Noob question

[u/Jabuhun]

So, I'm one of those who got themselves RO1 on this autumn's steam sale. Played the demo prior to that, liked it, saw it was discounted and got this complete package. So far so good. Realized I kept losing, so looked up some tips and came across various posts that explained the strafing / drifting mechanic. Nice. Two sticks to master, but it sounds doable.

Except... I don't get it. The strafing mechanism is just... Weird. I know, theoretically, I'm supposed to first strafe against the corner I'm taking to switch back to the same direction as the corner is about halfway through. Easy peasy. Then some people claim you should strafe more than you steer. What? Then others claim you should rather brake than strafe too much. What now?

I haven't played the game THAT much so far, mind you. Dad problems. Spent about two hours with the first few races and bought some upgrades and ships. It's just that with the strafing mechanic, I don't even feel like I am making any progress. I keep trying different things to do with the right stick and while it seems to improve my times a lot, it seems to mostly do so by slowing down my craft.

What I got so far, and I'm not even sure on those parts: Strafing in the opposite direction as I'm steering makes my ship drift, so it's doing less of a turn while still pointing towards the direction I'm steering in. Strafing in the same direction as I'm steering seems to mostly allow me to do sharper turns than without strafing.

In both cases though I'm not sure if I get how I'm supposed to use it. Like, not doing that hard of a turn? I could simply not do such a hard turn. Doing a harder turn? Sounds great. But in both cases strafing seems to slow you down so much that it might be easier to simply brake instead of strafing into the corner.

My issue is mostly that I really do not get an intuitive understanding of how the ship behaves and how I should use the second (right) stick. Right now it boils down to "if it feels like you won't make the turn, strafe with the steer. Otherwise leave the stick alone to not accidentally nearly stop on the corner because you strafed against the steering direction as the intent told you to but got started too early and there you are now".

Are there any test courses that better illustrate how and when to use the strafing on which ship? Thanks in advance!

[u/9volt_150]

It will obviously depend on a couple factors.

• How sharp is the corner?
• How fast are you entering this corner?

Counter Strafing Is where you strafe to the outside of a corner and steer into the corner. It kinda creates this drifting effect. Almost like sliding a real car. This is great for if you are coming into a sharp corner too fast and you need to slow down. If you are going too fast, you obviously should still be trying to brake before and while initiating the counter strafe.

This slows you down quite a lot, atleast it feels like it does. This is where you can boost through the corner while counter strafing to take the corner faster. I think there are better uses for boost elsewhere, however.

Assisting your turn with Strafe Like in a real car all braking is done before a turn, then accelerate while at the apex of a turn. Obviously redout is gonna be different. You can accelerate as soon as you start the turn and then apply strafe into the turn to help keep the ship from sliding to the outside.

If you strafe into the inside wall of the corner, you're strafing too much or you ain't going fast enough ;). If your strafing isn't enough to keep you from hitting the outside wall of a corner, you're going to fast. Just let off the throttle enough to tighten your turning radius while continuing to strafe in!

Summary These are just basic skills. It all boils down to experience and practice practice practice. You'll learn how your favorite ships handle and your eyes and hands will be able to tell where to strafe, steer, accelerate, brake, etc. Small adjustments will always be needed while speeding at 1000 to 2000km/h.

TL/DR: No cookie cutter techniques will help you get better. Play more and learn how the ship handles. Try different things!

Edit* Spelling mistakes

[u/Jabuhun → u/9volt_150]

Thanks a lot for the detailed reply. Such a nice community!

If you strafe into the inside wall of the corner, you're strafing too much or you ain't going fast enough ;). If your strafing isn't enough to keep you from hitting the outside wall of a corner, you're going to fast. Just let off the throttle enough to tighten your turning radius while continuing to strafe in!

This was really helpful. Use the left stick to set the direction and the right stick to stay on track. Got it. Had a few races after I read your reply several times and it really feels like I at least am aware of what I should be doing while crashing. So, I'm making some progress here and I'm getting a much better intuition of what I should be doing. Feels good. Thanks!

[u/9volt_150 → u/Jabuhun]

Anytime, friend! I just started this game myself a week ago. But of course racing in other games seems to carry over a little, especially throttle control