This topic is about ships that can solo the entire simulator fleet in 0.7.1a.
- What is a simulator fleet?
- Standard simulator fleet in 0.7.1a consists a total of 88 ships, worth 858 points. Five are civilians, three are dedicated carriers, and the rest will seek and try to destroy you.
- What ships can solo the entire simulator fleet?
- The following standard ships that have enough firepower and peak performance to accomplish that feat include Dominator, Conquest, Odyssey, Onslaught, and Paragon. Presumably, ships from other mods with comparable stats can do it too, although mods tend to add more ships to the simulator.
- Why solo the simulator?
- Because the most difficult extended battles can involve more than a hundred enemy ships, and you want to win. If your ship can destroy the entire simulator fleet, it has a chance to win the largest battles possible in the campaign. Deploying a single battleship costs less than deploying a whole fleet of smaller ships.
- How long does an entire simulator battle take?
- At least fifteen minutes. Without Hardened Subsystems, Conquest has ten minutes of peak performance, Odyssey has eleven minutes, and the battleships have twelve minutes. Hardened Subsystems extends peak performance by half. If even capitals need Hardened Subsystems to guarantee enough time, you know the fight will be long.
- How does Megas run his simulator meat-grinder?
- First, I make sure battle size is raised to the maximum (500). Once I load the simulator, I click All for enemies and deploy. After I destroy an enemy or three, I attempt to deploy All for enemies again.
- How does Megas fight in the simulator?
- Once the enemy frigates and fighters are deployed, if my ship is a slow capital, I withdraw it into a corner, where it cannot be flanked, and stay there until most of the enemy fleet is dead. A dozen or more frigates and/or fighter wings surrounding a capital and firing non-stop will kill it eventually. Not even Onslaught or Paragon can kill that many ships before losing the flux war and needing a vent. Hiding in the corner will prevent all ships aside from fighter wings from flanking your ship. Faster ships like Dominator or Conquest are always on the move for the best place to shoot from because they need to work fast to win on time.
- Is simulator harder if you can change "maxBattleSize" and deploy the entire enemy fleet at once instead of 300 points worth of ships?
- No, and here is why. After your ship hides in a corner and successfully defends against the initial rush of fighters and frigates, fighting the entire fleet at once is a bit easier because more enemy ships bump and grind against each other, causing damage and maybe killing each other, as they try to swarm you. Only so many enemy ships can attack your cornered ship at a time, and your ship is slaughtering one of theirs every few seconds, Also, many more ships visible at a time are losing peak performance, then CR later. All ships who survive long enough will eventually lose all CR before you do, and they become easy pickings. Meanwhile, your big bad capital hiding in a corner cannot be flanked by anything that is not a fighter, and is simply blasting ships one or more at a time.
- Hiding in the corner is not fair!
- Neither is the enemy siccing far more ships than your fleet can support against you. Make the enemy pay! That said, you will probably not need to hide in a corner unless the enemy deploys numerous high-tech frigates against you.
- Megas is a munchkin! And he fights dirty!
- Guilty as charged, enough said!
Critical SkillsYou need maximum Combat and Technology aptitudes and skills to get the extra power you need to win.
Combat- Missile Specialization: Makes Pilums - or any other missile - faster and stronger, and should be maxed.
- Ordnance Expert: Optimized Assembly perk at max level makes weapons cost less OP, effectively giving you more OP to spend! Also, +20% more damage!
- Damage Control: So many bonuses ranging from less damage taken, shorter overloads, hull regeneration, and faster repairs.
- Target Analysis: More damage to armor and shields at level 10. Conquest and Odyssey need this to kill ships quickly enough.
- Evasive Action: Raise to at least 5 for more maneuverability. For those who want no hull damage, raise to 10 for half damage to armor and nearly impervious engines that are almost flameout-proof.
- Helmsmanship: Max it for as much speed as possible.
