01. How to set game quality
02. How to transfer Energy to Shields
03. The differences between the various stealth utilities
04. How to defeat an opponent's stealth
05. How to use the game's sounds to your advantage
06. How to dodge missiles and other weapon fire
07. How to defeat the EMP Torpedo
08. How to defeat the Thunder Bolt Torpedo
09. How to defeat mines
10. How to defeat the Vortex Bomb and the Ultra Vortex Bomb

How to set game quality

One of the little-known options in Starfighter is that you can change the game quality. Return to the Main Menu, select Options, and there they are: several game quality options that will enhance or reduce the graphics in the game.

If you're having trouble with lag while playing Starfighter, reduce game quality! This will greatly speed things up. If you want to slow things down to practice your reflexes or timing with various weapons, increase game quality. This will slow things down and potentially give you an advantage in single player sectors. However, whenever possible, unless you have a really smoking gaming computer, you should dial your quality settings to the minimum when in Mutiplayer sectors. The other players in MP will thank you!

How to transfer Energy to Shields

It's surprising how many Starfighter players -- even really experienced Starfighter players -- don't know that you can immediately and instantly transfer your Energy reserve into your Shields. You do so by pressing and holding down the "C" key. You'll see your Energy reserves drop, and your shield rapidly recharge. This is an invaluable tactic for when you are fighting a defensive battle. Or, if you rely entirely on guided, non-Energy weapons, you can continuously transfer Energy to Shields as they become damaged and stay in top health at all times. 1% Energy converts to 1 point of Shields.

A great tactic combines the Energy Cell utility with this "C" key function. If you activate an Energy Cell at less than 100% Energy, then immediately hold down the "C" key, all Energy from the Energy cell will be transfered into your Shields rather than your Energy reserves for as long as you're holding down the key or until your Shields reach full strength. The remaining charge from the Energy Cell will go into your Energy reserves. Your Shields won't recharge as quickly or as automatically as they would with a Rapid Shield Recharger, but every little bit helps...

The differences between the various stealth utilities

There are four types of stealth utilities in the game, and you'll quickly become familiar with all four, whether you use them or not:
1. LBSS Stealth System, which causes the ship using it to disappear from radar and from view, becoming a pale blue outline of itself. However, this stealth system does not prevent enemy guided weapons from locking on.
2. LBSS Area Stealth, which causes a small device to drop from your ship. A moment later, all ships in close range of that device will be affected per the LBSS Stealth System. This is a great device for one ship in a cooperative army to carry.
3. Holographic Disguise, which causes the ship using it to be disguised as an asteroid, appearing as an asteroid on radar and preventing weapon locks, but the affected ship will still appear on radar and will still appear as an enemy (with a red arrow pointing toward it) to nearby ships.
4. LASS Stealth System, which causes the ship carrying it to turn into a "hole in space." Ships under this system cannot be locked on with guided weapons, but will continue to appear on radar as enemies, and red arrows will still point to them if they're nearby.

Stealth systems stack, and the most recently activated stealth system will be the "visible" one, but if you activate both an LBSS and a LASS at the same time, for instance, you'll receive the benefits of both.

Some people hate stealth systems, others love them. Utility slots are precious, and it's a call that every player has to make: do you want your utility systems to be offensive, or defensive?

If you choose to use a stealth system, the first thing to remember is that you're invisible to radar, but not to the eye. Don't engage a stealth system when you're within view of an enemy. This is pointless and foolish. You've just tipped your hand and gained nothing in return. In a similar vein, don't engage a stealth system if an enemy ship is charging right at you. Chances are they're going to just keep coming, and spot you when you come into their view.

The best time to activate stealth is almost immediately upon entering a sector or leaving a space station. A defense is worthless if it's not being used, and activating it immediately will give you the best chance of actually taking advantage of the system. After you activate the system, immediately execute a major change to both your course and your speed. If someone watched you disappear from their radar, they're going to be coming for you. Get out of their way!

Once you're under stealth, pick easy meat for your target. Look for the ship or ships that is sitting off somewhere, not expecting an attack. This is your target. Try to stick with Energy-based weapons, and hope that when you kill the target, they'll drop that green "A" bonus on you... reloading your stealth system and allowing you to stay under stealth for the majority of the battle.

