I use strafe to move the ship side to side to throw off an enemies aim. Works best at longer distances. I used to use reverse thrust but stopping, even for a moment, can get you a whole lot of hurting so I just use engine kill exclusively. Of course thrust now and then throws them off as well.

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Earendil
SysAdmin of Boston Freelancer server
Server community website & forum: EarendilsPlace.net (server rules)

Strafing is CRITICAL in dogfights - it alows you to dodge enemy fire while still staying more or less on-target, and adds a bit of extra randomness to evasive maneuvers. I would not have been able to finish the campaign in a Patriot without it.

I'd hate to make all of you out there as good of a fighter as I am...but oh well, I can't not help people . Holding down reverse thrust while thrusting and turning will significantly decrease your turning radius, while having one or two negative effects as well. First, you will lose speed; at full engines and while holding down the thruster key, you will only be doing about 90. You're tighter turning radius should make up for this though. Secondly, hitting keys out of order can kill your engines altogether and leave you a sitting duck. To alleviate this problem just keep spinning that mouse wheel up to increase speed and re press the thruster button semi often as sometimes it stops registering that you are holding it down.

As for strafe, it can be a wonderful way to out-turn someone when you are turning to port or starboard. All you have to do is simply hold down strafe in the opposite direction that you are turning. This may not make sense to you right away, however if you grap a model airplane or something like and try it out with your hands, you will see how strafing in the opposite direction of your turn will tighten your radius.

Now if any of you who didnt know this already took the time to read that long rambling post, you should now be a better dogfighter. Good luck to ya.


Edited by - OutKast on 8/24/2004 5:26:51 PM

agreed, strafing is critical. try dueling someone and alternating left and right strafe. you'll be moving left and right.

with reverse thrust, it reduces your speed quickly. might be useful if trying to out turn a slower fighter. reverse thrust in conjunction with strafe is an interesting move.

strafe!

i never used the functions, but I've found that they can throw off an incoming missile or mine, and you become harder to hit. Personally, I think it's a waste of disk space, but then again I'm a lot more thruster-happy than most. To each their own, if it works, great, if it doesn't, then let those keys gather dust. --- VH16

I am Nobody; Nobody is Perfect; Therefore, I am Perfect

If you want to evade a missle, just do a quick 360 in any direction. The missle looses track of you and does not reaccuire.

doing a 360 during a duel? the missile will hit before you finish the turn.

strafe!

Actually most of the time(for me anyway) it takes a good 15 seconds for thier missle to hit me...plenty of time to kill engine, spin, thrust.

Strafing is awsome against battleships and cruisers. I had a mod ship with a great strafe speed so I was able to simple strafe circles around him while pounding him with guns and missles.

Strafeing is impotant in Dog Fights. Its also good for when you are taking on Battle Ships.. I-