This is true. I still had 3 swarms one time. It was at an outpost. I was just responding that sometimes the swarms split up and sometimes they pick on one guy.
Over trying to get AX combat.
- Thread starter Tarsonis
- Start date
I killed my first Cyclops back when they just appeared and there weren't any Guardian weapons (let alone Salvation). All we had were fixed AX MCs and dumbfire AX missile racks. Conda was considered a good AX ship because of 4 Large hardpoints.
So I simply stuffed a Conda full of HRPs, slapped AX MCs, AX missiles, and Flak Launchers, and went out to Pleiades for bug hunting.
Let me tell you, shooting out hearts with fixed MCs and dumbfire missiles for someone who at that time only ever used gimballed weapons was a damn chore, and the conda's sluggishness didn't help. However, one thing motivated me. See, I took an AX SLF in hopes it would be useful against goids. And back then NPC crewmembers didn't respawn, either. Long story short, I lost an NPC pilot that I've painstakingly reared from rookie to elite. A pretty one, too. It was a blow. And I have sworn vengeance on the goids. When I tore apart my first Cyclops, and grasped its heart, it was a bitter victory.
...Now, more than five years later, the Goids are at our doorstep. My old Deathstalker Anaconda is retired, its place taken by a gleaming AX cutter bristling with Guardian tech. Of course, it doesn't have an SLF bay. But at the roar of a Thargoid Interceptor, a ghostly breath brushes my ear - I hear you loud and clear, Commander. I'm moving in.
I hear you too, Kora. They won't get away this time.
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I've been making about 100 million a few hours a night using a Viper MKIV to farm the surface settlement battles. My re-buy is 1 million, and while the more engineering the better, now that I have the hang of it with that ship I can do 2 or 3 cyclops before I repair at 50-60%, so it isn't like I'd be getting instantly popped if I didn't have the engineering. A couple small thermal vent beams and 2 medium guardian weapons of your choice is all that's really needed to stay cold enough to avoid a lot of damage (with no swarms in those scenarios) while having plenty of firepower to solo or help others take down a cyclops. Get comfortable fighting them with a cheaper ship if re-buys are becoming too costly.
Couldn't agree more.
Good god, man! I wasn't planning on crying today.
I was doing OK at the megaships in HIP 22460, where the swarms were inactive. I've gone out to the Coalsack region to practice a bit, and just tried taking on a Cyclops. I actually did manage to kill it, taking a huge amount of damage in the process. In the end, caustic damage finished me off when I tried to pick up the heart.
Seems like no matter how many tutorials or videos I look at, I can't work out how to deal with the swarm. I'm not much good with FA-OFF, never seem to be able hit anything with the flak launcher, and it all happens so fast it's completely overwhelming. I just can't seem to get the aiming and timing right.
I try to practice with the flak gun and the swarm but man, for whatever reason I just haven't gotten there.
I've had some success with having my fighter on defensive distract the swarm but mostly I tank it. Not optimal, but hey, it works.
As the hear, yea, it won't deteriorate just have to wait a long time for the cloud to dissipate.
Personally I do a mix of fa-off and on
Actually, just tried a Cyclops again, and it went a lot better this time. The swarm gave me a lot of problems still, but I managed to get rid of enough of it to finish off the Cyclops. Hull got down to around 50% and some modules were badly damaged, but I didn't even get a canopy breach this time!
This video was a more helpful than a lot of the others I've seen with the flak launcher aiming and targetting.
Kill Scouts and Cyclops, you can basically brute force the latter.
Those are aimed at a pilot solo’ing and yes it’s hard. However study the tutorials so you understand the stages of the fight and as a group of 3 or 4 pilots it’s quite manageable.
The basic format is to enrage the Thargoid so it glows, then target the brightest glowing petal. Once you knock this off (the heart) the thargoid will raise its shields, these naturally decay at which point shoot and enrage again - repeat.
With a xeno scanner you can monitor both the health of the Thargoid and the state of its shield.
As a side note with a cold vent laser beam you can deplete the shield quicker.
Finally in a CZ I see little point in tying to kill the swarm, better to just avoid it.
The stuff that is in the tutorials is just one way of doing it when solo. I think the fights are pretty different in CZs when there are loads of other ships. Now, thanks to the salvation weapons, we have other options which for me are easier. But yes they do a great job of demystifying the process.
I dunno what you want, all you need is a Cobra Mk III and a Military Laser.
I'm starting off slow, using AXI's scout-hunting build for my Krait, though I'm using Enhanced AX weapons instead of standard AX weapons.
Getting her engineered is slow going, but I'm looking forward to getting stuck in!
Getting her engineered is slow going, but I'm looking forward to getting stuck in!
Long time ago, I suggested that there should be a series of intermediary Thargoids that start at harder than Scout, but much easier than Cyclops and end at harder than Cyclops, as the jump to Cyclops to Basilisk is also pretty high. I envisioned these as cigar shaped ships with some subtarget organs. Weak regenereation that can be either overpowered or shut down by taking out the regenerator organ. Different variants could also have a different Interceptor power. Lightning, shutdown, small swarm, faster cannon fire and missile barrage.
You have the Orthrus and interceptors near planet surfaces as easier options.
There are different tactics. Cold orbiting is only one of them. It's possible to kill interceptors without it. E.g. Shield tank ram + shards.
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Indeed, the fights near station seem to be more of an easy mode too.
I’d encourage OP to try again but I don’t have the energy