So, I have been playing FL for years, on and off, and while I've never had any illusions about being a good pilot, I never had any trouble finishing the game, vanilla or Crossfire SP following the story missions. Just tried my hand at MP for the first time, visited some bases in New York and such, the usual. Then I took one job board mission to assassinate a random Xeno NPC and everything fell apart. The first waypoint, there were two of them, neither the guy I was after, and two Bounty Hunter Piranha NPCs were flying by when I engaged, so I got some help killing them. Wasn't too much trouble. Next waypoint, I'm on my own against the first two, then after a few minutes the target shows up.
Forty bloody minutes later, I am still trying to stay on his tail and take him out, the battle has raged on long enough that five more of his buddies showed up (now it's me vs eight of them) and while I've taken his shields down a few times, I haven't been able to leave a lasting scratch on his hull. They all fly like they're full of coke and speed, and I am having a hell of a time keeping a bead on any of them. So, I am frustrated as hell, my mouse hand and neck are cramped up, and I am going to bed. But until I next come on, does anyone have any useful dogfighting pointers they'd like to share? Or know of a guide to the basics of FL dogfighting? Because the AI just ramped up by several orders of magnitude even from SP with Crossfire installed. Many more beatings like this and I will just retreat back to SP, lol.
Thanks in advance to anyone who can help a poor, beaten noob 
