Before we get into ordering ships around, you must first set comfortable key binds for each of the following commands:

I cannot overstate how important having these hotkeys memorized is!

You are likely to jump straight into Multiplayer without having practiced movement after the tutorials, so make sure to go into the testing range, and set these to whatever keys you find most convenient.
Get used to using these keys, so you can minimize use of the pop-out order menu.

Most seasoned players use these commands sub-consciously when fighting in Multiplayer, instead of using the pop-out menu.

Most of these commands are self-explanatory. The ones that aren't are:

- Hold Heading (Track): Orders your ship to face an enemy target head on. When issuing this command you must select an enemy contact - it works both for ships and missiles. It works as long as the target is spotted. If contact is lost even for a split second, the command is cancelled.
The Roll command interferes with it and prevents your ship from aligning guns on target. Make sure to clear the Roll command before using this.

- Clear HDG/ROLL: Clears the heading and roll orders you have set on a ship, allowing it to move and roll freely, until a new command is issued.

- All stop: This command only orders the ship to stop moving in the direction you sent it, but it will not try to return to the spot where the command was issued - it will continue to drift, propelled by inertia, until it comes to a full stop.

- Lock target: This is not part of the movement commands, but you will use it very often with weapon control. You can use this command if you have radar capable of locking a target like Parallax (internal), or Bullseye (mountable)

Formations are essential for minimizing individual ship orders, so you need to understand what each formation type does and how to utilize it.
NOTE: The supporting ships will use the exact same heading and roll commands the lead ship does, regardless of formation, as long as you haven't set individual HDG/ROLL commands on them.

RELATIVE FORMATION
The supporting ships will maintain position in relation to the lead ship's heading and rotation. Additionally, the lead ship will intentionally slow down during rapid maneuvers, so the supporting ships can keep up and maintain position at all times.

TRUE FORMATION
The supporting ships will maintain the exact position you set in relation to the lead ship, regardless of its rotation. The slowest ship sets the highest speed for the entire formation.
Same as the Relative Formation - the lead ship and supporting ships will slow down intentionally to maintain the exact formation you set them in.

LOOSE FORMATION
Works the same way as the True Formation in terms of positioning, however, ships will not wait for each-other to maintain formation. Each support ship will do its best to get to the projected position in relation to the lead ship when the lead ship is ordered to move.

I highly recommend using True and Loose formation all the time instead of Relative.
Relative formation is only useful for cumbersome formations, like the Protectorate (OSP) penta-monitor fleet, where the formation would prevent ships from bumping into-each other.
For that type of formation, the orders of the lead ship have to be issued incrementally, to avoid collisions (i.e. instead of ordering the lead ship to turn 160 degrees to the left, you order it to rotate 30 degrees at a time over a long period of time, so the entire formation rotates evenly).

True formation allows you to set yourself up for an even, simultaneous shift from behind cover, as in the following scenario:
When emerging from behind cover, you want to align all ships (if possible) in the shape of your cover's edge. This will allow you to expose all ships evenly and not stray too far from cover, in case you need to duck quickly.
If one, or multiple of your ships get shot at, and have their thrusters damaged / destroyed, the True formation will slow all ships down. If you need to flee into cover, change the formation to Loose and order all ships to Flank speed.

IMPORTANT: Be mindful of issuing movement commands on the lead ship. If the movement path goes through a supporting ship, this will slow the entire formation to a crawl - plan ahead and order the supporting ship to form off to the side, out of the line of movement, or better yet - plan your escape path ahead of time and do not keep a supporting ship there.

Early positioning, and preparation to fire at an enemy can be a cumbersome task.
However, weapon control can help align you ahead of time.
By setting Weapon Control to HOLD, you can order your ships to train their main armament on a specific point in space, where you expect the enemy to show up.

If using a formation, make sure you hold Shift and then click on WCON, to set it for all ships.
NOTE: You can also invert the distance indicator by holding CTRL and pulling the indicator inwards, until the marker turns from circle to a square. This allows you to shift your camera to an enemy contact's point of view, and set the firing point right on it - targeting a specific section of the ship if it's immobilized.

