Bear the following in mind

1. Going too fast in one direction makes it harder to quickly change course and take up a new heading.
2. Make use of your side and forward thrusters to make your flight path less predictable.
3. Plan your next move ahead of time so you can take your ships inertia into account when you manouveur. Turn too late and you may not be able to get through the gap you want.

Unlike other space simulators, craft in Edge of Chaos do not behave like aircraft in space. Forget what you have seen in Star Wars. While it is visually exciting, dogfighting like a normal aircraft in Edge of Chaos is liable to get you killed quite quickly. Constant forward thrust limits your manouveurability and makes it harder to quickly change direction.

Newtonian Physics used in the game means that if you are going forwards at 1000m/s, if you spin 180° and point the way you have just come, you will still be going 1000m/s in the other direction, ie you will be sliding backwards. You need to fire the engines to kill your motion in one plane of movement, before you can move forwards or manouveur in another.

If you are looping at high speed, when you release your joystick, small braking thrusters will fire to stop your craft pitching and put you back on level flight. What often happens though is that you are so used to other sims immediately responding you release too late and your ships nose drifts beyond where you want to point it so you have to correct it.

This is because inertia was simulated in the flight model. In simple terms your ship has mass. The best example of this is to launch in the Tug and do a few manouveurs. Now return to base, and relaunch with a cargo pod attached. Try and do the same manouveurs again. You will find that your ships behaves very differently and this is because the additional weight of the pod affects your ships handling. All ships in the game have different flight characteristics and you need to get used to each of them to help you survive. With practice you can also use this mass to your advantage when dogfighting.

All ships in Edge of Chaos come equipped with lateral (side) thrusters as well as front and rear over-ride thrusters. These thrusters allow you to quickly break, accelerate or side slip during flight and can allow you to vary your style of play.

You also have the ability to roll your craft and this can help a lot when your shields start draining in energy.

Use Instant Action mode and practice different methods of attack as much as possible, they will stand you in good stead.

Ships in Edge of Chaos come equipped with two shield projectors (LDA arrays), one on the top of your hull, one underneath and they track and block incoming fire, be it missiles or energy bolts from hitting your ship.

1. They defend the front and the sides of your ships. They DO NOT defend the rear.
2. Each shield array can only block and track ONE thing at a time.

Bearing these two points in mind, try and avoid situations where :-

1. There is more than one enemy firing at you from any one direction.
2. Enemy ships are shooting at you from behind.

If you can take these two things into account your lifespan in combat will be a lot longer.

If a shield is running low in energy, roll your ship so that the other shield covers you while this one has a chance to recharge. Also bear in mind that there is a chance that not every shot will be blocked.

The closer an enemy is to you, the more energy will be drained from your shield if they hit you so use your ships manouveurability to your advantage. If you can move and avoid some of these incoming shots, your shields will last longer and give you the edge.

"The first rule of all air combat is to see the opponent first. Like the hunter who stalks his prey and manouveurs himself unnoticed into the most favourable position for the kill, the fighter in the opening of a dogfight must detect the opponent as early as possible in order to attain a superior position for the attack."
Lt. General Adolph Galand, Luftwaffe

"No guts, no glory. If you are going to shoot him down, you have to get in there and mix it up with him"
General Frederick C. 'Boots' Blesse, USAF

Two quotes with slightly different messages. One advocates a studied approach, the other a more aggressive position but both deal in closing with an enemy. Both are equally correct provided you assess the combat situation correctly.

Edge of Chaos can provide an exciting, fast moving combat environment and later missions in the game can put you in the middle of a lot of enemies. When everyone starts shooting, things can get hot very quickly. Charging into the middle of a fight at full speed; guns blazing, may prove exciting but it will also be a very shortlived gaming experience. To survive you need to examine a number of factors these are:

• Numbers.
• Weapons.
• Tactics.

Numbers

If there are four enemies in front of you, the last thing you should do is get in close even if you have some strong weapons. Putting yourself at close range means your weapons will do more damage, but so will theirs! And there are more of them!

You must always tailor your approach according to the target and its capabilities. If they are equal or superior in strength and they attack you en masse, then you must try and find some way to separate them. Alternatively, if they are weaker, you can consider being more aggressive.

Do not let yourself become blinded by your own ships strengths. It has weaknesses like any other and when you are outnumbered, you increase the chance of that weakness being exploited.

Weapons

If there are more of them make as much use of your weapons as possible. A weapon is a tool and how well it does is entirely dependent on what chance you give it to succeed. Merely pointing yourself at the enemy and spraying the sky with bolts will have little affect.

If you have guns and missiles that allow you to engage a superior enemy at long range, make use of them. A few well placed disruptors can even the fight long enough for you to close in and quickly finish a few ships before the remainder can react.

If you only have short range weapons then make sure you keep moving quickly. It matters little if you only get a chance for a short shot as long as you make it count. Move in, shoot and extend to escape before making another pass. By making quick short slashing attacks you minimise the chances of being damaged.

Another tactic is to perhaps try and lure the enemy onto some proximity mines you have laid.

Tactics

This breaks down into two main categories.

• Initiation.
• Reaction.

1. Initiation

This is quite simple, you start the fight. That is, you fire upon an enemy that was either.

1. previously unaware of your presence
2. was neutral in allegiance to yourself

Because you initiate combat you have everything on your side. When you fire, at who, how close and where you fire. Initiation of combat primarily applies in the Edge of Chaos universe to Piracy.

Until you fire at a transport and its escorts they will not react hostile to yourself, therefore as you have the privilege of the opening shot you must make sure it counts, particularly if you attacking an enemy of superior numbers or ability.

Manouveur yourself behind your target and get in close to maximise your weapons effectiveness. By the time the target can react your will have either already destroyed them, or disabled them enough to make the remaining combat easy.

1. Position close behind the enemy
2. Fire before he can react
3. Pick off the transport at your leisure

2. Reaction

The enemy is already hostile and closing on you to attack.

In this instance you have far fewer options. Usually the enemy will already be closing the range on either yourself or a friendly craft that you must defend.

If they are attacking you then you can react with a certain degree of flexibility, using a combination of manouveuring thrusters and joystick movements to put them where you want them. If the enemy is superior in numbers then retreat or advance to try and dictate the pace of combat.

If they are attacking something you are tasked to protect, even if they are superior you must attack to divert them from their target. The good thing here is that they will probably ignore you until you intervene as they are focused on the intended target.

In that instance, if their target is to the side or behind you, try and position yourself so they must pass you from the sides, never head to head! If you let them go past then you can slide in behind them and fire at their unprotected rear, giving you some free shots before they react to you.

Whether you initiate combat, or react to it always take the following into account.

