The plasmas are indeed good fun, and the Salvation plasma even more so. But you have to hit the hearts reliably, and that is best done with a hit-scan weapon like the gauss. That said, perhaps the Salvation plasmas do better in this regards due to the higher shot speed. I guess I know what I'll be trying next...
Some quick advice for an AX combat NOOB please!
- Thread starter GunnerBill
- Start date
I think the ground AXCZ might be a good start, since they do not seem to generate swarms. OTOH getting hit by EMP is making gravity your enemy there, so better take a neutralizer and bind the key.
The Salvation plasma are essentially a hitscan weapon due to the speed of the plasma. They are nice and pack a punch.
The graphics are quite satisfying, but there is a cloud on impact that obscures the target, so if you need to get a second shot off at the heart it forces you to wait a short moment until you can see the target again. Supposedly they are also good against human ships, so might help with gankers too.
That's how I started, actually. I was TERRIBLE at exerting, so I'd kill the swarm, deploy the fighter, and then practice cold orbiting while the fighter exerted the goid, before darting in to kill the heart. Worked pretty well!
Limpets.
Repair limpets and decon limpets (and others, but those two seem to be the ones most useful in AX combat) need cargo space. if you want to synthesize them on the fly, you need at least 4 tons of cargo space per serving.
Other options:
- rely on NPC search & rescue ships to do the repair and cleanup
- get a squad/wing together with one specialized service vessel (like a healer in an FPS squad)
You coudl practice your aim with GCs at lower level signal sources. They don't seem to do a lot of damage and can be dispatched with two salvos from my Chieftain but they move around quite quickly. Two is manageable, four is a bit spicy though. But in a AX weapons fire SS you will get (after a minute or two) assistance from NPCs which will distract them. Also a lot easier to shoot something that's shooting at something else, as is always the case in ED.
Read my post to see if it helps.
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Well with update 14 it looks like we will have to deal with those pesky Thargoids. Especially when we run into one they now attack and can destroy our expensive ships designed for other game play like trading. I wonder what that Thargoid hovering over the Bug Killer Site HIP 16613 A 1 that never...
So - following this ... I've actually been out fighting Scouts and the caustic was removed at 125% heat which is really manageable:
- If I was still fighting, I just engaged Silent Running, continued firing and after three or so shots I'd hit 125% and then cancel SR.
- If there was nothing to shoot at, I would instead repeatedly start charging/cancel FSD until hitting 125% - obviously still involves SR too!
No need to use a heatsink really unless you accidentally go waaaay over 125%.
I'm thinking Interceptor goo must have a higher boiling point?
This is the build I've ended up with so far.
It is magnificent against Scouts. Caustic damage barely even registers, I can just ignore it. When there's a lull I can decontaminate with a limpet if I feel the need.
Those Guardian Hull Reinforcements made all the difference. I had regular ones in there before, engineered to Grade 4, and I took a lot more damage with them installed than I do with this build. Plus the caustic would tick away much faster.
I'm not going after anything but Scouts at this stage of my learning, but this build is cutting through them nicely and is very survivable.
s.orbis.zone
It is magnificent against Scouts. Caustic damage barely even registers, I can just ignore it. When there's a lull I can decontaminate with a limpet if I feel the need.
Those Guardian Hull Reinforcements made all the difference. I had regular ones in there before, engineered to Grade 4, and I took a lot more damage with them installed than I do with this build. Plus the caustic would tick away much faster.
I'm not going after anything but Scouts at this stage of my learning, but this build is cutting through them nicely and is very survivable.
Coriolis EDCD Edition
A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous
s.orbis.zone
Interesting ... I switched the few Guardian HRPs I had to G4 engineered ones but I was getting conflicting advice as to which was best.This is the build I've ended up with so far.
It is magnificent against Scouts. Caustic damage barely even registers, I can just ignore it. When there's a lull I can decontaminate with a limpet if I feel the need.
Those Guardian Hull Reinforcements made all the difference. I had regular ones in there before, engineered to Grade 4, and I took a lot more damage with them installed than I do with this build. Plus the caustic would tick away much faster.
I'm not going after anything but Scouts at this stage of my learning, but this build is cutting through them nicely and is very survivable.
Coriolis EDCD Edition
A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous
I've gone shieldless now so have enough power to switch ALL of my HRPs to Guardian ones now ... might give it a go to see how it compares!
Also, not sure if there is a stats difference but you could use a 3C Xeno Multi-Limpet controller instead which will give you both decontamination and repair options!
Wait, has the bug where the Lance only fired ONCE and then just orbited been squashed?!
I have been using a slightly modified version of my PVP pirate Krait MK2.
It had a lot of cargo space and limpets, but I managed to cut every unecessary mechanic from this build.
-It has Bi-Weave shields with 2 small boosters. So I can ignore swarm and any damage that is not the lightining or caustic.
