Family returning to play for the holidays, is AX a bridge too far for us w/out ARX?

[npcostes]

Hello Commanders,

My kids and I came back to the game this holiday and picked up odyssey. We made our money back in the Robigo slave run and void opal eras. We have some engineered items. I personally have a Corvette, Anaconda and some med & smaller ships + 2bn.

We have limited time to play together over the holidays (a few days to a week).

Is AX combat a bridge too far for us?

Reading https://wiki.antixenoinitiative.com/en/home is information overload. Seems like we need to gather a lot of materials (not sure how many of which kinds) which involves 500-1800LY trips etc.

To unlock guardian weaps/modules do you still have to do this: https://wiki.antixenoinitiative.com...eapons and Modules,type), Components and Data.

I've watched videos, some indicate you can buy AX weapons pre-engineered? Not sure how / where - inara lists guardian weapon outfitting stations, but what about the engineering? There's mention of some license for the weapons that requires materials.

Is there a kind of "AX combat quick start guide for 2024" available? Many of the resources I find I can't tell if they're still valid (like the threads on this forum).

Are ARX-purchased ships the only way to get there with a few days of play time (I'm fine w/supporting Frontier, servers cost money to run - but I like my ships and would like to outfit them for AX combat)? Or can we buy AX weapons and modules by unlocking some licenses or reputation etc.

Thank you!

 

[Sophokles Logimo]

It is meant to be the highest difficulty activity in the game. Much of it is too hard for me, certainly. It requires special equipment, special tactics, and lots of exercise.

And it is, to be honest, not even that much fun.

 

[Landorin]

If there is quite some group active it is pretty okay. On starport defenses during invasion there are usually plenty of players and the Thargoid Ints die fast, too fast these days because of the immense damage people cause. I recommend planetary starport scenarios as then there's no hassle with Thargons (there are currently none to defend however). I suggest reading up on the very Thargoid basics (caustic damage, how to deal with it, Thargons and shutdowns, that's it). I am sure there is some comprehensive guide. If there really isn't I'd be happy to create one.

Time saver option could be the AX Chieftain you can buy for ARX in the ARX store. It gives you a nicer jumpstart possibly and you don't need to care about checking metas / less research (and 0 rebuy if you keep it the way it is!). Though as a Corvette pilot I would totally understand if you wanna stick to it. There's nothing sweeter for me to see when another huge ship just flys past me shooting at an Int.

On the other hand, there's not much to lose in this game anyway. If you got a nice surplus of money then try it out. Engineering helps tons but it's not like you can't do without it. Pick up the AX Multi Cannons, check some metas on what mandatory equipment you need (heatsinks, caustic sink launchers if using shields and so on) and give it a shot. In the worst case you waste 30M here and there for your corvette (I fly one too). Yet after a few Int kills you get that back and more. The AX Multi Cannons don't deal as much damage but: it gets you fast into the AX action and they do a good job against the Thargoid hearts (target the sub component once it shows exposed).

Personal word of advice: keep paying attention to at least the wing chat. People so get lost on focusing on the battle that they forget everything around them. Might not always matter but some more advanced situations do require communicating and having situational awareness. If you get used to it from the start it'd be great. You may stop reading here.


But technically, yeah, it is meant to be high end content. I hope it will stay that way (and get more challenging before it gets too easy). In any case, I hope it won't disappear completely. I don't wanna go back killing pirates...


And to anyone who belongs to those groups I regularly see writing:
"can I join some wing as a newbie? I didn't solo an Int myself" or "I am not really good at it": so what, learning by doing I'd say. It helps if you read up on the very basic things (e.g. what is caustic and how to beat it, same for the Thargoid shutdown and Thargons, that is pretty much it), takes like 2 minutes. And no, you don't need a mic if you don't wanna voice (but pay attention to the wing chat in any case). The rest comes with experience. You don't need to solo an Int (it is not even meant to be soloed!) to qualify as AX pilot for heaven's sake. Personally, I am happy for any people that join the fun, the more the merrier - as long as they have ANY idea about combat and are willing to learn. Had some dude yesterday where I guessed right that he went straight from trading to combat (first time ANY combat apparently). Yet the actual bad part was that he constantly flooded the chat with info no one wanted to know (mostly cursing and complaining why this or that happened and that he died or his FSD didn't work, all that sort showing 'I have no idea about even anything basic, not willing to learn anything and I want everyone to know it constantly). Well, at least he served as cannonfodder I suppose. So, as long as you know some VERY basics of how the game and combat works, got a surplus of credits for rebuys (or use a pure ARX ship) and are willing to learn instead of expecting the game doing everything for you by just cursing at it then by all means, give it a go. It can be a really fun and immersive experience (and profitable too).

edit: wow, yeah the anti xenon website is quite detailed, can be somewhat discouraging for new people.

 

[Landorin]

Inspired by your posting I wrote up some "quick start" guide.

Was a bit longer than anticipated but hey, this is not your fellow NPC pirate around the corner you wanna kill. Still shorter than what is on the AXI website I suppose.

Having read a forum posting about someone with family and limited time who found the Anti-Xenon Initiative ("AXI") website as information overkill I decided to write up some quick start guide. I hope it turns out to be somewhat useful. This guide is for those who don't want to spend too much time on reading and/or do not have so much free time. This is just meant as quick basics, not having a super optimal build or so and I might not cover everything in detail (for that use the AXI website). Even though fighting Thargoid Interceptors ("Int") is meant to be high-end content, it doesn't mean you can't join it! You gotta start somewhere, right? Personally, I think Thargoid combat got even too easy for advanced players, at least on planetary starport defenses.

1. Best time saver option as ship is getting the AX Chieftain you can buy with ARX. Don't get the AX Krait in the store as this is specialised against Titans only as far as I know. I know this ARX ship is not optimal or anything, it is just a good and cheap time saver. You can always change the build/equipment! Else you can still use this guide for your very own ship/build but then you gotta research the meta yourself (AXI website has meta builds). The pre-built AX Chieftain has a few advantages:

• zero rebuy cost (if you do not swap any components), risk free! Check the equipment, you can still swap stuff to optimize the build a bit more but each swapped out components adds to rebuy costs (to be fair, rebuy will still be very low in the end!). You might want to keep rebuy at 0 on your first baby steps on getting experience, it is your call.
• you save time on researching metas as well as equipping your ship as it already has what you need. Else make sure you got enough credits for rebuys. In the learning phase you might die more often. Yet kiling Ints is so rewarding you can easily get the money back.
• generally THE ship for AX combat
• has a decent setup to join Thargoid Ints fights

2. Know the mandatory base game mechanics

• If you've never done any combat in Elite you might wanna try your luck with some NPC pirates first. It also helps to kow other game basics, e.g. why/when your FSD charges up slower because some big Int is behind you.This should go without saying but just met someone yesterday who had 0 clue about anything and 0 interest in learning anything.

3. Join the AXI private group (optional)

• I recommend joining the anti-xenon initiative private group (auto accepts, check their website or search for the group ingame). In open play you are likelier to get ganked and the AXI private group has around 12k members, so you won't be alone. The AXI discord pc-looking-for-wing channel helps you finding a suitable wing group. No, you don't necessarily need a mic or have to use voice (but keep an eye on the wing chat at least). If you don't care about the risk you can switch between this PG and open to always find people.

