Powerplay Resistance Pocket

[Jack McMad]

Hi All,

I've recently started participating in PP (with Archon Delaine) and so far I'm really enjoying it. I spent last week just fortifying target systems (which was more fun than I expected it to be). This week I wanted to try my hand at 'expansion' in my battle Anaconda. I thought I'd give it a go in solo first to get to grips with it, expecting it to me much less difficult than open. However, as soon as I get into a 'resistance pocket' my ship is immediately targeted by 4-6 enemy ships.

I try to shake them but only succeed in attracting more fire. Within seconds my shields (1300+ MJ) are being stripped. I can set off a SC and try and fight off a few of them but the fire I attract is relentless. Out of six attempts to fight in one of these pockets only once was I actually able to concentrate on 2 targets at a time (it rarely, if ever, fell below that number). The other five times I barely made it out.

When I'm in there I feel as if I've accidentally taken Archon's ship out for a spin: "There he is guys, we can end this war today!". It's crazy! As I'm relatively new to PP there might be something I'm missing here (maybe my approach is wrong). But it seemed a little intense to have so many enemy ships stop what they were doing and instantly target me (a useless scrub) on sight. It's the sort of heat you'd expect a high ranking general to attract. And if I'm a general, where are my escort fighters?!

Anyway I just wanted to post this to get your impression with how 'resistance pockets' are currently working. Am I just really unlucky / bad?

 

[Marra Morgan]

Hiya o/

I've found the resistance pockets to be on par with high-intensity CZ's. They can be quite tricky if you're on your own!
(Better pilots may say I'm talking rubbish, ofc)

Remember that in the enemy's eyes, you're not a "useless scrub"
You're in command of a huge battle-freighter covered in guns! You're a primary target as far as they're concerned!

I use a Vulture for CZ's and resistance pockets, it's nimble and doesn't attract too much fire. What I do is use the "Highest Threat" target button - 99% of the time, this selects the enemy that your green allied ships are also attacking. Join in with them and mob each enemy ship one by one! Keep close to your friendlies and don't let yourself get isolated alone.

Hope that helps, keep up the good fight! o7

 

[Night Hawk]

Well the Anaconda is a pretty big target, not like you can sneak in without being noticed.

I take it that "Resistance Pockets" are a bit like Conflict Zones, but your side (Archon) is already chosen, so you cant really start in a neutral position to set yourself up. Also since 1.4 the AI in CZ's etc have gotten very nasty - like Rail Gun equipped Vipers and Eagles, these will get your shields down very quickly and they are not affected by chaff. It really annoys though when engaged enemy ships suddenly focus all their fire on you - its not how it should work IMO.

I am using a Python and have equipped it with turrets to help keep the enemy off my six.

What I do is try and stick close to the larger friendly ships and assist them to kill ships and move when they do - most important is not allow yourself to be alone against multiple enemy ships.

This is where a wing works very well, as you can cover each other and share in the kills.

The only other suggestion I can provide is perhaps try a smaller more nimble ship, like a Vulture so that you can evade the enemy a bit easier and more importantly the rebuy cost is a lot easier on the wallet

Good luck CMDR and watch your six!!

Edit - Ninja'd, agree with above post.

 

[hoppingdeth]

When arriving at a RP max 4 pips to Eng and the rest to Sys and don't draw your weapons. You'll take fire but just keep boosting away until you're left with maybe a couple on your tail. The readjust your pips, deploy weapons and join in. Don't just arrive there, deploy weapons and start shooting. You'll be swarmed in a ship as big and as slow as that and you'll simply have to highwake the hell out of there before you get anything done.

Better still, arrive in a wing.

Oh and keep and eye out for enemy CMDR's when arriving at any RP! Fist thing you should be looking out for.

 

[fergal]

You need to either smash everything into the ground ASAP, or 4 pips to shields, 2 to engines, and boost away (such as boosting is, in an Anaconda) until only 2 or 3 ships follow you.

I run with 4 size 3 gimballed pulse lasers on the Anaconda. I don't really use the other 4 weapons slots, I might have turrets in them at the moment, that I don't use.
They are just a waste of the weapon capacitor in my opinion. If you are in a wing though, turrets are invaluable in letting you get a hit on an enemy that the other players are hitting.