1. How many enemies there are
2. Your own weapons capability
3. Their weapons capability

Each of these points will dictate your choice of tactic and how you respond to their behaviour. If you are light on weapons facing a numerically superior force, then the smart play is live and fight another day; retreat. If they are weak in numbers or strength then you can be much more aggressive but do not rely on the strength of weapons alone. A smarter foe will always use their ships manouveurability to its full advantage.

 

Piracy in Edge of Chaos is very important. Piracy allows you to acquire goods you can then trade to improve your own ship in the game; but blindly attacking everything in sight will get you nowhere quite quickly so let us look at a few factors that can make future piracy attacks more successful.

Target Evaluation
Before you even fire take a look at what you are going after. The more escorts it has, the higher value pods it carries. The more capable the escort is, the higher value the value of the pods again.

By that maxim, the tougher the escort, the better the value of the goods. But; how do you take care of so many escorts?

In the early stages of the game when you aren't packing much in the way of hardware, you can take out Utils and their Petrel Interceptor escorts with some effort but these same rules apply throughout the game.

Firstly take a look at the enemy. If there is one of you in a tug with no T-fighters and a few quad lights, perhaps taking on 3 Advanced Patcoms is not such a good idea but even then, it is possible with a little luck to take them out and claim your prize.

Until you fire, they will ignore you and not react to your actions, you are after all just another neutral contact on their sensor list, just as they are to you.

Therefore you have the benefit of choosing your fight. With this in mind you want to make maximum use of position and not just fire at long range. Get in close, get in behind and make your shots count.

Example

A Util loaded with 4 pods exits the L-point at Touchdown with three Storm Petrel Interceptors as escort. They are formated on the Util and moving at the port inhibited speed of 250 m/s.

You are in a tug armed with two quad lights, a rapid fire PBC and a twinpack launcher holding seeking missiles and LDSI missiles.

1. Go to ENG screen and increase your weapons power on the TRI layout. (this increases their refire rate)
2. Using thrusters get behind the small convoy and target the first Storm Petrel keeping the range to about 1km or less.
3. Select missiles and give him one up the tail pipe.
4. As soon as you have launched a missile, switch to the quad lights and give him everything. (As you are firing from behind he has no shield coverage and will die quite quickly.)
5. As soon as the quad lights have run down in power, switch to the rapid fire PBC and target the second Petrel, giving him everything, again from behind before he has a chance to manouveur or react.
6. If the third escort has still not reacted target him and continue firing. If he has started to manouveur then thrust forwards (W) using override thrusters and pull a 180 pitch at 3 km range from the UTIL with an LDSI ready just in case. By this time the third Petrel should be shooting at you but your weapons will have recharged and he will be toast in about five seconds.

Other variations of the above example is to fire off two disruptor missiles at a range of about 8 or 9 km from target during your approach. That means two escorts temporarily disabled from the missiles.

As soon as you have fired the missiles off (one at each Petrel) thrust towards the convoy letting the missiles get ahead of you. As soon as they hit then fire at the third Petrel. By now range should be about 2-3km's at most. The range will also be continuing to close so within a few seconds the Storm Petrel should be in real trouble providing your fire is accurate.

Then, once he is destroyed you can turn your attention to the two disabled ships, taking them down in short order before opening fire on the Util.

Later in the game, provided you have pirated enough goods to trade for better weapons, you can be much more direct in your attacks on transports. But even then be careful, just because you have better guns doesn't mean you won't get cocky and bite off more than you can chew occasionally, it happens to all of us at one time or another.

(NOTE: When pirating make regular visits back to base. There is nothing more infuriating than making a number of good raids on transports only to get greedy and take on one guy too many when your missile inventory is low. If you miss him this time, there is always next time.)

Corkscrew - Author: Starslab

While closing with your target, use A or D to sideslip as appropriate. However, Get yourself about a 60-75% rotation as well, and then use the joystick to try to keep yourself pointed at the enemy, always jinking and changing your heading. Takes a little getting used to, but i'm pretty much convinced the targeting algorithm has a hard time tracking it. Note: that I did this in the Patcom, which may skew the results because that thing's pretty damn hard to hit in the first place.

Observing Mega Freighters - Author: Precision 223

1. They usually travel in pairs.
2. Their escorts have a pretty useful lag before coming through the jump point.
   
   To use this, simply wait close to the outlet of the jump point for a mega freighter to show it's ugly prow. Immediately unload on it with your most powerful weapons, destroying it, then run...very fast...to get maneuvering room. The insueing ejection of cargo pods will usually collect the second mega freighter, leaving the escorts to jump in to the debris and blast, hopefully collecting a few of them too. You can them pick them off on your terms.
   
   As an addendum, leave any mega pods intact that are close to the outlet of the jump point. They will usually destroy any normal freighters jumping in, netting you cargo without firing a shot. After they get blown out of range for this to be useful, (assuming they haven't already blown up, ejecting their bounty) go ahead and open them up and collect you reward.
   
   Tip: collect everything...even the raw sewage has recycle value.

Disarming Destroyer - Author: Precision 223

I took a load of blizzard rockets and disrupters. My wingmen and I snuck around behind the Destroyer (staying about 25 clicks away from all hostiles), then closed range, ordered my wing men to attack my target, hit the destroyer with a disrupter, got in nice and close and unloaded the blizzard rockets on it at point blank range, while it sat there helpless. If you do it fast enough it doesn't even have a chance to launch any fighter/bombers.

Fr34k Music - Author: Fr34k

I've found a very successful pirate technique, most will find it rather cowardly, but hey, it works wonders for the people that dont like to get a scratch on the ship and still want the cargo from the biggest ships.

I've built myself up 3 gattling cannons and that's all you need for this maneauver, you can use some sort of signal mask too.

Sit 30k outside of a lagrange, or orbital station, motionless, and out of the shipping lanes. When a tasty target comes up, get your speed up to 2000km/s to 2500km/s by thrusting all forward, then when you're about 10k from your target (regardless of the # of escorts) set all your gunns ablaze. while accellerating past, including your turret fighters guns, I believe it's key 8-Attack target. In one pass, you should be able to convince any sized ship to drop its cargo.

With luck, it happens so fast the interdictors/fighters dont bother chasing you, and if they do, accellerate till your're about 50km+ away from them, and then drop your speed while strafing away from that vector. they may have missiles chasing, but with the speed you'd built up they charge past you really fast, and you can just evade them with strafing.

I've done this trick about 6 zillion times, once in 5 I have to take out the fighters, but it's not hard doing the same tactice. pick one of the attacking fighters, and string and ping them with high-speed allweapon blazing fly-bys. Simple, sweet, and when the ships have jumped out, tag the cargo and call jafs.

Turning to your Enemies Tail - Author: Kotton

Another good trick that I've learned is just as your about to pass your enemy (in a head to head fly by), hit F6 (this more often then not will help you during the turn).. just right when the ship enters your screen, turn it off, do the Double L tap, and steer your way right into your slow turning enemy with PBC blazing.

