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[Lucky33]

HAG is a great large ballistic anti-armor weapon in a game that doesn't really need one.

If by escort you mean defending against multiple smaller (Frig, Des) threats than you better off with something like that:

Shokoshuro? Is that you?

Who the...

Oh I see.

No.

[Euphytose]

Thanks for the replies guys. I still haven't played today so I can't tell you how effective it is.

I'll remember not to use the "escort" order when I give orders to this ship!

[Draba]

The big thing to keep in mind is that you really don't want Dominator to be surrounded, that's when it goes crazy.
It's awesome in a long range shootoff, and the best bodyguard cruiser you can have against big enemies (Radiant jumps a cruiser/low flux capital, Radiant cries as the Dominator unloads).

So main part of making it work is keeping it on a waypoint tucked close behind the big tanks, cruisers will spread out during the battle anyway:

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If it doesn't get surrounded and can actually shoot its guns damage output will be very good, matters more than anything you could do with the loadout.
Have something fast ready to clean frigates that'd get behind your fleet, no ship likes being completely surrounded.


Loadout:

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Skills:

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Turreted railguns/maulers make sure it can always contribute and swat smaller things well, don't need that much PD on the front.
Reapers buffed to 7 ammo are great, do not need racks for them. Even with triple ordos and elite missile spec Dominator finishes the fights with 2-3 left in each mount.

If you want to tank with armor it'll need more skills and builtins than high tech. If you need to drop something bulkheads, rangefinder and RFC are the first 3 to go.
Least important skill is impact mitigation, it's a must if you want durability but all the others are needed for offense.
I have hull restoration so all my officers can skip combat endurance, ordnance expertise can be swapped for combat endurance if you don't get 100% CR otherwise.
Missile spec should be the first elite, ballistic 2nd if you have more.


Typical battle result against triple ordo (not piloting any ships, hopped in at the end to check leftover missile ammo):

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Above average battle result:

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[Euphytose]

Damn man thanks for the detailed post! Really appreciate it.

So you DO use HAG on this ship!

I'm really torn on what to use then, I'll post my loadout next time I play. Like you, I really enjoy triple Reapers. I'll try to position it in the way you said and see what it's like.

My officer isn't optimized at all.

Also my own character doesn't have ANY combat skills other than Gunnery Implants so I couldn't even pilot it myself if I wanted to.

Edit: Oh yeah, important to note. I cannot get the third built-in hullmod, my build is likely very different from yours.

Like I said in another thread I made, I specced heavily into Industry. I will post my character build next time too, so you can see.

[Draba]

So you DO use HAG on this ship!

Yeah, I like it a lot here and going by the battle results it generally does well.
Hellbore is too slow to be used at range and if one of your ships is jumped has too low DPS, double mark IX obviously has too low armor/hull DPS, mjolnir needs too much flux and armor DPS isn't too hot.
Dominator in this fleet is usually guarding the Executor, Executor loves the kinetic support and can't just swat Radiants up close like the Onslaught.

Edit: Oh yeah, important to note. I cannot get the third built-in hullmod, my build is likely very different from yours.

In general if you miss some hullmods and skills skip the armor tanking ones.
Most damage should be tanked by Onslaught or efficient shields, Dominator just needs enough to shake off the occasional cruiser duel.
Even then it'll be one of the most resilient cruisers when getting caught with pants down.

I'm really torn on what to use then, I'll post my loadout next time I play. Like you, I really enjoy triple Reapers. I'll try to position it in the way you said and see what it's like.

Really, can't go super wrong with most setups IMO as long as the Dominator doesn't get surrounded.
Using the wide arc frontal turrets for offense instead of PD will help with that a lot.

[robepriority]

IMO dominator is more something that works while being escorted than something that can escort.

Then again I think more in terms of hammer/anvil than escort because they can't flank you if you're doing the flanking

[Euphytose]

Alright guys, here's the updated loadout:

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I got a XIV one with lots of d-mods but they'll get removed automatically over time don't worry. I kept the two Marks because I feel like kinetic is slightly more important. But I added the two Railguns as suggested above.

No more Missile Racks, I hope it'll have enough Reapers. I linked the Reapers weapon group also as suggested, hoping it will actually use them now.

Not sure on the second s-mod I should have.

Here's my officer for now, not final of course:

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And my character:

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It's not focused on combat skills at all as you can see. I consider Industry tree to be too good, money wise, to pass up. Saves you so much money in the long run.

