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Author Topic: Hidden Secrets of the Loadout Masters  (Read 15683 times)

hairrorist

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Hidden Secrets of the Loadout Masters
« on: February 16, 2012, 12:07:01 PM »

Let's hear your favorite custom ship loadouts and their tactical niche!

I'll start off:
My absolute favorite-- Hyperion Frigate with 2x AM Blasters, 2x Atropos Torpedoes, 2x Ion Cannons, 10 capacitors and 6 vents  Capable of soloing cruisers if your aim is good.  If not, ditch an ion cannon or some vents and pick up an ammo extension and/or missile extension.  You can quickly down shields with your Ion Cannons, then carve a hole through their armor with your AM Blaster before finally releasing two torpedoes right up their soft underbelly.  Its a devastating combo.  Then you can run out, let your flux cool off and do it all over again.  This ship is absolutely incredible.  Nothing this small can pack even close to the amount of strike potential this craft brings to the table.  No need for PD whatsoever--you're too damn fast.  If the enemy has a lot of very fast fighters that are giving you trouble, you can plug in tactical lasers instead of ions, but you will not have the same lightning fast death swoop combo.

Great Support Cruiser-- Hate carriers as much as I do?  Grab a venture class cruiser instead.  Drop your choice of medium energy mounts, 2x Pilum Launchers, 2x Harpoons, 2x Hypervelocity drivers.  This ship is a dangerous sniper and mobile carrier.  Keep it in your back lines with an interceptor wing escort and you can cause some real damage.  This is the best option for a carrier craft I have found.

Brawler--Aurora cruiser with 3x heavy blasters, 4x tactical lasers, 2x Sabot SRMS, a Cyclone Reaper Launcher, 30 vents, stabilized shields and hardened shields.  This ship is all about timing and using your sabots correctly.  Down their shields with a volley or two from the sabs, then unleash your right broadside, turn your nose to them and drive straight toward them and drop your reapers.  Continue to rotate around and let them have the weaker left broadside if the shield is still down or they are disabled.

What are your favorites?

edit
Heavy Blasters, not burst lasers



« Last Edit: February 16, 2012, 11:17:16 PM by hairrorist »
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SgtAlex86

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Re: Hidden Secrets of the Loadout Masters
« Reply #1 on: February 16, 2012, 12:08:25 PM »

EDIT mixed 2 hulls ^^ so my current favorite wulf with hevymauler 10/10 flux
« Last Edit: February 16, 2012, 12:25:05 PM by SgtAlex86 »
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Kothar

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Re: Hidden Secrets of the Loadout Masters
« Reply #2 on: February 16, 2012, 12:11:06 PM »

Rather than a Venture, I like using the Odyssey as my flagship, which also takes care of the carrier needs. Having the flight deck RIGHT THERE helps keep the bombers fighting.

I also swap out the IR lasers on the left side of the ship for antimatter blasters, which really makes the broadside deadly. For the final touch, swap out the pilums on the front of the ship for torpedo launchers  - they actually swivel far enough to contribute to the broadside as well.

I leave the right side of the ship as is - fighters/frigates tend to try to attack that side to avoid the broadside, so the huge concentration of PD and IR lasers gets a lot of use.
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Zarcon

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Re: Hidden Secrets of the Loadout Masters
« Reply #3 on: February 16, 2012, 12:15:59 PM »

I personally am in love with the Medusa Destroyer, 2x Heavy Blasters in the Medium Energy Turrets, nothing in the two small universal fixed mounts, 2x Burst PD in rear right and left small energy turrets, nothing in the bottom rear turret, 2x tactical lasers in the 2 forward small energy turrets, and then full flux capacitors, Turret Gyros, and all the rest of the points into flux vents.

Not sure how much sense that made, but I love that combo, and I currently have a fleet of 6 Medusa's with various loadouts, TONS of fun.   ;D
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Avan

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Re: Hidden Secrets of the Loadout Masters
« Reply #4 on: February 16, 2012, 12:21:10 PM »

Medusa w/ 5x Burst PD (or 5x Tac Lasers w/ AI Autotargeting - uses same OP, Tac's are a bit slower at targeting, but will give you better total DPS and range), 2x AMblasters (front slots), 2x heavy blasters, and any extra OP goes to flux vents - works absolute wonders against fighters/bombers, frigates, and destroyers, and can still effectively contribute in a fight against a cruiser or capship (esp. of the carrier or fire support variety) - you will have to occasionally back off to vent a bit more frequently than with a stock medusa though

Paragon w/ 4x Tachyon Lances & PD sorts of stuff in all the other slots (Brilliant sniping platform that can sit in the back and pick off enemy ships from across the map [usually can one-shot anything smaller than a cruiser]; can even do a number against a capship with its shields turned away, because of how front-loaded the lances are)

Tempest... just... the tempest

Kommodore Krieg

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Re: Hidden Secrets of the Loadout Masters
« Reply #5 on: February 16, 2012, 12:58:08 PM »

The stock Wolf frigate with the graviton beam, x2 missile racks and x3 tactical laser is one of my favorite ships by far, without a doubt my favorite starter. 
The Venture is amazing too for a command ship.  I load it out with:
3x Harpoon MRM
1x Salamander MRM
1x Heavy Energy Blaster
2x Triple Auto Cannon
Extended Missile Racks

