Saitek III - Manual (Page 45)

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Descent ™ 3
nose up. You can get some good speed and dodge homers more effectively
using this technique. It takes practice and can be rough on your hands but
worth the effort. How does it work? Think of the thrusters from the turbo,
thrusters from the slide to the side and thrusters from the slide down
working together to move you forward.
Move
I see a lot of new pilots move without turbo, and shoot standing still. Easy
pickings for an average pilot. In this game if you don't keep moving you’re
dead. Tri-chord without turbo for stealth but in a fight you must MOVE! It's
no different than Boxing. Bob and weave, stick and move or get laid out.
Laser Fight
In a laser fight you can usually see an imaginary line connecting the laser
bursts. (Sometimes a good pilot will make his bursts hard to track.) Learn to
follow your opponents burst and anticipate where his shots are going. This is
not easy but try to put your burst where he is going and dodge the bursts
that are directed at you. Only practice can help here.
Dodging Homers
One of the hardest things to do as a Descent pilot, is dodge homers. The
key is to slide and apply your afterburner at the same time facing the homer.
Yes, I said, “at the homer.” The homer is tracking you from where you are
and does not know where you are going. if it sees you going left it will try to
compensate and go left. If you slide at the homer it does not have enough
room to change direction. As soon as it passes, don't wait to hear the next
one coming. By then it would be too late. Change direction quickly after the
first one passes, afterburne and slide again to the opposite side. When out
side the homers can come very fast. Do not change direction unless you
know you have room to do so. Just keep sliding in one direction letting your
afterburn recharge between dodges. You can run out of energy and become
dead meat if you do not get out fast or win the dogfight.
Slide behind Walls, Pipes, and use anything you can to come between you
and the homer. Timing is everything so practice the time it takes between
homer launches.
Stealth
Probably the least done and most effective of tactics is stealth. If you apply
your afterburner all the time you can be heard and tracked. If you pick up
energy and shields you give your position away. Try to practice quiet flying,
tri-chord around as much as you can. Turbo if you must, but stay as quiet as
can be. TRY NOT TO HIT ANYTHING!!! If you hit the walls and other things
in a game its like giving a radar screen to you opponent with your blip on it.