Fractal Softworks Forum

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

News:

Starsector 0.97a is out! (02/02/24); New blog post: Anubis-class Cruiser (12/20/24)

Pages: 1 [2]

Author Topic: I'm SO sorry, my love...  (Read 2347 times)

Daynen

  • Captain
  • ****
  • Posts: 454
    • View Profile
Re: I'm SO sorry, my love...
« Reply #15 on: July 25, 2024, 06:15:45 PM »

aaaaand I stumbled upon a somewhat frightening build with it.  Two storm needlers, built in expanded mags, a hellbore, two flak cannons and...two thumpers.  God, now I just feel unclean.

But holy *** though...the needlers and thumpers just PUREE fighter swarms, grind frigates and destroyers to paste with unending streams of fire and almost INSTANTLY shut down the guns of any ship that dares to raise shields while the hellbore helps crack the harder armor belts.  It's not nice on its own flux bar and it's shorter range than mjolnirs but anything smaller than a capital ship simply cannot approach it without getting fluxed out and shaved to death.

Interestingly enough, minus the hellbore shots, the needlers and thumpers don't seem to trigger the same defensive responses in enemy AI.  Phase ships, for example, don't see the needles as enough of a threat to phase away from.  They just sit there and take needles until their meager armor is peeled back and the thumpers eviscerate them, making this a rather curious anti-phase setup.

Another thing the retribution is frighteningly good at?  Punting.  With the system charges up and a shield raised I can just flat out eject an offending vessel from the battle line or kick the annoying wreckage (which ALWAYS drifts right into my firing arcs right when I don't need it to) sending it flying into the enemy fleet for some free damage or at least out of the damn way.  Even wrecked STATIONS can be kicked across the map!  Insanity!

Gods, this thing is a monster...
Logged

FooF

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 1558
    • View Profile
Re: I'm SO sorry, my love...
« Reply #16 on: July 26, 2024, 07:31:58 AM »

I can’t ever justify anything but Devastators, HMGs, and Vulcans on the Retribution. You’re already having to get up close so why not use brutally efficient/overwhelming DPS? Just a never-ending hail of devastation because you’re flux neutral. Then shore up weaknesses with Heavy Armor and shield upgrades.

It’s a one trick pony but that one trick is insane.
Logged

Grievous69

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 3126
    • View Profile
Re: I'm SO sorry, my love...
« Reply #17 on: July 26, 2024, 08:44:48 AM »

Maybe it's not such an extreme one trick pony if people use different setups and are having success at their playstyle.
Logged
Please don't take me too seriously.

FooF

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 1558
    • View Profile
Re: I'm SO sorry, my love...
« Reply #18 on: July 26, 2024, 03:44:09 PM »

Maybe it's not such an extreme one trick pony if people use different setups and are having success at their playstyle.

Oh, I wasn't dogging anyone else's loadout. It's just every time I get a Retribution and try something else, I gravitate back to the short-range murder chainsaw that it can be. The current setup I use has 1743 HE DPS (3x Devastator), 1280 Kinetic (4x HMG), and then 5x Vulcan up front. I don't bother with missiles. Obviously, you want Elite PD and yes, it's close-range but nothing is terribly expensive OP-wise and with max Vents and Ordinance Expertise, you're very close to flux neutral. You just get nose-to-nose and win the flux war. Even Capitals pop really quick at point blank range. It also goes without saying that you never have to fear missiles or fighters.

I'll try some other loadouts but in player hands, you can go around the edge of the battlefield and act as a Capital/Cruiser assassin.
Logged

Zsar

  • Captain
  • ****
  • Posts: 312
    • View Profile
Re: I'm SO sorry, my love...
« Reply #19 on: July 27, 2024, 07:09:18 AM »

Reading this thread made me notice that the Retribution seems to be in a prime spot to benefit from Omega upgrading.

I designed the loadout attached specifically to swap in Omega weapons as they come, but tested in Random Battle it already performs well as-is.
- See how many OP it has left over to upgrade
  • Storm Needler to Volatile Particle Driver (4 OP)
  • Thumper to Cryoblaster (18 OP) or Cryoflamer (20 OP)
  • Salamander to Antimatter SRM Launcher (24 OP)
even before S-mods.

This would end up as a ship where finally Ballistic Mastery and Energy Weapon Mastery on the same ship would appear to be the optimal choice. (The Devastator Cannon's half-range being extended would not conflict, as usual, with the demand to keep Energy weapons close - and the system will make "staying at range" a fruitless endeavour anyway.)
« Last Edit: July 27, 2024, 07:35:02 AM by Zsar »
Logged
Pages: 1 [2]