Conflict Zones Need Advice

[CMDR Aengus]

Im mainly an explorer, my combat skills arent brilliant, but I do know when to bug out, I can handle interdictions ok, I can bounty hunt in rez with some reasonable success. Elites and Deadly I just run away from, anything that starts throwing engineered weapons and Im out asap.

Ive watched a dozen youtube vids on Conflict zones, most seem to be pre 2.1 or even beta.

Im just aiming to unlock Juri Ishmaak to mod before I take my Asp X back out into the Black.

Really struggling with getting combat bonds.

All I have is an A rated Cobra III, and my Asp Explorer which is modded for combat and exploration, i.e its not all D rated and paper thin lol.

Got 4 mill in the bank.

Not looking good hey.

Any advice appreciated.

 

[Red Anders]

Im mainly an explorer, my combat skills arent brilliant, but I do know when to bug out, I can handle interdictions ok, I can bounty hunt in rez with some reasonable success. Elites and Deadly I just run away from, anything that starts throwing engineered weapons and Im out asap.

Ive watched a dozen youtube vids on Conflict zones, most seem to be pre 2.1 or even beta.

Im just aiming to unlock Juri Ishmaak to mod before I take my Asp X back out into the Black.

Really struggling with getting combat bonds.

All I have is an A rated Cobra III, and my Asp Explorer which is modded for combat and exploration, i.e its not all D rated and paper thin lol.

Got 4 mill in the bank.

Not looking good hey.

Any advice appreciated.

Cobra is useful in that at least when you hit the 'waaaahhhhh run away' moment you'll actually be able to do it.

Low CZs are worse than High ones in my opinon because you get less support. Go to a High CZ, drop in and boost maybe 10k away. Then and only then, pick your side. Head back in, stay close to grouped friendlies and pew pew. Make sure you watch the radar - at some point in any CZ you'll notice the balance has shifted and you suddenly only have two buddies with you vs 8 enemies. That's when you're happy to be in a Cobra. Run Forrest run. Also if your shields ever look like they're about to hit one ring left, it's Forrest time. In a CZ you don't have to kill everything yourself so don't try to - treat it like a high res and attack your ally's targets to help them finish them off and hoover up the combat bonds.

The single biggest skill in a CZ fight is knowing when to say 'OK that's enough, not worth risking these bonds for another kill' and getting the hell out of Dodge. I say that as someone who has previously reached that epiphany 20 seconds later than I needed to on several occasions.

 

[Attila22]

Save up and buy a Vulture, ideally you'd want to A rate it (20 million) but 10-12 might be ok as long as you prioritize the right modules. Could also do it with a FAS, FDS, FDL, Python, Anaconda etc if you have any money. I just don't recommend anything below a Vulture in terms of combat ability. You could get lucky but you'll spend a lot of time running away and repairing otherwise. I don't notice too much difference between low and high intensity if I'm being honest(other than the possibility of capital ships).

Once you have the ship, you should never start in the middle. Half the time you'll get surrounded and focus fired. Always fly out till you're the furtherest ship out, then declare a side based on who's winning/who has more ships. Then slowly fly inwards taking out stragglers/ships already in combat, once you get too far in and you're starting to take fire from more than one ship, you probably want to fly back out. The vulture is pretty slow so you'd want to have a shorter leash than on say a FDL but otherwise it's pretty foolproof, just watch out for new spawns, they can sometimes take you by surprise.

 

[Deleted member 115407]

Cobra is uselful in that at least when you hit the 'waaaahhhhh run away' moment you'll actually be able to do it.

Low CZs are worse than High ones in my opinon because you get less support. Go to a High CZ, drop in and boost maybe 10k away. Then and only then, pick your side. Head back in, stay close to grouped friendlies and pew pew. Make sure you watch the radar - at some point in any CZ you'll notice the balance has shifted and you suddenly only have two buddies with you vs 8 enemies. That's when you're happy to be in a Cobra. Run Forrest run. Also if your shields ever look like they're about to hit one ring left, it's Forrest time. In a CZ you don't have to kill everything yourself so don't try to - treat it like a high res and attack your allies targets to help them finish them off and hoover up the combat bonds.

The single biggest skill in a CZ fight is knowing when to say 'OK that's enough, not worth risking these bonds for another kill' and getting the hell out of Dodge. I say that as someone who has previously reached that epiphany 20 seconds later than I needed to on several occasions.

This is excellent advice.

Some other advice I will add is:

1. Outfit that Cobra for combat, i.e. don't take a bunch of crap in there that you don't need.
2. In CZs, shield boosters are your friends. Personally, I don't think you have to wake when your shields get down to one ring, but you should definitely be putting space between you and the bait ball. (YMMV)
3. Your really, really good friend is the HRP. Use your internals to stack low-weight HRPs (4 1D HRPs are better than one 3D HRP... the offer more protection, but weigh the same combined as the big one).
4. Offset the weight of the HRPs by downgrading your fuel tank and FSD. You're not going to Sag A, you need enough fuel and range to escape-jump out to the closest system and back again.
5. Before you enter the CZ, pre-plot your closest system jump. Keep this on standby (you can keybind it) so that if you get in trouble, you can bug out without mass-lock hassles.
6. Know when to quit. Once you get the hang of it, run your sorties in small chunks. 100k is about my threshold. I then wake out, turn in, and prep for the next run. (Red Anders already addressed this)

All I have is an A rated Cobra III...

