Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Sendrien]

I've seen several videos on this forum showcasing the upper limits of the Doom's potential, but I myself have difficulty getting anywhere close to that amount of value from the ship. I also recently read Alex's comment about enjoying watching SCC put all of his knowledge about piloting the Doom to use in Hiruma Kai's challenge. It dawned on me that beyond needing to improve my skills as a Doom pilot, I'm probably also missing some key information.

So here are some questions I've assembled about the Doom, and I thank all respondents in advance for taking the time to help me learn about this ship.

1. What is the primary/most important mechanic to master in order to get the most out of the Doom?
2. Given how slow the ship is, how do you not "over-phase" to avoid damage and then have no flux left to attack? What should you do when you need to vent?
3. What is the Doom's greatest weakness and how do you cover for in combat?
4. What combat situations must be avoided at all cost while piloting a Doom?
5. Can the Doom actually face off against one or multiple Paragons without taking egregious damage? Seems like the 360 degree high flux efficiency shielding should be a hard counter to the Doom. (Is it even possible?)
6. Does the Doom excel more as a solo operator, or as a flagship in a confrontation with large numbers of allies and enemies?
7. What are key considerations to think about when building a Doom?
8. Are there any important questions not asked above, the answers to which would help a fledgling Doom pilot?

Thanks again to all who reply!

[SCC]

Hey, you could have just asked me directly about it.

• Mine Strike. Doom without Mine Strike is unremarkable. You can spawn mines on fighters for an instant explosion, which you can just use to destroy fighters, but if those fighters happen to be near an enemy ship, you can deal damage to it, too!
  You can spawn mines behind enemy ships to either trick them to move their shields to block the mines, or to even ram into the mines. If an enemy ship is moving laterally, you can also spawn mines to its sides for similar effects. Or you can spawn mines on both sides of an enemy ship while you're in front, which will sometimes freak it enough to ram into the mines while trying to dodge.
  Mines can also be used to move enemy ships around. Mines in front will slow enemy ships on the approach, including even movement systems. An enemy with mines behind its back will stop backing off. Mines to the sides can coerce the enemy ship to move sideways, or if on both sides, to just sit paralysed or come forward toward you. Spawning a ring of mines at a moderate range will discourage the enemy from coming closer and give you some time to breathe, or to take out the enemy that flanked you. Mines between enemies can make them split apart, for your convenience.
  And finally, you can even use mines to take out enemy missiles (or, more likely, torpedoes) with simple collision damage. It's not reliable, but sometimes it's worth it to spend 1, 2, even 3 mines to prevent a direct Reaper hit on one of friendly ships.
• You get a moderate number of flux capacitors, Phase Coil Tuning (the tech phase skill), Field Modulation (the combat phase/shield skill, especially the elite effect), and Adaptive Phase Coils. Flux caps and FM caps you a greater buffer, PCT and APC give you more speed while in phase (which amounts to a lot, when you move 3x times as fast in phase).
  Even then you should reserve flanking for especially dangerous enemies and instead rely on mines and the phase time acceleration for positioning. You don't get behind enemies because you don't need to get behind enemies. Most of the time.
• Doom can't exactly outrun fast ships. Frigates and destroyers can gang up on it, while cruisers and capital ships that catch up cannot be killed quickly enough. However, mine strike can be used to manipulate AI of ships to slow them down. Simply spawn mines in the path of the enemy ship and it will freak out, if mines aren't disposed of quickly. Destroy smaller ships before they can surround you, if you cannot make your other ships take care of them.
  For cruisers and capitals, it's best that you approach them distracted, behind cover or with support of your own. Especially if they have bursty or long-ranged weapons. All damage taken by Doom is permanent.
• Uh, just see the previous point.
• This heavily depends. If Paragon can fought in a duel, then you can mess with its AI by hiding behind hulks or enemy ships. If its weapons are disabled, then you can also simply vent. Paragon will then think it's safe and will drop its shields, which will give you an opportunity to freak its shield AI out by spawning mines behind it, or everywhere around it. If fought in a fleet second, then it can be harder to make Paragon drop its shields, but then again, you have other ships to support you.
• I think it is best when fighting with a small fleet. The issue with bigger fleets is that you will have ships that are too far away to support. Fighting alone, on the other hand, means that you will have to spend more mines for boring reasons like AI manipulation, instead of dealing damage. It's also nice to have a safe place to vent.
• Phase Anchor does NOT increase the recharge rate of Mine Strike, your greatest weapon, so it's not really that great for Doom. PA can be used for some glass cannon Doom loadouts, I can imagine, but it would also require quite some fleet coordination to ensure Doom's safety while it's dealing damage. I prefer to get more speed out of the ship with Adaptive Phase Coils.
  Other than that, missiles are ok but not that important, since you have mine strike. Also, Ion Pulser is probably the best weapon for your energy mediums. It deals decent damage and a salvo can disable entire smaller ships or a half of bigger ones, and arcs can kill engines sometimes as well! You can vent near ships that can't shoot you (anymore, temporarily).
• Save scum to win difficult fights, assuming you aren't outrageously outnumbered. To get better you have to keep trying, and trying again immediately is the best kind of trying!

[Sendrien]

SCC, thank you very much for your detailed responses. It took some time to fully absorb and incorporate the advice you gave, but I can see clear improvement in my use of the Doom!

[BFEL]

Hmm, I wonder how well the advice about the mines would carry over to the Cathedral ships from Ship/Weapon pack? Since those also have the mine system thing.

Would it be completely different with a ship that's that much larger/clunkier?

I mean I had no problem making those ships monsters even in AI hands so doesn't matter as much, but still an interesting question if nothing else.