Having a terrible time

PaulB · Post by **PaulB** » Wed Apr 16, 2014 9:35 pm

Could some of the aces expand on the combat strategies??
And please, I've read the Hints and guides and they really say about the same thing as the guides for PPG and others.
Basically, don't head straight for the enemy (unless it's from the rear) and head in at an angle and turn toward and fire (in Inertial mode - same thing as in PPG but PPG calls it a Shelton Slide).

But by the time I'm starting to get near a suitable position (especially if the Hostile is fighting other AI's in the area) he moving off in a different direction thus negating my efforts to get anywhere close to a firing position frequently (using Inertial mode).

That's not to say I'm not having some success - I'm now up to 16 or so kill and I've only been killed once and that was the 1st time I ever got into a firefight and after I reloaded I didn't get killed the 2nd time - and I think some Yellow ship tride to help me out but I got the kill cause that was the 1st one I got or even tried for a long time.

But what kind of angle do you try to head in at? 10Â°, 20Â° and what Strafe offset?

I frequently have to switch back to IDS so I can turn or get my heading cursors back to Forward view and get forward momentum again towards the target (instead of away) due to the Inertial maneuvering and the Target going elsewhere.
Before I've even fired a shot the momentum I had built up for the Shelton Slide has mostly become negative.

Also, how do you tell who is firing Guns at you? I select the nearest Hostile and at some point I'm taking gun fire and I'm having trouble telling if it's from my target or another hostile has gotten in behind me.

It seems to me that a Shelton Slide is only useful so long as your target is staying on a more or less steady course and not deviating all over creation. For a slower CAP ship it sounds like a good idea but less so in dog fights.

I think what I might like to see is an option where you could have Afterburn auto-enable IDS while you were Afterburning.

Paul

Post by **Marvin** » Wed Apr 16, 2014 11:58 pm

Situation awareness is the key. I find that I can't keep track of everything ... ergo, I use the auto CM launcher so that I have one less thing to worry about. As for being attacked by somebody other than my target, I rely on the HUD arrows and shield quadrants as indicators. The IDS multiplier is a must ... especially when fighting Vonari.

Rubber Chicken · Post by **Rubber Chicken** » Thu Apr 17, 2014 1:13 pm

These are some tactics I use for IDS-off fighting. I'd say that I fly in inertial mode 95% of the time - even when I'm just Sunday driving in a safe area. Of course, there are pilots who fly and fight quite successfully with IDS on. I'm sure you'll get enough responses to find which tactics work for you.

Try to stay on the targets at the outside edge of the group even if they are not the closest. Binding a key for Target Ship In Gunsight is good for this. A good basic attack would be to strafe directly left or right (horizontally) high enough that when you turn with the target you need to full afterburn to stay at the edge of your gun range while letting off the strafe for a moment here and a moment there in order to prevent getting too far away.

For example If you take the target on your left side, your going to turn left to keep the target in your sights, but your going to strafe to the right. As you turn with the target, your ship will bleed off forward and strafe momentum and 'try' to translate it all into going backwards. By using the afterburner and adding/releasing strafe, you should be able to find a point where you can circle the target at the edge of your MDTS lock range.

Keep in mind it's not mandatory to fully circle the target, only to stay in range long enough to lay in damage then break away and do it all over again. The higher your strafe (around 1500 or higher ) ought to keep most AI from hitting you unless they have a straight-on bead from another angle.

Also, most AI missiles won't reach you if your strafing at 1800+ and have some forward/backward speed as well. Spam countermeasures when the missile warning starts beeping that the missile is 'gimme a kiss' close. Keep your strafe as high as you can, and as long as it's high enough the missile should take a good long time in that range before a cm gets it or it times out. An anti-missile system is also a good insurance policy, but it needs to be considered as exactly that - an insurance policy.
To keep strafe that high you might need to afterburn as you turn toward the target in order to stay in a reasonable range, and AMS and countermeasures work best when the afterburners are off. It'll take some practice, but you should be able to find a good balance in timing the burners vs. using cm's.

