Guide to capitol ship combat (long)
Posted: Fri, 26. Mar 04, 18:59
So you have all the cash in hand finally to buy the ship of all ships, the killer of the galaxy, the M2. Ever wondered what to do with your cash? Ever wondered what to do with that M2 once you have it? Well read on. This is the basic guide to M2 use and combat.
We all know that you can take down a Xenon K with an M6 or even an M3, this can be fun but it can also be fun to take down the Xenon K with an M2. Proper capitol ship combat is more about timing and angle than the skills you need with smaller craft.
Lesson 1: which M2 to buy?
Well the answer is a varied one and much discussed on this board. Basically it boils down to taste and what weapon you want to use. Only 2 weapons count to be used on capitol ships: GPSG and GPPC. These are the biggest and best turret weapons you can get. The GHEPT is there only for the poor turrets that cant fit one of the other two.
If you want to shred into bases (pirate or otherwise) then GPSG is it, that limits your choice to the Paranid Odyseus since it’s the only M2 that can mount those beasties. If you want to shred other capitol ships (Xenon K) then anything that can mount the most GPPCs that can fire FORWARD the better. This means that you can have almost anything (including the Odyseus . Basically most people agree that the Odyseus is the best all round.
Lesson 2: weapons load out.
As discussed before the weapons are limited to GPPC and GPSG. You should keep one important rule in mind: GPSG is good ONLY when you don’t want to make enemies other than the target you are shooting at, it is an area of effect and hits everything in the “wash”. So the best all round loadout is: Paranid Odyseus with GPPC for all the turrets that can hold em (Front, Left and Right) and GHEPTS for the turrets that cant (top, bottom and back). Keep 6 GPSGs in the cargo hold for the left and right turrets when taking on Xenon capitol ships when no one else is around.
Lesson 3: combat rating
As most people will tell you shooting small things (anything smaller than M2) from inside an M2 is EASY! No aiming is needed and your turrets will earn you combat rating points in no time flat. Just make sure that you set your turrets to Attack Enemies, more on this in the next lesson.
Lesson 4: using your turrets
Since an M2 does not have guns that you can aim by steering the ship you have to shift your mind away from the methods used to shoot in smaller ships. This is VERY important! As of patch 1.3 the turrets actually shoot and hit things.
To use the turrets follow these steps:
a. Press shift-c
b. Use the down arrow key to scroll to where the turrets configurations are (no hotkey here sadly)
c. Select a turret and a menu will come up
d. Choose the option you want and there you go!
There are 3 basic situations that change the configuration of your turrets:
1. Parking and shooting at lots of little ships: this is when you want to shoot at many little ships and get good combat rating. DON’T try and fly after the little buggers! It’s an exercise in futility. Fly the M2 up to a group of little ships and set all your turrets to fire on enemies. Soon things will start exploding and they will come to you. Zero your speed, hit F2 and use the numpad keys to watch the carnage. DON’T use GPSGs for this if there are any friendlies around.
2. Parking outside a pirate base: this is when you fly up to a pirate base with music from JAWS or Empire Strikes Back playing in the background. You park your M2 about 1.6km from the base. Set all your turrets except your front turret to shoot at enemies, set your front turret to shoot at your target. Select the base as your target and proceed to tickle it into releasing swarms of combat rating providing targets. Hit F2 again and watch the flies hit the GPSG screen. DON’T kill the base! You get no rating for it and if you leave it be for a few days it will make more willing victims for you to fry. Use GPSGs to kill the flies and GPPCs to tickle the nest.
3. Taking on the Xenon K: this is where the M2 really becomes fun to play. Using your M2 to kill a Xenon K is tactically fun and rewarding and can be dangerous where the other uses for the M2 wasn’t! The debate will rage on and on about this but my opinion is to use the Odyseus for this job, put GPSGs on the left and right and GPPC in front. This is important: set the FRONT, LEFT and RIGHT turrets to fire on your target and the rest on the enemy. When zoning into a Xenon sector there could be 2 Ks waiting for you, in which case you can choose to live on the edge or jump out. The basics of combat is: try to achieve such an angle and for the longest possible time so that 2 or 3 of your turrets can pound away at the Xenon before you die.
Moving the M2 around in combat:
Remember that the M2 CANNOT turn on a dime! Its very slow to turn and maneuver. Here is a very good tip though:
The M2 turns from left to right MUCH faster than up and down. This means that if you have to turn the ship up and down it would be MUCH faster to use the Q and W keys to roll the M2 and then turn left and right.
There are 3 basic situations that the K can be in for you:
a. Coming at you: if the K is coming at you play chicken with it, it WILL turn at about 4-6km away. Decrease your speed A LOT and turn WITH it, this means turn so what you go parallel with it. Decrease your speed to stay level with the Xenon. This is where the timing comes in. Your front turret should start pounding away at shields at about 5km and when you turn at the RIGHT time, your side guns (left or right) will “wash” the Xenon with force, keep level and within seconds the Xenon explodes into glory!
b. Flying away from you: if you have a Odyseus then you have to keep on its tail since it will be faster than you, at some point it will turn and then you use the same tactic as above. If you have a faster ship (Ray) then you can slowly increase your speed until you are in firing range and then angle slightly so that your left or right turrets start tearing into it as well.
c. Side on at rest or flying slowly: if the Xenon is lying there across your screen then charge it and drop your speed as soon as your front turrets start firing. Watch which way it turns and accelerates and repeat the head on turning move.
