Killing Scouts without the Guardians Grind

Kamiyoda

Kamiyoda
Sylow said:
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I by now have killed only three of the big Thargoid ships, each of them with somebody along. So I am definitely not an expert on them. But as far as I am aware, killing the hearts is still essential.
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Of course, if you watch a video of Gluttony, he knows where the hearts are without having to sub-target them. I think by now you could switch his monitor off and he'd still hit the hearts based purely on sound and smell... :D ;)
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I didnt even realize you could lock onto them no until a few monthes ago!
 

CMDR Ahab

CMDR Ahab
Kenneth Mcgrew said:
the question is before i go too far down this route... do i need to target the hearts still or can i ignore this?

i didnt like that part of the gameplay so if its not there anymore with fixed then im game... if i've got to hit hearts with size one gauss cannons... then im out, but the sidewinder video i saw of Gluttony didnt look like he was targeting anything other than the ship???

#confused
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Interceptor's still have hearts which you need to target with Gauss Cannons or AX missiles. Scouts don't, they can be killed with normal weapons, just target normally and blast away. (As mentioned previously though, seeker missiles don't work)
 

Bunkerkind Anni

Bunkerkind Anni
pzykozomatik said:
I find it funny how NPC ships in these instances are totally unfazed by the caustic damage they're taking. Yesterday after killing all scouts I noticed a Vuture that was steadily taking hull damage, so I thought I might as well do a good deed before jumping out and shoot a decon limpet over, no charge. Problem was, the guy was just flying in a straight line at full throttle (maybe he thought he could somehow speed the goo off?). I tried getting a limpet to him from every angle, even laying it in front of his ship like a mine, but to no avail, "limpet destroyed due to max range exceeded" every time. His hull eventually reached zero and with an anticlimatic "pop" he was gone, not even giving me the satisfaction of leaving materials behind for me to scoop up. NPCs are dumb.
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you have been lucky
if you had landed even one stray shot on that npc during the fight,
you would have gained a notoriety level and bounty on your head.

even funnier are the instances where the attacked ships are civilans -> in most cases those are pirates that will attack YOU afterwards if you have any valuable cargo with you.
 

Kenneth McGrew

Kenneth McGrew
Sylow said:
.
I by now have killed only three of the big Thargoid ships, each of them with somebody along. So I am definitely not an expert on them. But as far as I am aware, killing the hearts is still essential.
.
Of course, if you watch a video of Gluttony, he knows where the hearts are without having to sub-target them. I think by now you could switch his monitor off and he'd still hit the hearts based purely on sound and smell... :D ;)
.
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well that's just ruined it then...

i do enjoy a good fixed rail boat but hitting modules with fixed weapons is a whole other level of "Git Gud" im not prepared to invest in, killing big ships with fixed pea shooters is hard enough let alone lining up modules as well
 

ShadowWolf Kell

ShadowWolf Kell
Kenneth Mcgrew said:
well that's just ruined it then...

i do enjoy a good fixed rail boat but hitting modules with fixed weapons is a whole other level of "Git Gud" im not prepared to invest in, killing big ships with fixed pea shooters is hard enough let alone lining up modules as well
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It's actually easier with fixed than you'd think, since they get a minor amount of gimble tracking. Comes in very handy at long range, especially against small targets. Interceptors are such huge targets that it's actually kind of hard to miss with Gauss. I think you'll find blasting Thargons with the flak launcher efficiently is harder than hitting the Interceptor with gauss or plasma.
 

DNA-Decay

DNA-Decay
I killed an Interceptor! My first.

Uh, this is a weapons grade stoopid story.

So I jump in System and (hollow square) - there’s Crashbox. Crashbox heads up an Alliance team TCF (Terran Colonial Forces) and he’s a bit of a legend. Always there when the Alliance is being targeted by anyone or anything. Always in open. And he’s one of the European folk that I actually get a chance to wing with. Dunno how he holds a job, he’s always in game and working.

