Obviously GSF can be pretty frustrating at first, especially with the lack of a way to practice and the fact that you're thrown right in the mix with veteran players and their upgraded ships.

I'm no pro, but I can hold my own against most opponents, so I thought I'd take a minute to share some helpful tidbits I've discovered over my 3-4 weeks of pretty consistent flying. I still remember that painful first week when I was only hitting 10-15% of my shots and really not helping the team at all. Note that I play strikers and scouts almost exclusively, so this is aimed at them.

1) Know thy enemy. For example, if you're targeting a Gunship, look at the picture of them in the target window. If they're looking straight at you, don't fly straight at them or they will blow you out of the sky. If they are facing another direction you should be OK because likely they are staring down their scope at another target. Likewise, know that most scouts use Distortion Fields which they can activate to give them 6-9 seconds where they are VERY hard to hit with blasters. You can see this happen when they start to glow. Plan accordingly. Just like with ground PvP, you need to know what your ship can do and what your enemies can do to fight effectively.

2) Use the F1-F4 power selectors. Switching power to a given system will not only regen energy much faster, but will make that system more effective. Power to weapons makes your blasters do 10% more damage. Power to shields makes your shields stronger. Keep in mind that when you focus power on blasters or engines, your shields will actually be WEAKER than if everything is balanced. You should be switching between these systems pretty frequently.

3) It is very hard to land hits on someone when they are flying perpendicular to you and their lead indicator is way out in front of them. Don't waste blaster power when you can't land hits; get lined up behind them (you'll see the lead indicator get much closer to the actual ship) and blast away.

4) Save some engine power to be able to boost out of someone's range or use your engine maneuver when you have to.

5) Use LOS. The tiniest bit of LOS blockage will break a missile lock, e.g. one of the arms on a satellite. If you don't think you can kill whoever is chasing you, LOS them repeatedly and they may just give up and go after someone else.

6) Get a good crew. Make sure you have people with bonuses that synergize with your playstyle. Also get a good active ability that you like to use on your co-pilot and use it liberally; the cooldowns are pretty short.

7) On a similar note, find a build where the components work together well to fit your playstyle. There's way too much to go into depth here, but good builds are all over the internet and you can ask other pilots for tips too. Spend your first reqs on the weapon loadout you prefer, then you can get some cheap upgrades on your secondary equipment. This may seem obvious, but it really makes a difference.

8) Know thy targeting hotkeys. TAB targets the closest enemy (including defensive turrets, mines, etc). "E" targets the enemy closest to the center of your reticle. "R" targets whomever damaged you last. I tend to tap R fairly regularly to see if anyone is on me.

9) The easiest targets are those who are already engaged with one of your allies. They are MUCH easier to get behind, and often won't see you coming. Help your friends!

10) Don't get discouraged. You will die, a lot. Really good pilots with mastered ships will own you for a long time. After a good week or so though, you should have the skill/upgrades to hang with a lot of the players out there, and you might even be beating down some noobs yourself. My own results can vary significantly depending on the team makeup on both sides.

11) Get on your Pilot Chat Channel! /cj pilot There are plenty of helpful pilots out there who will give you tips!

12) If you really don't enjoy, or can't get the hang of dogfighting, buy a cheap gunship or bomber. They are both completely different playstyles and may suit you better (Gunship plays like a relatively stationary, long-range sniper; Bombers are very tough to kill and can get you some damage/kills via mines and drones without having to actually aim at anyone)(Note that the dronelaying Bomber is 5000 reqs though, Minelayer is 2500).

I'm sure there's more but that should get people started. I'll be happy to answer any questions (should I in fact have the answer).

Good luck out there! GSF needs YOU!

Forgot one really important one:

Avoid flying in a straight line as much as you possibly can, especially if you know someone is shooting at you!

What's LOS?

Line of Sight.

Forgot one really important one:

 

Avoid flying in a straight line as much as you possibly can, especially if you know someone is shooting at you!

That's situational. If you're breaking for obstacles it might be better to get there sooner than take a missile in the a..ft

3 Major "noob" offenses that hurt your team in GSF right now:

1-Chasing kills in Domination rather than hugging and holding satellites.

(kills award squat in domination, unless they are made while hugging a satellite. Kill chasing = noob shooting themselves, and their team in the foot)

2-Flying right into the death trap set up by a team who is farming you while camping their capital ship in deathmatch.

(Let them camp, stay in the middle; once they get non contributor status and are denied the easy farming, they will leave, or have to live with the fact that they are cherry-picking cowards, either way, you win.)

3-Trying to Rambo enemy squads.

(You are in a stock starfighter, noob. What makes you think you have any chance in hell hitting that enemy squadron by yourself?

Wait for your teammates to catch up to even the odds, or go somewhere else that isn't a guaranteed death sentence.

Just because you saw an ace go rambo on 4 ships and win, does NOT mean you have a shot in hell of doing the same. Once you have enough experience under your belt to master a ship, then you can tactfully pull off a rambo if you have the skill, but until then, stop letting your opponents noob farm you.)

(PS trendy noobs, committing suicide when you know you are beat does not affect the other team's score.

Assists and kills award the same requisition, which is low to begin with, and they are indeed awarded when you self destruct.

You are just helping the enemy win when you do this.)

I like all the points you made. I would like to emphasize the importance of using obstacles to LOS people in deathmatch. Stay close to the obstacles and try no to fight on the edges of the map where it is just open space. I break more missile locks with LOS than I do with my engine ability.

You can also use the obstacles to even the playing field. Once you LOS them turn around and get in a good position and wait for them. Then you can throw out the first shots and make him react to you. This isn't something you should focus on if you are just learning the game but get used to flying really close to obstacles because you will learn to use them to your advantage later on.

Good points.

I'd like to add to the note about hugging satellites and not chasing kills in Domination, it took me a little while to notice how close you have to be to the satellite to capture it/prevent capture by the other team, You basically have to be right up on it. When capping, green lights will flash around your ship, but if the sat is neutral and you and the enemy are both holding it that way, you won't get the green lights. So if you leave even for a few seconds one enemy can come in and cap it (presuming you have no turrets still up).