Basic combat tips

Viper · Post by **Viper** » Sun Aug 07, 2011 2:31 pm

I am making my way through the IMG quest, and have arrived at my first combat assignment. Unfortunately the hostiles don't seem to have much trouble destroying me without much effort time after time. I have tried several setups and techniques, but until now without any positive results.
I would appreciate it if anyone could give me some basic combat tips. I think my biggest issue is that I am having trouble maneuvering the ship the way I want and dodging missiles at the same time. But other tips are welcome as well.
Should I use the inertial flight mode or keep the IDS on, and what should be my average speed? My IDS multiplier is set to 4x at the moment. Maybe I am using the wrong frame? Should I try and get more money first so I can get better stuff?...

I will add a list of the way my ship is set up now, might be helpful.

Cash: 258.839
Frame: Talon
Engine: 2 (S:591)
Shield: 7
Cargo Bay: 1
Fuel Tank: 800
Wing Sys: 1
Crew: 0
Equipment: 6
- Shield Boost X3
- Cannon Relay Sys
- Mine / Tractor Beam
- Repair Sys C3
- Fulcrum Drive C4
CM: 1x25
Hardpoints: 0
Primary Weapons:
- Particle: Eclipse (class 6)
- Beam: Coil (class 3)
Secondary Weapons: none

[Edited on 8-7-2011 by Red Viper]

[Edited on 8-7-2011 by Red Viper]

Post by **Marvin** » Sun Aug 07, 2011 4:02 pm

Upgrades are definitely in order. Other pilots will come along and give you a few tips on combat techniques.

Viper · Post by **Viper** » Sun Aug 07, 2011 4:07 pm

Thanks, I'm already doing a lot of non-quest missions now to save up money to get some upgrades asap. I just bought a better particle gun which has helped me a lot in combat already. Still getting blown up more than I get kills, but I think I'm learning.

Looking forward to other tips. I'll join MP when I have finished the quest and have my skills up to a basic level.

Post by **Marvin** » Sun Aug 07, 2011 4:11 pm

Actually, it's a good idea to join MP and let others help with the quest. It's also a good way to learn combat skills.

Sinbad · Post by **Sinbad** » Sun Aug 07, 2011 4:35 pm

Yep definitely a good idea to join MP sooner rather than later! You canhave a lot of fun with other pilots helping out on some of the more tricky IMG contracts.

In the meantime a simple combat tactic is to avoid flying into the centre of a pack of hostiles. Instead try to skirt around them with a combination of IDS and Inertia, picking them off one by one. If you get a missile alert switching to inertia will reduce your heat signature and break the incoming missile lock if it's far enough away. On Inertia you can also spin round and shoot the missiles down whilst locking onto an enemy target that's chasing you.

Avenger · Post by **Avenger** » Sun Aug 07, 2011 5:51 pm

This combat style will pretty much work with any ship, I have done it in a Talon with lower class equipment you own against 4 foes at once in Olympus Prime and Cerulean IMG contracts.

Once your passed that part you have enough credits to upgrade some more.

INERT + IDS Combo combat

Flash · Post by **Flash** » Mon Aug 08, 2011 3:29 pm

Read this Its good stuff

http://www.starwraith.com/evochronlegen ... de.htm#301

Viper · Post by **Viper** » Mon Aug 08, 2011 6:16 pm

That is awesome Flash, gonna have a good read! Thanks!

MMaggio · Post by **MMaggio** » Mon Aug 08, 2011 6:41 pm

Everyone who buys this game, bought the game, and anyone thinking of playing the game, should be strapped to a chair and have their eyelids tapped opened and forced to read the whole thing before even thinking of asking a question!

After that, there should be a penalty for asking qustions!
But then, that's just me.
P.S. I didn't read it either!

MMaggio · Post by **MMaggio** » Mon Aug 08, 2011 6:41 pm

Everyone who buys this game, bought the game, and anyone thinking of playing the game, should be strapped to a chair and have their eyelids tapped opened and forced to read the whole thing before even thinking of asking a question!

After that, there should be a penalty for asking qustions!
But then, that's just me.
P.S. I didn't read it either!

