"These are things that you don't want to do during combat... Well, unless of course you are one of the few remaining crazy Enforcers or some other nut floating around the IW. These tactics are crazy, suicidal, and sometimes, downright stupid. But if executed correctly, they can help you in combat. Now, let's take a journey into the tactically insane mind of the former head nut of the Enforcer Looney Bin, for my crazy tactics that just might work." Xavier Sienar

Introduction
In combat people tend to do some pretty stupid stuff, and sometimes, that stupid stuff turns out to do very well. These are a few tactics that I used during such fits of stupidity. You'll find that after a while, each of them works wonderfully.

"I'm a Target!"
Ever feel like every capital ship this side of Coruscant is firing at you? Ever wish you could just turn their fire right back on them? Of course you have. Here's how.
Attract a cap's fire and then fly directly at the next nearest cap. Since AI is stupid, the two will begin to fight with each other. It's a lovely sight to see two MonCals beating the crap out of each other.
Note: "I'm a target!" is very hard to get to work in XWA due to significant AI upgrades, but it still works.

"Hull Surfing"
Everyone at some point has had the misfortune of being really low on shields while doing straffing runs on caps. Some people try to dodge the lasers until their shields recharge. Most people run away to recharge their shields, but then when they return they are hit by a wall of fire before they are even within laser range. What would you say if I told you running away was the exact opposite of what you should do? Would you say I'm crazy? Why thank you!

If you get extremely close to the hull of any cap, it can't hit you, unless of course you are stupid enough to fly right over a gun. So while you do this recharge your shields by diverting laser power.

For a really neat and challenging version of hull surfing, fly into the trenches on the side of ISDs and VSDs. There are only a few guns here which you could destroy before you begin.

"Loop and Shoot"
If hull surfing is not your style, or if you just want to kick back and relax a bit, try the loop and shoot method. It's also a very effective way to recharge your shields. And if you want you can mix it up with hull surfing by breaking your loop and swooping down on the unsuspecting cap. The most effective way to do this is to link all your lasers together and line yourself up with the longest part of the ship, usually front to back or visa versa. Position yourself about 1.2k from the ship and then pull back on your joystick and hold it as far back as it will go. Do not let up on it or your loop will become too big and you might crash. Now, whenever the ship is in sight simply fire a burst from your lasers.

I advise that you not attempt this with slower craft such as the Y-Wing, B-Wing, and Assualt Gunboat. Also large craft such as the Corellian Transports should not be used... They will just get shot up.

"Follow Me, Ya Idiot!"
We all hate it when tons of fighters are taping away at our rear shields. There's an easy way to get rid of them. And the odd thing about it... You don't have to fire a shot. You need to get near some caps, preferably enemies, but if you are desperate (and they can take a few hits) use friendlies; stations will also work. Make sure the fighter are close behind you, then charge towards the cap. Do a bit of hull surfing... Loop around the edges of the ship. If you are lucky enough to be hull surfing on an ISD or some other ship with large protruding sections, use the ship's design to your advantage. With ISDs the bridge tower makes an excellent obstacle to lead enemy fighters into.

"Look, Ma, No Shields!"
This is perhaps the oddest piece of advise I have to give you. Drop your shields! Well, not exactly, just the power going to them. If you aren't being constantly bombarded, and maybe even if you are, this can be really helpful. It makes sense if you think about it. Speed is a sheild. When you are cruising around with your shields at maintenance level and lasers at even low recharge, you are going slower than you normally go. So a good way to gain a bit of speed without sacrificing too much is to set your lasers to full recharge and shields to full to engines. As long as you can maintain a level of about 20% shields you are doing great. Just divert power from lasers to shields when it starts to dip below that point. Lasers charge faster than shields do, so this will actually be faster than if your shields were charging themselves.

"The Demented Traffic Cop"
Have you ever seen a really big car wreck involving a semi? Aren't they so cool? No? Oh, um, don't read this tactic then. It's kinda like that.

