Missions In Warzones

[Tzimisces]

Hi guys, I'm entirely new to Evochron as a whole, and I recently purchased Mercanaries.

Well, i've been chugging along, I started with the mercenary background, buying new ships when I can, when suddenly I became aware there was this second line of ships, of course, the military ships.

Having had trouble with combat missions even with my apparently rather well-armed and armored civilian craft (currently piloting whichever ship comes after the guardian), and noticing that in order to progress my military rank, I need to take contracts in warzones, I set out to try that out.

Obviously, I've had great difficulty. Most of the contracts I'm able to complete are non-combat, since the combat contracts in those regions often involve capital ships and ~7 fighter escorts, who invariably target me over other targets (something I've noticed in most combat missions, asides from escort missions), resulting in a very tricky and fairly often fatal barrage of missiles.

Hiring and bringing in my own fleet has been helpful, but often I find when I do this, I still need to high-tail it and let my allies soften up the opposing force. This is maybe best/worst exemplified when I'm being chased by 5 fighters, who are in turn being chased by my fleet.

I can't go far as to say friendly craft are ignored by enemies: I've had a fleet wiped out in one rough contract (and I manged to escape amazingly). But things seem hopeless. I want to be able to complete these combat missions but I'm afraid I'm utterly hopeless in combat, or I'm doing something wrong. I have been able do those "destroy the 4 enemy raiders or whatnot" missons, but I end up getting by by the skin of my teeth.

Are there any tips? Is my tendency to use heavier ships, which are heavily armored but slow and not that maneuverable such a significant issue? Should I just endeavor to keep on hiring 5 or so allied pilots?

[SeeJay]

Hello and welcome to the Sim and forum. There are some threads that cover Combat tactics.

I'm relatively new as well but learned the ropes in Evochron Legends. Basic fighting that works for me is:
- Never use IDS, Drifting with inertial around at least 1500K and changing direction whenever possible.
- Always face the enemy and take out missiles with Primary weapons/Countermeasures (CM). CM:s are "Free" when you refuel so use them. A string of 4-5 CM usually takes care of incoming missiles.
- I fire a missile and then follow up with guns/laser to finish them off one by one.

Hope this helps a bit.
See you out there in MP.

[warsign]

Your best weapon in combat is your "speed". Even heavy and well armored civilian ships can speed up around 2000 easily but takes more time...

Try this, turn on IDS and adjust your speed around 2200 and don't fight with enemies. Just circled around them like a vulture. Don't go directly over them, give to your ship little lateral speed too(speed is a 3d thing as you know), and fly like a vulture. You will see, they can't touch them. Their missiles have limited energy,don't panic. You must maintain your speed, If sometime it drops suddenly, you need to find a way to speed up your ship again,practice it.

CM and hitting missiles are your another weapons. Use them wisely.

And some special combat maneuvers, as you know, comes with practice...

Good flying...

[Edited on 9-21-2010 by warsign]

[Whytephyre]

I find 1500 k a bit slow & consider 2,000 k minimum safe attack speed. Jousting is a good beginner tactic, dont head directly towards the enemy, target one on the outskirts, & make a pass at him (Heading towards him but off to one side a bit, like two cars passing on a one way road, getting within about 500-600 k for cannons) & start softening them up. You may find it takes several passes to kill vonari. Missiles are great, but you tend ti run out or wait forever for them to reload so you are going to have to learn to use your particle cannons.

As for your fleet.... If they are chasing the enemy, which is in turn chasing you, get them to chase you right past your fleet so your men can all take a shot at them.... Rinse & repeat as necessary LoL

[Ravenfeeder]

One point from your post; the reds chashing you, and your fleet chasing the reds - turn around, with IDS off, max revs, blaze through them, and head towards your fleet. This will bring the reds to your fleet, and your fleet can then engage them. Meanwhile you can pop around taking on the red of your choice.

Remember: You don't have to chase the reds, they chase you. You can use this to your advantage by luring them into contact with a green force, your fleet, or a friendly green that happens to be in the area.

Work smart, not hard!

[Sinbad]

Hi Tzimisces, welcome to Evochron. You can dramatically speed up the early stages of your military career by joining online multiplayer and doing war zone contracts with some other human pilots. It's easier and highly enjoyable!

[BraveHart]

"Welcome Aboard Tzimisces"....Remember to lead the Hostile fighters away from the Vonari Capital ship. The Vonari Capital ship generally fires 3 to 4 missiles at you if you are in range.....this doesn't help especially when you are dealing with the pack of Vonari Fighters who are lobbing missiles at you too.

Also try going online in MP and fly with others in the war zone....This really helps you advance in military Rank and thus opens up the different military ships available.

[Maarschalk]

Hi Tzimisces, welcome. A lot of good advice already given...so hope to see you out there....

[Whytephyre]

Originally posted by Ravenfeeder
One point from your post; the reds chashing you, and your fleet chasing the reds - turn around, with IDS off, max revs, blaze through them, and head towards your fleet. This will bring the reds to your fleet, and your fleet can then engage them. Meanwhile you can pop around taking on the red of your choice.

Remember: You don't have to chase the reds, they chase you. You can use this to your advantage by luring them into contact with a green force, your fleet, or a friendly green that happens to be in the area.

Work smart, not hard!

exactly, works wonders

[Tzimisces]

Thanks for the tips all: I feel like I should have known better, this isn't the first space sim/combat game I've ever played (admittedly the physics in TIE fighter are a little limited though, jeez, even in that charging headlong into battle is a little stupid considering most Imperial craft are unshielded and most of your enemies are not). In any case, since posting this, I feel like my kill count has more than doubled, and I've completed the IMG questline. Before I join in on MP though, I think I'll mess around a bit more to get the hang of things.

I have to admit, though, is that I didn't realize a few things, namely A. that I could make a jump away from the battle if things got hairy, and corollary to that, B. that I could re-arm and repair. Certainly makes those 4 waypoints 30 fighter missions less daunting. Furthermore, that I could fire lasers without using my particle guns.

I suppose my next question is about MP: does your equipment and current ship transfer over? I worked hard for that starmaster...

Oh, and also, what exactly does a kinetic weapon do? I'm happy with my phantom cannon, but on paper it seems better than the banshee...

Oh, and of less importance, since it seems one can get to Sol using sublight drives (it seems to take about 5 minutes to traverse 1 sector at ~6000, meaning from Sirius or whichever system is technically closest, being about 2000 sectors away, it will take 5 minutes x 2000 = 10K/60 minutes/hr...equaling 166 hours at that speed, not using the fulcrum drive?? Or am I doing some math wrong...)

Is it, err, worth it? and is there a Vonari world, or is that really just on the map for giggles?

[Edited on 9-22-2010 by Tzimisces]

[Edited on 9-22-2010 by Tzimisces]

[Ravenfeeder]

Yeah, MP, and SP carry the same profile, with the exception that stations etc, built in MP/SP don't transfer.

Your ship/equipment/kills/missions etc all transfer between MP and SP, and vice versa.

[Tzimisces]

ahh, excellent. Alrighty then. I have a pretty good cable connection so it shouldn't be an issue for me to start some time soon.

[Ravenfeeder]

Great, looking forward to seeing you in MP. It's much more fun in MP.