Escorts

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z30
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Escorts

Post by z30 »

I made the Gladius and Demon available early in the game in an effort to find out if either are good alternatives for the Ox3 Demon mission. My fleet now consists of a Centurion, Gladius and Demon all with autotracking for missile slots which accept it but none on the guns.

One of the most difficult things you can do in the game is be an escort, a good escort ship needs enough killing power (both guns and missiles), enough speed and enough hardiness & endurance to last jump after jump till the destination is reached.

The Centurion would be the most obvious choice with 4 guns and 2 launchers, mine now bristles with 2 Ion and 2 mass driver blasters plus 2 autotracked DF. Endurance & hardiness wise, this ship shines.

This is the best ship when you hit a bad patch with 6-7 bogeys. With the Demon and Gladius, you end up exhausting your missile supply and have to rely on your guns for the rest of the flight.

The bad news is that the Centurion tends to take more hits than the other two. It's large size and slow rate of turn gets you a hefty repair bill, this is the only ship where I often end up with a lot of internal equipment damaged.

The Ox3 and Palan missions are the toughest escort missions in the game, where hostiles keep going for the cargo ship and not you. The Centurion has the edge here because it has two 10 slot missile bays.

You can load one with guided and other DF (autotracked) and hit the Demons incoming and outgoing.
Last edited by z30 on Mon Jun 12, 2006 6:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Centurion v2

Post by z30 »

I've modified the Centurion to carry 2 Lasers instead of 2 Mass drivers. That and the Ion guns have upped my kill rate due to constant ,sustained fire.

Never underestimate lasers, they work well as long as there is a big gun or a missile to punch the initial hole in a ship's defenses.

The DF & HS missile combo is working out too, though juggling between the 2 of them is tricky at times.

With and Advanced Repair system and a Repair Droid, the repair bills have been reduced as long as I linger long enough in space for the two to do their work.

Now to try it on Ox 3 :)
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Post by mkruer »

This is so true, as a general rule a thumb you should avoid using weapons that suck up so much juice that you are then stranded for a second or two. At the very least you want a gun that can sustain a consistent volley of fire even if the others cut out.

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Playing X-wing it was interesting to lean that on average you will hit only about 5-10% of the time.
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Post by Spaceman Spiff »

Dunno, I never use sustained fire. You hit nothing this way - especially with autotrackers (without autotrackers it might be a way to go).
As soon as I can afford AT, I use four tachs. Then is use single burts of all four guns. With most shiptypes one burst is enough to kill the shields, tow more kill the ship. This is, IMO, the best way to do it.
I know it needs patience to do so - to wait until you are in a good position. But this is all in your head. It's IMO much faster than hunting the guy for hours using sustained fire and hitting nothing...
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Post by z30 »

Spaceman Spiff wrote:Dunno, I never use sustained fire. You hit nothing this way - especially with autotrackers (without autotrackers it might be a way to go).
As soon as I can afford AT, I use four tachs. Then is use single burts of all four guns. With most shiptypes one burst is enough to kill the shields, tow more kill the ship. This is, IMO, the best way to do it.
I know it needs patience to do so - to wait until you are in a good position. But this is all in your head. It's IMO much faster than hunting the guy for hours using sustained fire and hitting nothing...
Best bet without AT on the gun mounts is head on or at his six. AI pilot tends to go head on anyway - except that the Dralthi's tend to spiral towards you instead of in a straight line.

I'd rather not get used to AT guns since AT may be taken away at a certain point in the future. It's going to be tough without AT DF's though.
mkruer wrote:This is so true, as a general rule a thumb you should avoid using weapons that suck up so much juice that you are then stranded for a second or two. At the very least you want a gun that can sustain a consistent volley of fire even if the others cut out.
The limitations on reactor upgrades to the Demon & Gladius and Kilrathis fighter ships make sustained fire pretty much the way to go. I can't count the times I had afterburners on but not a single ounce of spare energy to fire my guns.
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Post by Spaceman Spiff »

z30 wrote:
I'd rather not get used to AT guns since AT may be taken away at a certain point in the future.
You can't argue this way. There are so many changes ahead (rebalancing, possible change of the engine...)... If you refer on future changes, you shouldn't get used to anything... ;)
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Post by z30 »

Spaceman Spiff wrote:
z30 wrote:
I'd rather not get used to AT guns since AT may be taken away at a certain point in the future.
You can't argue this way. There are so many changes ahead (rebalancing, possible change of the engine...)... If you refer on future changes, you shouldn't get used to anything... ;)
Ok, I admit it - I'm a purist :) AT missiles I can take, it's just another guided missile ...guided laser bolts are something else.

AI turrets are something the original game should have had, the Galaxy doesn't make much sense without them.

http://koti.mbnet.fi/moonlord/tower/oldspace.htm

Always loved these space games, link above is a trip down memory lane. Star Glider was one of my favs. Psi-5 brought the crew concept to the space game, it was like having an AI each for comm,engineering, weapons etc - each with it's own personality.

The Elite ship has always stuck in my mind and got me addicted to hybrid designs. You could fly & fight for long periods of time in that thing with solar scoops, docking was always a bit hairy though.
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Post by micheal_andreas_stahl »

I find find that in a demon i can take more damage. Plus i'm faster, smaller, have a greater manuverabilty. So i prefer Demon over other crafts.
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Post by z30 »

micheal_andreas_stahl wrote:I find find that in a demon i can take more damage. Plus i'm faster, smaller, have a greater manuverabilty. So i prefer Demon over other crafts.
Demons are just harder to hit and very fast to boot. Dralthis are also impossibly thin, you can evade a lot of fire if you know what you're doing.

