Note:
You can talk the trader-guy down to 120k for the Quasar radar.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BobtheOrc
I've picked up the mission to escort Alex and his convoy from XT-51, I'm sent on ahead to clear the route and shortly before the portal am attacked by a large force of pirates.<snip>
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Since I'm here, I might as well chip in.
I assume you're talking about the Butcher + iirc 4 fighters that guard the portal in xt-54?
All I can offer you is this:
A) Control the agro.
This is difficult to set up properly, but the computer doesn't retarget once you do it.
Depending on your gear, you probably want the butcher to target your fighters and the fighters to target your MS.
The fact that they spawn at a specific place when your MS gets to another specific place sharply limits how you can fiddle with this, sadly.
If you can manage to pull this off, hard fights become much easier.
It's an enormously useful skill in SW1, for instance.
You usually achieve this with careful pulling. Advance slowly until you enter the lead pirate's field of vision (press 'V' twice in the map mode. You'll know you got there when they start coming at you.) with the ships you want it to target.
Then back away and try to defeat them in detail.
B) Make use of your advantages.
Some are obvious:
- If you have an Engineer (hero only, that early in the game), Hacker Attack is awesome against big bads.
- If you have a missile Gunner (ditto), Deadly Missiles + 2/4 torpedoes (Excalibur or Bident) should take out the fighters (1 torp) and a chunk of the butcher's hp (with the rest).
For that matter, torpedos help even without Deadly missiles. Put them on anyone who can carry them.
- If you have a Pilot, get the Butcher to target him, then activate the Snake Attack clicky.
- If you have a Gunner, give him (and Ternie) a Laser or Particle Accelerator and use the Snipe clicky for a nich chunk of damage.
If you happen to have managed to get some main guns for your MS,
target that Butcher!
Some are less obvious:
In a faction system, see if you can 'recruit' a patrol to lend a hand.
(i.e. Get them to see the pirate wing (generally done by agroing a wing and then running for your life
), they'll engage automatically.)
Won't help in xt-54, though.
MIRVs, if you have them, are great at taking out fighter wings.
On that note, Trucidation's Missile mod has 'mini MIRVs' which stackhigher, are cheaper (though weaker) and less rare.
Use 'pause'.
If you have a heavy hitter (usually the gunner), ride them (i.e. follow in chase cam).
As soon as they kill their target, pause and manually target an enemy in the same line of fire, if there are any.
Then wish you could add an FPS announcer's sfx as you score 5 kills in 10 seconds. (Slight exaggeration, but only slight.)
Hire mercs, if need be.
In scripted fights, the most important thing is living through them.
Yes, they cost boatloads, are weak for their cost and they steal xp to boot, but the additional warm bodies (to soak up and dish out damage) can be the critical difference to the outcome of a fight.
If you have a missile gunner, note that Deadly Missiles take affect
when the missile hits rather than when it's launched.
Holding DM that much longer can mean (up to) several more enhanced volleys (with Rapid Fire) than you'd've gotten otherwise.
Make a tactical decision: when is the Leadership bonus or Defend assignment more beneficial than the versetality of individual ships?
Scripts work in realtime not gametime.
Use this to your advantage.
E.g. When you're in the pirate Mastiff, going to elio, there's a scripted NESF patrol that meets,talks with and then attacks you in Hephastus.
If you start moving as soon as you enter, and pump up the gametime you can be out of their LoS by the time the script turns them hostile.
Don't bother with MS-gear that doesn't offer direct combat benefits, because any serious combat will almost invariably end up near your MS sooner or later.
Note: the Quasar for the 'escort Alex' quest is okay (and even recommended) to use, until you get your first Agent radar.
If you have the choice, use team-repair modules instead of solo-heals.
Not only will they repair the equipped ship, you can you them to repair another in a pinch,and the best teamheal is 25% better than the best soloheal.
The bonuses from hero perks and boost modules in multiplicative.
C) If all else fails, reload from an earlier save and do something else for a while.
Now that you know what's coming, buy gear tailored to the challenge.
Hunt pirates (or hostile factions) for gear and profit.
etc.
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I'm sure I missed some, and I'm not actually sure that you're even reading this, but hey, whatever. It might help someone.
gl hf