Pod Dropping Tactic - Author: Kotton

My little fav Pod Dropping tactic reqires 3-4 cutting beams (and the salvo weapon togle).

1. Fly up to who ever you want to drop Pods
2. Let go on the 4 cutting beams (takes less then 3-4 seconds on the megafreighter)
3. Leave the area as fast as you can
4. Wait 60km away until the escorts are gone

If you have other fighting weapons installed, go have some fun and take them out with one of the said tactics above.

Jimbobs Blind Panic - Author: JimBob55

Reverse thrust away from enemy with full power to weapons. Fire lots and use lateral thrusters to evade missiles. Always shoot at the closest ship.

Don't do this too often in built up areas or asteroid fields as running backwards into a rock at 5km/s can ruin your day.

Jimbob's Cunning Stunt - Author: JimBob55

Fly towards enemy with full power to weapons. Fire lots. As your target moves out of fire cone, move full power to engines. Turn to face their vector. Full power to weapons. Fire lots!

Sneaky Seekers: - Author: Lozina

NOTE: Use on convoys which are not moving

1. Equip your ship with seeker mines.
2. Find a convoy which isnt moving- they arent hard to find..
3. Approach an escort from behind, very sneaky-like, within 1km.
4. Take aim for his rear- right at the engines.
5. Fire a seeker mine, and then quickly use your forward thrusters (so you go reverse).
6. Seeker will hit the craft, exploding on impact, causing craft to blow up (kills corvettes i dunno how much bigger it can kill).
7. All other escorts wont know what happened, and will dismiss their allies death as irrelevant to their own existence.
8. repeat for all other escorts.

The Mercy Sweep - Author: The Merciful

When you attack Nova class heavy cruiser with cutting beam or even mining laser, sweep the beam along the side of the cruiser to destroy it's turrets.

I don't really see the mercy in this, but...

Lorque's Beam Sweeper - Author: Lorque

NOTE: Only for freigter looting purposes!

1. Switch to cutting beam.
2. Fly toward the freighter from its frontside.
3. When about 3-4 km away, start making a 180 turn facing the freighter all the time.
4. When in range of the beam, start using it.
5. Keep the freighter in your sight all the time, use vertical thrusters to slow down your speed if necessary.
6. After you have passed the freighter, it should have given you its pods, and you are off to fight the escorts

If you came in from the right direction, you should now be behind all the escorts, facing them.

Head on Attack - Author: AR81

1. Approach enemy ship as fast as you can. Collide with target ship using maximum shield
2. Use this tactic when facing a maximum of 2 small ships within 15km range.
3. After collision enemy ship will have to turn and decrease impulse.
4. This means you'll have enough time to finish target ship.
5. Be careful, if you use more time than necessary to finish your ship, you'll be exposing your rear to attack.

CLICK HERE FOR DIAGRAM

 

The Parias Bootlegger - Author: Parias

1. Fly towards your enemy, preferably shooting.
2. When you pass them, make a quick 180 decrees flip or turn (flip looks cooler when looking from another ship).
3. Then hit your LDS switch (L key by default) twice in rapid succession.
4. This will leave you going at 1000 m/s to the direction you are facing, towards the enemy.
5. Shoot your enemies while they are still turning.

The Cormorant Crusher - Author: Cormorant

1. Flee backwards for some time to separate the faster enemy ships from the slower ones.
2. Use full forward thrust to approach your enemies. Keep your TRI balanced (engines=weapons=shields).
3. When in missile range again, pick up the ugliest enemy ship and shoot several missiles on it.
4. Now concentrate on another enemy, with your PBCs firing.
5. Pass him very close.
6. In the moment of the fly-by, change the TRI so that all the energy is concentrated on your weapons.
7. Don't turn around, keep on flying. Your backwards gun will hit him at least two or three times right on to his engine section.
8. With any luck, the enemy ship will be destroyed.
9. Reset the TRI.
10. Use the tactic also with the other, slower ships that will follow.

Captain Anon's Kamikaze - Author: Captain Anon

1. Go to LDS.
2. Find a suitable target.
3. Fly towards it.
4. Pray.
5. Use your aggressor shields.

FAMS Cut and Blow - Author: FAMS

1. Fly towards the enemy, using lateral thrusters and roll to dodge enemy fire.
2. Fire any rabid fire weapons you got.
3. Decrease speed to about 400 m/s when you're about 2 or 3 km away from the enemy.
4. Make sure your enemy is on your left or right, not above or below. Use roll to correct the situation.
5. Turn towards your enemy while using forward thrust override (W) and lateral thrusters (use left if you were turning left and vice versa).
6. You will end up about 200-500 metres behind the enemy.
7. Use your cutting beam to blow your enemy apart.

NOTE: Works better against small groups (2-3 ships), as large fleets tend to shoot you down more easily.

The NanoSphere - Author: Nanoprobe

1. Basically just circle strafing around your target while you slowly roll your ship around its axis. This way you cover nearly the entire target. Works especially well with turreted targets and targets that are stationed or moving at constant velocity..

The Atmospheric Trap - Author: Cormorant

1. If you are chased by multiple enemies, try to use LDS.
2. Get some distance to your enemies. Don't shake them off.
3. Approach a planet or moon at fairly high speed.
4. Slow down a little when you come closer (at least when altitude warning is displayed).
5. Start to fly circles around the planet, about 1 circle every 5 seconds.
6. Watch your enemies crash into the planet.

NOTE: Old I-War One trick. Procede with caution. You get little warning.

The Whirling Dictator - Author: General H Storm

1. Attack your enemy by rolling while firing missiles.
2. Switch to PBC once you're in range.
3. Charge through the center of a group of enemies then hit reverse.
4. Repeat #3 repeatedly changing pitch and yaw as necessary.

Belly Flop Dock - Author: General H Storm

1. You need a ship with some pulling power and agility (stronger than your enemy).
2. Match speed with a target.
3. Align yourself with their docking port.
4. Manually dock with the enemy ship.
5. Aim yourself towards a large, slow enemy or planet.
6. Hit LDS.
7. Undock and pull up or down quickly.
8. Watch the fireworks. Throwing Tugs/Patcoms into cruisers/destroyers is the best.
9. An alternate method is to place the docked ship between you and the enemy.
10. Use your belly/dorsal thrusters to close in on the enemy ship.
11. Undock and watch the sparks. This is where the "Belly Flop" comes from.

NOTE: While you cannot autodock with some ships, manual docking seems to work for me in the original. Don't try this at home.

The Lonely Knight - Author: Knight Delta

1. Arm your strongest missiles and shoot.
   If it didn't hit, repeat until hit. If it did - move to #2
2. Charge at your enemy while keeping the thruster override button pressed and shooting once PBCs, then a missile.
3. When almost rammed the enemy make a quick 90 degree turn, and keep going forward.
4. Turn around while still moving in the same direction (Which should be reverse) and shoot the enemy.
5. When the enemy is out of PBC range, move back to #1 and start over.

