Hey, I own a bunch of space sims and a joystick (it's not the best but whatever) and I love these games but there's one issue.... I'm awful at them, absolutely terrible at them I feel like I'm playing a crane game where I'm trying to perfectly get to that tiny spot where shots will hit and sometimes winning, mostly losing.
Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong and how to get better at these games? I love this games and the idea is so cool but because I suck so hard it's impossible to paly them for more then 20 mins before I get angry I keep dying.
For reference I own all the X-Series except for #1, Freelancer (the only one I'm okay at), Wing Commander Saga and Black Prophecy.

Cheat codes!

But seriously... is it an aiming problem or something else?

In many of these games you start out as an absolute weakling, so you're sometimes relegated to "shoot 'n scoot" tactics where you're using boost, turbo, whatever to make high-speed passes against a stronger but slower and less maneuverable ship.

Well aiming can be an issue I find that either has to be very precise because the sensitivity seems too high or low but changing the settings doesn't seem to help much... and when it comes to the X-Series it feels like I can't kill anything even things that are part of the main story things you should be able to fight quickly. But with games like the Wing commanders where it's level based it shouldn't be an issue but I've only ever beaten missions due to blind luck and sheer persistence.

While it's for a different series of games than the ones you have mentioned, Freespace 1 & 2, but here is a GOG thread about Freespace dogfighting tips where several users gave suggestions some of which are probably generalizable to more space sim dogfighting:

http://www.gog.com/en/forum/freespace_series/any_tips_on_improving_skills_in_fs2

You may or may not find it useful for your problems, but I thought I'd post it in case you did!

l'll look at that because seriously I love these games but I'm so bad at them I can;t play them :/

Practice, practice, practice, persistence and a little bit of luck all play a part I think. A decent joystick with a twist handle helps a lot too. If you are having a great deal of trouble staying in control of the ship and aiming and you know the joystick is cheap, consider investing in a better one. It doesn't have to cost all outdoors but something by say Thrustmaster (my own favorite) or Logitech would potentially help a lot.

The only other thing I can think of is be sure to lead targets, pointing a little ahead of them in the direction you see them traveling and spray laser type weapons doing this. That might help some too if you aren't already doing it.

These do tend to be challenging games so don't feel bad. I remember feeling so exhilarated when I finally beat Wing Commander Privateer many moons ago. Certain of the levels were hard for me but I kept at it and eventually got both good enough and lucky enough to prevail and I have no special gift for this either, believe me.

If I can do it, I know you can too with practice. I think you are smart to limit the time of each session if it starts getting to you. This is supposed to be fun. Try to keep that in mind while trying and learning too though. It's ok to get killed a lot, a real lot. Nobody or at least almost nobody ever started off being an ace at this stuff. I know I sure didn't. Being as rusty as I am now, when I get to my Wing Commander GOGs I know I am in for some punishment too but that's okay. I'll get those buggers back eventually! :-)

The only way you get better at anything is with practice, unless you have some talent you were born with, such as walking and chewing gum at the same time.

Seriously, I suck at fps games when I take a break for a while, but I force myself to play through for short periods and ramp my time up to longer periods and by the time I finish a game I'm decent, though I'm nowhere near good enough to play fps in multiplayer with the leet kids. I could be, if I practiced, though. I'm just lazy. Don't be me.

1. Practice - every game uses different model of aiming & flying and you have to familiarize with it. From my own experience: I played many space sims but when I tried Independence War 2 - I could not hit a s..t :-)
2. Playing space sims with poor quality joystick can be frustrating. And you don't have to spend much to have quality joy - second-hand Sidewinder Precision Pro (not Pro 2) would be my choice. And if you have more $ T16000M.

As far as Wing Commander is concerned, I found that the enemy shields regenerated really quickly. You need to focus on persistently hitting one area of the ship to drop the shields and then start doing damage. Maybe try hitting with a missile first, which should take down most or all of the shield in one hit, and then follow up with guns to do some damage...

My two cents:

- Learn to anticipate the maneuvers of the enemy fighters.
- Stick to your target like glue, but watch your six and break your attack if required.
- If a mission is resisting numerous attempts, think about what you could be doing wrong. Also rest and try again the next day.

And if all else fails...
... Insane amounts of practice / the patience of a saint / luck, pure luck sometimes.

That's ok, some people simply suck at certain things, period. I'm mostly terrible at RTS games, but I found out I'm awesome at opening jars and making toast, so the universe gave me something in return.
Discover YOUR hidden talent today!

Yeah of the Wing Commander Games I've played that was a huge issue in Privateer but i know you had a crap ship. The rest of the series is hit and miss some days I can go through 5 missions without a problem but other days I can't get past the first.

and.... Freespace 2 on sale..... they had to do it didn't they? Well I guess I'll be having problems with that game too....

Start with something two dimensional and progress upward. The issue with shooting is naturally you always try to line up your shot. Modern shooter games assume that the laws of physics don't apply to bullets, so infinite range, infinite speed, and motion doesn't alter the direction. Space invaders is a good start as it gets you used to the idea of anticipating your foes. If you have an NES system, look up Gardian's Crusade and grab a walk through of it. This one will get you used to reacting and dodging, along with getting used to different properties of weapons. Most other Arcade style flight games will do as well. If you're cheap and stingy though, look out in the free section. Download Tyrian 2000. Prepare to get your ass handed to you. Now you don't have just weapon properties, you have ship properties, money management, ship management, weapon differences and strengths, aiming differences, all that stuff. Once you get the hand of 2D then turn around and try it in 3D. It's the exact same thing, just with another direction. Targets have to be aimed ahead of where they're going, speed and flight have to be managed to keep the enemy in view and yourself from theirs, and it's blah blah blah more or less all that same stuff. Own Starfox 64? Try doing that one in first person mode if you want to start simple as far as 3D progression in difficulty.

Yes, I'm weird. I grew up with consoles. All that stuff should give you a good idea how to adapt it to the game you're trying to get into.

Freespace 1 & 2 are probably relatively good for the slightly inexperienced space simer. Not too complex & very well balanced, so you can focus on the important bits.
(Plus, they are so good that you want to push on, even if things are going badly)