Moody Loner seeks Lone Cyclops for toxic relationship?

Angus

Angus
I've been modifying an Anaconda with Thargoids in mind and felt the need to try it (and my wholly indadequate combat skills) against an Interceptor. I gather a Cyclops is the least formidable?
I've been jumping to Thargoid Alert systems only to find when I arrive that the Alert is over and I receive a message to that effect once I've jumped. :-/

And there don't currently seem to be any systems undergoing Thargoid invasion.

I obviously get hyperdicted when making these jumps but not necessarily by a Cyclops and not necessarily by a lone ship.

What is the best way to encounter a lone Cyclops these days, and are Guardian modules (Hull reinforcement etc) worthwhile? It's for science! :)

Thanks for any wise words.
 

Shadowsnog

Shadowsnog
getting a lone cyclops would probably be best in pleiades. in the bubble you can try to fish for hyperdictions in the thargoid areas, or you could try some conflict zones (in counterstrike systems or those controlled that are on map in slightly brighter green). in cz you will get a small wave of scouts first and then some interceptor spawn. there you can more or less easily isolate one and take it down. tho there will be ax npcs and scouts present as well and you might get another interceptors in there as well...

guardian hull reinforcement is a good substitute for engineered human hrp. even provides some caustic resistance but takes toll on power from your powerplant. if you can afford to engineer heavy duty deep plated human ones it will provide more armor, but the guardian ones arent necessarily a bad call either.

also might be worth noting:
some thargoids (orthrus and glaive) have caustic field, that will damage all guardian modules except for hull reinforcement. if you were to encounter those your guardian modules will be on a timer.
otherwise anaconda might not exactly be the best choice for dipping your toes into thargoid combat. generally krait mk2 or alliance chieftan are considered the best options mainly for their maneuverability.
not that anaconda is a bad ax ship...
if you are looking for some builds and tactics tips might want to check out the anti xeno initiative website or their discord
 

Helmut Grokenberger

Helmut Grokenberger
Most has been said, I'll add my two cents:

If you want to have a somewhat controlled encounter with a lone Cyclops, go to the Pleiades and jump into Non-Human Signal Sources Threat 5. There you will find a single Cyclops and a debris field. The Cyclops will not be hostile, come up to you, scan you, and then go about its business. Unless you attack it :).

Within the war zone, you can jump around in and out of control or alert systems and play hyperdiction lottery. You also get interdicted by Thargoids in those systems, but it can be everything from Scouts or Glaives up to multiple Interceptors of all kinds.

Going into AX conflict zones is the most controlled way of getting them in the war zone. Cyclopses are the most common Interceptor to spawn there, but there will also be Scouts, Basilisks aren't rare, and there will be the occasional Medusa.

You also can just drop anywhere in Thargoid controlled systems and wait what will drop in on you. Again, it's a bit of a lottery.

As for guardian modules: All guardian modules except the guardian hull reinforcements will be damaged by the anti-guardian field in HIP 22460, the Maelstrom systems and in the presence of Glaives; if I remember correctly, they will take about one to two percent damage per second. Generally, I would say they are not worth it unless you are completely broke on engineering materials. My understanding is that a guardian HRP is about equal to a G3 normal HRP. The MRPs have a bit higher integrity at the price of additional power draw (a 5D GHRP draws 1.46 MW), which will possibly increase your heat signature and can be the last drop if you're on edge power wise.
 

sgurr

S
Try Asterope, lots of signal sources close to the star for rng results, scan the nav bacon to resolve, station close by for rearm and repair.

Look for Threat 5 NHSS with a cargo icon in the contacts panel, they are a guaranteed lone cyclops that will not be hostile until you shoot (or they scan you with thargoid/guardian stuff on board)

NHSS 5 without a cargo icon are rng between a cyclops or groups of scouts.
 

Angus

Angus
Really appreciate the info, chaps. Many thanks.

Regarding the AX!, I respect their tactics and knowledge, but it's not really my dance, so I thought I'd try a less ambitious, brute force and ignorance approach with lesser opponents.

Based on your advice, I'm going to build up my stock of engineered Hull Reinforcement Modules, then head out to find a suitable spot, Plaides/Asterope to see how I get on.
 

Northpin

Northpin
Angus said:
brute force
Click to expand...

Brute force means a Conda with 6 modified shard cannons - time your shots properly and the Cyclops will fade in 4 shots.
Fill that conda with a combination of HRP, MRP, GHRP and you should be able to brute force even Basilisk and Medusas (but going heart by heart)
However, Glaives anti-guardian field basically made any ships using guardian weapons or modules (except for guardian hrp) a big No-No
 

Northpin

Northpin
Angus said:
Any of them GMRP's?
Click to expand...
Not necessarily - GMRP have a bit more hitpoints, but they have rather harsh power requirements

And when using MRP in an anti-xeno build, it's more than recommended to also fit an AFMU and repair those MRP as they get damaged, GMRP doesn't make much sense (unless you have a solid excess of power and you are not bothered about heat generation - more power used = more heat generated)
 

sgurr

S
AFMU is important, you don't want the extra excitement of modules malfunctioning part way through the fight, concentrate on repairing the MRP's first and then other key modules.
(although maybe don't do what I did early on and start repairing thrusters cause that turns them off and lets bad things happen 💥
:LOL:)

To get the space to do this in an Anaconda wait for the Cyclops to come to you then boost past and away, they turn very slowly so you'll get a small gap where you can concentrate on getting the repairs started.

