AX Clipper?

[GunnerBill]

So I was field testing my AX Anaconda... it's fully engineered, thrusters, armour, shields, HRP's the lot.

Survivablity is not an issue, I've had 5 or more engagements with a threat 5 Thargoid beasty and basically amble off when I choose to.

The problem is I'm just not fast or agile enough to bring the shields down with my 2 class 3 AX missiles and 2 class 3 AX MC's.

So I was wondering about using a clipper? I'm pretty sure fully loaded it'll boost comfortably over 500.

Thoughts?

Main concerns are shields which are not good on a Clipper so are they any good as hull tanks?

 

[JonathanBurnage]

I don't think the Clipper would be a very good Ax ship. The big hardpoints have terrible convergence, so you'd have to use turrets, which would in turn ruin your DPS. With only two, you wouldn't do enough damage. You'd only have one additional class 2 slot available for another Ax weapon as the other would have to be flak.

The Anaconda is pretty much the best Ax ship in the game right now. Can you be specific about what you are having difficulty with? I use Corvette, which is only a smidgen faster, and I get on just fine.

Edit: have a read of this for some ideas:
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...ions-for-All?p=6230462&viewfull=1#post6230462

 

[StiTch]

I don't think the Clipper would be a very good Ax ship. The big hardpoints have terrible convergence, so you'd have to use turrets, which would in turn ruin your DPS. With only two, you wouldn't do enough damage. You'd only have one additional class 2 slot available for another Ax weapon as the other would have to be flak.

Basically this. It has awful hardpoint convergence even on the lower 2 hardpoints.

If ya want something a bit cheaper and smaller than conda, try a FGS.

 

[Maka Gucci]

I really like the Clipper, but it's just not tanky in any way. Not a hull tank. Not a shield tank.
It can have good integrity and be a ramming ship, or good at the REZ where you wanna quickly get to the next target. But in a CZ it's not great and for Thargoids, I wouldn't think so. Oh yea and the HP placement.

But don't let that put you off, try it and see. Would be very impressive.

 

[GunnerBill]

Cheers for replying

Of course it may just be a case of adapting my game play, but this Thargoid thing was pretty much everywhere I wasn't! And I just wasn't getting enough weight of fire on it to dent the shields.

Which is to say I couldn't dog fight it so it became a hit and run exercise with mainly it hitting and running and me dealing a few blows as it passed by.

I then tried the flying backwards gambit but it seemed reluctant to engage in those circumstance and kept a very health distance! Pretty clever stuff and appreciated but still I'd like to be able to find a way to keep closer :S

I think the main ship did me very little damage with it's swarm doing the work* Guess what, I'd forgotten to set my fighter pilot active!

As per OP it's a tough and finely honed Anaconda and in all the engagements I've left on my own terms after 5-10 minutes with about 80-90% hull, shields up and no module damage.

* which raises another point i.e. So many weps and fire groups!!! Between missiles, Mc's, flak, xeno scanners and field neutralisers... [woah]

EDIT - So twin MC's on the class two's wouldn't be enough combined with 2 class 3 AX missiles (on the Clipper)?

 

[Mrat13]

Most people use a dropship it seems, or a gunship w/fighter bay. FAS could also work, I suppose.

But if you want speed, an FDL works in my mind. Has great shields too. Plus you can fit a flak battery probably in the huge slot, but then you have 4 mediums for your AX weapons.

But that's the sacrifices you have to make, large HPs require sacrifices elsewhere, like speed, armour, or weapons placement.

It's up to you what you want that sacrifice to be....

 

[StiTch]

I really like the Clipper, but it's just not tanky in any way. Not a hull tank. Not a shield tank.
It can have good integrity and be a ramming ship, or good at the REZ where you wanna quickly get to the next target. But in a CZ it's not great and for Thargoids, I wouldn't think so. Oh yea and the HP placement.

It is a perfectly good hybrid tank. Not a bad hull at all. Dno what you are talking about

Most people use a dropship it seems, or a gunship w/fighter bay. FAS could also work, I suppose.

But if you want speed, an FDL works in my mind. Has great shields too. Plus you can fit a flak battery probably in the huge slot, but then you have 4 mediums for your AX weapons

FDL has the hull of a cardboard box. You could run a hybrid build and be evasive but it will still drop like a fly if hit by anything reasonable, and doesn't have a fighter or the C3 slots to justify it.

It is good to put down the FDL at any kind of combat finally...

 

[JonathanBurnage]

Cheers for replying

Of course it may just be a case of adapting my game play, but this Thargoid thing was pretty much everywhere I wasn't! And I just wasn't getting enough weight of fire on it to dent the shields.

Which is to say I couldn't dog fight it so it became a hit and run exercise with mainly it hitting and running and me dealing a few blows as it passed by.

I then tried the flying backwards gambit but it seemed reluctant to engage in those circumstance and kept a very health distance! Pretty clever stuff and appreciated but still I'd like to be able to find a way to keep closer :S

I think the main ship did me very little damage with it's swarm doing the work* Guess what, I'd forgotten to set my fighter pilot active!

As per OP it's a tough and finely honed Anaconda and in all the engagements I've left on my own terms after 5-10 minutes with about 80-90% hull, shields up and no module damage.

* which raises another point i.e. So many weps and fire groups!!! Between missiles, Mc's, flak, xeno scanners and field neutralisers... [woah]

EDIT - So twin MC's on the class two's wouldn't be enough combined with 2 class 3 AX missiles (on the Clipper)?

The swarm does most of the damage. Destroy it by flying backward and shooting it with flak. A few good shots gets rid of it. This is preferable IMHO to using a fighter. See the link I added to my original reply for more details about how and when to use flak and fighters (it's a bit of a wall of text but it's basically big ship vs Thargoid 101).

