Save humans from Titans -Is there a ship build that we think will rescue escape pods and survive?

[Lukozer]

Thargoid damage partially phases THROUGH the shield, and the shoddy code for that means that any resistances on your armor are bypassed, resulting in MORE damage than if you had a properly AX-tanked build. Also the SYS drain from shield recharge if it goes down, etc. But the phasing damage is the main reason usually cited.

Thargoid weapons have always done absolute damage, so surely armour resistances being bypassed is the norm.

I don't know what constitutes a high number of kills of Hunter variant ships, but I'm currently on 309. The vast majority of them done in this Krait Phantom - https://edsy.org/s/v19M6YI . AX MC's are the pre-overcharged ones which are still not available on EDSY. If I know I'm going up against Scythes, the shield booster is replaced with an ECM.
The phasing damage has never struck me as being higher than normal when up against Thargoid ships, so IF it is the case, my experience is it's not as major as seems to be implied.

Still, at least I got a couple of detailed answers, which is more than I expected. I think a LOT of people using shieldless ships vs Thargoids only do so because they watched a D2EA vid on youtube and copy him parrot fashion.

EDIT

the aforementioned fact of phasing bypassing armor hardness(is it intentional or not? does quite low damage as it is).

Ah, it's armour HARDNESS, not resistance. Still, it's not a high enough amount of additional damage to be of any real concern.

 

[Ned Flandalorian]

The phasing damage really is miniscule. The way some people talk you'd think thargoid attacks go right through the shield as if it isn't there.

 

[Pville_Piper]

Nothing to add, ignore

 

[moshmurph]

EDSY

EDSY is a ship outfitting tool for Elite Dangerous

edsy.org

 

[Lukozer]

I'm going on the far-from-safe assumption that the escape pods being rescued won't be corrosive, so came up with this build. https://edsy.org/s/vrW9DPq
I'm not exactly 100% sold on it, not least because I'm still not convinced by the shieldless AX ships argument, plus it's somewhat compromised by only have 2x MRP's... but of all the loadouts I've tried in EDSY this seems to be one of the better ones.

 

[Kira Goto]

I'm going on the far-from-safe assumption that the escape pods being rescued won't be corrosive, so came up with this build. https://edsy.org/s/vrW9DPq
I'm not exactly 100% sold on it, not least because I'm still not convinced by the shieldless AX ships argument, plus it's somewhat compromised by only have 2x MRP's... but of all the loadouts I've tried in EDSY this seems to be one of the better ones.

Even if you don’t agree with the shieldless idea as a whole, shields in the Maelstrom are not likely to be that good of an idea - if you’re near the Titan, you’ll likely want to engage silent running to reduce chances of detection to an absolute minimum.

Especially with reports of much heightened aggression in U16(whether you take that as another addition or a change from 15.02 actually taking effect doesn’t matter as much), I don’t think merely going to 0% heat will be enough.

 

[Lukozer]

Even if you don’t agree with the shieldless idea as a whole, shields in the Maelstrom are not likely to be that good of an idea - if you’re near the Titan, you’ll likely want to engage silent running to reduce chances of detection to an absolute minimum.

Especially with reports of much heightened aggression in U16(whether you take that as another addition or a change from 15.02 actually taking effect doesn’t matter as much), I don’t think merely going to 0% heat will be enough.

Shields may not be overly useful within the Maelstrom cloud or around the Titan itself, but the journey to and from the Titan is where they become handy. I wouldn't want to have much (or indeed any) hull and/or module damage as the result of a Glaive interdiction while en route, or a Scythe while returning. So shields are predominantly for this phase of the mission... which is enough for me to not be entirely convinced about the build I put together. That said, none of shielded builds I've looked at have appealed. Either the shields are too low to be any use, the cargo capacity is too small (again under the assumption that the pods will not be corrosive), the ship is too slow.... there's always something that is too heavily compromised for me... so that Clipper build is likely to be what I stick with.

Regarding silent running, I've never needed to use it around a Titan (I've visited 7/8 at least a dozen times over, with Hadad being the only one I've visited just once) but I am constantly using thermal vent beams to keep my heat levels well down and collecting tissue samples is the only time my ship remains stationary for more than a few seconds. Even when Glaives or Interceptors have detected me, constant beam laser fire on the Titan while dashing round to the opposite side was always enough to shake them off. Now, having said all that, I've not been to any Titan since U16.01 dropped, so things may have changed... I don't know.

 

[shockbait]

The phasing damage really is miniscule. The way some people talk you'd think thargoid attacks go right through the shield as if it isn't there.

To be honest, I never even noticed it when I first started doing Surface AXCZs and was still flying with shields on my Krait, the reason I adopted the shield-less mantra was solely because I kept not being able to use my SFN due to shield recharge.

I only read about "Phasing Damage" much later, just an additional, however miniscule, reason to lean towards shield-less builds.

To be clear, I was just trying to answer the commonly stated reasons why people say "You have to be shield-less" fighting 'goids, not stating it as an inarguable truth.
As long as the Thargoid dies, no one cares if you had shields installed or not.

I'm going on the far-from-safe assumption that the escape pods being rescued won't be corrosive, so came up with this build. https://edsy.org/s/vrW9DPq
I'm not exactly 100% sold on it, not least because I'm still not convinced by the shieldless AX ships argument, plus it's somewhat compromised by only have 2x MRP's... but of all the loadouts I've tried in EDSY this seems to be one of the better ones.

That's the exact same Clipper build as mine, except I don't have a TV beam and pack 3(previously 4) AXMCs to deal with Glaive/Scythe interdiction.
Previously I had a Heatsink where the ECM is, so I might need to look into engineering a TV beam finally.

