Flight Manual of the Free Lancing Escorts & Repairs. you can find all techniques necessary to learn how to be an Ace pilot!

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FLIGHT MANUAL
Created by: Mick Brutus
Approved by: Tom Marwick
Planet Manhattan
820 A.S.

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Contents (click on a content to see it)
SPECIAL SHIP MANEUVERS ........................................................................................................................ 3
1. Maneuver Lock ............................................................................................................................... 3
2. Cruise Jumpstart ............................................................................................................................ 3
BASIC COMBAT TECHNIQUES .................................................................................................................... 4
1. Creating Weapon Groups............................................................................................................... 4
2. Chain firing ..................................................................................................................................... 4
3. Crosshair bug.................................................................................................................................. 5
4. Engine Kill ....................................................................................................................................... 5
5. Jousting .......................................................................................................................................... 5
6. Boxing............................................................................................................................................. 6
ADVANCED COMBAT TECHNIQUES ........................................................................................................... 7
1. Jousting while Boxing .................................................................................................................... 7
2. Early Turning .................................................................................................................................. 7
3. Jousting + Mine Drop ..................................................................................................................... 8
4. Sliding ............................................................................................................................................. 8
5. Mine Traps ..................................................................................................................................... 9
6. Forced Mine Explosion ................................................................................................................... 9
GUNBOAT/FREIGHTER BASIC PILOTING .................................................................................................. 10
Turret View Combat ............................................................................................................................. 10
PROFESSIONAL COMBAT TECHNIQUES ................................................................................................... 11
1. SNACK – SuperNova Antimatter Cannon Kill (against fighters) .................................................. 11
2. Corkscrew evasion ....................................................................................................................... 11
3. Corkscrew Battle Stance .............................................................................................................. 12
TEAMWORK STRATEGIES ......................................................................................................................... 13
1. Mine Interception ........................................................................................................................ 13
2. “Stay close to your Big Brother” .................................................................................................. 13
3. Forced Nova Explosion ................................................................................................................. 14
4. Thrusting around your opponent ................................................................................................ 14
ESCAPING TACTICS ................................................................................................................................... 15
1. WHACK - Worm Hole Assisted Cruise Kick .................................................................................. 15
2. Trade Lane Assisted Escape ......................................................................................................... 15
3. Unexpected Jump Gate Escape .................................................................................................... 15
4. Feign Wormhole Escape............................................................................................................... 16
5. Cloak Escape Through Jump Gate ................................................................................................ 16
6. Cloak Escape by changing direction ............................................................................................. 16
7. Shield cruise ................................................................................................................................. 16

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SPECIAL SHIP MANEUVERS
The ships we pilot are greater than we even know, they were design and built by very smart and enlightened engineers, and most pilots do not even know the full scope of capabilities that their ships have. In this section we will teach you two special maneuvers that you can perform on your DoS ship.
1. Maneuver Lock
- You can use the chat box to lock many maneuvers like afterburner, barrel roll, pitch or strafe.
-Simply press button bind to that maneuver (example: Press A to strafe left) and, while keeping it pressed, open the chat box by hitting Enter. Now release the button and hit Esc to return to normal flight.
-Go to Control Options in “F1” and bind keys to commands.
2. Cruise Jumpstart
-This maneuver allows you to turn on your cruise engines and remain in place at 0 m/s speed.
- Start your cruise engines, press and hold a strafe key and then the Engine Kill key “Z” (See basic combat techniques for more information on “Engine Kill”).
-You are now charging your cruise engines while remaining more or less still. Open the chat box and hit Esc. That will lock your maneuver.
-Clear your target selection, (by default Ctrl + T). You may now press F2 at any time, which will rapidly accelerate you to cruise speed, as your engines are charged already.

