Dogfighting

A fight in the Reach is still lock, orbit and fire, but the ships around you fly like pilots. Pirate frigates break off and come back in fast passes, pairs scissor around you from both sides, and a ship that's being hit jinks out of the line of fire. You can do the same: a dodge burst throws your ship sideways so big guns lose track of you, and an orbit flip turns your orbit the other way round.

Steps

1. Lock two or three targets with Ctrl + click. Show mePlay to try this
2. Start your weapons on one. Click another target's card to make it active: your weapons follow it when their cycle ends.
3. When a heavy hitter is shooting at you, dodge with Z, C or X. Show mePlay to try this
4. While orbiting, press R to circle the other way.

Several targets

• The active target is the highlighted card in your targets bar. Weapons you start fire on it.
• Click another card to make it active. Every gun and launcher already firing finishes its cycle, then moves to the new target. No shot is lost. A weapon about to move shows a small chevron on the rack, and its tooltip says where it's going.
• Each target card shows how many of your weapons are on it, and how many are moving over.
• When a target dies or is lost, weapons move on by themselves: to your active target, else to one your other weapons are on, else to the next lock in order.
• Weapons only switch to targets you may lawfully shoot: never to a fleet mate, a pirate whose faction is at peace with you, or a pilot who would get you flagged. Stasis tethers, tackle, electronic warfare, repairers and mining lasers stay on their own target.
• The combat log reads Weapons → Cartel Enforcer each time they move.

Drag the targets bar by its grip to put it where you like; it remembers its place.

The dodge burst

A short sideways kick, left, right or up as your camera sees it. For a few seconds you cross the shooters' sights much faster, so their turrets track you far worse. It's the answer to big guns: against a cruiser's guns, a frigate flying straight in goes from over 90 % hit chance to under 60 % during the burst.

• Costs 4 % of your reactor, paid when you dodge. Your own guns keep firing as normal.
• Cooldown depends on your hull: from 7 seconds on an interceptor to 14 on a battleship. The button shows the time left.
• Blocked while a stasis tether holds you, and in the slipstream. The button shows hatched when you can't dodge.
• Small guns on small ships hardly notice a dodge: they track well anyway.
• On a phone, the Dodge button picks the side for you, alternating each time.

The orbit flip

R reverses your orbit: same target, same distance, the other way round. Your ship has to slow down and turn, so it isn't free. Time it for when an enemy is about to cross your path. It works only while you're orbiting, with a 3-second cooldown.

How pirates fly

• Attack runs. Frigates, destroyers and interceptors leave their orbit now and then, swing wide and make two or three straight passes beside you, guns blazing, before settling back. They only do it against small ships; against a cruiser or a battleship they stay in their orbit, where big guns struggle to follow them.
• Jinks. A pirate that takes a few hits in a row may dodge out of your sights and swerve its orbit.
• Wing pairs. Pirates often come in twos: one holds you in its orbit, the other circles the opposite way and makes the runs, so they keep crossing in front of you.
• Missile volleys. Seeker-armed pirates fire together, with their wingman, so the missiles arrive as a pair. That's your moment to boost shields.

Reading the fight

• Misses streak past your target and fly on. Hits flare on the shield, tinted by damage type, or scorch the hull.
• Floating numbers show the damage; Heavy and Critical hits are labelled.
• Big hits, dealt or taken, give the camera a small kick (Camera shake in Settings → Interface → Combat), and your own kills slow time for a moment. Reduced motion turns both off.
• The combat log says why every turret shot missed: too fast to track, or out of range. See Guns and tracking.