Manual Piloting

Manual piloting is double clicking in space to make your ship go that direction. You can bind different directions to keys like WASD or the arrow keys but this is generally not how is done because of how clunky it is.

Manual piloting allows for a greater range of options while doing pvp. You can dictate range, manage transversal/radial velocity, string fleets out to separate tackle/ewar/dps from logi, and my favorite - link killmails that make you look like you're a good pilot when you really aren't and carry around the undeserved smug attitude that comes with it. Another thing to consider is that aside from the beginning SP investment to be able to fit a T1 meta version of an MWD, AB, Scram, Web, and Point, this is all something you can practice with almost no SP and a T1 frigate.

Just like how pilots in real life use maneuvers like one and two circle flows because it gives them an advantage against someone who is just trying to get behind them the fastest way possible, the same applies to eve. Here are some basic maneuvers that you should get familiar with.

• Spiral Tackling: This allows you to approach a ship in order to get some form of tackle on it without straight up approaching it. What you do is pilot your ship so that you “spiral” at it so you continually get closer while still maintaining transversal.
• Zig Zag Tackling: This has the same purpose as spiral tackling in that you get tackle on a ship while maintaining transversal, however if the target is burning directly away from you at a high enough velocity then he can easily get low enough transversal to potentially pop you on the beginning of the spiral approach. This is where Zig Zag Tackling comes in. What you do is constantly follow a left to right, or “zig zag” pattern while approaching the target. This is usually slower and more difficult than Spiral tackling, so only use it if necessary.
• Fluttering: Remember how I said when a you approach a target that isn't going directly at/away from you you lose speed? Well this is how you use that to your advantage if someone is approaching you with a ship that goes ~500-1000 m/s faster than yours. What you do is fly in a downward/upward spiral (think of it as the direction a cork bottle opener would go as it enters the cork at the top), the reason you do downward or upward is because of the way the eve camera system works it is near impossible to do this in a sideways motion. This means that you are constantly changing directions so the person approaching you will never have full velocity, but you will still have low enough transversal on the target to easily hit him with medium-long range guns.
• Slingshotting/Crossing The T: This allows you to get a scram on a target that is orbiting you at high speeds. What you do is look at his ship and try to predict where it will be in a few seconds. What you do when you think you know where the ship will be is fly directly at that position with your prop mod overheated. If things went according to plan then you should have crossed his path and have gotten within scram range to lock him down.
• Drive By Scrams: If you have a battleship that you know has the means to kill you if you get within scram range of it (like a vindicator or geddon) then it might be worth trying to get a drive by scram on it. This is when you just get one scram cycle on the ship then fly away as fast as you can and hopefully you'll be way out of its range when he notices/locks you. All this entails is double clicking near the ship so that you'll get within scram range of it for a few seconds, activate the scram, and continue flying past it as fast as you can.

Two ships are better than one if you need something tackled. Working together to tackle a ship is mostly communication and situational awareness, however there are a few pointers I have:

• Don't do the same thing! Don't both approach him in the same direction and/or do the same maneuver. Try to be as unpredictable as possible.
• Try to surround the target. If you have ships on all sides of the target then he can't burn anywhere. Likewise if you see a friendly tackle burning at a target, try to get behind the target so the friendly tackle makes the target run straight into you.
• Take turns doing drive by scrams. If you have to stop a target from using an MWD/MJD but you know that the target could easily kill you, then try to coordinate with the other ship in your fleet that have a scram. You and the other tackle can constantly duck in and out of his range while keeping him scrammed between all of you.

Just like everything else in Eve, knowledge is just as important is everything else involved. There are some ship attributes that you need to be aware of on the battlefield:

• Hyena, Rapier, Huginn, Loki, All Blood Raider Ships: These ships can web out to crazy ranges.
• Keres, Arazu, Lachesis, Proteus, All Mordus Legion Ships: These ships can scram and point out to crazy ranges.
• ​Sentinel, Curse, Pilgrim, Legion, Armageddon: These ships can neut out to crazy ranges.
• Ships with utility highs: These are ships that have more high slots than they do missile/turret slots. 95% of the time these ships will have a neut in their utility high which wreck your cap.
• Drone Boats: Because of these ships use drones for their DPS, it is very possible that they have a full rack of neuts in their high slots. It is also fairly common for these ship to fit small guns which can track you easily if you get close enough.

Missiles are also a problem. They can hit you regardless of transversal, however most tackle ships can outrun HAMs, Heavies, Torps, and Cruise missiles. You do need to keep a watch out for ships with a missile velocity bonus like Caracals, Cerbs, and Mordus Legion ships because they can make medium/large sized missiles fast enough to hit you and they hurt.