Flying corkscrew

67adius · Post by **67adius** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 1:52 pm

I notice that some of you (not me) fly your craft in a more skilled way and of course I have searched the forum for several tips but...
What is the biggest difference in handling your craft as an expert in comparison with the beginner? What should I focuse on to get past the basic head on rush and die.... Is it vector lock with lots of ingenious sidethrusting with vector locking to and fro? Some advice would be much appreciated. I guess this makes it to another "how to dogfight" threads but please bear with me.

Death3D · Post by **Death3D** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 2:02 pm

Learn to avoid confrontation by handling your visibility (signature and nearness).

I won't lie though, Scouts have such an important job that they do die a lot, specially if the other team has ints and they see you.

If you do have to begin direct-flight evasive maneuvers, and are against an int then you're pretty much screwed, try to learn prox timing so you can prox him but a good int pilot will pretty much get you 9/10 times, try to start flying towards something where you can pk yourself or something that can pick your pod without having it killed too (don't give your scout-buddy away).

If up against figs, try to keep your speed as much as you can while avoiding dumbs up the rear. Small changes in direction will force the dumb to turn which it doesn't do very well at a distance. If you're up against Adv Figs, you're pretty much screwed.

But, like I said: Distance and Signature.

Post by **Dome** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 2:05 pm

The best thing you can do is learn to use all your thrusters effectively and constantly look at how fast you are going.

"Overboosting" or "flying too fast past a target, having to turn around and thrust/boost all the way back into firing range" is a sure sign of a new player. You have to come into a target quickly, but cut your boosters at 1500m and start side/reverse thrusting(not boosting) into a good position relative to target.

Always keep your target in front of you. Time spent turning around is time they could be firing on you and time you aren't firing on them. If there is someone coming fast at you.. dont thrust at them, back up. and let them pass you. Always keep what you want to kill in FRONT OF YOU.

The same goes for nanning. So many times I see players come to nan a miner but they are so eager to repair that they go WAY TOO FAST and end up leaving the miner for a good 5-10 seconds while they turn around. That's usually all it takes.

Vector lock is barely useful if ever.

If you can learn how fast you are going and notice the differences between ships/factions you will go SO far. And sidethrusters are a MUST. =)

heywood · Post by **heywood** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 5:32 pm

side notes:
- dogfight close to a friendly base
- attack pilots who are busy attacking someone else
- when you take have damage, run & hide, return to base or pick up a powerup ( the top killers have some aiming skills, but especially they have running skills)

Adept · Post by **Adept** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 8:04 pm

In Allegiance, almost as much as in classic flight sims "Speed is life". A sitting duck will be blown to bits really quick. Doing really big turns where you have to kill your momentum to change heading make you vulnerable, especially in a craft like a scout that can't just boost away.

Bind the "forward thrust" key somewhere easy to use. It let's you fly your ship like a rocket. The difference in turning your ship 90 degrees when already going at a good clip is a very different one when you do it with forward thrust pressed. With forward thrust the arc you make is bigger, but your speed will not plummet.

Broodwich · Post by **Broodwich** » Sun Dec 20, 2009 12:23 am

coming in at an angle to target will avoid all dumbfires and most prox/plas gens directed at you. It does however make your shots more difficult to land, but the enemy will have the same difficulty. however this wont make much of a difference if hes better than you. also nobody uses vector lock in combat situations

Adept · Post by **Adept** » Sun Dec 20, 2009 12:44 am

Broodwich wrote:QUOTE (Broodwich @ Dec 20 2009, 02:23 AM) also nobody uses vector lock in combat situations

It just sort of looks like that, since we are always thrusting in some direction which has much of the same effect.

Seymor · Post by **Seymor** » Sun Dec 20, 2009 1:09 am

I rely on remembering the capabilities of my enemies and exploiting the weaknesses in those capabilities. It's probably not as well used as some of the other obvious strategies but it can be effective.

====BASIC SHIP STRATEGIES====

If you are in an intercepter:
-if you can win or if you are needed: rush within 300 m and start shooting, reload booster before the end of the dogfight if enemy is prone to run away; Broodwich and other neo-whores run often when they are losing dogfights.
-if you are going to lose: run, why are you there in the first place?

If you are in a fighter:
-equipped with dumbfires (for miner offense and general hits)
==against ints and fighters: stop boost early and if enemy is sufficiently parallel, fire a dumbfire to force sidethrusting,
+++if possible: boost slightly to the opposite direction that the int side-thrusted, making the int follow you and fire another missile, then dogfight.
+++else: dogfight
==against sfs: stop boosting upon hearing missile clicks, chaff off initial missile then wait for the missile to go by, boost in appropriate direction. SF will usually run away since you are too close and you can go back to killing miners.

