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Author Topic: Kitting a Conquest  (Read 15955 times)

StarScum

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Kitting a Conquest
« on: May 21, 2019, 09:08:26 AM »

I'm really interested in the Conquest capital ship for its weapons and speed.

I was planning on outfitting its 4 large ballistic slots with Mjonlinr Cannons so the main guns are always useful, the 4 medium ballistic slots with Heavy Maulers to chew up armor, and the 2 medium energy slots with graviton beams to help the Mjonlinr strip shields. The 8 small energy slots will be split evenly between burst PD lasers and Ion Cannons. Perhaps I'll replace the Ion Cannons with Antimatter blasters but that might not be realistic.

Not sure what to put in the 2 large and medium missile slots. 

On an unrelated note, the more I look at it, the more I want to strangle whoever designed the Conquest. From a lore perspective its like stapling two battleships together; it looks awful and its impractical. From a lore perspective, there is little to be gained from having two battery's of guns on two different sides of the ship that can't support eachother. It would have been much more practical (and stylish) to just have guns mounted on a hull running down the middle of the ship that can be brought to bear port, starboard, and aft. This would cover all the areas it currently does while also cutting the cost of the ship almost in half.

From a gameplay perspective its also frustrating cause it means you have to spend OP on guns that will most likely be out of combat most of the time.

It just pains me that a ship I love the concept behind (a fast moving hard hitting capital ship just like the Iowa) could be more efficient and more stylish at the same time.
« Last Edit: May 21, 2019, 10:13:45 AM by StarScum »
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Schwartz

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Re: Kitting a Conquest
« Reply #1 on: May 21, 2019, 10:30:57 AM »

Spearheading a Conquest into the middle of an enemy formation works well if you have the flux reserves. I don't consider symmetrical layouts wasted, but I do consider the medium energy and medium missile mounts a waste. HAGs and medium kinetics make the most of your flux. Locust SRMs. Burst PD all around. Then use Hardened Shields as the only shield mod; shields to be used situationally. Dump OP into flux handling. It works fairly well but remains a glass cannon.

I wager the OP reduction for heavy mounts was a result of the broadside nature of the ship. So you're wasting less OP. Going full-on hardmode on one side and PD on the other side is a viable build strategy, if you wanna go there.

Heavy Maulers were nerfed hard in this version, I would find every excuse to use medium kinetics.
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MajorTheRed

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Re: Kitting a Conquest
« Reply #2 on: May 21, 2019, 10:38:26 AM »

I use a Conquest as a flagship for Station assault and defence:
-Small energy with only Laser PD
-Medium energy with burst laser
-Large Missiles with Hammer barrage and Medium issiles with Salamander pod (to prevent retreat)
-One side is often more geared up than the other: Heavy Needler/Autocannon + HAG (in short burst) for the main side.
-The other side is more PD oriented but still able to defend itself: Devastator + Large autocannon and flak.
-For mods: Accelerate shield, ITU and the hull mod giving boost to EMP resistance and flux venting.

I tend to go for the wall of fire strategy over the large uber guns (Gauss and Mjolnir) which are too costly for the COnquest IMHO.
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Tei

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Re: Kitting a Conquest
« Reply #3 on: May 21, 2019, 10:43:37 AM »

The conquest is severely lacking IMO. You can get the same 2 Large and two Med mounts on an Onslaught, except you dont have to rotate as much at all to get the proper firing angle.

For missiles using medium missile pods on the Large mounts can work too. Use 4x Sabots or 4x harpoons are actually pretty decent. Saves OP so you can dump it into capacitors or more hullmods.
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Thaago

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Re: Kitting a Conquest
« Reply #4 on: May 21, 2019, 10:54:23 AM »

Hardened Shields and Heavy Blasters in the front mediums are the essentials for a good Conquest build.

Missiles depend on the rest of the fleet: if you have enough interceptor cover, go with hammer barrages (squalls for AI). If you don't, go with Locusts. It almost doesn't matter what large ballistics you use, as long as you have enough kinetics to reasonably get through shields, because they are all good. Mjolnir + Mk IX is good for 900 range band and is complemented well by autocannons or HVDs. If you aren't afraid to get in close, Storm Needlers are brutal, brutal beasts (I like to put them in the front slots so they get just a bit more range off the forward beam).

Why heavy blasters? Because the Conquest has a massive region forward where it doesn't have good firepower: 2 heavy blasters is a solid cruiser's level of output, which will punish/kill any cheeky frigate or fast destroyer that tries to hang out there. It also allows the Conquest to chase down enemies without stopping offensive output, or do the "swing and blast" maneuver to fire off a dual hammer barrage without the guns stopping.