And don't think this way. The Cobra III is an excellent CZ runner, as long as you fly her properly. Easy rebuy, too, if things wind up going badly.

 

[jasonbarron]

Do shields still recharge faster in SC? It sure seems like they do.

 

[Red Anders]

Do shields still recharge faster in SC? It sure seems like they do.

If not, mine are magic...

 

[Deleted member 115407]

Do shields still recharge faster in SC? It sure seems like they do.

If not, mine are magic...

lol - Yeah, they do

 

[GTwannabe]

Sticking to a big ship (Corvette, Anaconda) will help keep fire off you. When your shields get low, boost out 15km and let them recharge before returning.

Whatever you do, don't help your side too much. If you kill all the hostiles on your scanner, the game spawns in at least 6 new enemies that all target YOU. I wish CZ battles could be "won" vs. the current perpetual grindfest.

 

[Red Anders]

2. In CZs, shield boosters are your friends. Personally, I don't think you have to wake when your shields get down to one ring, but you should definitely be putting space between you and the bait ball. (YMMV)

Totally, I should probably have been clearer but it's late. The beauty of the Cobra's acceleration and speed is that you can keep out of range of pretty much anything that will come at you in a CZ meaning that when your shields are about to go you can just boost out of danger and let them recharge. If you were shooting at something you might well find that it follows you in which case you can just kite it 10k outside the CZ as your shields rebuild and then attack it on its own before going back in. Done that against a Cutter in my Vulture before now, which is always fun. You definitely don't need to wake out at that point.

The greatest attribute the Cobra has is that although you might not be able to win every fight, you never have to stay in a fight that you can't win.

 

[Deleted member 115407]

Totally, I should probably have been clearer but it's late. The beauty of the Cobra's acceleration and speed is that you can keep out of range of pretty much anything that will come at you in a CZ meaning that when your shields are about to go you can just boost out of danger and let them recharge. If you were shooting at something you might well find that it follows you in which case you can just kite it 10k outside the CZ as your shields rebuild and then attack it on its own before going back in. Done that against a Cutter in my Vulture before now, which is always fun. You definitely don't need to wake out at that point.

Yes! Very much this. Just did it against an Asp E in my Viper.

 

[CMDR Aengus]

Thanks guys. Pretty much confirmed that im bad at combat. lmao. However, I did refit my cobra for purpose and Ive been slowly, with a few rebuys, creeping up to that 1 million mark needed to unlock.

 

[Troy_McClure]

If you are on a budget DBS (5m) & Courier (6-8mil) can handle CZs along with a budget Vulture (12m)..but in these ships you really have to be on your toes..get the right tools for the job! My recommendation would be a Vulture at 20-25m for a good CZ experience!

Good advice for the cautious or noobs to CZ here - the problem with the lesser combat ships is the amount of time they take to kill your target, leaving you vulnerable to AI ganking for longer - it may seem tempting to take out that Elite Conda with full shields, but with any ship with less firepower than a Vulture, it will take forever!..the best way is to cycle your enemies & pick those being attacked with one shield ring or less..this gives you a chance to finish the job quickly!

Lastly, when it is time to run, make sure you put 4 pips to sys/2 to eng until you are 2km from the chasing pack, then switch to 4 to eng/2 to sys..remember that CZ ships will often have rails, so do not run in a straight line - corkscrew &/or use lateral/vertical thrust to make those fixed weapons miss (which they definitely do if the player takes the appropriate evasive action!! - SJA did a great job with the mechanics for fixed weapons!)

Good luck

 

[CMDR Cknarf]

Assuming you've got the dough for a Vulture, 5A shields, military grade composite, and hull reinforcement. Slap some point defense on there, and go ruin everyone's day. What a tank!

Assuming you don't have a huge load of cash, try a DBS, as mentioned above. Waaaay cheaper than the Vulture, and with two perfectly-mounted plasmas and a pair of multicannons, it really shines in combat. Maneuverability is excellent as well.

Pick your battles. High wake if necessary.

 

[Lunchmunny]

Thanks guys. Pretty much confirmed that im bad at combat. lmao. However, I did refit my cobra for purpose and Ive been slowly, with a few rebuys, creeping up to that 1 million mark needed to unlock.

To be fair, you admit that combat isn't your forte, then insist on using a very suboptimal ship for grinding 10 million credits in bonds. That will be a challenge regardless of who you are, simply because the Cobra is lightweight enough that one mistake can cost you the bonds that you've managed to gain. Using something considerably more beefy would increase your rate of bonds much more, in spite of pilot skill.