As it is in Heaven: A Guide to Space Travel
BASIC FLIGHT
If you've bought or been given this flight control manual, you either haven't got a clue what to do with a spacecraft, or if you ever did know, you've forgotten it all. Easily done, I'd probably forget my head it if it hadn't been surgically secured with magnetic clamps. No matter, it won't take long to get you up to speed, give you a stunning tour of the known universe and let you know what you're up against. You'll start flying when we hit the spacelanes, as I believe that hands-on experience is the best teacher. Well, apart from Miss Chaquitta at the Elementary school on Destinas, but that's not important right now.
Take off and flight orientation
As you probably already know, all ships these days are automatically injected and ejected out of planetary atmospheres by the local Off Planet Control. This is largely due to the huge number of crash landings and take-offs caused by incompetent pilots in the past. You may cycle through the exits, people and booths in all the interactive areas by pressing the right mouse button. So once you leave the customs area, relax - getting off the ground is done for you.
Okay, that's the easy bit over - we can now proceed with basic flight orientation. After the initial wrench of take off it's likely that your controls will need calibration, so hit Alt O to activate the Option Screen, pick the control device you would like and calibrate with the choices at the bottom of the screen.
Choosing / Calibrating a Joystick or Mouse
1. Press Alt O to activate the option screen.
2. Choose either JOYSTICK, JOYSTICK AND THROTTLE CONTROL or MOUSE.
3. Select the corresponding CALIBRATE option on the bottom of the screen.
4. Follow the calibration instructions on the right hand side.
5. Click on EXIT to save calibration and return to the options screen.
Everything okay? Exit back to the cockpit view then grasp the flightstick (or mouse if you're that way inclined) and move it to it's various extremities, paying attention to the way the starfield moves relative to your ship. Pretty simple, pull back to raise the nose, hard left to bank and turn left, etc.- it's hardly rocket science. Except it is, of course. For those of you with inverted spatial awareness this flight orientation can be inverted in the Option Screen, causing the noses to rise when you push forward on the flightstick and drop when you pull back. If your flightstick is fitted with a second button, you may hold it down whilst pushing left or right to yaw and roll.
So you now know how to turn on a Crian dime which is all well and good, but it isn't going to get you anywhere, astronomically speaking, without a little forward thrust. The control of main engines is so simple that a three year old could do it. Unfortunately, three year old pilots are a rare (and illegal) commodity, so it's down to you, I'm afraid. The basic thrust controls are as follows:
| + | Increase velocity |
| - | Decrease velocity |
| ] | Accelerate to maximum |
| [ | Break to zero |
| TAB | Afterburners, while held down |
If you have a THROTTLE CONTROL plugged-in, it will allow you to accelerate to maximum and brake to zero, overriding the key commands. Afterburners, however, will still be controlled by the TAB key as normal.
While your engines will carry enough power to get you to your destination, it's important to remember that those afterburners are thirstier than a Bexan pasture camel with an empty hump. So save them for emergencies, because they won't last forever (but they get refuelled each time you land). As for the speed freaks out there- you may want to buy an afterburner enhancer to boost your max speed when afterburners are switched on.
So you've mastered basic flight control, but to get around in the Tri-System you're going to have to tell your navigation computer where you want it to take you, using the Navigation Map. This is activated by pressing Alt N, and shows the Tri-System made up of planets, minor planets, nav points and space stations. Tri-System space consists of pockets of ‘local space’ connected by ‘jump’ routes. These pockets are marked with floating Nav buoys or ‘points’, and you must ‘jump’ between these Nav points to get around. Your position is shown by a red marker. You can rotate the Nav Map by dragging the cursor across the screen with the right mouse button held down, or by pressing the R key.
Destinations can be selected by clicking on them with the left mouse button or by pressing F, then entering the name or number of location and pressing ENTER/RETURN. You will find that sometimes these can be found with just the first couple of letters e.g. HE will give you HERMES, whereas HEP gets HEPHAESTUS. The name of a destination is displayed in the bottom left corner of the screen.
When you have selected a destination, your route will be calculated and shown with a red line. In the bottom left of the screen is your route length, measured in JUMPS. You can make journeys more quickly by using the system jump gates, shown as dotted rings connected by yellow lines. You will be charged a toll for using this type of jump, but if you've got valuable cargo, it's a good way to avoid hostile pirates. It's important to remember that when you select a destination, the Nav computer will plot the shortest route using only Nav points, and it is up to the your judgement to utilise the system jumps.