[Goumindong]

I know you like the reapers but they probably are holding you back a bit. There are two reasons. 1 The Reaper is a finisher but otherwise kind of needs an "opening" to work. 3 reapers definitely does finish a ship that overloads but reapers alone tend to get shot down on big ships. As a result in order to make reapers effective you either need to be small/agile so you can dart in and drop a reaper on an overloaded ship or you need to have overwhelming firepower to force an overload fast. The Dominator has neither. Plus with 7 reapers per pod you will have enough reapers with 1 or 2 pods and without EMR.

Something that will also help with the general ability of the ship to perform well would be adding Omni Shields.

Omni shields only cost 8 and are exceptionally good for the dominator. The reason is every ship with both hardpoints and front facing shields has two competing AI threads going on.

1) Point guns at the enemy I want to shoot. Since you have hardpoints this means facing the ship that way.
2) Point the center of my shields at incoming threats

Without Omni shields the ship will often bounce between these two priorities. This is bad! Omni Shields remove the "point the center of my shields at incoming threats" problem and so the AI will just point its shield at high HE threads. This is good.

I would run something like

2x Mark IX
2x Heavy Mauler
9x Vulcan Autocannons *you can reduce these as necessary but they're just nice PD frankly OR 7x Vulcan and 2x Railguns (in the side rear slots. These are there solely to push away enemy flanking frigates and relieve some pressure)
1x Reaper in the center, 2x Annihilator Rocket Pod on the side

Heavy Armor and ITU built in, Omni Shields, Armored Weapon Mounts, Auxiliary Thrusters. Max Vents, 12 caps. You can even add IPDAI or another mod. Or build in EMR if you really want those missiles (and then 7 caps).

The justification for this is simple

1) Heavy Maulers are good. 2x Heavy Maulers is about as much DPS as 1 HAG(less raw DPS but better penetration). But its generally centered because they're turrets and the HAG would be off center for our ship. This is the same OP as HAG+Mark IX and 2x HVD. Except that you have more Kinetic damage and better Armor Pen.
2) Aux Thrusters lets us always put our Mark IX's towards the biggest threat and AWM keeps them roughly hitting the front of the enemy.
3) Annihilators keep the pressure on large enemy ships and the Reaper finishes them.
4) Omni Shields prevents us from wobbling and also protects our sides from large HE threats. The smaller arc even makes us slightly more efficient at armor tanking.
5) Vulcans largely protect us from missiles and also we have 2k armor.

Without the 2 Annihilators or the extra 12 caps or another vulcan in the front because i tested this in the mission section and cannot build in things. This pretty handily beats the "heavy assault cruiser" dominator variant, loses pretty heavily to the Heavy Rocket Cruiser variant, and kinda flattens but is hella weird against the support cruiser variant. Even though this ship isn't as strong as it could be and isn't really designed well for a 1v1 shootout while those kind of are(especially the rocket variant)

[Draba]

I know you like the reapers but they probably are holding you back a bit. There are two reasons. 1 The Reaper is a finisher but otherwise kind of needs an "opening" to work. 3 reapers definitely does finish a ship that overloads but reapers alone tend to get shot down on big ships. As a result in order to make reapers effective you either need to be small/agile so you can dart in and drop a reaper on an overloaded ship or you need to have overwhelming firepower to force an overload fast. The Dominator has neither. Plus with 7 reapers per pod you will have enough reapers with 1 or 2 pods and without EMR.

IMO reapers are no contest the best for Dominator (seen it mentioned they should be linked, they work fine for me in their own alternating group).
Can skip both racks and ECCM for lots of extra OP, heavy torpedos help when it's really needed: bursting down or overloading big threats.
Dunno if anything changed in this version or it's just the tons of ion beams in my fleet/less fighters in the enemy fleet, reaper dominators are now smashing fools much harder than tank hullmod+gun ones for me.
Annihilators were mostly useless in comparison, usually worse than leaving missiles empty and getting elite helmsmanship/field mod/polarized armor + hullmods instead.
Proxy launcher could be good, just doesn't really work with the long ranged guns and runs out much faster.

Performance in the last 5 big battles, reapers always pull their weight with ~16 direct hits on average:

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Heavy Armor and ITU built in, Omni Shields, Armored Weapon Mounts, Auxiliary Thrusters. Max Vents, 12 caps. You can even add IPDAI or another mod. Or build in EMR if you really want those missiles (and then 7 caps).

If you value maneouverability enough to pay 15 OP for 50% then definitely don't build in heavy armor.
Build in thrusters instead, no 25% loss for 5 more OP (or even better, build in armored mounts for more powa).

