Following a few simple rules goes a long way in creating an enjoyable experience for all: AXI Presents twelve good etiquette rules to make the most of

[CMDR Raven McKenzie]

The bit about not ramming the 'Goids feels like a personal attack. It's a great way to tank their shields fast.

But of course, I understand not wanting to have your shots blocked by a big fat 'Vette slamming into the murder flower, or triggering the special attacks. Part of the reason why I've just started fighting them in solo.

 

[Moriarte]

Too many rules.

The bit about SLFs, pad blocking and crime reporting I agree with. That’s good manners.

The rest is unneeded, unenforcible and unhealthy. Especially the bit about visiting some discord channel.

 

[Rat Catcher]

Too many rules.

Just think of it as a rather exclusive club....

Part of the reason why I've just started fighting them in solo.

Perfectly understandable. When I can be bothered doing some AX combat, I do it in my own PG, sometimes with other players from the squadron.

They are tough opposition and Frontier wan'ts us to play together to beat them, not giving much option to defeat much more than a Basilisk for a single player with only average skills and no urge to join a 'gang'...

 

[Crank Larson]

Meh. Rules are there to be broken.

 

[CMDR Raven McKenzie]

Just think of it as a rather exclusive club....

Perfectly understandable. When I can be bothered doing some AX combat, I do it in my own PG, sometimes with other players from the squadron.

They are tough opposition and Frontier wan'ts us to play together to beat them, not giving much option to defeat much more than a Basilisk for a single player with only average skills and no urge to join a 'gang'...

The best part about the recent update adding Hydras to surface sites means that you can solo them if you're tanky enough. Just gotta keep dipping for repairs and be careful, I've taken a couple out myself that way. Fun stuff.

 

[Vardaugas]

Teh Rulz
I. Shooty Thargz
II. No shooty frienz
III. gg

 

[Uiros Ueramos]

I wonder if this is related to Elite's peer-to-peer networking where the online experience is limited by the weakest internet connection. If everyone in the instance has sufficient upstream/downstream bandwidth there are no perceived issues, but as soon as someone with a poor or limited connection deploys a SLF they degrade the experience for others.

I've used SLFs with friends who also deployed SLFs many times online with no issues. I've only ever experienced lag / rubber-banding in an AXCZ in Open at the start of the Thargoid War, but as the two Commanders responsible never replied to anyone in the instance who messaged them I have no idea if either of them had dodgy internet connections.

Or incorrect network configurations without UPnP or Port Forwarding correctly configured.

 

[Neilski]

I fly this Conda, boost speed 394

Two questions triggered by that Conda build:
1: what's the motivation for turreted beam lasers instead of gimballed? (I fear I'm missing a trick here.)
2: is there any easy way to find out how much a TV beam laser will cool down any given ship without just trying it? (I mistakenly thought I'd better go for a class 4 on my own Conda, recently swapped that to a class 3 (cos distro draw), but maybe a class 1 is enough!)

 

[Starsong]

The best part about the recent update adding Hydras to surface sites means that you can solo them if you're tanky enough. Just gotta keep dipping for repairs and be careful, I've taken a couple out myself that way. Fun stuff.

Oh yeah. It’s quite the moneymaker too - I got 470m in bonds+ mission rewards for soloing a CZ yesterday.

 

[Starsong]

Two questions triggered by that Conda build:
1: what's the motivation for turreted beam lasers instead of gimballed? (I fear I'm missing a trick here.)
2: is there any easy way to find out how much a TV beam laser will cool down any given ship without just trying it? (I mistakenly thought I'd better go for a class 4 on my own Conda, recently swapped that to a class 3 (cos distro draw), but maybe a class 1 is enough!)

1. I assume that (especially on a slow ship like the Conda) it means you have the vent beam firing when a gimballed wouldn’t be in position to. Does have the disadvantage that you can’t easily stop firing if you need to save the distributor energy though.
2. The heat vented is proportional to the heat generated by the normal version of the beam. Once you’ve tried one size of vent laser, you can calculate how much another size would give. You’ll need to use a vent beam (any spare you have will do) initially to get the first set of numbers to work with though.

 

[Neilski]

recent update adding Hydras to surface sites

I'm such a noob at AX, I don't know where to look for (near-)surface battles with Interceptors. Pointers gratefully received (After my laughable first attempts to use flak to kill the little scumbags, I'd be very happy to dispense with them )

 

[CMDR Mechan]

I'm such a noob at AX, I don't know where to look for (near-)surface battles with Interceptors. Pointers gratefully received (After my laughable first attempts to use flak to kill the little scumbags, I'd be very happy to dispense with them )

This video will show you the basics of AX combat:
Anti-Xeno Academy: Learn how to fight Thargoids

Source: https://youtu.be/70xUm6Jh5eg


As for surface and station battles, check you the AXI discord where priority targets are permanently pinned:

Join the Anti-Xeno Initiative Discord Server!