Try not to get surrounded. You might be on a high strafe path relative to one target, but straight-on relative to another. Getting surrounded highly increases the chance of this happening.

Be careful as hostile capital ships do jump in close to your flight path when you're circling a hostile group, and said group will try to force you into the cap's flak, particle cannon, and missile range. If your not careful you'll end up with your ship butted right up against the hull of the cap - tail first. Not a very comfy chair at all.

[Edited on 4-17-2014 by Rubber Chicken]

[Edited on 4-17-2014 by Rubber Chicken]

Nigel_Strange · Post by **Nigel_Strange** » Thu Apr 17, 2014 4:32 pm

I use Parthian tactics.

If you are outnumbered, the reds will often bunch up into a formation. Seems that despite their differences, they'll all form an instant squadron to take you out :-)

I tend to deal with them by approaching at an angle, keeping my speed up, and then turning around. The enemy ships will track you, but as you are flying backward, and they are flying forward, you can control the distance by using the reverse AB (shift + AB key).

I also use a canon with a longer range than most, so if I carefully bleed off speed so that the foe is in my gun-range, but I am out of his/hers, I can safely plink away with impunity. I do have to watch other foes, though, to make sure they don't close in.

If they shoot missiles, since they're all chasing me, their missiles are mostly coming from the same direction, so I shoot at them. I find that shooting enemy missiles is much more effective than countermeasures, especially when you are running hot.

Big groups are always dangerous, so I tend to go for the foes on the edge of the line, rather than attacking the middle. This minimizes my exposure to their guns. The general idea is to get the foes in enfilade, then nail them one at a time. One issue with them in a group is that they'll shield one another: you'll be hitting one, bringing its shields down, and then another one will get in the way and take some shield damage, but allow the first one to recover. Avoid shooting at dense groups.

Last night, I tried this and it worked (others might want to give it a go). The enemy AI tend to ignore you if you are beyond about 5K. I had to attack a large group of foes. When I got there, I fired my excalibers (taking one out) and kept going, until they lost interest. Then I crept back up on them. I only got close enough to attract the last one of the group, and he turned to chase me, but the others ignored. I kept doing this, taking out one or two at a time, until the entire group was gone. I don't know if I could repeat that, but I'm putting the idea out there for other pilots to test. It takes very careful management of distance, so that you don't "aggro" more than one or two at a time. The way you can tell is by watching the right MFD. As soon as the foe turns around, start backing off so you can pull him out of the group.

picommander · Post by **picommander** » Thu Apr 17, 2014 5:34 pm

Have you seen This Video from our master himself?
It's very educational, but since the first part is mainly about the basics you can probably directly jump to 13:40 (or a little earlier if you want to learn about missile avoidance).

Post by **Marvin** » Thu Apr 17, 2014 7:07 pm

From post: 169003, Topic: tid=11343, author=Nigel_Strange wrote:It takes very careful management of distance, so that you don't "aggro" more than one or two at a time.

This was a good tactic in Arvoch Alliance ... due to the varied max speed of the enemy. You waited until all but one or two faster ships dropped from view.

picommander · Post by **picommander** » Thu Apr 17, 2014 8:05 pm

I'm using a slightly different method than Nigel when dealing with large blobs of enemies, mainly in those contracts where I have to kill 10 to 12 with no battleships involved. First I approach to the nearest enemy (thus that key is much more important to me than the "target in sight" one, see further below for the main reason) at a distance of around 1200 where they start spamming missiles. At this stage I'm in inertia mode and the AI pilots seem to have a strange interest of keeping this distance which after a while will level out at 1250. Their missile supply isn't endless but there's enough time to brew a coffee here. Missiles from AI don't seem to survive at a distance greater than 1000m. Of course I make use of my Excalibur when ever it's ready. Then I start the hunt and the name of the game is 'distance control' from now on. I'm trying to find a balance of strafing (away form the pile) and approaching with inertia forward (or even backward if needed, rarely with AB, only in emergency situations). This method feels a bit slow and cheesy but works - until the AI will be updated again. Also, with this method you will find that AI ships continuously swap their positions in order to pull you into the blob. That's why I always spam my "Nearest Enemy" button here. The enemy distance list that you can toggle with 'G' is mandatory here.