Selecting a destination on the Nav Map
1. Press Alt N to bring up your Nav Map.
2. Note the position of your ship (red marker), and click on a destination with you left mouse button.
3. Alternatively, press F and enter your destination's name or number, then press ENTER/RETURN.
4. Press EXIT to return to space.
Navigational Map Additional Keys.
| - | Zoom out | 1 | Toggle Planets |
| + | Zoom in | 2 | Toggle Nav Points |
| R | Rotate Nav Map | 3 | Toggle Nav Point numbers (The number only appears if Nav Points are on.) |
| C | Re-Centre Map | 4 | Toggle Space Stations |
Repair stations have the prefix RS before their name. Equipment stations have the prefix ES before their name. Commodity stations have the prefix CS before their name. Super stations have the prefix SS before their name.
Space travel
So assuming you've planned a short simple route of a length of say 5 jumps, then we're ready to roll. Look for the smallest bar in the top centre of the screen, third from the top. If your local space is free of hostile ships, this will illuminate green, and you may jump to the next point on your route by pressing J. If the bar is red, there will be hostiles in the area which you must eliminate first before being able to initiate a jump safely, after all, you're a sitting duck while the jump drives are powering up (But I'm getting ahead of myself, and we'll discuss the issue of defending your ship later). If, for any reason, you are not able to eliminate aforementioned hostiles, an alternative course of action is to fly in the opposite direction until you are far enough away from them to jump, This will vary depending on the size of the pocket of local space your are in.
So let's assume you have the green light. Press J to jump and feel your constituent particles being strained through the course weave of your undergarments as you are propelled across the improbable vastness of space at quite unnecessary speeds.
When you pop out at your next point on the route, the jump bar will display one of the following:
1. Orange increasing to full green - You are clear to jump again.
2. Red increasing to full red - You must first destroy all hostiles in local space before jumping.
3. Orange increasing to full orange - You have reached your destination.
Jumping between Nav Points
1. Select a destination and route on your Nav Map, then EXIT back to space.
2. If your jump bar (third from top centre of screen) is green, press J to jump.
3. If it's red destroy all local hostile ships first before jumping.
4. Continue to jump until you reach your destination. The jump Bar will now display orange.
Using System Jump Gates
1. Select the Jump Gate you want to use on your Nav Map.
2. Travel to that Jump Gate.
3. Fly through the centre of the Gate's ring to start system jumping.
4. When you emerge from the other end of the jump, pull up your Nav Map again to choose your next destination.
Note: if you do not have enough credit for the toll fee you will bounce off the Gate's forcefield, damaging your ship.
Landing on a planet or station
If you look at the target finder in the centre of your screen you will notice that a small blue triangle is circling it. This points to your closest planet, Nav point, space station, etc, and helps you to bring the object into view. If it's a planet you want to land on, fly straight at it and open your Communications window on the HUD by pressing C, and wait for planetary control to come up as an open channel. When it does, select it using the corresponding NUMBER on the keyboard, then ask for permission to land, again using the relevant NUMBER key. You will then be cleared and can sit back and chill out to the awesome views of an automatic landing on any of the eight major planets. If you don't communicate, and just keep on going, you will burn up in the atmosphere.
If it's a space station, proceed in the same way as you would with a planet, but this time ask to dock. If you keep going you will collide with the armoured hull of the station and bounce off, causing considerable damage to your ship and enraging the station's pilot. And whilst we're on the subject of collisions, avoid flying into Nav buoys at high speeds. The results can be fatal.
Landing and Docking
1. Fly to the planet or fixture you wish to land on or dock with.
2. Press C to open the comms window. Once in range, you may select your destination with its corresponding NUMBER key.
3. Again using a NUMBER key, select a message, for example ‘Permission to land.’
4. If clearance is given, proceed to destination.
So that's about it on getting around. However, what with the Tri-System being the unstable place it is, I strongly recommend you read on.
Radar
The radar works in two modes. You may toggle between these using Alt R.
Mode 1: Celestial (Elliptical)
Everything you see on it represents an object in space. I like to visualise the radar as a huge transparent disk, with your ship right in the middle of it. If an object is on the same level as the disk, it will appear as a small point. If it is above the disk, there will be a line below the point- the longer the line, the higher it is. If the line is above the point then the object is below the plate, and will be in a slightly darker colour. And obviously the closer it is to the centre of the circle, the closer it is to you. If the object is on the edge of the circle you will have to accelerate in its direction to engage it, bringing it directly in front of you to reach it.
