Intro

When you get right down to it, your real goal out there is surviving. Sure, saving the world (or maybe just your family and friends) is one thing, but when you're flying around in the big black void you'd better be worried about your own hide first and foremost. Thereafter you should take your wingmen into account. But we'll get to all that soon enough; for now, you should take heed and examine the following pages so you gain a better sense of what it means to be a starfighter pilot in this day and age. We'll let you in on the keys to flying right, shooting right, taking care not to get blown out of the sky, and helping your team-mates do the same.

Piloting

While top speed is good and tight handling is even better, you'll want to get in the habit of exploiting the best of both worlds, no matter what craft you're flying. The most important point to piloting any spacecraft effectively is that it handles best at two-thirds engine power. Use the ] key to switch to two-thirds power and the backspace key to switch back to full throttle as soon as you're finished with your daredevil turning. The importance of the two-thirds engine efficiency factor may sound trivial, but just try pulling a tight loop in an A-Wing at a hundred klicks and see what happens At the same time, attempting daredevil stunts in a craft moving any slower will yield similarly sluggish results.

Manoeuvrability is more important in some craft than others. It's a matter of life and death in the TIE Fighter, TIE Interceptor, TIE Bomber, and Z-95 Headhunter, whose complete lack of shielding (or near-complete, in the Z-95's case) make these craft extremely vulnerable. So unless you're darting about, regulating speed when necessary, and keeping cautiously out of the line of fire, you're going to be in for a hell of a fireworks show, with you at the centre.

Bottom Line: When you want to make an evasive maneuver, switch to two-thirds engine power (]), make your move, then switch back to top speed (backspace).

Finally, do not underestimate even the flimsiest TIE Fighter, and especially don't let one get behind you. When dealing with faster fighters, trade up some of your laser and shield power for an engine boost (shields and lasers won't do you any good if you're dead). A boosted engine gives you a fighting chance in a dogfight with a slicker craft. F9 and F10 toggle laser and shield recharge settings, respectively. The lower the charge, the more juice you can allocate to your engines.

Firepower

Modern starfighters are armed with what we commonly refer to as the laser. Some ships carry two lasers while some sport four. Either way, you'd better get to know these lighter weapons, as you'll be seeing a lot of them. You can fire-link laser cannons with the x key, so that you'll blast either two or four rounds simultaneously at the cost of one refire rate. Fire-linking is the way to go against starfighters with weak or no shielding, since a single well-placed fire-linked shot will destroy one of these ships outright. While you'll want to maintain power to your lasers, you don't need to keep them fully charged at all times if you're not experiencing heavy combat. A good rule of thumb is to transfer some laser energy to shields (Shft-F10) as long as your lasers have maximum charge.

Remember that the laser indicator on the HUD goes through two phases: Once the bright row of lights is depleted, the indicator switches to a row of dimmer lights. If that runs out, then you won't be able to fire. The first row represents fully charged laser cannons, but they'll be firing at less than maximum when they switch to the second row. Try to keep your lasers powered at full force or you'll be wasting valuable time (if not your life).

Concussion missiles are very dangerous. If you're on the receiving end of one, you'll hear a warning siren and will be given the option to target the warhead. Do so. Pay very close attention to the missile's distance from you, and be prepared to pull a tight turn once it's within 500 meters. You can also try to face a concussion missile head-on if it was fired from far enough away, but understand that this is a tricky and precise manoeuvre. Outmanoeuvring a concussion missile isn't easy, either, and escaping an advanced concussion missile is nearly impossible. You'd better pray your craft is carrying some kind of countermeasure (deployed with the c key). Drop countermeasures when the warhead is just under one klick away, then get out of there.

Shielding

Shields can save your life, but only if you're careful - a good laser barrage can puncture even the toughest shields. Don't misunderstand the meaning of fully charged shields: In the Z-95 Headhunter, for example, fully charged shields will absorb only a couple of laser shots before shorting out. Keep the maximum capacity of your starfighter's shielding in mind, and understand how much it's going help if you take a hit. As a general rule, don't fly toward the enemy head-on just because your shields seem to be in good shape and his aren't. He can fire at you and take out your shields faster than you might expect, and even if you manage to kill him, there's a good chance his buddy will be there to finish you off. So no matter what sort of craft you may be piloting, you'll want to use your manoeuvring skills to avoid laser fire at all costs. In short, shields don't last long and recharge dangerously slowly.

If you're in a real bind, press Shft-F10 repeatedly to pump all laser power to your shields - it will drain your lasers but may be the edge you need if you're being overwhelmed. Take the extra moment to try to get out as fast as possible, and use concussion missiles, since your lasers will be depleted of power.

Teamwork

Getting along with your wingmen makes all the difference in the world. Recall that Shft-c orders your wingman to cover your back should you come under fire. Don't hesitate to use this command if you're in trouble, but bear in mind that your friends will likely have their hands full just like you and may not be able to respond as fast as you'd like.

At the same time, if you're busy fighting your own fight and see a bad guy going after some undefended target, select that enemy and press Shft-a to tell your wingmen to attack it. Then you can get back to what you were doing.

When working with a wingman, the better pilot should swallow his pride and try to draw the enemy's attention while the other takes the opportunity to get behind the opponent and blow him away. This is an excellent tactic on many levels - the diversionary pilot can concentrate all his efforts on evasive makeovers, and at the same time, his wingman will be able to focus on his aim. Ganging up on individual opponents in this way is a solid and reliable strategy.

While you cannot rely exclusively on your wingman, if you work together efficiently you will virtually double your chances of survival.

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