-equipped with seekers; you should probably never be equipped with seekers as the targets that matter (Miners and bombers) are more easily taken out with dumbfires but if you do use seekers. Underboost the target and get as many of these things off as you can at around 50% to 100% lock.

-equipped with quickfires; ripcord back to base and equip something useful.

If you are in a stealth fighter:
-against miners: do not bother with hunters unless you are eyed or the miner is heavily defended. Utl does the majority of your damage to miners.
-against ints/figs: fire off hunters, uncloak and finish with snipers

====Modifications====
if the enemy has missiles:
-figure out what type of missile, else assume dumbfires
==against dumbfires, take a slightly angled rush against them and boost a little more aggressively, do not overboost
==against seekers, depending on distance; if far away, take an angled rush as with dumbfires; if nearby, straight rush
==against quickfires, straight rush and hold the chaff button. The person on the other end is probably a newbie so give them a good ram also.

if the enemy has mines:
-if the enemy is standing still or moving away from you; they dropped mines, so just take a nice arc around the mines
==if they continue to move back, they are trying to prox you and are being very effective about it; you can probably just continue to try to kill that miner if you are going after one, best to leave these guys alone; great scouts such as Mastametz and Shizoku do this occasionally
-if the enemy is moving towards you, they are not using their mines (most pilots run out of them quickly); just be sure not to overboost

if the enemy has gunners:
-you are fighting in a two-on-one if you go in alone and this is rarely favorable; wait for another person to help you out. Ships that often have gunners are bombers when the enemy team does not have heavy ints, gunships and heavy or luxury scouts. Ships that can have gunners but often don't include bombers when the enemy team has heavy ints and fighter/bombers.

if the enemy has more advanced tech:
-it is never favorable to up against better tech alone; focus on getting the tech to compete instead of dogfighting.

if the enemy is boosting towards you at high speeds:
-trying to take potshots as the enemy flies by is stupid, instead look at which way the enemy is flying and when the enemy is around 2k out start boosting the same direction as they are, if you do it correctly you will end up traveling at the same speed they are travelling and around 300 m away from them, turn around and start killing them as they slow down in order to not overboost their target (miner, bomber etc)

if the enemy is a bomber
-are there nans, how many
==none; shoot the bomber
==one; if you have help, shoot the bomber, else shoot the nan
==more than one; if you have more people than they have nans, you can spike the bomber if it's being organized like that, otherwise shoot the nans

spiking the bomber; your methods of damaging the bomber are as follows,
1) Shoot it
2) Missile it
3) Prox it
4) Ram it
5) Absorb Antibase Missiles intended for bases
6) Drop probes in front of the bomber (to absorb AB missiles or to do small amounts of damage/slow down)
Pick all of these things and do them but not to the exclusion of anything above it on the list.

====Advanced strategies====

Belter Heavy Ints can solo spike the bombers of weak hulled or weak shielded factions (req. mini2/mini3 depending on enemy faction): Dumbfire 2 helps with this but basic bombers can be reasonably taken out with Belter Heavy ints even if the enemy is defending the bomber with 5-6 nans. It requires a lot of things to go right but it happens. This is easier if the bomber is not getting pushed (ideally if it's camping). Get around 2k out from the bomber preferably on the side and not the back so you don't get proxed. Boost in at full speed heading straight for the bomber, when you get within firing range you should start unloading and have the bombers shields approximately halfway down by the time you reach it, right before impact, unload the dumbfire and ram the bomber hopefully 400m away so it's out of nanite range. Quickly recover and continue to shoot the bomber, unloading your second missile and the bomber might pop, depending on if the collision code likes you or not.

TF adv stealth fighters can dogfight: the third sniper rifle and the increase in turn radius makes it so that TF adv stealth fighters can dogfight, although their dogfighting is unique. It involves gently moving up to somebody while cloaked. You shoot them at the maximum gun range and start backing up while the enemy reorients themselves to you and starts boosting your direction. Continue to fire and you should be able to take out the enemy before they can reach you. This works even against heavy ints although heavy int factions with hull (IC, GT, Belters), Speed (Dreg), or accel (TF) bonuses might still reach you. This should be done with a shield on.

Yep, these are the basics of flying.

Death3D · Post by **Death3D** » Sun Dec 20, 2009 2:31 am

Great post, Seymor.

Seymor · Post by **Seymor** » Sun Dec 20, 2009 2:41 am

If you guys want, you can go ahead and repost that anywhere you wish (cadet, whatever).

Also, is my Painting with Seymor series that was originally posted on the PK forums posted in cadet? I seem to recall somebody posting it up there.