Here's my "High tech basic b- , but with a little spice" fleet.
I know what some will think. "Oh, a flagship Paragon, and an Astral behind it? How original. And a couple Omens too!? Daring today, aren't we." And I'd be inclined to agree. However, there is beauty in simplicity, and for someone who's played the game a lot before but sucks at piloting this fleet was really neat to play around with. Oh, and also, escort package Doom.
In general I'm very happy how it turned out. There were multiple things I wanted from it:
1. Complete any and all content in the game. Doritos, ordos, ziggurat, stations, bounties from all factions, the new colony crisis fleets from all factions, everything.
2. To test out new things, such as escort package, cybernetic augmentation and changed weapons and skills.
3. Player pilot a ship that doesn't rely on speed.
4. Require little micro/be easy to play.
5. Be able to easily change into a stealth fleet.
6. Have ships that are effective as part of the fleet as well as with limited teammates. (Meaning I don't want to deploy my whole fleet for every fight)
7. Have ships that are available from the early game (In this case Medusas and Omens)
8. Have multiple different kinds of ships in it. Monofleets (or really anything with more than 5 of the same thing) are incredibly boring.
It delivered. I struggled a little before my officers started leveling up and getting system expertise. After that everything became a cakewalk.
In battle the main strategy is this: Right at the start, escort order on the Paragon for both Dooms and the Astral. Capture order on each control point. Search and destroy on Medusas. Every ship will be doing roughly what they're supposed to do, leaving the player to focus on piloting the Paragon. Omens, Medusas and the Afflictor will mostly be doing their own thing - dueling and destroying anything their size or smaller, while capturing points and ganging up on bigger targets.
The player piloted Paragon leads the Astral and Dooms into battle. The build itself is quite basic, the most spicy thing about it probably the IR autolances. But there was actually a surprisingly satisfying amount of skill expression for a bad/middling pilot such as myself. Venting and armor/hull tanking at the correct time, focusing a vulnerable target with tachyon lances and IR autolances by pressing R while shooting another with hardpoint plasma cannons, maximizing value from Energy Weapon Mastery by getting close to tougher targets while not overloading, timing attacks together with Doom's mines or Astral's bombers, using the shield to protect said bombers, actually learning to use an omni shield properly (It's much easier to use on a slow battleship with good firing arcs unlike on a, say, Aurora), and of course flicking fortress shield on and off to safely vent soft flux and avoid damage.
The Astral build is also very standard I think, nothing special. Some kinetic pressure from squalls and longbows, great damage from triple tridents, some beams. The medium pd lasers in the back probably aren't necessary, but oh well.
The Doom build is something that required quite a bit of cooking. It went through multiple iterations and tests, as well as more than a couple hours spent in the refit screen. The first question mark has got to be the kinetic damage dealer: why light autocannons? At first I tried dual light autocannons, but quickly moved away from them. 100 less range hurts - especially since it's base range and I wanted to use range boosters and phase lances. (I also tried Ion beams, but they did not convince me.) Not to mention the DLAC is still horribly inaccurate even in a hardpoint, and costs an ordnance point more. I then tried light needlers, the usual go-to. It didn't feel bad, but it didn't feel particularly good either. They're for sure better for a more classic doom build, but I wanted something different. Also, they're very expensive. I then tried railguns, and moved away from them even quicker than I did from DLACs. The difference in flux was extremely noticeable, and the Doom can use both its flux and its OP for better things. The result was regular light autocannons. They actually surprised me with how accurate and cost efficient they were, and I was satisfied.
Then came the hullmods. I wanted Escort Package, that's the whole thing I built the ship around. I also wanted to test the buffed phase lances. To capitalise on Escort Package, I decided to run Advanced Optics and Integrated Targeting unit. Heavy armor is something I'm a big fan of on the Doom, especially when S-modded and paired with an Impact Mitigation officer and some maneuverability buffs. I also wanted to get Adaptive Phase Coils, as I believe it's too good to drop due to how much safer it makes the ship, and then as many capacitors as possible. All these hullmods left me unable to get Resistant Flux Conduits (though I still wonder if it would be worth it to drop some caps for it), and basically meant I'd have no support for missiles. At first I tried some Gorgons - the AI just spammed all of them at the first target without need. Left were Salamanders and Pilums. I tested both, and Pilums were the winner, easily. They have a surprising amount of synergy with this build, even. Their ability to create space and EMP engines and weapons through shields can make ships prime targets for some mine spam, or devastating firepower from the flagship Paragon. Also, salamanders kinda just suck.
The Medusa build is very strong. Ever since the chance to S-modded extended shields, the Medusa has been my favorite destroyer, and now it's even stronger. I think this build does everything. It now has insane 0.3 flux/damage 360 degree shields to protect it's fragile armor and hull from fighters (the main weakness it had in the past) and chip damage when flanked or when diving to eliminate targets. It's high base speed and the phase skimmer system with systems expertise means it can chase and kill all kinds of opposing ships, while also being very difficult to kill. It's got great burst damage with kinetic, energy and anti armor, lots of EMP, lots of OP, and amazing base flux stats almost fitting for a light cruiser.
The Omen is an amazing multipurpose frigate, and if you just max capacitors and give it an antimatter blaster you're set. My version also has the Missile Autoloader mod - I'm not quite certain if it's optimal, but it sure is fun. Wolfpack tactics + Target Analysis + Cybernetic Augmentation means those Reapers HURT. It can do multiple things, duel and beat other frigates and capture points, EMP and shove a reaper up some poor low tech ship's behind, or quickly come to help the main force if needed.
The Omen is, frankly, just overpowered. It has just one weakness, and that's Harbingers. Everything else it's good or at least okay against. It never dies due to it's strong shield and deep flux pool, it's too quick to be chased, it's small so it dodges a lot of damage (tachyon lances could be dangerous, but I've never, ever seen my omens actually hit by that weapon, because it turns so slowly), It can't be ignored due to EMP emitter, it wins duels because EMP emitter is flux free hard flux damage... And unlike every other frigate, it also doesn't die to fighters, thanks to EMP emitter.
The Afflictor is there to act as a force multiplier. Just a single Afflictor makes something like an Invictus much faster to take down. With Helmsmanship, Coordinated Maneuvers and Phase Coil Tuning it's also comically fast. Perfect for capturing that third control point at the start of a battle. The build is, again, very simple. Max caps, Adaptive Phase Coils, Hardened Subsystems. In hindsight I should've given it a steady personality officer, and probably switched the EWM skill for something else.