So he offers a wing, and I grab it, and on comms he’s like:
“Threat 8 here - Are you up for hunting big game?”
”I’m not equipped for it, but I’m not afraid of a rebuy, I’m in for a wing”

I drop on his beacon, and he’s running a ‘Vette with Guardian tech, there’s 4 scouts and OMG an actual Thargoid like you see on YouTube.
Thargie does the EMP thing and I pop open the external camera to watch while we wait for the reboot. They’re all over him, the little swarmy things big yellow zapper and scouts. My Krait (the Star-Pig) comes back online and I tidy up the scouts and watch how the big one moves. Scouts done - and I’m not sure if I need to do some second tier Xeno scan and I don’t know how.
Anyways AX multis ahoy. And I can’t tell if they do any damage or if only Crashbox’s Gauss guns are working and I get swarmed and yellowed and I try a ram, pretty soon I’m on 17% and “Yeah I’ll be back in a minute” Boost. Smack into the back of Crash’s ‘Vette. Big engines on those things when you’re up close. 12% hull.
Try to slip past the basilisk - yellow slime - 8%.
okay SuperCruise back to Yang Hub caustic damage all the way.
Jeeze, how far out were we?
2% dropping out of SC and I’m round the back of course.
Docking request and lining up on the mail slot 0%
“You can do this, 0% still has some hit points”
Landing gear down and.

Rebuy.

Fine, whatever, back to the NHSS, and there’s Crash still flogging away pulling the last petal off the “Flower Ship”
I join in and circling around and end up right under Thargie’s wriggly bits, and after watching Yamiks’ Thargoid sex tape the other day, I figure “You’ve had worse, Decay” and I boost straight into the cloaca.

Well the Thargoid popped like its cherry, and I’m looking through the wreckage hoping for a memento.
”Hey Crashbox, where are the hearts and flowers?”
”I dunno, but I didn’t get any bounty for that either”
”Uh” (sinking feeling)
I look in my “rebuy fresh” transactions tab. 2MCr claim.
”Um I might have done a kill steal there”

Greater honour hath no wingman, than will let you lose your Thargoid cherry on a kill steal, with good humor.

Respect to Crashbox.

MGdS6hS.jpg

https://imgur.com/gallery/v2gy4PU
 
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CMDR Yates

C
The Guardian "grind" isn't nearly as bad as people make it out to be (nor as bad as it used to be, so I hear). I guarantee there are people on here who have sunk more time into complaining about the Guardian grind on the forums than they have actually unlocking Guardian stuff.

If you obsessively go after everything at once and as fast as possible, it's gonna be a bad time. As would anything else in life with that approach.

But if you know what you want, it's actually pretty quick to get it.

Most Guardian weapon types only require a single blueprint, a few handfuls of Guardian materials, some metals that you might already have in your back pocket from tooling around on moons, and a commodity that you can find on EDDB.IO. Feasibly do-able in one visit to a Guardian site and a trip to a starport. One medium-duration Elite session, maybe one and a half if you need to gather some metals in the SRV.

I was put off doing it for months due to all the negativity, and when I tried it, it was fine.

That said, regular AX multicannons work really, really well against Scouts. You don't need Guardian weapons for them at all. Interceptors are another story.
 
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Speedcuffs

Speedcuffs
CMDR Yates said:
The Guardian "grind" isn't nearly as bad as people make it out to be (nor as bad as it used to be). I guarantee there are people on here who have sunk more time into complaining about the Guardian grind on the forums than they have actually unlocking Guardian stuff.

If you obsessively go after everything at once and as fast as possible, it's gonna be a bad time. As would anything else in life with that approach.

But if you know what you want, it's actually pretty quick to get it.

Most Guardian weapon types only require a single blueprint, a few handfuls of Guardian materials, some metals that you might already have in your back pocket from tooling around on moons, and a commodity that you can find on EDDB.IO. Feasibly do-able in one visit to a Guardian site and a trip to a starport. One medium-duration Elite session, maybe one and a half if you need to gather some metals in the SRV.

I was put off doing it for months due to all the negativity, and when I tried it, it was fine.
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Yeh, me too.
Now got FSD booster and hull booster.
But, this was a good thread, it shows you can get into the Thargoid content with very little.
I started with a paper DBX Explorer, AX turrets. Totally do-able.

Cheers DNA-Decay ![up]
 

CMDR Ahab

CMDR Ahab
DNA-Decay said:
I look in my “rebuy fresh” transactions tab. 2MCr claim.
”Um I might have done a kill steal there”

Greater honour hath no wingman, than will let you lose your Thargoid cherry on a kill steal, with good humor.