The 5th Cavalry - Author: Knight Delta

1. Charge into the middle of the enemy group while randomly blasting them with all weapons, but missiles first!
2. go in reverse with the reverse override button pushed. When a safe distance from the enemy, charge exactly into the middle of the group while evading fire and the enemies will attack each other with friendly fire (And I noticed that when ship A shoots ship B a little they go into combat...).
3. Run away like a chicken, and watch thee enemies fight themselves. If failed, start over.

NOTE: Cowards live longer...

The Gate Blocker - Author: Kahabut

1. Get a couple of cargo pods(you figure out from where) and put them in a tight cluster just outside the exit appeture of an L-point. A busy L-point...The incomeing ships will provide you with a larger and larger field of cargo. Therefore catching even more ships in it.

The Reverse Block - Author: Kahabut

1. Same as above, except you block the in appeture. Works just as well, except that the ships don't blow up or take damage, they just line up. Nice and neat, you start at the back and wipe out all the escort ships that are sitting still showing you there engines.

Hotfoot's Holy ****! - Author: Hotfoot

1. Get surrounded by numerous smaller enemies, such as tugs, patcoms, or fighters. One or two larger enemies can be in the mix, like a corvette or a destroyer before this tactic loses effectiveness.
2. Switch to seeker missiles and ripple fire until you have no more seekers. Any disrupters onboard should go towards the larger targets, as they won't be as damaged by the seekers.
3. Continue ripple fire with PBCs, while heading full burn in a random direction away from the enemy. Punch LDS as soon as you can if you're taking heavy fire.
4. Pick off crippled ships before they can fully repair, string and ping* until you're the last ship left standing.
   *string and ping references the age-old tactic of stringing out your enemies in such a way as to avoid massed combats and force them into one on one combat.

NOTE: This is for when you are swarmed by lots of smaller ships and as a result, your shields are at their least effective. The name refers to the first words uttered by the ship's captain when faced with such a situation. Credit goes to The Last Starfighter for the idea, and PS for putting in ripple fire to begin with.

QUOTE: "Well, it's worked at least once or twice that I remember." - Hotfoot

Introduction Note (by timski): There aren't many, but carriers, cruisers and destroyers can really make a mess of your day. Forget the sensible weapons you'd use for smaller ships as most barely damage capital ships, and those that do are painfully slow, which tends to be unhealthy for you.

Like a hot knife through butter (posted by timski):
So try a mining laser: the ultimate capital ship killers. Get nice and close and you'll be blind to most, if not all of the capital ship's weapons. Turn the mining laser on, and within 20-30 seconds the target will be gone.

Notes (by Jet)
1: of course this also works well with more efficient beam weapons (Cutting beam and Antimatter Beam).
2: keep the max range of the beam in mind, the fact that they can't be aimed and the fact that on continuous fire a beam discharge in 6 seconds.
3: as the TRI setting doesn't have an effect on beam weapons it can be useful to divert Max Power to Shields in order to minimize the damages dealt to you by the capital ship.

Thor's Hammer:
Finally something that rockets are useful for. Since they bypass shields and the firing rate makes them more interesting to use on slow capital ships, even Gnat rockets are useful for small capital ship types. Another advantage is their huge range which allow you to attack from far far away (during testing, I nailed a destroyer 60 kms away using gnat rockets!!!)

Note: if you have the weapon link and multiple Launchers in your loadout, try having the same type of loadout in their magazine so that if you fire in salvo mode every one of them will fire at the same time.

Meson Inferno (suggested by Ashurek on another thread):
To deal with capital ship outside of their gun range with some effectiveness, a group of Longbow Sniper Cannon is the ultimate choice. You deal full damage (which can be maximized by TRI setting) at up to 17.85 km and as the Sniper cannon bypass shields you don't have to worry about the orientation of the target to minimize shield effect.

A Navy heavy cruiser (the toughest ship out there) can be killed by 22 successful hits (without taking autorepair and armour into account) with Max power to Weapons and range under 17.85 km.

Dead angle:
There's a range (quite close actually) where stopped (ie. speed = 0 m/s)capital ships seems to have a dead angle and stop shooting at you (except maybe once in a while but not enough to overwhelm your shields), the balance is delicate to achieve because the capital ship will move to maintain the distance if you come too close to it.

I once toyed with a Nova Heavy cruiser destroying all it's turrets without being shot at a single time.

Note: Of course that means that you have to be still yourself for best effectiveness, which means that the capital ship should not have any escort left to bother you.

 

1. Engaging multiple enemies:
   While it is nice and often effective to focus all your attention on removing a single threat before moving onto the next, later on in the game, when your active arsenal is substancial, it becomes a much more liberal obligation. I can quite happily dispose of a target with my primary weaponry, whilst at the same time have Lori and Az not only covering my back, taking out the odd target, but also softening up the next substancially. When my target is destroyed (and thanks to the large amount of hardpoints on my ship of choice, the advanced patcom, this is usually a matter of milliseconds) i can add a bit of yaw or roll to my current vector and fire off a few more rounds to finish the next target.

1. Control:
   Often thought of as a con with T-fighters, i've found control over them is more than satisfactory. With quick recall of the t-fighter control numbered keys, you can just as easily fire off what i like to think of as secondary weapons as you can the primaries. Good awareness of the contact list and the ships around you mean you should be able to engage and evade multiple targets.

1. Overheating:
   Nothing is more annoying than firing off your lovely arsenal of beam weapons and PBCs to then have to sit for a crucial couple of seconds while your heat goes back into the safety zone. By handing a couple of those PBCs over to the t-fighters, you retain the control and the linking if you wish, but remove the overheating.

1. Missiles:
   While some of the latter missiles are very skill-based, early dummies and fire-and-forgets simply /cannot/ be relied upon to do any significant damage to an opponent. Load Az and Lori up with as many of those lowly seekers as you can, and then turn your attention to more vital areas. They may get through those missiles bloody quick, but truth be told it doesnt really matter, as they'll only work to soften up your targets. All i can say is that when Az and Lori go into battle, i often find that they're taking out the escorts of ships that i can fully turn my attention to. Thought their missiles may run low after a 5 minute battle, they'll still hand out the pain liberally.

1. Adequate storage:
   You feel that by leaving the base with your two turret fighters you are denying yourself those 20 extra missiles and perhaps an extra PBC? Worry not. I can happily have substancially heavy primary weapons along with a single cutting beam for those nasty cruisers. Along side that, i have a quad-pack launcher and an internal magazine which hold all the missiles im likely to need if i use them sparingly. Let it be known that im more of a PBC\beam person than a missile person. Missiles have their place, and its an unreliable place. Fire them off, by all means, but dont expect the target to die. A lucky block by their LDA and you still have a functioning enemy on your tail, much better to launch those missiles then go in with guns-a-blazing.

