Returning to game, where to go for some *light* AX combat?

Scoob

Scoob
Hey all,

I've not played for a while. Was dipping in and out a few months back, but I've not really been fully into the game for a while now. Lots has changed during that time, the Thargoids have been busy.

I had been working on a light AX build, more for fun than effectiveness, but that was last summer...maybe spring lol. The aim of this ship was "AX Support". Basically, it's a turreted Anaconda with appropriate limpets. Returning to the game, all things Thargoid have exploded a bit and I'm really rather out of touch with the various goings on. Sure, I've watched the odd Obsidian Ant and Buur Pit video - very informative - but without actually living the changes myself through gameplay, I'm well out of touch.

So, what I'd like to do is a little light AX combat. The sort of thing that a "Threat 4" (IIRC) USS would have presented, some Thargoid Scouts but nothing big. My ship I was playing with was very much made to support others fighting the bigger guys, while holding off Scouts. Not sure if that'll ever happen, my regular wing mate has been on a break for a couple of months or so, but I thought I'd like to test the build Solo.

I'm currently right in the bubble, not far from Shinrarta for reference.

One more question, sorta relevant to the "support" role... Does the triggering of ONE ship's Shutdown Field Neutraliser only protect that ship, or does it help nearby allies? It'd be good if it were the latter as they'd have reason to stay near me (protect me! lol) while I watched for the shutdown field and protected accordingly. This would afford them an extra Shield Booster or whatever... I suspect each ship is alone in this regard though.

To be clear, I'm not looking for a hard time here, just a fun challenge to break me gently back into the game.
 

Greasetrap42

Greasetrap42
I believe you can go to the older pre-war traditional thargoid systems and choose the lighter interactions. Its the same as before but with maybe different payouts and rank XP.
 

Cmdr Venport

Cmdr Venport
Another option for light AX combat is defending a station within a combat zone within Thargoid Invasion status systems. You'd need to find one with a station with large docking facilities for your Conda, these start off with just scouts but then flower ships (of varying flavour) drop in to upset the party.

I've been doing some of these in my chieftain which is pretty much a scout only build but gives me the chance to try and get to grips with taking a stab at the bigger Thargoids, well TBH I've been trying to tackle the swarms with the remote release flak with some minimal success and learning to run away or hide at the station when this fails or when daddy flower comes a chasing.... At least there's NPC ships to distract the blighters and it gives the novice at Flower ships like myself a few distractors to keep them busy while I try and figure out the mechanics, I've been playing in Solo so don't know what these are like in Open but its a relatively safe way to try and get on top of the Thargoid fight without a team of players to help you.
 

Scoob

Scoob
Thanks. I would ideally like to be part of the new narrative, i.e. for my efforts to actually count towards helping a system. I hope there are AX tasks for all levels in that regard, from the hard-core AX players, down to relative noobs like me. Not really looking for anything too intense at the moment. Will likely be doing things alone in a small Private Group - don't think anyone else will be in - to avoid the networking gremlins I appear to get sometimes when too many other actual players are around.
 

AlSki

AlSki
May I recommend seeing what is AXIs top target "Under Attack" system with a planetary settlement and fly in Open.
  • You can dock and repair mid-combat
  • NPCs help with decontamination and repair limpets
  • NPCs help with AX weapons
  • Other Cmdrs are pretty friendly and have great weapons
  • There are no Thargon swarms released
If you go for a Under attack outpost, you gain the thargon swarms.
If you go for a combat zone, you lose dock and repair.
If you go for Solo, you lose other Cmdrs.

If you go for a settlement, (or an outpost) you will get a few waves of scouts at least 5 mins, then waves of interceptors. When the interceptors appear, they trigger their shutdown fields (also when you tackle their last heart) and each pilot has to trigger their own neutraliser. Alternatively, have an upwards trajectory and boost. You will simply be shutdown for 30 secs and the velocity will take you away from the Thargs, which is good, unlike when you fly downwards to dock for repairs, low on health and a sneaky Thargoid gives you the opportunity to see how many times your ship can bounce.

Also,
  • Scouts have phasing weapons that get through shields so don't skip hull even if you have the extra booster
  • You can overheat to clear caustic damage, (>124% over time, or >180% immediately) so you don't need limpet controllers, your choice :)
Have fun.
 

