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[Dadada]

I also planned to use sunders as support but kinda didn't do it when I setup my endgame fleet.

My "endgame" fleet I did this vers.: 2-3 capitals, 5 Eradicators, 5 Medusae, 3 Afflictors P

Capitals: (if >2 then 1 is a backup), AI Legion with HACs, Reapers, probably range boosted vulcans (via PD skill I think?), some bombers and fighters, non crewed ones since it is the AI version, Alphacore
A Radiant with 4 PewPew Lasers, one TachLance, 4 Reapers, burst PD in front and sides, mining PD in the backmost slots, inbuilt mags, Beta or Alphacore (could've used the kinetic laser instead of the Lance probably)

Backup Paragon, literally autofit with PewPew Lasers and Lances

Eradicators: Close to autofit (Atropos Harpoons I think?, railguns, HAC, one Heavy Mortar, dunno if I used Needlers), officers with as much range as possible -> suppress and kill the enemies at moderate range

Medusae are tanky as &%$!, different builds: one officered with Pulse, Dual Machineguns with PD skill, lances, unofficered initially with the cheaper autocannons and PD lasers plus lances, most officered ones with Dual MGs and PD skill, lances and PD lasers left and right front side

Afflictor P -> as much Flux Cap as possibly, 3 AM blasters


Performance: Very good. Double Ordo, the whole Church Armada at once I think (god damn are the ancient church bricks tanky), random bounties, Hypershunt fight, utterly annihilated, I didn't do the Dorito + Remnant one

E: I don't fly but just command, also more like 1-3 and not 2-3 capitals.

[tseikk1]

Hey tseikk1,

have you tested the medusa with Smod expanded magazines vs. Smod SC-Front?
Or is it just preference?

Yeah, I used the same medusa build except -3 mining lasers +2 burst pd lasers last patch, and with expanded magazines s-modded in instead of SC-front. I'm pretty sure it's a little more powerful that way, since the medusa can handle the extra flux.

The main reason I tried S-modded SC-front this time was because I wanted to see how high I could stack defensive modifiers like the new elite system expertise and cybernetic augmentation. I also wanted to try out multiple different loadouts, so I went with generalist S-mods.

[ReshE]

At the time of writing, it has been a little over two weeks since 0.97a first released, so I think that would a good time to hear about what kinds of fleets you all are running against current endgame content, including Remnant Ordos, Colony Crisis expedition fleets, and/or max-difficulty contact bounties. I'll start off with the fleet that I ultimately settled with for my 0.97a playthrough.

My Endgame Fleet

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Onslaught (XIV) Loadout

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Omen Loadout

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Character Skills

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I'm curious as to the use of Proximity Charge Launchers in the Onslaught's Medium Missile slots.

I just picked up the game again after a long break (I think I last played in like, 0.95?) and I seem to remember Annihilator Pods being the common choice there.

Did PCLs receive a buff that made them worth running over Annihilators? Did Annihilators get a nerf? Was some discovery made that I missed?

Also, Thumpers in the side slots: for anti-frigate duty? I've always wanted an excuse to use Thumpers, but they always felt relatively slot inefficient, due to their damage type. How is there performance on that front?

[Dadada]

As far as I remember: Thumpers got the mag treatment and maybe other stuff. https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=29008.0

[Tranquility]

Thank you to all of those who shared their fleet so far! It's refreshing to see other types of fleets that can handle difficult content well. I especially love cornershop5268's SD/DO Automated Ship fleet with the Scintilla + Flash swarm; I wouldn't have thought of doing a bomber spam fleet like that before! (In hindsight, it makes a lot of sense that Flashes, with their PCLs for Area-of-Denial, would do so well when spammed; I wonder if a similar effect could be done with Pirahna bombers on non-automated carriers? Probably would be harder to make such a fleet in a real game, but maybe worth considering!)

...

I'm curious as to the use of Proximity Charge Launchers in the Onslaught's Medium Missile slots.

I just picked up the game again after a long break (I think I last played in like, 0.95?) and I seem to remember Annihilator Pods being the common choice there.

Did PCLs receive a buff that made them worth running over Annihilators? Did Annihilators get a nerf? Was some discovery made that I missed?

Also, Thumpers in the side slots: for anti-frigate duty? I've always wanted an excuse to use Thumpers, but they always felt relatively slot inefficient, due to their damage type. How is there performance on that front?

I've used the PCLs on the Onslaught because they provide a combination of raw damage, DPS, ammo longevity (pretty important for a multi-Ordo fight), and protection (good AoE that incidentally supplements the Dual Flak in killing missiles and fighters) that Annihilators simply don't provide. I do think Annihilators still work fine in Onslaughts. It's just that, in the case of long fights against multiple fleets, it'll likely get wasted being used on frigates and destroyers that the Onslaughts can already wipe out so easily, leaving it more vulnerable to the cruisers and capitals that will come in later.

The Thumpers on the side slots are definitely for warding off flankers. I do believe CaptHector (where I took the Onslaught build as inspiration) used them as such when doing their 5/6 Ordo fights; I just kept them in as the Thumpers continue to provide value as an anti-small ship weapon - helped a bit more by the recent flux usage reduction that basically makes them work similarly to energy-damage weapons when used against shields.

[PizzaInSpace]

At the time of writing, it has been a little over two weeks since 0.97a first released, so I think that would a good time to hear about what kinds of fleets you all are running against current endgame content, including Remnant Ordos, Colony Crisis expedition fleets, and/or max-difficulty contact bounties. I'll start off with the fleet that I ultimately settled with for my 0.97a playthrough.

i still don't get how you got a lvl 7 officer with the right skills for your onslaught build. how did you get them?

[Candypowers]

Liking all the variety here. Slightly stole and modified some of the Manticore and Pegasus builds I see around.

Vs Large Remnant fleet:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zr38lUFXFcU

Builds:

Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfLAJ4vH8Ig&t=0s

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Wish defensive targeting array with bombers wasn't so buggy sometimes, but usually it works really well. (They stop and get confused when there's lot of fighters far away.)

[SCC]

It beat several ordos at once, so I suppose it counts? There's definitely a lot of space to improve it, it was only my third or fourth attempt. The biggest issues are with the AI and not loadouts, I think, though. The AI radiant is left tactically unbuffed until I'm just about to engage. AI cored Radiant's CR drops off immediately, but neural linked one's stays up.

Spoiler

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7uxij-1O_I

[Tranquility]

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i still don't get how you got a lvl 7 officer with the right skills for your onslaught build. how did you get them?

Level 7 officers can be found while exploring the sector, usually from sleeper pods on derelict ships, stations, ruins, or other salvageable objects. Up to 4 of them can appear in a single Sector/save, so not only are they limited, but it's very likely that you'll only come across 1 or 2 Level 7 officers even if you explored and salvaged the entire sector.

Also, with the 0.97a update came this:

...

• Officers found in sleeper pods: all of the level 7 ones and some of the level 5 ones now use preset skill selections
  
  • Requires new game to be started to take effect

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Which means those Level 7 officers will now always have a skill selection that is at least usable on one kind of ship. These special officers aren't actually necessary in my Onslaught (XIV) fleet. If you're looking to replicate it, it's perfectly fine to just stick with 5 normal officers in each Onslaught; I just wanted to take good advantage of my existing sleeper officers when I decided on my endgame fleet.

[PizzaInSpace]

oh now i get the update now, it was worded off and thought that once you found a lvl 7 or 5 officer on a derelict ship, station, etc it would give you the ability to choose the skills of the officer. thanks for clarifying that tranquility and yeah you're right you can only find 1-2(got lucky on one seed and obtained 4 lvl 7)

well i guess ill just luck it out and see what build i can use with those officers and if you don't mind ill just post the lvl 7 officers and their skills here as well as the seeds and location where I got them

[SCC]

I'm experimenting with the fleet composition and ship micro, but I think there's still ways to go for me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZV0aDbLs2c

Spoiler

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[Cruacious]

I find a disturbing lack of Eagles here. They are the best main-line cruiser in the game when built for it IMO. Can they kill everything? No. But a pack of them can serve as a VERY real threat an AI HAS to deal with while the real damage dealers can fly up and start punching. I've actually got a VERY solid build for them I will have to post later when I get my current save up to the level to use them properly. Also, I prefer using the XIV fleet Eagle over the mainline but frankly and honestly either of them will do.

[Goblin]

Hello! I got inspired to build this fleet after watching @Big Brain Energy's Spacer series (Check it out here!) This is my first full playthrough, so any advice is greatly appreciated. Please excuse any formatting mistakes.

Skills

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Not much to say here. I took Neural Link at first, but I found it hard to keep track of my ships (still not great at piloting), so I reassigned my skills and went with Electronic Warfare instead.

Fleet

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I tried to be a high tech purist for roleplay reasons, but the Sunders are hard to abandon. Plus, you could argue they are almost high tech when compared to other midline designs. Anyway, total DP: 236.

Paragon

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These donut-shaped behemoths are as tanky and deadly as they are slow. They wreak havoc once they catch up to the rest of the fleet.

Fury

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My flagship. Somewhat fragile when under heavy enemy fire, but great for flanking enemies thanks to its ship system. Plasma Burn towards an enemy, fire your weapons, and burn away if necessary.

Sunder

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These things are true glass cannons. Not much to say about them except that they are extremely deadly if you make sure their AI behavior doesn't get them killed in large battles where they can get overwhelmed or flanked by enemy ships. Their beam weapons burn through enemy armor like butter.

