Titan Combat Manual - Classic!

[Madvillain]

Chapter four , The art of flight

The body of the Corsair fleets consists of Titans.
A pack of five Titans can just about take down any resistance, under the right circumstances.
To be victorious in battle, each soldato is expected to learn basic combat movement and countering techniques.
These techniques have evolved over the ages, and mastering them is mastering the field of battle.

Basic fighter combat techniques and terms

It is vital to understand all of the various combat and ship manoeuvring terms to allow you to read your enemies behaviour, and to develop your own tactics in every unique situation.
The following terms are universal knowledge and basic flight terms.

• Engine Kill - Engine Kill is the most common maneuver technique known to any Fighter pilot. To do an "Engine Kill", means to basically kill off your ships engine while it is still moving by pressing the default Engine Kill key Z.
  By pressing that key while your ship is moving, your engine will be "killed", it will stop providing thrust to your ship, and your ship will simply glide in the direction you are facing. Your ship will eventually stop moving while in Engine Kill, namely when it burns out the thrust you were given by your ships engines before activating the Engine Kill itself. When this happens, you quickly tap your Afterburner key (Tab ⇆ by default) to speed up your ship once more. Doing that will allow you to enter yet another glide, preferably in a different direction than your previous one. This method is very useful because it allows you to easily outmaneuver your opponent and dodge enemy fire, with the right knowledge.
  We will cover the more advanced usages of Engine Kill in the "Advanced Combat techniques and terms" section.
  

• Jousting - Jousting is often used in duels and is defined as two ships flying directly towards each other while each is trying to do damage to the other.
  Jousting is not a very effective technique in dogfights or in duels because it exposes your ship to damage from all sides. Good fighter pilots will know how to punish "jousters" very easily. However, if you do joust a lot (which is not advised), it is good to combo it with the previous technique we described, namely Engine Kill.
  When you joust a ship and go past him, you have to turn around again to face him, which is slow. You can speed this process up by using Engine Kill to turn your ship faster. After you pass the enemy ship in a joust, quickly press the engine key and start turning. Your ship will continue gliding in the joust direction, but it will turn so that you are facing your opponents back. After you turn, tap the Afterburner (Tab ⇆ by default) and your ship will quickly cancel the Engine Kill and start moving in the direction it is facing, namely your enemy. This is referred to as the "Anchor Turn", and it will allow you to joust faster.
  

• Boxing - Boxing is very often used in duels to do a lot of damage while avoiding taking damage in the same time.
  This is where the Titan holds it’s true strength , a good Corsair must master this technique.
  Boxing refers to moving your ship with the strafe buttons (left-up-right-down) in a so called "box" pattern, while standing still or moving backwards (by using the reverse thrust key, default X). The most common box pattern is a simple "box" form. You do it by strafing Right-Up-Left-Down (or alternately Left-Up-Right-Down). When your ship does this, it becomes very hard for the enemy to hit you because the strafing changes the position of the cross-hair on your own ship very quickly, so it becomes hard to aim at it.
  This technique is very effective if used with the Anchor Turn and Early Turn. I will explain this more in depth in the "Advanced Combat techniques" section. Boxing isn't recommended on ships with lower armor values (such as the Eagle) because those ships are very vulnerable to the boxing counters. It also isn't recommended to box the whole time, because then your patterns become transparent and predictable. The secret to becoming an ace is to never be predictable.
  You can never allow your opponent to read your movements, and that is why its best to mix up the patterns of your box. Don't just copy someone else, because the stuff that works for him may not work for you.
  In my personal experience , boxing diagonally works best while piloting your titan.
  This means Up-Left-Up-Right Down-left-Down-Right and similar variables.
  This is due to the Titan's shape. Shape has a big influence on boxing.
  

• Gliding/Sliding - Sliding is another widely used technique, but not many fighter pilots can do it properly,especially not in a Titan.
  Sliding involves using the Engine Kill technique to make quick, circular motions around your enemy ship. Doing that will allow you to dodge most of the enemy fire while dishing out damage in the meantime. If you are fast enough, you can easily outmaneuver your enemy with a slide and end up behind him. You achieve a slide by going into an Engine Kill from a high speed Afterburner movement. After you reach a higher speed with the Afterburner, press the Engine Kill key. When you feel that your speed is dropping, press the Afterburner key one more time, only this time, change the direction of your ship. Continue doing that around your enemies ship, and you will be able to slide around him while hitting him with your guns in the same time.
  The key to being a good slider is timing. You cant slide in one direction for too long because that will expose you to enemy gunfire . You also need to judge the distance of your slides. The best distance to slide at from your enemy is around 300m.
  There are a lot of tricks to sliding, and you can combo it with any other technique mentioned in this section, but be careful, because a slider becomes predictable very fast and it becomes very easy to counter him.

Advanced combat.

