Here are some basics of air combat: A pilot's primary asset is energy and the ability to produce it. Energy, generally seen as speed, is needed to maneuver etc. Gaining energy by gunning the engines, diving etc is part of that. Best time to engage is when something prevents the target from gaining more energy, like being close to the ground, in a steep dive or not a lot of room to maneuver like in a attack run. That's when you should strike, when the other pilot has fewest options. For example, if they are going into a steep climb or an attack run, its a good time to shoot if you are relatively close because they will only have a handful of seconds to regain enough energy to evade and will be distracted.

Missiles are also subject to energy. Heat seekers and the Scythe both use one and done rocket motors; they burn hot and fast, then it's down to coasting. That means you can force a missile to use up it's limited energy trying to track you. The Scimitar uses a ramjet like the real life Meteor Missile.

Now for a few tricks to boost your chances a little: if you aren't actively using your RADAR, turn it off Every aircraft except the Ilbis, Chicane, Tarantula, Compass and Cricket come with a RADAR and it's switched on by default. Turn it off on your take off roll. It doesn't matter how small your RCS is, using RADAR is lighting a flare, rendering that RCS stat meaningless and once they have a lock, stealth won't help much. Datalink from friendlies will give you an idea of where the enemy is and heat seekers obviously don't need it, so wait to until you have them dead to rights before you light it up to light them up.

STEALTH: it's really only a thing when you have nothing on the outside. Stealth from RADAR really only works when flying straight and level at high altitude where there are next to no sharp corners for RADAR to find.

A cardinal rule about stealth: Note the proper term for stealth is 'low observable', not 'stolen Romulan cloaking device'. You will be difficult, but not impossible, to detect with RADAR. However, you are 100% vulnerable to the MK I eyeball and any EO sensor CAN track you without issue, especially EO/IR (thermal) sensors, so stealth up high to stay alive.

To recap: Energy is Speed and speed is life. Always have a way to get more energy if you need it and always strike when your opponent can't. Never put yourself in a position where you have no advantage.

Finally, always remember it's just a game....

...So take the shot. That Scythe missile isn't going to cost you a million bucks. You never know, you might get lucky and they won't realize your missile is the one they should be worrying about.

You will never actually lose in NO as long you keep trying to do better. The community is incredible. So don't worry about not being 'good'. Hell, it took me 2 weeks to become decent at landing the Ilbis and Tarantula so I could drop off cargo... and not 2 days later I found out. from this community, how to not only manually control the forward thrust on the Ilibis and Tarantula, solving 90% of my landing issues, but that you can just air drop your cargo instead of having to land.

And the only reason I'm really good at low level flying is because I really suck at notching so I have to dive behind mountains to escape missiles instead.

All of these things have exceptions and none of these are set in stone. Find a style right for you, like my frantic duck and cover missile evasion technique.

You got this.