I'd like to help fight thargoids in sol but I don't know what I need and where to get it. I would like to use my Corvette and I do like multi-cannons.
Where do I get those ax multi-cannons?
Is fighting thargoids like fighting normal ships?
Honestly I don't know what I don't know. I am willing to learn things myself but could you give me some short tips?
Thank you guys in advance.
I'm in a pretty similar situation. I watched some youtube videos by CMDR Mechan but they were more about encouraging people to participated and as in this thread redirecting people to pretty big wikis covering many different types of AX activities, many builds and not much that I could just take something away from with 15 minutes of reading. There are plenty of other videos, but most of them will task you to learn advanced FA off flying, gathering and unlocking/acquiring guardian weapons and modules. The Sol conflict may be done in a few weeks, so I'm not spending time on unlocking, learning advanced FA off etc. I don't play a alot of hours so it's too late for me to get all that going before christmas.
So here's what I've learned this far: There are Enhanced AX multi cannons that you can buy at the rescue ships, currently in Luyten's Star and V886 something. Pack full of those, and if you have engineering, get a beem laser with long range and most importantly, thermal vent. Staying cool is apparently a good thing in interceptor (cyclops, medusa, basilisk, hydra as easiest to hardest) combat and thermal vent helps with that. Caustic sink launchers (also at rescue ships) can help you get rid of caustic goo, but I have accepted that my ship will be smeared during most of the combat and I can remove the caustic while waiting for new enemies to spawn in an AX Combat Zone. Also you ship should have plenty of hull reinforcements and at least one module reinforcement, the latter of the guardian type if you have that possibility. You want as fast Thrusters as you can have, you can propably skip shields, since I think interceptors bypass them mostly and scouts like half of them and the lightning attack of an interceptor just eats up the shield in seconds. Btw, the lightning attack has an 750-800m range, so try to stay further away than that.
Also fit an
Enhanced Xeno Scanner. Then scan every interceptor that you fight, you want to get encoded materials called "Ship Scan Data" after scanning. When you have 6 or more, visit one of the rescue mega ships and go to the Tech Broker and buy the Azimuth Enhanced AX Multi Cannons (phew for that name). They do like 60% more damage! Having scanned the interceptor, you can also choose subtarget, like an exposed (glowing red "petal") heart. A collector limpet might be useful to pick up leftovers after killed Thargoids to get materials used for getting "better" Guardian weapons. But if you are happy with multis, you can skip collectors.
One thing not often mentioned, is if you should get fixed, gimballed or turreted weapons. Fixed versions do most damage, turreted the least. Seasoned AX pilots no doubt use fixed weapons mostly, except that beam laser. For me, I get the type I can hit with pretty consistently, so in honestly, how well can you stay with the interceptor (or scout or hunter or ...). If you are only in sights 30% of the time but the turreted weapon does 60% of the fixed damage, turreted does more damage over a "longer" time.
Regarding where to fight and what game mode to play; You specifically mentioned combat and multi cannons, so I would suggest trying to find a community player group or any group of players playing together. I think there just isn't enough time to "git gud" at Thargoid combat in a few days or weeks. Instead look for groups playing in AX Combat Zones, whether in space or near ground stations. Ganging up with more people can make taking down interceptors a significantly easier task where you just follow what others do and add more firepower. I can also play the role of healer with repair/caustic limpets or support buy hunting down the sometimes numerous Thargoid Scouts near an interceptor to let the others focus on the interceptor, just stay close and take a few shots at the interceptor to hopefully be part of getting the bounty when it is killed. If you don't have a lot of money for rebuys and die a lot, consider leaving to heal or using/asking for repair limpets, but ideally just stay there as long as you can. You can find people playing together but often in private groups due to griefers. Check any Elite related discords, like AXI, Xeno strikeforce, Buurpit etc. Check live streamers on twitch where they may have any player join the PG or open. Or ask in system chat. Those same sources can also tell you which system is currently the focus of the community. When in that system, the in-game system chat can also be a way to find people to play with, I see people asking there at least. If you were to change your mind to fighting in a medium ship (like Krait mk2) and the combat is nere a damaged but operational ground base, you can land and repair, reload, refuel there. Combat near the ground has the benefit of interceptors not launching Thargon swarms either.
When in the Combat Zone, I look for other players' beam lasers. If there's two or more, there is more or less guaranteed combat there, even though it may be out of your sensors' range.
There is propably some errors above as I am a rookie. Let me know and I'll fix/remove those.
