i've tried to get people to help me (no one has yet and I asked around a lot today), but I can't hit anybody in a pvp fight.

It seems like I can dodge for a few minutes before finally getting blown up, but I can never hit back.
From all the turning and strafing, my crosshairs are always somewhere else and can't aim straight. I am always left wondering, how the heck these people are flipping around and tumbling all over the place and yet still hit me. How are they able to control their crosshairs? Or are they simply flipping around while randomly shooting hoping to hit?

I don't get it and am very frustrated at this point. Help please.

Heh. Well, what level are you? What ship are you flying, and what weapons are you using?

If you're using Plasma, then level a while more, and get Neuts. As for other people aiming, lots of people 'spray and pray', especially the fast firing weapons. Also, some people have really nice setups, with multiple joysticks and the like.

As for not being able to aim in light ships, yeah. I hate Centurions. I nearly always fly a heavy, and if I'm not in a heavy, I've sure loaded it out with heavy weapons to make it fly a little more manageably.

Experiment. Try different tactics. FA on helps aiming with energy, FA off makes dodging rockets easier. etc. Try not to get frusturated, some people have been playing for quite a while. Look for me ingame "_Ghost_" if you want some combat training. There should be plenty of other people who would train you as well, perhaps they just weren't on much when you were asking. Above all, I find it helps to just take a break for a bit if you get frusturated. Helps to remind oneself that this is a game after all. =)

hmmm, I wont be online tonight or i'd offer to teach you.. If you are still having trouble on sunday night i should be on then.

A couple of things I can suggest on the boards but will need some more info for..

1 Are you using Flight Assist on or off?

2 Do you fly using a mouse or a joystick?

---2b If a mouse.. do you use mouselook? or mouselock?

Mosuelook has 2 "facing" circles.. the one that stays in the center of your screen is where your "looking" the other is the actual facing of your ship. This mode is useful for the lighter ships, because it allows easy aiming because the light ships catch up to where you are looking quite fast. In heavier ships the time lag while the nose of the ship actually catches up to your view makes aiming... tricky.

Mouselock is with the view locked to the center crosshairs, the view only changes as fast as your ship can rotate. This is useful in the heavier ships.. while you will probably find yourself picking up the mouse and moving it back to the other side of your mosuepad, (set the mouse sensitivity WAY up to minimize this) it is easier to aim because you always know WHERE your ship is pointed.

toggle the two with the ; key[i think.. i'm at work it could be the ' key. one is flight assist one is mouselook but i cant remember which is which]

3 What ship are you using.. what weapons. some weapons just dont work well on some ships without a LOT of practice.

4 What is your ping to the server (you can find out by typing /ping in any chatline prompt ingame).. sometimes sheer simple lag might cause combat to be difficult. A ping of under ~150 is probably ok.. but higher than that and you might want to rethink combat.

EDIT

5 What keys are you using for your strafes.. I had a lot of trouble with the defaults when i started.. i switched them to a/d for left right and w/s for up/down.. it just seemed more intuitive for me. Making r/f accel and decel was a temporary solution, and worked until I stopped using flight assist mode, then I had to get a little more creative..

As a newbie, you may simply be outclassed in PvP. (I know I am.) You may need to build up your combat and trading licenses to be able to afford better ships and weapons.

How well do you fare against bots? I assume you're using 'deflection shots' -- leading your target. If you fire into the target reticle when it's yellow, you're more likely to make your shots connect with the target. It's not a guarantee, but it's your best bet.

If juking and weaving aren't doing the trick, you might need to develop your character a bit more before you're ready for the arena.

The first 100 pk's you suck.
After about 500 it feels natural.
What I did though was I fought about 6k bots till I got real interested in PvP.
Then I had the basic controls down.
Also racing helps get the controls of a ship down.
In other words it takes time to beat ppl who have been playing for 1000 hours+

Yeah I left out lots of info cause my emotions were getting the better of me.

I have tried using:

Wraith III
Vultures
Warthogs
Hornets
Centurions

I have 3/4/2/2/1 for levels.

I use dual neutrons usually. I have experimented with large port weapons too, but the ship gets so slow that I can't dodge.

I use a mouse, flight assist, auto aim and mouselook. I tried turning them off, but not having crosshairs just confuses me more.

And I have good ping too (usually around 100).

For PvP dual neuts on a Vulture is probably your best bet. If you're facing a rocketeer, use autoaim and wait until you hear their boost kick in... then make 'em eat a burst of newts but be prepared to up or down dodge the rocket volley.

