How does one deal with packhounds?

bladebss

bladebss
I often fly small ships and even when i dont i tend towards hibrid ships. I am ever presently aware of how dangerous missiles can be. I fit a point defence on every ship and if i think i can get away with it i fit 2.

Now regular seekers, i can kind of deal with. My PD tend to do ok at stopping most of them getting thrugh and my resistances and MRP ususaly keep me going ok with a few malfunctions. Unless a few lucky shots get in and kills my PD or the fight goes on for a while and then i might loose one or two hard points.

But packhounds.. i just cant work out a way to overcome them. Even with 2 PDs they just decimate my modules. Even just one launcher on an enemy ship and im in touble the second my shilds drop.

Target lock breaker is an option i guess but it still isnt realy a solution in alot of circumstances. And some of my builds realy cant be having it.

Has any one found a way to cope? Right now i tend to just leg it if i see some one has packhounds. Or do as much damage as i can untill my guns fall off and then leg it.
 
Last edited:

raeat

Banned
raeat
Keep moving, fast and keep changing your vector.
Pack Hounds, like other seeker missiles require a target lock before they can even be fired, and that takes time and the co-operation of the target. Don't co-operate. Max two seconds directly in front of the enemy at any time. Stay close and zip around.
 

Craith

Volunteer Moderator
Craith
Boosting helps when they can't keep up. If your ship is to slow for that, heatsinks help a lot but have very limited ammo.
 

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead
As a CMDR that uses packhounds, any NPC with ECM becomes troublesome. They often never regain the target and just wander off.

Also sometimes those NPC Anacondas with 6 point defence turrets also cause problems, but it also looks cool. :p

Never used my packhounds in PvP, because, well, I don't PvP....
 

Wyldwiisel

W
TLB plasmas is best solution
They can only use fixed or untargeted gimbled on you that takes missiles out of the equation provided you keep hitting them ECM is rubbish and point defence ain't quick enough to get them all
That's why some people say they are overpowered but without TLB plasma every ship would just spam Packhounds
 
Last edited:

Madrax573

Madrax573
Get in close and fly through the pack. They have a minimum arming distance and you can often just fly through them and watch them go past.
 

Crimson Kaim

Crimson Kaim
There is no real counter to seekers except a thick shield. PDTs are 0% effective. One ECM to negate the burst and element of surprise and then just run. There is no other possibility against seeker noobs.
 

Wyldwiisel

W
ECM could do with a massive boost no one uses it In it's current form no charge time about 3km range lasting for about 5 secs and 15 sec cooldown
 

bladebss

bladebss
Aashenfox said:
This is news to me. Are we saying that screening shell not only increases reload speed, but also allows them to shoot down munitions? And with a different special this wouldn't work?
Click to expand...

Yes. This much i know and have tested. They are very effective against standard seekers. I have never tryed them against packhounds tho.
 

Muetdhiver

Muetdhiver
Aashenfox said:
This is news to me. Are we saying that screening shell not only increases reload speed, but also allows them to shoot down munitions? And with a different special this wouldn't work?
Click to expand...

Yes. It does work. The whole screening shell special is about shooting down amo. The reload thing is just more useful than the primary effect in general.

Tricky to use, but does work.
 

bladebss

bladebss
Nicholas Nack said:
does putting screening shell on turrets also cause them to target munitions, and are they effective against torps?
Click to expand...

Turreted frags with screening has proven ineffective in my experience. I have also never had to shoot torps with screening to know how effective it is.
 

Morbad

Morbad
Aashenfox said:
This is news to me. Are we saying that screening shell not only increases reload speed, but also allows them to shoot down munitions? And with a different special this wouldn't work?
Click to expand...

Screening shell does reliably destroy munitions, and does so much more readily than other frag mods.

The issue lies with screening shell turrets, which cannot be used as a passive defense, because they will not automatically engage muntitions.

As an active defense, SS frags are pretty good...you just need enough time to put the incoming missiles in the weapons cone of fire and pull the trigger.

Nicholas Nack said:
does putting screening shell on turrets also cause them to target munitions, and are they effective against torps?
Click to expand...

No, they will not target munitions automatically, but the target greatest threat keybind prioritizes munitions.

They used to be effective against torps, but so did many other counters, some of which no longer are (seekers for example, could destroy a whole volley of incoming torpedoes with one shot...now they don't damage torpedoes at all, while PDTs now take~40 something seconds to knock one out).

I'll test screening shell against torps again some point soon, but right now, speed, a well timed ECM, or shooting them with railguns (takes 2-3 small rail hits to destroy a torpedo, so if you can open even a small gap and knock out 1 or 2, so that you are below the damage threshold needed to knock out your shield gen, this can be viable...if you can rail down an SLF, you can take out a torpedo even more easily as they are slower and do not evade at all) are the most viable counters.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom