PvP Defence/tactics against engineered PVP rail-guns

rhiz

rhiz
Hi all. I’m not a combat orientated player but I’ve made the decision to start engaging in Open more. Anyway, I had a couple of run-ins with human pirates recently that didn’t end at all well. They were running fully engineered rail-guns with the super-penetrator effect and seemed to be able to disable my modules more or less at will. One moment I was close to full-shields and had of one of them down to 5% hull, the next his wingman dropped in, someone popped couple of shots and I was floating around incapacitated. This was in a fully engineered Annie. Tactically it was quite beautiful, but it felt a little unbalanced to me - I'm not sure what I could have done to avoid it (perhaps just my lack of PVP experience).

So, what are the best tactics/defences against this kind of PVP loadout? Is this what people mean when they say that only a narrow range of builds are viable in PVP? Not salty, just looking at it as a learning experience (albeit an expensive one, 200 million in lost cargo and rebuys… the whole story reads like some kind of tragi-comedy :)).
 

Phisto Sobanii

Phisto Sobanii
More knowledgeable folks will be along shortly, I'm sure, but after reading your OP a couple times I suspect PIP management and load out will be the first thing to investigate. Can you post a copy of your build via Coriolis or EDShipyard? That would be ace.

EDIT: I realize now you were carrying cargo as well which means you weren't spec'd for just battle. Did you suffer from target fixation in hoping to kill that first ship? When that second fresh ship dropped in it's likely you should have bailed out.

Bigs are tough to learn PvP in. You're vulnerable to a whole host of ships that can avoid most if not all of your fire while dishing out crazy punishment.

Props on your attitude. :)
 
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CMDR Cosmic Spacehead

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead
Don't engage.
If you're carrying cargo, your mission is to get that cargo your destination, not win a PvP battle. Lol
If you're even carrying cargo, you're significantly weaker than your opponent(s). There's little point sticking around.
If they're actual pirates, you may be able to hand over some cargo in exchange for your life.

Railguns are actually most effective for sniping at longer ranges. There's a micro gimballing effect on them, that snaps to targets at a certain range, this includes sub targets.

Bolster your shields as best you can (obviously, before battle, fit shield boosters, A rated shields, modified for maximum HP, and balanced resistances), keep 4 pips to shields, and keep close to your enemy while you charge for hyperspace.
Do not low wake, you'll just get chased down again.
 

Old Duck

Old Duck
rhiz said:
So, what are the best tactics/defences against this kind of PVP loadout?
Click to expand...
Fly a Sidewinder.

I'm only half-joking. When I was running missions out of Jameson Memorial (in the vain hope that allying with TDW would help me find Raxxla), I did every mission that allowed for it in my engineered Sidewinder. Sure, if a griefer lands their shots, I'm dead, but I've yet to encounter a griefer who could hit me with their fixed weapons. And if I do die, well let's just say it costs me more to refuel my Conda than it does to rebuy my Sidewinder, LOL.

Disclaimer - I'm on PS4, where most of us use DS4 controllers. My advice may be moot on PC where people are aiming rails with a mouse.
 

Turd Ferguson

Turd Ferguson
1) stay out of open.

2) start your menu log as soon as interdiction starts. once logged out either block the player before logging back in (doesn't works if they're friends with other players who are your friends) or switch to PG or solo.
 

rhiz

rhiz
Phisto Sobanii said:
More knowledgeable folks will be along shortly, I'm sure, but after reading your OP a couple times I suspect PIP management and load out will be the first thing to investigate. Can you post a copy of your build via Coriolis or EDShipyard? That would be ace.

EDIT: I realize now you were carrying cargo as well which means you weren't spec'd for just battle. Did you suffer from target fixation in hoping to kill that first ship? When that second fresh ship dropped in it's likely you should have bailed out.

Bigs are tough to learn PvP in. You're vulnerable to a whole host of ships that can avoid most if not all of your fire while dishing out crazy punishment.

Props on your attitude. :)
Click to expand...
Cheers Phisto - yeah, I'll try to post my load-out shortly. No, I probably should have relayed the whole story - a comedy of errors. 😊 Initially I was in my harmless mining T-9 hauling 80t of VO and was interdicted/destroyed by these guys (they had an FSD interruption effect). I then decided to grab my battle Annie and seek vengeance... and lost her twice! 😂 It was epic.