- Power Grid Modulation: Raise to at least 5 for faster venting, but 10 is ideal for harder shields and faster dissipation.
Technology- Gunnery Implants: Raise to at least 5 for more shot range given by Entoptic Rangefinder perk. More is useful if using non-beam and non-flak weapons for PD. Cruisers, with less peak performance, need max level for faster firing rate.
- Flux Dynamics: Dissipation and venting speed is critical; max it for Miniaturized Vents perk.
- Computer Systems: +OP% skill that gives Integrated Targeting Unit - max it!
- Construction: +20% armor at max level is useful if attempting no hull damage. Otherwise, not very important.
- Mechanical Engineering: +OP% skill that gives Augmented Engines and other goodies - max it!
Critical Hullmods- Augmented Engines: The extra top speed is mandatory, especially if fleeing from something.
- Auxiliary Thrusters: Battleships turn somewhat slowly even with +125% manueverability from two perks. No such thing as too much. Conquest and Odyssey cannot afford this, and cruisers are fast enough to not need it.
- Expanded Magazines: More shots for Autopulse Lasers or Onslaught's Thermal Pulse Cannons.
- Hardened Subsystems: Allows battleships to finish simulator before peak performance times out. Odyssey needs this to finish before CR decays to malfunction levels.
- Integrated Targeting Unit: +50% shot range for capitals makes this must-have for them.
- Resistant Flux Conduits: Faster venting speed is critical. Also lets your ship shrug off hits from Thunders' ion cannons and Paragon's Tachyon Lance.
Ships and ConfigurationsThese were what I used. There are other viable configurations.
ParagonCapacitors: 1
Vents: 100
Weapons: 2x Dual Flak Cannon, 4x Salamander MRM, 4x Heavy Blaster, 4x Autopulse Laser, 9x Burst PD Laser
Hullmods: Accelerated Shields, Augmented Engines, Auxiliary Thrusters, Expanded Magazines, Hardened Subsystems, Integrated Targeting Unit, Resistant Flux Conduits
Autopulse Laser has relatively low OP cost, excellent burst damage, good flux efficiency, and fast fire rate to make hitting almost anything fairly easy. Four fully charged Autopulse Lasers aimed and fired at one target will make it dead very fast. Heavy Blasters hit hard, and will pick up the slack when autopulse lasers are drained. Dual Flak cannon is the best PD weapon in the game, and it will help stop missile stacks and/or finish off crippled ships. Combined with Burst PD lasers, Paragon as good anti-missile defense. Salamander is the only unlimited small missile, and they can knockout engines of annoying ships, or at least distract them. They are not really needed, but Paragon has plenty of OP to burn.
OnslaughtCapacitors: 0
Vents: 90
Weapons: 2x Heavy Mauler, 3x Mjolnir Cannon, 4x Pilum LRM Launcher, 6x Vulcan Cannon, 7x Dual Flak Cannon
Hullmods: Augmented Engines, Auxiliary Thrusters, Expanded Magazines, Hardened Subsystems, Integrated Targeting Unit, Resistant Flux Conduits
Mjolnir is long-ranged and great against everything. Heavy Maulers are also long-ranged and hurt things without shields. Seven flak cannons around the Onslaught will provide impressive area-of-effect point defense that will stop most missiles and murder fighters (and weakened frigates). When dual flak is not enough to stop everything, Vulcan cannons back them up. Four Pilum launchers buffed by max Missile Specialization form a deadly cloud that can do serious hard flux damage to shields, possibly causing overloads then severe damage to the ship. Pilums will kill things, and they regenerate.
OdysseyCapacitors: 0
Vents: 45
Weapons: 3x Pilum LRM Launcher, 3x Autopulse Laser, 12x IR Pulse Laser
Hullmods: Augmented Engines, Expanded Magazines, Front Shield Emitter, Hardened Subsystems, Integrated Point Defense AI, Integrated Targeting Unit, Resistant Flux Conduits
Autopulse Laser is easy-to-use, powerful, and not too flux-intensive. While there are better anti-missile PD options, the Odyssey needs as much firepower as it can get to solo the simulator, and IR pulse laser has the best stopping power against missiles and enemy ships alike. Pilums will cause damage here and there, and Odyssey desperately needs them to finish the simulator in time.