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BASIC COMBAT TECHNIQUES
In this section you can learn the universal knowledge and basic flight terms that are necessary for any pilot of our Department of Security (DoS). These techniques should be mastered by every pilots and it is vital that a pilot of DoS understands all the combat and ship maneuvering techniques and be capable of coming up with new tactics if every unique situation.
A pilot must know, understand and practice all techniques to be ready to face any threat in space, make sure you know your own strong traits and your own weaknesses, and mold your way of fighting based on that.
No two people pilot the same way!
1. Creating Weapon Groups - http://discoverygc.com/wiki/Weapon_groups
-Every pilot should understand what weapon groups are and how to use/activate them. There are multiple weapons you can choose to equip your ship with, some are better to destroy shield, and other better for destroying hull, but the ships usually do not have a power core strong enough to be able to keep firing all weapons simultaneously, so it is a good idea to separate the weapons in your ship in groups.
-Basically, if your target has his shields up, activate your shield busting weapon group. If your target has his shield down, then activate your hull busting weapon groups.
-Go to http://discoverygc.com/wiki/Weapon_groups#How_do_I_set_up_weapon_groups.3F to learn how to set up your weapon groups.
2. Chain firing
-Chain fire is the act of firing your weapons, out of sync, resulting in a chain fire. The result of this is for example: Instead of having 2 weapons firing 4 shots per second each, you would have those weapons firing with half a second difference, making it seem like you have 1 weapon firing 8 shots per second.
-Chain firing makes it easier to land hits on the target, the downside is that the hit will be lighter regarding damage compared to a hit with both your weapons in sync.
-To perform a chain fire, go to Option and in Interface, bind keys to “activate weapon 1” and “activate weapons 2” (etc…), then, when in battle, have only 1 weapon activated before you start firing. Right after you start opening fire, activate weapon 1, then weapon 2, then weapon 3, etc… You will have to do this quickly, all within 1 second.
-Chain firing is basically you firing a machine-gun.

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3. Crosshair bug
-Crosshair bug is when you fire precisely at the crosshair of an enemy ship in motion and your shots seems to fail miserably although he is not dodging and simply flying in a straight line.
-This is actually not a bug, but a mechanism of your ship trying to compensate having weapons with different projectile speed. For example, if you have equipped and activated, a weapon with 700m/s speed and another with 600m/s, the crosshair will be calculated to a 650m/s speed, making both your weapons miss every shot.
-This is mainly important for bombers trying the land a SNAC on their target, bombers MUST deactivate all weapons and have ONLY their SNAC active before they shoot their SNAC.
-Try to buy weapons with the same speed, or separate them in weapon groups.
4. Engine Kill - http://discoverygc.com/wiki/Engine_Kill
- Engine Kill is the most common maneuver technique known to any Fighter pilot. To do an "Engine Kill", means to basically kill off your ships engine while it is still moving by pressing the default Engine Kill key “Z”;
-By killing off your engine, your ship will fly in a straight line at the same speed you were flying just before you did the “Engine Kill”;
-You can change the direction of your ship using Afterburner by pressing the “Tab ⇆” button;
-This method is very useful because it allows you to easily outmaneuver your opponent and dodge enemy fire.
Weakness: If the enemy shoots a cruise disrupter your Engine Kill with end, and you will be back to cruising as you normally do at 80m/s.
5. Jousting - http://discoverygc.com/wiki/Jousting
-Jousting is often used in duels and is defined as two ships flying directly towards each other while each is trying to do damage to the other;
-When a pilot uses jousting in a duel it is important that he also uses engine kill;
-When you pass through the enemy pilot while jousting, the Engine Kill will allow you to turn 180º while your ship keeps moving in a straight line away from your enemy, and after your turn is complete, use the Afterburner to move against the enemy ship (this is known as “Anchor Turn”);
-Note that jousting leaves your ship extremely open to fire if you simply fly in a straight line. We will cover how to Joust safely in the “Advanced Combat Techniques section”.
Weakness: If his ship is bigger and stronger than yours, Jousting is a bad option for fighting as you will be destroyed faster than you destroy your enemy.