Post by **Marvin** » Thu Apr 17, 2014 10:03 pm

From post: 169008, Topic: tid=11343, author=picommander wrote:This method feels a bit slow and cheesy but works - until the AI will be updated again.

When it is, I too will need a new tactic. I prefer combat planetside but, when I find myself outgunned, I use a similar tactic while drifting backward into space. Because of the negative V of the AI's missiles, they do me no harm ... while the positive V of my Excals strike home every time. Between that and the number of friendly AI who usually hang around the orbiting distance of a planet and often intercept some of the bad guys in pursuit, things usually work out quite well.

PaulB · Post by **PaulB** » Sat Apr 19, 2014 4:38 am

I'm having an awful time in Olympus tonight (SP).
The last couple of waypoint contracts I've done - I kill about 2 Reds and by that time the others are gone and I can't find them.
That happened on a 1 waypoint contract. I tried jumps all around the sector and I could find the others. Well I wasn't going to cancel the contract so I exited the game and reloaded and took a new Contract. I've kinda gotten lost in the sequence now - I may be done a single waypoint that was successful - I'm not sure - but at any rate I soon took another 2 waypoint contract.
I've been trying to jump in a little ahead of the waypoint rather than right in the midst to try and get a better advandage or a little bit more time to look over the situation - about 4 - 6000 ahead of the waypoint.
On this 2 waypoint contract I killed 2 of the Reds and then the other 2 were gone again - so I had to start jumping around the sector. I found antoher Red and killed it and jumped some more and found a 4th and killed it - I hav no idea (but doubt) that they were the two who vanished. Anyway I then check the Measage and saw to head 189 to the 2nd waypoint So I jumped there and killed 2 more and dang if the others didn't take off (or vanish) and I had to go hunting for more.
Well I found 2 more and killed them thus finishing the Contract.

What's going on? That never happened on prior Contracts and I KNOW I'm not getting so good that they so scared of me that they are taking off so they don't s*** n their pants.
I still have a "not so good" time (to me at least) keeping track of who's closest and doing the correct approach.

Note: I'm not getting killed myself and at startup I had like 20 something kills and now I'm up in the upper 30's and Vany has gone up 4 or 5% and Energy is up a couple % too.

But why am I losing track of the rest of the group?
Or how can I find them? I know that 1st Instance I must have spent 15+ minutes jumping around looking for the buggers.

I did take a Defend Cap ship from 4 hostiles. I finished the contract but I never saw what happend to the Cap ship - I didn't see it after killing the 4 Reds and there were more Reds around and I was out of missiles so I saw no sense in continuing to fight and not getting anymore points out of it so I beat it to rearm and refuel.

Paul

Nigel_Strange · Post by **Nigel_Strange** » Sat Apr 19, 2014 5:28 am

In previous games, the reds would sometimes pay me not to kill them. Ah, those were the days.

It could be that your speed of approach and angle are such that you are leaving the area after two engagements.

Also, foes will flee after taking damage, and what I find happens is that they will lead you out of the area if you pursue to finish them off.

I ride in a Starmaster, so I'm fairly slow compared to the other ships (at least when I'm not doing military missions).

If you shoot a foe, and get the shields down, and the foe turns to flee, do not chase, or, if you do, try to finish it off quickly. They watch your speed, though, as they run, so what I do is turn a quick 360. When your forward speed drops, they will turn around, thinking that you're walking away from the fight, when you're just fooling them into thinking so. At this point, they will be closing the distance, and you can start shooting as soon as they're in range. In this way, you can keep from getting too far out of the combat area that you lose the other fighters.

I hope that helps.

PaulB · Post by **PaulB** » Sat Apr 19, 2014 5:35 am

From post: 169035, Topic: tid=11343, author=Nigel_Strange wrote:In previous games, the reds would sometimes pay me not to kill them. Ah, those were the days.

It could be that your speed of approach and angle are such that you are leaving the area after two engagements.

Also, foes will flee after taking damage, and what I find happens is that they will lead you out of the area if you pursue to finish them off.