1. Survivability:
   A problem, i admit, but you'd have to be /very/ unlucky to loose your T-fighters at a crucial moment. Enemies invariably target Cal himself, and only by chance does a shot of theirs land on a T-fighter. In the few instances i've lost T-fighters, its been beacuse of a beam weapon blowout. But even then, once gone, a good pirate will have enough random crap lying round to quickly replace it. Its invariably towards the end of a battle which is already won when you loose your T-fighters, or a battle you are certainly on the loosing end of.

1. Versatility:
   The T-fighters biggest asset. Although it is frequently illadvised to be undocking those t-fighters with their paper-thin armour into battle, if used effectively they can do a fine job. They still appear to become secondary targets to any enemies, and i seem to remember quite effciently using them and my wingmen to defend Hoffer's gap while gunstars came online. Remember these are two standalone ships. Launch them, and you become a small fleet.

Planning is Everything:
Plan your attacks carefully; be sure that backup won't show up for that seemingly defenceless cargo hauler.

Know Thyself:
Learn how your ship fly and what every system you put on it does, if you know what it's possible for you to accomplish chances are you'll come home alive.

Know Thine Enemy:
It's easy for people to forget what ships can do, and that some ships can fire backwards as well as forwards.

Learn Their Habits:
Learn about the various depots, some are more heavily armed than others and it pays to know which ones can call in backup.

 

Free Lunch (posted by Dickie Donut):
Watch your comm chatter for transports in distress. Zoom to Distress Beacon, but stop about 70km away. Wait for Marauders to take out the transports and fly away. Roll in yawning to pick up the cargo. Every 200 cargo pods execute a few Maas corvettes to stop yourself getting bored.

Lagrange Point Ambush:
Lying just above the centre of the L-point facing toward its exit (red) cone, use allies or attached T-fighters as mentioned before. When something comes out shoot it [for best result use rapid fire PBC on the T-fighters, the key here is concentrated firepower].

Note: this works even better using allies or attached T-fighters on the fire at will setting.

L-point camping: (posted by The Sinner)
Position on the blue side of an L-point, about 5-6k distant. Simply wait for a Megafreighter to come through. By the time you have control of the missile the escorts should be coming through, all with their rear facing you.

Detonate as you approach 1k distance. The escorts even if they turn as they pop in will still be rear-facing to the missile. With good timing you can destroy all the escorts and force the freighter to drop its cargo in one instant. Any escorts that survive will be badly damaged and easy prey. After a time the megafreighter will block the L-point and if it is a 2 freighter convoy the second transport will collide with the first one, causing a mess that will heavily damage or destroy both freighters and any surviving escorts.

Convoy Attack:
If you plan to attack heavily escorted ships, try to select a convoy of 2 or more transports. If they're getting out of the area (either by Lagrange point or getting out of a LDS interdiction zone) attack only a few transports (not all of them) that way the escorts will split (don't bother hostiles not shooting at you, they'll continue escorting the remaining untouched transports in the convoy).

When the intact transports get ready to leave, all (or if not all, most of) the escorts will form up to follow them, leaving you free to collect the loot.

[by the Sinner] Approach a non-hostile convoy from the rear. Keep your T-fighters on "fire at will". Lock on 1 escort and fire 3 deadshot missiles, before they impact use thrust override to pass them and position behind a 2nd escort. Use rockets, or PBC fire as soon as the deadshot impacts and the escorts go hostile. You should make short work of the 2nd escort, and if the 1st escort survives he'll be heavily damaged and easy prey.

Hit and Run:
If you can manage to make the transport release its cargo (without destroying it) you can then flee at maximum speed. The escort will chase you for a while but eventually will abandon pursuit and go back in formation with their sheep [don't flee too far or the cargo pods will disappear). For best effect use manual thruster override to flee and, after getting a some speed turn off the Nav Assist and turn back to see what's happening.

Note: if you want to destroy the escorts you can drop mines while fleeing (proximity or seeker are fine).

Donut Selections (posted by Dickie Donut):
Missiles and mines cost money or resources and piracy doesn't need them. Initiate combat by firing on the freighter and slowly straff with attached T-fighters attacking target. Escorts will damage you but ignore them. Once cargo pods are released, switch to fire at will, then immediately thrust away until your autorepair heals you up - then turn and finish the escorts. Collect the pods at leisure.

When attacking a few fighters or interceptors, undock the T-fighters and order them to attack. Fly in circles round the T-fighters, who will usually destroy the fast and agile enemy much more quickly than you could (they are very accurate).

When attacking many fighters or interceptors, gather them all together by flying through them and thrust away. Turn direction abruptly and thrust again, then turn to face them while flying backwards. They should all be bunched together in a nice tight pack. Fire an REM missile at them and detonate it just before you get to the middle of them. (This is useful in one of the later missions in Act 2 when you can't be bothered with stealth.)

Fast is not always good in dogfights. Docked T-fighters on fire at target/will give you the firepower to overcome most head-to-head close range confrontations when you're more or less stationary, even when numbers are against you.

Sleight of Hand:
Sometimes, attacking with your allies does not make ships hostile to you, only to your allies. This allows you to call Jaf for pickup while the fight is still going on [warning this is risky business for your fighters].

Shoot When They Look the Other Way:
If you can distract the escorts (i.e. by letting your T-fighters lose on them), you can shoot the transport without the escorts becoming hostile (the escorts have to be a certain distance away 10-15km).

Goat and Wolves (posted by Bobko):
REM fighter can be usefull for piracy, with a hit an run tactic. Stay about 20 km from an L-Point with the 2 t-fighters undocked protecting your vessel and few seeker mines. Take the REM Fighter near the L-Point, wait for juicy TRNs, hit them just once and get back to your vessel, no need to dock right away. Escort will follow the REM Fighter. T-Fighters and mines will welcome the escort, unlink and have you vessel finish the job.

Note (by Jet): at the moment it is unknown if having a self defense software module installed on your ship will hinder or help with this tactic.

Multiple-Layer Ambush (variant on Goat and Wolves):
If you position your T-fighters (give them the order to stop to position them not too far from the target) and mines (closer to you) in layers, you get a potentially more efficient setup.

Lure the escort with the REM fighter, when the hostiles bypass your T-fighters' position activate them (by using one of the attack target, fire at will, or defend me order). At that point the hostiles should be in the mines sensor range, those that turn to attack the T-fighters will be sitting duck for the mines, those that continue to follow the REM fighter will encounter a nasty surprise (a textbook crossfire I think).