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6. Boxing
-Boxing is very often used in duels to do a lot of damage while avoiding taking damage in the same time;
-Boxing refers to moving your ship with the Strafe commands (Up-Left-Down-Right) while standing still or moving backwards (by using the reverse Thrust key “X”) in order to shoot your enemy while dodging his fire;
-To perform boxing you will need to bind keys in the control options (F1) to the “Strafe Up”, “Strafe Down”, “Strafe Left” and “Strafe Right” commands.
Example: W – Strafe Up
S – Strafe Down
A – Strafe Left
D – Strafe Right
-Boxing can be used while jousting and it combines well with the Anchor Turn and Early Turn (This is be explained in the “Advanced Combat Section”).
Weakness: This technique will work poorly if the enemy is too close to you as your strafing won’t have enough speed to dodge his shots.

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ADVANCED COMBAT TECHNIQUES
This section will cover more advanced combat techniques you can perform on your fighters. Each one of this techniques require a lot of practice and experience do execute perfectly, so it is of the out most important that each pilot of DoS takes some time to practice some of these tactics
Before trying to perform these techniques a pilot should get a good understanding of the basic combat techniques.
1. Jousting while Boxing
-This is how it is recommended to perform jousting in a duel because this way you won’t be flying in a Straight line against your enemy and you will be able to dodge some shots.
-This technique is the combination of Jousting + Boxing. To perform this, you should do Boxing while you are flying straight against your enemy. You will be able to shoot the enemy and you won’t be such an easy target as you would be if you were going in a straight line.
-It’s recommended to use afterburner when you are at 100m or 200m of your enemy so you can past through him quickly and start turning (see the Early Turning Technique).
Weakness: If you don’t vary in your boxing patterns, your movements will become predictable and the enemy will start shooting in anticipation of your movements.
2. Early Turning
-Early turning is used to get an edge on your opponents turn (i.e. finish your turn before he finishes his). This is technique is very valuable against jousters.
-Early turning consists in starting to turn your ship around in a jousting duel, before you enemy starts to turn so you can face your opponents back while he is still making his turn, use your afterburner at this time to get close to him and shoot.
-This technique requires a good timing or else you could get easily fired upon, start your early turn when you are at 200m or 100m distance from your opponent, and always use Engine Kill for this maneuver to prevent your ship from standing still and be a sitting duck for mines.
Weakness: If he also performs an Early Turning, you won’t have an advantage. If he shoots a cruise disrupter in the moment you’re passing by him you will lose your Engine Kill and will be a sitting duck for a Nuclear Mine.

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3. Jousting + Mine Drop
-This technique consists in dropping a mine in your enemy’s face when at the end of a Joust.
-To perform this it is suggested that you do Jousting while Boxing technique + Early Turning Technique, simply drop a mine when you are at 100m distance in front of your enemy, If you are lucky he will fly right into the mine and get blown up, if not, just finish turning and keep hitting him in the back with your guns.
Weakness: Do not do this technique too often in a battle with the same enemy, or he will recognize the pattern and shoot a cruise disrupter in the moment you drop the mine, consequently, the mine will blow up right where you are.
4. Sliding
-Sliding involves using the Engine Kill technique to make quick, circular motions around your enemy ship.
-By sliding you will be able to dodge enemy fire while at the same time keep shooting and damaging him.
-To perform Sliding you will have to Afterburner into maximum speed and use Engine Kill, then when you feel it is the right time, use the Afterburner again, but this time, in a different direction. Keep doing this around the enemy ship and you will be able to slide around him while hitting him with your guns in the same time.
Weakness: It takes a lot of good timing, precision and practice to make this technique.

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5. Mine Traps
-Another good techniques to use in a duel are mine traps. If you feel that your aim is not good enough use mine traps to do some damage on your opponent.
-It is best to use Nuclear Mines and Mosquito Cruise disruptor for this technique.
-To perform this technique you should drop some mines while Sliding or Jousting your opponent, then, when you see that your opponent is close to one of the mines you’ve dropped earlier, fire a Cruise Disrupter at him and the explosion of the disrupter will trigger the mine and it will go off too, damaging your opponent.
-This technique works great against pilots that concentrate on hitting you with their guns and don’t see what is going on in the area around them, making it easy to surprise them with a Mine Trap.
Weakness: If your opponent is smart and experienced he can use your own mine trap against yourself. This technique requires experience and training to do safely.
6. Forced Mine Explosion
-This technique is very dangerous and is not recommended to be used if you are not 100% of how and when you should do it.
-This technique consists in dropping a mine, after a Joust with your enemy when you are at approximately 0m distance from him, and at the same time, shooting a cruise disrupter at your enemy.
-This is fairly easy to get done right as it only takes 2 clicks, but the downside is, you will also be damaged by the mine’s explosion, and so, this technique should only be used if you have your shields active and your enemy has his shields down.
Weakness: Could be deadly to an unexperienced pilot because there’s no escaping the mine explosion.