I ride in a Starmaster, so I'm fairly slow compared to the other ships (at least when I'm not doing military missions).

If you shoot a foe, and get the shields down, and the foe turns to flee, do not chase, or, if you do, try to finish it off quickly. They watch your speed, though, as they run, so what I do is turn a quick 360. When your forward speed drops, they will turn around, thinking that you're walking away from the fight, when you're just fooling them into thinking so. At this point, they will be closing the distance, and you can start shooting as soon as they're in range. In this way, you can keep from getting too far out of the combat area that you lose the other fighters.

I hope that helps.

I'll try that and I have been getting up 1200+ and I'm in a Mammoth.
Maybe I should expound - then tend to pass me shooting and I have to turn around (inertial) and then I've got negative velocity - but I'm still heading away - in the same direction I had been heading.
I try to use the Strafe to so that they Cursor is in front of me - but it's awful hard. Maybe when I've got negative Vel I need to just Afterburn after the Reds til I start to gain on them faster than what I have been. I'm not sure.

Paul

[Edited on 4-19-2014 by PaulB]

picommander · Post by **picommander** » Sat Apr 19, 2014 5:52 am

Deploy constructor is your friend. Build a Sensor Station somewhere between the Docking Station and the Nav point. You'll see all the red dots in a certain circle around the Sensor on your F1 map. You still need to guess though, what might be the fugitives and what just random hostiles. When in doubt, kill them all.

Post by **Marvin** » Sat Apr 19, 2014 3:37 pm

On escort contracts, the capital ship you're escorting is heading to its jump point. When it reaches the point, it jumps into hyperspace ... which is why you no longer see it.

Rooster · Post by **Rooster** » Sat Apr 19, 2014 10:05 pm

I'll try that and I have been getting up 1200+ and I'm in a Mammoth.
Maybe I should expound - then tend to pass me shooting and I have to turn around (inertial) and then I've got negative velocity - but I'm still heading away - in the same direction I had been heading.
I try to use the Strafe to so that they Cursor is in front of me - but it's awful hard. Maybe when I've got negative Vel I need to just Afterburn after the Reds til I start to gain on them faster than what I have been. I'm not sure.

Paul

I'm still pretty new but here is a tip, Less is More.

The only difference between this type of fighting and say War Thunder or Crossfire is.... time. Take Your Time. Your approach is more important than any other thing. Then everything happens in a second. Approach for 5 seconds, attack for 1 second. 1:5

Example 1: The Pack

When going up against many ships, pick the one on the most outside of the pack. Who cares how far away he is. Go right at him at 2200 and hit Inertial. Put all power into Shields......and wait. You may have to strafe a little to the left or the right to avoid to much fire from his cronies. As soon as you can see the whites of his eyes, turn around and thrust hard till your speed is 1300. Use inertial forward/reverse to maintain distance from them while slowly letting them gain on you. Don't panic...you are in charge. Wipe them out one at a time, while keeping distance, never chase.

Example 2: The Dogfight

When in a dog fight...Don't Chase. Always be leading. Herding them. They will come to you. They do want to kill you. Keep your speed at 1100 to 1500 and if you thrust, turn your ship 2 to 4 times more in the direction you want to thrust. Set your shields/guns at -2/+2. Try to use inertial and the strafe keys to "aim" as much as possible. If a ship comes at you and blows past you....lead them. Turn to where they are headed...then 2 to 4 mores and Thrust. Speed at 1100, inertial, and ATTACK!

Take it easy, your setup approach is everything. What you do after is learned in time.....and oddly enough, it is what determines your skill level.

How fast can you "setup". How fast do you "attack". This is what makes a deadly pilot. It comes in, you guessed it, Time. Work on the approach and leading. Don't rush the kill and amazingly you will become a faster killer.

