Defensive flying Pt. 1 (closing the distance safely I) against fighters and missiles would look something like this:
* As soon as you become aware of an attacker heading towards you, turn into them.
* Prioritize by range of the threat.
* Shields 3/4 front.
* When in weapons range, blast away! - especially the X-wing can really put out some damage.
* It takes about 0.5 to 1 second for their first volley from max weapons range to hit you - again, an X-Wing can take a few shots on the snouts, don't be squemish, this is a bit like a chicken race!
With X-Wing against a Tie-fighter, this is mostly the end of the engagement - either you hit them with a salvo and they are toast (and manymany are indeed stupid enough to "play the chicken" with an X-Wing), or they break away - which means you are now in an ideal position to go for their six-o-clock. Which also means they are toast. :evil:
Even Tie-Interceptors can be scared into breaking off if you manage to hit them with three or four shots rapidly.
With an A-Wing against Tie-fighter, you should be more carefull and use your huge advantages in the thrust/speed and agility department more.
(Actually, if you are flying intercept missions with an A-wing, don't bother with the fighters at all - by the time the fighters have turned and close in again, you've jumped the bombers they wanted to guard three or four times already!)
Defensive flying Pt. 2 (closing the distance safely II)
When the attacker/missile is still heading towards you, you go into a defensive manouver. Against a fighter, you execute a barrelroll/corkscrew:
* Rudder left or right: Turn around the high-axis until the craft is about 15 degrees left or right from your crosshairs (a bit less than 1/5th of your screen).
* Now the actual barrel roll: Simultaneously, you pull the stick (go 'up') and bank towards the Enemy around the long axis (i.e. roll left if the enemy is left etc.). Try to keep the target roughly in the same spot of your window, i.e. such that it is always left or right from your crosshairs.
* The enemy cannot get a clear shot at you - the only way to keep you in any fixed position in their window would be to execute a barrel roll themselves, but that would mean that their guns never point at you. So at worst, they get one or two stray shots in, but in my experience, that happens at best in one third of encounters.
Defensive flying Pt. 3 (leading over into the Dogfight )
* Now comes the tricky part, the passing of the crafts and the acual 'dogfight' for a position at the NME's six:
If you execute the barrel roll well, your target will go further and further to the left (or right, depending on how you initiated the manouver). When you are about to pass them, stop pulling up - thereby exiting the barrel roll - but continue the roll until the enemy is above your crosshairs. Then you PULL FOR DEAR LIFE.
This is tricky to learn - the whole exit roll & coming around should be executed really quickly, and you have to get the timing right - too early, and you put the enemy at your behind, too late and he has turned quite far into you already, putting you at a disadvantage.
* Shields neutral as soon as you have time for it.
* Simultaneously, you can reduce thrust a little bit - many people get this wrong too, since on dogfight, there's two variables that decide over success and defeat:
- The turn rate, i.e how many degrees per second can your craft turn.
- The turn radius, i.e how big your curve is.
Your objective is to stay inside the enemies turn radius and to slowly manouver yourselves behind them - you can slow down to get inside their turn, but once you get them close to your crosshairs, you have to speed up again to stay behind them.
(In a real aircraft, both variables depend on each other, and thrust and height - In X-wing not so much.)
E.g. most missiles have insane turn rates, but since they are also very fast, their turn radius is really big - so you avoid them by staying inside that radius until they have burnt their fuel!
Thrust management is most important in A-Wings and TIE-Interceptors! Don't go full burn all the time - your craft is both really fast and really agile! If you are too fast, your turning radius becomes very big and all that nice agility is wasted.
Overshooting and "sucking an enemy in":
* The faster craft can often control the battle - it can engage and disenge fast enough to minimize weapons impact while clsing in or running away - but it's also in more danger of overshooting, i.e. closing in too fast and ending right in front of the enemies cannons.
* "Sucking the enemy in" means braking & turning such that the enemy overshoots. Don't try this yourselves - you'll certainly sustain a few hits doing this, and this will likely leave you a sitting duck for the other enemies. But be aware that the Tie-Bombers try this quite often (Tie fighters, too).
Defensive flying Pt. 4 (Defense against missiles)
That leads into avoiding (concussion) missiles - again, missiles have very good turn rates, but huge turn radii. So when the missile closes, it is your objective to force it to make a narrower turn than it can execute.
* Therefore, turning away early is the worst you can do - all you do is to ensure the missile is directly behind you.
* Turn into the missile, and try to shoot it.
* Shields neutral - it can't shoot at you!
* The missile will speed up towards you - this is GOOD!
* Break off at the last second, and break FAST , but not too much! - This is how you make succesfull break: It's not about how fast YOU break, it's about how hard the missile has to turn in order to keep you in front of it. If you manage to fool it into having to turn in a narrower circle than it can, given it's current velocity, it will fly past you. So breaking away at say 45 degrees is actually MORE effective than breaking a full 90 degrees, since in the first case, the missile now has to turn a whopping 135 degrees after passing you.
* DO NOT BREAK OFF MORE THAN 90 Degrees!
* Flares/chaff!
* Shields 3/4th aft if it's right behind you and right close.
* Turn towards the missile again after passing it - One way is to keep inside it's radius until it runs out of fuel - ideally, keep it right above yourselves (viewcontrol is nice here). Now YOU have the upper hand, since your craft has a narrower turning radius.
* Sometimes the missile will reduce speed to decrease it's turning radius - In that case, you have a few seconds before it's completed the turn and accelerated again. You can use that time to gain as much distance as possible, the turn around & take another shot at it - then repeat the cycle.
* Use your radar to be aware of the missile's position at all times! Use viewcontrol to get a gauge at their range & attitude whenever you can.
* Pray that their fuel runs out before you make a mistake.
The best craft for that manouver is the A-wing or Tie-interceptor, X-wing takes a bit more practice and Tie fighter is the wurst (since it's so insanely vulnerable and not very fast).
Also: Situational awareness is vital - when you're banking rolling & turning, it's really hard to keep track of your enemy - learn to read your Radar! The Radar tells you where the enemy is with respect to you, but it's hard to gauge it's distance, and impossible to gauge their attitude - i.e. where are they going?
Once you have situational awareness (where is the enemy?), use your view controls to 'finetune' your situational awareness (Range: How far away is the enemy? & Attitude: where is it going?).
If you have a Joystick with a trim-control ("coolie-hat") at the top, it's best to tie the view control to the "coolie hat" - you can always control your view with your thumb, while keeping both hands on stick & throttle.
Defensive flying pt. 4 (closing in on capital crafts/avoiding flak):
* Corkscrew until you are in weapons range (or you start vomiting)
* Shields 3/4 front - when you get hit too often, better take the risk of adjusting shields full front than risking a shot through the shields that may wreck the shield generator or the engines. Remember: This is a sodding capital craft - the greatest concentration of cannons is right in front of you! And if it so happens that a fighter is at your six, too, you're toast 9/10 times, anyhow.
* Once in weapons range, fire your torpedoes as fast as you can.
* Disenage by flying slow S-curves if you're far away, or with a corkscrew if you're close (use your view-aft)
* Shields 3/4 aft.
* Pray