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GUNBOAT/FREIGHTER BASIC PILOTING
Turret View Combat
-To pilot a freighter or a gunboat in battle it is required that the pilot knows how to use Turret View, as it is the best way to fight using these types of ships.
-Turret View consists on clicking in the “H” button, and the game will put you in “turret view mode”. In this mode you can use your mouse to rotate the camara freely without moving you ship.
-To make a good use of Turret view in combat, you should click on the “+” a few times to ZOOM OUT with the camera, this way you’ll be able to see all the area around you and it will be very easy to aim and fire upon your enemy.
-In turret view, you cannot control your ship’s movements with your mouse like you were used to, and so, you’ll need to get used to maneuver your ship using your keyboard, by binding some keys, which will be exampled here:
 You need to bind keys for “Pitch Up”, “Pitch Down”, “Turn Left” and “Turn Right”, as an example you could use the Arrow Keys on your Keyboard.
 If you decide to use the arrow keys, then you will have also to bind secondary keys for “Engine Kill” and “Afterburner”. Bind those commands with keys close to the arrow keys in your keyboard so you can easily reach them with your left hand.
 After you have all your keys binded, you will need to practice to get used to flight in Turret View. Doing missions against NPC’s is a good practice for this.
-Turret View is of the outmost importance while using freighter our gunboat, but you should not restrict yourself to turret view only, a professional pilot knows when to use turret view and when to revert back to normal piloting. You should revert to normal piloting when an enemy is trying to escape from you, it will be easier to chase him.

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PROFESSIONAL COMBAT TECHNIQUES
In this section it will be explained some professional combat techniques, these techniques take a lot of time of practice to perfect and you should be very well prepared and used to them to execute them flawlessly.
Any pilot capable of executing these techniques will be nearly impossible to beat in a duel. One must be aware of the main weaknesses these techniques have in order to be able to counter them if need be.
1. SNACK – SuperNova Antimatter Cannon Kill (against fighters)
-For this technique you need to be piloting a bomber with a SuperNova Antimatter Cannon.
-This technique consists on landing a hit from your SNAC on your opponent while jousting, making him blow up.
-This technique is not easy to perform because hitting a SNAC on a fighter is very hard to achieve. If they have their shields already down when you begin to Joust against him, he will be more cautious and not Joust against you until his shield is regenerated back up.
-The best way to achieve this is when you’re jousting against your opponent and he still has his shield active, this way he will come at you with confidence. Your objective will be to, destroy his shield using preferably EMP guns, and quickly switch to a Weapon group with only your SNAC activated, firing it at him, guaranteeing his destruction.
Weakness: This requires a lot of speed and precision, which is hard to obtain. It is necessary that you practice a lot. It makes it even harder to hit if the opposing ship decides to end the Joust action before you can get close to him
2. Corkscrew evasion
-This technique requires the use of the Maneuver Lock explain in the “Ship Maneuvers” content.
- Combined with other maneuvers and tactics, it is a spectacular way to dodge gunfire, while not losing the distance between you and your pursuers in the process.
-For this maneuver you need to combine afterburner, barrel roll, which can be locked by a maneuver lock, strafe and mouse steering. Corkscrew evasion allows you to dodge most of the gunfire, but it is ineffective at close distances.
-You will start by entering into cockpit view (CTRL+V), and use “Maneuver Lock” on the Roll left (or Roll right) command + strafe left (or right, or down, or up). After you get this successfully lock, use your afterburner and a slight mouse steer to fly in straight line, keeping your distance from your attacker, and dodging all his attacks.
Weakness: Your movements can become predictable to a more experienced fighter, and he will start shooting in anticipation of your location.