Iron man · Post by **Iron man** » Sat Apr 19, 2014 11:43 pm

I wont repeat what it what said but i will add if you still have some difficulties, i invit you play with players with more experience online. Observ them and i bet ypu could get a few tips how to manage the situation in fight. Enjoy

PaulB · Post by **PaulB** » Sat Apr 19, 2014 11:46 pm

From post: 169038, Topic: tid=11343, author=picommander wrote:Deploy constructor is your friend. Build a Sensor Station somewhere between the Docking Station and the Nav point. You'll see all the red dots in a certain circle around the Sensor on your F1 map. You still need to guess though, what might be the fugitives and what just random hostiles. When in doubt, kill them all.

A good suggestion - if I can figure which Equip I an spare to swap for the Constructor - only I do hate having to continually pay to deploy something. I think once you buy a device you shouldn't have to keep paying to use it. I mean it's already got a 1 sector limitation life on it so why should I have to keep shelling out dough to use the thing?

Apparently it doesn't matter as long as you kill the specified number of Reds in the contract - because I was jumping around (within 1 or 2 sectors) trying and finding a couple in different locations and after I had killed 4 total I got the message to proceed to the next waypoint.

Paul

PaulB · Post by **PaulB** » Sat Apr 19, 2014 11:48 pm

From post: 169045, Topic: tid=11343, author=Marvin wrote: On escort contracts, the capital ship you're escorting is heading to its jump point. When it reaches the point, it jumps into hyperspace ... which is why you no longer see it.

But to make sure I understand - If I kill the (up to) 4 Reds but they manage to destroy the CAP ship do I lose because the CAP ship got popped????
I'm assuming I would lose and thus the CAP ship DID jump and I just didn't see it.

Paul

PaulB · Post by **PaulB** » Sun Apr 20, 2014 12:12 am

From post: 169050, Topic: tid=11343, author=Rooster wrote:
I'll try that and I have been getting up 1200+ and I'm in a Mammoth.
Maybe I should expound - then tend to pass me shooting and I have to turn around (inertial) and then I've got negative velocity - but I'm still heading away - in the same direction I had been heading.
I try to use the Strafe to so that they Cursor is in front of me - but it's awful hard. Maybe when I've got negative Vel I need to just Afterburn after the Reds til I start to gain on them faster than what I have been. I'm not sure.

Paul

I'm still pretty new but here is a tip, Less is More.

The only difference between this type of fighting and say War Thunder or Crossfire is.... time. Take Your Time. Your approach is more important than any other thing. Then everything happens in a second. Approach for 5 seconds, attack for 1 second. 1:5

Example 1: The Pack

When going up against many ships, pick the one on the most outside of the pack. Who cares how far away he is. Go right at him at 2200 and hit Inertial. Put all power into Shields......and wait. You may have to strafe a little to the left or the right to avoid to much fire from his cronies. As soon as you can see the whites of his eyes, turn around and thrust hard till your speed is 1300. Use inertial forward/reverse to maintain distance from them while slowly letting them gain on you. Don't panic...you are in charge. Wipe them out one at a time, while keeping distance, never chase.

Example 2: The Dogfight

When in a dog fight...Don't Chase. Always be leading. Herding them. They will come to you. They do want to kill you. Keep your speed at 1100 to 1500 and if you thrust, turn your ship 2 to 4 times more in the direction you want to thrust. Set your shields/guns at -2/+2. Try to use inertial and the strafe keys to "aim" as much as possible. If a ship comes at you and blows past you....lead them. Turn to where they are headed...then 2 to 4 mores and Thrust. Speed at 1100, inertial, and ATTACK! Take it easy, your setup approach is everything. What you do after is learned in time.....and oddly enough, it is what determines your skill level.

How fast can you "setup". How fast do you "attack". This is what makes a deadly pilot. It comes in, you guessed it, Time. Work on the approach and leading. Don't rush the kill and amazingly you will become a faster killer.

Tell me why I would not want to tackle the closest Red 1st?? Rather than going after on farther away and having the closer ones shooting at me with guns and/or missiles???

One thing that baffles me some is often my target will be a tiny ship I'm trying to get in gun range of and a second (or very few) later he's right in my face shooting past me like lightning.
It's like they have a "super" afterburner or something and I don't often even get a change to fire in that situation.

