How do you use them?
TLDR;
use the large missile slots, fit one side for main damage, fight outside enemy range, don't fight alone, don't shield tank too much, and don't stop shooting.
For me, the Conquest is a ship built around 2 large missile slots. Large missiles are
the most impactful weapons in the game, that's why I think that Conquest fits that leave the LM slots empty are tantamount to trolling. Whatever you're fitting the Conquest for, make sure that it's built around your large missiles. Large missiles are all long range, so the rest of my fit is going to be long-range focused.
The important weapons for my Conquest are 2x Gauss, 2x Hurricane, 2x Salamander MRM, 2x Devastators on the off-side, Ion Beam on the firing side, and everything else is point defense.
Again, large missiles are my main weapons, so ECCM and EMR are priority hullmods.
I position the Conquest so that it's on one flank, close enough to shoot cruisers and above but far enough to not get shot at, backed up by my core supports (explained later). My actions are mostly the same in every engagement:
- Keep gauss cannon and ion beam focused on the most dangerous target in range.
- -- Conquest can fire its broadside forever, so maximize your time spent firing.
- Use hurricanes on any ships that are overloaded.
- Use hurricanes on ships that are shield flickering so that they're forced to keep shield up.
- Use salamander on pesky destroyers/frigates trying to flank.
- Shield tank missiles and large weapons, armor tank everything else (if it even reaches me at 1500+ range).
- -- You want your hard flux as low as possible in case something happens.
Conquest needs two core supports in my fleet and I try to stick with them whenever I can. If I'm with my supports, we can stare down a Radiant without taking much damage.
- Champion (Squall, Tachyon Lance) - non-blocking kinetic damage, and massive burst EMP damage. Useful buddy to have when you mess up and have to fight a capital at close range.
- Any fighter carrier - for keeping nearby frigates and destroyers busy. Not a bomber because 2 hurricanes (60 shots total with EMR + Missile spec) is enough for almost every single target the game throws at you.
I'm not a fan of symmetrical conquest at all. Too much OP going to waste on one side when Conquest can already turn on a dime, especially with elite Helmsmanship and elite Impact Mitigation. If you want to deal with flanking frigates/destroyers, I find that devastators are good enough to deter them from getting close.
This Conquest fit does pretty well against everything in a fleet setting, although it can't tank stations like Paragon and Onslaught can. In fact, it's pretty horrible since you can't outrange the station at all, which is how Conquest stays safe against equal or greater firepower.
If you're fighting a station, bring another capital ship.
I can't manage to keep either of them alive against our old frenemy The Sim Onslaught
I still use this as a benchmark, because even if you fail the 1v1 you still learn something about your ship. In my case though, you can win vs. Sim Onslaught as long as you keep yourself at max range. Shoot hurricane every once in a while so it stops shield flickering your gauss cannons. You'll have it at fluxed to hell in no time.
