Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[SpacePoliticianAndaZealot]

Hey all, been playing around w/ my Onslaught a bit, reached 10 Combat and 10 Tech aptitude, and have outfitted my ship as depicted:

Spoiler

[close]

From my understanding, Agumented Engines and ITU improve the combat performance drastically (thank you Megas for sharing your tips and feedback ), but there's still room for improvement - one last hullmod to really top it off!

• Having 10 Helmsmanship and 6 Evasive Action, my battleship maneuvers like a beast, and with the help of Agumented Engines, it can catch virtually anything and dish it out very far (10 Gunnery Implants, 10 Ordnance Expertise).
• I seldom raise my shields, only to block an occasional Mauler/Pirahna/Annihilator strike
• I don't have a fleet, I just hunt for prey and help out allied fleets w/ my Onslaught. Still, ambushes happen, and I've found myself several times vaporizing a pirate patrol on my own, with my armor almost drilled/hull being nicked open by a torpedo.
• Last, but not least, having Field Repairs 5 and Damage Control 10 means hull (22k points) isn't an issue. Or is it?

With that set on the table, I'm unsure how to improve further: should I opt for strenghthening hull, armor, or shields? Or should I shift to Flux Dynamics and ramp up those caps and vents?

Decisions, decisions,... 

[Gothars]

In my experience, the biggest constraint on the Onslaught is its slow flux dissipation. 100 vents should help you laying down much heavier fire even if your flux is maxed out. Which is OK since you don't rely on your shields for defence. The best defence for an Onslaught is indeed its offense, you want to overwhelm any enemy before it can hurt you. Armored weapon mounts are very good to keep your weapons firing and give a nice armor boost. Then the augmented turret gyros are useful if you fight frigate swarms or fighters.

[SpacePoliticianAndaZealot]

Yeah, I smash a LOT of frigates  would Heavy Armor be viable, however?

[Megas]

I optimize my Onslaught for speed.  Venting, top speed, and maneuverability.  If I have Hardened Shields available, and can fit it (after getting everything else I need), I use it.  Low-tech can shield tank decently (not great, but good enough) with Hardened Shields.

In my experience, armor gets stripped away in tough solo battles, although armor boosts will delay that (enemy capitals with max Damage Control and Evasion Action are very tough to hurt).  Hull regeneration will keep you alive and mostly immune to death by slow attrition.

As for your image, my Onslaught is similar to yours, except I use Heavy Mauler instead of HVDs (because Mjolnir is sufficient for shield-cracking, and Maulers are better against unarmored targets), Vulcans instead of Railgun (flux and OP efficient, another layer of PD, or finish off stuff at point-blank), and Annihilator Pods instead of Reapers (same total damage, but easier to use especially by AI).  Add Resistant Flux Conduits; you want more vent speed even after maxing vents.

[Schwartz]

Generally, offensive and speed skills are better than extra hull points or passive repairs. You want to dish out the damage, not be able to survive longer while you're being taken apart.

Here's a loadout I would field for a flagship. Note that there's no speed mods here. Burn drive should get you where you want, but I feel it's more important to bring your front to bear on the enemy (and hide your butt), so thrusters instead. This loadout is meant to have shields off except to catch high-damage threats like Reapers.

Spoiler

[close]

[Megas]

Yes, Onslaught should get Auxiliary Thrusters so it can bring its guns to bear at targets.  The only possible exception is if the captain has both maneuverability perks.  (Even then, I still get Auxiliary Thrusters if I have nothing left to spend OP on.)

I would get Augmented Engines on the Onslaught just for the +1 burn.  (I use AE and tug on a capital to maintain burn 9.)  However, I would put Augmented Engines on the Onslaught for the top speed bonus alone too.

If you have Damage Control 10 and Automated Repair Unit, repair times are so fast that you do not need to insulate engines or weapons (although you might want the mods for more hull anyway).

[Schwartz]

Armored Weapon Mounts is mostly a means to get +Armor really. Heavy Armor is 400 for 40, AWM is.. 175 for 15? I think. Good trade, anyway, if you have the Technology bonus.

[SpacePoliticianAndaZealot]

I think I will install armored weapon mounts and gyros for the time being, extra turning speed and a bit of armor are nice.
As for the Schwartz's loadout, I've placed a pair of Maulers in those same spots and it works neat   (Ninja'd!)

I use TPCs for the largest targets or when pursuing freighters, else Mjolnirs which I always aim manually. And I'd normally use Annihilators but the Nuclear Sucker Punch is so much fun  

And no, maneuvering isn't a problem for me. 8 burn is okay for me, I don't feel like dragging a Dram and an Ox around. It's really fun when a patrol halts me like "Unknown ship, identify yourself!". Seriously, when was the last time you saw some mercenary just skulking around in his one ponderous battleship?  