How to defeat an opponent's stealth

As noted above, there are four types of stealth systems and whether you love them or hate them, you will encounter enemies using these systems and you must know how to defeat them.

The first and best advice is not to abandon your common sense. If you are approaching an enemy ship and range is closing... and suddenly the red arrow pointing to them disappears and they disappear from your radar, they have almost certainly engaged a stealth system. If they do not immediately make a hard course change and if you keep charging in, you'll spot them despite their stealth. Go in blasting! They've lost the element of surprise, which is the only point to stealth.

If you're facing a ship with a stealth system, remember the first rule of defense: speed is life! Keep moving, keep making course changes. If you're lucky, you'll encounter your stealthed target and can get on his tail. If you're not lucky, at least you're not sitting there like a witless dweeb waiting to get killed. Don't make your enemy's job easier by standing still.

Finally, any EMP weapon will defeat the LBSS and LASS stealth systems, deactivating the stealth systems of any ships in the effect of the EMP. This will render your previously stealthed enemy both visible and helpless. EMP does not defeat the Holographic Disguise utility for some reason. Fortunately, it's pretty easy to use the large asteroid image as an aiming point for unguided weapons: aim for the center of the asteroid and you'll almost certainly score a hit...

How to use the game's sounds to your advantage

You can't turn off Starfighter's sound effects, and this is a good thing! Every weapon has a distinctive sound when it's being launched, whether it's the "chunk!" of the EMP Torpedo or the "thip!" of mines being launched. If you're playing Starfighter with sounds muted, you're going to be at a serious disadvantage.

Learn the sounds that the various weapons make! This will help you avoid the worst of their effects. In particular, the Vortex Bomb is particularly hard to avoid if you don't hear it being launched and the vortex opening. As you gain experience with weapon sounds and the proper ways to avoid those weapons, you will start taking the proper action instantly and instinctively. Trust me, this will keep you alive a lot longer...

How to dodge missiles and other weapon fire

Half of Starfighter is offense. The other half is defense. If you want to maintain a high kill to death ratio in this game, you're going to have to learn some defensive techniques rather than wading in blasting, no matter how much fun wading in blasting might be.

The first, best advice comes right from real-life fighter pilots: speed is life. The faster that you're moving, the more unlikely it is that you're going to be hit by most weapons. Many of the most damaging weapons in Starfighter are unguided weapons and if you're moving quickly, you're less likely to be hit by these unguided weapons. Speed will also help you against guided weapons. You can outrun many guided weapons, and many more will do less or no damage to you if you're running from them. Enter a Multiplayer sector and you'll see this in action; the best MP players are always on the move, often at the fastest speeds their ships are capable of.

The second advice also comes from real-life fighter pilots: watch your six. Letting enemies get behind you is a bad idea. All of their best weapons are facing your back side, and this is a quick way to die. Don't let enemies out-flank you. If you see enemies coming in from two or more sides, fire your boosters and get out of the trap, preferably into the teeth of one side or the other. If you can destroy this flanking opponent, his friends will be much easier to deal with.

Once you have someone attacking you, don't maintain a predictable course! The Alien ship called the Weaver is named that for a reason. Get in behind one sometime and watch it weave back and forth. This is one correct approach to take when you have enemies behind you. Another correct approach is to start dropping mines into your wake and hope you kill your attacker. Use your boost speed ("X" key) to increase distance, make radical jinking turns to the right or left, or if you're in a highly maneuverable ship, hit the brakes hard and turn a bit and see if you can get your enemy to overfly you.

Getting killed in this game can be fairly rare if you do things right. Always have a last-ditch plan in case you get mobbed. The Engine Overdrive utility is a good choice here. If you're completely defensive, fire it off and get out of the sector entirely! Teleport Discs and Field Hoppers are also pretty good for this as are the game's various stealth utilities. Don't try to escape by jumping to hyperspace. The build up to this is far too long and it's far too easy to kill you once you've settled into the predictable path a hyperspace jump gives you...