Mode 2: Patriarchal (Circular) This older way of viewing local space is favoured by some of the more seasoned pilots in the Tri-System. The circle is divided into six sections, with each object again shown as a coloured point. The outer ring shows the position of ships behind you, the centre circle shows ships ahead of you and the four middle quadrants represent ship positions alongside, above or below you. To bring a target into view, find a point and by manoeuvring your ship, centre the point in the innermost circle of the display. It will now be directly in front of you. Which brings us conveniently on to the next part.
In both modes, the range of the radar can be cycled through by pressing E, and is shown in the bar directly below the radar, full orange bars = widest range, one orange bar = narrowest range.
The various points are colour-coded for ease of recognition:
Red = Pirates and Kindred
Green = Military
Blue = Neutral
Grey = Stations and Fixtures
Yellow = Missiles, Debris and Canisters
White = Current Target
Targeting
You have to target ships or objects in space to identify them, communicate with them or destroy them (You can't target planets or fixtures like space stations- you just have to get close to speak with them). To select a target, press A, which will also open up the target identification window in the bottom left of the screen, if not already open. In this window you will find all available info on what you have targeted, with the object's picture colour-coded consistently with the radar display. PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THIS INFO AS IT MAY REVEAL THE SINISTER NATURE OF WHAT MAY AT FIRST APPEAR TO BE AN INNOCENT SHIP, You must of course get within four lengths of a ship or object in order to scan it.
Pressing A and Z will scan backwards and forwards through the objects in your local space, targeting each one in turn. Once targeted, an object will be surrounded by a targeting ring, or if off screen, it's direction will be indicated by a moving arrow circling your target finder. The target ring and arrow are gold if the target is outside of the range of the standard stream laser, and red if within.
By pressing Q or a second joystick button you will target any object within 10 degrees of the front arc of your cross hairs.
To select the closest hostile target press W.
To select the closest friendly press S.
For the expert or downright stupid pilot, press Alt T to toggle targeting off. You will still have gunsights, but will not be able to identify targets, or achieve missile lock.
If you wish to store a target for quick recall later, press 0 - 9 with Shift.
To recall that target providing that it is still valid and within range, press 0 -9.
And finally, if you wish to match your speed with that of your target, press X.
Target and store an object.
1. Press A to open Target window.
2. Toggle through targets in local space using the A and Z keys to select your target.
3. Press a number key 0 - 9, while holding down SHIFT. The target is now saved to that number.
4. To recall a stored target press a number key 0 - 9.
Guns and Lasers
Open the guns window on the HUD by pressing G. You will then see what guns and lasers are available, You may fire one or more of these simultaneously, but they must be activated first. TO do this press H, which will move the small green pointers on to the desired weapon, then press N to switch them on (red) and off (grey). Using F turns them all on, giving you maximum firepower. And did I fail to mention that your TRIGGER will fire the babies? When you have a ship in your sights that you fancy taking out, simply shoot at it. Except it's not that simple.
You see, although they are called lasers, that's not exactly correct. They don't fire light, but concentrated electromagnetic bolts of energy. And because they aren't light, they don't move at the speed of light. So you have to fire in front of a moving object in order to hit them. Your friendly on-board computer, Danni, gives you an estimate of where the ship will be when your lasers reach it. It's that small orange icon floating in the cross hair. Fire at that and you have a much better chance of hitting your target.
Excessive use of lasers will result in them overheating, which means they will fire sporadically or not at all. The overheating bar is at the bottom centre of the screen. Buy a coolant unit to give partial relief from this problem.
Missiles
Press M to open the missile window. You will then see what missiles and torpedoes are available. You may launch one or more of these simultaneously, but they must be activated first. To do this press H, which will move the small green pointers on to the desired weapon, then press N to switch them on (red) and off (grey). If you keep your target on screen for long enough, the computer can lock her missile sights on, showing the closing lock ring. When lock has been achieved press ENTER / RETURN to launch the missile, which will then be guided by the ever present Danni to the target. You may fire more than one at a time if necessary.
Fire a missile at an object
1. Press A to open Target window.
2. Select target using the A and Z keys.
3. Bring target into view so that computer can obtained missile lock.
4. Press M to open missile window.
5. Wait until missile lock is achieved, then press ENTER/RETURN to fire.
Mines and decoys
Open your mines window with a press of the B key. To choose a mine or decoy, press H which selects each type in turn. Press the DELETE/BACKSPACE key to release them. The number of each type of mine you have left is shown next to it's icon. For missiles that are locked on your tail I recommend the use of decoys. You will be made aware of incoming missiles by a flashing icon towards the top left of the screen.