Aleks Zuno

Aleks Zuno
Scoob said:
So, what I'd like to do is a little light AX combat. The sort of thing that a "Threat 4" (IIRC) USS would have presented, some Thargoid Scouts but nothing big. My ship I was playing with was very much made to support others fighting the bigger guys, while holding off Scouts. Not sure if that'll ever happen, my regular wing mate has been on a break for a couple of months or so, but I thought I'd like to test the build Solo.
Click to expand...

Ironically, I think the best location for you is an Invasion system which still has at least one port remaining, so that the system will still have AX Conflict Zones. If you drop at a Low intensity zone, you should find several system AX forces engaged with some Scouts. You should also find that not a single Interceptor arrives until some number of Scouts have been destroyed, making this actually one of the safest places you can be.

Even after a pair of Interceptors arrive, you will find that the system AX forces engage them, and they can expose a Cyclops petal occasionally. Try fitting the new 2 km Xeno scanner such that you can complete the scan easily and sub-target the petals, the new Enhanced AX multi-cannons with Gimbal variant, and perhaps one of the new Experimental Weapon Stabilisers to let you carry 5–6 of said weapons instead of only 4. All of those modules are available at those rescue Megaships you see on the Galaxy map, and you will be able to ruin Cyclops Interceptors that way.


Scoob said:
One more question, sorta relevant to the "support" role... Does the triggering of ONE ship's Shutdown Field Neutraliser only protect that ship, or does it help nearby allies? It'd be good if it were the latter as they'd have reason to stay near me (protect me! lol) while I watched for the shutdown field and protected accordingly. This would afford them an extra Shield Booster or whatever... I suspect each ship is alone in this regard though.
Click to expand...

The Shutdown Field Neutraliser has a 3 kilometer range; holding the trigger protects your starship immediately, and it widens gradually up to 3 km over around 1 second, then lasts until either you release the trigger or your SYS capacitor is depleted (points to SYS will support that properly). Indeed this does protect nearby starships, however personally I would not want to rely on being able to choreograph that successfully.

In war systems, each Interceptor uses a Shutdown field immediately upon arrival, so you will need the neutraliser quite often. The normal Shutdown field still occurs after the penultimate petal is destroyed, and can still be avoided if the Interceptor's present target stays cold enough.


Scoob said:
I would ideally like to be part of the new narrative, i.e. for my efforts to actually count towards helping a system.
Click to expand...

At present, note that your efforts will only actually count if the system is complete within a weekly cycle, which means an individual Commander has very little agency to choose. I can only recommend helping to defend one of the top few systems by progress, the names of which can be found in a few ways now:
  • Very recently, a new Galaxy map feature was added for this. Check the Thargoid war information tab on the left, then scroll that panel down and you should see lists of the top five systems by state; you want the top Invasion systems.
  • Since almost the start, I have been running full checks for activity a few times per day, all in this thread. I have added the port information recently; you need one of the top Invasion systems which has at least one port. Additionally, I have listed ports under attack and their types and distances, where these function just like Conflict zones but with the ability to re-arm at the port itself.
  • For more frequent progress updates for the top few systems, definitely try DCOH with Recovery systems hidden (or only Invasion shown!), completed systems hidden, and reverse-sorted by progress.
Frontier and Commanders alike are both aware that the progress resets on Thursday morning are a nuisance, hence the strong focus on helping the top systems reach completion. Even if you think a system would have reached completion anyway, note that helping to hasten it will afford us all more time during the cycle to complete another system. For that reason I do not recommend following anyone's announced target list; keeping to the actual top systems by progress is the best you can do for now.
 

t-lo

t-lo
Scoob said:
So, what I'd like to do is a little light AX combat. The sort of thing that a "Threat 4" (IIRC) USS would have presented, some Thargoid Scouts but nothing big. My ship I was playing with was very much made to support others fighting the bigger guys, while holding off Scouts. Not sure if that'll ever happen, my regular wing mate has been on a break for a couple of months or so, but I thought I'd like to test the build SSolo.
Click to expand...

I second other folks further up in the thread - equip a size 5 stabiliser, 6x gimballed enhanced AX Multicannons, and do Scout support in a AX conflict zone in a PG or in open. Folks are generally appreciative when someone takes care of those annoying scouts, and you could even strafe the big guys every now and then (the enhanced weapons strip quite a bit of armour). With an enhanced xeno scanner you'll even be able to target excerted hearts. If you want to start Solo you could just leave the CZ and re-enter as soon as interceptors show up, which will reset the instance and you'll be facing the initial wave of scouts again.

