So, I'm guessing I need a mentor but figure I'll post this here just a wee bit out of frustration.

I've been playing about 2 months or so. Current level is 2/3/2/4/2 (something like that from memory). My overall stagnation point is really understanding taking my combat flight and strafing to the next level.

In terms of the bots Orun, Kannik, Artemis all pretty routine kills now and the Aputech 5s as long as I keep my eye open don't present too much of a problem unless I gotta chase 'em.

I'm now at the combat tutorial point of trying to deal with Fennus R-18, Tycorps, ApuTech 5s and I've hit a wall. Can't seem to really understand whether in physics of F/A how combat at this level. I"m using keyboard mouse set up. I think it's mostly figuring out how to thrust, brake, turn and stay on the target and I just can't seem to figure it.

The frustration now comes from constantly getting beaten and having to warp back to the sector, etc which all adds to the pain in the ass factor.

I just can't seem to grasp the overall play in twitch which is very new to me. Conceptually I get but reaction wise I can't seem to pull it together. Are there any youtube videos anywhere that provide a good analysis of this.

I'm assuming for some this is nothing new. I wanna get beyond this and figure once I break through I'll feel comfortable venturing into the PvP side of things.

Any thoughts - thanks in advance.

Welcome! You should ask on channel 100, particularly in the early evenings, USA time. Someone might take you botting.

I have some thoughts, they're not very organized, but hopefully they help:

You don't need a mentor, mentors are just a slippery slope towards joining a guild, and guilds are the worst.

Maybe take a break from "getting better at botting" and spend a few hours grinding out a few better license levels. One of the joys of botting is trying out new ships and weapons, and while the best option is probably going to be the Plasma HX you already have, sometimes it can be fun to see if positrons look cool.

If you are actually below combat 3, the mission you want is "beginner combat practice." The mission text is pretty broad as far as what you're supposed to do, but ignore that. What the mission should actually tell you is:
1) Find a sector that only has DenTek collectors in it
2) Kill them until the mission ends when you reach combat level 3. Do not abort the mission for any other reason.
3) Prefer to kill the closest DenTek collector that is busy mining. These days they are back to getting mad at you if you shoot them, but the few seconds it takes them to turn around can be enough to kill them with minimal risk.
3) Don't die. The bonus for killing sets of five collectors will reset if you die. If your health falls below 50% while you're in the DenTek sector, go to a station and repair.

If you're over combat 3 and beginner combat practice isn't an option, I would recommend the "hive skirmish" missions over the "advanced combat practice" missions. If you're UIT you'll have to go to gray space for those. The availability can be spotty, especially in gray space, but a good hive skirmish is tons of xp. Again, I would recommend seeking out collectors that are busy mining for the best reward-to-risk ratio. If you're willing to click into every hive skirmish available on the board before picking one, keep an eye out for the magic words "rewards quadruple while the ion storm lasts."

As far as fighting bots face to face, I think the biggest "one trick" I have is to use your fire to control distance. Bots hate getting hit, so if they see a long stream of shots coming their way, they will back off a bit to get a better chance of dodging them all. This gets you a bit of breathing room and some time to think. Conversely, if you actually want to land a shot, stop shooting for a hot second, let him move in a bit and shoot off a short burst.

Never use the brakes. Always strafe. If it feels like the incoming shots are getting too close, change the direction you're strafing in (and shoot off a long string of shots to get the bot to back up a bit). Ideally in a perpendicular direction to your previous heading. This is why I rebind my up/down strafe keys to w and s, and would suggest you do the same! forward and backward can be relegated to the second-rate place they deserve on the r and f keys. 75% of botting for me is holding down the a key with an occasional tap of the w or s key.

PS: I think you will find that ApuTech 5s are more challenging than lot of PvP fights you will have.

Really appreciate that advice. The insights on bot behavior is helpful. I like the idea of trying out different craft. Had already re-mapped my keys to have that classic WASD pattern - figure that should be the default really in my book.

I'll hammer away and get that combat level up. I'm sure staying at the bot level your suggestion will allow me to practice the combat flying to skill up on this twitch/physics/F-A mechanics.

Thanks Whistler/Genka

I also find it helpful to turn off flight-assist in combat. That way, your speed only changes when you press a different strafe button.

Another tip is to strafe in a diamond direction (i.e., strafe to the left, then down, then right, then up). If you strafe left then try to strafe right, you have to slow down a lot before you start moving right, making you an easy target for the bot.

Also, the bot is going to continually readjust to try get a straight shot on you. Use that to your advantage when changing directions by shooting in the direction you were previously going because the bot will slow down to readjust to your new vector. For example, if you were strafing left and are about to start strafing down, send a burst to the left of the bot as you start strafing down.

