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1

General Discussion / New Onslaught is a Beast!

« on: August 17, 2012, 12:14:11 AM »

I'll admit, I never really got on with the Onslaught. Too slow, too hard to turn, too easy to flank, and with all said and done just not enough firepower to justify the frustration of waiting to get into the action. The Conquest was faster and more maneuverable with the ability to bring almost as much firepower to bear, and the Paragon could outrange and outlast it.

With the new patch, the combination of Burn Drive and the Thermal Pulse Cannons + Mark IX Autocannons + Integrated Targeting Unit, this thing is terrifying. Absolutely capable of taking on entire fleets at range, and survivable enough to handily win a slugfest against a Conquest and two Dominators in the simulator.

And, with Burn Drive, there's less enemies running away, and less waiting to get into the action.

Kudos to Alex for making the ancient behemoth scary again!

2

Suggestions / Burn Drive expiration => return to zero flux max speed, if at zero flux?

« on: August 16, 2012, 08:38:44 PM »

Basically, what the title says. This is bigger news on the ponderous Onslaught than the Dominator or the Enforcer.

Once the Burn Drive stops, the ship automatically slows down to the ship's max speed, without the zero flux bonus, no matter if you have zero flux or not.

Is this intended? If not, it's kind of annoying (albeit small), since you have to re-accelerate to the flux bonus.

3

General Discussion / How many "Elite" crewmembers does it take?

« on: May 07, 2012, 09:17:51 PM »

...to make a ship "elite", percentage-wise? 10%? 20%? Is it different per ship?

4

General Discussion / Refitting for missions

« on: May 04, 2012, 02:13:56 PM »

So, I've found that with the newfound ability to refit your ships before each mission, a few of the tough ones get a lot easier.

-Predator or Prey - Adding dual flaks, three railguns, three Harpoon Pods, and a crapload of Vulcan cannons make this mission LOADS easier. Fighters and torpedoes die very easily, and it doesn't take long to overwhelm the Astral's defenses once you can corner it.

-The Last Hurrah - Going with a one-sided Conquest build (all dual flaks on one side and Hypervelocity Drivers/ Hellbores on the other) plus Auxiliary Thrusters and Extended Magazines makes this formerly very tough mission quite a bit easier. I still lose most of my fleet, but I don't overload after three shots anymore and can stop bombing runs cold in their tracks. Also, the Onslaught dies very quickly to a Hellbore pass.

-Sinking the Bis'Mar - Swapping the AM Blasters for Phase Beams is a quicker and easier way to knock out the Bis'mar than the constant darting in and out with AM blasters. The EMP damage from the phase beams knocks out the Onslaught's engines and rear guns quickly, and you can stay far enough away so that the Arbalest Autocannons in the center of the thing can't hit you.

-Forlorn Hope - Swapping the Tachyon Lances onto the side turrets, replacing the needlers with Dual Flaks, and tweaking for a less flux-heavy loadout with fewer heavy blasters and more Phase Beams means that this mission gets a LOT easier. I can beat it without taking hull damage now, although it's pretty much impossible to catch up to the damn carriers at the end for a perfect score.

-I still can't come up with a good loadout for The Wolf Pack, as I used to get 88% or so on this mission in the past, but find that too many freighters slip through my lines in 0.52a. Wonder why.

5

General Discussion / Ode to the Venture...

« on: April 12, 2012, 11:37:02 PM »

...the most useful ship in the galaxy.

Sure, it's not the fastest, nor the best-armed, but it has:

-Massive personnel, cargo, and fuel capacity
-25 hangar capacity
-1 flight deck
-PLENTY of armor and hull
-360 degree flak coverage

While yes, it's a bit undergunned, it can still be quite devastating with a pair of Harpoon pods and some Sabots. Also, the fact that it has so few weapon slots means that you can stock up on hull mods (more missiles!) and actually use that medium energy slot without overloading.

In my most recent game I decided to go for a more "carrier" setup, and have ended up buying two Ventures and capturing two more. A crapload of Piranhas and Broadswords picked up via battles along with three sets of Wasps, a Gladius wing, and a Thunder wing, and you can pretty much take on the world.

6

General Discussion / Solo ship builds

« on: April 11, 2012, 09:51:17 AM »

All you guys who run solo, what are your favorite ships to do so in?

I've been most successful with the Enforcer in terms of taking down mid-sized to large fleets quickly:

Weapons:
-Dual flak in the two side turrets
-Dual Hypervelocity Drivers in the two diagonal turrets
-Heavy Mauler in the front-facing turret
-Four single Harpoon MRMs on the missile mounts

Hull Mods:
-Hardened Shields

Rest in vents.

I've loved playing with solo Tempest and solo Wolf too, but haven't had quite so much success in terms of taking down large fleets and dealing with overwhelming numbers.

7

Suggestions / Not-so Friendly Tachyon Fire

« on: March 29, 2012, 04:16:54 PM »

I've noticed that, with every weapon except for one, friendly AI ships are pretty good at not shooting their friends and/or you.

That one, however, is the Tachyon Lance, and it can end your day rapidly. I usually end up taking more damage from my own fleet than from the enemy when running multiple Tachyon Beams in one engagement.

Is this an easily-solved AI issue, or is it sort of a balancing consideration to the Lance's power to knock out frigates and fighters at ridiculous range? I'd love to see it fixed, as while it's an interesting balance consideration, it's really annoying and doesn't make much sense from a "fun" perspective.

8

Suggestions / Fleet Health Indicators - HUD or Tactical Map (or both?)

« on: March 15, 2012, 11:26:10 AM »

Is there any way that the HUD or tactical map could implement some kind of display along the side, top, or bottom that shows the hull/flux levels of the various ships currently deployed in your fleet without having to zoom in super close or click on them in the tactical map?

I ask because I often run a large number of fighter wings and fast frigates, and it's very tough to tell at a glance from the tactical map which ones to order in for a refit or retreat when they're all clustering around a target. This would also help you determine if one of your ships got in over its head without checking the tactical map every ten seconds.

It's unfortunately not helped by the fact that you can't seem to zoom in on the tactical map in anywhere but the center, making it hard to click on wings individually to determine how they're all doing.

9

Suggestions / Quick suggestion re: buying multiples

« on: February 29, 2012, 08:57:32 PM »

When you go to buy, say, 30 crewmembers out of a 500-crew stack, is there any chance we could change the button that lets you pick the number from shift-click to right-click?

It's much more intuitive, and you wouldn't have to explain it in the manual or force people to search the web to figure it out.

10

General Discussion / Nothing like the expensive part of your fleet hugging a nuclear death-ball...

« on: February 26, 2012, 10:58:48 PM »

Great game! Loving it so far.

One question: Is there any way to make sure that when your fleet is all clustering round that last cruiser, you don't lose irreplaceable destroyers and frigates when it finally goes nova? I just lost a Tempest and a Medusa when a crappy Pirate cruiser went up. From full shields and hull to nothing, all because they decided to butt heads with the thing while pumping it full of holes.