4 size 3 pulse lasers shoot for a long time, and pulverize everything.

I had the same problems with the Anaconda as you are having, I was used to boosting away (in my courier usually) and then coming back and engaging whatever target I liked, usually 1v1 or maybe 2v1 against me. If more ships shot at me, boost away.

With the Anaconda I find the best strategy is to kill everything, and prioritise the other Anacondas, don't leave them alone for when they get next to you, because by then they have 2 or 3 other Anacondas with them, and its not fun fighting 4 Anacondas.

A little known game mechanic is that different sized weapons have a damage reduction on larger ships.
Small sized weapons (size 1) only do 66% damage to medium ship hulls, and only do 33% damage to large ship hulls.
Medium sized weapons (size 2) only do 66% damage to large ships hulls.

This is why its important to keep your weapon capacitor for the large size weapons on the Anaconda, and not waste it on the small and medium weapons.

 

[geoffrey.hdt]

I run with 4 size 3 gimballed pulse lasers on the Anaconda. I don't really use the other 4 weapons slots,[...]4 size 3 pulse lasers shoot for a long time, and pulverize everything.

My Battleconda is equipped with:
- 3x gimballed large pulse (on top)
- 2x gimballed medium pulse
- 1x fixed large pulse (bottom)
- 2x fixed small pulse

Gimballed bound to primary fire. Fixed bound to secondary.
One firegroup for only the large pulse, the other with everything.

By using only large against large ships hull, you don't waste your energy (33% penalty for medium, 66% penalty for small).
If I fire at shielded or small targets, I use all the pulse lasers available to deal the max amount of damage in the shortest time possible.

The convergence of small and bottom large hardpoints is very good. If your target uses chaff, switch to fixed pulse until the chaff effect ends.
If you manage to keep your target on the crosshair (Pythons and Condas mainly), use both fixed and gimballed. Fixed have a better damage per energy.

The large hardpoints on top as well as the two medium are placed just fine to shoot what is above you. Ideal for dogfight.
The large one below and two small can only shoot straight or below, which is why it's not a shame to use fixed.

EDIT: I know, a bit of finger gymnastic...but at least it keps you awake instead of simply line up, fire, line up, wait, fire...etc...

 

[Adeptus Kaze]

While I am not a member of the Kumo Crew, I do have some advice for You:

1) It's Dangerous to go Alone: Wing Up!

failing that...

2) When You enter the Resistance Pocket, immediately boost away from the center and try to get to 10km from it. You may attract 1 or 2 hangers on, but once out of the firestorm You can easily dispatch them. Then select a nearby system from the system map as an emergency escape vector. Hi-Wake escapes cannot be stopped by mass-lock from opposing Anacondas...

3) Come back in slowly and find another large, friendly ship - preferably another Anaconda or a Python.

4) Allow this ship to designate your targets and pull aggro. Only fire on a target AFTER you see the other ship engage with it's forward lasers. By doing this, enemy wings will react to your "new best friend" before they do you.

5) Rinse and repeat, and don't be afraid to fall back to the fringes if You sustain heavy fire.

I hope that helps,
Ambassador Kaze

 

[Jack McMad]

Wow, many thanks for the feedback guys! I implemented suggestions mentioned here and have been doing much, much better. Easily racking up kills now. The initial boost away is vital. Makes a huge difference. I changed my loadout too as the old setup was taking an age to dispatch enemies. It was 3 large turreted beam lasers, 2 medium turreted beam lasers, and a huge cannon. Was entertaining but not very practical.

I've now gone for 4x fixed beam (wow, massive damage difference!) and 4x gimballed multi cannon (for systems). TTK seems a lot shorter now (and it's nice to feel like I'm actually participating in the battle). I do run the biggest class A capacitor but can only afford the class B power supply at the moment. So I'm running 7c shields with max amount of (most A class) boosters. I have 5 SC I alternate through. Keeps me in the battle much longer. I stuck some hull reinforcement packages on there too to hopefully buy me some extra time to escape if / when I get fragged in open . Complete build is here:

http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=706,4...69Y8SCgD88I,7Vs7jw7jw7jw50U7iM7iM15O15O15O0nE

Almost certainly sub-optimal but it's working for me so far (although I can't imagine it's easy to fail with an Anaconda!). I put FS Drive, Cargo Scoop, Docking Computer & Fuel Scoop on priority 3 (so they turn off when I deploy hardpoints). So long as I only have one SC active at a time it runs at just under 100% power. Cheers once again for all your help. I was close to giving up on them.