Good luck out there!

I think these aspects that you point out are what make the game challenging and interesting in the long term. I haven't had to strafe since X-Wing/-Wing days (I'm not a full on gamer in terms of time available during the week, etc.). These subtleties make sense just pulling it altogether is the trick. Plus the awareness of course of what's around you. I'm trying out these Hive battles now as a result of this thread for the more challenging part and then regular bot killing to try out ship/equipment.

Thanks for the tips.

practice

For sure

TheRedSpy has a nice keyboard overlay video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKXzHbhX2Vo

It will give you a sense of the type of motion required. However, it is far more important to pay attention to relative velocity, one's momentum, distance, energy, auto-aim and flight mode status (in that order, probably). I also substitute W and S for R and F. Focusing on the principles listed above my fingers just kind of do their own thing and it's much less random or chaotic than it looks.

When you are more advanced you can learn things like ammo conservation and counting flares. So, basically I'm trying to say relax, and focus on events occurring in space.

I also prefer to aim with a mouse in my right hand while using a wired USB thumstick to strafe in my left. If I'm getting surrounded or maneuvering tight and close, I switch to both hands on the gamepad. This is one of very many legitimate ways of controlling VO.

Thanks Phaser. The combination you outline to pay attention to I'm getting a feel for. Keep heading back the easier bots to practice all those elements. For the first time today I began to get the feel of predictability in adjusting flight and getting more hits on target. It's interesting watching the keyboard overlay and the finer adjustments of flight.

I don't have a gamepad but will probably invest at some point.

Thanks for the info and links - helps a lot.

PvP is where it's at, there's no question about it.

The best way to learn to swim is by getting your feet wet I understand the apprehension behind not wanting to blow up a lot but it's part of the learning process.

You've probably got a decent enough feel to hop into pvp the longer you wait the longer it'll take.

I'd recommend flying vult3's and hog3 to learn with you guns of choice (If you want easymode go with gaussvault/gatflare but yeah even with easymode expect to explode quite a bit more than you're used to)

It took YEARS before my KD went positive strictly from pvp-ing.

my KD is in the trash because i still have the character i had when i first started. my ratio is like 3. Something lmao.

The typical WASD key bind is a conflict of fingers/degrees of freedom, pressing A and D at the same time is not a very useful combination. I swapped a roll key diagonal with a strafe key, so that one finger controls left/right strafe, and one finger controls roll. It takes getting used to, but then all finger combinations have meaning.

I prefer flight assist off, so that I can fly backwards as needed, but it is often not needed.

Hold a strafe key, with an occasional roll, will typically dodge most bots.

Kill Dentec with combat mission till combat 3, then go do hive skirmish in grey/Serco/Itani space. XangXi in sedina sells ion storm radar extenders.

Use a hog2, or at least something with combat speed 65. TPG atlas X also has both weapons ports on center line. You can leave one weapon port empty.

Kill ten queens so that you can buy megapositron blaster.

If you try to pvp, add a key to toggle auto aim on/off. turn auto aim on when really close, turn it off for players that dodge auto aim at distance.

Thanks Roda. Yeah I must say the finger and keys issue as been a bit of challenge. Appreciate the tips on this because I wouldn't have thought about that.

I've been venturing into the hive skirmish missions which certainly are a next level of challenge.

Right now I'm just accepting being an apprentice and patiently dogging my way through the missions. There's plenty enough time for PvP. As in my last game I spent a fair amount of time at this level just building resources which in this game is really rich. The whole game is a work of art and challenge and on another level from what I was use to at BSGO.

Many thanks again.

I've used my pinky&ringfinger for "qa" middle&ringfinger for "wsed" and index for "rf"

If you ask me it's no less intuitive than using ws for up and down but I'm probably an outlier.

Well come back to report that between all the various tips and persistence I've broken through stagnation. You know one prominent thing was really understanding the dynamics of the ship in fighting. I was doing all my fighting in a Revenant for the early stages. In levelling up and moving into a Warthog MK III the agility and the advice given above I saw the difference.

The funny thing is I didn't know how much of a difference until I switched back to the Revenant for it's cargo capacity for scrap metal missions. It was so noticeable controlling that ship in a fight. Thanks all for your input. The missions opening up are showing some more interesting challenge.

Thanks for the plug Phaser, I was going to suggest having a look at my other keyboard overlay video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsLtwhWlvL8&t=25s

Only because Conflict Diamond is a pretty dodgy(?) (hah! get it!) pilot and moves about a lot. You can see against bots you're able to be steadier and more measured. It's about being reactive, there's no need to dodge for dodging's sake.

Good luck pilot.