Space combats seems impossible

[Daemetrius]

Hello everyone,

I bought the game some times ago, I spent 10 hours on it and at least I have some quests which need to fight.

I read the tutorials I found on this forum, I watch some videos, but I can't deal with any fight. I tried to fight for more than one hour (and I lost the count of my deaths), but against 3 ennemies I only achieved to kill 1 before dying.

The problem is: every ennemy kills me in less than 2sec, I can't manage to take more than 2-3shots.

I have the Frame Arrow, with 5 equipements as adviced:
_Mine/Tracor Beam
_Fulcrum Drive (C3)
_Shield Boost (X3)
_Repair Sys (C1)
_Cannon Relay Sys
I also bought the shields class 3.


Here is how I try to take down the 3 ennemies:
_I jump near them, and I use the Afterburner to go around 1200, with an angle of like 20-30° (I don't want to go in front of my ennemies)
_I activate the Inertia mode, and then point out my noose toward the ennemies
_when I'm close enough, I try to shoot them, and I launch counter-measure if missiles are incoming and "bipping" my ship

But with this strategy, they managed to hit me on the first or second approach, and to kill me in 2 hits.


What is wrong please? My approach? My ship/stuff/frame?
Do you have any advices to improve myself?

[49rTbird]

When you are in range of the enemy you can use your side ways thrusters to avoid their shots (with IDS still off) but it will not effect your aim. I do this and it works. Also you can jump onto MP play and get help there most times.

[countjimula]

I use the W and S keys to control inertia forward and reverse. Most of the time I am accelerating to the center (and the enemy) as I face and fly around them.

[Kristastic]

I'm having the same troubles as you are, Daemitrius. I've watched many videos, read tutorials, and just can't seem to get it. I can take on one ship at a time, but any more than that and I die just like you do. I can't seem to keep up, and I can't figure out why. It's getting to be enough of a pain that it's hard for me to get into the game like I was the first many hours.

[Marvin]

Kris, jump into somebody's turret and watch how another pilot approaches combat. Or ask SeeJay for lessons.

[Kilgore]

this video helped me alot http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG6xVh9j0aU

[Kristastic]

I jumped on someone's wing recently. It was nifty, but I seem to be doing everything he was doing.

[SeeJay]

We can all be typing lots of suggestions here.

You have most likelly read a lot and maybe watched a few videos.

If you still fail (We all did that in the beginning), don't let it get you down.
Keep at it. Suddenly you will get some kills in in a row and you just get that feeling:
Yeahhh, this isn't to hard at all. Believe me, you will get there.

So instead of just typing advises here, please join us in MP and me or any other experienced pilot (including Marvin)
will love to help you out. It's much easier when we fly together to give you pointers.

You will get the hang of it if you keep at it.
It might not be your skill. It might be your ship setup that is a bit off that makes you fail contracts.

[Ducimus]

I'm new myself. Combat isn't too hard, its figuring out factions!

I have the Frame Arrow, with 5 equipements as adviced:
_Mine/Tracor Beam
_Fulcrum Drive (C3)
_Shield Boost (X3)
_Repair Sys (C1)
_Cannon Relay Sys
I also bought the shields class 3.

I'm not sure what frame an Arrow is, but i can tell you I was doing well with a Mirage. Class 3 shields IMO isn't enough. Need like 4 or 5. The trick to me seems to be getting a frame large enough without sacrificing agility.

Here is how I try to take down the 3 ennemies:
_I jump near them, and I use the Afterburner to go around 1200, with an angle of like 20-30° (I don't want to go in front of my ennemies)

Go FASTER. Combat seems very simplistic to me thus far. It's just one big jousting match where you have to fly faster then the AI. Speed is life. Go fast enough and they can't really hit you for squat unless you fly right between them. On a side note, If you try and dogfight with them in the traditional sense, you just die a lot. Kinda of a bummer IMO, i love dogfighting and circle fights. At least i used to.

_I activate the Inertia mode, and then point out my noose toward the ennemies
_when I'm close enough, I try to shoot them, and I launch counter-measure if missiles are incoming and "bipping" my ship

Missiles seem to be more of an annoyance when your actually trying to shoot back. The key to me seems to be Speed, patience, and don't get fixated. Also, if your moving fast enough, most missles seem to detonate before they reach you.

I usually zip along at like 1900 or 2000 speed. Don't spare the fuel, use the afterburners, get massive speed, then cut the engines and coast. Where you could end up being in trouble is the turn about. Ill go out as far as 3000 to 4000 ....(KM?) distance before i turn around. Sometimes less. On that note, the sharper you make your turn, the more speed you bleed off. Get the 1200 fuel tank, and don't be stingy with it. Use afterburners alot.

Its all about jousting at high speeds and flying at the edge of the group, not through them. No special combat manuevers required.

[Edited on 5-4-2012 by Ducimus]

[sapperhedge]

I followed the advice in the hints and tips DaveK wrote up, after reading that I was able to take on multiple reds with no issues. I would also suggest using the icespear cannon at first (at least at first) the extra range it gives you can really help.

[Marvin]

On a side note, If you try and dogfight with them in the traditional sense, you just die a lot. Kinda of a bummer IMO, i love dogfighting and circle fights. At least i used to.

You can still dogfight ... on planets. Learn which contracts put the enemy planetside, dock at a city and then take one.