It is important to set the heading offset of the aiming point, because it will affect the ship's movement priority.
If I were to set the heading way to the left of this battleship, it may cause the ship to switch roll priority for heading, or cause the ship to roll upside down, preventing early alignment on target.
This requires practice, so try setting firing points in relation to heading to figure out how it works.
If done right, the ship will align all guns on the point first and then work on rotating to heading.

Setting a Roll command on a ship will interfere with its efforts to align guns on target, so make sure to clear the Roll command before doing this type of alignment.

This is also incredibly useful for ships with spinal weapon mounts, such as the OSP Monitor and the ANS Keystone.
You can train beams on specific points in a Cap's sphere to deny early capping efficiently, or on specific points behind the ship's cover to immediately hit a target upon shifting from cover.

All ship hulls are bound to stray off the point you ordered them to move to, because of the thrust disparity between their main engine and thrusters.
The more damaged the thrusters are, the worse the drift will be.

Monitoring the inertia indicator and ordering All Stop (or setting a different movement command) can help eliminate drift.
Alternatively, you can also incrementally reduce throttle from FLANK > FULL > 2/3 > 1/3.
You must make sure you are ordering the same command for all ships if using a formation, by holding down Shift before setting the throttle.
Cancelling a movement order early can help save your ships from missiles.
Many experienced players launch missiles towards the enemy's closest caps to deny early cap advantage.
If you see that your capper's inertia indicator has made it inside the cap sphere, you can cancel the movement order, so that you can be ready to dump chaff and shift the capper away from, and behind the chaff cloud.

Once you are used to ordering your ships around, and the movement hotkeys become second nature to you, you need to start planning your movement ahead of time.
The larger the ship is - the slower it is to roll and shift into a specific heading.

The example below shows early commands for a slow, broadside-build Solomon Battleship.


The Drive type on a ship affects its speed and maneuverability. You need to keep it in mind, because it affects how far ahead you need to plan your movements.

One important factor you must consider for bow-tanking Front Line ships, such as the OPS Ocello, and ANS Axford / Solomon, is that the bow thrusters are first to get disabled / destroyed.
When that happens, your mobility in reverse is severely diminished.
Always make sure you emerge sideways from behind cover, instead of positioning yourself to the side of cover - you will take a lot more damage trying to reverse, than if you were to maneuver sideways behind the asteroid.

Certain ships are also prone to specific damage every time they get shot.
The ANS Sprinter is prone to losing its main engine in almost every engagement, because it is a massive, vulnerable target with low HP.
When it is destroyed, the ship's drive can still put some power into it, but the forward speed is extremely low.
This can happen to most ships, so the command you would issue here is the same, but it is crucial for cappers - if the main engine is destroyed, set specific heading parallel to the movement point, so the side thrusters can get you moving to full speed:

Certain ships and ship builds allow for more maneuverability and enable use of complex commands.

The following command is mostly useless for large hulls, however, it can be very beneficial to Sprinters and Ferrymen:
The EVADE command orders a ship to sway on its way to a designated movement point, enabling it to dodge long-range fire.

The effectiveness and strength of the sway pattern depends on the ship's size and drives.

You can enable and forget this command when dealing with 450mm caliber shells, however, when facing faster smaller armament such as 250mm / 120mm / 100mm, you have to time this command perfectly with the enemy's opening salvo.

Swapping throttle from Full to Flank, and vise-versa, also helps force the enemy to overshoot or undershoot.
Remember that Left-clicking the command panel selects the next option, and right-clicking selects the previous option.

On larger hulls, the Evade command only helps if the ship is equipped with Raider drives, which significantly increase its sideways maneuverability, but it is only useful at long range.
You are more likely to dodge fire by swapping Full / Flank throttle the moment you see the enemy fire off a new salvo at you.
Front Line brawling ships can be ordered to maneuver in patterns, if they have their mobility boosted by a raider drive:

And now that we have covered movement, I would highly recommend learning how to identify ships early, how to determine how damaged they are, and how ammo works through the following guides:
https://psteamcommunity.yuanyoumao.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3489565021
https://psteamcommunity.yuanyoumao.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3489613053