Fractal Softworks Forum

Starsector => General Discussion => Topic started by: Avan on February 20, 2012, 03:00:20 PM

Title: hullmod heavy variants
Post by: Avan on February 20, 2012, 03:00:20 PM
I took an onslaught, stuffed tons of defense related hullkods, and put on only a bunch of mortars and flak cannons, and a few other cheap things. it was surprisingly effective, and actually managed to kill another onslaught which had gone a weapons heavy route. going to try a paragon next.
Title: Re: hullmod heavy variants
Post by: Zarcon on February 20, 2012, 03:01:48 PM
I took an onslaught, stuffed tons of defense related hullkods, and put on only a bunch of mortars and flak cannons, and a few other cheap things. it was surprisingly effective, and actually managed to kill another onslaught which had gone a weapons heavy route. going to try a paragon next.

Very interesting, which Hull-mods in particular did you choose?
Title: Re: hullmod heavy variants
Post by: Avan on February 20, 2012, 03:04:21 PM
typing on a phone, so will abbreviate.

Aug eng
Aug thrust
bulkheads
armor
hard shld
omni shld
ext shld
Title: Re: hullmod heavy variants
Post by: j01 on February 20, 2012, 03:21:50 PM
Curious. I'd think it would be fairly impossible to get past a normal onslaught's shields with only cheap little explosive and flak weapons.

Did you have a good number of kinetic damage weapons too that you just didn't mention directly? If not, how did the battle go exactly that you managed to win with that setup?

In fact, if it isn't a ton of trouble, I'd love to see a screenshot of your onslaught loadout to see exactly what's going on.
Title: Re: hullmod heavy variants
Post by: SgtAlex86 on February 20, 2012, 03:27:36 PM
aug engines + aug thrust i bet he strafed behind it and shot past the shield...  :P
Title: Re: hullmod heavy variants
Post by: icepick37 on February 20, 2012, 03:32:45 PM
Where did you get all the mortars? They are surprisingly fun.
Title: Re: hullmod heavy variants
Post by: j01 on February 20, 2012, 03:34:18 PM
aug engines + aug thrust i bet he strafed behind it and shot past the shield...  :P

I have serious doubts unless he was very lucky and/or the opponent was distracted by other ships. I've piloted onslaughts with both speed and maneuverability upgrades, and they still turn and accelerate like molasses.

Maneuverability upgrades are practically negligible when they're increasing by a percentage of an already insignificant number!

Where did you get all the mortars? They are surprisingly fun.

Seeing as they only seem to currently be available by stripping a particular class of frigate that is rare, he probably dupe-bugged them to try them out.
Title: Re: hullmod heavy variants
Post by: Avan on February 20, 2012, 04:03:00 PM
I have test mission for this sort of stuff ;) - the variant was hardcoded.

I also had two railguns and two thumpers (Was using a cellphone keyboard, so didn't mention them). Basically, what I did, was I let the other onslaught unload onto my shields and once its flux was too high, it had to drop them once I started firing. Though they did sucky damage individually with low accuracy and range, all those mortars eventully burned through the enemy hull at practically point-blank. Plus I also attacked by raising my shields on top of the enemy ship, and since my ship was very economical with flux (both efficient shields and low flux weapons), and had absurdly thick armor and hull, I simply tanked the damage.
Title: Re: hullmod heavy variants
Post by: j01 on February 20, 2012, 04:36:32 PM
I have test mission for this sort of stuff ;) - the variant was hardcoded.

I also had two railguns and two thumpers (Was using a cellphone keyboard, so didn't mention them). Basically, what I did, was I let the other onslaught unload onto my shields and once its flux was too high, it had to drop them once I started firing. Though they did sucky damage individually with low accuracy and range, all those mortars eventully burned through the enemy hull at practically point-blank. Plus I also attacked by raising my shields on top of the enemy ship, and since my ship was very economical with flux (both efficient shields and low flux weapons), and had absurdly thick armor and hull, I simply tanked the damage.

Awesome.

Kind of reminds me of a few times when I've started campaign mode with an underpowered frigate and ran into some overpowering enemies. I've often had to employ desperate strategies like wildly avoiding combat and letting them waste ammo, then supplementing my weak weaponry by ramming them with my shields up to help damage their armor and hull.

What you've done rather makes me want to see ship variants that are armored up and built for just slamming into other ships to cause damage, relying on superior defense.

In another campaign game I was playing, I found it interesting to load up a paragon with max flux capacity and dissipation, all the hullmods that enhance shields, flux, etc. and speed/maneuverability, and using it as a pure meat shield to absorb shots while my smaller ships dealt with the distracted enemies.

It worked suprisingly well, especially with a crew good enough to push the paragon to elite status, upping its flux/damage shield absorption ratio to like 0.3:1. I didn't have enough OP left to put any weapons on it at all, but it lasted forever before it had to vent flux.