Medusa

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The most recent addition to my fleet. I lack the story points to slap 3 s-mods on each of these ships, but they have done well against [REDACTED] ordos and sub-ordos so far.

Shout-out to @tseikk1 for the build.

Omen

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If I had to describe the Omen in two words, it would be fast and deadly. These things were the MVP of my fleet for a long time, especially in the early game. They completely overwhelm enemy frigates and destroyers with their EMP emitters. Once they take down the enemy's shields, the antimatter blasters and Reaper-class torpedoes finish the job pretty quickly.

Sadly, they don't fare well against [SUPER ALABASTER] ships. They were the first to fall in those battles.

Atlas

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Nothing flashy, but having two of these allows me to haul everything I need with space to spare. If I needed more cargo capacity for whatever reason, I would swap Solar Shielding for s-modded Expanded Cargo Holds, although not having to worry about hyperspace storms is nice.

Prometheus

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Again, nothing flashy. The ol' reliable. Swapping Unstable Injector for Shield Conversion - Front for a 360° shield arc might be better for the Prometheus and the Atlas' survivability, but I'm unsure if the extra 15 top speed is better.


All things considered, this fleet was very fun to command. I'll probably try a low-tech fleet with some midline ships next time I venture into the Persean Sector as a lowly bounty hunter.

[Pizzarugi]

I'm not sure if mine counts, but I've been using a number of mods that improve the base stats of ships. Extra System Reloaded and Starship Legends to be exact, but I also use a mod that adds more missions which allows me to fight more [super redacted] ships to loot their weapons. That means my endgame fleet composition is probably considered highly unorthodox compared to people who've shared their fleets here. And I like that, it means I don't need to limit myself to current fleet composition metas in order to farm multiple Ordos simultaneously or handle the worst of what Nexerelin (or that aforementioned mission mod which allows the [super redacted] to spawn) has to offer.

That being said, I use a Radiant capitol, 3 Medusa (one of which is my flagship), 2 Afflictor (P), 2 Doom, 1 Aurora, 1 Gryphon, 1 Wolf, and 2 Monitors. All officers are steady with elite field modulation.

[docPGB]

My most anticipated part of 0.97 was the new Cybernetic Augmentation skill. My first campaign run was aimed at building a fleet around a flagship, all of which would benefit from 10-elite-skill Cybernetics, while trying out the 'very hard' Spacer start. Here's the fleet & build:

Fleet

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Build

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Yeah, I know, it's a boring flagship, but hear me out: From a Statsmaxxer's perspective I don't think any other ship comes close in utilizing the Elite-able skills available to the player. Cybernetic Augmentation also encourages the flagship to be build offensively since the damage bonus is doubled, so that already leads me towards picking something fast that can delete hostiles quickly. The rest of my fleet just needs to stall and survive till I bail them out. I'm not using the full 240 DP or 8 officers yet, as I'm conflicted between heavy frigates, Pilum Venture(P)s, Falcons and other Escort Package destroyers to pad out the flanks of the fleet.
The negatives of the fleet are that it guzzles gas and supplies, and I can't afford the skill point tax on those. Oh, and burn 7 is a bummer too. The positives are that +20% damage Phase Anchor Ziggy hits like a truck. Speaking of which, here are the builds:

Ship Builds

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The star of the show is the menace that is Phase Anchor Ziggurat. I landed it relatively early using 2 buttreaper Harbingers and skilled for Hull Restoration, and then eventually changed to the final skill build. Its job is to pick off frigates and destroyers as soon as they're in range, and eventually crack open capitals and cruisers once their escorts are gone. I started off with Advanced Optics 2 Tachs and 4 Phase lances, which could output a lot of damage but struggled with shields. Post-Doritos, the missiles they dropped took care of that issue. I can see arguments for replacing Ziggy with a Quad-Mjolnir Invictus or Quad-Tach Paragon, but they lack the mobility that lets the Ziggurat quickly move from one target to the other, peeling threats off of allied ships across the field. The Afflictor(P) escorts the Ziggurat and is my version of Neural-Link-At-Home. The damage amp really helps versus things like Onslaught XIVs and Invictuses.

The Onslaughts are made to take punishment and dish out kinetic damage. The build's ripped straight from CapnHector. Nothing too interesting here, but as with all Onslaughts they're vulnerable to getting surrounded. To fix that, each Onslaught gets 2 Medusa escorts. These escorts have an incredible 0.3 shield flux/dam before the escort package S-mod buff kicks in, so they often last longer than the Onslaughts in harder fights. 2 Phase lances 2 light needlers help them make short work of frigates and keeps destroyers at bay. I'm considering fitting it with burst PD and perhaps replacing one lance with an EMP weapon.

0.97 has been incredible, hope the next patch fleshes out the... darker recesses of the sector.