I do recommend putting the heavy blasters in their own weapon group: if you have an enemy in broadside the ballistics are much more efficient, and sometimes that efficiency is needed. Other times, leave them on and kill the enemy more quickly while running up your own flux.

For hullmods, ITU, Hardened Shields, and IPDAI are solid choices. Resistant flux conduits can be a good choice as well because the shield is narrow. Beware adding too many hullmods: in general they are pricey and should be picked carefully. Personally I prefer LRPD over burst PD, both for the range with ITU and to save OP, but I also tend to put a flak/dual flak on each side for supplemental PD (and the HB's cover the loss of DPS).

Conquest can be run symmetric or not. I prefer symmetric because it lets me engage in whichever direction is most tactically sound, as opposed to needing to circle/move in a particular way. It also lets me have a backup side for when I inevitably overextend during my murdering spree and get one side's guns disabled.
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Gotcha!

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Re: Kitting a Conquest
« Reply #5 on: May 21, 2019, 10:55:13 AM »

I love the Conquest. It's my favourite, along with the Odyssey.

I have 4 Mjolnirs in the large slots, 4 Hypervelocity Drivers in the medium slots, and Harpoon MRM Pods all around.
I strip their shields and finish them off with Harpoons (the large ships at least; smaller ships die fast enough anyway).
Hephaestus Assault Guns would be decent as well I guess.

I find Heavy Maulers very disappointing as well. An explosive weapon with an extremely long range is a bit pointless in my opinion; better to use anti-shield long range weapons first, get their flux up, and while closing in destroy them quick with a shorter range higher damage explosive weapons/missiles.
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koprus

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Re: Kitting a Conquest
« Reply #6 on: May 21, 2019, 11:20:11 AM »

I was checking old posts for conquest kitting ideas the other day and stumbled upon this one right here:

http://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=14662.0

Some very cool ideas in there check it out!



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Igncom1

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Re: Kitting a Conquest
« Reply #7 on: May 21, 2019, 12:00:24 PM »

I'll tend to go for a more conservative load out that is supposed to allow it to survive fleet-vs-fleet engagements.

PD in all small mounts, and as for the medium and large ballistic I'll often go for HVD's and those rapid fire assault cannons. Although sometimes I'll mix it up with some heavy autocannons supporting a couple maulers.

Seeing what the AI can do with heavy missile launchers I'll always put on some, never usually the torpedo launchers but I will usually mix it up to whatever from time to time. The medium missile mounts I just stick whatever type of missiles I am using in the play through. Never torpedoes though as I have accidentally told the AI to use them both at the same time beofre and nuked my own carriers. LOL.

And finally the energy mounts.... I just use PD in all honestly, no need to overcomplicate it, just pack on some PD lasers and let that be the end of it.


Occasionally however I'll go super conservative and mount medium weapons in the large mount slots and just buff up the flux stats or pack on more mods. I'll still kill cruisers just fine, but now it won't have any real chance at killing enemy capital ships... on it's own anyway.
« Last Edit: May 21, 2019, 12:02:09 PM by Igncom1 »
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Megas

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Re: Kitting a Conquest
« Reply #8 on: May 21, 2019, 12:03:08 PM »

Maulers are handy for Conquest for dual Gauss or Mark IX builds.  If I need Gauss Cannons to attack Paragon with Tachyon Lances, I want to stay as far away from it so to avoid getting shot by its hard flux weapons then blasted (and paralyzed) by shield piercing beams.  But I guess Tachyon Paragon is rare in 0.9.  As for dual Mark IX, if I need more kinetics or I have not yet found enough heavy HE (say, I just recovered my first Conquest, and I need to use it before I return to my colony where my stashed weapons are), two Maulers will do in a pinch.

Currently, my new Conquest taken from a deserter has two Mark IXs and two Maulers on one side because I have not found two HAGs yet.  (More preciselyy, I have them at my colony, but I am far away from it, and the shops are not selling HAGs.)

I agree Heavy Mauler has been hurt a bit much since 0.9a.  I use it seldomly.  If its DPS will remain this low, then it needs better accuracy.

