Should You Fly DECOUPLED for Bounties in Star Citizen 

The truly wise pilot uses both coupled and decoupled mode AND VTOL on/off throughout a dogfight as the situation requires.

9:30 decoupled landing is the best way to do it. Lol. Just put your vector indicator in the middle of the landing zone and watch your speed (space brake comes in handy). I should add, gear down puts you into the third mode called "vector hold mode" where your ship will fire thrusters in a way that keeps your vector and speed unchanged like decoupled but will fight gravity and wind like coupled mode.

Using coupled mode is like using AT in a racing game. Makes everything easier. I really appreciate that they made decoupled as it adds a ton of depth to flying.

AWESOME video, i honestly couldn't figure out what the hell it was doing when i was switching between them other then making me more slidey, the way you broke it down and explained it, all the testing you did, absolutely top notch my friend

The difference in advantages of coupled versus decoupled flight comes into heavier consideration when you use different ships. With smaller ships there's a smaller difference but when you use larger ships that's when you start to see the advantages and disadvantages. For instance, in space I usually use decoupled when I'm fighting with my 600i unless I'm in an asteroid field. But I would never use decoupled in atmosphere. You're not going to out maneuver smaller ships with a 600i so drifting in a specific direction while allocating all of your thrust to maneuvering thrusters is how you fight with a larger ship like that while staying in motion.

decoupled is in my opinion essential in a dogfight especially the closer you get to your opponent. It unlocks full acceleration potential which is much needed when you want to pull off some knife fight maneuvers. Challenge is get the speed under control but decoupled offers so much more benefit that it easily offsets some of the downsides in most scenarios.

The reason why decoupled is more popular for dogfighting is because with direct control over your thrusters, you can get more consistent, and more overall acceleration out of your ship. And because in a dogfight, all you care about your velocity relative to a moving target, so there's no need to control your velocity relative to being stationary. Compare tricording in coupled, and decoupled. To tricord, continuously accelerate; forward, up, and to the side. Tricording is the maximum acceleration of your ship. You can see your acceleration by looking at your g's in the bottom right of your HUD. If you pitch or yaw while tricoring, you'll see your acceleration drops if your in coupled, but it does not in decoupled. While you may not always want to accelerate to the max, you want to have consistent control over it. In theory it is possible to get consistent acceleration in coupled with analog strafe controls, but it's harder in coupled. In order order to do so, you need to be aware of your current velocity.

I switch back and forth in the middle of fights depending on what I'm doing but for the most part I leave it in coupled they are certain Maneuvers that can only be performed uncoupled and I will uncouple to pull off a maneuver then recouple I enjoyed The Best of Both Worlds

I'm a terrible PvP pilot, so don't take my advice. but I tend to fly coupled in atmo, and when fighting around asteroids, (because I tend to drift into the the ground of asteroids). But in open space I love fighting in de-coupled mode. One of the advantages I find, is when you come up against a jousting opponent. You can full burn away from them, then spin 180 to face them, while still moving away from them. This gives you more time to get hits in as they come towards you, and once they do whiz past you, you can just spin 180 again, and you are already moving towards them, allowing you to get in even more hits, while their back is to you. I also find that your ship movements are less predictable with de-coupled mode, and confuses some players, because you are not moving how they expect you to.

Hate to say this, but decoupled mode is a cargo cult in SC. People think that because it gives you more manual control that it's automatically better, but some of the best racers and combat pilots don't use it at all. You can find race videos on all tracks that are on par with or faster than decoupled runs, and some of the best pvpers don't use it at all. It has some limited uses, but you honestly don't need to fly decoupled, and investing the time into learning to fly decoupled will not do anything to give you an edge over others that don't. You're much better off just practicing the fundamentals and not worrying about it. I know a bunch of people are gonna get offended by that and call me a noob or whatever, but I've been playing this game for years and have seen it all, and there is zero evidence that decoupled mode is better for anything besides bragging rights. It's certainly harder and takes skill to master, but if anything, coupled mode works so well that the advantage comes from using it. It's like turning off ABS or traction control on your car or motorcycle. Yes, it's harder, but you're not going to get better results. Not everything manual is better. It's handy for a few things, but the people that swear by it are just fooling themselves.

This was extremely informative and well done! You got my sub mate. Keep up the star citizen content! o7

In zero G dogfights the place where you'll notice decoupling the most is while "jousting". If you are coupled most of the time, but decouple while passing by the enemy, then decoupled advantage really shows.