If you are facing an energy user, change up your strafing pattern often and turn off your targeting computer (use the force, Luke!) most pilots have learned how to spoof the TC by "barrel rolling" so even if it takes you weeks, you gotta learn to hit a moving target without autoaim.

Unless you have a joystick, stay with mouselook, but definitely turn off FA. This will free up your movements and allow you to "backpeddle" when necessary. Learn to gauge your distance to your opponent, and try to find a range where you can hit him but he can't hit you. When your opponent advances, you retreat. When he retreats, you advance. Learn when to make a "lunge" into point blank range (when you have an energy advantage: i.e. he has just spent a long burst and you have a full battery) and when to keep your distance.

These are some of the most basic fighting tactics. To review: A) autoaim off vs. energy users, autoaim on vs. rocket users. B) Flight Assist should almost always be off, and remember to switch up your strafe pattern. C) Always gauge the range to your target, know when to retreat and advance.

Welcome to the world of PvP celery! :D

P.S. here's a little trick I like to use: set your left blaster to secondary trigger and both blasters to your primary trigger. Tap your secondary trigger then hold your primary for a stream of alternating fire. I've found this makes your burst slightly more difficult to dodge.

Argh, don't listen to these anti-FA players.

If you're flying energy, specifically dual neuts, first, setup your second weapon group for just your right wep. Then tap secondary fire (right mouse) and hold the left. This gives you chainfire which drastically ups your odds of hitting.

(Also, set your autoaim toggle somewhere easy to reach, I have it on my mouse scroll, you're going to use this against all those backrollers that espouse distance control)

let me echo Spellcast, set a/d to left right strafe, w/s to up down, and r/f to accel/decel.

Then, (and this is what makes FA mode kickass), set your FA mode toggle to the CTRL key (otherwise unused). It's easy to hit with your pinky, and you can use it for distance control as easily as these pinko-commie Physics moders backroll.

It just takes a realization that if you're using FA mode and you're strafing hard, if you switch to physics mode, you lose the centripetal force, and fly out, giving you a large bit of distance.

While the Devs SAY that FA is nothing that can't be reproduced with physics mode... tis just not true.

First of all, to pull the same maneuvers in physics requires an extra finger (and that's only if you're trying the maneuvers at FA mode, full velocity).

Secondly, you can't control your forward velocity in Physics mode, unless you're doing very basic patterns. Trying to reproduce fighting in FA mode with velocity 0 is a herculean endeavor. In FA mode, you just set your forward velocity to whatever you want, and leave it there for a bit.

You also don't slide in FA mode like you do in physics mode. which is nice in close range fights.

This is not to say that Physics mode should be ignored, but if you're only using physics mode, you're losing out on a wealth of techniques

BAH! pay no attention to shape.. (well pay attention to the part where he agreed with me.. but other than that..)

I'm kidding I'm kidding he offeres very good advice, if you like to fight at knife range.
Me I prefer a little bit of distance and some finesse in my shots.. then again I also prefer heavy ships..

In a heavy ship.. FA is almost suicide, it takes away too many of your dodging options by limiting you to half a hemisphere of movement. On the other hand.. for light ships FA definitely offers significant advantages.. and shapes suggestion to use the ctrl key as the toggle is a sound one.

If you want to get into using the heavier ships however.. probably you need to gain a few more levels of combat and heavy weps skill, and probably a few levels of trade.. the centaur is a nice ship, but its classed as a transport..

Once (if) you do decide to try heavier ships [the wraith or the hornet are about as close as you have right now]

the first thing to remember is FA = OFF most of the time. I'm serious about needing the extra dodging angles.

second.. once you have some momentum going.. dont stop it.. meaning your dodges need to have a basic direction.. If you start by strafing left.. dodge left, then up, then left.. then down.. then down+left, then down, then left, then up.. etc etc.. dont try to dodge back to the right without working your dodges either up OR down (not both)

basically you should never attempt to change dodging direction by more than 90 degrees at once.. while this is a good tip in all fighters.. it is ESPECIALLY true in heavies, because with thier extra mass it takes longer to change direction.. and reversing a dodge will leave you sitting still and veunerable.

third. distance is especially important in a heavy.. it takes longer to react to a threat (rockets etc) so you need a bit more distance between you and the target. Unfortunately this makes HITTING the target a much more tricky proposition.
I'm gonna echo Phaserlight here.. Learn to disable autoaim and shoot without it. Watching a target will often give you a clue as to what HIS prefered doging pattern is (we all have one, its a bad habit but its SOOOO EASY to fall into a pattern in a long fight) and eventually you can learn about where you have to aim to catch the target.
I think theres even a toggle for it now that you can set in your control panel.. back in my day we had to write our own bind to do it.. *gawd i sound like an old geezer*

One last, very important tip.

