So I found a derelict
XIV Crabbinator in the hood while raiding...err...Nachiketa for fuel? That's the one right? The one with the Syncotron core I'm not stealing because I'm planning on buying fuel there
for free for the remainder of the campai-
oh I'm sidetracking already this is not good.Back onto the
Obese Cruiser With Flux Asthma, I wanted to at least
try and use all the weapon mounts this time, and no halfmounting and flipping the bird to the entirety of the large ballistic weapon roster for two Heavy Needlers since that's pretty much all this
Continuous Fire Word Misuse joke of a cruiser can handle on most days of the week.
If you've read the suggestion section of the forum and eventually became desperate for constructive discussions enough to read my convoluted messes, you will already know that I tried using the
Hegecrabbo with triple Breach SRM and was disappointed with it enough to warrant a thread where I whined about the AI doing AI things. Very original, I know.
So, with the failed attempt of trying the new weapons and the buffed ones, I went to the one setup of the
Crabby Patty I actually liked:
Spoiler
Isn't there anyone else disappointed that we get a Volturian Lobster but not a Hegemonian King Crab? What kind of faction bias is this Alex?!
It also comes with another setup:
Spoiler
This one looks a lot less tasty. Man I don't know what kind of live containment tank they shipped this with but it does not look healthy!
Spoiler
Oh, for Ludd's sake Sundog, did you really have to introduce a trait that worsens handling
even further?
I feel really bad about integrating Hardened shields instead of ITU. But we both know which one is more expensive and I sort of wanted them both. That's what you get for not nerfing shields ladies and gentlemen, when even an incredibly specialized, armor tanking
Steel Crustacean needs to have Hardened shields you
know it's bad.
The reason why this works is very simple. The AI is dumb, on both sides of the engament. Given an identical set of ships and recources, the easiest setup exploiting the second troglodyte on the other side the most wins.
The AI really does not like getting hit with a flaming family car made of plasma every few seconds, so it raises the shields up. Because said flaming family car made of plasma has a VERY long travel time, the AI will keep the shield raised for a long time, opening him up for the most disgusting weapon in the game to do its job:
the Overridden Hyperion with Wolfpack Tactics and an Officer the Sabot SRM Pod.
This might sound nonsensical, but those two Hypervelocity Drivers may aswell not be there against enemy cruisers and capitals. In fact they may aswell be
detrimental to the ship as a whole since their long range will sometimes
drive the enemy away from the range of the sabots. I still installed them since I'd hate for this thing to be completely USELESS against anything anywhere near the definition of "long range", but the build as a whole would probably be better off with either two Heavy Autocannons or Two heavy Needlers instead. Arbalests are out of the question since they have too short of a range even for a cruiser with both ITU and an Officer with Gunnery Implants.
As for the hullmods, I like solar shielding alright? I'm in full midgame and endgame feels like that one scene...movie...Alien? Where Ripley is thinking of the Alien and staying absolutely terrified of it 99% of the movie? You could probably make space for Aux thrusters, but do you really need it with 108 sabots ready to go and fire in a 360°circle surrounding the thing? And what is it even gonna do when the only fixed weapons are a pair of Hellbores? Just
show them menacingly at the frigades flanking it, sacrificing a goat to Mammon to hit the Ludd-forsaken thing?
So, how does it fare? Before any performance is talked about, I'll just premise that I'm almost as close to a 100% tryhard
Canned Crab as it gets with 3 hullmods, the technology skill increasing flux capacity and dissipation and
10 skill points into leadership. The only two things I'm missing from making this almost perfect is Elite Missile Specialization for faster Sabot vomit and Elite Impact Mitigation.
It's the only build I could cobble up togheder that manages to defeat
Three Crabs in a Bucket by itself under AI control, most of the time. Sometimes the reaper torpedoes tap it a bit too hard.
First crab on the plate opened up while still alive with a knife
Second crab tossed into boiling water while also still alive
The third crab ran away inland but got eaten while -of course- still alive by monkeys. It's true. Youtube it up.
I also had the
Pincering Menace face off against the Sim Onslaught and it won, surprisingly. Man the setup of that somehow manages to disappoint me more every time I use it as a benchmark.
Edit: I've finally gone around and reworked the Hegecrabbo to the specification suggested in this thread! This is how it looks now!I've also experimented with the
Assault Crustacean variant, but I do realize I've integrated two hullmods (hardened shields, expanded missile racks) an
overridden sea dweller of a ship should not have if I'm planning to go
whole hog.
I honestly don't know why people tend to sleep on the Devastator cannon at point blank ranges, it's legit terrifying. I will properly test an
Assault Crustacean when I get myself a new ship of the same category what I can properly refit and post the results down here with when that happens!
To close this gruesome culinary experiment making everyone wonder why I don't like crabs, how do you cook it? Is it still using Hellbores or have you loaded it up with mayonaise instead? Let me know!