The Anti-Xeno Initiative is an Elite: Dangerous community centered on Thargoid Combat (Anti-Xeno). | 27229 members

discord.gg

 

[Neilski]

This video will show you the basics of AX combat:

Yup, watched that more than once in the last few days - excellent learning material! (I watched it both before and after engaging with Interceptors, and of course large chunks of it made more sense after experiencing combat )

As for surface and station battles, check you the AXI discord where priority targets are permanently pinned:

Well I might just have to try that; have been shying away from it thus far cos I hate Discord...

 

[MVBanks]

If you don't like Discord, you can also find informations here in the forums https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/thargoid-invasion-next-target-systems.612125/page-56,
and here https://inara.cz/elite/thargoidwar/

 

[Shabine]

The fact that something as simple as fighting alien spacethingys with other players requires a damn etiquette tutorial (on top of extensive tutorials on how to fight them in the first place) is kinda why I don't do it. It's not that I'm shy... it's just that there's so much to potentially screw up both technically and socially that I'd rather save myself the headache and just do something else. There's a lot gates and keepers of those gates, if you know what I mean, and it all just seems like a real hassle.

 

[Sublime]

Just play the game however you want and don’t let others tell you how to play.

 

[Shabine]

Just play the game however you want and don’t let others tell you how to play.

This is great advice, and I usually do, but then I come across threads like this and it's daunting.

"Do not launch fighters even though you'd have no clue not to do that if we didn't tell you and we'll be annoyed if you do, and don't use this weapon, but also stop using this other weapon at this specific time you might not know about because you've never done this before, and also properly request an invite and prioritize this enemy without accidentally shooting anyone with the weapon we told you to use but also not use, and register on Discord and make a reservation at the restaurant, and be there between 6 and 6:30 or you won't be served."

Like... man... it's fine, I'm just gonna go over here and play in different sandbox. Imagine if I didn't see this and just showed up with plasmas and a SLF and didn't know how to request a wing. And had never fought Thargoids. Everyone would just instantly despise me.

 

[Northpin]

The best part about the recent update adding Hydras to surface sites means that you can solo them if you're tanky enough. Just gotta keep dipping for repairs and be careful, I've taken a couple out myself that way. Fun stuff.

That's what i do with my Condagib full of guardians hull reinforcements - i just bruteforce them, doin on average 2 hydra hearts per repair, best being the last 4 hearts in a single go but this doesnt happen often enough.
Still, with all the repairs i can complete a Planetary AX CZ in like 80-90 minutes tops

 

[Northpin]

Just play the game however you want and don’t let others tell you how to play.

"Do not launch fighters even though you'd have no clue not to do that if we didn't tell you and we'll be annoyed if you do, and don't use this weapon, but also stop using this other weapon at this specific time you might not know about because you've never done this before, and also properly request an invite and prioritize this enemy without accidentally shooting anyone with the weapon we told you to use but also not use, and register on Discord and make a reservation at the restaurant, and be there between 6 and 6:30 or you won't be served."

Nobody is born with the knowledge, but we do acquire it from such threads.
What you do with the knowledge it's up to you, after all it's just etiquette, not a set of hard rules that you will be banned for not respecting them

However, the chances are people will move out of Open if they get too frustrated by other players that keep doing dumb stuff even after been told not to do dumb stuff
And it will be the knowledgeable people movin out, leaving the instances full of not so experienced AX people, taking longer and longer to finish one.

 

[Shabine]

Nobody is born with the knowledge, but we do acquire it from such threads.

Unless you don't use these forums, which describes the vast majority of players.

However, the chances are people will move out of Open if they get too frustrated by other players that keep doing dumb stuff even after been told not to do dumb stuff

But this is kinda the problem. You don't want people to do dumb stuff, which is fair enough, but a lot of this isn't advice on how to not do dumb stuff... it's advice on how to perform optimally and keep everyone who expects you to perform optimally happy.

Don't get me wrong, I have no issues with research and knowledge gathering. I do a lot of it myself. I just read all the arguing about the crime reporting feature and how it's either a crutch that allows bad players to be careless or necessary in order to prevent small mistakes from being too much of a problem, and I can't help but think to myself that this is potentially just a disaster and a pile of drama waiting to happen, you know?