Beginner help

[Ranarius Webfoot]

If you think you can survive a fight against an Elite Fighter, you can even stick around a little longer. Sometimes when the exit beacon is a bit to the left of the edge, I can sneak a good three, four extra visits to nodes farther right before the fleet catches up, and then one fleet battle at the exit beacon and I'm gone. You don't have to be able to kill it (killing it only gives you 1 Fuel anyway), just survive until your FTL engines charge up. Of course, if it generates a fighter with 3 missile weapons and you have no Defense Drone or something, you could be in trouble... but I've rarely been in serious danger from a single fleet battle.