Red warning beacon systems are rich veins of high-end weapons, AI cores, supplies, and fuel. The problem is: profitably extracting these resources from the Remnant can be very difficult. This guide will break down the challenges involved in Remnant mining, so you too can "enjoy" fighting 50 Ordos in a row in your endless quest for more Alpha cores.
Problem One: There are way too many Remnant fleets.
No matter how large your fleet is, Remnants can stack up enough Ordos to outnumber you 5 to 1. If this happens, you'll probably fleetwipe. You must engage the Remnant one fleet at at time, at most two. Fortunately, Remnant fleets do not do two things: they don't Sustained Burn, and they don't Emergency Burn; however, they do Interdiction Pulse. They're quite easy to avoid, as long as you're faster then they are. The Navigation skill is invaluable here; the +1 burn speed and Transverse Jump will let you run from multi-fleet pileups and allow you to avoid being ganked at the jump point when trying to leave a system. You should also build a Sensor Relay and a Nav Buoy in-system if possible; the Remnants won't take them, and the bonuses will let you easily pick your battles. You might even want to bring an Ox or two, just to increase your burn speed advantage.
Problem Two: Remnant fighters are crazy insane.
The Spark is the best interceptor in the game, the Flash blows up everything from fighters to capitals, and the Lux is okay I guess. Remnant fighters are really good, and they bring a lot of them. Your fleet needs to be able to rip through a ton of shielded fighters really quickly, and human interceptors aren't going to cut it. There are multiple solutions to this problem. The Doom rips through fighters like nothing else; two AI Dooms or one player piloted Doom with good mine placement can punch huge holes in Remnant fighter cover. Packing lots of Railguns and Needlers, both Light and Heavy, will let your warships clear out remnant fighter wings on their own. Locusts will also kill Remnant fighters; not even the Spark can deal with the Locusts' overwhelming missile saturation. Finally, after you've killed a bunch of Remnant fleets, you might consider bringing along Spark cover yourself. Six to nine wings of Sparks backed up by one of the previous options will guarantee that the Remnant fighter cover stays dead once you kill it.
Problem Three: Remnant ships are hard to kill.
Generally, Remnant ships have strong shields, high mobility, chokingly thick ECM, and a powerful mixture of ballistic and energy weaponry. They are very hard to pin down and kill. In terms of fleet design, you want a focus on kinetic weaponry, high alpha damage, and the ability to chase down ships that try to back off from the front line to dissipate flux. Needlers are very good anti-Remnant weapons, combining high kinetic DPS with high alpha. You want sustained HE pressure that forces enemies to keep their shields up, not bursty HE to punch through huge amounts of armor; weapons like the Haephestus Assault Gun or the High Intensity Laser, not weapons like the Hellbore. Harpoons are amazing for fighting the Remnant, as they're long range, have good tracking, more than enough damage to punch through Remnant armor, and the AI will happily dump a dozen of them on anything that hits high flux. This is very desirable behaviour when fighting Remnant, as the Harpoons will hunt high-flux ships down when they try to cycle out from the front line.
Problem Four: The Radiant exists.
If you haven't encountered one, why are you reading this? The Radiant has an overwhelming forward battery of five large and four medium synergy slots, defensive stats equivalent to the Paragon, and a
Phase Skimmer. Be very afraid. You need something that can survive being jumped on by a Radiant, so an Onslaught or a Paragon, and something that can chase down a high-flux Radiant when it disengages; either a lot of tracking missiles, a player Doom, a battlecruiser, or an Onslaught that's not afraid to burn drive into a Radiant.
Problem Five: Alpha Cores refuse to drop.
Ritually sacrifice an Enforcer. I'm serious. Get a junker Enforcer, stick Reinforced Bulkheads and Safety Overrides on it, and give it an Eliminate order deep in the heart of the Remnant formation at the start of every fight. The RNG wants a blood sacrifice before it will give you AI cores.
Example Anti-Remnant Ship Builds
Onslaught
This Onslaught design is the backbone of my Remnant mining fleets. It has all the hallmarks of anti-Remnant ship design; Heavy Needlers for high kinetic alpha burst, Haephestus Assault Guns to force shields up for long periods of time, and lots of ECCM Harpoons to hunt down ships that try to cycle out. It's also fairly effective against high-tech ships in general.
Astral
The Astral is designed to hide behind your front line ships, like the Onslaught, and deliver death to anything they engage. The Longbows tear down shields, the Dagger wings throw tracking torpedoes that can hit destroyers and frigates, and the Cobras fling Reapers for destroying Brilliants and forcing Radiants to spend Phase Skimmer charges on dodging rather than jumping on pressured ships. The Locusts help with removing Remnant fighters. Most weapon mounts are left empty to save on flux and afford more expensive bombers. Resistant Flux Conduits encourages the AI to vent when not under pressure, so it can use Recall Device more.
Doom
This Doom loadout is effective when piloted by either the player or your officers. It forces shields up with phase lances and mines, and the light needlers tear them down. Phase ships prefer long-cooldown high-burst weapons that allow them to stay in phase most of the time while still dealing most of their DPS, and both phase lances and light needlers fit that preference. Mine Strike will, of course, destroy Remnant fighters quite thoroughly, as well as finishing off fluxed-out ships in general.
Mora
After you've looted a bunch of Spark LPCs, you might consider bringing your own Spark cover. This Mora brings 3 Spark wings and 2 Harpoon pods to the table, making it a great escort for your capitals. Unlike the Heron, the Mora's Damper Field lets it not die when jumped on by Remnant destroyers or cruisers, but you'll still need to act quickly to pull it out of the fire.
Eagle
The classic 1000 range gun platform, this Eagle will ably cover your flanks and support your larger ships. The mixture of 2 HVDs with 1 Ion Beam and 1 Mauler is very powerful; the Ion Beam prevents shield-flickering between HVD shots and disables weapons and engines even if the shield is up, the HVDs and Ion Beam disable weapons if the shields are down, and the Mauler punches through armor. The Graviton Beams and LRPD allow it to overload and kill shielded fighters, preventing it from being overwhelmed by Remnant fighter cover.
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