Basic Rules of Combat for the Single Player:
There are several basic rules that you should follow as a combat pilot if you wish to survive against opposition.  They are as follows and will be discussed in further detail:

1.) Stay alert:
Know what your mission objectives are and what the mission-critical craft are.  When in a furball, or a dogfight/skirmish consisting of multiple craft, it is easy to let slip the need to follow a mission objective.  Normally, mission objectives will not be time-sensitive, allowing a pilot to focus on a furball.  Mission objectives and mission-critical craft that are to be protected require you to keep an eye on their status.  It is best to log the craft which these objectives focus on, in your targeting computer's memory banks.  This may be done by targeting the particular craft and assigning it to a memory slot by holding [Shift] and [F4], [F5], [F6], or, [F7].  To call up a target in a memory slot, simply select the function key to which it was assigned.  This allows you to quickly check on the status of a particular craft.  This can be useful when having to prevent a condition from being imposed on a particular craft.

You also need to be aware of the array of any opposing force(s) you engage.  This includes craft type(s), number of craft present, and their position from you.  You may not want to simply dive into the middle of a formation of fighters or a group of formations.  When you move to engage targets in a larger group of targets, know where each group is heading.  It is possible that you target the nearest fighter, which isn't pointing at you, but a group of fighters two (2) klicks back may have you targeted.  This brings up the next point that you need to know what threats are directed at you  It is imperative that you are aware of the overall scope of the conflict.  While it will be near-impossible for most people to mentally keep track of each individual ship, they can use the movement of ships on their radar displays to get an idea of what their objectives are.  When a pilot understands the objectives of different ships, he gains a better understanding of the situation around him.

2.) Keep moving around:
While it may seem like a rather simple and mundane task, maintaining an erratic flight pattern can quickly lose a pilot's priority.  It is possible that a pilot will pursue a fighter and in turn, become the target of another fighter himself.  This can often lead to undesirable results, especially in large furballs where there is a significant ratio of hostile craft to friendly craft.

There are several ways to handle these situations.  The foremost method is to quickly eliminate the target.  While that is ideally what a pilot would like to do, it is more likely that they will be forced to, by the passage of time, to conduct erratic maneuvers while engaged.  The ideal method in this case is for a pilot to be able to follow a target, but keep his craft moving such that it is harder for pursuing craft to target him.  A basic concept example is a scenario where one craft follows another craft through a basic half-loop.  The second craft would execute a continuous series of "box" maneuvers, where they move in the shape of a box along the X and Z planes.  The maneuver is executed with the use rudder and elevator control.  The maneuver can not be executed as simply as one might think.  As the pursuing craft needs to follow through in the half-loop, the lengths of the sides of the box will change as the pilot maneuvers with the elevational control.

Another method of preventative flying tactics is to pursue a single target for a certain amount of time before breaking off and selecting another one to engage.  This can be useful in large furballs, as this allows you to turn into greater number of enemy craft, keeping them more evenly dispersed around you and not allowing a concentration of enemy fire on any particular flank.  An example is when flying a melee mission against a unit of sixteen (16) enemy fighters.   As you pursue a single target, there is a tendency that the other craft will conglomerate behind you and fire en-masse.  When this occurs, you can target the nearest craft behind you and turn to engage it, taking caution to not fly into the fire of the oncoming targets.  When you do this, you break up any formation, allowing yourself more maneuvering room when evading.  You also gain several seconds of reduced enemy fire, allowing you to concentrate on attacking a particular target.

3.) Be flexible and prepared to break:
It should go without saying that a pilot needs to be flexible.  It should also be apparent that it goes hand-in-hand with be alert.  There will be times where the situation will deteriorate such that you no longer maintain any sort of control over the combat, and thus, can no longer dictate the flow of combat.  This deterioration can occur rapidly, or over a long period of time.  When such events do cause this to occur, a pilot needs to be able to break off from what they are doing and focus on regaining control of the situation.  This can be in the form of flying evasively until a pilot is able to engage in dogfights safely.  It may also be such that a pilot needs to separate himself from a particular ship or ships.  If a pilot is engaged in a dogfight, and a hostile capital ship enters the area and proceeds to open fire on the pilot, it may be to his advantage to move the dogfight away from the capital ship, out of its firing range.

4.) Never turn your flank or your back to an opponent:
      While this rule may seem questionable it is a fundamental aspect of combat.  There are several reasons why you want to do this.  Your craft's weapons are forward-firing, meaning the front end of your craft is the most deadly part an opponent can face. Thus, if you keep your front pointed towards your opponent, when he does move to fire, he has to fire on something that can return fire.  When the front end of your craft is facing him, your opponent is forced to maneuver more to make it difficult for you to get a clean shot at him.  Your craft moves forward, in the direction it's pointed.  That means that when your opponent moves to aim at you, if your front end is facing him, the amount of time he has to target you is kept to a minimal amount.  Finally, if you keep your front towards your oppenent at all times, you will be better prepared when the opportunity for a clean shot arises.

.: Chapter 2: Basic maneuvering and maneuvers :.