Roll 'em Baby:
As the name suggests, Turret-Fighters can act as turrets while mounted on some ships (Advanced Patcom, Heavy Corvette). You can use this to your advantage if you wait before giving them the order "attack target" until you bypass the ship you're targeting (in a head to head confrontation), used that way the T-fighter can get clean shots in the enemy vessels unprotected rear at close range.

 

Like sitting ducks (by Anon):
If you manage to dump enough things (pod, ships, whatever) to block the entry side of a Lagrange point, ships that want to transit through will start stacking up in the queue, once they reach their station in the queue they stay motionless making it easy to plan an attack.

LDSi Magic (by Anon):
When exploding a weapon generated LDSi field will detonate all missiles within it's LDSi effect radius.

Using Your Target's LDSi Missiles:
You don't have LDSi missile in your loadout? No problem, if you follow a convoy from a station toward a Lagrange point, they sometimes drop out of LDS to re-align, shoot a that moment, the escort becomes hostile, you go back to LDS, they shoot an LDSi missile at you and there you are in the middle of nowhere. You have 40 seconds to make the transport release its pods. You don't even have to shoot the escort since they'll usually continue to escort their transport once it resume LDS travel.

Candy from a Baby(posted by IceTea[GeNeX]):
Attacking while in LDSi/port speed restriction fields has it's advantages over the LDSi only of L-points. A ship that's not moving faster then 200 mps is an easy target. And very often ships and escorts hang still around bases Note: sometimes the transport docks to deliver its cargo so hurry up, sometimes it just docks and keeps it, talk about sitting ducks.

Comment by IceTea[GeNeX]: You might not move very fast, but I experienced that I fight better at half speed.

Blocking Lagrange Point:
You can apparently "block" a Lagrange point by dropping a cargo pod just before the exit. This can be useful in some places (Black eye L-point comes to mind) where enemy (pirates) ships transit through the L-point preventing you from calling Jaf to collect to pods scattered around.

Inertia Attack:
Try throwing a cargo pod at your target to damage it (very difficult to aim and coordinate, especially if the target is moving). Alternatively you can use a pod of something dangerous (neutron warheads, antimatter... choose your poison) damage it a bit so that the collision will ensure the destruction of the pod and a satisfying explosion as the contents vaporize a small part of space.

Hit and Lure (variation on hit and run):
First undock your T-fighters, position them not too far from the convoy and order them to Halt. Then go in yourself and have a pot shot at the transport, then flee as mentioned before but not too fast (you have to keep the escorts within range). When you turn to face your pursued (Nav assist off don't forget) select the transport and order the T-fighter to attack it until it release it's pods, then either chose another transport for them to attack or give them the orders to dock with something far away.

Backward Mine Chase(posted by IceTea[GeNeX]):
When you have to get through a seeker mines field, moving backwards at a speed greater than 500 m/s makes it really difficult for you or your Turret-fighters to hit a mine (but this is a small target, of course), at speed greater than 600 m/s you'll probably NEVER hit one.

Note (by Jet): I'm not sure about this one, because I've done it at much greater speed, but keep in mind the author is using a keyboard only configuration

Prevent runners: (posted by The Sinner):
If you have to make a pass on a target and are unable to prevent it from transitting to LDS for any reason, subtarget the thrusters once within 5k range. With a high penetration weapon you can disable thrusters fairly easily. Once thrusters are disabled the target will drift, and since it is unable to orient on its navigation target it won't enage LDS. Leaving you a short time, free to deal with any escorts. This is most useful on large freighters with juicy cargo you spot at the end of a piracy trip when you've exhausted your LDSi missiles. Thrusters repair quickly, so you don't buy alot of time. Destroying the crew also causes the drift, but for some reason the crew "repairs" quickly, and thrusters are easiest to target.

Asteroid Billiard:
Using powerful explosives (mining charges and the like) you can move asteroid around.

The Deathblow Missile (posted by The Sinner):
You'll find most Marauders fly in formation and attack in a nice neat pattern till you engage.

Make sure your T-fighters are on "safety" and fire your deathblow as soon as you approach. You can destroy all the marauders in a single strike since they are so close together and all facing the same way.

Put Them on a Leash:
Use LDSi and disruptor missiles to prevent enemy ships from fleeing.

Leave me Alone:
When fleeing, fire an LDSi Short Range missile at your pursuers (if they're not too close, say 10-15km away) to prevent them from following you in LDS.

Little Seeker Mines:
If you have seeker mines, place them in front of a Lagrange Point, then when you fire on the escorts of neutral freighters, they will turn hostile and the seeker mines will attack them, leaving you free to pirate the freighter.

Proximity Means Exactly That:
Don't go near proximity mines, even yours have a nasty habit exploding when you get too close...

Suicidal REM Probe:
You can use REM probes as a kind of directed kinetic weapon, with its nice 2200 speed it gives some punch, and can be directed to follow a target.

Note: Watch out the distance from your ship, the max REM link range is about 50km but you'll start experiencing control problem before that.

Sniper Alley:
Using the Long range cannon (called something like Longbow sniper cannon in my version), lurk 25-30km from the entry to an L-point. When the transports stop to align, point and shoot, the escorts won't be coming for you, they'll turn hostile get a bit annoyed but stay around the transport (maybe shoot a few missiles).

Note 1: single shot is enough for SNRV, a few shot necessary for a classic transport and almost all the magazine (15-20 rounds depending on distance) for a mega-transporter.

Note 2: having an Imaging module makes this tactics far more easy to use (and better aim).

Note 3: despite the great speed (8km/s) at which the sniper bolt travels, at great distances it takes a few seconds to reach the target, so select only very slow or stationary targets.

Note 4: did you know the sniper cannon ignore shields?

Deep Space Ambush:
A use for these nifty LDSi mines is seeding a transit route (ie. between a station and the nearest L-point if it's reachable in a straight line). The key is timing because these are timed mines (300 seconds after launch they activate) and the LDSi effect last for about 120 seconds. They also activate on proximity (though proximity is a poor word for a 35km sensor radius), the LDSi effect emcompass a 40km radius.

Get Out of the Way (posted by Joost):
A use for Mining packs (and possibly other remote devices). If you are having problems being attacked by stationary objects - like gunstars, you can move them out of range by ramming them with a mining pack. This does a bit of damage but can also start them moving away at about 300 m/s. So if you ram them and then wait a bit whilst they drift away, you can get them out of the way with minimal risk.

Special Delivery: (posted by Sinner):
Using a cargo pod with an explosive cargo (love those neutron warheads) docked to your hull. Simply wait for a juicy freighter with lots of escorts at your favorite L-point. Follow the convoy till it hits LDS. Use an LDSi missile to drop them out. Line up on the freighter and overide thrust at it so the freighters rear is aligned vertically in your HUD. Release your cargo at 500m range, rotate 90 degrees, adjust your heading slightly to avoid the freighter. Use your side and forward thrusters to miss the freighter (it will be a SMALL margin). With luck you'll destroy the freighter and its escorts, cargo pods will be heavily damaged but intact.