How to defeat the EMP Torpedo

Ask experienced Starfighter players to name the weapon that annoys them the most, and many will probably name the EMP Torpedo (the rest will name the Thunder Bolt Torpedo, below). The EMP Torpedo does no damage, but it leaves you helpless for a period of 5 to 9 seconds. Even worse, it puts your ship on a predictable course at a predictable speed, which makes you easy for enemies to attack you. Even worse than that, often your predictable flight plan will cause you to be struck by several EMP Torpedoes in succession, making your time without power longer and longer... If the EMP Torpedo catches you relatively motionless, then relatively motionless is how you'll stay until power returns, and that can make your life interesting and short.

So, defeating it is very difficult, but there are a few standard ways. The first way is not to have it launched at you in the first place. This torpedo has a rather short range (distance 2500), so if you have guided weapons with ranges longer than this, you can try to destroy the platform carrying it before it can get into launch range. The EMP Torpedo has a very distinctive shape. You'll learn to recognize when an enemy ship is carrying one. You can also prevent the torpedo being launched at you using the various stealth systems the game offers. If the enemy cannot lock onto you, then they can't launch their expensive EMP Torpedo at you.

Once an EMP Torpedo has been launched at you, there are still a few ways to defeat it. It's a very fast missile, which means that if you're in a fast ship or a maneuverable ship, you can do what's called "turn inside" it. This is a trick that fighter jet pilots use to defeat missiles in real life. When you hear the distinctive "chunk!" of the thing being launched at you, wait one second for the EMP Torpedo to get locked onto your current path, then turn about 135 degrees. If you have power for boosters, use them! The extra speed will help. If you've done the maneuver right, the missile will pass harmlessly just behind you, struggling to match your turn. If the missile is being fired at you head-to-head, when you hear the "chunk!", wait about a half second, then turn about 90 degrees to the left or right. Once this turn is completed, immediately turn 90 degrees in the opposite direction and slow down a bit. Again, the torpedo will pass harmlessly behind you as it struggles to match your maneuver. Get back up to combat speed and blast the offender who launched it on you. I'll post a video of this technique in action when I have some time. In addition, particularly fast ships with good boosters can out-run the EMP Torpedo.

Once you've been struck by an EMP Torpedo, all hope is not lost. You can still take one more action after it's hit you, and that single action can be anything you like. You can switch to a Proximity Weapon and fire it, for instance, or try to revenge-kill the platform that hit you with the torpedo... In addition, if you were maintaining a good speed when the torpedo hit you, you'll probably drift rather rapidly right out of the battle (and maybe even the sector), which may save your life. One odd thing to remember about EMP is that it is not cumulative: if you are affected by an 18-second Large EMP Bomb, then immediately struck by an EMP Torpedo for 5 seconds, the 5 second delay of the EMP Torpedo will take precedence, the count-down starting from when you were struck by the torpedo.

Finally, one of the worst aspects of the EMP Torpedo is that once power returns, you inexplicably lose all of your momentum and come to an immediate and full stop. Get moving! Preferably by immediately hitting the "X" key! Stationary is the one state you do not want to be in in Starfighter and if another EMP Torpedo strikes you now, you're toast!

How to defeat the Thunder Bolt Torpedo

The Thunder Bolt Torpedo is very tough, one of the strongest weapons in the game. Half of its problem is that -- unlike other Thunder Bolt weapons -- it locks on and only attacks a single target. It will attack this single target to the exclusion of all others, doing between 75 and 150 points of damage. Anyone who tells you that they have taken out drone ambushes with a single Thunder Bolt Torpedo is lying. The TB Torp attacks a single target and is very monogamous.

So, defeating it is quite difficult, but there are a few standard ways. The first way is not to have it launched at you in the first place. This torpedo has a very short range (distance 1500), so if you have guided weapons with ranges longer than this, you can try to destroy the platform carrying it before it can get into launch range. The TB Torpedo has a very distinctive shape. You'll learn to recognize when an enemy ship is carrying one. You can also prevent the torpedo being launched at you using the various stealth systems the game offers. If the enemy cannot lock onto you, then they can't launch their expensive TB Torpedo at you.

Once a TB Torpedo has been launched at you and is doing its damage, there are still a few ways to defeat the worst of it. First, as noted in the question above, you can transfer Energy to Shields as the TB Torpedo drains the Shields. This transfer of Energy will happen at the exact rate the TB Torpedo is draining Shields. Another option is to use a Rapid Shield Recharger utility; this will also restore Shields at the same rate the TB Torpedo is draining them.

