Circling and how to do it

There is a lot of talk about "circling" in Dark Orbit, but it is hard to teach and many people do not understand its real power. My goal here is to be able to teach it to anyone who wants to learn.

First, the power of circling:

* Take any alien down to low hit points
* Do it while being attacked by any number of aliens (even 80 or more)
* Take no damage to your shields or ship while doing it

A lot of people think they are circling because they move in circles around an alien and take less damage. If you do it right, you will take absolutely NO DAMAGE until the alien starts to run.

How To

The best tool to learn how to circle is to watch it on video. Here is the best video I have seen on-line:
http://www.getalyric.com/listen/48tl_GJzaTA/darkorbit_how_to_circle

The instructions on the page are excellent, and the goliath in the video shows perfect technique. You do not need to be as absolutely perfect to take no damage, but the video shows you what to aim for.

Here are the instructions from the page:
Quote:
Hey, to circle a BK ( or any alien in that matter ) which is a completley legal technique, all you need to do is find a heavy alien ( devo, sib, BL, BK , *cubes dont work* ).
1. Begin to shoot it.
2. Let it hit you once or twice.
3. Choose a direction and slowly move outwards a ways until the alien does not appear on you screen.
4. Keep moving in that direction * hold you mouse down*.
5. You should always be moving in a circular direction around the alien.

NOTE: When circling, you are doing it properly if the alien does not hit you, and the alien is clearly not visible on your screen * only when you move in a certain direction should it appear at the corner of your screen*
If you follow these, you will most likely be circling an alien!

Once you get good at circling, you might not even need the alien to hit you once or twice at the start. Sometimes I can get the correct position before starting to fire, and avoid even those first few hits.

One issue that is very, very important is personal comfort. You need to figure out how to hold your hand on the mouse so you can be relaxed and natural through the process. It is a smooth motion with the mouse, and it is hard to keep up if you are tense. Relax, have good posture, breathe evenly, and you will circle better.

Do it well and you can circle for a long time, taking down big enemies with cheap ammo.

You will also make some mistakes while circling. You will take some damage. Get back into the circling pattern, though, and your shields will eventually recharge. One of the most powerful parts of this technique is that you can recover from your mistakes and get 100% shield strength back quickly.

Limitations of Circling

It does not work on cubikons. Period. Cubes and the protegit do not follow you around, so you cannot circle them.

It does not work after the alien starts to run. After the aliens get to low hit points, they try to run for map corners. At that point, circling will not work. You may take damage at that point. You need a strong enough ship to withstand the damage during the alien's final run. You may want to use stronger ammo at this point or have a friend help, to kill the alien quickly and reduce the damage to you.

Sometimes it just does not work right. I have had aliens "plant" in one spot and never move. Circling does not work when that happens. I am usually able to make it work by moving away, letting the alien come to me, and then trying to circle again. This is not a cure-all. Experiment.

Server Lag Can Kill You. If the server lags for any reason, you can die while circling. If the screen freezes or the aliens stop, you are probably seeing "lag". Do your best to keep circling to reduce the damage, but aliens will probably begin to hit you during this period. The better you circle, the less the damage will be. You might take enough damage to die very suddenly, though.

When You Most Need Circling

You do not need circling all the time. If you are strong enough, you can just blast an alien and it is gone without hurting you too much.

Some situations demand circling:

* Taking on an alien with high hit points or high damage (compared with your ship)
* Attacking groups of aliens
* Galaxy gates

If you attack a group of aliens, you will find that if you circle properly, then NONE of the aliens in the group will hit you. This is a huge benefit. I have no idea how you would get through the galaxy gates without circling. After doing my first galaxy gate, I got really, really good at circling.

Remember that you still need enough hit points and shield to take the initial hits from the alien and the final hits after it runs. Don't take on an alien that you cannot handle, or get help from a friend. Circling can help a lot, though.

Circling can even help against human players. If you fire on them but are barely visible to them, it can be hard for them to lock on your ship. I have been able to circle human players sometimes, keeping them from locking on me while they try to chase my ship.


I hope this guide is helpful. Practice this technique, and you will be able to take on tougher aliens in Dark Orbit. When you are able to have 100% shield strength and nearly 100% of hit points when aliens start to run, then you too can say:

"Yes I DO know how to circle."

No more "sort ofs" for you!