[jkalltheway]

so i'm still on the last level of the FS2 campaign. i beat it in normal mode, so now i'm giving it a shot one level higher. I'm finding it extremely difficult, the wing of dragons usually wipe out all of my wingmates and then i engage with 3+ dragons in a dogfight where we circle each other endlessly until they manage to whittle my life down to nothing.

Any tips guys?

[MatthTheGeek]

1st : Don't attack the dragons unless you have to. They may be extremely maneuverable, their weaponry is light so you can afford letting them fire on you for a while.

2nd : Keep your secondaries for them. Not that it's impossible to dogfight Dragons on Hard (I do it myself without that much difficulties) but it is long and taking them down with a Trebuchet or a couple of Harpoon is much quicker.

3rd : The last mission isn't the easiest, maybe you should redo the whole campaign in Hard to earn some dogfighting experience in Hard difficulty.

[The E]

2nd : Keep your secondaries for them. Not that it's impossible to dogfight Dragons on Hard (I do it myself without that much difficulties) but it is long and taking them down with a Trebuchet or a couple of Harpoon is much quicker.

Not to mention that it is extremely satisfying to kill the little bastards from beyond their effective range.

[Dilmah G]

Also, hitting the Z Key while using Match Speed will allow you to decelerate while in a dogfight, use this to your advantage. When you dogfight Dragons, try not to be too close to them, especially when you're in a fairly potato-like aircraft *cough* Ares! *cough*. Let him overshoot you, and use the Z key to decelerate behind him so you can get a few shots in on him with the UD-8. Once you practice it, you can get some nice, easy kills.

[jkalltheway]

The issue is, the dragons i think pretty much go straight for my wingmates, and after wiping them out they turn on me. I usually don't use trebuchets to take them out though, i think they just dodge them. And it has been a while since i've been able to play FS2, i finally got a working mouse, maybe i should practice a little more. Using a Hercules MkII in that mission too, so all i've got is trebuchets and those freefire missiles. Forget what they're called. And even though they don't do that much damage, when theres four of em on your tail, they whittle away quite quickly. Your tips do help though.

[The E]

Actually, the AI is pretty bad at dodging Trebs, at least in my experience.

[Solatar]

I've found that fighters, especially Dragons and other maneuverable ones, have a lot harder time dodging Trebs when you fire them from longer range. The missile has plenty of time to maneuver itself for a hit. If you fire from shortrange, the enemy ship just has to move a bit to dodge.

[jkalltheway]

Oh wow. I should try that.

[Thaeris]

If you must get close up and personal, firepower en-masse is the way to go. The Erinyes with 4-8 Kaysers (given that you're a good shot) will waste Dragons wonderfully, while the Herc 2 with a bank of 400 Tempests will rape anything that gets in your crosshairs. Mate that with PromS or a bank of Kaysers and you're set.

Just as a note, the Eri and the Herc 2 are in many ways the same. The Eri handles exactly the same as the Herc 2 but travels 10m/s faster and has far inferior secondary capacity. I also find that the AI has a bad habit of dying with the Eri...

[el_magnifico]

I've found that fighters, especially Dragons and other maneuverable ones, have a lot harder time dodging Trebs when you fire them from longer range. The missile has plenty of time to maneuver itself for a hit. If you fire from shortrange, the enemy ship just has to move a bit to dodge.

Strange, since one of my preferred tactics to deal with dragons in FS1 is to stalk them from behind, and at the last possible second, press the afterburners and fire a dual Phoenix V shot. But that's not the best idea if you are playing on medium, hard or insane, since most of the times you get caught in the blast at such a short distance, and it kills. And maybe trebs are different.

In FS2 (tested in blueplanet), I've found rockeyes (yes, rockeyes) to be quite effective against dragons at middle range. But they are really a burden to carry. I'll test it again now, just to be sure.

[Solatar]

Well, honestly, firing off dual trebs/Phoenix V's at point blank range is accurate as well.  On Hard, I find it easier to fire missiles from longer range (but not at the back of the enemy ship) than to stalk them for long enough to fire point blank shots.

[Rodo]

What a coincidence, I was just playing that very same mission an hour ago, I had no trouble with the Dragons, maybe because I was around the Lemnos at the time, that corvette's flak worked like charm on them, and I had a full bank of tornadoes to unload.

Also, on a side note, for the first time I managed to save the Nebtuu and I got nothing from command

[jkalltheway]

What i ended up trying, was running straight to the corvette and taking them out from the safety of the Corvettes flak guns. However, this made me mad when my wingmates would pursue the  dragons and themselves get destroyed by the corvettes flak >.>

[el_magnifico]

In FS2 (tested in blueplanet), I've found rockeyes (yes, rockeyes) to be quite effective against dragons at middle range. But they are really a burden to carry. I'll test it again now, just to be sure.

Bah, forget it! Just tested again on insane on a 1v1 duel with a dragon and it is not effective. I guess trying such a tactic against a full wing could only make them laugh to death.

Well, honestly, firing off dual trebs/Phoenix V's at point blank range is accurate as well.  On Hard, I find it easier to fire missiles from longer range (but not at the back of the enemy ship) than to stalk them for long enough to fire point blank shots.

I know, but the first time i tried that I was really frustrated with the dragons in "a failure to communicate".
As a side note, I find that mission much easier in the port, or perhaps now I suck less.

[Droid803]

FS2 missiles tend to track a bit better than the FS1 ones IIRC.

[Vip]

FS2 missiles tend to track a bit better than the FS1 ones IIRC.

Aye. I haven't used any missiles besides the Fury back in FS1, however in Port I've found things like the Phoenix or Interceptor quite useful.

[Kolgena]

Whenever you're outnumbered by small, fast, fighters, it's much more effective to spin around and shooting different targets rapidly (blind shots or Y targeting) rather than focusing on a single dragon. If you keep bouncing between ships that you're shooting, the AI spends more time dodging and less time shooting you.

I remember last part of bear-baiting on hard, where it was me at 15% vs like 6 Aeshmas by myself. Sure they're Aeshmas, but I doubt I could have survived it if I didn't juggle targets.

[Scotty]

AI also has the very helpful habit of switching their energy to guns and engines when you aren't shooting at them, so you can take down a Dragon with a few shots instead of a dozen.

[Thaeris]

Whenever you're outnumbered by small, fast, fighters, it's much more effective to spin around and shooting different targets rapidly (blind shots or Y targeting) rather than focusing on a single dragon. If you keep bouncing between ships that you're shooting, the AI spends more time dodging and less time shooting you.

I remember last part of bear-baiting on hard, where it was me at 15% vs like 6 Aeshmas by myself. Sure they're Aeshmas, but I doubt I could have survived it if I didn't juggle targets.

In truth, the Aeshma should be a pretty scary fighter, no?

Its handling is supposed to be comparable to the Perseus, I believe. Fortunately, the AI doesn't seem to know this... 

[Commander Zane]

In truth the Shivans are supposed to be fearsome period.