 

[Marcns007]

I had a go at this in a Beta version when they were called war zones - I am having trouble finding a resistance pocket, where about are they located in general?

 

[Jack McMad]

I had a go at this in a Beta version when they were called war zones - I am having trouble finding a resistance pocket, where about are they located in general?

Hi Marcns007,

I believe they have different names depending on your faction (Resistance Pocket, Crime Sweep etc.) but I could be wrong. For Delaine you find them in systems you're attempting to expand into (and they're scattered throughout them).

Edit: Having re-read your message I think you're referring to 'conflict zones'. You can find these in systems with internal conflict. They don't last indefinitely though. I find them by chance passing through systems most often. However, you can also keep an eye on Galnet News. This provides updates on conflicts to allow you to find them more easily.

 

[geoffrey.hdt]

I've now gone for 4x fixed beam (wow, massive damage difference!)
[...]
http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=706,4...69Y8SCgD88I,7Vs7jw7jw7jw50U7iM7iM15O15O15O0nE

Beam is a very bad choice for conflict zones / resistance pockets:
- they deal only 30% more damage
- but consume twice more energy from the WEP capacitor
- also require twice the power from the powerplant
=> Go for pulse instead: by the time your WEP capacitor has depleted, you will have inflicted 70% more damage than using beam, you will not need a big powerplant and will never overheat!

By the way, gimballs is a good choice as well: though they deal 23% less damage, you will land way more shots against small ships, therefore much more damage output in the end.

Don't believe me and like numbers? Check this out:



Also...while the two medium hardpoints are good for gimballs, the two small are terrible due to their location below the ship. I'd recommend only fixed, missiles or turrets there.

 

[Jack McMad]

Cheers Geoffrey! That's very interesting. It is hard keeping the beams on smaller targets for long periods (and they do drain the power quickly). I used to run two large pulse lasers on my Vulture. It was very efficient (but didn't really feel epic). Have you tried running Rails on the medium points? I was thinking that could be a good combo with a 3 or 4 large pulse set up. No idea if it's viable though. If I had the skillset I'd run yours

 

[geoffrey.hdt]

Cheers Geoffrey! That's very interesting. It is hard keeping the beams on smaller targets for long periods (and they do drain the power quickly). I used to run two large pulse lasers on my Vulture. It was very efficient (but didn't really feel epic). Have you tried running Rails on the medium points? I was thinking that could be a good combo with a 3 or 4 large pulse set up. No idea if it's viable though. If I had the skillset I'd run yours

I am not sure about the convergence of the medium hardpoints, but even if they do converge, and while railguns are devastating, they have only 31 ammos...
This makes it a no no for conflict zones where you need to blast as many ships as possible, and can't go back and forth to reload.

By the way, here is what I use:
http://edshipyard.com/#/L=706,5TE5T...a9Y8SCgD88I,7le7jw7jw7jw7iM7iM7Sl7go7go4_w0nE

 

[Marcns007]

Hi Marcns007,

I believe they have different names depending on your faction (Resistance Pocket, Crime Sweep etc.) but I could be wrong. For Delaine you find them in systems you're attempting to expand into (and they're scattered throughout them).

Edit: Having re-read your message I think you're referring to 'conflict zones'. You can find these in systems with internal conflict. They don't last indefinitely though. I find them by chance passing through systems most often. However, you can also keep an eye on Galnet News. This provides updates on conflicts to allow you to find them more easily.

No it's the resistance pockets that I can not find - Aisling Duval only has a few expansion attempts and none have RP's or what ever they are called with Aisling Duval.
Back to dumping the shield cells and doing some trips. I have been to 25 systems and nothing.

 

[geoffrey.hdt]

No it's the resistance pockets that I can not find - Aisling Duval only has a few expansion attempts and none have RP's or what ever they are called with Aisling Duval.
Back to dumping the shield cells and doing some trips. I have been to 25 systems and nothing.