Buffet Line: (posted by Sinner):
Ever see those freighters lined up at the L-point waiting to transit? It's like the all-you-can-eat buffet. Seed the area with plenty of seeker mines, not to close together, string them along in a line extending out from the L-point. Once the buffet is prepared, move out to about 30k from the L-point. Begin firing 2 deadshot missiles at each ship while accelerating to outrun the deadshots, escort and freighters alike(Utils only take 1). The freighters don't go hostile, so only the escorts should draw the seekers.

Timed correctly you'll pass the buffet line at high velocity firing at the freighters to draw the escorts attention, the escorts will turn to face you as the seekers and deadshots impact their unprotected rears.

Accidents do happen: (posted by Sinner):
Raid a military supply convoy for explosives. Neutron bombs, Explosives, a variety of dangerous cargos will work. Instead of allowing jafs to pick up this cargo, dock with it. Take it to any L-point popularly used by those Maas megafreighters. Park it near the exit point of the L-point, and soften it up carefully with your PBC so that one shot will destroy it. As soon as a megafreighter convoy pops in, you just need to wait till both are in close proximity to your "boobytrap", usually as they realign with escorts.

Just shoot the cargo pod from a range of about 4-5k. The resulting explosion will usually annihilate most of the escort and the freighters will either release their cargo or be easy pickings. As long as you never tagged the pod you shouldn't even be hostile to any survivors. Combining the above with a high explosive remote missile as the cargo pod detonator will usually destroy all the escorts and often the mega freighters as well.

This takes a little bit of practice to get right. Sometimes you'll get lucky and be able to pick up 2 cargo pods of explosives. Downside to this tactics, is occassionally you'll catch innocent bystanders like Indendent Utils, but since you didn't fire directly and the damage is collateral they won't go hostile on you. This tactic can work even if you only have a tug, but shopping for the explosive cargo pod is a little harder. But the pay off is huge considering you can take down 2 megafreighters plus escort with little risk.

Push Little Thruster:
Use your thruster override and lateral thruster keys instead of the throttle for finer control, and use the roll function too.

The Art of Dodging:
Use the lateral thrusters to dodge missiles, which have limited side-ways manoeuvrability.

Addendum (by Jet):
The missile warning the sound cue (kind of little blip that goes along the missile icon on the HUD) can be heard faster and faster as closest missile comes nearer to you (really reminds you of a torpedo using active sonar closing on you :)). That gives you the cue you need to know when evading becomes a necessity.

As for the evasion maneuver itself, don't forget that the missiles are subject to inertia, just as you are, but they have a far greater speed (2800 m/s for the missiles that are usually fired at you), that means that you can modify your flying vector much quicker than they do. If you briefly switch off the flight assistant you can even use your full forward thrust on a new direction to radically modify your vector, with their limited acceleration capacities the missiles generally don't have time to adjust if they're close enough and just overshoot.

Sweet Inertia:
Remember that your ship has inertia. The braking thrusters will not be able to stop you instantly, so be careful not to fly too fast, and don't head directly at a target. Inertia is your ally as well as your enemy - use your inertia to help you strafe enemies as you fly past them, and to get onto their vulnerable rears.

Try to avoid crashing into objects, especially at high speed - they can really ruin your day.

If you can read this... (bumper sticker):
Try to avoid crashing into objects, especially at high speed - they can really ruin your day.

Skip the Queue:
You can skip the queue at L-point when going into Capsule Space by manually selecting the jump destination on the Starmap screen and flying through the green circle in the middle of the Lagrange point coming from the blue side of it (you can jump sideways, you don't have to align in the L-point axis).

Jump in Surprise:
Sometimes, a ship just stops at the exit of an L-point, don't forget to turn immediately upon re-entering normal space. These space accidents with reactor breach are real messy.

End of the Spin of Death: - (posted by Bobko)
Autopilot (F6) is very usefull in combat in case you loose control of your vessel, engage it then disengage (F5) a second after and control's back.

Give Flares a Chance: - (posted by Jet)
We hear quite often that decoys (flares, ECM or Smart) are useless, or even that they're never launched.

First, even flares will lure missiles away from you (several missiles can even be lured by the same decoy).

Second, the higher the decoy class the lower the time they take to decide to launch against a missile. The problem here seems to be that missile threats are evaluated as they come within range of effective decoy deployment, switching from one missile threat evaluation to another the counter-measure system can't make the decision to launch and thus does nothing. This can be made more easy if you add a magazine or two of counter-measures in other launchers that you might have installed in your ship loadout. For each launcher that can fire decoys the system seems to be able to deal with one more missile at the same time (ie. with 3 launchers containing decoys, it can evaluate 3 missile threats at the same time and make individual decoy launch for all 3 threats).

Knife Range:
Get close! Most energy weapons have a short range, and the closer to the target you are, the more damage you will do. An additional benefit is that the closer you are the better your chance of scoring a hit (good tactics you rapid fire weapons).

The Right Tool:
Use the right weapon for the right job; attack hostiles with the lightest weapon in your arsenal and you'll take more damage as you move to destroy them. Hit hard and fast.

Marksmanship:
The targeting impact prediction reticle shows little triangle facing inward when you stand a chance to hit the target, that means the target is inside the range of your select weapon and within the angle it can cover. You usually stand a better chance of hitting if you shoot while the target is in the centre of the HUD, especially if you're far away.

Note 1: while in zoom mode, you're far more accurate.
Note 2: the statement in the encyclopedia saying active sensors can be used for better targeting is unconfirmed.

Weapon Link (posted by Stephen Robertson):
With a weapon link you have two fire modes available - chain fire and salvo fire. Chain fire fires each identical weapon alternately, and is great for spreading heat build up over a longer time, and good against fighters where your shots often miss.

Salvo fire fires each identical weapon simultaneously, resulting in a big heat spike, but allowing you to hit a target very hard. This is most useful against slower moving ships. Without a weapon link you can only use chain fire, but with a weapon link you can not only use salvo fire, but your chain fire is faster.

Use F to change the weapon link fire mode.

Addendum (posted by Jet): The chain mode is the default mode, the advantage of the Salvo mode is your cannons hit as one weapon, which mean more force in a single shot that can make your target move (that's why you go spinning sometimes when hit by heavy fire).

Note: salvo fire mode also works for missile launchers (except when REM missiles are selected) so it's a good idea to balance the weapon mix in each launcher so that you can exploit this.

It's Only a Rabbit - Run Away! Run Away!:
If overwhelmed, run away! Both the thruster override function and your LDS drive are very useful for quick getaways.

