one, but I find it too hard to destroy some of the ships. I keep hitting them with my military laser, but they still seem to recover.
Gecko is one of those. It's small and it maneuvers too fast to hit more than 5 times in a row. While I try catching it in my
target reticle it seems to recover as if I have never hit it. So it keeps circling round me and I keep hitting it for a couple of seconds and then 4-7 seconds to catch it in my target reticle again.

When it's getting quite hot others just engage their fuel injectors and flee with no chance to catch them either.

The more ships I destroy the better the NPCs seem to get. I've taken down about 40 of them. Never met a Thargoid.
So it scares me to think about the Thargoids and all those missions ahead.
I think it's just close to impossible to play with the keyboard.
I've never tried a joystick though.

I can keep trading and destroying the weakest ones, but what about catching the constrictor, or other missions?
Has anybody had a better luck with the keyboard?
I mean getting high ratings and fulfilling at least one mission?

[Cholmondely]

I've reconfigured the keyboard for the combat mode, having direction controls and laser close together.
I'm not the slowest one, but I find it too hard to destroy some of the ships. I keep hitting them with my military laser, but they still seem to recover.
Gecko is one of those. It's small and it maneuvers too fast to hit more than 5 times in a row. While I try catching it in my
target reticle it seems to recover as if I have never hit it. So it keeps circling round me and I keep hitting it for a couple of seconds and then 4-7 seconds to catch it in my target reticle again.

When it's getting quite hot others just engage their fuel injectors and flee with no chance to catch them either.

The more ships I destroy the better the NPCs seem to get. I've taken down about 40 of them. Never met a Thargoid.
So it scares me to think about the Thargoids and all those missions ahead.
I think it's just close to impossible to play with the keyboard.
I've never tried a joystick though.

I can keep trading and destroying the weakest ones, but what about catching the constrictor, or other missions?
Has anybody had a better luck with the keyboard?
I mean getting high ratings and fulfilling at least one mission?

Unlike you, I'm virtually brand new to all this (started in May this year!). Enjoying every minute of it, but utterly useless at the combat end of things. I can snipe from a distance with military lasers at small fry who are armed with beams and pulses (usually backwards from the rear laser - so that I can buzz off sharpish if they start getting nasty) ... that's as exciting as my combat gets! And it took several months of building up my Cobra to get there.

Dogfighting is a distant dream. That's with the keyboard, on the AppleMac. The rather expensive Vimana Beam laser which you can get with the Vimana HUD also helps, but is a bit of a cheat (... I don't think that the NPCs can get their grubby paws on it). I've also added in several other oxp's which help matters a little.

I've so far met two Thargoids and my backwards sniping tactics worked well against them - the first was at Digebiti when I left the main orbital station and I was so appalled that the lobstoids had dared to poke their noses into paradise that I just gave them what for. No missions yet, though, sorry! I have managed to claw my way up to Competent (280 kills) with these tactics though.

With Windows I can use a cheapish Thrustmaster Hotas (T4) which significantly adds to the gaming experience (I'm utterly unconvinced that it does anything for my combat prowess, though). It also developed a distinct tendency to drunkenly twist widdershins after a couple of months - and my windows graphics are not a patch on the AppleMac's.

Some of the combat veterans do use keyboard & mouse, though. If you spend enough time wading through this bulletin board you will find the evidence for this. There is also a jolly impressive you-tube video where another_commander marmalises hordes of the unspeakeables with just mouse and keyboard.

[vaxon]

I can snipe from a distance with military lasers at small fry who are armed with beams and pulses (usually backwards from the rear laser - so that I can buzz off sharpish if they start getting nasty)

That's how I started. Sometimes it works alright, but sometimes a better equipped pirate starts shooting from the distance and starts maneuvering making it impossible to get him. So I either have to face him or keep fleeing to the nearest station.

I have managed to claw my way up to Competent (280 kills) with these tactics though.

That's really impressive. I guess I just need more patience.

Some of the combat veterans do use keyboard & mouse, though.

Wow, I find using a mouse a lot harder.

BTW, I have all those target reticle enhancements so that it turns red when it's time to fire. There's also this nice arrow that shows which way to turn to get the sucker. With this installed along with the shield boosters, external energy unit, and military lasers I usually rush into a bunch of pirates. I don't mind the number if they are flying close to each other. While approaching, I fill my target memory with as many targets as I can get. When getting close enough I start shooting. When I'm getting closer, the enemy ships start circling around me, so I drop my speed in half and try caching one of them. I keep maneuvering and shooting which apparently makes it quite hard for them to hit me. Once I'm done with the first one, I switch to the next. The only problem is enemy missiles and some crazy kamikaze pirates that run straight at me. I try to avoid any hits and use my ECM system if I can. But sometimes it happens to fast and I either get severely damaged or killed.

[another_commander]

Are you using the CustomShields OXP by CommonSenseOTB by any chance? If you do, be aware that it awards shields to NPCs in its default configuration, which effecitvely doubles their strength. It is a very nice OXP from a vfx point of view, but it does de-balance the game seriously, unless you change its default startup parameters (thank God CSOTB made this task trivial in his scripts).

