First AX combat

[Neilski]

I finally took the plunge and dipped my toe into the AX arena (having killed lots of NPCs in my flying career thus far).
Predictably enough my first outing ended with a rebuy, but I had some interesting things happen along the way, and I think I learned a little.

I wanted to start slowly (avoiding, at least for now, the ridiculous grind for Guardian weapons), so I just bought a few EAXMCs and slapped them onto my Anaconda. It was at this point not even a quarter-baked AX ship, but... yeah, I wanted to start slowly
I then took it straight out (forgetting to even add the enhanced Xeno scanner) to try shooting a few Scouts. I found a system in the invasion state, scanned the nav beacon, picked the smallest AX signal source I could find - AX ship signatures, threat 4 - and dropped in. I found a bunch of NPCs moaning about the absence of bugs (LOL) and then after a while some Scouts showed up. Shooting them was indeed easy. I picked up some debris and then noticed some more had shown up, or so I thought... After shooting for a few seconds at the next hostile thing I realised it didn't look quite the same So yeah, it was an Interceptor. I thought I'd shoot it a bit and then bow out at some point, but it didn't take long for me to decide to back away. The Thargoid didn't seem to want to pay attention to the NPCs and pursued me; ouch. I couldn't outrun it (because Conda, even with G5 dirty/drag) so I kept popping heatsinks and naively expected that it would bug-ger off and leave me alone - that's learning item number one I guess: being cold doesn't make them lose interest (so I had clearly misunderstood what guidance I had read on that). (In fact, being cold didn't even stop them from shooting me, but I now suspect that's because you have to change direction while cold to benefit from it, having read a wee bit more after dying.)

Anyway, after using up lots of heatsinks and SCBs (not an AX ship, yup) I decided to leave. Supercruise: oops, mass-locked. No worries, I'll just high wake out, right? Wrong. I tried repeatedly to high wake out, but either I was confused enough to be doing something stupid, or it wouldn't let me. I verified that my nav panel showed a selected jump to another system, even hit my "resume route" button, but yet every time I hit the engage supercruise/jump* button it just told me I was mass-locked. (*The one that's called "HyperSuperCombination" in the bindings file and "toggle frame shift drive" in the GUI controls page.) Maybe I need to consider mapping a dedicated button for hyperspace jumping, but I've never needed it before. Indeed maybe it wouldn't have helped, because maybe I'm mistaken that you can always high wake away from Thargoids...
I had fun trying to synth more heatsinks in between the fusillades. I also had to reboot the ship several times to get the thrusters back online for just a few seconds now and then - I've never had to do this in combat before, so that was a nice first. I had a long, long time to contemplate my fate because my Conda had quite a bit of armour, but eventually it went pop.

So, apart from noting that I welcome links to good AX guides I will ask the main question that's bug-ging me: can you always high wake away from Thargoids?
I didn't record the encounter (I wish I had now) but it's hard to believe that I could have screwed up something as simple as a jump, despite the adrenaline rush of my first beating from a Thargoid. Reviewing my screenshots, I can even see one that confirms I had a system selected (less than 3 ly away) when I was mashing the HyperSuperCombination button and just getting mass-lock warnings, so I'm kinda baffled about that bit. For my future AX experiences, I may choose a ship that can outrun them anyway.

 

[CMDR The Riz]

So, apart from noting that I welcome links to good AX guides I will ask the main question that's bug-ging me: can you always high wake away from Thargoids?

Yes.

I didn't record the encounter (I wish I had now) but it's hard to believe that I could have screwed up something as simple as a jump, despite the adrenaline rush of my first beating from a Thargoid.

The fundamentals tend to go out the window when panic sets in

Reviewing my screenshots, I can even see one that confirms I had a system selected (less than 3 ly away) when I was mashing the HyperSuperCombination button and just getting mass-lock warnings, so I'm kinda baffled about that bit.