Quote
And finally the energy mounts.... I just use PD in all honestly, no need to overcomplicate it, just pack on some PD lasers and let that be the end of it.
If I have OP to spare, more burst PD is what I like in the medium mounts.  Usually, I do not and the mounts get left empty.
« Last Edit: May 21, 2019, 12:05:58 PM by Megas »
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Thaago

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Re: Kitting a Conquest
« Reply #9 on: May 21, 2019, 12:26:34 PM »

If you want to kite instead of brawl, Ion Beams can also be good in the medium energy mounts. Its amazing what even a single beam will do once shields go down. If other elements in your fleet have EMP though (I like to have Eagles and Falcons with 1 ion beam each) then its not super needed.
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Megas

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Re: Kitting a Conquest
« Reply #10 on: May 21, 2019, 01:56:25 PM »

The best part of Ion Beam is the shield pierce to paralyze.  Ion Beam is a bit of a flux hog, and takes OP that may be better spent elsewhere, so no high-end heavy ballistics like Mjolnir.  Even with plenty of OP from skimping on weapons, it is so tempting to get Expanded Missile Racks for more missiles.

I tried Heavy Blasters on Conquest and... Conquest, like old pre-0.9a Centurion, needs a bit more forgiving and overlapping turret arcs to attack with two medium energy weapons ahead easily.  However, if player can get it to work, it is useful enough that player can use dumb-fire missiles (like Hammer Barrage) effectively.  Because the medium mounts eat more OP, and they are flux inefficient, player needs to cut back somewhere on the broadsides or PD to make it work.

For those without Heavy Blasters, Pulse Lasers and IPDAI IR Pulse Lasers seem to work okay.  Even Mining Blaster can work if player wants to get close to use dumb-fire large missiles optimally.
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Goumindong

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Re: Kitting a Conquest
« Reply #11 on: May 21, 2019, 02:36:51 PM »

Hardened Shields and Heavy Blasters in the front mediums are the essentials for a good Conquest build.


This is all good advice except

1) Stay away from Mark IX's. Heavy Needlers are better in almost every way. While they don't have 900 range, Mark IX's are so inaccurate that that doesn't much matter. The Burst damage on shields is very valuable and they're more efficient on cap.

2) The bigger the guns the better HE damage is in general. Bigger guns have bigger raw damage and that makes for better armor and hull penetration (due to minimum armor). So if you're considering going for HE meds and kin larges probably worth swapping that.

As a result i kind of like

Hellbore/HAG +2 HN. The Hellbore punches through dense armor and the HAG does consistent damage. The 2 HN burst shields which need to stay up because of the Hellbore and the HAG. ITU, Hardened Shields, Aux Thrusters. There is a devastator and Assault Chaingun in the rear slots to clean out fighters. There are two burst PD in the rear to kill salamanders. And 2 Hammers go in the front slot. Everything else into dissipation and cap.

Aux Thrusters are pretty essential to enabling the broad-slide which is also pretty essential to properly piloting the ship. Skills are also pretty necessary

Hellbore/Storm/empty med or flack is also a decent combo
« Last Edit: May 21, 2019, 02:49:30 PM by Goumindong »
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Vind

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Re: Kitting a Conquest
« Reply #12 on: May 21, 2019, 03:29:43 PM »

Works well with full combat build. Gunnery Implants needed so Mark IXs and HAGs wont scatter fire much.
« Last Edit: May 21, 2019, 03:34:04 PM by Vind »
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intrinsic_parity

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Re: Kitting a Conquest
« Reply #13 on: May 21, 2019, 04:11:50 PM »

Mark IX are a perfectly good choice IMO. They are already good value for the OP and then on this ship, large weapons have reduced OP cost, so they are super good value. They let you spend more OP on stuff like hardened shields that the ship really needs. They are accurate enough to deal with cruisers/capitals and slow destroyers which is what the ship should be fighting anyway. I usually use more high power weapons on the conquest because it has the flux stats for them though. Mark IX is a gun I use on the onslaught and dominator more where the low OP and reasonable flux cost work well. Heavy blasters are ok, but I wouldn't use them if you are already using something like mjolnirs, they just cost way too much flux and have mediocre range. They're good if the rest of your load out is fairly efficient though.
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Megas

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Re: Kitting a Conquest
« Reply #14 on: May 21, 2019, 04:21:39 PM »

The only reason I see to put things like Heavy Blaster in the mediums is to attempt to combine them with large Hammers or Reapers and use Conquest primarily as a traditional forward-attacking ship (just to give large dumb-fire missiles a point in the game if Legion XIV cannot be found), with broadsides a secondary focus.  Otherwise, I like the mediums empty (or put more beam PD in them) and focus on broadsides and maybe homing large missiles.  Unfortunately, those medium energy turret arcs do not overlap very easily, and getting them to focus at a target straight ahead is a bit of a pain.

Marx IX is reasonably accurate with Gunnery Implants 3.  Even without that perk, it is still decent at anti-shield of large ships.
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