If you do have this OXP installed, let me know and I can guide you through the necessary steps.

The only problem is enemy missiles and some crazy kamikaze pirates that run straight at me.

Regarding missile avoidance tactics, if you have the Cloaking Device equipment you can use it as well to make the missile lose its track on you. Once you cloak, the missile will fly straight until you de-cloak. Just an alternative way of dealing with the situation, might be of help in many cases.

[vaxon]

Are you using the CustomShields OXP by CommonSenseOTB by any chance?

No, I don't have this OXP. I have Skilled NPC installed though. But all the settings are zeros which shouldn't affect their skills that much.

Regarding missile avoidance tactics, if you have the Cloaking Device equipment you can use it as well to make the missile lose its track on you.

Thanks for the advice. I don't have the Cloaking Device since I've never been on any mission yet.

[Cholmondely]

Just musing about combat in general ...

There are those of us - such as yours truly - who find the combat in Oolite a major challenge, and others - such as Cody or another_commander - who seem to find it a doddle.

I wonder if the difference is really to background: those who came to Oolite with much experience in Elite combat or something similar - and people such as myself who have virtually no relevant experience and who have to learn the ins and outs of dogfighting on the job instead.

[Cody]

I wonder if the difference is really to background: those who came to Oolite with much experience in Elite combat or something similar - and people such as myself who have virtually no relevant experience and who have to learn the ins and outs of dogfighting on the job instead.

There's something in that, no denying. Dogfighting: use injectors (briefly) to get in close, and make every shot count.

[dybal]

I'm useless with just a keyboard... the first tries made me avoid combat until I bought a joystick and kitted up my ship.

[vaxon]

Dogfighting: use injectors (briefly) to get in close, and make every shot count.

This works 90% of the time. However, there's still a chance of a missile attack at close range or some crazy kamikaze pirate.
Sometimes I can get to around 40 using this tactics.
Sometimes I'm "lucky" enough to get taken down at the very first encounter, even though I have shield boosters, extra energy unit and a couple of military lasers installed.
Before I get a chance to win a naval energy unit or a cloaking device, I have to kill a lot more. However, that's a bit too close to impossible.
I suspect that some of the NPC are just cheating. I've seen a Cobra Mk3 firing 7 missiles at me.

Probably, those who find dogfighting a doddle don't mind dying now and then.
I'd like to get it as far as I can without being killed once. The only tactics for that seems to avoid dogfighting completely, but that's kind of boring.

[another_commander]

I suspect that some of the NPC are just cheating. I've seen a Cobra Mk3 firing 7 missiles at me.

It is important to clarify that in an unmodified core game, NPCs are not cheating. My guess is that if an Mk3 fired 7 missiles against you, there was an OXP misbehaving in the background. If you can reproduce this without any OXPs we can have a further look at it, but for now I suspect third party interference.

[Cody]

Probably, those who find dogfighting a doddle don't mind dying now and then.

If I wanted dogfighting to be a doddle, I'd be flying a Constrictor not a Cobra!

[vaxon]

If I wanted dogfighting to be a doddle, I'd be flying a Constrictor not a Cobra!

Unfortunately it's not available.

[dybal]

Dogfighting: use injectors (briefly) to get in close, and make every shot count.

This works 90% of the time. However, there's still a chance of a missile attack at close range or some crazy kamikaze pirate.
Sometimes I can get to around 40 using this tactics.
Sometimes I'm "lucky" enough to get taken down at the very first encounter, even though I have shield boosters, extra energy unit and a couple of military lasers installed.
Before I get a chance to win a naval energy unit or a cloaking device, I have to kill a lot more. However, that's a bit too close to impossible.
I suspect that some of the NPC are just cheating. I've seen a Cobra Mk3 firing 7 missiles at me.

Probably, those who find dogfighting a doddle don't mind dying now and then.
I'd like to get it as far as I can without being killed once. The only tactics for that seems to avoid dogfighting completely, but that's kind of boring.

If you want to play IronMan, you will have to make really good judgment calls about when to fight and when to run, an pay really close attention to those missiles and head-on encounters when you chose to fight - and be really careful about docking with movables, like Deep Space Dredger, Linners and Behemoths: don't try the ones that require docking clearance without a docking computer, don't trust ILS with a moving dockable unless you are approaching head on.

We all have our heads handed to us once in a while.

Use the insurance (also known as escape pods) if you don't want to reload a previous saved game after you get a "press space, Commander"... you lose your cargo, lose some money, but keep the ranks and reputations.

And I would get rid of Skilled NPCs until the normal NPCs get too easy.

[dybal]

I suspect that some of the NPC are just cheating. I've seen a Cobra Mk3 firing 7 missiles at me.

It is important to clarify that in an unmodified core game, NPCs are not cheating. My guess is that if an Mk3 fired 7 missiles against you, there was an OXP misbehaving in the background. If you can reproduce this without any OXPs we can have a further look at it, but for now I suspect third party interference.

Some ship's variations in OXPs like Random Hits have upgraded specs, perhaps there's a Cobra MK III variant somewhere with more pylons

[Cody]

... you lose your cargo...

You keep any parcels you may be carrying (but time flies in an escape pod).