Capital ship pilots are idiots, take advantage of this. The next time you see a convoy of caps cruising around take out the leader's engines. The rest of the stupid caps will crash into it and you will have a few less caps to worry about.

For the games that don't allow you to knock out engines, disable the leader. I know it's harder, but it's not like you have any other choice do you?

"My Brand New Parking Spot"
You've probably gotten tired during some long drawn out battles before. I bet you wish you could just kick back and let the fighting continue without you. Well, if there are big capital ships around, you can.

This is best done with enemy caps, but if your side is winning already, you can do this with friendlies too. Just pull into the hangar far enough that the shots being fired at you can't reach you... Well, the majority of them at least. A few will still get through, unless you get in an ISD. Anything that was attacking you will now start to hit the ship you "parked" in instead. You might be able to get a few enemy caps to fight each other using this method.

Note: In some games there are laser hardpoints in parts of the hangars that cannot be destroyed. XW and TIE mostly have this done. I haven't noticed it in XWA ships, but I haven't tried it with all of them.

"En Passant"
Tired of fighters chasing you? Wish you could get rid of them, or at least give them a nice slap in the face? You wouldn't believe how easy it is to do just that.

This works best with Corellian Gunships, but other caps work good also. Get a good distance from the cap you intend to use and then fly straight past it. Aim just a bit to the side of the ship. When you get within 0.7k fire a few shots at the ship and then get back on course to pass it. It will shoot at you, but it will hit the fighters following you. Alternatively, you can fly straight at the ship and then break away once you fire your shots.

"Corkscrew You!"
If you're a hyper nut like me, you get tired of flying straight. This takes some practice, but it's possible to do a spiraling corkscrew and still fly straight enough to shoot. I know most people don't even know how to do a spiraling corkscrew, so I'm going to tell you how.

What you do is you roll like normal and then move your joystick either up or down just slightly. To aim better invert the direction to let your nose pass over the center of your spiral. A bigger spiral usually means that less shots hit you, but at the cost of your own accuracy too. If your loop is too small then you aren't doing yourself any good and you will be shot up in moments.

Note: In TIE95 and possibly other games (XW95, XvT, BoP) holding down the roll button and moving your joystick up or down changes your throttle. In this case it can't be used in those games. The DOS versions don't have this function and should work as stated here.

"Crazy Eights"
If a spiral is still too straight for you, how about a figure eight? Out of all my tactics, this is the one I use the most. It can be used in attacking and also in just evading fire... And it's incredibly easy to execute.

The effectiveness of this manuever varies with the speed that you perform it. I recommend a delay of about a second in between each motion. You start by moving your joystick to the lower left corner and hen to the top left corner. From there you go to the lower right corner and finally the top right corner. Just repeat that as often as needed and you should be able to dodge almost all fire directed at you.

Here are a few classic ones. There's nothing too crazy about these, but some people don't use them when it might be good that they do.

"Dump and Run"
When you're in the thick of things and you just need a few less hassles, try this. It can buy you a bit of time... Not much, but it might be enough. Remember, it's not always bad to run from battle... Especially if you are about to get blown up.

Dump all laser and shield power to engines and run from the battle... Get some fighters to follow you.Once you are far enough away from everything, especially the fighter that are following you, recharge your shields and lasers. Then turn around and dump all power to egines again and run back to where the action is going on. The fighters will be distanced from the action and you will have a bit more breathing room. If you want instead of turning back into battle you can fight whatever followed you before returning.

"My Butt Itches, Can You Scratch It?"
Smart pilots make use of their wingmen when they need them. Even smarter pilots protect their wingmen when they need it. Pure geniuses do both at the same time.

When you have a fighter that's just bugging the crap out of you, tell your wingmen to attack it. Then as soon as they do that, target what's after them. This should make an easy kill for both of you.

Credits:
written by Xavier Sienar, SATURDAY, JANUARY 01, 2005