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Author Topic: Thank goodness for the Heron  (Read 3463 times)

Koyocire

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Thank goodness for the Heron
« on: April 18, 2020, 08:56:04 AM »

So I heard about this game and decided to pick it up since it seemed to be right up my alley.  It’s an amazing game and I seem to have gotten a handle on the mechanics...all except one.  I am terrible at combat.  Doesn’t really matter if I pilot a lowly frigate or a massive capital ship, I always seem to get blown up in the first 1-2 minutes of a battle.  Was incredibly frustrating until I discovered the Heron.  I don’t know what it is about that ship, but for some reason I can use it extremely well often contributing 30%-50% of kills for my fleet in a battle.  For anyone else who is having a hard time in combat, I highly recommend giving the Heron a shot.
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Scorpixel

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Re: Thank goodness for the Heron
« Reply #1 on: April 18, 2020, 01:06:08 PM »

Well the Heron as a cruiser got good stats all over the board, particularly speed and flux. It is less exposed compared to the Eagle while still having the means to provide direct support (unlike a Gryphon who's on life support by just raising it's shield).
Anything that can catch you cannot survive three buffed fighter wings.

As a bad pilot, only taking temporary control of a Sunder(or alike) already in a good position or a battlecarrier that is being a little too shy, staying on autopilot is a routine.
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Igncom1

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Re: Thank goodness for the Heron
« Reply #2 on: April 18, 2020, 01:08:46 PM »

It's fast with a system that boosts fighter/bomber damage. It's very nice all round for a cruiser sized carrier!
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Sunders are the best ship in the game.

Alex

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Re: Thank goodness for the Heron
« Reply #3 on: April 18, 2020, 01:09:20 PM »

Just wanted to say hi, and welcome to the forum!

(I half wonder if you're finding more success with the Heron might be because you know it's not a direct-combat ship, and so play more conservatively? It doesn't take much to take down even heavier combat ships, so maybe it's just this extra degree of caution that's making the difference for you. Just a thought, though, and the Heron is a solid ship, regardless!)
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Koyocire

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Re: Thank goodness for the Heron
« Reply #4 on: April 18, 2020, 01:27:14 PM »

@Alex I actually play it hyper aggressive.  I often will ram another ship just so my bombers have the least amount of travel to deliver their torpedoes and can receive cover from my point defense.  If I had to put a finger on it, it’s because I don’t have to manage flux offensively or worry about weapon arcs so I can spend more time focusing on piloting the ship and paying attention to what’s going on around me.  I just seem to get horrible tunnel vision flying the other ships.
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Alex

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Re: Thank goodness for the Heron
« Reply #5 on: April 18, 2020, 01:33:34 PM »

Oh, hah, I couldn't have been more wrong! That makes sense, though - getting caught up in looking around only to realize you've overloaded due to your own weapons fire maxing your flux is a real killer.
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Aereto

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Re: Thank goodness for the Heron
« Reply #6 on: April 18, 2020, 07:06:46 PM »

Your play style is a bit more like a carrier striker. Your weapon power is more on the fighters, so there is less stress on the ship flux. A Heron is a decent ship, more so with some frigates covering your flanks and further supporting your strike wings.

The Heron's combat push is in its system ability that gives a boost to fighter power for a flux spike.

Speaking of capitals, the Astral could fit you in battle (but not pursuits) since its recall ability allows to keep delivering payloads at shorter waves as long as you have the flux to handle that. Of course it is not meant for chasing or flanking, but you can crush center fights with them.

Heron works well with frontline ships in battles where you have to stand your ground, especially ones where you have to deal with other cruisers and capitals.
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Kpop

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Re: Thank goodness for the Heron
« Reply #7 on: April 21, 2020, 06:56:03 PM »

This thread is funny to me. Sure, good for you, finding a ship you liked. Heron was my go to spammable carrier my first playthrough, but I preferred a more "direct" ship myself.

That said, fighters are in general - and carriers by extension, overpowered due to their ability to oversaturate a space that warships wouldn't have the room to fill.
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namad

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Re: Thank goodness for the Heron
« Reply #8 on: April 27, 2020, 11:41:21 PM »

@Koyocire: I recommend this.

@Alex: Why isn't this the default?


