Frustrated with my puny ship

Charon · Post by **Charon** » Sun Aug 19, 2012 2:44 pm

I'm getting really frustrated. When I started playing I found that I wouldn't last long in a battle. I put this down to week armour, shields and weapons. I have spent time upgrading my ship to what seems to be a pretty high spec, yet still I'm being plummeted in battles. I feel every upgrade I make has little to no effect.

This is how I'm Playing. I'll enter a battle and run to get some distance. I'll then creep up on the pack and try and pick one off. I'll keep doing this. I'll spend ages picking easy shots and running. This makes battles frustrating and slow. To make things worse, after ages of work, if I make a single mistake, I can suddenly find myself surrounded by enemies with no way out and destroyed in few seconds.

What am I doing wrong or is this just the nature of the game?
My ship is configured to be strong. It has a Starmaster frame, engine 6 (a bit slow), shield 10, wing 10, Shield boostx5, repair sys C3, Cannon Relay sys, Beam: fusion, Particle: phantom/maxim R (swap around).

The only way I'm progressing through missions is to enlist the help of as many other ships as possible and stay back and let them do the work. This is not making for a very satisfying game.

49rTbird · Post by **49rTbird** » Sun Aug 19, 2012 3:07 pm

I would recommend a"Cannon Heatsink" also. When attacking, aim your ship to the side about 20 deg as you approch them and turn off IDS so you can use your "Strafe left or Right" more effectively to avoid the Reds cannon fire. You might try an engine at 10 and Wings at 6 which works good on MY StarMaster (I fly with my keyboard). Don't forget to adjust your shield to keep them up on the front if you are being hit in the front.

I also use an auto-cm dispenser and an anti-missle unit.

[Edited on 8-19-2012 by thetiebers]

Post by **Marvin** » Sun Aug 19, 2012 3:59 pm

I use auto-CMs too. Last week I started a new profile and couldn't find where to buy them ... and promptly lost a number of battles in the Cerulean WZ. But, 'though I died a thousand times, I lasted longer than otherwise because sneaking up on Vonari with IDS engaged ... is suicide. The key to space combat is the proper use of inertial. And practice makes ... you a better combat pilot.

Charon · Post by **Charon** » Sun Aug 19, 2012 6:39 pm

I read somewhere the heat sink was a waste of energy so I hadn't bothered with it. I will try one. I guess I need to utilise strafing more too. Thanks.
How does the anti missile system work and were can they be found?

SeeJay · Post by **SeeJay** » Sun Aug 19, 2012 6:49 pm

Hi and welcome.

The heatsink is a must for combat
but drains a lot when you are using
a stealth debice.

Try Pearl or Rucker. In MP many systems
might have what you seek since pilots
can raise the tech level of systems.

Good luck.

49rTbird · Post by **49rTbird** » Sun Aug 19, 2012 7:41 pm

The anti-missile system tries (works most of the time) to take out missiles before your auto-cm system starts dropping cm's. Even with both missiles will still get to you so you have to be ready to shot them down.

Sinbad · Post by **Sinbad** » Mon Aug 20, 2012 1:34 pm

I'm a fan of the anti-missile system... it's not 100% reliable though, as it is only effective when the missiles are approaching you directly form behind, but it acts as a good back up. In the heat of battle it can save your skin if you don't get your CM's out in time.

As for combat, like the others said, learning to pilot in inertia is the key. Drift past your target on inertia, slightly to one side at around 1800 velocity and shoot him as you you pass. You can also fire a missile as he approaches at around 1500 range or as he recedes. If you are traveling at >1800 the missiles won't be able to catch you and on inertia they don't lock on to your heat signature. Remember to avoid going into the center of the pack, always go around them.

Flash · Post by **Flash** » Mon Aug 20, 2012 6:53 pm

If you haven't read this please do. The section on advance fighting tactics will be very helpful

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

Star King · Post by **Star King** » Mon Aug 20, 2012 7:05 pm

Go to Pearl and make multi-million dollar trade runs! This will get you better and better ships and remember to never give-up or surrender!

hank · Post by **hank** » Sat Sep 29, 2012 2:22 pm

A question about my non-puny ship. I've been fortunate from my mining ops to make enough money to buy a Starmaster.

My question is about wing systems. Do the low end wing systems help a large frame ship and if so how much? I can only assume minimal.

So do you have to buy the high end wing systems to get a gain in maneuverability?