Finally, the TB Torpedo has some disadvantages that you can exploit, even as it is damaging you. You can think of the TB Torpedo as a very small Starfighter ship with a 300 degree locking angle. If you can get out of this arc, the torpedo won't damage you. In general, the TB Torpedo is also confused by high-speed course changes or unexpected maneuvers. It has a relatively low speed, and as a result, many ship types can avoid some of the damage by out-running the torpedo. It also has a very wide turning circle, so it is sometimes possible to turn away from it and then hit your boosters ("X" key) to get out of its range before it can compensate. You won't avoid all the damage, but you can mitigate some of it.

When a Thunder Bolt Torpedo is done, it wanders away. Nobody is quite sure where they go...

How to defeat mines

The simplest way to defeat mines is not to fly into them. Most of the mines are contact mines, and will only explode if you fly through them. A maneuverable ship, like the Guardian or Nymph, will help you there. Two mine types, Heat Seeking Mines and Gravity Mines, will encourage you to fly into them. Heat Seeking do so by following you at low speed; Gravity Mines do so by creating a drag on your engines that will pull you into them.

The second way to defeat mines is to get closer to the source. Every mine has an arming time; the arming time on some of the mines is quite long. At normal combat speeds, it takes about 150 distance for the standard mines to arm. Therefore, if you can get closer to the enemy dropping mines than 150 distance, the mine probably won't arm in time to hurt you. Of course, by doing so, you bring yourself into optimum firing range for any Proximity Weapons your enemy has, but no plan is perfect.

How to defeat the Vortex Bomb and the Ultra Vortex Bomb

First, don't panic!

The Vortex Bomb is a weapon just like any other weapon, just a bit more destructive than most. The idea of something that can kill you in a few seconds will panic a lot of players. If you keep your head, you'll probably live. If you don't, you'll definitely die.

The first step in avoiding a Vortex Bomb is to either watch for it, or listen for it. Vortex Bombs have a distinctive shape, and an even more distinctive sound. Learn to listen for that sound. Unfortunately, the sound of a Vortex Bomb is similar to an Inverse Gravity Field Generator, so the next thing you have to watch for is the effect. Are you being pushed away from the enemy ships, or toward them? If you're being pulled toward, particularly at high speed... Vortex Bomb.

Once you can see the vortex, there's a few good ways out of it. First, the Engine Overdrive Utility. Turn away from the vortex and fire your Engine Overdrive. Even if you're inside the vortex, the Engine Overdrive will get you out of it, and almost instantly. There's no better defense against the Vortex Bomb. Second: the Teleport Disc Launcher. This one takes a second or so longer than the Engine Overdrive, but will then instantly get you out of danger. Third: the Field Hopper. This one is a little random, and may put you into just as much danger as the Vortex Bomb, but it will at least get you out of the vortex... Fourth and finally, some ships can stay out of the effect of a Vortex Bomb on base top speed alone, or with boosters ("X" key). It takes about speed 20 to stay away from it if you're close, which the Pegasus and Sprinter (and like ships) can do with base speeds, and others can do with upgraded engines or boosters. If you're dealing with a standard Vortex Bomb, these defenses will maximize your chances of survival.

One of the most insidious details about the Ultra Vortex Bomb is that when its vortex opens, it also affects you with EMP. Fortunately, the Ultra Vortex Bomb doesn't detonate as quickly as the Vortex Bomb, and it gives you quite a lot of warning it is being deployed. You'll hear the accelerating beep-beep-beep tone you'll come to associate with the Large EMP Bomb and Ultra Vortex Bomb. This sound means that the battle you're in is over! If you stay long enough to "fire just one more blast!", that one more blast will probably end your life, too. The Ultra Vortex Bomb can pull you in from half a sector away, which means you need to be at least a half sector away before it detonates. Kick in your boosters, your Engine Overdrive, your Teleport Discs, or anything else you can do to increase your speed, and get out of there!

Again, the key is not to panic! All that said, you might do all of these things -- or try to -- and still get killed anyway. Them's the breaks. The Vortex Bomb is insidious. That's why it's so popular. Respawn and go after the large ship that killed you, and take your revenge.