Target shield and armour status
If you've got the targeting system working, you'll see the targeted ship's shields and armour to the left of your radar, with a red ship icon in the centre. As you fire, the shields (the outer blue layer) are gradually worn away, and the image of the ship shows where the shots are hitting. If you stop shooting or hitting, the shields are given a chance to recharge themselves. To break the shields down, you have to keep firing persistently. Then you can begin to take out the armour (the yellow inner layer) and blow the ship apart.
Your shields and armour
If another ship starts firing on you or launching missiles you should consider counter attacking or getting away quickly, afterburners ablaze. When you are hit, your own shields are displayed to the right of your radar, with a blue ship icon in the centre. In extremely desperate situations, you may wish to swing your ship around to give damaged shields time to recharge, which they will do more quickly if a Shield Enhancer is fitted. When you collide with another ship or object, you will notice that it is deflected a short distance from the surface of your ship. This is caused by the impact of the shields against each other, and will deplete their energy. Once you have sustained damage to armour, you will find that certain things like communications and flight control begin to malfunction. If you have an Auto Repair Unit on board you may get them back on line. To monitor the status of damage to systems, press D, which will open the window in the bottom right of the screen.
Communications
The sub-theta radio allows you to bark orders at cargo ships and wingmen, ask for permission to land and dock, and taunt enemies, among other things. By pressing C you will open the Comms window on the left side of the HUD, which will give you a choice of available people to talk to, if any. Select one of these with the NUMBER keys, then select the chosen message to transmit in the same way.
Communicate with another ship
1. Press A to open Target window.
2. Cycle through targets using the A and Z keys.
3. Press C to open the comms window. Select your target with its corresponding NUMBER key.
4. Again using a NUMBER key, select a message, for example ‘What's your status?’
Camera views
Sometimes the answer to a problem is in a change of perspective. You can press various F keys to change the view of your ship and local space. These are:
| F1 | Forward View - The view from your cockpit including instruments. |
| F2 | Left view - The view looking from the left of your ship. |
| F3 | Backward View - The view looking from the back of your ship. |
| F4 | Right view - The view looking from the right of your ship. |
| F5 | Player Ship External View (Circle ship using ARROW keys, zoom with [ and ] keys) - A floating camera which circles your ship allowing views from all angles. |
| F6 | External Ship Camera - A view from a floating camera positioned just in front of your ship looking forwards. |
| F7 | Target External View (Circle object using ARROW keys, zoom with [ and ] keys) - A floating camera which circles your target allowing views from all angles. |
| F8 | Target Chase Camera - A floating camera which follows your target. |
| F9 | Fixed Camera - A view from a camera which is fixed in space, at the point you select it. |
| F10 | Cinematic Camera - A camera which cuts from view to view to follow the action in space. |
EXTERNAL SCREENS
Options screen
Press Alt O and you will activate the computer's internal option facility, allowing you to turn various features on and off, altering the way you perceive the space and worlds around you. You will also find the calibration systems for flight control interfaces such as your flightstick here. The options are:
| Video transitions - | Toggles views of landings and transits |
| Animated transitions - | Toggles views of the CCN and PAD loading up |
| Global sound - | Toggles master sound |
| On planet music - | Toggles planet background noise |
| In space music - | Toggles space music |
| Booth / PAD sound effects - | Toggles sound from the CCN and PAD |
| Computer speech - | Toggles ship computer voice |
| Engine noise - | Toggles engine noise |
| High detail level - | Toggles visual detail level and frame rate |
| Joystick flight control - | Selects joystick for flight control |
| Joystick / throttle flight control - | Selects joystick with throttle for flight control |
| Mouse flight control - | Selects mouse for flight control |
| Flight model orientation - | Inverts flight control |
| Calibrate joystick - | Allows calibration of joystick |
| Calibrate throttle - | Allows calibration of throttle |
Hotkeys
An emergency aid for the inexperienced, amnesiacs, or when your grip of the controls is slipping. Alt H brings it up. Split over two screens, this contains all of the in-flight key commands you will need. Select the second screen by pressing NEXT.
Exit
Press Alt X to escape from space. You will then be returned to a central screen which will give you the choice to Start a new game, Load a saved game or Quit.
Electronic diary
Press Alt D and you'll see any memos you've made to yourself as well as information pertaining to your personal status in terms of missions, credits, cargo, etc. The diary has five entry holders, so even if the first is empty, it is important to check through further ones by clicking NEXT DIARY ENTRY.
