Warfare & Tactics

If you're planning to overheat, do it before you even get out of warp. You can always turn it off later, but it does no good if you never get the chance to turn it on.

Make sure your most common used modules are on your Fbar, that way you can face roll across your function keys and turn them on.

Move passive modules to the bottom row out of the way. This will help prevent clicking the wrong module in the heat of battle.
Always try and lay out your Fbar the same - for example

F1 - Point
F2 - Web
F3 - Grouped Weapons
F4 - Prop Mod

etc etc

By laying it out in the same order on every ship (or as closely as possible) the location of any given mod becomes a matter of muscule memory and you will spend less time looking at your modules and more time looking at the target.

And by Fbar I mean the Top level of modules on your hud. These are the ones you can activate with a single button press, instead of holding shift or some other key combination.

Mine is usually laid out as follows:
Top Level: Stuff I can't use until I end my warp (Weapons, point, webs, etc)
Mid Level: Stuff I can turn on anytime (tank, sebos, etc)
Bottom Level: Passive Mods

When I hit grid, I immediately press F1 F2 F3 etc and then Ctrl click my target - as soon as it locks, any effects that are in range will fire immediately, reducing time to deliver that effect.

when dropping out of warp i click target and spam orbit (preset for optimal range) then f1/f2 etc. only difference from jean is i'd have a prop mod in the early f keys and throw the web further down the line n hold off a sec. a web may hasten ur target into warp.ensure u have the point 1st.

distance dependent. if ur within point range when u fall out of warp then lock 1st, point and then orbit or vice versa when out of range

XG seems to be taking the hostile takeover of his system quite well.

If I'm flying a brawler:

0. Pre-overheat some mods as soon as I enter system. Usually this means guns and ancillary reppers, they're just perma-overheated.

1. Pre-overheat any other mods that need to be oh'd for the specific engagement. Typically prop mod and/or webs depending on the engagement.

2. As I land on-grid, click on hostile on overview

3. Press CTRL, then press either Q, W or E (approach, orbit, keep at range) depending on ship/engagement

4. Press F1, F2, F3 for guns+web+scram, or other relevant F keys depending on fit

5. Press 1 for prop mod (I mapped midslots to 1-8, since they're directly under f1-f8 on my keyboard)

6. If I have them, launch drones by dragging the (preset) folder into space, spam 'F' key until I see 'drones engaging XXX'

7. Go grab a coffee


Remember that you DO have 10 seconds of immunity after you exit warp. Before someone says it's a myth, I tested it. It works like this:

- Your ship is out-of-warp and can do stuff (move, point, etc.) as soon as you start seeing numbers on your speed gauge
- Until you actually do stuff, you're immune to other people's actions - this lasts about 10 seconds


Another technical thing. As anyone will tell you, there's no such thing as 'passive alignment'. Meaning that when your speed is zero, the direction your ship model is facing doesn't mean anything.

BUT... when you exit warp your speed is not zero, it's a few m/s in the direction of warp. That means that if you spam double click in the direction you were facing while warping, your ship will accelerate faster than if you double-click in any other direction, because it won't need to turn. You shave off about a second, maybe even less, depending on the agility of your ship.

This can be useful for kiters to pull range from warp-in, though in my experience it's a bit of a hit-and-miss thing anyway depending on where you land relative to the hostile (also because the sig bloom from your MWD makes it easy for him to lock you quickly).

I think the first thing i do is sort out range, then i lock target, turn on mods and when that is established i look at my target. Mostly in that order.

After that it's managing reps/heat/range/speed/ammo/dscan until one of us dies.

No. Only way to remove a target is to press unlock (as far as I know anyway).

My engagement usually goes like this:
1. Target appears
2. Approach target
3. Wait for target to explode
4. Activate smartbombs

"Those who fail to plan, plan to fail" - Some dude

I've been curious about this myself and the way I look at it, it's all about setting yourself up for success as much as you possibly can. That means developing a pattern, muscle memory and using shortcuts that work for you. #Ergonimics. While efficiency is a subjective assessment, I'll show you my setup:

- 1,2,3 and 4 on the Keyboard are for approach, align, keep at range and orbit respectively.
- E, R, C and B are drone controls for engage, return and orbit, re-connect and return to bay.
- Up and down on the Direction pad are for full speed and stop ship.
- Warp to is ~
- Toggle lock is the space bar.

This allows me to maintain a comfortable and natural left hand position on the keyboard. Fingers rest on top of the 1-4 keys, thumb on the space bar. If I need to warp out it's a quick pinky slide to the left. Drone controls are also speedy, because E and R are easily accessible with the index finger while the rest of the hand still maintains position.

All other controls are done manually. Activating mods is done with the mouse.


My process:

- Overheat (Or double check that everything has been overheated,) during warp.

- Immediately after coming out of warp, space bar + left mouse click to begin locking and immediately afterwards, hold down the appropriate 1-4 key + left click the target to begin moving. Usually i'm brawling so more often than not i'm pressing 4 to get in close and orbit. Note that this initial command takes you at a default path to the target in a straight line which is bad for transversal and small ships. I usually reassess a second or two later and manually pilot to correct trajectory, this is just to begin moving.

- Once I begin moving I use the mouse to manually activate prop mods and any other mods that need to be turned on at that range/time. I dislike using shortcuts for mods because doing it manually forces me to look at the mod slots and visualize whether or not anything has been forgotten, and if I forgot to overheat something. Doing it manually also prevents me from deactivating anything in a button-mashing panic, which occasionally still happens because i'm kinda bad.

- Then I reorient myself and begin manually piloting, keeping a close eye on the range and trajectory so that I know when to manually turn on guns and points, webs, whatever.

This all happens in a matter of seconds and there's a variation on key strokes depending on what the situation is, naturally, but so far this setup and shortcuts have been working well for me and is the most efficient process i've come up with.

Curious to see what other people do.

If you are fumbling and ending up dead, you are just overthinking it.

Nobody has a rigid engagement plan like these nonces are implying, target and go, simple.

My typical engagement plan is as follows:

Spam D-Scan to find a target or targets or if I jump into a gate camp how can I get out with a) my ship and b) my pod

Once found, develop a plan of attack based on how the ships types are typically fit and flown and adjust for knowns such as pilots in local which can change how certain ships are fit and if the engagement point will be in space or at a FW plex. I typically do this while in warp to where said targets are.

The engagement plan focuses on which mods to pre-heat and priorities when I land and contingencies if one of these fail.
Priorities include in typical but not concrete order of precedence:
1) Control Range
2) Tackle
3) Apply DPS
4) Manage module activation, deactivation, and heat
5) Check d-scan for incoming hostiles that will support the target(s)
6) Check local for new entrants
7) Plan an exit strategy
8) What support can I call on if something juicy shows up and I can hold tackle

Once engaged its a matter of constantly adjusting the engagement plan to account for bad assumptions and adjusting to the flow of the engagement.