Are you able to post a few of those screenshots? I've always used two separate keybinds for Highwaking and Supercruising, but if you have another system selected your FSD should spool up for a Highwake with the combo button... IIRC?

For my future AX experiences, I may choose a ship that can outrun them anyway.

Cutter FTW... as long as it's not a Basilisk chasing me

 

[Neilski]

The fundamentals tend to go out the window when panic sets in

Yup, I've learned that the hard way in many games

Are you able to post a few of those screenshots? I've always used two separate keybinds for Highwaking and Supercruising, but if you have another system selected your FSD should spool up for a Highwake with the combo button... IIRC?

Well, here's the key screenshot that proves (to me) that I hadn't botched the system selection. Repeatedly hitting the Y key on my controller was just doing the same darn thing though. The screenshot says "engaging supercruise" despite me repeatedly cancelling it and attempting to initiate a jump... Is there a clue lurking here?

 

[CMDR The Riz]

Yup, I've learned that the hard way in many games

Well, here's the key screenshot that proves (to me) that I hadn't botched the system selection. Repeatedly hitting the Y key on my controller was just doing the same darn thing though. The screenshot says "engaging supercruise" despite me repeatedly cancelling it and attempting to initiate a jump... Is there a clue lurking here?
View attachment 346187

Huh... I guess the combo button prioritizes Supercruise over Highwaking when in normal space.

My suggestion is to assign two separate buttons for Supercruise and Highwakes so this doesn't happen again. Additionally, if you're out of heatsinks and need to dodge incoming Thargoid attacks, activate Silent Running - it's just like popping a heatsink to a Thargoid, but your ship will accumulate heat - and try to boost at the Interceptor. They have a ton of inertia, and will often overshoot you on the merge, which will open up a little bit of breathing room for you to escape.

 

[Neilski]

Huh... I guess the combo button prioritizes Supercruise over Highwaking when in normal space.

Well, this is the first time ever that it hasn't done the "right" thing for me, so I am drawing a total blank if high waking isn't impeded by Interceptors... I will indeed assign a button for hyperspace though.

activate Silent Running - it's just like popping a heatsink to a Thargoid, but your ship will accumulate heat - and try to boost at the Interceptor.

Nice one, ta - will try that.

 

[Monk]

Tried my first hand around AX a couple weeks ago. I watched all the training videos but just ended doing my own chaotic thing...lots of fun.

 

[Neilski]

Tried my first hand around AX a couple weeks ago. I watched all the training videos but just ended doing my own chaotic thing...lots of fun.

Yeah, chaotic would be good description of my flying too

I have now had a second encounter with Thargoids. I got pulled out of supercruise while trying to reach the nav beacon and ran away before realising it was just a bunch of Scouts. Stopped running, wiped them out and hung around a while, after which some NPCs showed up, and then a Cyclops. This time I had the correct Xeno scanner and a shutdown field neutraliser (which I of course failed to use correctly ) and with quite a bit of help from the NPCs, I have now killed my first Cyclops - yay! Obvs I then tried to grab some components from the wreckage, and almost died. Burned off the caustic damage with 4% hull remaining... ROFL.

 

[Northpin]

Cutter FTW... as long as it's not a Basilisk chasing me

I'm doing AX in a Conda lately.
The old trick of flying in one direction then when the Interceptor gets within 3-4km pop a heatsink then turn 180 and zoom past it still works and will put 5-7km (if not more) between your ship and the interceptor - plenty of time to wake out or to dock.

I'm using this when i get hyperdicted and it works perfectly
And I'm using it even during mid fights with Hydras near Planetary Ports- after popping a heart there is a time when the interceptor tries to recollect its posture but fails and farts some missiles instead. Then, full of shame apparently, it wanders for a while in a random direction completely ignoring my ship.
I use this time to boost away from the Port then, when the interceptor closes in (usually around 7-10 km from the port), i turn 180, pop some heatsinks and zoom past it - and i manage to land with plenty of spare time.