-No limpets, I overheat with the Gauss or silent run during the 30 secs the shield is offline. To clear caustic
-Since Shield charges back to 50% in 32 seconds I dont have to worry about repair. And most internals are for modules reinforce. So Its about engaging and desingaging.
So there are no xeno-scanners, no field neutralizer, 1 heatsink and 1 ECM. All the combat is made by looking at the Goid and knowing its phases.
With the right engineering the Krait can fire 4 2B gauss - 3 times before reaching 120% heat, and drop down from 180 to 90% in 5 seconds.
I can usually take down 3 cyclops before needing to repair. And I'm quite new to AX combat.
You can stay close to Stations under atack untill you get the hang of it.
But I recomend similar builds to anyone who just wants to shoot the Thargoids and have a great chance in combat without managing a lot of modules.
It had a lot of cargo space and limpets, but I managed to cut every unecessary mechanic from this build.
-It has Bi-Weave shields with 2 small boosters. So I can ignore swarm and any damage that is not the lightining or caustic.
-No limpets, I overheat with the Gauss or silent run during the 30 secs the shield is offline. To clear caustic
-Since Shield charges back to 50% in 32 seconds I dont have to worry about repair. And most internals are for modules reinforce. So Its about engaging and desingaging.
So there are no xeno-scanners, no field neutralizer, 1 heatsink and 1 ECM. All the combat is made by looking at the Goid and knowing its phases.
With the right engineering the Krait can fire 4 2B gauss - 3 times before reaching 120% heat, and drop down from 180 to 90% in 5 seconds.
I can usually take down 3 cyclops before needing to repair. And I'm quite new to AX combat.
You can stay close to Stations under atack untill you get the hang of it.
But I recomend similar builds to anyone who just wants to shoot the Thargoids and have a great chance in combat without managing a lot of modules.
The one I have does repair after decontaminating, even though it doesn't have "repair" in the title. I tried one of the Xeno ones and it worked about the same, just a little less repair.
I'd love to hear your experience. There does seem to be a lot of conflicting opinions out there. For me, they were like night and day.
I found a weakness in my build. Because the Guardian Hull Reinforcements require power, and they cannot be prioritized or disabled, I was exceeding the 40% power threshold and that got me into trouble. I had an Interceptor come after me in a CZ. I successfully negated the shutdown field, and began to boost away, but he managed to hit my power plant a couple of times, which temporarily reduced my power to 40%. And my Thrusters went offline. No escape for me.
That'll learn me to double check such things
I shall have to remove one of the Guardian Hull Reinforcements, I think the 2D one. I'll just put a regular one in there, or maybe a module reinforcement instead.
Hmmm ... what is this 40% power threshold of which you speak?!I found a weakness in my build. Because the Guardian Hull Reinforcements require power, and they cannot be prioritized or disabled, I was exceeding the 40% power threshold and that got me into trouble. I had an Interceptor come after me in a CZ. I successfully negated the shutdown field, and began to boost away, but he managed to hit my power plant a couple of times, which temporarily reduced my power to 40%. And my Thrusters went offline. No escape for me.
That'll learn me to double check such things
I shall have to remove one of the Guardian Hull Reinforcements, I think the 2D one. I'll just put a regular one in there, or maybe a module reinforcement instead.
If your powerplant gets damaged beyond a certain point, its output will (temporarily) drop to 40% of its rated power - shutting off all modules that can't be supplied any more. In case of my Liquid Spirit (evac Phantom), priorization won't help any more at this point, since my thrusters alone use up 48% of the maximum power... in a combat build, you might be able to priorize your modules so that at least the thrusters will stay online, even if everything else gets rebooted.
If you take my combat mamba for example
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A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous
s.orbis.zone
Ahhhhh … THAT! Cool, thought there was some magic “if you use more then 40% power an interceptor will chase you” mechanic for a second there.If your powerplant gets damaged beyond a certain point, its output will (temporarily) drop to 40% of its rated power - shutting off all modules that can't be supplied any more. In case of my Liquid Spirit (evac Phantom), priorization won't help any more at this point, since my thrusters alone use up 48% of the maximum power... in a combat build, you might be able to priorize your modules so that at least the thrusters will stay online, even if everything else gets rebooted.
If you take my combat mamba for example
you'll see that, at 40% power, I can still run thrusters and FSD (now that we're talking about it - I might even shift the shields into prio 1), so I could still run, even if everything else is rebooted.Coriolis EDCD Edition
A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous
Yeh, that’d mess me right up too … can’t actually run a full complement of Guardian HRPs without shutting down modules …
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Ashnak explained it well.
I wound up having to refit one of my regular 4D Hull Reinforcements (which I already engineered to G4), and I also replaced the 2D with a module reinforcement. Now my thrusters and FSD will remain active if that happens again.
I have a bit less Caustic resistance now, and I'm not sure how much difference it will make, but I'll be testing that soon. At least I'll be able to run when needed