Basic play for the Helm station

The steering of the ship can be done with the drag bars, OR the arrow keys, OR the WASD keys, or a USB joystick.

Also, DO NOT try to have more than one helm station at a time. They will fight for control when you go to warp.

This is very basic, but it trips up almost everyone I've seen take Helm for the first time: Your maneuvering bar is not an on/off switch. When you stop adjusting it, you will not automatically level out and fly straight, you will continue turning at whatever rate you left it at.

Also, the Artemis is more maneuverable than the enemy ships and roughly as fast, so be prepared to drop your impulse speed to maintain the ideal rotation relative to the enemy.

Some tricks that work well for a good helmsman is to make use of your speed advantage. The enemies seem to move at roughly half impulse. You can easily use your warp drive to get in their weapons blind spot and come about at low impulse before they can. Then you simple match their speed and direction keeping them in your sights. Of course it gets more complicated when there are more than 1 ship, but the same basic premise applies. Just use your warp whenever you are about to get caught in the crossfire.

Also it is great fun to get a group of enemies to try and turn around to get you in the middle of a mine field.

My biggest suggestion for the HELM station is do NOT stay at one speed in combat. I have been piloting starships in computer games for nearly 20 years, and I have seen so many inexperienced pilots make the mistake of maintaining full speed during combat. You make tighter turns at lower speeds, and wider turns at higher speeds, so depending on where you are trying to go, and when you want to be there, you adjust your speed to fit your goal.

HELM is, I think, the one station that requires the most skill/talent to be useful. An inexperienced pilot WILL get your ship killed unless the captain can give helpful orders to him/her. Try to pay attention to how your speed affects your final position relative to the enemy, and make adjustments next time.

A good pilot will be able to look ahead and figure out where the enemy is going to be and plan to be at a location that will intercept the target shield facing, or stay out of the weapon arc, or whatever the plan is. You CANNOT pilot on a moment-by-moment basis, you MUST be thinking ahead.