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT
The following equipment will come as standard or can be acquired and fitted to your ship. Some is available through the Booth System, and some may be obtained from individuals and organisations you may encounter.
Blindfire
Remember that computer-assisted gun tracking system I spoke of earlier? Well this additional software makes your target finder change colour to red when you have centred sights accurately enough to hit with your guns. It's an absolute babe of a feature when you're trying to track a fast moving prey. Only available to the military, you will have to make some friends high up in the CIS to get one of these installed.
Nuke 'em
This horrible device emits a blastwave from the vicinity of your ship powerful enough to annihilate everything in close proximity but the most resilient dreadnoughts. The damage is worse near the epicentre, dissipating outward. The device carries a small synchronic temporal warp generator which at the point of detonation throws you marginally forward in time after the blast, giving you escape from the carnage. However, it does not extend this benefit to any cargo ships or wingmen you may have in tow, who will encounter a particularly terminal, and bad, day. The Campaign for Real Time considered this weapon to be a breach of most time laws and lobbied against its legality, until one day, quite by accident, a rogue Nuke 'em landed on their offices during an annual general meeting. Alt S releases this monster. Buy it from the CCN system.
SOS distress receiver
This device tunes your sub-theta radio to the emergency SOS frequency, allowing you to receive distress calls. Turn it on and off with O. There will usually be some cash in it for you should you choose to accept a rescue mission, but if you're filthy rich or just plum lazy, you may want to switch it off.
Incoming mail
During space flight, it is likely that you will be emailed by other people, often with important information or the offer of missions. Any particularly important news will be automatically logged in to your electronic diary. An incoming e-mail will be indicated by an icon in the upper left of the screen, along with an audible alarm. The e-mail screen then opens automatically and can be closed using the EXIT button.
Tractor Beam
You will sometimes find it necessary to drag things around or onto your ship, and this is the tool for the job. To operate, TARGET the relevant cargo, spaceman or escape pod, get into close proximity, cut velocity to next to nothing, and hit T to obtain a grip. To release an object hit the Y key.
Signal filter
This will give you partial protection from computer viruses being transmitted at your ship via the sub-theta radio But what with the rate that new viruses are being written, it is not 100% reliable. Buy from the CCN system.
BSE
TARGET a ship, then release your BSE (Binary Sickness Emitter), and it will infect their computer's circuits, leaving you to get cracking with your lasers while they flounder like a fish out of water. After being transmitted its high frequency resistors must recharge before further use. Alt B to activate. Available from the CCN system.
RTS
The Return to Sender, or RTS for short is activated in those desperate moments when a brute missile with your name on it is attempting to perform some radical modifications on your ship. Your ship computer activates it, and stands a good chance of sending a locked missile back from whence it came, much to your amusement and your assailant's surprise. Not available commercially just yet, you may get one in return for completing a mission, once fitted it will attempt to return every missile that is thrown at you.
Warp shields
These guys will give you temporary invulnerability during desperate moments when an entire pirate clan is releasing its combined firepower at you. This kind of protection can only be maintained for short periods of time, and will die when its power is used. It will however recharge automatically. Alt W activates them. Buy from the CCN system.
FINAL BRIEFING
Protecting your cargo ship
A hardy bunch of individuals, the cargo pilots of the systems will doggedly follow you around space carrying your cargo for little more than a few creds and a slop-up feed of Fat Pats' transport diner in the Scatter Belt.
They will also tell you when they are being attacked. Cargo is a temptation for hostiles, so taking it on a mission to wipe out a bunch of pirates may not be advisable. And don't fire on your cargo ship, as it will only take so much before firing back, and many of the bigger rigs have some pretty awesome firepower at their disposal.
You can ask a ship to hold it's position while you go on ahead, but this puts it at risk while unguarded. And bear in mind that these monsters take longer to jump than you, so give them a second to catch up on long routes.
If the military scan your cargo ship and detect black market goods such as pleasure borgs, there is a chance that they will fire on you.
Wingmen
A wingman makes a useful ally when going into a tricky situation, providing that you have chosen of the more reliable and adept ones out there. By using the communications channel you can instruct them to perform certain tasks during combat. Again don't fire on them, because after a while they will turn on you like a grumpy guar ddog, armed to the teeth with lasers. Okay, guard dogs rarely have lasers, but wingmen do. Hire them from the bulletin board in the CCN Booth system.