I hope this helps all those wanting to or those that feel like using an M2 to kill stuff!
We all know that you can take down a Xenon K with an M6 or even an M3, this can be fun but it can also be fun to take down the Xenon K with an M2. Proper capitol ship combat is more about timing and angle than the skills you need with smaller craft.
Lesson 1: which M2 to buy?
Well the answer is a varied one and much discussed on this board. Basically it boils down to taste and what weapon you want to use. Only 2 weapons count to be used on capitol ships: GPSG and GPPC. These are the biggest and best turret weapons you can get. The GHEPT is there only for the poor turrets that cant fit one of the other two.
If you want to shred into bases (pirate or otherwise) then GPSG is it, that limits your choice to the Paranid Odyseus since it’s the only M2 that can mount those beasties. If you want to shred other capitol ships (Xenon K) then anything that can mount the most GPPCs that can fire FORWARD the better. This means that you can have almost anything (including the Odyseus . Basically most people agree that the Odyseus is the best all round.
Lesson 2: weapons load out.
As discussed before the weapons are limited to GPPC and GPSG. You should keep one important rule in mind: GPSG is good ONLY when you don’t want to make enemies other than the target you are shooting at, it is an area of effect and hits everything in the “wash”. So the best all round loadout is: Paranid Odyseus with GPPC for all the turrets that can hold em (Front, Left and Right) and GHEPTS for the turrets that cant (top, bottom and back). Keep 6 GPSGs in the cargo hold for the left and right turrets when taking on Xenon capitol ships when no one else is around.
Lesson 3: combat rating
As most people will tell you shooting small things (anything smaller than M2) from inside an M2 is EASY! No aiming is needed and your turrets will earn you combat rating points in no time flat. Just make sure that you set your turrets to Attack Enemies, more on this in the next lesson.
Lesson 4: using your turrets
Since an M2 does not have guns that you can aim by steering the ship you have to shift your mind away from the methods used to shoot in smaller ships. This is VERY important! As of patch 1.3 the turrets actually shoot and hit things.
To use the turrets follow these steps:
a. Press shift-c
b. Use the down arrow key to scroll to where the turrets configurations are (no hotkey here sadly)
c. Select a turret and a menu will come up
d. Choose the option you want and there you go!
There are 3 basic situations that change the configuration of your turrets:
1. Parking and shooting at lots of little ships: this is when you want to shoot at many little ships and get good combat rating. DON’T try and fly after the little buggers! It’s an exercise in futility. Fly the M2 up to a group of little ships and set all your turrets to fire on enemies. Soon things will start exploding and they will come to you. Zero your speed, hit F2 and use the numpad keys to watch the carnage. DON’T use GPSGs for this if there are any friendlies around.
2. Parking outside a pirate base: this is when you fly up to a pirate base with music from JAWS or Empire Strikes Back playing in the background. You park your M2 about 1.6km from the base. Set all your turrets except your front turret to shoot at enemies, set your front turret to shoot at your target. Select the base as your target and proceed to tickle it into releasing swarms of combat rating providing targets. Hit F2 again and watch the flies hit the GPSG screen. DON’T kill the base! You get no rating for it and if you leave it be for a few days it will make more willing victims for you to fry. Use GPSGs to kill the flies and GPPCs to tickle the nest.
3. Taking on the Xenon K: this is where the M2 really becomes fun to play. Using your M2 to kill a Xenon K is tactically fun and rewarding and can be dangerous where the other uses for the M2 wasn’t! The debate will rage on and on about this but my opinion is to use the Odyseus for this job, put GPSGs on the left and right and GPPC in front. This is important: set the FRONT, LEFT and RIGHT turrets to fire on your target and the rest on the enemy. When zoning into a Xenon sector there could be 2 Ks waiting for you, in which case you can choose to live on the edge or jump out. The basics of combat is: try to achieve such an angle and for the longest possible time so that 2 or 3 of your turrets can pound away at the Xenon before you die.
Moving the M2 around in combat:
Remember that the M2 CANNOT turn on a dime! Its very slow to turn and maneuver. Here is a very good tip though:
The M2 turns from left to right MUCH faster than up and down. This means that if you have to turn the ship up and down it would be MUCH faster to use the Q and W keys to roll the M2 and then turn left and right.
There are 3 basic situations that the K can be in for you:
a. Coming at you: if the K is coming at you play chicken with it, it WILL turn at about 4-6km away. Decrease your speed A LOT and turn WITH it, this means turn so what you go parallel with it. Decrease your speed to stay level with the Xenon. This is where the timing comes in. Your front turret should start pounding away at shields at about 5km and when you turn at the RIGHT time, your side guns (left or right) will “wash” the Xenon with force, keep level and within seconds the Xenon explodes into glory!
b. Flying away from you: if you have a Odyseus then you have to keep on its tail since it will be faster than you, at some point it will turn and then you use the same tactic as above. If you have a faster ship (Ray) then you can slowly increase your speed until you are in firing range and then angle slightly so that your left or right turrets start tearing into it as well.
c. Side on at rest or flying slowly: if the Xenon is lying there across your screen then charge it and drop your speed as soon as your front turrets start firing. Watch which way it turns and accelerates and repeat the head on turning move.
I hope this helps all those wanting to or those that feel like using an M2 to kill stuff!