Ok, so maybe I'm doing something wrong here, but it seems that any planetary mission with ++ or +++ is damned near impossible. I go in, wait for the fliers to jump out, attack the solo ship on the pad, pull it back from the base, 3 others jump in including a 'Conda and an FSD. Am I doing something wrong or are these missions completely borked?
+++ are not borked, but I think they are meant to be taken by wings, not solo'd
I'm sure there will be many people eager to explain to us how easy these missions are, but they sure as hell are not for me
So don't worry.
I'm sure there will be many people eager to explain to us how easy these missions are, but they sure as hell are not for me
So don't worry.
+++ are not borked, but I think they are meant to be taken by wings, not solo'd
I'm sure there will be many people eager to explain to us how easy these missions are, but they sure as hell are not for me
So don't worry.
Wondering if there's something more technical to it. Would be nice if you can prevent reinforcements or something. So far only thing I found is advice to wait for them to leave but I've yet to attack without reinforcements showing up, even on a ++.
Well, you can destroy the generators from air by dumbfire missiles, effectively render the base helpless and finish the mission before the reinforcements arrive.
But that's about the only thing you can do.
But that's about the only thing you can do.
If you want to do these solo, just make it a suicide srv mission. Land a little ways away and dispatch your ship into orbit. Drive directly to your objective and scan beacon or destroy generator (whatever the requirement is) and then enjoy the hilarity as you try and drive away and the shots coming at you feel like mortar shells and heavy artillery. Once your SRV is destroyed you will find yourself safely in orbit with the mission accomplished. When you dock to collect your pay, just resupply because apparently SRVs work like ammo but you only get one (or two depending on module) just like torpedos. SRVs are basically VR controlled drones. They may as well not have a little man on a seat in a cabin because when they blow up you can just go back to your ship nearby.
Do not recal your ship unless you are stupidly brave... But if you do, take screenshots or video
Do not recal your ship unless you are stupidly brave... But if you do, take screenshots or video
Ah, good to know. I'll see what I can come up with (if anything) the next time I encounter one of those.
Best of luck Commander! Please let me know what you find, or even better do a youtube vid, I know I'm not the only one struggling with this.
Fly over and drop mines like a bomber
Is that proven tactic? Sounds fun. I have used mines one time in interdiction and it was fun. Shame they only interdict me once in a month.
There was a thread about a commander getting stranded and organizing a challenge to kill him. Another commander bombarded him with mines and I remember some talk there that he's doing it regularly in base attacks.
I don't remember names and I can't find the thread, though.
But it seems that it IS a proven tactic, though I imagine it requires a great deal of practice...
I haven't tried it, but them not falling down is an interesting remark.
I would think they need to have some kind of stabilization and propulsion of their own. After all, once deployed, they "brake" behind you and remain stationary. Hmm...
I know what I'm trying, now, this evening.
If that was the case we'd have wing missions right?
Aproximately 2 years of FD development time.
Only some missions and only with some bases/settlements - yes, and mostly due to npc ships patrolling. I'm not a specialist in frontal assaults, I prefer a "sneak in" way, but if you are not in a wing you can try some common ideas:
1) all "kill n skimmers" missions - is better to search "wanted" targets in the settlements proximity POI's. Much safer and you don't need to deal with bounties on you.
2) destroy generator missions - yes, now bases have some point defenses, but as far as I understand, a good pack of dumb missiles can solve this problem as earlier days.
3) destroy defense turret - you can try similar approach. And think of generators that is simpler to shut down that can affect those turrets. Also, I know at least one base layout (large industrial low sec.), were you can "destroy" anti-ship defenses without alerting settlement at all (just scan respective terminal that have - surprisingly - "public" access mode)
4) scan something. Yep, this can be tricky - if you deal with high-sec bases or "military" layouts. In other cases you can normally at least approach the mission target terminal - may be by a chance it is in "public" mode. Anyway if there are no (or not dangerous in quality/numbers) defending ships than you have a very good chance of leaving the base in one piece (some recharges for your srv can help also). And as always I highly recommend to analyse the structure of base defenses and to make a plan of assault (or terrorist attack) before committing aggressive acts. Also this concerns the stage of accepting missions (for all those who like to stock them).
Scanning in hi-sec or large military layouts means, however, that you must do full assault. Military bases not only have impressive stationary defenses, but also usually good ncp patrol. Sometimes you can relog (if you accept this method) hoping to reduce an overall number of the ships on-guard. Also, once I've heard a brilliant idea (sorry, don't remember where) that I want to test once. The idea was not to destroy patrol ships, but to disable them in any means - rendering then harmless for your ship or srv (so supposedly there will be no new reinforcements). After that taking out the rest of defenses will take some time, but at least doable.
Beware of timing. This depends on base layout, but most of stationary AA defenses tend to respawn (at least if they were disabled by blowing up generators). Some bases can generate multiple (but limited) number of waves of skimmers.
Btw, I suppose that for some non-military hi-sec settlements a good knowledge of some terminals and their functions also can help. As can help settlement's maps that you can find in my signature (attention, spoiler).
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