Start with a planetary outpost under attack (in an Invasion system); interceptors don't emit swarms there, there will be plenty of scouts with every wave, and you can always land at the outpost for refill & repair. I've been hanging around in HIP 21261 / Fujikawa Keep, it's a bit dark there but otherwise nice. There's a chance of hyperdiction when entering the system; just spawn heatsinks and boost-run away - can be done even in a Conda.
 

Scoob

Scoob
Thanks for the detailed information @AlSki and @Aleks Zuno, much appreciated.

Earlier today, my first time in ED for a while, I outfitted the Anaconda with a C5 Stabiliser, so it now has a total of six Enhanced AX Turrets (Lazy). I had initially gone the Turret route so I could let the turrets do their thing, while I helped allied pilots with Limpets. However, as FDev turned off Fire at Will for AX stuff, I cannot target an ally as the turrets just stop firing. Dumb. That discovery sorta broke the role I hoped the ship would be able to fill - I forgot about that until just now lol. I did add the new enhanced Xenon scanner to the ship. I'll have a play with the Turrets, but maybe go gimballed once more comfortable.

Don't actually have any heat sinks on the Anaconda, went for mostly shield boosters & decent hull - this worked well ages ago (over a year at the very least) when I was doing regular Threat 4 NHSS instances...wherever that was, cannot recall.

I'll likely go into Mobius (PvE) Group.

Oh, another question, is Point Defence still ineffective vs. Thargoid missiles? If so, I wonder if we'll ever see AX Point Defence...makes sense that we get it at some point.
 

Willyum-71

Willyum-71
AlSki said:
May I recommend seeing what is AXIs top target "Under Attack" system with a planetary settlement and fly in Open.
Click to expand...
How do I see this info... Where do I look? I went to AXI site, I saw long list of activity, but how do I get to know where the ones that have planetary settlement battle? I found 2 on my own but that was by luck, and both of them had bugged interceptors just spinning in place, or going under the ground. And I keep getting killed by Hydras, so I'm not up to that level yet (took 4 of us about a half an hour to take down 1 hydra last night)... But today I'm solo... And I'd really like to see one of the Atmospheric battles in person... It really looks like being in a movie from the youtube vids that I've seen (but I've only found non-atmospheric locations so far)... Also do surfaces have 'threat levels' ?
 

Scoob

Scoob
I've not had the chance to test any of the advice out yet. I did a bit of regular HighRes combat in another ship to get the hang of the controls again. I also found the systems mentioned, but they're 180 or so ly away, so I'd need to pay attention to plot a route with a station fuel stop, as I don't want to pop a Fuel Scoop on this ship. I did debate taking the Carrier, but with the issues people are reporting currently, I thought it best to leave it where it is for now. I might take Mr. Jumpy - my long-range DBX - and then call the AX Anaconda in ready for the following gaming session.
 

Cmdr Venport

Cmdr Venport
You'll need to park-up in a system close to the AX system as none of them in the AX system will have shipyard facilities - For me I've chosen a maelstrom area to do AX stuff (invasion, recovery etc.) and setup an AX shop close by and use my DBX to go anywhere that's a long distance.

I've been in my Chieftain for the AX combat, I fill the cargo with limpets for decontamination, go to the AX system and do AX combat until I run out of limpets (using the station or planet base for repairs, and kill bounty missions - they don't stock limpets though) then when I'm out of limpets and cleared all the kill missions I pick-up transfer wounded missions to fill the cargo, jump to the station with my DBX and then use the DBX to take them to the rescue ship limiting the number of jumps, sort of gives me a break from combat that way too.

With limited time it allows me to play for short periods to complete the AX kill missions and park-up in the AX station so I'm ready to go the next chance I have even if I haven't yet run out of limpets

By having a temporary home nearby the AX zone it doesn't matter if the war has moved on since I last played (so long as you move your ship to the temporary home prior to Thursday's server tick, don't know what happens if the system your parked at ends up under Thargoid control) so I can then choose where I'm gonna do stuff next, I'm already in the vicinity for the next round :)
 
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