[Janus]

Here's my 2 cents. There has been some good advice posted here. Most seem to turn IDS off in combat. If it works for them great. It doesn't work for me. At least not against AI.

Hopefully I can be at a range of 4000 or more from them when I start my run. Sometimes this isn't possible. In any event I point at them and go full throttle with IDS on X3. That's about 1300 for my frame (Venture).

I press V to go to 3rd person mode. It helps my situational awareness. Once I'm at full throttle, I switch off IDS and begin acceleration to a speed of no more than 2500. When I get to about 1200 range, I re-engage IDS and fire as they come in range. They will flash past. That's fine. Spin and open up on them. You should be on their tail. You want to spin as quick as you can so you can lay into them before they can get turned back around.

They will get turned back around and start friring at you. As my front shield starts taking hits I divert all shield power to the front shield as it loses power. Eventually all shields will be drained, but hopefully by then, they will be space dust.

You need to have your power diverted to weapons so you can have more firing time. You also need to have an X5 shield booster. Also, I use my cannon and laser at the simultaneously. That makes it easier to shoot down missiles. At least it does for me.

Default key for boosting shields is num 8 4 2 6 forward, left, rear, right, respectively. Default key for switching active weapons is N. It toggles. Cannon only, laser only, both (Maybe not in that order). Default key for increasing throttle scale is Num Pad 9. Default key for decresing throttle scale is Num Pad 7.

I will say this. The Arrow frame is a bit fragile. But it is a hotrod. Great manuvering and speed. And speed is life as one of the others said.

Janus

[Edited on 5-5-2012 by Janus]

[MiaZ]

Space combats seems impossible for everyone at first, I think.
It did for me anyway.

The arrow is fragile you'll want max possible shields for it.
Good luck out there. : ) dont give up it gets easy after awhile.

[Daemetrius]

Thx for all your advices, I will give them a shot this evening.

By the way, yesterday I tried again some fights with a friend of the same level. It was kinda fun, we managed to kill a few of them, and every kill had a great taste

[Nubarus]

I just created a new pilot to test some things since it's been a loooooooooooong time since I flew as a starting player and so far I have had no issues fighting 4 foe contracts in Olympus Prime using the IDS/Inert combo combat tactics.

I use a Talon frame, class 6 engine, 2 cargo bays, no missiles, 5 equipment slots, class 3 engine, 50 CM's, class 1 wings and 400 gallon fuel tank.

I have
- tractor/mining beam for mining and them navy search and fetch contracts
- class 1 laser
- class 1 particle cannon
- auto-repair class 2
- cannon relay system

Since I am not heavy on the afterburners I don't need a large fuel tank for now.

The tactics I use are easy to learn (I tought many players this in game in the past and most got it under control after 1-2 hours) and is very effective, even those 12 foe contracts can be done by yourself once you master it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXRo8jbMW6Y

I approach the flock of foes in IDS when I warp in.
Then when my speed is about the same as the range of the closest foe I switch to inert and use the side thruster to slide sideways.
Then I fire my lasters and cannons together to the point the shields are weak enough to spam the foe with particle fire only until the foe is destroyed.
Then target the next closest and do the same and if needed swap to IDS to close in again, wait until they are about 200 yards outside weapon range, switch to inert, fly sideways and destroy the foe.

Then you just repeat this until they are all gone or the until the contract is completed since in some systems reinforcements jump in regularly.

EDIT: I have no crew yet since I have removed all the crew slots to get the cm's and equipment slots so no repear or weapon boosts yet.


[Edited on 5-5-2012 by Nubarus]

[Marvin]

One word of caution if you make use of the keyboard while in MP ... always make sure you press the Enter key befor you begin chatting. Especially since the first thing most people type is "Hi" ... ergo, if you fail to first open the chat window, you'll be turning off your HUD instead of chatting. Also, the "\\" (backslash) key is right above the Enter key ... accidently pressing it will send you into some strange 3rd person view where you watch your ship warp right across the screen. When that happens (and it eventually will if you do much chatting in MP), press "V" to get back into your cockpit.

[Letoras]

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

don't know if this can help you, sorry for the shitty visualization and the abuse of the image i took from the game site.

[Vice]

Keep 'em coming. You are welcome to use graphics from the site or manual for visual examples like that.

[EN4CER]

In case anyone else finds this thread searching for combat tips:

Get a shield charger and shield boosters ASAP. These pieces of equipment made me feel invulnerable.

Get the cannon heat sync and relay ASAP. These pieces allowed me to easily drop most enemies.

If you get all four pieces of equipment early on then you'll feel nigh unstoppable for a while. I did until PvP. Also really pay attention to your cannon and beam weapon statistics. While damage is probably important at some level in a game where you are actually engaged and shooting for 20% of the fight range is much much more so. Remember that whoever lays the first kinetic shot usually gets to make the pass unhindered. If you're working on a damage build then good luck. I had to abandon that idea even though it reallllly interests me. Once I have a few more stations deployed and a couple of ToDo items knocked off my list I'll probably revisit the idea of a higher damage ship. My guess is that only extremely agile ships can use high damage weapons well in PvP and even then only by skilled pilots. That's all theory though.

[DaveK]

Letorus - is it OK if I put these in the Hints&Tips Guide?

If so could you U2U me with a couple of captions/explanations to help the newbies (and us oldies as well!)