I am going to guess that you are boosting, or flying too fast, at the interceptor. This turns it into a jousting contest, which is exactly what it wants because it can regenerate when you move apart. Fly more slowly and reduce the amount of energy in the fight. Use FA-off and start flipping over before it passes you. Then you will be facing it more quickly. It takes time to learn to anticipate its manoeuvres.

Regarding the xeno scanner, you only need it once at the start, so put it in a fire group by itself and then delete that group once the scan is complete. This reduces the number of things you have to manage.

Regarding the Clipper, no that setup will not do enough damage. Turreted missiles just spam your ammo away, and it's rather painful trying to kill hearts with class 2 multis (if the Clipper can even get both on target - the heart is quite small). Plus you have no flak, which is essential.

 

[GunnerBill]

Awesome advice everyone So +1 to everyone.

I had thought about using the FDL with 4 AX missiles as a test against the Thargoid shields but in the end the shocking jump range to Pleiades put me off! lol

I'm going to stick the Anaconda as I certainly don't seem to be at much risk with the Interceptor ships. Ultimately though I'll be doing this in a wing so look forward to more success when I can improve my contribution.

Do I need 3 AX missiles and one MC perhaps?

 

[Mrat13]

Awesome advice everyone So +1 to everyone.

I had thought about using the FDL with 4 AX missiles as a test against the Thargoid shields but in the end the shocking jump range to Pleiades put me off! lol

I'm going to stick the Anaconda as I certainly don't seem to be at much risk with the Interceptor ships. Ultimately though I'll be doing this in a wing so look forward to more success when I can improve my contribution.

Do I need 3 AX missiles and one MC perhaps?

The fighters have MC don't they, so they should be able to help with the hearts, if you have one?

But I'm no expert, I just look at other people's builds and figure out what could work, not what will.

 

[JonathanBurnage]

I'd go the other way if anything - three multis and one missile. Or even all multis.

By 'shield' what do you mean exactly? Are you referring to the pop up shield that appears when you destroy a heart? Or do you mean its regenerating hull?

 

[JonathanBurnage]

The fighters have MC don't they, so they should be able to help with the hearts, if you have one?

I would advise against using a fighter against the interceptor. It can help you exert the heart, but not destroy it. And it makes the interceptor manoeuvre like crazy, which makes hitting the exerted heart much harder. The best use of a fighter (in my experience anyway) is as a distraction after you take out each heart.

 

[bagofholding]

Against the Cyclops I would suggest outfitting your anaconda with 4 fixed large ax multicannons. They can do enough sustained damage to exert hearts as well as damage them without the need for missiles. The anaconda has excellent hardpoint convergence for this. Once a heart is exposed and targeted it only takes a matter of seconds to destroy it. It's quite silly to the way things used to be with the medium hardpoints.

Also, since I don't know your anaconda build be sure you have at least one Module Reinforcement package installed for if your shields go down. This will greatly protect your modules from the weapons from the Thargoid (reduces the chances of your canopy and power plant (quite an expensive module to repair) from taking damage. Module reinforcement won't help AS much if the thargon swarm turns to missile mode so either get good at destroying it or keeping it distracted with fighters.

 

[GunnerBill]

I'd go the other way if anything - three multis and one missile. Or even all multis.

By 'shield' what do you mean exactly? Are you referring to the pop up shield that appears when you destroy a heart? Or do you mean its regenerating hull?

Er, well I don't actually know! I read a thread which seemed to me to suggest you need AX missiles to deplete the Thargoid shield in order to expose the heart. TBH I'm not making much sense of the holo display for the the Thargoid atm so that's why I'm doing these 'test' runs...

 

[JonathanBurnage]

Er, well I don't actually know! I read a thread which seemed to me to suggest you need AX missiles to deplete the Thargoid shield in order to expose the heart. TBH I'm not making much sense of the holo display for the the Thargoid atm so that's why I'm doing these 'test' runs...

Next time you engage a Cyclops Thargoid, scan it then check the subsystems panel. You will see four hearts, all 'nominal'. You need to damage its hull to the point (about 20% depleted) where one of the hearts becomes 'exerted'. This heart is labelled as such in your subsystems panel, and will have a red gash on it when viewed from the front. This heart can be damaged and destroyed; when all four hearts are destroyed, the Thargoid cannot regenerate anymore.

You can use missiles or C3 multicannons to exert a heart; as Bagofholding states, C3 multis do this just fine so slap four on your Anaconda. Once the heart is exerted, only multicannons can do any real damage to it. In the beginning of 2.4 missiles could damage hearts, but the Thargoids adapted (i.e. the nerf bat struck).

 

[GunnerBill]

Progress. Using 4 x C3 AX MC's and 2 X C2 Flak.

I've had 4 more runs and have exerted and destroyed hearts. I'm understanding the Swarm mechanic and have killed a few of those. I'm happy with the survivability of my ship so once I'm a bit more efficient with the Flak (I keep on blowing my nose off with them!) I reckon I'll be bagging my first bug

EDIT - Advice re. maneuvering works (obviously!) so no more boosting and things are a lot steadier.

 

[Flimsey]

I have a AX-clipper with 4 missiles or 3missiles and one multi. It vill not kill in 1vs1! But ir is really good as in a group, go in and extract the hart realt fast and the other/s take out the hart.
It survives on speed, my boost nearly 600 and can take some beating from the aliens.

 

[GunnerBill]

I have a AX-clipper with 4 missiles or 3missiles and one multi. It vill not kill in 1vs1! But ir is really good as in a group, go in and extract the hart realt fast and the other/s take out the hart.
It survives on speed, my boost nearly 600 and can take some beating from the aliens.

I probably should have said I was planning this for wing work. Good to hear my initial thoughts weren't so mad after all.