Dog Fighting tactics.

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pocketdonkey

Spaceman
Hey guys, Ive been playing standoff for a few weeks now and have managed to get past the prologue. I haven't played a space shooter since fs2 so im a bit rusty. I wanted to ask you wing nuts about the various tactics you use in a dog fight.

A few I've found work well so far are the jink roll (barrel roll + sporadic vertical movements) and sporadic use of afterburners to conserve fuel.
 
When my carrier is present during a scrap but not in any real danger, I like to chill for a while behind it and let some of the enemy numbers get cut down by turret fire. I've actually tested a theory and the Battle of Verdun can be completed flawlessly if you just fly into the hangar and wait there until it's over! (This is known as the "Flash approach.")

If you feel gutsy, charge enemy fighters head-on... but be sure to peel off before taking hits. Most of the time they'll fly right into your opening gun salvo.

Dumb fires can come in handy when flying the Rapier. Practice using them against all fighter types, as well as the Kamekh, Dorkathi and other smaller capships. Don't waste them when an enemy is facing you though, because they can blow your missiles out of the sky (stars?)

Study the weaknesses and attributes of each enemy fighter class. Some missions are much easier to handle if you take out the real threats first. Also pay attention to which types of fighters are a threat to you - don't underestimate light fighters because they can creep up on you (in my experience it's usually a Sartha or Drahkri that sneaks in with a missile hit for the frustrating frag.)
 
I find DFs are useful against slower, heavier fighter too, like Jalthi, Grikaths, and even the Jalkehi (try to avoid the turret fire first!).
 
I save DFs for bombers or fighters that are a pain to kill (KRANT!). Just take the shields and BAM! One dead kat.
 
After going through the simulator missions, I'm quite disgusted that a DumbFire clipping even the edge of your shields will almost always result in death. Of course, when I use DumbFires, they always hit dead centre. :)
 
I save DFs for stuff that has rear turrets, specially when I'm flying a Rapier (lack of ITTS usually means I gotta get closer to the target), and usually fire off other missiles at the start of a dogfight to even the odds a bit... except for when I figure I might need the missiles later, like if I think I may need to quickly intercept bombers or some such - and what do you know, I'm usually right about this! :D
 
Thanks for the responses, guys. I managed to beat all of the missions up to the beginning of chapter four using most of the tactics you folks have been mentioning. I have also found that if you don't target your opponents then they seem to maneuver less then normal allowing easier kills, however, this occurred only during one missions and afterwards I decided not to attempt to replicate this.
 
pocketdonkey said:
I have also found that if you don't target your opponents then they seem to maneuver less then normal allowing easier kills, however, this occurred only during one missions and afterwards I decided not to attempt to replicate this.
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A general truism of the Prophecy/Secret Ops AI (I have no idea if the Standoff team has made any edits or improvements to this behavior) is that if you are targeting them, they will maneuver with more frequency and accuracy to attempt to evade you then if you simply hit them with fire.
 
Jason_Ryock said:
A general truism of the Prophecy/Secret Ops AI (I have no idea if the Standoff team has made any edits or improvements to this behavior) is that if you are targeting them, they will maneuver with more frequency and accuracy to attempt to evade you then if you simply hit them with fire.
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Woah, I never noticed that!
 
Jason_Ryock said:
A general truism of the Prophecy/Secret Ops AI (I have no idea if the Standoff team has made any edits or improvements to this behavior)
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We can only adjust the skill of the AI relative to one another... that is, we can give Sparrow a shooting skill of 5 and Squealer a flying skill of 2 and etc.

However, we can't change how accurate level 5 shooting is, for example... so our best possible pilot is exactly just as smart as WCP's best possible pilot.
 
Eder said:
We can only adjust the skill of the AI relative to one another... that is, we can give Sparrow a shooting skill of 5 and Squealer a flying skill of 2 and etc.

However, we can't change how accurate level 5 shooting is, for example... so our best possible pilot is exactly just as smart as WCP's best possible pilot.
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That's interesting - how many categories for AI skill are there?
 
I must say that I agree with DangerousCook. It's the damned Drakhri or a lucky Sartha that always seems to get me, sometimes with a DF missile. Only if I'm already swamped or on a Torpedo run do the heavy ones manage to cause me any real problems.

I love the Rapier, the DFs are great for Kamekh-hunting and every now and again one gets the opportunity to hit a Grikath or a Gothri with them. HS are always fun, but I find the FF missile less useful - too easy to evade and a small warhead.

Dogfight tips to remember: Don't go on long afterburner chases unless you can help it, and don't turn too hard in during evasive - you lose a lot of speed.
 
Kavok said:
I must say that I agree with DangerousCook. It's the damned Drakhri or a lucky Sartha that always seems to get me, sometimes with a DF missile. Only if I'm already swamped or on a Torpedo run do the heavy ones manage to cause me any real problems.

I love the Rapier, the DFs are great for Kamekh-hunting and every now and again one gets the opportunity to hit a Grikath or a Gothri with them. HS are always fun, but I find the FF missile less useful - too easy to evade and a small warhead.
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FF's are actually the solution to the Sartha problem :). When you're surrounded by Sartha, you just fire off your FFs and wait for the death-screams.
 
FireFly said:
when u say dumb fires u mean rockets (Darts) dnt u?
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DumbFire is the type of missile - it just flies straight ahead (no target tracking, hence it is 'dumb'). Dart is the designation of the missile, just as torpedoes in the WC2 era are designated ShipKillers, heat-seeking missiles Javelins, etc. Rockets are a bit different: they also fly straight like DumbFires, but have a much smaller warhead and are mounted in groups of dozens. If you've played Prophecy, you'll know what I mean.

Jason_Ryock said:
A general truism of the Prophecy/Secret Ops AI is that if you are targeting them, they will maneuver with more frequency and accuracy to attempt to evade you then if you simply hit them with fire.
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That explains why the non-targeted fighters which sometimes hop in front of my guns are such easy kills. :)

DangerousCook said:
I'd really like to know some tips for the simulator so I can raise my score : )
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Take note of your wingmen. I really, really hate wingmen in the new score-enabled missions. They keep stealing my kills when I'm gunning for the Dorkathi and Kamekhs, denying me points, then they go off and get themselves killed, stealing the few hard-earned points that I have managed to scrape together. Very frustrating. Although, judging from the scoreboard, others have the persistence to work around those difficulties that I don't.
 
DangerousCook said:
I'd really like to know some tips for the simulator so I can raise my score : )
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Quick kills, quick kills, quick kills.

In order to get scores like Sternwind's in the gauntlets I set out to heavily damage all the fighters in a given wave, but not kill any of them. Once that is done I simply run riot through them racking up both the points for killing them and the QK multiplier. On the higher waves you can rack up points extremely quickly.

Also, I always play the sim on Nightmare because you get the most points per fighter kill (50) and this also effects points on the other missions as well.

EDIT: Also don't forget that Sims 9 and 10 now have scoring as well. So definitely check them out as well.
 
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