Your primary goal is to defend the UT. The UT lets the range limited PT appear near the combat zone. You don't want the UT to die. When you appear on the UT, take off immediately. You are in a crunchy ship, and blowing up on the UT will probably kill/cripple it. You have 6 missiles, and you should use them all before docking on the UT again. When you dock, you will get 6 new missiles, but the UT looses one of it's 12 missiles. So try to fire all your missiles before you dock, and get the best "missile conservation" ratio.
[This may no longer be true. Some servers don't make the UT pay a missile to reload a PT]
Ideally, one PT should be on call at all times. This should be a player who is willing to drop whatever he is doing, sundive his ship, and get into a PT when needed. A scout bomber is a good person to work off of the UT. He can die when needed, and nothing is lost (Whereas a taker can't just sundive because the UT needs help.) Watch for messages from the UT, and be ready to help.
Ogging in the PT. Charge in, try to use all the missiles, unload your remaining fuel as torps, and then buzz around the base like a little bug, wasting the base's time, and causing confusion. Don't expect to kill the base on your own. You won't. But with a few BB's coming in on the base, the combination of attacks should be enough to make the kill. Once the base is dead, if there are any PT's left on the UT, grab one and use it to protect the UT while it escapes the "post ogg massacre."
You have the rank. You have the balls. Now you need the practice. Before you start flying the UT, it is considered polite, and smart, to ask if anybody on your team minds if you use the UT. Emphasise that you are new at it, and want to get some practice. Usually nobody will mind. The reason why you ask is that if you are using the UT, you might be preventing the team from using one of the other special ships, like the Starbase. This is bad. Probably the best time to fly a UT is during the enemy's LPS. Your team has a surplus of planets then, and can afford to let you fly the UT. You will also be luring twink oggers away from the enemy planet, so you might actually help your team. :-)
DON'T. 1 UT missile = 1 PT with 6 missiles. UT torps are pathetic. I have never seen them do any real damage to a ship. And the phasers are a joke. If you get in trouble, yell for your PT's.
If you are carrying armies, by all means, USE THE MISSILES. Your goal in this case is to kill the attacker and warp out. You can nurse your wounds later, just kill that guy and run. UT's have good warp prep times.
Cloak and move at warp 3. There are very good reasons for this. Above warp 4, the PT's cannot undock, and will sit on your hull sucking fuel. Cloak, because you don't want to get shot at. At warp 3, the UT turns like a scout, and can dodge torps suprisingly well. And with the shields down, you don't loose fuel. If you get into trouble, use the afterburners and then hit your max impulse speed key, to keep from overheating. Then start distressing. Your PT should see that and come to the rescue.
After the fight, be sure to pick up the PT, cuz he'll be hurting. Unless you carry. If so, the PT can fuck off. You've got your own problems. But in all cases, if you've been found, it's time to bug out. Every good netrek player has an irresistible urge to ogg UT's mainly because they are the easiest 12 army DOOSH out there. And, they're usually flown by new players who can't use them properly, and so are even more crunchy.
Cowardice and runnerscumming are not only the proper thing to do in a UT, IT IS EXPECTED. Don't be a hero unless it is LPS.
This is pretty elementary stuff here. At 4 missiles, head home and refit, or just ob out and come back in as the UT again. (How do I ob out?) If you must ask, you shouldn't be in the UT yet. But the answer is in the main FAQ.
Other ships can dock on a UT too. You can help out a crippled ship by letting him dock, then sneaking away with both of you cloaked. DON'T WARP. You will etemp faster than you'd believe. It seems to be related to the weight of the docked ships. I tried to move a BB once. I got maybe 1 grid square across the galaxy before my engines melted.
This is probably the riskiest thing you can do in the UT.(Sundiving excluded) You will have to get pretty close to the target base in order to make your PT's effictive. If you're too far away, the PT's spend too much time charging in. You want them to be back approx. 10 seconds after they die. Any longer, and the wtemp that the base gained killing the PT will be gone by the time the PT returns. But get too close to the base, and he'll roast your butt. You will want 3 of 4 PT's to ogg off of you, right when the ogging is at it's peak. Once the base goes, sneak or warp away, depending on the situation. If your PT's are clued, they'll stick around and defend you while you are escaping.
One fun thing about the UT is that it's the only ship with docking ports, and what you would call a front end. This makes things interesting. Ever notice that bases, SB, WB, JS, never rotate when they turn? However, UT's do. This means that the ships on them move too. If things are dull, whenever a ship docks on you, stop your UT and lock onto them. The high angular velocity of the UT tends to generate large quantities of humor.
Well, that's all I have to tell. If you think I forgot something,
E-Mail is cool.
(Editor: if possible, send a copy to me, too!)