 

[Jack Winter]

Back when I went to the titans, I had an AFMU in place of shields to repair any eventual damage.

 

[Ceres_O7]

Seems like you'll need at least 4 Utility mounts to have a chance, which means nearly every small ship is incapable of successfully rescuing captives.

You need a Pulse Wave Xeno Scanner, TG Pulse Neutraliser, Caustic Sinks and at least one ECM to escape scythes with your passengers.

It's a shame that they've added so many utility modules as a requirement for these activities.

 

[Pville_Piper]

I'm going on the far-from-safe assumption that the escape pods being rescued won't be corrosive, so came up with this build. https://edsy.org/s/vrW9DPq
I'm not exactly 100% sold on it, not least because I'm still not convinced by the shieldless AX ships argument, plus it's somewhat compromised by only have 2x MRP's... but of all the loadouts I've tried in EDSY this seems to be one of the better ones.

A sensible build, the size 7 module and the speed make this better than the Krait for this. The only question is the module protection, it might be that the caustic launcher precludes needing more or stronger modules. Early on, running the pod rescue missions, I found the modules will take a lot of damage. I'd completely drain a size 5 and work pretty much through a size 4, but the Scythe interdictions seemed to be toned down.

What I hate about what the pod mining, at least what I think will be how it is done, is the need for so many modules and utilities. It's just gotten to be ridiculous. Every ship you build is a compromise. The speed of the Glaives and its caustic missile spam, for me at least, is a major headache and forces a lot of compromises. I'd love to use a Corvette, and I used one against the Scythes, but if you get interdicted by an interceptors, you really aren't set for them and trying to outrun them takes forever.

Seems like you'll need at least 4 Utility mounts to have a chance, which means nearly every small ship is incapable of successfully rescuing captives.

You need a Pulse Wave Xeno Scanner, TG Pulse Neutraliser, Caustic Sinks and at least one ECM to escape scythes with your passengers.

It's a shame that they've added so many utility modules as a requirement for these activities.

Exactly. And doing the pod rescue missions, you almost need 2 different builds, one for Scythes and one for Glaives, it's very difficult to optimize your loadout and no ship really seems to be "ideal". I might try the Clipper, but I don't think I have the mats to engineer another hull. Which, to me, is a glaring issue with engineering. You build something and those mats are gone, you can't get them back. I have 3 or 4 hulls laying around that I don't want, but the mats are wasted and I can't recover them. I really don't feel like spending more hours gathering mats at this time.

 

[Ceres_O7]

doing the pod rescue missions, you almost need 2 different builds, one for Scythes and one for Glaives, it's very difficult to optimize your loadout and no ship really seems to be "ideal".

I thought you could escape glaives by silent running as soon as you get dropped to normal space.

The problem is the scythe hatch breakers.

 

[Pville_Piper]

I thought you could escape glaives by silent running as soon as you get dropped to normal space.

The problem is the scythe hatch breakers.

I don't run from hunters... I terminate with extreme prejudice.

 

[Kira Goto]

The problem is the scythe hatch breakers.

I’m told their speed is 450 m/s, so if you’re faster than the Scythe(which itself has a top speed of 500), that hatchbreaker shouldn’t be an issue.

Shouldn’t being the key word here.

 

[Ceres_O7]

I’m told their speed is 450 m/s, so if you’re faster than the Scythe(which itself has a top speed of 500), that hatchbreaker shouldn’t be an issue.

Shouldn’t being the key word here.

That's actually really interesting, means that a fast small ship might actually be able to do titan rescues if you don't also need to bring the ECM along - my stealth Dolphin has 3 utility slots and runs cold enough to avoid interceptor/scout detection.

If the thimpet speed is 450m/s, that would explain why my dolphin has never been hatch broken even with pods on board.

 

[Lukozer]

I don't run from hunters... I terminate with extreme prejudice.

Absolutely... Always give Hunters a lesson using the only language they understand

 

[EdzUp]

One question do we know what state these "people" are in for all we know transporting them somewhere might be helping the Thargoid cause itself? We have now way of knowing what they have done to them at all we don't actually know if they are on the Titans at all it's all conjecture.

As for what ship gets there and does the job it's all down to what new modules are available at present we can get there and shoot off the turrets but little else.

I'm thinking the whole rescue missions are to be a more community focused affair with attack teams going in disabling defences and keeping scythes at bay then miners come in and extract the pods then we all retreat to safety

 

[Jack Winter]

I've been thinking for a while that it seems like the Thargoid war seems designed to encourage cooperative PvE..

 

[Kira Goto]

One question do we know what state these "people" are in for all we know transporting them somewhere might be helping the Thargoid cause itself?

We don’t, and it’s a definite concern I’m having. If anyone wants to be outraged at me for it(probably not here, in an out-of-game context, but there would be someone… anyway), so be it, but it’s only sensible to question whether those recovered humans will still be particularly favorable to us. And how easy it would be to spot that.

What are the chances chaos will break out on one or more of the rescue megaships initially?

 

[Leadfoot]

We don’t, and it’s a definite concern I’m having. If anyone wants to be outraged at me for it(probably not here, in an out-of-game context, but there would be someone… anyway), so be it, but it’s only sensible to question whether those recovered humans will still be particularly favorable to us. And how easy it would be to spot that.

What are the chances chaos will break out on one or more of the rescue megaships initially?

Wait a second. They could already be changed into zombies. Taking them to the rescue ships might be exactly what they want us to do!