Combat, what's the deal?

[Phoenix-D]

Ooo. Check some of the other weapons before you roll eyes too much at those APBs.

Tachyon cannons are nasty, for one. Shield-skipping, weigh only 5kt more, and do the same damage as an APB- and use less power! I have one of those and one Incinerator Beam on my current ship.

[Krsqk]

I like to be able to fire non-stop into my enemies, destroy them, and still have a little energy left to start on the next one. I use the 2 APBs with 2 PDC, and unless I'm fighting a missile-heavy battlegroup, I don't have many problems. I'll have to check out the tachyon cannons, though--I'd prefer the extra 20 ls range and smaller size of the APBs, but shield-skipping is sure a pain when used against me. Torps are nice, but most enemies have PDCs at higher difficulties, and firing at extreme range is pretty much a waste due to enemy maneuvering (except when fighting starbases, when it's quite the opposite). I really only found torps useful against ships when firing at near-point-blank range from behind, when they could strip the shields fairly quickly. Thing is, the APBs are at least as good at that range.

As for the left and right arcs, I find the time used in turning to aim at my enemy is good for recharging energy; not to mention it's easier for me to track a single target at a time. I wouldn't mind a few rear-facing weapon arcs, though. *shrug* Difference in style, I guess.

[Krsqk]

[edit for styoopid double post ]

[ October 09, 2003, 03:09: Message edited by: Krsqk ]

[Gandalph]

Originally posted by Phoenix-D:
Ooo. Check some of the other weapons before you roll eyes too much at those APBs.

Tachyon cannons are nasty, for one. Shield-skipping, weigh only 5kt more, and do the same damage as an APB- and use less power! I have one of those and one Incinerator Beam on my current ship.

I currently have a cruiser with 2 tachyon cannons forward mounted and 2 PPB's side mounted. I do mucho shield skipping damage on the way in, then turn and fire the PPB's, incase you have phased armor, for maximum damage per strike!!

[Tracer]

Granted that I've only played the demo so far, the key to killing enemy ships, especially when they're in Groups, is to kill them fast before they have time to wear down your shields and armor. The best method I've found is to mount two toxic injectors firing in the same arc. They are in different weapon banks. When an enemy ship makes an attack run fire the injectors a second or so apart. If the enemy ship has point defence one torp will be destroyed, but the other will hit. Two hits from injectors will kill a destroyer and four will kill a cruiser. That's one salvo if the destroyer has no point defence and two for a cruiser with no defence. Your own ship must have point defence to kill fighters. With this setup I've jumped into a system right on top of a cruiser and two destroyers who got the first shot in, however, they all died and I survived. Also, as a bonus, the components their exploding ships leave are usually undamaged, no need to repair before selling them.

[ October 22, 2003, 01:33: Message edited by: Tracer ]

[Suicide Junkie]

I think the best way to kill enemy fleets is to have a fleet of your own
Joining up with a TCN fleet, or having a squadron of fighters deployed are the easiest methods.

Especially with fighters, you can hit them, then recharge quickly and send 'em out for another attack.
If you have multiple fighter bays, you can recover and repair the damaged ones while the rest continue to pound the enemy to dust.

[Renegade 13]

Welcome to the forums Tracer!!