The Centurion just gets damaged more, same for the Gladius if the enemy catches you from the wrong angle.

I'm just itching to give myself a Gothri, it has the firepower of the Centurion without it's vulnerabilities. Learning to pilot it but big, slow maneuvering ships were never my favorite.
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Post by Spaceman Spiff »

What I don't like about the deman is the lack of two heavy-gun-mounts... :(
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Post by micheal_andreas_stahl »

I just put on four Steltek guns via the .cvs files on my Demon. though i can only shoot all four guns only 5 times my aim has improved to the point that it is viable. A Gothri, Drethi, Talon die on one hit. Most others take at lest 2 or 3 shoots. makes things much easyer.

Oh, i edited my Centurion so that it has tougher shields and now when i launch in it i have no reactor power with which to afterburn or fire my guns. What could the problem be?
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Post by Spaceman Spiff »

Guess you got to edit your reactor output. Don't know for sure, but this sounds like the energy usage of the shields was bound to the shield output.
You can test this by lowering your shields manually. It's <s> IIRC...
If you got energy then, the energy output of your reactor is to low for your new shields...
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Post by micheal_andreas_stahl »

Which colomn is reactor output? i didn't see it.
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Post by micheal_andreas_stahl »

Which colomn is reactor output? i didn't see it.

Oh who are this people? landreich, firekkan, nephilim?
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Post by z30 »

micheal_andreas_stahl wrote:Which colomn is reactor output? i didn't see it.

Oh who are this people? landreich, firekkan, nephilim?
Nephilim :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nephilim_% ... mmander%29

Firekkan ( go to Secret Missions 2 : Crusade section)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wing_Commander_I

Landreich :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landreich

Wing Commander Wikipedia Index :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Wing_Commander

Don't you just love Wikepedia? 8)
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Post by micheal_andreas_stahl »

and are they in the remake?
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Post by z30 »

micheal_andreas_stahl wrote:and are they in the remake?
Not in the core Privateer missions. Haven't got to RF and the rest yet :shock:
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Post by z30 »

...and of course I finally gave in and mounted autotracking on my Demon's guns :oops:

The diff. in kill rates was amazing. Then just about when I was ready to tackle the Ox3 mission again I missed the Drayman and had to start over.

I had to sell off my Centurion accessories and get a Galaxy to raise money for autotracking enhancements for my Demon and Gladius fighters.

The Galaxy is proving to be an adept escort, my current rig :

2 Particle cannons w/ AT on the Hull
1 Tachyon Turret
1 Meson Turret
20 HS

Intermediate Hunter Radar, Turn and Thrust enhancers, Advanced Repair plus Droid etc.

That hail of fire is pretty deadly considering this is a merchant ship. I have no illusions though about surviving mobs consisting of 6 or more ships however. You can't outrun them for one.(Gal max 800kps).

Just for kicks will try this Galaxy version out on Ox3.

One other thing noticeable was my changed mindset once I switched to the Gal - I was no longer rushing to get from place to place and was checking out commodity prices again.
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Post by ijuin »

Autofiring turrets definitely make the Galaxy a decent ship to fight in--the turrets will really help in keeping enemies off your tail, and will inflict a bit of damage to them too. You can also use the shortcut key to order them to attack your locked target, which effectively brings six guns to bear on one target.
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Post by z30 »

ijuin wrote:Autofiring turrets definitely make the Galaxy a decent ship to fight in--the turrets will really help in keeping enemies off your tail, and will inflict a bit of damage to them too. You can also use the shortcut key to order them to attack your locked target, which effectively brings six guns to bear on one target.
I swapped the Meson turret with a Particle one, the Talons got shredded that much faster. Kept the Tachyon mount so I'd still have one fast firing cannon, pretty happy with my Gal so far.

Will bring all three (Demon,Centurion & Gal) to Oxford and see how each does,
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Post by z30 »

I was able to beat the Ox3 mission with the ff. Galaxy config.

Hull mounted dual Ion guns (autotracked)
Turret Particle guns
Turret Tachyon guns
Dual autotracked DF missiles

Key seems to be dual DF's and speed actually works against you in this mission. As an escort ship this Gal config works well for me but it takes practice.

Bounty hunting is easy compared to keeping a ship alive.
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Post by z30 »

Readying my Gladius for an Ox3 &4 run. The trick to making this ship a killer is to load the Hull gun mount with the biggest gun possible into it (ie. Plasma cannon).

With a Particle cannon on each wing mount and AT for all guns, the Glad ends up with more firepower than the Demon and still more maneuverability than the Centurion (even with the extra cargo hold).

A single Plasma hit does 28 dmg, equivalent to a hit from 2 Particle guns or 1 HS missile. I use this for headon encounters or when directly behind the target, the slow velocity makes it harder to use than the other guns.

Using afterburners, only the Particle guns can fire after a few seconds of acceleration but this works out fine for me. After a single pass with a gun & missile barrage this is all you need to take it down.

I use to fear Gothri's while driving the Glad - you couldn't outrun them you could in a Demon or overcome them with sheer firepower as with the Centurion.

Once I wrapped my mind around the idea that the Gladius was primarily a missile ship and that the main (hull) gun mount should be used/treated like an extra missile launcher - I stopped wishing I had brought along some other fighter for a mission.

My high point was encountering a Kamekh and blowing it up with guns after unloading every missile I had into it. A previous fight using a Demon had the Kilrathi's laughing at me as 4 Tachyon/Laser guns barely dented the battlecruiser's paint job :shock:
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