This section will cover the more advanced combat techniques of the Titan. These techniques take practice and extensive experience to pull off properly, but when you understand them to the fullest, they will increase your chance of winning duels and dogfights (i.e. fighter brawls) greatly. Before trying these tactics, you should first get a good understanding of the techniques I covered and explained in the previous section.

• Boxing into an Anchor Turn - Since boxing alone, without using other techniques to avoid damage, will get you killed, here we will cover combining an anchor turn with a simple box.
  As I mentioned before, when you box, try not to stick with a single pattern. You will get way too predictable, and even though your cross-hair will still be off your ship, your opponent will figure out how to read your movement and he will just shoot in anticipation of your pattern. When, and if this happens, the anchor turn will help you surprise your opponent from the back and it will greatly reduce the timing between boxes. Start off your box when your opponent is at a greater distance than 300m. Fire of a few shots and try to get some good damage on him. If you see that he is getting too close to you (i.e. close enough to put a mine on your head) try using reverse thrust to get more distance. Your opponent will try to avoid your shots, and eventually he -will- get close to you. This is where you use the anchor turn to get some distance from him and surprise him from the back.
  When you notice him getting close, stop the box and cancel the reverse thrust. Tap your afterburner (default Tab ⇆) and fly past him while in engine kill. When you see that you have passed him, quickly start turning your ship (all the time being in engine kill) so that the front of your ship is facing his back. At this point you will still be moving backwards, but you will be facing his backside. At this point, tap your afterburner once more and cancel the engine kill. This will give you enough room to start another box and do more damage to your opponent.
  Repeat this as necessary, but note that in time your opponent will read your moves. When he anticipates them, change your style and anchor turn to the side to dish out more damage. Note that assessing the perfect distance is the key to successful boxing and anchor turning.
  

• Early Turning - Early turning is used to get an edge on your opponents turn (i.e. finish your turn before he finishes his). This is technique is very valuable against jousters.
  When your opponent is flying towards you into a joust, at approximately 300m distance, go into an engine kill slide and start turning your ship in the direction where your opponent will end up after his joust. If you start your early turn at the perfect distance, you should already be facing your opponents back after he flies past you. At this point, he may or may not notice that you are already facing his backside. Use this to your advantage and once again cancel your slide with a tap on the afterburner. Your ship will start moving towards your opponent, and when he starts turning around you will already have taken down his shields, at worst.
  Most people engine kill after a joust, so if you see him going into a long engine kill, try landing a Mini Razor shot on him (if you have one equipped). This will do massive damage if his shields are down. Another thing to note is, if you feel that you are early turning too slow, try cancelling the turn with a tap on the reverse thrust key (default X). Again, timing and distance assessing is everything, so if you pull it off right, you will be out-turning your opponent on every turn.
  Again, note that this takes practice to perfect. Timing and "feeling" are the key thing in fighter combat.
  

• Mine Traps - Another good techniques to use in a duel are mine traps. Aiming a minirazor mounted on a Titan isn’t easy, many soldatos choose to use mine traps instead.
  Its best to use Nuclear Mines and a Mosquito Cruise Disruptor for this technique, however you can also use a Train Cruise Disruptor(not advisable, succes rate will be lower). You can lay mine traps either by sliding around your opponent or early turning. When your opponent is jousting you, execute an early turn as before, but this time in the middle of your early turn lay down a mine. When your opponent passes you, and you feel that he is close to the mine, fire off a disruptor at him. The area effect of the disruptor will trigger the mine and damage your opponent. Some people focus only on doing damage in duels, so they tunnel vision you and just try to hit you with a Mini Razor shot or do damage otherwise. For them, it can sometimes be hard to notice the traps you lay down. If you feel that your opponent is chasing you in your slides, trying to hit you with a mini razor, lay down a mine and go into a visible longer slide. He will focus on his aim and he will try to hit you hard. Often, he will just follow you blindly. This is where you surprise him and fire off another disruptor to trigger the mine you put down earlier.
  When you feel that you got the basics of the traps, try placing two mines in close proximity to each other and delay the disruptor shot. When you feel that your opponent is near enough, and his shields are down, you can instantly kill him with the two mines.
  
  

Tips and general advice

Duelling and fighter combat is not easy. It takes time, will, patience and a lot of practice to get good/better. The techniques described here should serve you as a guideline and inspiration for making your own combos and your own strategies. Simply following written text and executing it blindly in practice will serve you nothing.
You have to understand what to use and when to use it. You have to have a feeling for your enemy. Observe his movement, don't rush blindly into a trap, don't let the opponent lead you into his play style. Keep your composure and nerves in a duel. Be the one that dictates the outcome. If you feel your style was read and that your opponent is countering it easily, don't be a blind fool and don't panic. Change up your style and surprise him, trick him.
The key difference between an average fighter pilot and an ace aren't the various text book tactics he knows, but the knowledge, experience and feeling on when and how to use them, and how to counter them.

//Source

---

Baila Morena | Toilet Trouble | Elder Presidente[TBH] | The Titan Combat Manual | Confession
♰ Join the Corsair Brotherhood ♰