4. Know the Interceptor basics

• Your group needs to deal enough damage to an Int to make it expose one of it hearts (it has several). When it happens the Int makes a sound and one of its wings/"arms" lights up for a short time. You can and should target the exposed heart (sub component) if it was scanned by someone in the wing with a Xeno scanner (or bring one yourself). The AX Multi Cannons are quite good to hit hearts if targeted. Gauss are even better but requires good aiming. Don't sweat yourself if it's too challenging for now. Simply hit the Int anywhere then to keep hearts exposed. Once all hearts are gone the final damage dealt will kill its hull.
• Ints have a harder time landing hits on you if you stay below 20% heat and kite around them (if they target you). Thermal vent lasers help here (but not scope of this guide) or use heat sinks whenever it goes after you.
• Ints can put up shields, usually after a heart died or if taken too much damage (panic shield)
• Ints (as well as scout ships) shoot caustic missiles. You cannot avoid those unless you are at least 4.5 km or so out of range and have a fast ship. Avoid the green clouds they as well as exploding Ints cause.
• Caustic damage will eat your hull and kill you over time (sometimes sooner than later). Either overheat your ship (200-300%) if you don't use shields (or deploy multipe shield cells to yank up heat). Else buy a caustic sink launcher or two. These suck up the caustic. Once they are full, release it, similar like heat sinks. Last resort is flying to a port and repair before you blow up (more hull = more time).
• After an Int lost at least one heart it will use lightning attacks within around 700m range. It will light up in yellow when it is about to. Keep your distance as this is devastating, especially to shields. Turning off flight assistance helps a lot here.
• Once Ints are down to the last heart they will deploy a shutdown field (you will get a warning that a energy pulse was detected). Around 3 sec later your ship shuts down for 30 seconds. Can be avoided with a shutdown neutralizer you can equip (or one of your wing mates as it works for everyone within around 3km range). Keep it charging shortly before the shutdown happens until you see the wave washing over you.
• Except for ground starport scenarios Ints will pop small missiles called Thargons. For the easier Ints (e.g. "Cyclops") you can pretty much ignore these. Just be aware they will bother you. Leave it to the more experienced people to deal with or kill the Int fast enough. Yet if you get a missile warning (not the caustic ones) hit the boosters and make some turns, hoping to avoid them.

5. Find an instance or a wing, don't go on your own (unless it is Thargoid scout ships only). One of the best things to do is joining some planetary starport that is under attack in an invasion system. Currently there isn't any starport to defend at the time of this writing unfortunately. Alternatively, currently in Sol you could wing up with some people to find signal sources with Ints. Use the Anti-Xenon Initative discord (pc-looking-for-wing channel).

P.S.: can't hurt to pick up missions to kill scouts and Ints (Cyclops mainly) if available in the system, gives nice bonus cash. People in a wing usually are quite social and are happy to share wing Thargoid missions once completed - easy money.

 

[npcostes]

Thanks Landorin for your detailed reply. We've been running evacuation missions out of Sol for now, getting used to being interdicted in hyperspace and escaping with no passengers send to the Xeno-Barbeque and we went to a cpl guardian sites to get some blueprint fragments and materials.

Very good materials and cash to be made with those evacuation missions out of Sol BTW for anyone interested.

We found where we can buy AX gear for our ships, so that's probably what we'll try, but it would be nice to have the guardian gear. It's just so much SRV driving (the site we were farming was always dark and very cluttered). I'm not a fan of the way the SRVs drive/handle.

We're not new to PVE combat, but reading the guides to cold orbiting for smaller/medium ships was a little overwhelming since it requires a lot of FA-off flying. The shield tanking may be more my speed.

We may try buying some AX Chieftans for the Christmas break and give the smaller ships in a gang a shot, very cheap way to learn.

Thanks again for taking the time to make all the suggestions, they are very helpful.

o7

 

[Landorin]

Thanks Landorin for your detailed reply. We've been running evacuation missions out of Sol for now, getting used to being interdicted in hyperspace and escaping with no passengers send to the Xeno-Barbeque and we went to a cpl guardian sites to get some blueprint fragments and materials.

Hey, you're welcome. I had the same issue when doing an evac mission since ages the other day. Then found a helpful reddit guide: besids good shields, get an ECM and some heatsinks (I'd say at least 4, better more). Once intercepted pop a heatsink and keep doing it when the last one expired to stay below 20% heat. When you get a missile warning, keep charging/holding the ECM, then those "anti FSD" missiles will not hit you. Both actions should keep you safe (they usually drain my shield down to 30% but that's it). Once your normal FSD cooldown is up jump out. Rinse repeat for any possible super cruise intercepts on your way to the rescue ship. Works for me every time so far.

We found where we can buy AX gear for our ships, so that's probably what we'll try, but it would be nice to have the guardian gear. It's just so much SRV driving (the site we were farming was always dark and very cluttered). I'm not a fan of the way the SRVs drive/handle.