It's easy to find them:
1) Defect to Archon
2) Head to Jormor
3) Enjoy the pride to be part of the bravest fighters of the galaxy

 

[fergal]

Cheers Geoffrey! That's very interesting. It is hard keeping the beams on smaller targets for long periods (and they do drain the power quickly). I used to run two large pulse lasers on my Vulture. It was very efficient (but didn't really feel epic). Have you tried running Rails on the medium points? I was thinking that could be a good combo with a 3 or 4 large pulse set up. No idea if it's viable though. If I had the skillset I'd run yours

Heres a vid of me using 4 gimballed pulse, and 4 gimballed multicannons (on the small and medium slots)
I run with an A6 shield and usually have only 2 or 3 SCB.

The vid isn't at a resistance pocket, it was some of the Crew doing something a bit harder, killing an Imperial Capital ship
[video=youtube;nHfSnODwa64]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHfSnODwa64[/video]

 

[Jack McMad]

Heres a vid of me using 4 gimballed pulse, and 4 gimballed multicannons (on the small and medium slots)
I run with an A6 shield and usually have only 2 or 3 SCB.

The vid isn't at a resistance pocket, it was some of the Crew doing something a bit harder, killing an Imperial Capital ship
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHfSnODwa64

Haha, wow! That's impressive. I really like that build. I've currently gone for 4x large gimballed pulse lasers and 2x rail guns. The convergence on the medium hardpoints with rails is actually amazing. Limited ammo but you don't need to use them all the time. I save them for hammering big ships. Can easily stay in a CZ just using the pulse lasers. I'm running max shields (and boosters) with multiple A6 shield banks. I'm no where near as competent as you guys so I'm tanking my way to the top

 

[fergal]

Haha, wow! That's impressive. I really like that build. I've currently gone for 4x large gimballed pulse lasers and 2x rail guns. The convergence on the medium hardpoints with rails is actually amazing. Limited ammo but you don't need to use them all the time. I save them for hammering big ships. Can easily stay in a CZ just using the pulse lasers. I'm running max shields (and boosters) with multiple A6 shield banks. I'm no where near as competent as you guys so I'm tanking my way to the top

Understanding how the shields work goes a long way to absorbing lots of damage.

The number of pips you put into sys do 2 things, the first is it puts more power into the sys capacitor, which in turn recharged your shields, important to get your shields back.
The second thing it does is reduce the amount of damage your shields will take when shot.

4 pips in shields soaks up an amazing amount of damage.
3 pips is nothing special
2, 1 or 0 pips are basically the same thing, nothing.

In the Anaconda I normally run 1 pip in sys, 1 pip in engines, and 4 pips in weapons, but when I start taking fire from a few big ships I will swap to 4 pips in sys, and 2 in weapons, while I turn the ship around to engage to guys shooting me.
Once the weapon capacitor gets low, I will transfer 4 pips back to the weapons, because its better to quickly destroy the guy shooting you, than tank more damage

 

[geoffrey.hdt]

Understanding how the shields work goes a long way to absorbing lots of damage.

The number of pips you put into sys do 2 things, the first is it puts more power into the sys capacitor, which in turn recharged your shields, important to get your shields back.
The second thing it does is reduce the amount of damage your shields will take when shot.

4 pips in shields soaks up an amazing amount of damage.
3 pips is nothing special
2, 1 or 0 pips are basically the same thing, nothing.

In the Anaconda I normally run 1 pip in sys, 1 pip in engines, and 4 pips in weapons, but when I start taking fire from a few big ships I will swap to 4 pips in sys, and 2 in weapons, while I turn the ship around to engage to guys shooting me.
Once the weapon capacitor gets low, I will transfer 4 pips back to the weapons, because its better to quickly destroy the guy shooting you, than tank more damage

Yep, 4 pips to SYS multiplies your shield strength by x2.38...which is the very reason I almost never go for beam lasers since they deplete too fast the WEP capacitor.

 

[markkuk]

No it's the resistance pockets that I can not find - Aisling Duval only has a few expansion attempts and none have RP's or what ever they are called with Aisling Duval.

There's no equivalent for Resistance Pockets for Aisling Duval. Only Powers that expand through combat have them.