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Yeah, so knowing that I am a terrible fighter, I decided to practice a bit in the training mission. So I just wanted to know what the pros think.

My record is 16 kills.
Normally I can get 8 kills, unless I get double teamed. Then it goes down to 5-6
I can KO the units somewhat speedy, dunno. (I notice I do get faster)

So what do you guys think? Any ideas on how to improve? I've applied for Cadet, but it hasn't started for me yet, so that's that.

Give us some details.

Mouse or joystick? Do you have your sidethrusters bound so you can use them easily?

I use the keyboard, the mouse makes it difficult to respond with my thoughts. I don't even OWN a joystick. Sidethrusters are where they are for the keyboard, and I only use them to make a quick avoid when going head on, or when I'm trying to run from double teams into a base. Should I use them somewhere else?

EDIT: I play piano, so the sidethrusters being where they are will only feel like playing a chord to me.

Signing up for cdt was a good move, but it won't teach you to aim. Only experience and a little direction will do that. I am still waiting myself

Focus on what CDT has to offer for now, which will increase knowledge base, along with situational awareness. The aim will come.

The only way to improve is to get into a ship and fly against human opponents. Training missions will do little to nothing for you, as won't cadet or just reading about it.

Deathmatches help, up to a degree..

But anyway, dogfighting alone does not win games and 1vs1 in a real game are very rare.. I would rather be called a good scout pilot or miner hunter than a good dogifighter any day. (that and I suck at aiming so I much rather shoot big slow targets.. ie. miners)

My practice was all in vain?

Wait, wait, this is important: You use only the keyboard? No mouse or joystick? O_o

In that case I'd say the number of kills you're getting is very impressive. But... using the keyboard alone to steer your ship is universally considered to be a bad idea here.

Maybe your piano skills have allowed you to make a breakthrough and discover an entirely new way of flying, however...

Also remember you can change where all the keys are any way you want.

Generally, the dogfighting training mission is just used by most pilots to try out new control schemes... It's good for a bit of practice, but it's really not the same as a real game.

Also, side-thrusting is generally used a lot in real dogfights -- constantly changing your ship's direction of movement makes it harder for the opponent to aim and hit you, and the side-thrust keys let you do this while still aiming at your opponent yourself. It's tricky, though!

no your practice wasn't in vain but you'll quickly find that although sidethrusting against the ai is pointless, it isn't so against humans!

Just join the main game, learn the "flow" of the game and try to stick with the "pack". Fighting on even terms means you're doing it wrong.

Elzam V. Branstein wrote:QUOTE (Elzam V. Branstein @ Nov 24 2009, 11:49 PM) I use the keyboard, the mouse makes it difficult to respond with my thoughts.

So nobody else on this thread actually read what Elzam wrote?

I'm sorry but you really can't fly Allegiance with just the keyboard. It's impossible to aim well enough. You either need to learn to fly with the mouse, or get a joystick. I recomment moving the sidethrusters to WASD and seeking good places for things like [forward thrust], [back thrust], [boost] and so forth around it.

Then again, I fly with a joystick so some mouse pilots can no doubt give you more help with setting up your controls.

Adept wrote:QUOTE (Adept @ Nov 24 2009, 10:32 PM) So nobody else on this thread actually read what Elzam wrote?

I'm sorry but you really can't fly Allegiance with just the keyboard. It's impossible to aim well enough. You either need to learn to fly with the mouse, or get a joystick. I recomment moving the sidethrusters to WASD and seeking good places for things like [forward thrust], [back thrust], [boost] and so forth around it.

Then again, I fly with a joystick so some mouse pilots can no doubt give you more help with setting up your controls.

use the default and add extra targeting. *shrug* works for me.