Omni shields only cost 8 and are exceptionally good for the dominator. The reason is every ship with both hardpoints and front facing shields has two competing AI threads going on.

1) Point guns at the enemy I want to shoot. Since you have hardpoints this means facing the ship that way.
2) Point the center of my shields at incoming threats

Huh, wouldn't have thought about trying omni.
Will give it a spin.

[Lawrence Master-blaster]

What's your Dominator fleet?

If you value maneouverability enough to pay 15 OP for 50% then definitely don't build in heavy armor.

I was always under the impression that any officer in a Domi/Onslaught will have elite Impact Mitigation anyways.

[Draba]

If you value maneouverability enough to pay 15 OP for 50% then definitely don't build in heavy armor.

I was always under the impression that any officer in a Domi/Onslaught will have elite Impact Mitigation anyways.

No law saying you can't get both
I usually don't have aux thrusters, trying to keep Dominators in a position where they only have to shoot forward.

What's your Dominator fleet?

Mostly ships that got changes or weapons this version that were interesting to me, +glimmers for capturing and commander's ECM/nav/OP center wolf.

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[MoyaOto]

Hey,

I'm using this loadout for my Dominator. I think it's the most generic you could possibly use, it's a slightly modified default variant one.

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However, this loadout, even with an officer (steady)... Is just completely useless.

I always deploy at least one Onslaught during combat. I then set the Dominator to escort it. But this is what happens afterwards:

The Dominator keeps switching targets constantly, never getting any damage done, never, ever uses its Reapers, and eventually gets flanked, engines die, and it's a slow and painful death for it.

It used to work in previous versions, but something probably has changed since then. Because of this I don't deploy it anymore, my Apogee or Eagle are much better picks because at least they do something.

Not sure if it's the loadout or my orders or something else.

Just use this build:


Or this:


You can leave 2 vulcan in the back instead of 4 if you want more ordnance points.
You can change missiles as you wish.
You can put s-mod heavy armor and something else at your discretion.

Put a steady officer with Helmsmanship, Impact Mitigation, Damage Control, Target Analysis, Ballistic Mastery, Missile Specialization, Gunnery Implants, Polarized Armor of your choice on such a dominator and it will work.

And yes, the dominator is not suitable for escort.
Use nimble frigates/destroyers for this purpose, or something bigger with high speed and turrets.

[Euphytose]

Hey guys thanks again, read all the new answers.

I will try swapping Reapers, but I really like them a lot on this ship. If something gets overloaded it's pretty much done for with this. But I can try other stuff too.

I will post my fleet (at least the first part of it with the biggest ships) next time I play!

Edit: Sorry for the delay, not sure when I'll replay. I have stuff to do and other games I play but don't worry I won't forget the thread.

Could be tomorrow, but could also be in a week. Either way, I will definitely update it with my fleet once I start playing again.

[Goumindong]

IMO reapers are no contest the best for Dominator (seen it mentioned they should be linked, they work fine for me in their own alternating group).
Can skip both racks and ECCM for lots of extra OP, heavy torpedos help when it's really needed: bursting down or overloading big threats.

Reapers definitely do kill things that are overloaded. And Annihilators definitely do suffer against small targets. Which can be an issue if that is what you're facing.

But 21 reapers (3x medium launchers) is a hell of a lot of reapers for a ship that is escorting. 1-2 launchers should be plenty. A couple of piliums may even be better. Just something that will create pressure

[Argonaut]

I might be wrong, but i've been testing my Dominator today. No matter which loadout i use, the Dom remains extremely situational, always risking being surrounded and becoming completely ineffective. I find that in a setup with heavy capitals and by keeping the Dom behind the line, it performs well. But in a setup Where the Dom needs to take center and move ahead, as it tends to do naturally due to its system, the problem is almost impossible to avoid without micromanaging the ship or a very specialized loadout to each type of situation.

I remember threads from years ago about the issue. I think it was connected to the Dom (and a few other ships) having such a different array of weapon sizes other than its main weaponry (the two large ballistic slots) that it results in it preferring to target small ships it has no chance to catch rather than what its large ballistic slots are best suited for. Coupled with its bad shield, it gets immediately exposed and eliminated. And in fact, whenever i see an enemy Dom, it's trivially simple to eliminate it with a single Hyperion or by being sneaky with a Tempest with a strike loadout. Once you're behind it, all the Dom can do is unload missiles out of desperation while its armor is melted away. The AI is decent at managing its frontal shield, but it unavoidably fails to move out of the way and vent properly, so once the shield is done, so is the Dom.