Yeah the guardian stuff is really nice. Yet the AX Multi Cannons will still do well if you got plenty, at the very least against the hearts when exposed. The Guardian grind can be quite time consuming and annoying. I still remember the SRV driving pains. Best thing to do (at least for scanning the data patterns off those walls) is to look up a good spot (found one via google) that has 2 or so patterns next to each other. Then scan, log to a different server type, scan again, rinse repeat, if you need the patterns.

We're not new to PVE combat, but reading the guides to cold orbiting for smaller/medium ships was a little overwhelming since it requires a lot of FA-off flying. The shield tanking may be more my speed.

That's a bit more advanced, yeah. Since I prefer flying a fat ship (Corvette) I decided for shield tanking long time ago. I only care about heat by building it up (e.g. by popping all shield cells at the same time) to get rid of caustic damage, then I pop heat sinks and use thermal vent lasers. Yet my ship is always hot enough (and right so, it is supposed to somewhat tank anyway). On a more agile ship I'd go FA and watch my heat more but it's not really mandatory if you got a wing or even more players around.

Yet I do suggest you start playing around with FA on/off. I never wanted to bother with it either for a long time. Then I simply added the on/off to my joystick and played around with it a bit when fighting Ints. Turned out it is not even that bad once you try it a few times. Even if it is just to boost, then FA off and float away from the Int (when it lights up yellow and wants to blitz you) or keep your distance from it or its caustic missiles. Just remember you can always turn FA back on and it will get you immediately steady again.

We may try buying some AX Chieftans for the Christmas break and give the smaller ships in a gang a shot, very cheap way to learn.

I just bought it the other day and took a look (just briefly). It is not amazing but definitely a time saver option still and little risk with the reduced rebuy. I'd say give it a shot if time saving is the priority. You can still swap out components anytime.

Enjoy your Christmas break, merry Christmas and have fun!

 

[npcostes]

It is meant to be the highest difficulty activity in the game. Much of it is too hard for me, certainly. It requires special equipment, special tactics, and lots of exercise.

And it is, to be honest, not even that much fun.

Hey SL,
Bought a chieftan w/ARX. I'm no good with FA-off but I've been having a blast going to the systems where we're defending while playing in the ANTI-XENO Initiative private group. It's auto-invite, and there are tons of players there in the instance w/you so you can just make attack runs etc. With the ARX-bought ship no worries about rebuy as you learn.

Tonight was Weber's Hub so we were fighting at a planetary base. It's funny to watch the ships (mine included) when we get caught in a shutdown wave as we fall and bounce around on the surface. Made some good progress tonight with a few hydra kills & improved on SFN usage & making attack runs w/the AX MCs and gauss cannons, scanning them, taking the shields down, getting the hearts, and boosting away when it gets thick.

Discord - Group Chat That’s All Fun & Games

Discord is great for playing games and chilling with friends, or even building a worldwide community. Customize your own space to talk, play, and hang out.

discord.com

For anyone else wondering how to get in, ARX-purchased chieftan and just go have fun, don't worry about the info overload on AX initiative wiki. Just dive in.

 

[Landorin]

Glad to hear you enjoyed it! Yep, finding people with anti-xenon initiative on discord makes things even easier and fun! The other day I tried the Python MK 2. It feels like made of cardboard compared to my Corvette. Yet after some experimentation I ended up with 3 AX Multicannons. I really found these underestimated as I was impressed how easily you shred Interceptor hearts with that (as long as they were scanned)! With my heavy weapons I take longer, even with Guardian gauss (not much but still). I slapped 2 Guardian mod plasmas on top (yet enhanced AX missiles were also fun). I suppose for me the difference is that I do not have to have THE meta ship. I am aware I merely contribute instead of soloing stuff - as that is exactly my playstyle: having fun while being in a wing, achieving success together. And boy, it is fun flying a super fast ship when I am used to slow old tanks.

And that is what I always say on AXI discord when people say "anyone take a newbie? I am not so good": as long as you got AX weapons, willing to learn, know where to point those weapons and turn crime reports off that will be good enough.

FA is something I learned with AX combat, I never bothered with it. By simply playing with it it helped me to get a lot better at it.