/my two credits:

1. Profile discipline. Give your opponent the smallest target available. Profit when your oppenent presents you with a larger target area.

2. Energy disipline. You can do more damage with a full battery than with an empty one. Shoot when you think you can do damage, rather than shoot and hope something will hit. Likewise, watch for your opponents firing cycles.

Flares are unguided, right?

Yes. Most any good fighter pilot can dodge and evade a missile lock, even from swarm missiles. The beauty of flares is that there is no lock, and thus, no very easy way to dodge out of them (like turboing away until fuel runs out).

With a proximity detonation? Those have a certain range-before-arming, don't they?

Yes, they do. The proximity detonator is set for thirty meters, so an enemy coming in that distance sets it off. The time fuse is set for one second. In practice (as far as distance is concerned), as long as you are heading forawrd, this ranges from eighty to one hundred and thirty meters to detonate.

What ranges do you find them the most effective?

Between ninety and one hundred and fifety meters for me. Farther if your enemy uses predictable dodges.

Does it hamper them if an opponent gets right into your grill?
(How odd that if you fire them at someone from your own nation they'll do no damage, but they'll do damage to you... that's an interesting gap.)

Yes, that's why it hampers you if your opponent is closer than one hundred meters. For one, your flares may not even be activated until they're past your opponent and out of proximity ranger. And two, even if they do detonate, they do damage to you. And not only do they do normal damage to you, they do DOUBLE damage to the person firing them. THis was put in place as a balance for "Rocket ramming".

It's funny, looking at my levels, I'm a veteran. Looking at the pathetic way I PvP I'm worse than a rank newb.

I'd love to meet up with youse guys somewhere for a tutorial if you have time. Maybe over the weekend?

Actually, I know a couple of Gav's alts, but Moldy, who are you in-game?

I play almost exclusively on my Erik C./Blue Streak characters, the second one is my itani combat callsign. I don't have nearly as many player kills as Gavan but I'm only 600 behind, combined between those two alts...

I certainly agree that fighting binds are crutches. Calder's combat assist is definitely different from one that has a preset dodging pattern. All it really does is sets the throttle either to full forward by pressing 'r' or full backward by pressing 'f'. If you use it in physics mode, it acts a lot like flight assist mode in that you can always be thrusting forward, but it has no effect on your ability to strafe, unlike having FA on. It has some obvious weaknesses and is definitely more effective with certain types of weapons. I suppose you could adapt it to remove that weakness and give more flexibility...hmm a project for some free Saturday.

While I agree that combat binds are generally not a good idea, there are lots of other great ways to use binds. The Wiki has a pretty good page on it (http://www.vo-wiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Binds). Try setting up the turbo lock bind. It's simple, extremely useful and it gives you a good idea of the basic way to use binds. Let me know if it you can't get it to work with the wiki's instructions.

charge directly at the enemy! ram death down their throats!!!!
you may sometimes get singed or corpsed....but! Charge!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks Moldy. I'm more interested in energy weapons, but I have to admit that you're piquing my interest. I'm going to play with that a little more.

Thanks for the advice.

~D.
"Nigel"

hehe

As for binds, I suggest variable zoom. Very nice.

Spence;

Hmmm... I'm not sure of the usefulness of that bind to me. I have a throttle on the stick, and I can click from full to stop pretty much as quickly as I can find a key on the keyboard and hit it. (The throttle on this stick is unlike any I've seen before. It's about two inches wide, so it's really easy to hit.)

Anyway, I'm going to play with that bind idea regardless, but it does seem to duplicat the effects of a rapid throttle switch.

Er... one thing you missed: How do you install binds? I haven't played with that myself.

Thanks;

~D.
"Nigel"

what spence said

tactics are for sissies!

Gavster: Clos Du Bois, Pinot Noir... 2004 vintage. recommended.

Everyone else: Nice thread... I never get tired of learning new things.

I think I have to agree with Splash... "experience" with a great pilot is the way to go... luckily, there are great pilots out there willing to meet in a remote sector once in a while. Don't think about the kill... think about the battle.

Speaking of Combat Flight Assist I came to using this version:

[code]
alias stop "Accel 0; alias faster speed1; alias slower speeda"

alias speedc "Accel -1000; alias faster speedb; alias slower ' '; echo '******** <<<<<<<< Throttle Full Backward'"
alias speedb "Accel -500; alias faster speeda; alias slower speedc; echo '******** <<<< Throttle 50% Backward'"
alias speeda "Accel -250; alias faster speed0; alias slower speedb; echo '******** << Throttle 25% Backward'"
alias speed0 "Accel 0; alias faster speed1; alias slower speeda; echo '******** No Throttle'"
alias speed1 "Accel 250; alias faster speed2; alias slower speed0; echo '******** >> Throttle 25% Forward'"
alias speed2 "Accel 500; alias faster speed3; alias slower speed1; echo '******** >>>> Throttle 50% Forward'"
alias speed3 "Accel 1000; alias faster ' '; alias slower speed2; echo '******** >>>>>>>> Throttle Full Forward'"

stop

bind MWHEELUP faster
bind MWHEELDOWN slower

bind "r" +Accelerate
bind "f" +Decelerate
[/code]

This uses rf for acceleration/deceleration and mousewheel for setting constant throttle. It gives me more control on speed than Calder's CFA. Anybody's thoughts on this?

