Cadet II/Combat nan

Combat nanning

"What? Again?" I hear you say. "Didn't we already do two lessons on nanning during Cadet I?"

Yes, and during those lessons we said:

A ship equipped with a Nanite Repair Gun is the most important ship in Allegiance — Quoted from Basic nanning lesson

It's so important we are going to spend another three lessons on it.

Combat nanning is all about nanning other pilots as they are dogfighting. This allows them to live longer and kill more enemy - combat nan a veteran whore and the benefits are exponential. Combat nanning is a difficult skill to master because these ships are smaller and faster than the bombers or troop transports you are used to nanning, and the best way to learn how to do it is by getting out there and doing it.

One vs One (plus you)

So you've tried following a random whore and tried to nan him up, but you keep getting obliterated in the first pass. Or even worse, your buddy boosts away instead of waiting for doughnut love, leaving you staring down a barrel?

Well first thing is to ensure they know you're their combat nan. Send them a private message. Or click on them and send ~-nx (Need repairs!). Sometimes that works.

Now, as to actual techniques for staying alive. The first is acting as the lure. Sit out of normal scan range, then mount missiles and shields to get eye. Wait until someone goes "ooooh scout! Let's go pad my KB!" and comes boosting after you. Lead him back to your buddy before dropping shields and missiles and nanning him up. Rinse and repeat.

Then there's the option of staying low-sig the entire time and staying far enough away from the fight to not be eyed while close enough to nan your buddy.

The final option is to stay well away until the fight is engaged. Then come swooping in and nan your buddy up in the final stages of the fight. Of course if you're too early the enemy will have enough time to notice you and switch targets. Too late and your buddy will pop before you arrive.

Tip: Help your buddy get to the fight quicker by pushing him. (Same as pushing a bomber) This is particularly useful for long trips to their miners early in the game.

Gunship's baby

If your gunship is smart it will reverse as enemy approach it to give his gunners more time to shoot them. So what you should do is sit tight behind the gunship, low-sig, and drop prox as the bad guys approach while reversing as the gunship does. Timed right and the prox should appear in front of the gunship and activate just as the bad guys plow through it. If you were uneyed then the prox will catch them completely off guard!

Sometimes a gunship will push into enemy sectors either looking for miners or to camp an enemy base prior to a bomber entering. Chances are good that an enemy station is going to eye you so mount your shields and missiles. As with escorting bombers, go through alephs at the same time. If possible use the gunship as a shield between you and the enemy. Try and watch how the gunship pilot is flying and drop your prox so the hostiles will fly through it in their efforts to reach the gunship.

Omicron gunships can mount the advanced nanite gun if it is researched. Two gunships can nan each other while the turrets deal with attackers.

Combat nan at a camp

In order to camp the red door you first have to get there ... sounds easy right? This situation most often develops in contested sectors. There's normally a 'cloud' of interceptors from both teams attempting to establish dominance in the sector and establish a camp on the other side's base.

Hopefully you'll have some vets on your team working together in ints. Your goal is to stay behind them as they advance slowly on the enemy base. If, instead, you have a bunch of voobs boosting all over the place trying to get kills and running as soon as they're under attack then your best bet is to find the best int jockey on your team and just nan him. High-sig or low-sig is your choice, I normally launch with everything on then drop missiles/shields if I think I can lurk around without getting eyed.

When/If a camp forms on an enemy base stick behind the ints/figs because you don't want to be 'Target closest'. When your bomber launches, move in and prox the red door. Any defenders will be launching soon.

Conclusion

Being a good combat nan isn't so much about nanning as it is about staying alive under fire. You're no good to anyone in a pod. As you've probably gathered my preferred method of staying alive is to not be seen.

If you can't manage that then you'll need to learn how to evade fire in a dogfight, which is a much harder proposal. Keep moving. Try to keep your nan gun on target while keeping your sidethrusters at max. Remember that your side thrusters are inefficient, so switch to forward thrust whenever your friend starts getting too far away. If the enemy switch to shooting you, forget about nanning anyone, it's time for duck and cover. I normally use a corkscrew pattern when running. You get to build up speed while still not traveling in a straight line. (Full forward thrust and move your joystick/mouse in lazy circles).