It seems (I can't tell for sure) that sometimes my problem is I'm going after one target and then I'm taking gun fire and I can't tell from where - maybe one or more sources - and I have to scram away and turn around and try again.

As I've said - I haven't been killed - and some (3-4 Red contracts) are easier than others but some are a beast.

And I'd still like to know what is the best way to approach the waypoint?? Do you oldtimers just Jump to the waypoint or do you try to jump ahead of it some (3 to 6000 meters) and then head toward the "real" waypoint (this method is when I've been losing the 2 remaing Reds after I kill the 1st 2).

I have no idea how Vice wrote the game but I would think that in general you would want to get a bit ahead (assuming the waypoint will put you right in the middle of the action - which I'm not sure of).
I can't say that I've seen much of an advantage to either method. I was just trying the "jump ahead" to try and enable the Stealth Generator to get into a better firing situation and "get the jump" on one of the Reds for a quicker kill. Don't think it helped much - again - I'm not sure - it might even have got me some Hull damage.

All these cool gadgets seem to not really be all that useful because of limitations to this, that, or the other ship's systems.
Only thing the SG has helped is getting past Reds in places like Thuban or Pearl.

Paul

PaulB · Post by **PaulB** » Sun Apr 20, 2014 12:15 am

From post: 169053, Topic: tid=11343, author=Iron man wrote:I wont repeat what it what said but i will add if you still have some difficulties, i invit you play with players with more experience online. Observ them and i bet ypu could get a few tips how to manage the situation in fight. Enjoy

I would like to - but I have Verizon Mobile Wireless (mifi 2200 hot spot) and the connection is just too unreliable and frequently during Primetime hours (5 - midnight cst USA) the Cell tower I'm on is just too saturated.

Paul

picommander · Post by **picommander** » Sun Apr 20, 2014 12:25 am

From post: 169054, Topic: tid=11343, author=PaulB wrote:
A good suggestion - if I can figure which Equip I an spare to swap for the Constructor - only I do hate having to continually pay to deploy something.

Apparently it doesn't matter as long as you kill the specified number of Reds in the contract - because I was jumping around (within 1 or 2 sectors) trying and finding a couple in different locations and after I had killed 4 total I got the message to proceed to the next waypoint.

Paul

I'm sorry Paul but in games I'm a strict communist, I don't care much about money (as long as I can buy my petrol that is). IIRC in some of your posts you spoke about something like 300 Million you collected? I've less than 12 Millions right now, so you probably understand why I can't understand you...

In games like this there just need to be money sinks, otherwise you'll gain too much money in a too short time which soon makes money pretty pointless (and somehow I doubt that Evo's economy actually solves this problem in the long run).

I'm under the same impression that for the contracts only numbers and faction counts. Not quite sure though. That is how I did these contracts before: heading back to my station, docking, reloading and waiting for other enemy faction members to appear. Another method is to petrol the Mission's Nav point to the station. But that's all not carved in stone and I think these methods are all workarounds. If doing right, you won't lose your bait. I'm still learning though.

For Equip to swap out I choose the mining beam. It's cheap and often available, but I'm also having a hard time to get rid of it (small remnants of a merchant's soul I guess).

pi out

PaulB · Post by **PaulB** » Sun Apr 20, 2014 12:47 am

From post: 169058, Topic: tid=11343, author=picommander wrote:
From post: 169054, Topic: tid=11343, author=PaulB wrote:
A good suggestion - if I can figure which Equip I an spare to swap for the Constructor - only I do hate having to continually pay to deploy something.

Apparently it doesn't matter as long as you kill the specified number of Reds in the contract - because I was jumping around (within 1 or 2 sectors) trying and finding a couple in different locations and after I had killed 4 total I got the message to proceed to the next waypoint.

Paul
I'm sorry Paul but in games I'm a strict communist, I don't care much about money (as long as I can buy my petrol that is). IIRC in some of your posts you spoke about something like 300 Million you collected? I've less than 12 Millions right now, so you probably understand why I can't understand you...

In games like this there just need to be money sinks, otherwise you'll gain too much money in a too short time which soon makes money pretty pointless (and somehow I doubt that Evo's economy actually solves this problem in the long run).

