| COMBAT AWARENESS
One of the most important things new pilots must master is Combat Awareness; knowing what is going on in a mission and what to do about it. Some pilots think they can jump right into a mission without prior briefing and come out victorious. This is playing the odds, if you get lucky, you may survive, but chances are nil. The Imperial Order demands that it's pilots have a detailed briefing of each mission they fly, and that the pilots understand and follow their orders. The first thing pilots must do is "speak" with the officers in the briefing room and consult the mission map as well. The briefing will tell provide the following information: Mission Objectives, your craft specs, and what opposition you will go up against. Pay close attention to all three, they will effect how well you do in each mission. The mission Map usually will show where your friendly (Imperial) ships are in and their overall position; Rebel craft are sometimes not shown, it will depend on the creator of the mission. Now you are ready to enter your mission. As you exit hyperspace or your mothership, you should immediately toggle to your Inflight Map by pressing 'M' on the keyboard. This will show your overall situation and what craft are in the area, how many they are, and if they are friendly or not. After viewing the map, you will want to see what the missions' Overall Goals are; you can get to the goals screen by pressing 'G' on the keyboard. The Overall Goals are defined by Primary, Secondary and Bonus/Secret goals, focus on your Primary goals, they will decide whether or not you complete the mission. Now, proceed to check your sensors, hit (U) to see which new FG just entered the area, use your map and threat display to see exactly where they are and what they are doing. Are they a threat or not ? Again you can go back and check your mission goals and see if the new FG needs to be protected or if they are going to dock with one of the friendly ships, or are they attacking it. Keep track of your radio messages by pressing (L). The information radioed to you may be important or give you a clue as to what is going on. Use your Threat Display (Z) to see if the new FG needs to be attacked, when protecting a ship, then you first target it and then use the (A) key to see if any ships are attacking your target. Remember that B-wings and Y-wings are the biggest threat to a Capital ship. Other key s that will help in this situation is the (I) key, you can set your sensors (CMD) to either Target mode or ID mode. Some pilots like to set it to Target mode and leave it there when Dogfighting, I myself personally like to leave it in ID mode to gather more information on the ship. The choice is yours. If you start taking fire from a ship then hit your (E) key to see which ship is attacking you. You can either order your wingmen to attack or You can attack it yourself. This is why you need to know where your wingmen are. If they are to far away to do any good then take on the job yourself. It is your LIFE you are trying to save. Remember that the (T) key targets the next available target or the (Y) key cycles through the targets in reverse order. Some pilots will keep hitting the (T) key until they get the target they want. Go in reverse instead of cycling through all the ships in the area, the target you want maybe only one push of the (Y) key away. Use (R) to determine the closest enemy fighter and then the Threat Display to see if he is an immediate danger to you or others. In essence Combat Awareness is knowing what is going on. Ignorance is stupid and in combat, stupid pilots are usually the first to die. |