Coherent Loadout:
Choose your weapons carefully. Too many different weapons on your ship will not give you the advantage of linked firepower, and take you longer to cycle through. Two or three types of both energy weapons and missiles are normally all you will need.

Chew Before Swallowing:
Soften up enemies with missiles before you engage them, alternativelly fire a missile at a heavily damaged craft you just met head-on to finish it.

Finish Your Plate:
Don't leave damaged enemies alone. Destroy them before they repair and come after you!

Power; What's Needed:
Use the Tactical Resource Interface (TRI) shortcuts to boost power to the system category you need most, e.g. if you want to blast an opponent quickly, boost power to your weapons, but remember that boosting power to one system takes power away from the others.

Note: Did you know... that when maxing power to weapons you increase energy based weapons' range and damage by 50% and decrease their recharge time by 25% (except for beam weapons)? inversely, if you max shield or propulsion the range/damages of your energy weapons decrease by 50% and recharge time increase by 25%.

Speed Limit:
Watch these speed limits inside some station space; moving around at 250m/s is almost certain death.

Add-on (posted by Bobko): In ports, you may use F7 on a far target, no more speed limits.

Space Awareness:
Check your position, it's vital to know where you are in a battle, you don't want to slide into a freighter or asteroid at several thousand metres per second if you can help it.

Escape from LDSi:
Thruster override is a great way to run if you've been hit by an LDSi missile and have enemies in pursuit, many give up and leave before you hit full speed if you just head in a straight line and don't turn back.

Free Style Combat - (posted by Soltys):
Disabling the Flight Assistant mode in combat gives you more freedom, you can then exploit the use of lateral and overide thrusters to their full potential.

High Tail(posted by IceTea[GeNeX]):
At low speeds the distance you overshoot a ship, when you bypass it, is much smaller, and with good piloting you can pull a 180 degrees turn much faster than the other, thus giving you high damage rear shots.

Note: You also regain forward momentum much faster.

Note (by Jet): if you can, rolling your ship can help you to change direction without completely loosing momentum, but it's a tricky one to perfect.

Share the load - (posted by Jet):
If you have two shields mounted on your ship, rolling on yourself heading in the same direction will alternatively present each shield toward incoming fire and thus manually spread the damage and help to recharge your shields.

Watch Your 6:
Shields do not cover the engines, so try to get behind your enemy and shoot it in the vulnerable rear. The same goes for your ship - don't let an enemy get behind you. Present a strong face to the enemy!

One on One is Fair:
Each shield can only defend against one enemy. Your ship has a maximum of two shields, so be careful not to be attacked by more than two ships simultaneously. Try to split enemies up, and take them one-on-one.

Gang up on Them:
If you have wingmen, use them! Remember that each shield can only defend against one enemy. If you and your wingmen attack a target simultaneously, you will rip through their shields and destroy them very quickly.

Sho me da money!: (by The Sinner):
Some items can be expensive to manufacture but resource points are pretty easy to come by. Find yourself an L-point near to some mining operations and simply pirate as much common ore as your heart desires. Transports with little or no escort loaded down with max cargo pods of ore and occassionaly rare metals, gold, silver, platinum and neutronium. In 20 minutes of combat I managed to score so many cargo pods it took over an hour to collect them all.

Typical escorts were patcoms and tugs, which are really no match for even your Tug. This works equally well for gas mines when you need hydrocarbons to purchase some necessary items.

Cargo Value Appraisal:
It's easy to see at a glance how valuable the cargo on a freighter is by the number and size of its escorts. If four heavy corvettes defend a freighter with a single pod you can be certain it's high value cargo! Conversely a freighter fully loaded out with 20 pods and no escorts is unlikely to be carrying anything valuable, but will be easy to steal from.

Cargo Identification:
You can find out what a freighter is carrying by sub-targeting it and cycling through its cargo pods (5km and under).

Long Range Cargo ID:
Using the Imaging program (i.e. zoom) you can sub target components on a ship from up to 30km away. This makes it easy to select a prey from afar or just to observe what's kind of cargo is passing through the part of space you're in without having to go under 5km to be able to cycle sub targets.

Be Selective:
If you know what you want to make a trade back at base, try going to stations that may possibly be likely suppliers of the cargo you're after (i.e. if a trade wants livestock, try hunting around agri-orbitals for your goods).

Think and Observe:
Observing the traffic going to or through a station can be rewarding as you can spot regular deliveries of some goods to the station or ships containing specific cargo transiting by this station on a regular basis (which doesn't mean you wont have to wait for it).

Watch These Pods:
When you target a freighter watch where you fire; you could inadvertently destroy cargo pods on the freighter that you wanted to collect. Or hit something potentially dangerous (i.e. antimatter has a very large blast radius, if you see a white shockwave starting to expand get out of here ASAP).

Hidden Bounty:
Mega containers are huge cargo pods that Jaf can't pickup (identified as being empty when you try to tag them), however they contain smaller usual cargo pods (seen up to 8 in a megapod) the known way to get to these is to shoot the megapod, most of the time while exploding it opens its door an release some pods before vaporizing.

Pickup in Hostile Waters:
Jafs will refuse to come and pickup pods if there are hostiles on your scanner, that means that in areas where reinforcement keep coming, you can't do a pickup... except if you manually tag the pods that interest you, manage to loose your pursuers for a few seconds at that time you can call Jafs who will happily collect what you tagged. You may loose some pods but it's better than loosing all of them.

Addendum: Jafs will only complain about hostile ships if they are within the ID range of your sensors. Base ID range for passive sensors 1 to 5 respectively are, 25 km, 38 km, 50 km, 20 km (no typo) and 100 km. If you have active sensors installed and activated, these values are increased depending on the active sensor grade).

Mind your business (posted by kaifas):
Usually other ships will ignore you even If you're in the middle of a shooting battle right beside them (that counts for stations too), so long as a stray shot doesn't hit them or their escorts...

Don't Upset the Law:
When first starting out, try to pirate from undefended Lagrange points where you won't be attacked by security forces or police.

To Grow Up you Must Start Small:
When you start out pirating, pick on ships with fewer/weaker escorts. If you start small, you'll be able to get a few upgrades on your ship, allowing you to take on harder (and more profitable) targets.

Your Purse or Your Life:
SNRV pilots are low paid, and will surrender if you shoot them a couple of times, making it very easy to steal from them.

Live and Let Live:
Try not to destroy freighters when pirating them, as this could destroy valuable cargo docked to them and also set off a shockwave that could destroy anything nearby, including cargo and you!

Waste the herders the sheep are yours:
Go for the escort first, get close, let hell lose on them (use allies and attached T-fighters on defend self and fire at will setting), a well-planned surprise attack can usually blast 2 or 3 escorts in the first seconds [don't try this with interceptors they react too fast].

Stay on the Edge:
Upgrade your ship as and when you can, the more heavily armed you are the more juicy the convoys you can attack.