Avenger · Post by **Avenger** » Mon Aug 08, 2011 11:28 pm

From post: 112100, Topic: tid=7844, author=Flash wrote:Read this Its good stuff

http://www.starwraith.com/evochronlegen ... de.htm#301

I have been reading the guide and one thing I truly don't agree with is how this guide deals with evading missiles.
Turn away left or right, hit the AB and launch 4-5 CM's??

That is the worsed way to evade missiles if you ask me.

First, you loose tactical overview because the enemies are now behind you instead of in front of you.
Second, you waste CM's like candy on a kids Bday party.
Third, as long as the enemies are shooting missiles at you you are unable to attack them since your too bussy turning and popping out CM's.
Fourth, you waste a lot of fuel using the AB.

Another thing I found was that this guide speaks of capital ships using beam cannons and partile cannons as well but I have never seen a single capital ship use it's beam cannons and particle cannons on fighters, only on other capital ships.

The guide speaks of the Vonari capital ship being the most difficult target to destroy, well other then the missiles and the flak (I have yet to see the flak actually deal damage to my ship btw, all I seen it do was knock me about a little) it never used anything else against me, and in all honesty I find the 7 Vonari escort ships far more dangerous then the capital ship.
When I do a WZ contract facing a Vonari capital ship + 7 escorts the escorts are my priority targets since they can actually destroy me, not the capital ship, that is just a juicy target with pretty much none existant defenses against small fighters, unless you have a hard time dealing with missiles, but they are very easy to shoot or evade.

49rTbird · Post by **49rTbird** » Tue Aug 09, 2011 1:17 am

Hello Red Viper, I case I haven't yet, Welcome to the forum and the Sim. Have fun and hope to see you in Multi-Player sometime.

Post by **DaveK** » Tue Aug 09, 2011 6:58 am

From post: 112131, Topic: tid=7844, author=Avenger wrote:
I have been reading the guide and one thing I truly don't agree with is how this guide deals with evading missiles.
Turn away left or right, hit the AB and launch 4-5 CM's??

That is the worsed way to evade missiles if you ask me.

. . . you waste CM's like candy on a kids Bday party.

I find the 7 Vonari escort ships far more dangerous then the capital ship.

I suspect that the writer lifted it from a historical manual of standard 20th Century airforce combat evasion techniques. They didn't have the option of intertial flight and the possibility of slowing the effective approach speed of missiles by flying "backwards". Obviously countermeasures have improved markedly over the decades as well!

wrt Capital ships I suspect that improvements in military ship technology have hardened fighters significantly - civ ships are not as tough, manouverable or fast as mil ships

Viper · Post by **Viper** » Tue Aug 09, 2011 7:35 am

From post: 112140, Topic: tid=7844, author=thetiebers wrote:Hello Red Viper, I case I haven't yet, Welcome to the forum and the Sim. Have fun and hope to see you in Multi-Player sometime.

Hi m8, thanks for the welcome. And yeah, you will definitely see me in MP. I know I can get a lot of help there, but I made a point out of finishing the SP merc quest by myself before I join. I like the challenge of learning the basics (and maybe more) myself and sorting out a half-decent ship. And the good thing about Evochron Merc is that it lets me take my ship with me to MP.

I just arrived in Cerulian space though, so I think I still have a bit to go. And I still need to find that hidden planet which doesn't seem to be on the designated coordinates lol...

SeeJay · Post by **SeeJay** » Tue Aug 09, 2011 7:48 am

Hi Red Viper.

If it's the hidden planet in the IMG quest, you need to read the clues more careful.
It's not in Cerulean Space.

If you need further assistance, just send me a u2u and I'll help you.
If so, advice me what help you want (coords, hint etc) so I don't spoil it for you.

Welcome by the way if I forgot earlier.

Viper · Post by **Viper** » Tue Aug 09, 2011 8:00 am

U2u send m8, and thanks.

Avenger · Post by **Avenger** » Tue Aug 09, 2011 10:48 am

From post: 112149, Topic: tid=7844, author=DaveK wrote:civ ships are not as tough, manouverable or fast as mil ships

They don't have to be, for the record I fly a Mammoth myself and they fight just as well as the mil ships.

Viper · Post by **Viper** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 9:39 am

Well I have upgraded my ship meanwhile a lot after earning some cash with random missions. The most significant changes compared to the old one are these:

Ship:
- Frame: Pulsar (one up from the basic one)
- Engine: 2
- Shield: 7
- Wing sys: 3
- Equipment: 7

Equipment:
- Repair sys C3
- Fulcrum drive C5
- Shield boost X5
- Particle: Razor class 10
- Beam: Neodymium class 4

I currently have just over 2 mill cash.

