Emily Valefor How do you handle the Mambas slidey- ness. Do you boom and zoom ala a P-38 or do you have a strat that helps keep it on target. I think the mamba looks so cool but the bad handling keeps me away
I'm a big fan of that "slidey-ness" and work it into my piloting and targeting. Even in other "flight combat" type games -- which I find myself playing less than Elite these days -- I prefer quick and nimble to slow and steady. (It's also part of why I enjoy CQC so much.)
As far as strategy for when I'm flying the Mamba (and therefore while bounty hunting): I browse potential targets, settle on one (or a wing of 'em), get close enough to K-Scan each one, then tuck in behind whichever ship I'm going to target first, ....
Line up my Plasma Acc, and fire. That usually wipes out NPC shields instantly so, while still sitting right behind them, I place a couple solid frag hits. For smaller ships they're toast by now. For larger ones, they'll usually zip away or try to. I'll try to stay right behind them and pepper them with frag. If they manage to get out of good frag range, I'll remind them that I have a long-range Plasma Acc.
If I'm feeling particularly mean (or if it's a big ol' ship with lots of teeth), I'll target their subsystems before I fire my first Plasma. Usually I go for their Power Plant.
When I end up in surprisingly long engagements, I'll switch tactics to targeting them as if they are Thargoid Interceptors (i.e. orbit technique and target their subsystems as if hearts). The engagements aren't usually long at all; I'll cycle through that main strategy above ("As far as strategy... " to "... long-range Plasma") a few times for multiple ships in a few minutes; each ship probably a minute or less from opening salvo to pop.
Here's 