Escort missions
You may find yourself carrying out escort missions. In these situations you must rendezvous with a ship at a given point space, and then select the destination given in the mission description on your Nav map. It is advisable to store the ship as a target (see TARGETING section) as this will make them easier to find should you get seperated. You must then communicate with the ship you are escorting, and tell them to get going to the destination. Wait until they have jumped, then jump after them. If for any reason you become seperated, for instance by hostiles, it is recommended that you continue to follow the selected course and find the ship you are protecting, as it may be attacked further down that route. When you have both reached your destination, allow them to dock or land first, otherwise you will not be rewarded.
Interplanetary Etiquette
I should warn you that firing on non-hostile ships will not be taken lightly, especially if they are CIS / Military. The military will generally leave you alone, providing that you don't shoot at them.
SUMMARY
Stay alert, and have eyes in the back of your head (There are surgeons on Crius who will perform that operation very reasonably). Obviously the best way to master all this theory is by getting behind the instruments and trying it out. Have a look in the CCN booths for ships and equipment, pick what's right for you, and go for it.
COMBAT ADVICE
“LISTEN UP ROOKIE!!!” - EXCERPTS FROM SLADE ‘TEX’ CARVER'S CIS INTERPLANETARY COMBAT MANUAL
INTRODUCTION BY
COMMANDER BRETT STRYKER : CIS SPECIAL OPS
Let me introduce you to possibly the toughest hombre in the universe. He's won every honour possible, a walking, talking, twenty-four carat legend. Look up ‘tough’ in the dictionary and you'll find a picture of this guy next to it. Ask anyone in the Tri-System about Tex and they'll tell you about his now legendary One-Way Ticket Torpedo Run in the Scatterbelt Wars. They said no man could complete this mission, but then Tex is no ordinary man. His honours include:
Golden Cluster (only four men have won this honour, and three died in the process)
The Silver Comet
Legion of Honour
The Platinum Star
Distinguished Medal of Honour, for conduct above and beyond the call of duty
The Black Eagle of Courage
Standard of the Brave
This is a man who demands respect - pay attention.
Listen up rookie and listen good. I know what you're thinking. You're going to go out there and kick ass. Well, think again cherry. You go into combat unprepared, and before you know it you're history.
Those sons of bitches ain't gonna cut you no slack so you better show some savvy. You want to play hardball, then you'd better be packin' some heat. No point in bringing a switchblade to a firefight.
Getting your hands on some real hardware doesn't come cheap. To start with you need to avoid dangerous missions and make some quick money. Begin with some simple cargo runs, nice and short runs though 'cause you can bet your butt there's gonna be pirates sniffin' around for that easy kill.
OK. Now you got yourself a rig that's going to give you a fighting chance, here's some pointers picked up during twenty years of military service.
1. Never go head to head and take unnecessary damage when you can afterburn past a target. Latch onto his tail and erase his butt.
2. Use wingmen. The quality of these mercs can vary, but if you're going on a mission or a cargo run where you know it's going to get heavy, a wingman can be useful in taking some of the heat.
3. Missiles. Make sure you use the right missile for the job. Hellraisers for capital ships, Pythons for fast ships, you know the score. Look at the specs for details.
4. Defend your cargo ship. You go glory hunting and your cargo ship is gonna be chopped liver. Protect him, and he'll protect you.
5. Ramming. You won't find this in the CIS Space Combat Manual, but take it from a veteran, if some suckers' shields just won't drop, ram them! Believe me, they'll go down!
6. Communications. A mistake I've seen a lot of rookies make is to neglect the comms. Make sure you don't.
Why? I'll tell you:
a) You'll getting your butt chewed up by some pirate. Get on to your wingman/cargo ship to help out.
b) Your buddy's getting shot up by pirates. Thing is, you can't afterburn there in time to save him. What do you do? Use the taunt option in comms. Most pirates have such fragile egos that nine times out of ten, after a couple of taunts they'll turn their guns on you, giving your buddy some breathing space.
8. Roll. Use your ship's lasers to their full potential. Using the roll button on your flight stick, align yourself with the target. If you're really keen you can do a ninety degree roll to fly down the gap between his lasers. Remember, you paid good money for this kit - use it.
9. Attacking ships with turrets can get pretty hairy. Brass balls will only get you so far. However, most ships have an Achilles Heel, where the turrets can't touch you. It might be under the belly, rear, whatever. Take refuge here and then blow that hairball to hell.
Well rookie, that's about it. Tricks of the trade like this have got me through the last twenty years of fighting for the Corps. Hopefully, they'll do the same for you.
Give 'em hell out there.