I fly both. The time I switch to decoupled the most is when I'm pirating in my Mantis. Mainly for one of the benefits that you didn't mention when flying out of atmosphere, and that's ability to maintain distance and speed in relation to a target. So after I pulled a prospector out of quantum, I just make sure that my vector is the same vector as there's (roughly) and I'm relatively close to them and moving at about the same speed. And once all of those are closely equal, I will be hitting them up and global and in hailing them to try to let them know what's going on. Not to mention you always need to be moving in order to dodge the best so if I don't constantly try to stop myself then I'm going to always be moving even though it may not be consciously directed movement it's still the lack of stopping the movement.

If decoupling is similar to Elite's FA-Off mode, decoupling would greatly favor a boom and zoom playstyle since it allows you to turn around but retain your momentum, increasing the range between ships. Whereas coupled treats the ship more like a plane where it attempts to do a full circle turn. So decoupling would then favor boom and zoom ships as well as those who enjoy side strafing, whereas coupled favors very close range turn battles where you have a very fast turning ship and want to hug your target.

I seen the opinion of some advanced pro players but it is interesting to watch someone new trying out. I think in space you become more hard to target if you roll and strafe at the same time decoupled but you need a stick for that maneuver.

You can do all the same maneuvers in coupled that you can in decoupled assuming that you have proper 6dof controls. Decoupled makes your flight smoother. This is useful for landing, flying low doing tricks over the hills, etc. but flying decoupled actually makes you easier to hit, not harder. This is due to your flight being smoother. Now some of you may say, what about pushing more Gs? Well, this is what GSafe is for. Try flying coupled with GSafe off. This is how you get harder to hit, not flying decoupled. Admittedly, decoupled is cool and good for cinematic flying and landing, but not for dogfighting, unless you're just sitting still in coupled. People seem to get confused between these SC concepts: 6dof - full analog control over all 6 degrees of freedom coupled/decoupled - decoupled does not add uncommanded acceleration, coupled adds uncommanded acceleration to return the ship's translational motion to 0. GSafe - unlocking GSafe allows full acceleration. The most unpredictable, and thus hardest to hit flight mode, is the flight mode with the greatest amount of acceleration and changes in acceleration. This is coupled with GSafe off with full 6dof controls. This is also the flight mode which is hardest to hit someone else while using so your personal dogfight performance may not be best using this mode at least initially.

you need analog thrust control to really unlock decoupled flight also, if you're not tricording, it's gonna feel really awkward. decoupling teaches you to pinpoint your inputs and once you *really* get the hang of it, flying coupled feels like shit. always be aware of your vector. in space this is especially important, id recommend setting your indicator to alwats be visible and in ships like a cutty, you REALLY notice the difference in fuel consumption

DEcoupled always unless I just need to hover or hold a fixed position. And try dcpl landing slow to ground

I use decouppled for kiting. For exaple if im flying a very immobile space whale ill just boost away, deccouple turn around and shoot as they pursue. its great for bigger ships with bigger shields cause you'll do about as much damage to eachother so the bigger ship wins. Note: not really what i use when i play for combat more for self defence

Decoupled mode is for delivering tofu

I kind of wish decoupled was default for being in space, and not default when in atmosphere. Decoupled just makes sense to my space brain and I love a palpable difference in environment. I think new players would enjoy it. (despite crashing into stations at 1000m/s for their first few days)

Use your Flight Path Indicator to land de-coupled...

Theres a very very very simple way to end this entire discussion. If you prefer a more immersive feel of the game in flight or in combat, use decoupled mode. If you prefer a more relaxed way of playing in general, use the coupled mode. The end, thank you for reading.

In my thoughts a good pilot was switched between couples and decouple

Flying decoupled serves mostly just to keep moving, never be a still target. You're less predictable because to some measure you yourself don't truly know where you're going unless you have a mastery of your vessel, and you're never braking, it's all pedal to the metal. Flying decoupled outside of those situations also helps in keeping a heading while having the freedom to point elsewhere in low and no atmosphere. Flying decoupled is though counterproductive if your ship is slow and takes a long time to pivot and accelerate/decelerate, you aren't in a combat situation nor you're racing, you're pulling precise maneuvers or you're trying to loiter in gravity.

I feel as though when flying decoupled you have to fight against the ship and it’s momentum, where with coupled leaving the ship fighting your momentum.

in small ships i fly coupled because the agility is to high to make a difference but in larger ships the speed is lower and and the agility is way lower so i often see small ships able to avoid my firing arc. to prevent small ships from having this advantage i decouple and max speed so you cant hide.... i at max speed become a ball turret and small ships struggle to be anywhere but my rear arc i mean you can get to any angle but your agility and speed fall off is greatly mitigated and i can almost keep the most agile ships in my fire arc

I start flying my ships in decoupled as default. When you have your landing gear down and you are in decoupled, your ship will attempt to maintain its trajectory even in atmosphere. Almost like a semi-coupled mode. Practice landing in decoupled, you can do tricks as you approach the landing pad 😂

decoupled mode is much better for dogfighting in space. it allows you to carry your momentum in obtuse directions while also mainlining fire on your target. Its more of something you toggle in between as needed. Decoupled allows you to be defensive and evasive while still maintain offence. I played star citizen for about 4 months before getting a refund due to my frustrations with the games performance, however I mainly did bounties and ran pvp ops with this org I joined. When facing less skilled pilots hitting a decoupled role destroyed them

I use decouple while scanning for rocks/salvage.

