What this is about
Situational awareness is knowing what happens around you while you fly: how many opponents, where, in what ship, which of them is attacking you right now and where your own people are. It is not flight technique, it is a habit.
The situation
Every fight with more than one opponent. And every fight with one opponent where a second could join – so practically every fight.
What the opponent does
An opponent who knows you are only watching one brings the second in from behind. That is not a special tactic, that is the normal division of labour between two pilots.
What you do
Four habits are enough:
- Count. How many are there? Right at the start, not later.
- Cycle attackers. The function tells you who is attacking you right now – use it regularly, not only when you are hit.
- Pin the important targets. The game can hold targets; use the pins for the opponents you must not lose.
- Look behind. Once per manoeuvre, not once per fight.
Follow-up
The decision follows from the picture: attack, hold or leave. With the picture you decide in a second. Without it you do not decide at all but react – usually to the hit you have already taken.
How the opponent answers
Good opponents work exactly against your picture: they keep one pilot in your field of view and one outside it. That is why looking behind is not a luxury.
What you need
The targeting and view functions from the table. Some of them are not bound by default – if you need them in a fight you have to bind them beforehand.
Target cycling by category, cycling attackers, pinning targets, free look and look behind – everything that tells you who is where.
| Game action | Default keyboard/mouse | Default joystick | Trigger |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lock Target Under Reticle | not bound by default | not bound by default | single press |
| Cycle Lock - Hostiles - Forward | 5 | not bound by default | single press |
| Lock Selected Target | not bound by default | not bound by default | single press |
| Cycle Lock - Attackers - Forward | 4 | not bound by default | single press |
| Cycle Lock - In View - Forward | T | not bound by default | single press |
| Pin Index 1 - Pin / Unpin Selected Target | Left Alt + 1 | not bound by default | toggle |
| Pin Index 1 - Lock / Unlock Pinned Target | 1 | not bound by default | toggle |
| Remove All Pinned Targets | 0 | not bound by default | single press |
| Freelook (Hold) | Z | not bound by default | hold |
| Look behind | Comma | not bound by default | hold |
Game default binding, game version 4.10.0-hotfix (55227). If you rebound it yourself, your binding applies.
Anything marked “not bound by default” you have to bind yourself in the game settings – we do not guess a key.
HOTAS/HOSAS: the joystick column is the default binding of ONE stick. On two sticks you assign pitch, yaw, roll and lateral strafe yourself – which axis a manoeuvre needs is listed in the HOTAS / HOSAS section.
Typical mistakes
- Tunnel vision on one target. The most common reason good pilots get shot down.
- Only looking when you are hit. By then the decision has been made.
- Pinning everything. Too many markers are as bad as none.
- Not using comms. The best awareness comes from someone looking from another direction.
Exercise
- Goal
- After a fight, be able to say how many opponents there were, where they stood and who left first.
- Preparation
- Four pilots, two against two, agreed beforehand. One observer takes notes.
- Task
- Fly three fights. After each one everyone immediately answers three questions from memory: how many were there? Where was the second opponent when you attacked the first? Who broke off first? Compare with the observer’s notes.
- Success criterion
- You answer all three questions correctly after a fight.
- Partner
- required
- Functions needed
- Lock Target Under Reticle
- Cycle Lock - Hostiles - Forward
- Lock Selected Target
- Cycle Lock - Attackers - Forward
- Cycle Lock - In View - Forward
- Pin Index 1 - Pin / Unpin Selected Target
Next step
With a situational picture a fight against several becomes a solvable task: multi-target combat.