I'm under the same impression that for the contracts only numbers and faction counts. Not quite sure though. That is how I did these contracts before: heading back to my station, docking, reloading and waiting for other enemy faction members to appear. Another method is to petrol the Mission's Nav point to the station. But that's all not carved in stone and I think these methods are all workarounds. If doing right, you won't lose your bait. I'm still learning though.

For Equip to swap out I choose the mining beam. It's cheap and often available, but I'm also having a hard time to get rid of it (small remnants of a merchant's soul I guess).

pi out

Well I guess it's a frame of mind - I started and still am using a Miner/Trader profile. So often after kills I will tractor in the cargo they were carrying and either sell it direct or take it to a Construct station and convert it and then sell it, plus I will refuel with the beam & fuel converter at a Cloud if available or a star Corona.

If I was doing a Military or Mercenary profile I expect I wouldn't care as much but for Civvie profiles Credits is a big part of your rating, which raises another question which is - say you have half a mil and a specific rating - will your rating drop is your Credits drop to say 50 mil or 5 mil??? I don't know the answer to that question - so I'm not sure I want to experiment to find out - though granted I could always head back to Pearl and build it up again - But that's not my idea of human nature or business management as a Miner/Trader. The idea is to "keep" building up your Credits and thus reputation (to the extent it is affected by credits).

It's kinda like some of the old post by oldtimers who aren't that keen on paying the high cost of Fulcrum Torps to quickly gain their Ranks. Me on the other hand - if I'm in an "against all odds" battle - I wouldn't mind having a couple - although I don't have any - but as I told Vice - I've half a mind to get some and try to clear out all the Reds at Thuban Gate who hinder someone just passing through.

Paul

Post by **Marvin** » Sun Apr 20, 2014 5:54 am

For escort contracts, the number of enemy ships you mort is unimportant ... the only objective is to see the cap ship safely into hyperspace. As for carrying a deploy constructor ... if you place the sensor in a really good tactical spot, you only need to use it once. Then you can swap it out. And, if you deploy the sensor prior to taking any contracts ... so much the better.

Busch · Post by **Busch** » Sun Apr 20, 2014 5:59 am

Paul, the fulcrum torps function as designed - as a weapon of mass destruction. They do come in handy, from time to time, for the opportunistic pilot who may use them to a particular advantage.
Quite a while ago, Vice removed the 'opportunity' to make civy status increases due solely by the way of garnering game cash. 'Twas determined a 'cheat' and an unfair advantage over others, who had no clue to the possibility. And rightly so. Game cash/credits ARE a vital part of the accrual of points mix. Add in the number of kills per cycle, the amount of cash earned per cycle (100k or better), contracts/missions completed, and total game cash on hand, to name a few. Rating numbers may drop. There appear to be certain conditions in which rank/status may follow the decline, but I'm not all that sure of the cause-effect relationship. It does exist however, and may be a concern - as you've expressed. If you're doing all the best you can, I'd not worry about it. It's really hard to go backwards when you're going forwards...

Post by **DaveK** » Sun Apr 20, 2014 2:11 pm

I did experiment with cash and I dropped rank when I'd dumped enough expensive equipment in deep space

For your civvy rank there are two ways: the easy one is to make $$$ - you can hit Legend in a few days; the hard one is to do it by kills and number of contracts - you may not hit Legend before you shuffle of this mortal coil!

Most people do a mix, I guess.

PaulB · Post by **PaulB** » Mon Apr 21, 2014 2:32 am

From post: 169067, Topic: tid=11343, author=Marvin wrote:For escort contracts, the number of enemy ships you mort is unimportant ... the only objective is to see the cap ship safely into hyperspace. As for carrying a deploy constructor ... if you place the sensor in a really good tactical spot, you only need to use it once. Then you can swap it out. And, if you deploy the sensor prior to taking any contracts ... so much the better.

I guess I'm confused - how big an area does a shield sensor cover? Can I fire at Reds from withing the shield? Can they come within the shield but not fire at me? Just how does it work?

Paul