Flight skills are snot-hot. near-station battles always involve flybys for me at full tilt. I use engine kills and thrusters like second nature, and I can engage any target at any angle.

As a missileer, I am very accurate with 75% hit rates, and I score torpedo kills on a regular basis. In fact, torpedo kills are my fetish. Kind of my signature. ESPECIALLY when it is severe overkill. (starflyers and daggers w sunslayers)

As a gunner,... well... I am "fairly" accurate, but very effective. I use guns with high rates of fire, but once I get a ship in the stream, it dies pretty quick. Seldom do ships escape the initial burst. (skyblasts)

I'm a pretty good shot, I don't mind saying so, I've been playing space shooters for 10 years. I like Eagle/Hammerhead because they can maneuver quickly, and guns. All guns, all the time. Still trying to decide whether I like a 3.03 loadout (Wyrm II, PROMETHEUS, SILVER FIRE) or a 4/2 (Salamanca II + codename) loadout better.

I think the Nomad guns are totally broken... no energy use = no planning/timing your shots = no honing your skills. Them being the only ones you can reliably find in MP makes it worse, I'm still not sure if I'm even going there. But I digress...


Ever get the feeling... you're standing on plastic?

I used to think I was very good bordering on amazing, now however after trying to chase down Sean Ashcroft using Rebalance I have reconsidered and rate myself as very very good and VERY lucky.

Still I pull off some great asteroid dog fight manuvers

I'd rank myself as "pretty damn good"

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Well I say piloting fits OK, fair enough for combat, I am a experienced modern fighter jock like F-16's FA-18's.
Problem is that, when I loose the joystick I get more worthless, in games like Battlefield 1942 I were lucky if I got off the runway.
I had major problems in Freelancer when getting on in it, but I got the hang of it.
However I try putting the flying tactics from the jet sims into freelancer such as the countermeasure thing.
Drop and turn to the right with the burners on.
It have saved more than once, but didn't help with the Xeno's.


There is no problem that can't be resolved with a weapon, if it don't resolve, try a bigger one.

This might sound weird:

I tried playing some old space shooters;

StarLancer and Freespace 2... I was using the joystick, but:

1) I kept reaching for the mouse
2) I kept trying to use A and D to strafe, and F and G to replenish shield and hull.

I guess I've been stuck on Freelancer for too long.

I would load a renamed AutoSave of mission 4, from after the jump out of the badlands, and replay the encounter with the Piranhas. Then I would count the kills; 5 or more would be satisfactory, 3 or 4 adequate.

This scene emphasizes gunnery skills because if you do not shoot well then your new-found friends will steal most of the kills. If a Piranha gets away from your guns then it will almost certainly be toast before you have it in your sights again ...

The opening skirmish of mission 9 (Tekagi's Arch) is nice as well, for similar reasons. I think the maximum score is 8. Another good scene for rating is when you return from the shop with a battery for the tinkertoy, during mission 12.

I'm just about finished with the second time playing SP. My skills have improved considerably. The escort Quintane mission was extremely frustrating the first time with the Crusader. The next go around I had a Drake with the best shields and some Angelito Guns. I made mincemeat out of them and I had quite a few shield bats leftover after the encounter. The Tekagi mission was much easier too. After the Quintane mission, I purchased and equipped my Drake with some Vulture guns (class 5's and 6's), the most efficient in the SP game. I took 2-3 tries but I felt in control the whole time.

damn...I can't even hit a stationary object like a planet..

Im not bad aginst NPC. pvp is differnt i suck. Engine kill if anythig to learn is that the NPC are Dumb and if you point your ship- while going oppisate way they quit chasing. or they line up so you can do a bull run at them.

i fly a Valkryie and do i rarely get killed by NPC's. im more likely to run into a sun or a gas pocket than killer NPC also it helps if you got most everyone neutral to you . so i can pick your fight without screwing up your rep too much .

"We Die So You Dont Have To cause"

"Valkryie the offical ship the RES"

I use the thruster manouvers a lot, choosing firing angles at my own leisure, beat Hovis the first time, no fly bys though. Never used misiles, tot even to test them (not to patient to wait for the lock, I guess), but I do a preety good job with my guns , no matter the refire rate. Scored 9000+ kills in SP (played five times), being killed only 3 times ( one time by a corona ).
I'd say a can manage space going. And don't think I'm modest. My friend beat me in every sing aspect every I tryed to compete with him.

life sux ...and then ...you die

I made it through the single player the second time without being killed, ever. But that is no real trick. I could train a clever mouse to do that. PvP and I last about an eye blink. I never use missiles, counter measures or mines. I don't fire money out into space.

Well, considering I'm shoting all dbs and 2 tizonas, giving me a sluggish ROF and really show shots, and I still hit dead on the mark nearly every time, I'd rate myself rpetty good in gunnery... And making it to omicron alpha alone in a starflyer with class 2 shield and no counters, I'd say my piloting skills aren't too bad either...

Flying skills are below rubish...i'm more of an offensive type, never dodging obstacles...even ones who will not suffer from impacts like Stations and asteroids...

To make up for it, my gunnery skills were enough to keep me alive from begining to end in SP mode and beyond...

He who has a king in a land of eyes, is blind