Pro Tips of the Day:
Pro Tip: Buy the guns in Sapphire that have the most range and use them until you figure out what "Custom" guns you want. Range is life. Damage will come.
Pro Tip: Your Beams range is determined by your cannons range. A long range cannon makes for a long range beam.
Pro Tip: If you take damage to your Navigation and can't thrust....use your 1-0 keys to set your speed. Set to 0 (the fastest speed possible at the time) and when you reach top speed hit inertial and augment full power to shields until shields are green then back to full weapons energy. It is key to always be in IDS x5.
Well now.......I have some kills under my belt. I am getting pretty good at killing NPC's...lets go do some Arvoch War Zone. I had my eyes opened today to the dangers that are in the deep.
I started my day in the Arvoch War Zone. At first I felt like Rambo from the previous days success and took the biggest baddest missions. I also died on those missions. It seems that the Arvoch War Zone requires a little more of a resume.
Simple things like: How to handle ships when outnumbered seven to one. Not accidentally shooting your Battleship and making it openly attack you. Killing a Vonar-C at each waypoint. Missile management. Fighting in an area that is mainly taken up by two huge Battleships. Things like this.
Well, I was having trouble figuring this War Zone out. It is the "creme del a creme" of War Zones. Difficult and fun.
Busch, showed up to aid in my dilemma. I cannot express how much fun it is to fly with this pilot. He literally has his wingman in mind at all times. Every time I over extended myself or tried something that didn't work, he was there. He would fly in like an Eagle, snatch up one and eat it, then flick them off of me while chasing down another. At one point all my subsystems where damaged and I was floating in inertial at around 250..that was my max speed in IDS x5. I was a sitting duck. This guy swooped in and systematically wiped out all of them. Held fire on himself and I never took damage again. He killed them so fast that he was already attacking the Battleship when I finally got system control back. Can you imagine how this looked from my end? Six vultures, no escape, and BAM! Death from above. I merely said, "I'm done" and his reply was, "I see you." That's some "Avatar" crap.
My final real noob mistake......Busch had a 5/35 mission. I said, "Take it!" He laughed and said, "Well, alright." I said, "Pro Mode Activated." Then instantly proceeded to jump into the carrier door to my death......gosh this was instant Karma.
I finally started to find a groove. Busch's abilities allowed me to learn from my mistakes and with a wingman like that you can only improve. At one point it felt like a symphony of awesomeness. Like painting a picture of destruction. Everything clicked, everything worked. No pilot error and a wingman that you trust unwaveringly. I really feel that the Newtonian Physics is what really sets this cockpit apart from others I have sat in. The ability to drift in complete silence, in the heat of battle, and then full guns blazing death march. The ability to rapid orbit a Battleship to gain position on a target and then wipe out his wingman on the way.....amazing.
If you are confident in your skills. You feel you have learned enough and are bored in your current War Zone.....grab a wingman and head to Arvoch.
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
I have a few tactics that I have acquired from either watching the veterans or from hours in the cockpit. Here is my most used tactics. All of these maneuvers are done in a Chimera IDS x5, lvl 4 speed or 1400. Also...all of these tactics are designed around the fastest way possible to kill an enemy force. Allowing them to set you up is almost a guaranteed way to die. I also am still learning and still have a little trouble fighting in the Arvoch War Zone alone. Any mission over two waypoints starts to get a little risky for me.
1)
The Sweet Spot When fighting a Vonari-C (Battleship) just approach it's center and fly as far into it as you can with full power to your shields and park on it's "Core" then start shooting. Slowly adjust the power to full guns and right when it is down to 20% hull, hit it with an Excalibur pack. DEAD
There is one weakness to this approach. You must kill, as Busch likes to say, "All the Fleas." There can be no fighters left. If there are then you are completely exposed and will die. The Cap Ship will not fire on you when you find the "sweet spot" but if a fighter attacks you then the Cap Ship will too. Also, this is not a weakness but trial and error, do not fly into the engines of the ship at a speed greater than 2.7...you will blow up just like a collision with a carrier door or a construct station exit.
2)
The Bait Drift When outnumbered 5+ you bait them into a chase. You do this by flying right at the farthest opponent (power to full shields) at no less than 2.5k speed....when he is within 1.5k distance full thrust reverse, do not turn around until your speed is +500 even when he blows by you. Hit Inertial and turn around.
You are set up perfectly within 1.5k distance of all enemy ships and traveling at a speed that does not increase your distance nor decrease it. Slowly use inertial forward and left/right strafe to line up on the nearest outside target and eliminate him. (Watch also for missiles.) IF FOR ANY REASON YOU TAKE DAMAGE FROM MORE THAN ONE SHIP.....full reverse thrust for 5 seconds.
You can eliminate all targets (over time) with this method but it does get old fast. This brings us to our next tactic.
3)
Herding Cattle When outnumbered 5 to 1 or less and in a "Bait Drift"........this is gonna sound crazy and requires some practice.
FULL THRUST right at them while holding right strafe....you will strafe a little forward and hard to the right. You can maintain a tight circle around your opponents where 90% of there missiles miss and they cannot keep up on the turn. Set weapons to +2 and just rain down pain while feathering your circle.
You should be able to kill every one of them this way BUT this also gets boring so......
The Rope-A-Dope When out numbered 3 to 1 or less.....You fly straight at the pack and fire on the closest target until all ships are moving away, chase one till it runs at least 500 away then turn and fire on his buddy who WILL be chasing you. Kill him while flying in IDS and slowly gaining on him.
Now you have two choices, attack the third ship until it runs or turn around and kill the one you wounded that is coming back. Either choice is good but requires situational awareness.
Rope-A-Dope Side Note: This tactic also works well when trying to escape. Rapidly switch targets constantly firing until they run then just full burn towards your "cursor heading" or the blue indicator on your HUD. This will allow you to force them into a chase formation so you can start a
Bait Drift again.
All of these tactics require situational awareness...without it you will die. The more gung-ho you go the more damage you will take until you can manage enemy distance. One thing is set in stone....you chase them, they run. Every now and then you get the suicide bomber that will not quit...again...situational awareness.
Good luck and fly safe. You want to practice these tactics or are having trouble, just contact me. If I am in the cockpit, I am on Ceti Alpha V.
[Edited on 04/09/2014 by Rooster]