I've heard more than a few times from people who say SLFs and copilots are useless, and how the money they take is outrageous.



While the credits they take is a point for discussion (although i will address that as well), they are far from useless if you use them right.



Size of bay



The main choice is between a size 5 and size 6 bay. There is a size 7 but the only advantage it gives is more rebuilds, and if you are losing that many SLFs you are doing something badly wrong. I can stay in a CZ for 30 mins and be unlucky to lose more than 2. A size 5 (depending on ship) will leave bigger slots available for shields or something else you want, but only give you 1 SLF bay, meaning when you lose 1 you have to wait for the next one to be ready. It also means you are limited to 1 type of SLF, and sometimes having different ones can be useful. I highly recommend the size 6. Within seconds of losing a SLF you can launch another one from the other bay. Just try not to lose 2 in quick succession.



Choosing your pilot



As far as i'm aware, there are no differences in pilot types. Regardless of backstory, gender, whatever, they all fly the same. Would be interested to hear if anyone has any evidence there is any difference. The only choice you get is in their rank, appearance, and back story. I do pay attention to appearance, and chose for myself a nice looking lass called Miranda Bush, because her name amused me.



The main consideration is rank. They are available at ranks from Harmless to Expert. For those who don't want a lasting relationship (perhaps because of credit drain) then you can go for an expert, just hire and fire as you want. For those who want a permanent co-pilot (and if you look after them and don't take silly risks, they shouldn't die) then definitely go for Harmless.



Harmless at Elite take only 10% of your income, whereas those hired at Expert take 20% if you get them to Elite. Quite a difference.



Choosing the SLFs



There is some room for personal preference here and there are some noticable differences. You should also change your ships depending on the rank of your pilot. I've found low ranked pilots can't hit very well with fixed. Until you get a pilot to at least Competent, forget about fixed. They will do better with gimballed even with less damage. Once they get Competent/Expert, try switching them to fixed, see how they do.



Beam/Pulse/Plasma - The first two are kind of personal choice. I prefer beam for the bust damage, the pilot does a run, inflicts good damage, and then circles for another pass. It jousts more. With pulses they can dogflight for longer. See what works for you. I don't recommend going plasma for one reason, they are pretty bad against small ships (although great for big ships and chew through hull), and small ships are the main issue for SLFs. However, if you expect to be mainly facing big ships, you might want a Plasma ship in your hanger.



As for secondaries, to be honest, i don't care about it much. Heat Sinks i've not found the pilots using them effectively. Chaff is ok, but a SLF really doesn't need it as they are fast and agile. Point Defense is ok, and can help them out, but its rare i lose a SLF to a missile as long as i'm watching the enemies closely. Probably PDTs are the best choice, but not an option with beams which i prefer.



Basically beams or pulses on your SLF, and on your ship go kinetic heavy as the SLF will help you take down shields anyway.



As for which one, i've found the Imperial Fighter is the best due to speed and manouverability. Some people might point to the Taipan due to its stronger hull, but i've found once shields go down the fighter tends to die quickly if being focused anyway, so not really worth it. Condor is better now its had its thrusters fixed.



Orders and keeping your SLF alive



So, this is the part where i think most people go wrong. They leave their SLFs on defend and then wonder why their ships are dying. Don't treat your SLF like a missile. It isn't fire and forget. Keep it on a leash. You use defend and before you know it you are several km away from it and its focusing on an Anaconda while being wrecked by an Eagle. Especially in a CZ.



There are only 2 commands you really need. Hold fire and Attack my target. Hold fire is how you keep them on a leash. Recall them with it if they are getting wrecked. Recall them by habit as soon as the current target is destroyed. In a CZ, don't leave them by your side for long though unless you are safe. Make sure most of the time your SLF is attacking your target. Better to take one target down quickly rather than two over a longer period of time.



Always, and i mean always, attack close targets by size. SLFs, small, then medium, then large. You're in a fairly big ship most likely (unless in a Keelback) so small ships are your biggest annoyance anyway if ignored and they are quick to kill, and small ships, especially other SLFs, can murder your SLF if you let them. Forget about that Anaconda pounding on you, its a lot less risk to your survival that the SLF or Eagle circling you. Deal with the small ship, then get onto the big one. The SLF will wreck its shields anyway.



Missiles - yes, they can be an issue for your SLF, which is why you should remain close to the SLF. NPCs will usually target you over the SLF anyway, and if they attack the SLF, you are free to attack them.



In short, protect your SLF and your SLF will protect you.



CZ specific tactics



Ok, you might be used to sitting at the center of a CZ in your engineered Corvette getting pounded on and laughing about it. If that is how you want to do CZ, forget about SLFs, they are useless in such situations. SLFs die a lot when you are outnumbered. Use sound CZ tactics to keep you and your SLF alive. Stay on the edge of battle, pick your targets, choose targets that are already outnumbered by your allies if you can. Stay away from the CZ center, as if you get caught in a respawn, say goodbye to the SLF and possibly your own ship as well.



Ranking up



No realy trick to it. Just keep them safe, don't die, and they will fly up the lower ranks. Once you hit Dangerous things slow down a lot, but by then you have a damn good co-pilot on your hands. You can get them up some ranks early on by taking on small easy targets and letting them get the killing blow, which gives them more rank progression.



Let them fly your main ship?



LOL, not in combat. If you want, by all means. I know some people prefer to get the in SLF and let their co-pilot handle the main ship. Just keep in mind, if your main ship dies, not only do you face a rebuy, but your co-pilot is dead as well, and there goes all your hard work levelling them up.



With multicrew



Remember, with a size 6 bay you can have 2 SLFs out. One with your co-pilot and one with a friend. This can be lots of fun.



Pilot Salary



Ok, this is where a lot of people get worked up about pilots, but personally, i think its just silly. First of all, credits are stupidly easy to make these days. Long gone are the days of 1.0 where getting credits (without taking advantage of broken mechanics) was hard. So what if they are taking a few % of that cargo or passenger mission, even when not on board. Its not like the majority who use SLFs actually need that money. They say "oh, my co pilot has taken 100 million from me!" when in the meantime they have taken in over a billion. Its a joke.



Just don't hire and fire Experts for best long term results. Train one up from Harmless to Elite and it will take 10%. You hire Experts and they take 12 going up to 20% at Elite.



Ok, that's my personal opinion, and i know not everyone will agree, but if its an issue for you, then just forget about ever having Elite co-pilots, and having less effective pilots. Just don't complain that pilots are useless when you are limiting yourself while sitting like Scrooge McDuck on billions of credits.



PvP



Not my thing, but i certainly would not be risking a pilot i had trained up in PvP. Hire an Expert specifically for the occasion if you like. Others will have to comment on how useful they can be for PvP, although i can imagine any competent PvPer would destroy a SLF as soon as it appeared. At best then you might be reduced to using them as a distraction with the hope of occasionally getting some damage in. But if they PvP opponent let's them live... then hey, free damage!



And an example



Always love showing off my battle beulga. Note how sometimes i'm not even getting in range of the target before the enemy is dead. Yes, it was a situation where my allies were doing very well. Sometimes i need to get out of Dodge, but often i can turn the tide of a CZ battle even if we are outnumbered, just by flying intelligently.



If i remember correctly, my NPC here is below Dangerous. She is now Dangerous, close to Deadly, and is a great pilot.



[video=youtube;ndvlo_Iy2pw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndvlo_Iy2pw[/video]



Fly safe CMDRs, and keep your co-pilots safe as well.