I have to question the necessity of another layer of PD though. Vulcans are top-notch PD, but Dual Flak wins the day. Plus, 99% of the time I just shoot down small groups of Pilums (5-6, AI is not keen on Pilum spam).

Definitely noted the venting. Most of the time all of my HVD batteries and Railguns are firing, and flux builds up fairly quickly. But I'll have to grind some more for that, totally neglected it.

[Xanderzoo]

Personally, I always put Heavy Armor on my onslaughts, but that's probably because I like burning into a huge group of enemies and laughing as their shots bounce off.  It probably isn't the most effective strategy, but it's fun. 

[SpacePoliticianAndaZealot]

Okay, the PD remark was a bit off-hand:

Spoiler

[close]

I am very glad I have 10 Damage Control. Damage reversal/tanking is always my niche in these kinds of games  Also, I have lost barely any crew! Amazing!

[Megas]

In case of Onslaught with the single Dual Flak at front, I have had the dual Flak knocked-out (during the 0.6x days when Automated Repair Unit had a crippling Logistics penalty) when I take damage on the nose, leaving only Vulcans as my back-up.  Other times, dual flak aims one way to deal with the threat, but I have another threat coming from elsewhere.  If you do not want Vulcans, then you need two (or maybe three) dual flak at the front.  Vulcans provide backup PD (and extreme DPS when you approach a crippled target) when your dual flak cannot save you for whatever reason.

EDIT:  Also, when I tried Needlers, LAGs, or other assault weapons in the small slots, I had flux cost problems when everything fired at once.  Vulcans serving as an efficient option helped solve my flux (and sometimes OP) problems.

[Wyvern]

I'm currently running with an XIV Onslaught.  Fairly similar to your original fitting, except that I use 3x dual flak up front (that's enough to eat incoming torpedos about 98% of the time!), use needlers instead of railguns (better flux efficiency, higher range, and I don't need 'em for armor stripping), and run with a pair of heavy needlers in the back - the purpose of those guns isn't killing things, it's forcing annoying frigates to take large amounts of hard flux and back off, and the needlers' high burst damage is better at that.

The rest of the configuration is 80 vents, ITU, Augmented Engines, Armored Weapon Mounts, Advanced Turret Gyros, Resistant Flux Conduits (faster venting, and the EMP protection is nice too!), Automated Repair Unit.  (For bounty hunting, I typically drop the repair unit in favor of more vents - but it's a life-saver when I go trawling through hostile territory.  The Sindrian Diktat in particular loves to throw fleets at me non-stop whenever I enter their system.)

I don't use Aux Thrusters - I've got both maneuverability perks, and it doesn't seem to make much difference.  I also don't use Heavy Armor, because it does make a noticeable difference in maneuverability for me.

I did, originally, use maulers in those two medium slots just forward of the torpedo launchers... found the HVDs work better for me.  But then again, I leave the Mjolnirs on autofire (occasionally turning that group off if I can't vent but need to conserve flux), and they're great at popping frigates.  Destroyers and up get a torpedo or two.

When possible, vent spam to keep flux low.  When not possible (i.e. too many incoming missiles and you need to keep the flak running), it's often worth turning off autofire on a group of weapons to conserve flux - and then turn them back on when you decide it's time to unleash your full firepower (such as, say, a torpedo-carrying Vigilance has just come into range and needs to die right now.)

[Megas]

One more reason why I like Augmented Engines: when enemies want to flee, I feel like Scorpion from Mortal Kombat yelling "Get over here!", and there is no such thing as too much speed when you want to run and gun down your fleeing chunks of loot and XP.

[SpacePoliticianAndaZealot]

One more reason why I like Augmented Engines: when enemies want to flee, I feel like Scorpion from Mortal Kombat yelling "Get over here!", and there is no such thing as too much speed when you want to run and gun down your fleeing chunks of loot and XP.

My thoughts exactly.

If you remember my first thread on this forum, I was also running with ARU. At the point where I posted that pic of my Onslaught, I was in constant search of targets to destroy, just to keep my fleet from starving.

Okay, now I have one HVD at the nose, and two dual flaks on the arms, which leaves a total of four dual flaks.

Flux managing needlers is a bit too painful. Also, I have zero Flux Dynamics  

Tbh, I really like the two HVDs in the back. Really has the oomph to tell any flanking frigates to frag off.
Guess I'll be using my Mjolnirs much more now

[Wyvern]

Okay, now I have one HVD at the nose, and two dual flaks on the arms, which leaves a total of four dual flaks.

If you do this, I recommend putting vulcans in the front two small slots - there's a bit of a gap where the side flaks will occasionally let things through.  The vulcans won't stop torpedos, but they can shoot down most other stuff.

Flux managing needlers is a bit too painful. Also, I have zero Flux Dynamics   

Huh?  Needlers have a lower flux cost than railguns (and heavy needlers are far more flux efficient than HVDs, too)!  Unless I'm really missing something, they ought to be easier to flux manage, not harder.