How do you approach fighting 4+ NPCs?

[Slange Lands]

Bi-weaves don't really stand up to protracted fights, it's more a hit-and-run deal there. Shield cell banks and reinforced prismatics (with shield boosters engineered to raise your resistances) are probably your best bet for wing assassinations, though I recall the FDL has power/heat management issues that may make that tricky (not entirely certain, I don't fly one).

It depends on the ship and the skill level of the pilot. A size 6 bi weave chieftain takes only 17 seconds to start recharging. Even in PvP, a biweave two booster chieftain is more optimal than a prismatic chieftain. There is a hull tank tournament coming up and most of the Chieftains will be biweave.

OTOH, I have seen FDL bi weaves just mowing down NPCs in CZs Ultimately, it is the skill of the pilot that determines outcome.

For PvE though, point defense for biweaves is almost necessary for prolonged fights due to NPC missile spam.
The flight model in this game is genius.

 

[Screemonster]

If you fight the big one first, the weak ones will be doing damage to you the whole time you're chipping away at them.
If you fight the small one first, every kill you score is less incoming damage.
If you really want to turn things into a Compound Fiasco (or the..uh... other thing that starts with C F) stack a bunch of other assassinations in there and see if any of those guys drop in.

This was a fun one 'cause one of the other pirate lords dropped in and attacked the lead anaconda which made it a lot easier to mop up the smaller fighters, then the cops joined the party because what the hell why not let's get everyone in there, right?

 

[Pat Healy]

OP here- thanks so much to all for the amazingly helpful input! Lots of ideas to work on and practice. Merry Christmas CMDRs!

 

[Stealthie]

Big fan of bi-weave shields on my combat ships.

With any other type of shield, it's always a countdown until you lose your shield and then you have to retreat and either sit around like a shag on a rock, or visit a station, to recharge them.
With bi-weaves, proper pip management (by which, I basically mean putting 4 pips to sys whenever you're not shooting stuff) and a bit of evasive flying means you can remain in a fight indefinitely.

By way of comparison, my Corvette has a 7C bi-weave with 4200mj (including Guardian SBs and regular SBs) and has a recharge time of 6 minutes.
If I swap it for a Prismatic shield I get 6,600mj but the recharge time is FIFTY MINUTES.

When I'm fighting in CZs I do, sometimes, get down to one ring of shield (usually as a result of doing hard-headed stuff) but then I can ease off, pick easier fights and my shield will recharge without me having to leave the fight.
If I had a Prismatic shield I would, basically, get to do that twice and then I'd be forced to retreat while my shield recharges.

"But... SCB's!!!???"
Nope.
SCB's provide a finite amount of energy and they only do it once.
I used to have 2x 7A SCB's fitted to my 'vette and each use would barely half-fill a ring of shield.
They don't do a good job of restoring a big shield and they only delay the inevitable trip back to a station to recharge your shield and SCB's.

Far better to use a bi-weave - for any type of combat - and know that you can keep it charged with a combination of evasive flying and pip management.


As for how to deal with large numbers of attackers, I think @GunnerBill makes a good point about taking out any targets of opportunity as quickly as possible.
You might be up against, say, an Annie, a couple of FdLs and a bunch of Eagles and Cobras.
You might want to take out the Annie or the FdLs first but if an Eagle or Cobra gets into your sights, target it and explode it and it won't bother you any more.

Any ship that's capable of taking on large numbers of attackers should also be capable of exploding things like Eagles and Cobras in a few seconds.
In the few seconds it takes you to destroy an Eagle or Cobra, the Annie or FdLs aren't going to do a lot of damage to you but if you can explode a smaller ship, you're improving the odds against you for the rest of the fight.

Basically, just get in there and shoot anything that has a red box around it.
If your current target is proving difficult to hit, and there's something else shooting at you, target the new threat and try and explode that instead.

 

[Vevvev]

If the shields won't hold I hit boost like a mad man and try to be as unpredictable as possible to dodge all the projectile weapons. If they're using beams I'm in trouble, but I do make sure all my combat ships are some kind of hull tank. I can probably make it out alive with most of my modules intact.

 

[Jmanis]

Firstly, sounds like a Massacre Deserters mission as all targets are attacking you, not a Massacre Pirates mission (it's very easy to mistakenly confuse them because of how they appear in the UI)

But as for handling it... a couple things:

• An SLF helps a lot for drawing fire.
• Focus fire on a single target where possible, and go for powerplant kills on the bigger targets if you can.
• Start with the smaller, weaker targets such as vipers, cobras and vultures. The big advantage of multiship combat is simply sheer numbers; it's what makes eight sidewinders a considerable threat.

 

[BDelacroix]

Depends on what 4. If its just normies, then I tank it.
If they aren't, I do a lot of boosting and picking them off one at a time.

 

[CMDR Harada]

The Prismatic vs Bi-Weave debate is often a matter of taste, except for this mission. Here, Prismatics are best. Let me explain, and others can jump in ( or on, as the case may be ) .