Dont be afraid to die.. I think when I first learned PvP I died about 1500 or so times in a 2 month span. admittedly it was a very different game back then, but death doesnt really have a HUGE penalty in VO (you have to buy a new ship but thats it)

The best way to learn is just to get out there and fight.. most people will be nice and offer pointers if you /msg them after a fight.. as long as you were polite about getting into it. (meaning ask before you shoot at them.. and if they shoot at you first and kill you, dont cuss them out on the public chat)

shape has has the best advice yet!

Pay *lots* of attention to Shape. He knows what's up. I happen to disagree completely with Spellcast about heavies...at least for what I particularly like to fly in. Sure, heavies can be used as stand-off platforms. However, I like to play with knives in my heavy - I try to get as close to the enemy as possible, and bring the HAMMER down. I also like FA on for my heavies, because that way, you're always moving toward the enemy, at least a little.

To modify Spellcast's statement of
"In a heavy ship.. FA is almost suicide, it takes away too many of your dodging options by limiting you to half a hemisphere of movement."
to something that agrees more with my philosophy:
"Against a heavy ship, getting inside their reticle is almost suicide, because they can BRING THE PAIN."

If a light(er) combat pilot gets in front of my ship, within 45 degrees and 200m (distance really depends on who I'm fighting), they're either going to be severely hurting, or dead in short order.

However, there's LOTS of different ways to fight. Mine just involves LOTS of heavy hitting firepower at short range.

Spellcast's momentum point is a good one too. In a heavy you have to keep up the momentum. Which means that, unlike with light fighters, you can't EVER overextend yourself for a shot,

EDIT: What I mean by this is, Don't try to hit them every time they come in range, stay aimed on their ship until you have a good shot, that will make your forward cross-section diminish to nothing and give you more time to react if they try some fancy dodging pattern (this is a big tip for Vultures too)

you may never regain control if they close the distance and take advantage.

But as far as FA mode not working so well for Heavies, I think that it has its uses. As a heavy ship, the Charge is one of the most powerful weapons you have, and FA mode does that well.

If they DO catch you up close, switch to physics mode, again, your tangential velocity will give you a bit of distance. And that's all a heavy ship needs.

Practice, Practice, Practice, Practice, Practice, Practice, Practice. This game has many different styles of combat all of which can be effective. Shape's a big fan of FA on. I like FA off and no mouselook. Alamar used to powerstrafe for his distance with FA off and some people like to hold down 3 keys and backroll into the distance (at least until they get reversed into an asteroid).

You will die lots. I can't remember but I think I died over 300 times for my first 100 pk's. Just keep making money and blowing it all on PvP.

Finally as someone mentionied some of us use dual joysticks, playstation pads or whatever else takes our fancy. I think the type of controls doesn't matter but becoming comfortable with them does.

Finally as someone mentionied some of us use dual joysticks, playstation pads or whatever else takes our fancy. I think the type of controls doesn't matter but becoming comfortable with them does.

A truer statement has never been said.

Make a keyboard layout that you find suitable... where you can get to the keys you need to when you need to get to them.

The arrow keys turn your ship faster than a mouse will... but are less precise... pick your method and use it.

-Zoras

celery...

You just got a *huge* amount of expert help from the best in the game. Print it off... read it a few times to fully understand it... and then go play. Work on one technique at a time... and stick with a ship/loadout 'till you're proficient with it, before moving on to the next (bouncing between configs this early will only confuse you). It simply takes practice.

And... remember your teachers. Say "hi" to 'em ingame... they're a fun bunch, and I am sure would love to hear about your successes - which will no doubt come with time.

even an pvp vet super duper ultra pwn master could learn stuff from this! wow go pvp instrucion

make sure you turn off mouselook. That way your ship and the crosshairs point to the same direction. That should help.

Lt. M. Duncan

*pop*

turn off mouselook?!!! nevar!

EDIT:

Also, the most important thing I've found is to stay balanced, if you start getting outlandish in trying moves it leaves the possibility for them to just change directions and take advantage.

Flexibility and Balance.

(For example: a roll is not a flexible technique, it may work from time to time, but its not going to help you adapt to the situation)