Conquest- Configuration #1: Assault and Point Defense blend
Capacitors: 0
Vents: 80
Weapons: 2x Heavy Blaster, 4x Mjolnir Cannon, 4x Dual Flak Cannon, 4x Pilum LRM Launcher, 8x IR Pulse Laser
Hullmods: Augmented Engines, Hardened Subsystems, Integrated Point Defense AI, Integrated Targeting Unit, Resistant Flux Conduits
Mjolnirs and Heavy Blasters are the primary damage dealers. Dual Flak and IR Pulse Lasers are point defense and secondary damage dealers. Pilums hit when they can for more damage.
- Configuration #2: Sniper
Capacitors: 0
Vents: 84
Weapons: 2x Graviton Beam, 4x Mjolnir Cannon, 4x Heavy Mauler, 4x Pilum LRM Launcher, 8x Tactical Laser
Hullmods: Advanced Turret Gyros, Augmented Engines, Hardened Subsystems, Integrated Point Defense AI, Integrated Targeting Unit, Resistant Flux Conduits
Mjolnir has 900 range, and the rest have 1000+. Effective at sniping distant targets. Not very effective if too many enemies get too close, and point defense against some missiles is mediocre. It is harder to finish the simulator quickly enough with this configuration than the one above.
DominatorCapacitors: 0
Vents: 44
Weapons: 2x Heavy Mauler, 2x Mjolnir Cannon, 3x Pilum LRM Launcher, 3x Light Needler, 6x Vulcan Cannon
Hullmods: Augmented Engines, Hardened Subsystems, Integrated Targeting Unit, Resistant Flux Conduits
Designed to bombard targets with as much firepower as possible from relatively long-range with vent-spam friendly weapons. Mjolnirs are great all-purpose weapons, Heavy Maulers for more damage, and Light Needlers (in the three front light ballistic mounts) to break shields. Vulcans in the back defend against missiles coming from behind.
Closing NotesBoth Paragon and Onslaught can finish the simulator without taking hull damage. Both are freaking strong!
Automatic Repair Unit hullmod is a good idea for Paragon and especially Onslaught. Onslaught caught without engines out in the open (instead of a corner) is a dead Onslaught. Both Emergency Repairs perk and Automatic Repair Unit hullmod will have engines and weapons repaired very quickly. Having CR recover faster between encounters is very useful too. It will cost you vents, and make a no hull damage simulation harder.
While Conquest has total firepower comparable to a battleship, its overall defenses are much worse. Less armor, terrible shields, and minimal PD at the front and rear makes it too hard to avoid taking hits, and armor then hull will be lost. With a strong enough configuration and favorable fighting conditions, it is possible for Conquest to finish the simulator with time left in peak performance.
Odyssey is not as powerful as the two battleships. It lacks the firepower and armor to avoid taking hull damage, and must rely on hull regeneration to stay in the fight. Also, with less firepower and peak performance, Odyssey will need more time than given by peak performance to win, and losing too much CR is a danger. Time is not on the Odyssey's side.
The only practical reason to use Odyssey over Paragon is you want a flight deck. Do fighters help enough to justify Odyssey over Paragon? Not enough to make a difference in a simulator battle. Most fighters do insignificant damage before they die and are removed from battle. Daggers may land a few torpedoes, but it is not enough. Ultimately, fighters provide a distraction for a few minutes before the Odyssey is on its own again.
Out of all of the cruisers, only Dominator and Aurora have enough firepower to solo the simulator. However, Aurora is at a disadvantage against the enemy Paragon. Paragon outranges and outguns the Aurora, and Fortress Shield can block several Reapers with ease.
