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Pilot Training

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HumbleBee:
Whilst spending the last few weeks playing the game, I've only given piloting a few chances. This is mainly due to the level of control needed to pilot any of the ships effectively. This being noted, I've taken advantage of playing the both of the "Training" matches what were posted and learned a rather great deal not only about Engineering, but also about gunning. Taking that knowledge and adding it to random-game playing has greatly helped me make sure I was fulfilling my role and contributing to our wins (and sometimes losses). But what I'm rather off-put about is Piloting. The few times I've been in matches where I've gussied up enough courage to attempting leading a ship of mine own, I find that my crew is... less than satisfied. Methinks this concerns not my ability to move the ship (for I've logged several hours in the "practice" mode with all the ships), but I've no real sense of how to fly it so as to make my crew able to play their parts successfully.

All that to say, methinks it would be a nice treat if a few of the more... seasoned players mayhaps would take a set time and be crew and let some newer-ish folks what would at least like to get to know a little more.

Now, after reading the forums over a few times, this is not to say that Captains are not attempting to help, but offtimes this comes after the match when, with a rather hurried, shameful shadow-log, those of us who were just 0-5'd run back to the corner in the fetal position, clutching our spanner and promising we'll ne're stray from the Engineer again. For those Captains what've tried to help myself, I do apologize for not sticking around. But at any rate, this is just a thought ^^;

HamsterIV:
Learning to captain is hard. The best thing to do is find a server with mostly low level players and fiddle about until you find what works. If you are in a high level server click on the ship names in the lobby to see what the high level players are flying with, and shamelessly copy them. I felt pretty bad my first few times captaining since I was learning at the expense of three other people. I would only captain if nobody stepped up. Eventually I grew to like it.

If you want to practice flying in practice mode here is a drill used: Start with the squid that has a chain gun on the front, carronade on the side, and flack on the back. Start at a distance from the narrow blind side of the practice target. Fly at full speed at the practice target, cut engines and bring the right gun on target, wait for the baloon to pop, then turn so that your rear gun is on target and follow the training dummy down. If you do this right you will never leave the target drone's blind side. While facing with the side gun, you may have to adjust your position forward or back to compensate for left over velocity taking you into the drone's shooting angle.

You can also slalom through the ribs of the wreckage to the north east, or try and sneak into the cheater point of the desert scrap model, if you want to further test your piloting mettle in practice mode. There are some pretty small gaps you can fit through in this game, learning what you can fly though in practice mode will let you get away from a bad situation easier in a real game.

-Muse- Cullen:
Piloting is a hard role to jump into immediately, because it is probably the most 'difficult' role, due to you being directly able to dodge enemy fire for engineers, position the ship for gunners, and basically control what your crewmates' actions are. It is important to always be considering -How should I turn the ship, should I get closer or farther away, should I increase or decrease altitude-. The gunners will do their role, and the engineers will do theirs, but the pilot's choice of flying will affect the gunner's ability to perform, and the engineers will be patching all of the accidental holes.

I could write a text wall about things, but really, who wants to do that? The best way to learn is to practice. I consider myself a fine pilot, and I love to help- If you want, I can join you in a game sometime and crew for ya with some advice. Otherwise- do you have any questions that I should answer here?

krait:
Generally a pilot is two things: helmsman (obviously) and commander. Commanding is the harder but more important skill to master, and I find there are a few important aspects:

Voice communication: use of a microphone is critical, since typed commands will go unnoticed until they're too late to be helpful, and typing means you're not piloting or doing whatever else you need to be doing.

Situational Awareness: in a fight, gunners will usually only notice what they're aiming at (even between reloads), and typical engineers will be too busy looking at the inside of your ship to notice what's going on with the outside. Make sure you don't focus your attention solely on a single enemy ship: as both a pilot and a commander, you need to be visually skimming your entire field of view periodically, calling out enemies, and notifying your crew about terrain that you can't avoid or lag spikes you're experiencing, if and when it occurs (it can be helpful for gun crews to distinguish between a captain turning to acquire a new target, or spinning due to loss of control). Be sure to keep a constant eye on the status of your components. Applying this sense correctly, it's not uncommon to be able to manage simultaneous, sustained attacks on two or more enemies.

Exert a sense of control: your crew should sense that you have a plan (even if you don't actually have one). By plan, I mean some short-term goal you're trying to achieve (or continue achieving) over the next several seconds. Based on your active situational awareness and that plan, you know which components need to be prioritized and which will not. There may be times when you need engines but don't care about a balloon, or your team is leading by 3 kills, but the enemy will soon regroup and you need everyone on guns more than you need them repairing your hull. Unless the crew can read your mind, they can't situationally prioritize, and so you do need to tell them what to focus on.

I regularly inform my crew when I'm about to use a skill that damages engines (it allows engineers to get in position, and keeps the crew from thinking you're under fire when you're not), or when I'm going to ram, and particularly which fields of fire I expect to open up. You'll also find gunners keep trying to track an enemy that you're turning away from, until you tell them to aim toward another enemy (when switching targets, it helps if you can tell them where to aim, relative to their current viewpoint).

Invite the crew to make suggestions: since you're not the one gunning, take requests for loadout changes. Certainly a lumberjack will be less useful in the canyons than it will be on the dunes, and your ship and configuration should reflect the map and complement friendlies while countering enemies, there will usually be several applicable weapon/ship combinations that play well into your style, so it can help in those cases to determine crew preference. Discussing it is best left for private crew chat, rather than lobby voice chat, of course. Good engineers and gunners will direct your attention to things you may not be noticing -- that's a good thing!

Coordinate with your team: particularly with new allied captains, you'll be trying to manage the team dynamic quite a bit too: it hurts your team quite a bit if one of your ships keeps dashing off into 1v3 battles, or is sight-seeing in capture point matches. Even with competent allies, great coordination can allow a pair mediocre crews to isolate and defeat strong opponents.

Use pilot abilities: in fact, it can help to have 3 abilities rather than 2 and a spyglass. Your crew will generally each have a spyglass (were they planning on piloting your ship?), and should be spotting ships for you (feel free to tell them to spot ships, and remind them that without the targeting reticule, you won't be able to line your ship up in the thick of three-dimensional battle for good shots anyway). If you're not regularly employing your abilities, you'll be at a definite disadvantage.

Helmic:
Fly any ship that relies on a forward-facing gun, it'll get you used to the idea of keeping guns facing the enemy and it'll be easier for you to recognize the firing arcs of different weapons.  It's even better if you have a vocal gunner, as they'll be able to tell you if the enemy's moved out of their firing arc so that you can quickly adjust.

When you're taking a lot of damage but think you can make it, try running into a cloud and hiding in there.  That'll give your engineers some time to get things patched up and they will love you so much for it.

And, of course, stay positive.  Don't let your crew get frustrated, even in 0-5 losses.  Obviously the best way to avoid frustration is to avoid losing, but just keeping a light atmosphere on the ship can be enough to keep people loyal.  Cock jokes are a wonderful leadership tool.

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