One aspect of being decoupled that constantly catches me off guard, especially in space, is flying backwards, ie: you're accelerating (numbers increasing), but you push the throttle more and your speed decreases, "SURPRISE!" Why can't they add a "-" when in negative numbers? I normally fly coupled, but will touch down (softly), decoupled to get that "Champagne" landing or at worse a "beer" landing. ;-).

The advantage to decouple is that you can do maneuvers you can't do in coupled mode. Like flying backwards at high speed.

I think I would fly decoupled if I was using my joystick, and the point you make about enemies targeting you is really fair if you're following smooth arcs across their screen. I'll stick to coupled since I'm not much of a dogfighter anyway.

i'm using joystick twist for vertical strafe. keeping a constant partial twist when flying in atmosphere is challenging because your hand has other jobs to do than the twist. is there any trick here? get rid of the twist and go pedals for vertical strafe?

Something else that you may not have noticed and did not test for is how much less you tend to blackout in decoupled mode. Since there is less reactive force on the ship as you maneuver you are not pulling the same level of G force in that mode and have so much more control on when and how much force is put on you!

Decoupled is for airshows, coupled is for combat.

I think the computer knows just way better how to micro-adjust your thrusters to get the maximum distribution between your thrusters to reach your targeted direction. So in coupled, you will be able to perform more aggressive maneuvers and sharp turns. However, decoupling to make 180 turns and feed your opponent with your arsenal can be a great thing, especially when you are chased and your back shields are nearly depleted. But that's just my two cents from a relative newbie.

Not if you control yourself and you are used to controlling all of your movements in atmospheric flight. I've tried both and I've gotten used to coupled. I have literally no problem maneuvering just the way I want but then again I fly dual stick.

The best is to do what you feel better and you have a better preference.

But when you start rolling for example, you don't have to counter that roll with rolling to opposite direction like in Elite Dangerous with flight assist off, do you?

Why are you not using the space brake in decoupled to help you compensate for unwanted inertial drift? That is its purpose, really. A pretty important part of flying decoupled.

strange isn't it in the year 2953 they dont have night vision

I don't fly decoupled but I don't go after players either, if you want to fight players fly decoupled :)

I think it's a matter of muscle memory: after a while you adapt and don't feel the difference any more.

In my experience it comes down to coupled being a bit more precise because you don't have to do every input yourself, but there are maneuvers you can do decoupled that simply aren't possible with coupled enabled.

Never flown decoupled. It's like taking traction control off.

The flight model is so strange in SC. It is very much arcade feeling compared to a flight sim. Such as barrel rolling in place... Coupled/Decoupled have their place. As I have learned in other space sims and flight sims. When you want to go in a direction it is best to have the ship do so as quickly as possible. I really see no use in decoupled outside of direct combat. Where "drifting" your ship around and maintaining speed is an edge. Racing I can see it helping for big wide areas where you can also drift around loosely. Otherwise it is always better to have the ship aid in going a direction you need to go. I watch many people crash into objects in SC. Typically they don't see the danger ahead because they are not thinking ahead as is required when flying anything. Decoupled just makes your mistakes you cannot see before hand twice as lethal. This is best a tactic used to toggle on/off when combat is engaged. And entirely best used when up close doing turn fights. If you are an energy fighter knife fighting then decoupled is less useful. Most of combat in any game is basic turn fighting. Hence why decoupled is a favored tactic. If you take the turn fighter into an energy fight. They will struggle using decoupled. As you do not allow them to play circles around yourself.

Space brake if you want to stop quickly

Always decoupled. No exceptions.

Do you get any aerodynamic lift in atmospheric flight at high speeds?

Can't u pull more g's while not coupled thus making little more rapid movements with it off

what if you are on keyboard?

This game is released?

FLIGHT ASSIST OFF

what view do you have Ive never seen this view

The fact that you have to actually login to the game makes this flying technique virtually impossible right now

This all changes when FLIGHT SURFACES come in... or it should. But who knows what excuse for realism this team will concoct. :)

play sc long enough your girlfriend will eventually decoupled u....

Nah no reason to use it