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3. Corkscrew Battle Stance
-This technique consist of fighting a duel or a battle while having Barrel Roll + Strafe always on Maneuver Lock.
-To perform this, do the same steps explained in “Corkscrew evasion”, but instead of running away. You will use your mouse steer to follow and fight your opponents.
-By fighting like this, you will have an “automatic dodge” at all times.
-This type of battling requires you to fly always in Cockpit View.
Weakness: this battle form requires a lot of practice because you will always be rolling and it could become hard to properly follow your target. You could become confused about where you are and where you’re heading because of all the spinning around.

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TEAMWORK STRATEGIES
Here are listed some of the strategies a pilot should execute as a team. We cannot all be experts in duels and solo battles, so for those who would rather use their heads in combat instead of just his skills, this is what matters right here, Learning how to work and fight as a team. There is nothing more powerful that a good coordinated fight with a partner, if a pilot excels in teamwork strategies he will never lose.
1. Mine Interception
-This team technique consists in having you opponent following one of you, while the other is flying in the back of the enemy. You should try to be as close as possible for a faster reaction.
-The pilot in the front should try to fly in a straight line and at 80m/s of speed, making sure the enemy ship is behind him shooting. The pilot in front could use the “Corkscrew Evasion” Technique to dodge fire while going straight.
-The pilot in the front will now drop a mine and the pilot in the back will wait for the right timing, and shoot a cruise disrupter to the enemy ship, making the mine explode and damage the enemy.
Weakness: It requires a lot of good timing and good evasion technique. If executed poorly, the pilot in the front could get seriously damaged for nothing. Practice is suggested!
2. “Stay close to your Big Brother”
-This strategy is applicable when you are flying a fighter and your teammate is flying a bigger ship like a Gunboat or a Freighter.
-When you’re in a battle against an enemy fighter, he will try to lure our fighter away from out Gunboat, and that is how we lose.
-This strategy is simple, fight together and stay together, if you keep close to one another it will be easier for both of you to shoot the enemy fighter. If you (the fighter) are getting hit multiple times, DO NOT runaway in a straight line away from your teammate, instead, runaway next to your teammate so he can help you get cover.
Weakness: THERE IS NO WEAKNESS IN GOOD TEAMWORK! FIGHT TOGETHER AND ACHIEVE WHAT IS IMPOSSIBLE!

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3. Forced Nova Explosion
-this strategy consists in firing a “Nova” antimatter torpedo against your stationary teammate in order to create an explosion big enough to affect the enemy vessel.
-For this strategy to work properly, you and your teammate both must have your shields active, and your enemy must have his shields down.
-To perform this, you must be close to your teammate (0m) and you must make sure that your enemy is at 96m or closer from both of you. Shoot your Nova torpedo against your teammate, the torpedo will hit and explode, damaging you, your teammate and your enemy all in one hell of an explosion.
Weakness: This technique requires speed and immense coordination and if your enemy doesn’t have his shields down, this method will not kill him and will only take his shields down (as well as yours). Practice if required.
4. Thrusting around your opponent
-This consist on having 1 fighter thrusting in circles while having the enemy trying to shoot him while the teammate flies at low speed to aim and shoot the target.
-To perform this strategy it is better when your team consists of two fighters. When you fighter is being targeted by the opponent, put your mouse point in of the corners of your screen and start using afterburner to make circles at full speed. You MUST be very close to your partner when doing this.
-The opponent ship, will either, stop his ship in the middle of your circles to try and shoot you, or, he will follow your circling to shoot you, if either of these happen, he will be a very easy shot for your teammate to get.
-Combine this strategy with “Mine Interception”
Weakness: If your partner has very poor precision, this strategy could prove futile and only get your ship damaged.

