Power Management in Galactic Starfighter is one of the key-differences between struggling and dominating the competition for new players in GSF.
Most players have no idea that all Starfighters in the game mode have 4 Power Levels that you can swap between instantly that increase your DPS, allow you to survive a Missile hit or even Boost and Turn for longer before running out of speed.

By default when you fly in Galactic Starfighter, and every time you die and respawn Respawn, your ship will be set to “default” aka normal power. This means that your Damage, Shields and Engines are set to “average”.

To set your ship’s Power to Weapons (increases DPS) press F1 on your Keyboard. This will allow you to shoot for longer and raise your DPS when attacking enemy ships.
To set your ship’s Power to Shields (your Shield regenerates past Green to Blue levels) press F2 on your Keyboard. If your shields enter the Blue range, even the lightest ships may survive a direct hit from Missiles or give you enough time to escape.
To set your ship’s Power to Engines (your Engine Pool depletes slower) press F3 on your Keyboard. You will now be able to Boost with a lower penalty and your ships Engines will both recharge faster and deplete slower. This can be incredibly handy to switch to after Respawning if you need to quickly get back onto a Capture Point.
To set your ship’s Power Reset (default) press F4 on your Keyboard. This sets your ships power BACK to default ‘average’ values across the board.

There are many times that these Power Levels come in handy.
When attacking a Target you should press F1 when you open fire so that you can shoot for longer before reloading.
If someone has locked a Missile on you an you cant escape, press F2 for Shields and you may be able to tank a hit from a single Missile instead of dying.
If you need to get back to the action after Respawning, or chase after someone that is attempting to escape from you, press F3 for Engines and you may just catch up to them even if they are in a faster ship.