Then get as many Broadsword fighters as I can.
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icepick37

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Re: Hidden Secrets of the Loadout Masters
« Reply #6 on: February 16, 2012, 01:47:15 PM »

Yeah I have been noticing in the campaign how mean those broadswords are, haha. They took out my wolf once. I was flabbergasted.
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Avan

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Re: Hidden Secrets of the Loadout Masters
« Reply #7 on: February 16, 2012, 01:50:01 PM »

The Null ship in the fleet of 0 ships with 0xNull weapons. While it guarantees loss, it will give you infinite money (if you grind away, but the money rate is much better than early game pickings, at any rate) :D [See my bug report about selling all ships for details]

[edit: turns out you max at ~23,000 if you do it just right, since above 20000 Cr you get deducted if you lose. Enough that you might be able to pick up a better 'starter' though. Might be able to nab a tempest almost right off the bat as a result]
« Last Edit: February 16, 2012, 01:54:30 PM by Avan »
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Mr.FancyPants

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Re: Hidden Secrets of the Loadout Masters
« Reply #8 on: February 16, 2012, 01:54:53 PM »

I really like the tempests, don't know why i just have like 12 of them and i can take out nearly anything. ;)
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Avan

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Re: Hidden Secrets of the Loadout Masters
« Reply #9 on: February 16, 2012, 01:56:22 PM »

Tempests are awesome in just about any config. Theoretically, you could get on, spend everything on engines, maneuverability, and shields, while having no weapons, and be able to kite until everyone just surrenders to you :D

Paul

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Re: Hidden Secrets of the Loadout Masters
« Reply #10 on: February 16, 2012, 04:14:41 PM »

I like the Medusa destroyer with 5 PD lasers (not LR PD, but PD - shorter range but same dps as the tac lasers), 2 grav beams, augmented engines, hardened shields, and advanced optics. 8 points left for vents, or you can slap something in the universal mounts. I currently have 4 vents and some bombs in one of the universal mounts. It doesn't have the flashy frontend damage of AM blasters, but it's extremely sturdy and can wear just about anything down with a little time.

It's not great vs big ships, but it's the best anti-fighter ship I've seen. You can chase down fighter and bomber groups and shred them with the grav beams and PD lasers, and your PD lasers can take out huge swarms of missiles. The hardened shields can take a hell of a beating before you need to retreat to vent too. Against frigates your beams will quickly overload the shields and start cutting through the hull. Against destroyers and cruisers your beams can overload their shields given a little time, then you can move in with the bombs. Not so great against capital ships though - the Hegemony ones aren't bad since you can flank them and whittle them down, but the Tri-Tachyon ones will murder you.
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SgtAlex86

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Re: Hidden Secrets of the Loadout Masters
« Reply #11 on: February 16, 2012, 04:20:14 PM »

Hammer head with 2 hevy maulers 2 rocket pods and 2 standard lazers front 2 point d lazers back is nice...  8)
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j01

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Re: Hidden Secrets of the Loadout Masters
« Reply #12 on: February 16, 2012, 05:21:37 PM »

Astral carrier.

Max flux/dissipation, every shield upgrade, all weapons specialized for long distance combat. My little flyboys and flygirls take care of the rest.

I surround myself in just the right mix of fighter wings for each specific engagement. After all, there are fighter wings specialized vs any situation. There are fighter wing killing fighter wings, and capital ship killing fighter wings, and smaller ship killing fighter wings, and speedy fighter wings just for quickly capturing objective, and fighter wings just for escorting my astral and acting as point defense (from the safety of its shield).

Every battle is about tactics and managing my command point resources more than skillfully maneuvering my controlled ship in the thick of combat. Lumbering around in my massive mobile command center, staying perfectly positioned to be of maximum support without exposing myself to too much fire, overseeing and ordering the dozens and dozens of fighter ships, keeping just enough of them alive to refit and nudging them (as they seem to have minds of their own!) into cohesive and complementary group or set of groups...

It is quite an awesome experience, and extraordinarily effective when done right. It might actually be TOO effective seeing as the fighter refit mechanics allow me to pretty much never lose a fighter wing if I'm careful, and I can simply toss a million fighters onto the field with a carrier and not really have to worry about limited ammo, or the damage they take so long as just one survives.

I would love to see customizable fighters, and ammunition/armor/parts that you actually have to stock up on, like in mechwarrior games.
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icepick37

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Re: Hidden Secrets of the Loadout Masters
« Reply #13 on: February 16, 2012, 08:56:19 PM »

And eventually going over the limit on hangar space will murder you somehow.  :)
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Space Bear

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Re: Hidden Secrets of the Loadout Masters
« Reply #14 on: February 16, 2012, 09:47:16 PM »

Hmm, since I usually get screwed up after getting two or three ships..

Favorite starter is the Wolf with the following loadout

2x Salamander MRMs
1x Mining Blaster
3x PD lasers

grab expanded missile racks and dump the rest into flux and vents

Great for tearing up pirate frigates and Buffalo IIs
PD lasers are amazingly good at ripping up fighters, and the mining blaster packs a good heavy punch.
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