It seems I am improving my combat skills slowly but surely. However, I'm still having trouble getting through that first IMG mission in Cerulean space against 3x4 hostiles, the first big combat mission. So I need some advise from you guys:

Do you think the ship setup as I listed it here is good enough to deal with missions like that, and is it just a matter of training my combat skills more. Mind you, I am still flying a basic civilian frame, while I noticed from forum posts that a lot of the other guys fly military frames or at least better civilian frames.
If my ship is not yet good enough to take on missions like that, what would be your suggestion in terms of minimal frame and set up? And could you give an estimation of how much money I would need to get before being able to purchase such a setup?

I'm asking this because I find myself a little bit stuck right now, and am not sure which way to progress: do I need more training or just more cash to get a better ship.

Thanks for any feedback in advance!

[Edited on 8-12-2011 by Red Viper]

SeeJay · Post by **SeeJay** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 9:53 am

Your ship/equipment will do just fine.

I don't know how you fight, but I fight like this in thoose kind of contracts.
Jump in.
Aim at a target in the edge of the group and set course a little bit aside of him.
Never aim straight at him.
Use Inertial and drift by him.
Use lasers to lower shields and switch to guns and finish him off.
Give him a Exodus up his tailpipe if you need to. (Shoot at close range).
Continue this strafing around the group picking one target at a time.
Alway keep your nose towards the enemy, this way you can save CM:s by
taking out incoming missiles with your guns.
If needed, shift shield energy to forward shields.

Good luck.

Viper · Post by **Viper** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 5:20 pm

That's pretty much what I do too, except for the missiles. They are a bit too expensive for me and I have always preferred guns only. I never thought of switching between lasers and particle guns though, I'm definitely gonna try that next time. Firing the particles does take unneeded energy when the enemy still has its shields up and now that you mention it, lack of energy reserve has also been a hurtle for me.

Thanks for the feedback mate, more training it is!

[Edited on 8-12-2011 by Red Viper]

SeeJay · Post by **SeeJay** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 5:24 pm

You're welcome mate.

I never use missiles agains AI ships. Emergency only or if really quick kills are necessary.

Try the Icespear/Fusion laser combination. You'll be surprised of it's power even
if it's only a class 2 gun.

mikeuk · Post by **mikeuk** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 6:52 pm

Yep it works for me

Icespear/Fusion laser combination

Mecingo · Post by **Mecingo** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 7:50 pm

Best thing for me is at least, any Military frame which comes with 10 shield, 4x25 cms, and great agility.
A combination of Maxim-R, and Fusion Laser is great for destroying all ship frames.

Civilian frames are not good for heavy combat roles. You can fight with them in heavy combat situations, but they lack proper agility and energy recharging. When I fight in a civy ship I take longer to destroy enemies due to it's slow energy recharge, best to own a civilian ship for trading, mining, and minor combat roles and a military ship for many combat roles.

It's also good to know which frames are the weakest and which ones are the strongest, in order to know how to kill them. No one frame can be destroyed at the same speed, like a Guardian can be destroyed very quick unlike the Leviathan, which has heavy armor and might need to use a cheap missile to help bring it down.
Good cheap missiles are the rockeye and starfire.

Experiment with different combat styles and ship frames to find your best frame and style. I personally can use many frames successfully like Chimera, Avenger, and Shrike. For civilian frames that are decent in combat, Legacy and Mammoth, not good armor but decent agility and equipment hard points.

But over all I prefer the Avenger for any type of combat role.

[Edited on 8-12-2011 by Mecingo]

BraveHart · Post by **BraveHart** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 8:13 pm

"It sure was nice of Vice to provide all of us with a wide selection of civilian and military ships and weapons...I always feel like a kid in a candy shop! sooo many goodies...yum yum yum"

Viper · Post by **Viper** » Sun Aug 14, 2011 7:17 am

Hey guys I have another question for you, not even really related to the topic title, but anyways.

How do I bribe ships, or better yet - complete factions? The Navy guys don't like me so much a the moment (must be my bad morning breath lol) and I could do with a bit less ships on my six all the time lol.

Thanks.