You might find this helpful !?!, it's a slow Cyclops fight in a non guardian Krait II with only Felicity engineering that I did to help a friend. You won't be able to keep distance the way the Krait can but it shows the phases and a steady approach.

Source: https://youtu.be/Q-YeXRV0-fA
 

William J Smith

William J Smith
Dont forget to eject when things get too hairy for a beginner at AX combat.
You'll be sure to have a whole new life ahead of you after the thargoids scoop up your escape pod

Bill

"Look... I never said it would be a good life did I...."
 

Kyle Stryker

Kyle Stryker
Guardian HRPs give you caustic resistance. If you replace your two smallest Engineered HRPs with Guardian HRPs, you'll get 9.8% caustic resistance and a hull that has higher caustic strength. Caustic is the damage type that Thargoids deal with their weapons. The additional power draw isn't that bad; you still should have plenty of power left over in most ships.
 

Helmut Grokenberger

Helmut Grokenberger
I disagree. I had a look at my AX Krait; it has three HRPs, all G5 heavy duty / deep plating. Two are class 5, one is class 3, and it has a total armor of 3,061. The small slots are occupied with MRPs and an AFMU.

If I replace the 3D HRP with a guardian, my raw armor drops to 2,895, and with the caustic resistance factored in it is 3,048. Hardly a difference, but the idle heat EDSY shows is raised from 12.7% to 13.1%. The next HRP I could replace would be a 5D, replacing that one drops my raw armor to 2,647 and 2,933 with caustic resistance factored in, while raising the idle heat to 13.7%. Also the C5 GMRP would push my power use to 103%.

My other AX build is a Chieftain, which has pretty much the same build philosophy. It has three 4D G5 HRPs in the military slots with a total raw armor of 3,268 and the small slots are, again, filled with MRPs and the AFMU. Replacing one of the HRPs with a guardian one drops the armor to 3,057 raw / 3,218 caustic, replacing two to 2,846 raw / 3,153 caustic. Two guardian HRPs also pushes it to 103% power.

Power is a problem if you run a low emissions plant (as I do on my Krait) or have a ship that is otherwise on edge for power.

I would say generally GHRPs are not worth it for builds where the smaller classes (3 and below) are used for stuff like MRPs or AFMUs, which is how AXI recommends it. Again, GHRPs are a good alternative if you don't have the engineer unlocks or materials to go beyond G3 on the HRPs.
 
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Kira Goto

Kira Goto
I only use Guardian hulls on my Maelstrom explorer build, as that is an edge case where they are useful to have with no real drawbacks, and you don’t have to go through the effort of completely engineering multiple new hulls for a build with a very specific and singular use.

Used to have Guardian mod reinforcements on the AX Krait, but if I ever go back to that they will be replaced with regulars. Because Glaives, and they really don’t provide that much of a durability increase to justify their power draw.
 

Angus

Angus
Helmut Grokenberger said:
If I replace the 3D HRP with a guardian, my raw armor drops to 2,895, and with the caustic resistance factored in it is 3,048. Hardly a difference,
Click to expand...

I'm carrying an engineered caustic sink launcher, so given my low ambitions my thought was that would go a good way to addressing caustic issues in a single encounter.
 

Angus

Angus
Angus said:
I'm carrying an engineered caustic sink launcher, so given my low ambitions my thought was that would go a good way to addressing caustic issues in a single encounter.
Click to expand...
Following up my own post, I can confirm that the caustic sink launcher is far more effective if you assign a trigger button for it. :)

I went to Asterope (which is great, the only nuisance being that the nearest Non Human signal was a fair way off - 90,000 Ls) anyway, I got there, and as described found a Cyclops.
Thank you, all.

After some mutual scanning I set about it with my 3 pre-engineered shard cannon, dropping to my 2 pre-engineered AX autocannon for the hearts, although sometimes I stayed with the shard cannon, target visibility permitting. I actually brought a flack cannon for the swarm, but it seems to me, I can't just swat them away as I tried to do, I'd need to boost away and get more organised if I want to seriously damage them. I'd have done better ignoring them than flailing about ineffectively (might try that next time).

Anyway, things were going messily but well, when I got the fourth heart. I thought that was it, but the Cyclops (and swarm) had other ideas and I lost some armour before getting stuck in again and sending that ship straight to hell!

By this time I was down to 16% hull and going down fast, more floundering around desperately trying to launch a disconnected caustic sink before exploding into a cloud of ineptitude.

Loved it - and if I get myself organised I can do better next time and y'know, like...... survive. :)
 
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