I got a Leviathan before and it seemed to turn real slow compared to the Starmaster so I tried the higher end wing systems on the Lev and seemed to get a bit more turn speed but I can't say for sure. I like the look of Lev over the SM's look, so I was wondering how to improve the Lev.

Also, I've been trying to figure out which is the better cannon enhancement; the cannon relay or heat sink. If I had to get rid of one, which one would it be? I've read the tech manual and I can't figure out which one gives me the most bang for the buck.

thanks again in advance

[Edited on 9-29-2012 by hank]

Capt_Caveman · Post by **Capt_Caveman** » Sat Sep 29, 2012 2:47 pm

higher wing systems will help on large frames but not near as much as on the smaller frames
it's just the fact that your in a bigger heavier ship.
like putting raceing tires on a bus. It will turn a little better but it's still a bus

for a tougher civi ship, get a crew, weapons officer and engineer. level 10 shield, highest wing you can (10 or 11)

cannon relay and heatsink are BOTH required, I recomend you give up something else.
and remember, for weapons, sometimes less = more (hint)

[Edited on 9-29-2012 by capt_cronic]

Post by **DaveK** » Sat Sep 29, 2012 4:15 pm

Download the Hints&Tips Guide from SeeJay's site:

http://evochron.junholt.se/menus/downloads.htm

There are several pages of Hints, Advice, Tutorials and discussions about combat (along with most other things as well - 170 pages in total!) There are also videos on the site to download on combat - the ones by Mecingo are very good:

The following tutorials by Mecingo are available from SeeJay's website

Evochron Mercenary (Support Navy against Vonari)
Evochron Mercenary (Contract - Protect Capital Ship)
Evochron Mercenary (Mission - Protect Navy Ship From Vonari)
Evochron Mercenary (Contract - Scan Enemy Capital Ship)
Evochron Mercenary (Contract - Patrol)
Evochron Mercenary (How To Fight 10 Hostiles (Modified) )
Evochron Mercenary (Atmosphere Combat 101)

As much as anything tactics are the key - I got a bad ass top military ship and now last long enough to see what's killing me - I'm still working on the tactics bit! Go onto MP and get advice from an experienced player - there are many Aces out there. You can also take part in multiplayer combat contracts in warzones - a good way to have a practice without every hostile focussing on you!

Practice the new tactics until you can make them work. Then keep practicing

Major Grubert · Post by **Major Grubert** » Sat Sep 29, 2012 5:00 pm

learn to escape fight before dying

learn from your mistakes

learn about being careful of distances/speed/frame of enemy's and your own speed distance and weapons capacity

as i'm not a very good fighter i'm always very carefull about red guys... i do love escape a fight just by flying around, counting missile and avoiding shoots from them... pushing a little boosters, inertia... speed... turnin 45Â° pushing, inertia.... lol, they hate that

one time i make 10 of them follow me in spiral around a station, on the radar it looked like a Christmas decoration stuff

but i gues speed is a good key for start, control speed, learn speed of other frame, learn how to reduce speed very fast, changin angles and all..

Post by **Marvin** » Sat Sep 29, 2012 6:31 pm

Smaller ships have a really fast turn rate compared to larger ships. Wings can only do so much ... as seen here:

In other words, wings can more than double the turn rate of a big ship ... but when you double a really, really slow turn rate, it only gives you a turn rate of ... slow. Not really, really slow ... but slow enough so that you might not realize the effect of the high-class wing.

hank · Post by **hank** » Sat Sep 29, 2012 7:27 pm

Thanks to everyone. I actually have gotten fairly good at combat ... against AI ships ... much room for improvement.

I have been playing well over a month or a so and fighting for a few weeks less than that. I ran a lot or just got blasted at first while I was learning the system. Now, I turn and fight nearly every time I'm confronted by less than 3 or 4 ships (and I have a few missiles) ... more than that and I tend to run.

So it sounds like if you want a larger vessel you just learn to deal with the sluggish turning. Wings can only marginally help the large vessels. I have that chart but did not study it enough to gauge how it predicts performance.

I tried military ships a couple of times. At this time I'm too interested in the civilian ships ... large ships with lots of stuff on them. Later I'll try military ships when I get more comfortable with dogfighting.

[Edited on 9-29-2012 by hank]

SeeJay · Post by **SeeJay** » Sat Sep 29, 2012 8:58 pm

Great Hank. Time will make any pilot an Ace if
you put some work in it.

Be aware that a Civ ship configured
properly is also great in combat if you
treat her like a woman. .... Firm but gently ;-)