In The Black Beginner Guide — How to Fly, First Mission & Starter Ship

1. Understand the Newtonian flight model

In The Black is one of the few space combat sims to use a true Newtonian flight model: your ship keeps drifting in whatever direction your last burn pushed it, regardless of where the nose is pointing. There is no “arcade” flight assist on by default. The single most important habit to build is cold thrust: cutting your main engine, rotating your nose with RCS thrusters, and burning retro to bleed velocity.

Spend the first hour in Simulator → Newtonian 101. Do not skip it. It is the only place the game explains why your reticle and your velocity vector are different objects.

2. Set up controls before you queue PvP

Mouse + keyboard works, but HOTAS (Hands On Throttle And Stick) gives you a 30% kill-rate advantage in ranked BloodSport. The official Impeller bind layout supports Thrustmaster T.16000M, Logitech X52, VKB Gladiator and the Steam Deck. See our controls & HOTAS setup guide for tested keybind files.

• Bind RCS Lateral and RCS Vertical to hat switches, not buttons.
• Put Flight Assist Toggle on a single, easy-to-reach button — you will toggle it constantly.
• Reserve a free button for Match Target Velocity; this is your panic-stop.

3. Pick the right starter ship

New pilots should fly the Shrike Razor for the first 5–10 hours. It rotates faster than anything else in the game, which means every Newtonian mistake you make is recoverable. Once you can dock cold-thrust without bumping the pad, upgrade to the Kolibri Axe — currently the strongest light hull in the BloodSport meta (see our tier list).

4. Your first mission: Debris Sweep

1. From the station screen, pick a Debris Sweep contract — no hostiles, no failure timer.
2. Fly the Shrike Razor with default loadout. You are practicing tracking, not combat.
3. Engage Match Target Velocity on each derelict drone; line up your pulse laser; fire 2-second bursts.
4. Return to station and bank the credits. Repeat 3 times before touching any other contract type.

5. Your first BloodSport drop

When you queue BloodSport for the first time you will be dropped into Bronze placement. Expect to die in under 90 seconds for your first 5 matches. That is normal — every Hyperion on the enemy team is hunting Shrikes. Stick near a friendly Reus, focus the same target your team is calling, and disengage the moment your shields drop below 25%.

6. What to do next

• Read the best loadouts page and copy a Kolibri Axe build.
• Skim every ship overview so you know what is hunting you.
• Bookmark the tier list — the meta will shift every EA patch.