IMO this is the superior way to play. It makes steering and aiming SUPER simple. It's dark souls style where the enemy can be either a locked enemy ship or otherwise your mouse cursor. It totally ruins all the gameplay of omni-shields, and it makes movement much less precise, but much more responsive.

For anything smaller than a capital ship, that doesn't rely heavily on omni-shields, it's superior. Also I know there's a hotkey you can hold to toggle it, however it's too hectic to use that hotkey in battle, furthermore, the only reason I'd want to invert my strafe mode is if I'd changed the ship I was piloting. When I decide to change ships from a wolf to an odyssey that's when I'll change the option back in the menu.

This is the tip I would give anyone who is struggling to successfully pilot their ships who is new to the game (and therefore maybe hasn't tried this).

edit: Yes, I'm aware that my suggestion is "bad" but IMO you have to be pretty elite at games like this for my suggestion to be incorrect. I'm not a pro-level gamer and I'm not sad about that, this menu option totally saves me. It lets me "be bad" but still feel "badass" instead.

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« Last Edit: April 28, 2020, 07:13:46 AM by namad »
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SapphireSage

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Re: Thank goodness for the Heron
« Reply #9 on: April 28, 2020, 10:26:39 AM »

@Koyocire: I recommend this.

This is the tip I would give anyone who is struggling to successfully pilot their ships who is new to the game (and therefore maybe hasn't tried this).

edit: Yes, I'm aware that my suggestion is "bad" but IMO you have to be pretty elite at games like this for my suggestion to be incorrect. I'm not a pro-level gamer and I'm not sad about that, this menu option totally saves me. It lets me "be bad" but still feel "badass" instead.

I would not say that your suggestion is terrible, but it depends on the ship class personally. Cruisers and heavier are slow and ponderous so I prefer follow cursor off, especially with omni shields, but faster destroyers and frigates that can react quickly I prefer to have it on.
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namad

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Re: Thank goodness for the Heron
« Reply #10 on: April 28, 2020, 11:48:11 PM »

Yeah cruiser+omni or capital (especially omni) ships my suggestion is bad, but, new players don't start with either. I get that by playing this way I'm never going to learn to control omni shields well, but, for my enjoyment, this is just way better, I just let an AI pilot my bigger ships and I have fun dogfighting in something faster.
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Koyocire

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Re: Thank goodness for the Heron
« Reply #11 on: May 03, 2020, 10:48:09 AM »

@nomad  I did experiment with both styles when I first started playing.  Recently, I’ve been keeping the default behavior and putting all my big guns in one group set on auto fire.  I then just toggle that group on and off and leave the targeting up to the computer, seems to be working.

@Kpop  I had heard that carrier spam was pretty powerful, but after trying it out, I don’t think it really is.  I had a ridiculous number of fleet wipes trying to get it to work.  I finally settled on a fleet of a couple of Paragons and a crazy number of Drovers set up with expanded deck crews/hardened subsystems and spark/lux/claw fighters.  Yes I can destroy any fleet in the game, but I’m pretty sure by the time you can amass a fleet like that, you can safely say you “won” the game.  Plus, I’m pretty sure a minor tweak from the devs will be able to bring that particular set up back in line with everything else.  As for the Heron, I like to think it is possible to play it as a direct combatant.  Yesterday, I was able to solo an Onslaught by getting right behind it and was able to solo a Conquest in the middle of the battle line by hiding behind the broken hull of another Conquest (I survived that battle with only 10 hull left, good times).  My only gripe with the ship is how OP starved it is.  There just isn’t any OP left after you put bombers and expanded deck crews on it.
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dead_hand

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Re: Thank goodness for the Heron
« Reply #12 on: May 03, 2020, 11:00:45 AM »

It is a pretty good ship indeed, has a really decent speed as well. If you liked the Heron, there's a good chance you'll like the Aurora.

Btw: You can also just try not piloting a ship and focus more on the battlefield overall. I rarely ever pilot a ship late-game, it's just done via the X button to transfer myself to a ship, e.g. to force a ship to move to a direction if it starts chasing down a kite needlessly, or to get a ship to go around destroyed ships faster. The AI does a pretty decent job with most ships tbh. There are merits to flying ships yourself in certain cases, e.g. if I can get my hands on a monitor class early enough, I like to fly it into the frontline to soak up some flux while the rest of the fleet do the damage.
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