Respect to Crashbox.
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Yeah, ended up doing that myself once or twice and having it done the other way round. It happens. Important thing is one less flower head out there.
 

DNA-Decay

DNA-Decay
CMDR Ahab said:
Yeah, ended up doing that myself once or twice and having it done the other way round. It happens. Important thing is one less flower head out there.
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So what’s the story with the “no damage” thing on the big Flower Ships - The Interceptors?
Like are they super tough “on top” and only their wriggly bits take much damage?

Or

Are AX weapons just worthless against proper big Thargoids?
 

CMDR Ahab

CMDR Ahab
DNA-Decay said:
So what’s the story with the “no damage” thing on the big Flower Ships - The Interceptors?
Like are they super tough “on top” and only their wriggly bits take much damage?

Or

Are AX weapons just worthless against proper big Thargoids?
Click to expand...

It's been months since I took one down solo, but from what I remember once the hearts are exposed (I just used to use AX dumbfire missiles for that) they take normal damage with AX or guardian weapons. Once all the hearts are gone, they can be popped with conventional weapons. AX weapons are still perfectly viable from what I understand, it's just the guardian stuff is much more effective, 'specially against the tougher ones like the Hydras.

EDIT: Just took down my first Threat 5 swarm solo! :D
 

ShadowWolf Kell

ShadowWolf Kell
DNA-Decay said:
So what’s the story with the “no damage” thing on the big Flower Ships - The Interceptors?
Like are they super tough “on top” and only their wriggly bits take much damage?

Or

Are AX weapons just worthless against proper big Thargoids?
Click to expand...

AX Weapons still work, they are just less efficient than the alternatives. Gauss really takes center stage for knocking out hearts quickly. All of the alternatives have travel time involved, whereas Gauss is instant.

AX MCs really shine against Scouts, but they work against the Interceptors too, especially the Cyclops.

[video=youtube;Y6fLuIEvFfs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6fLuIEvFfs[/video]
 

Stigbob

Stigbob
Speedcuffs said:
Yeh, me too.
Now got FSD booster and hull booster.
But, this was a good thread, it shows you can get into the Thargoid content with very little.
I started with a paper DBX Explorer, AX turrets. Totally do-able.

Cheers DNA-Decay ![up]
Click to expand...

That's how it starts just a couple of AX weps no harm in that I can handle it.

Next thing you know you are out at the guardian sites unlocking all kinds of unnecessary gubbins and you have to go to rehab.
 

DNA-Decay

DNA-Decay
ShadowWolf Kell said:
AX Weapons still work, they are just less efficient than the alternatives. Gauss really takes center stage for knocking out hearts quickly. All of the alternatives have travel time involved, whereas Gauss is instant.

AX MCs really shine against Scouts, but they work against the Interceptors too, especially the Cyclops.
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what am I looking at here?

I’m viewing this on a phone (forgive me) and I can’t tell what you’ve got targeted.
Is that a scout or a cyclops?
Like it seems to take a while to kill, so I assume it’s some sort of interceptor, but I can’t see any curly hairy bits down below.

The thing im really interested in knowing is whether the top ‘carapice’ is tougher than the underbelly.

That would give some useful tactics especially in a Wing.
 
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Bunkerkind Anni

Bunkerkind Anni
DNA-Decay said:
what am I looking at here?

I’m viewing this on a phone (forgive me) and I can’t tell what you’ve got targeted.
Is that a scout or a cyclops?
Like it seems to take a while to kill, so I assume it’s some sort of interceptor, but I can’t see any curly hairy bits down below.

The thing im really interested in knowing is whether the top ‘carapice’ is tougher than the underbelly.

That would give some useful tactics especially in a Wing.
Click to expand...

i can't really tell if i understood your question there,

but the interceptors self-healing abilities are tied to the hearts.
for every heart you destroy, its max health will recover only to a certain point, and the healing speed will slow down too.
so once all hearts are killed, the interceptor will be unable to heal up anything and you can finish it off
(though, i don't know if you could do that with regular weapons like someone wrote here earlier)
 
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