My speed and weapon range isn't great (running G5 efficient Beams and a huge overcharged MC), but I fly with flight assist off and I'm fairly good at staying on target against smaller ships. I was in a cat and mouse fight with a Viper for a while, dishing out a lot of damage and taking very little but struggling to catch up with him when he boosted away. I got him down to 5% and I actually refrained from attacking further at one point - that's when his mate dropped in and I was incapacitated in a way that felt almost instantaneous.
 

NecasekO

N
1. Fly a smaller, faster ship. Anaconda is very easy to hit from any side and has a very vulnerable power plant.
2. If you see a CMDR is in a wing (even if you don't see their wingmates), disengage immediately.
3. Don't let your shield drop. There's a whole bunch of nasty special effects (+ module damage) that only apply when shields are down.
 

Turd Ferguson

Turd Ferguson
1) stay out of open.

2) start your menu log as soon as interdiction starts
rhiz said:
I've spent 2000 hrs as an explorer/trader in solo, and I have 10 billion to burn. I need the challenge. :)
Click to expand...

fair enough. rails and weapons with reverb cascade are meta weapons for a reason. theres a defense against everything but with all the different special effects pvp becomes a game of rock paper scissors...which is essentially player-generated RNG. There are plwnt if skilled pilots out there for sure but most of the time pvp is just reduced to a round of RPS and the loser combat logs.
 

rhiz

rhiz
Old Duck said:
Fly a Sidewinder.

I'm only half-joking. When I was running missions out of Jameson Memorial (in the vain hope that allying with TDW would help me find Raxxla), I did every mission that allowed for it in my engineered Sidewinder. Sure, if a griefer lands their shots, I'm dead, but I've yet to encounter a griefer who could hit me with their fixed weapons. And if I do die, well let's just say it costs me more to refuel my Conda than it does to rebuy my Sidewinder, LOL.

Disclaimer - I'm on PS4, where most of us use DS4 controllers. My advice may be moot on PC where people are aiming rails with a mouse.
Click to expand...

Yes, I can see your logic. Just to be clear, I wouldn't call these guys griefers - just role-playing pirates. I play in VR and struggle to use the comm panel, so they took my silence and lack of cooperation as a green flag to attack. As I said, a comedy of errors.
 

rhiz

rhiz
Turd Ferguson said:
1) stay out of open.

2) start your menu log as soon as interdiction starts


fair enough. rails and weapons with reverb cascade are meta weapons for a reason. theres a defense against everything but with all the different special effects pvp becomes a game of rock paper scissors...which is essentially player-generated RNG. There are plwnt if skilled pilots out there for sure but most of the time pvp is just reduced to a round of RPS and the loser combat logs.
Click to expand...
Yeah, to be honest that's what it felt like to me. That said, their technique was pretty elegant and well-honed in it's own way. I was just wondering whether there were ways to counter these things without limiting yourself to a narrow range of PVP builds. As I said, I'm pretty new to PVP.
 

Phisto Sobanii

Phisto Sobanii
rhiz said:
Cheers Phisto - yeah, I'll try to post my load-out shortly. No, I probably should have relayed the whole story - a comedy of errors. 😊 Initially I was in my harmless mining T-9 hauling 80t of VO and was interdicted/destroyed by these guys (they had an FSD interruption effect). I then decided to grab my battle Annie and seek vengeance... and lost her twice! 😂 It was epic.

My speed and weapon range isn't great (running G5 efficient Beams and a huge overcharged MC), but I fly with flight assist off and I'm fairly good at staying on target against smaller ships. I was in a cat and mouse fight with a Viper for a while, dishing out a lot of damage and taking very little but struggling to catch up with him when he boosted away. I got him down to 5% and I actually refrained from attacking further at one point - that's when his mate dropped in and I was incapacitated in a way that felt almost instantaneous.
Click to expand...

Haha! I like your spirit. What was the second pilot flying? Did you see it?
 

rhiz

rhiz
rhiz said:
Yeah, to be honest that's what it felt like to me. That said, their technique was pretty elegant and well-honed in it's own way. I was just wondering whether there were ways to counter these things without limiting yourself to a narrow range of PVP builds. As I said, I'm pretty new to PVP.
Click to expand...
Cmdr. Numa said:
With 10 billion, why fly a Conda trader and no Cutter ? No empire rank ? Cutter is nearly unkillable unless you allow it to be.
Click to expand...

Yes, I have a Cutter but I just don't enjoy flying her very much. I use her as a bulk trader.
 
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