Same as Shape, I also strongly discourage combat binds. They prevent you from improving as a pilot and limit your flexibility.

I would also not reccomend using your joystick hat for strafing. The reason being that it might be difficult to combine more than one strafe as is so often necessary in PvP.

I want to remind you that 'binds' is not a curse, it's just a one of the ways of achieving your aims. Sometimes it suits your task better, sometimes it doesn't.

So if you don't want to be typekilled easily -- you use autododge bind, if you don't want to hold Tab -- you use Turbo Lock bind, if you're not happy with Flight Assist -- you use Combat Flight Assist bind (or my bind I posted above), but if you want to dodge well -- you do it manually without any binds.

And if you blindly discourage any binds without looking at them, you are fool. Sorry ^_^

What he means is that THE main combat bind is the diamond dodge. THis bind may help against the less experienced but against most players, they'll see the pattern pretty quickly and just aim to where you are headed. This is true in any fight, but the bind makes you more predictable than you would be otherwise.

I did say COMBAT binds. Not all binds in general. I use plently of chat binds and turbo lock binds etc., but the combat binds that put you in a pattern will only work towards your disadvantage. Whether you destroy your target or not, you will not improve as a pilot by using combat/dodge binds.

I encourage combat binds.
Use them constantly!
They help really!!!

Who started to speak about diamond dodge bind??? We were discussing Combat Flight Assist bind from start! Shape, Nigel and Ghost started shouting "Don't use binds!" before anybody mentioned diamond dodge.

As for DD I've already mentioned: it can be used for a short time if you have to type while being in a dangerous area or fighting.

Alek;

Now come on. I said I prefer not to use binds because I want to hone my personal reflexes. I also do most of my PvP without autotargeting weapons and missiles for the same reason, although I'll occasionally pop into a Hog with a gatling turret for a little fun.

I think that binds that dodge for you will make you less effective in combat. However I don't see anything wrong with those binds that give you an edge in controlling your ship, like the throttle bind and the turbo lock. Two different things.

~D.
"Nigel"

There are plenty more combat binds than just diamond dodge. And I thought it was a valid tip to mention that using dodge binds will not improve your skill as a pilot no matter the outcome of the fight. Just giving my opinion about one of the Battle Tactics, that is the title of the thread after all.

My name is in the title, how did I miss this!? I didn't read the whole thing yet, but here are my favorite little helpful bits...

1. Combat binds make bad pilots. Why? Because you don't actually do any work, and so your own skill never improves. Worse for you, good pilots recognize the use of combat binds immediately, and will use it against you.

2. Fight ALL the time, against every pilot you see. If you can fight the best pilots in the game, all the better. You'll die more often, but you'll also get the best practice against the most skilled opponents.

3. Fight in every setup you can think of. When you're new, try to spend more time with energy only in a light fighter, because it will help you learn to aim, but become familiar with every type of weapon available. If you can be effective with an unexpected weapon, you'll be more effective in combat for two reasons: You'll know better how to use what you have if say, you can't afford the time to go get your valk, and second, you'll know better what to expect when you come up against different weapons. Nerde Verde pwns people with fletchette Cannon all the time. Alamar got 500 kills exclusively with Rail Guns. Some of the best weapons in the game are the ones that aren't as often used.

4. Be convinced you are going to win. 99% percent of combat skill is confidence. If you go into a fight thinking "I can never beat tumblemonster" you never will.

5. Be ready to die. Accept that you can lose, and be ok with it. If you don't want to get boomed, don't go into a fight, because if you're fighting with the express goal of not losing, you'll most often lose. Why? You've already mentally adopted a defensive, minimize the damage mentality, and won't take the opportunities you're presented in the fight. Go in ready to win, but don't be afraid to lose.

6. Pay attention. It drives me insane to fight someone who only knows one tactic, and tries it in every situation. There are times when your tactics should lead the fight, but there are also times when your tactics should change in repsonse to your opponent, often to your advantage. Watch for these moments. You'll begin to see patterns you can use against your opponent.

Dang, Tumble, have you ever coached football? A good half of what you wrote is exactly the mentality of a good football coach.

Good stuff. Thanks.

~D.
"Nigel"