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ESCAPING TACTICS
The primarily priority of a pilot from the Department of Security is to make sure the paths are clear and safe for the members of the Department of Trade to travel by and make sure of that, a DoS pilot doesn’t always have to eliminate imminent threats while performing an escort service, sometimes the annihilation of hostiles is just not possible due to various reasons such as difference in ship class or differences in numbers.
When a DoS pilot is faced with a situation like this he must make sure the enemies don’t spot nor catch our members of DoT, but throwing your life away for the sake of our traders should never be necessary, and that is why, in this section it will be explain how to execute several escaping tactics a pilot of DoS should use after the traders are safely out of danger.
1. WHACK - Worm Hole Assisted Cruise Kick
-This escape technique consists in charging cruise engines during wormhole travel. To perform this you will need an operational jump gate or stable jump hole and a helper - some other ship you can form on which will normally perform jumping procedure (grouped non-hostile player or non-hostile NPC).
 Get your ship inside the jump gate or jump hole while facing the helper.
 Engage cruise (CTRL+W) the moment the helper begins final phase of the docking maneuver. It is signified by the red blinking docking lights.
 Form on the helper. (F4)
-This will allow you to have your cruise fully charged and ready when you arrive to the next system, making your escape easier and faster.
2. Trade Lane Assisted Escape
-There are too possible way to perform this escape strategy.
-First way: When entering a trade lane drop a mine right before you enter it, the mine will hit the lane and disable it making impossible for enemies to follow you
-Second way: Enter the trade lane and make sure you have some distance between you and your pursuers, if so, then press “Esc” to jump out of the trade lane, right before the next ring, and shoot the ring to disable it. If timed correctly your pursuers will drop out of the sequence in the middle of the lane, giving you safe distance to engage cruise.
3. Unexpected Jump Gate Escape
-To perform this escape maneuver you have to simply dock into a jump gate and when you reach to next system, use a Trade Lane Assisted Escape. The key for making this work right is to be unpredictable and to dock in the Jump Gate when your enemy least expects, try feinting an attack or use the Jump Gate for cover and dock when he’s not looking, this will gain you a few seconds of advantage.

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4. Feign Wormhole Escape
-The idea of this escape is to make your enemy believe that you are docking into a jump hole or a jump gate.
-To do this properly you must replicate the steps necessary to dock into a jump gate or a jump hole. Click the dock button (F3) so that the Jump Gate starts to open and let your ship autopilot itself into position to dock. The moment you are aligned with the Jump Gate, cancel the Docking maneuver by going back to “free flight”, keep moving forward at 80m/s speed. If you’re lucky, your enemy will believe you’re jumping and he will quickly jump to the other system to follow you. After that happens, you just need to cruise away to safety.
5. Cloak Escape Through Jump Gate
-This is an advanced maneuver that allows a small ship (ex: Waran) equipped with a cloaking device to eliminate chance of disruption while being cloaked.
-Light cloaks require 3 seconds to engage and additional 10 seconds to fully mask your ship. Both jump hole and jump gate sequences take around 12 seconds to complete.
In order to perform this escape maneuver you need to engage cloak a second before docking to a jump gate or jump hole. Once you exit the wormhole you will be fully cloaked and completely untraceable and thus free to engage cruise undisrupted.
6. Cloak Escape by changing direction
-This is the maneuver you should use if you don’t have a Jump Gate or a Jump Hole in the proximity and desperately need to escape.
-When you activate the cloak, your shield goes down, so you should only activate cloak only when your shield is already down from battle, so your enemy doesn’t notice you activating it.
-After you are almost fully cloaked, start to fly in a straight line, making your flight predictable, and when you finish being fully cloak, make a 180º degree turn and pass through your enemy. Next time he shoots a cruise disrupter to try to find you, he will not hit you and will not be able to find you.
-If you think he’s smart enough to also turn 180º degrees and shoot disruptors again, stay close to him, and when he turns, fly in the opposite direction, he will probably be unable to trace you now.
7. Shield cruise
-Shield cruise is a risky maneuver of last resort that might be used in order to escape when other maneuvers failed or are not possible. The key element of this maneuver is to initiate cruise sequence when your pursers are least expecting it and having a jump gate or station to shield you from initial cruise disruptors. Feint an attack or dodge and then use a gate or station as a cover. Make sure your first attempt is successful, as it's unlikely you will catch your opponents off guard next time. This maneuver is also possible while hiding within a jump hole. Use the Special maneuver “Cruise Jumpstart” for extra surprise.