In a large fight like this you are going to be under a lot of fire. Almost constantly until the end, in fact. An FDL can manage some of this with mobility but not all of it. A bi-weave recharge rate helps, but not enough to turn the massive losses you'll experience. Using Stealthies metrics above, the difference between the two is almost 2400mj. Thats huge. And doesn't include the resistances which will double that ( effective ) difference. 5000 mjs is HUGE. If you don't have the situation well in hand by the 3 minute mark, you're in trouble. BIG trouble. And if those shields drop, you're truly "rotated on an ascending helical device".

Assuming you'll be able to recharge at the 3+ minute mark is not really optimal. Again, using Stealthies metric, and a full recharge in 6 minutes, a 4200mj bi-weave shield recharges at 700mj a minute. I'll also use his metric on a Prismatic, and give it a recharge of ( 6600/55 minutes = 120mj a minute.. so essentially nothing ). Taking this into account, a bi-weave would be superior, AFTER the 3 1/2 minute mark ( in mj totals, 4200 + ( 3.5 minutes x 700mj per minute or 2400 mj )). But that mark is well after the time you needed the huge shields because you couldn't really use evasion as a main defense against multiple opponents. Some of those ships which are just as nimble and fast as yourself and can distract you while the big boys line up a sucker punch. The 3 minute mark is key. You've either dispatched the heavier unit(s) and can pop the smaller ones at your leisure, OR you've swept the little ones and can use your speed/evasion on the bigger one(s). In either case, the situation is manageable at this point WITH EITHER SHIELD. But that's assuming you make it to the three minute mark... and here the prismatic excels because of raw mjs.

You need to survive heavy sustained fire at the start, diminishing over time as you pop opponents. You'll need to ignore and tank the damage of the others as you concentrate on one, then the next, and so on. Weaving, dodging, lateral thrusters, and FA-Off flight can help, but not to the extent of those initial 5000 mj .

For any other mission, I would agree either works. Not this one.

 

[Kzak]

You could also go for long-range fixed beam weapons, for example, and pick the opposition off at up to 6 km range without them being able to hurt you from so far away.

 

[He$$eeTant]

I am doing one of these right now. I am flying an FDL.

I drop in and immediately around 6-7 ships open fire, I boost away until the instant no one is on the radar. I then turn to face them, but fly in reverse. The first ships to arrive are the small fast eagles and MKIII. With my long range G5 lasers they soon get their shields zeroed, then it’s in for the kill. At a certain point I find the authorities arrive and then it’s just back to a full on fight.

OP I am just learning combat but the above helps me survive these multi ship attacks.

 

[Jmanis]

"But... SCB's!!!???"
Nope.
SCB's provide a finite amount of energy and they only do it once.
I used to have 2x 7A SCB's fitted to my 'vette and each use would barely half-fill a ring of shield.
They don't do a good job of restoring a big shield and they only delay the inevitable trip back to a station to recharge your shield and SCB's.

Far better to use a bi-weave - for any type of combat - and know that you can keep it charged with a combination of evasive flying and pip management.

And, you free up two extra slots for more hull tank. Who cares about shields when your hull is extra chonky

 

[Rubbernuke]

Think about who you are killing too- sec and generic ships tend to love lasers so having good thermal resistance is nice and buys extra kill time. Be mindful of NPCs who pelt you with missiles when the shield goes down, people forget external modules are weak under rocket attack. And like others have said, kill the weak first to thin numbers (if its just a cloud of unengineered ships).

 

[Vedmo]

Dropped into one of these last night and got 1 Conda and 2 Clippers immediately, then a mixture of 5 or 6 Cobra 3 & 4s and Eagles dropped in too. I was flying a Chieftain with Cytos, med corrosive MC & 2 rapid fire screening Enforcers. Bi-weave hull tank, no SCB. I seriously popped the conda and clippers faster than I cleared out the small ships and lost shields right as I finished off the last of those three. Was about half way through the little ones with shields came back up, and right at 90% hull.

Jumped into a 2 beam 1 mc shield tank Courier later, and the Chieftain strat would never have worked. I had to pop the small ships while kiting away from the slower big stuff, then could pretty much avoid damage from the big ships (which I needed to do, very low shields) and finish it out.

Had another that I'd never seen before, Krait MKII, Phantom, FDL, FAS, and few small ships. Fortunately I was in a Bi-weave hull tank Conda with double SCBs for that one, don't think I would have made it in the Chieftain (definitely not in the Courier). Took them down in order listed and went through all of my SCB.

I guess strategy relies heavily on ship and build.

 

[NCFCpaul]

With a spoon.

... Because it hurts more!

 

[Troopi]

Build a sniper ship. Fast speed, bi-weaves, and long range weapons. Fight until you have 1 ring left. If you killed 1 or 2 guys, nice. Boost away, flight assist-off, turn the ship around and keep it going at full speed. 4 pips to shields, 2 pips to guns, and snipe them. If your ship is fast enough, they will soon be out of 6km away. Regulate your speed to keep luring them (not too fast, not too slow) When your shields are recharged again, engage in dogfight.
Note: if you use gimbals, they will fail at long distances vs small ships. Unlock targets and shoot by sight. Pulse, burst and rail guns are best for this.