Thrusters getting hammered first in combat

[Artois]

Hi All,

I am a veteran of the original Elite on the Amstrad 464 (1984) and have played ED for over 600 hours so you might think I was getting the hang of things, but the more I play the less I understand. I have upgraded to a FAS with better armour, etc, etc but every time I take on a FDL or Python (in fact, anything bigger than me!) my shields get stripped within seconds and then the first thing that gets mullered are my thrusters, so there I sit waiting for the inevitable (only once did I manage to re-boot and get away). What am I doing wrong? I have seen all the YouTube videos of seemingly everyone else having no problems battering a python no problem. Take pity on an old fool...

Many thanks in advance

 

[Alex Brentnall]

Hmmm, are they using missiles or torpedoes or mines?

Explosive weapons now do insane damage to anything on the outside of your ship like weapons, utilities and thrusters. Since 2.1 the news of the day has been either fit shields that will never ever drop or fit point defence.

 

[Trueno33]

My humble advices:

- manage power distributor. I usually go in combat with 3 pips to system and 3 pips to weapons. The lack of speed is balanced by
- Flight assist off when turning to face your enemy again. This is the tricky part , as then you must also use
- reverse thrust and thrusters down and up to increase the turning rate. You can practice this when going out of a station, trying to turn and face the slot asap
- As soon as you are facing your enemy again, use lateral thrusters (left or right depending on situation or personal tendency) This way you make it difficult for them to hit you with fixed weapons. It's fun to try and dodge their shots btw
- Timely use your chaff and scb, as/if/when needed
- Going back to first advice, you can increase your power to engines allocation to increase turning rates when fighting faster enemies.
- When fighting big, slower ships, manage your speed so you keep flying in their deadzone
- Use of point defence and hull reinforcement is almost mandatory in cz's. This is for the times when your shields go down and suddenly you have 3 or more enemies preying on you. Survival chances are slim unless you go with proper outfit

Hope this helps.

 

[_trent_]

Two bits of advice from things I've found out the hard way.

1. Point defence is your friend. Never used them before 2.1, now I put 2 in every ship.
2. Don't turn tail and run or you'll just be presenting your rear (and thrusters) to the enemy. As soon as you start charging your FSD, head towards the enemy and fly past them so they have to turn. Once you've got about 3/4 of the way up to charging your fsd, point to your destination and go full throttle.

 

[Zenith]

That's different to my experience. I tend to find that they disproportionately target my canopy and power distributor, sometimes even the life support. I'm always getting power distributor failing when it gets below about 75%.

That said, I'm usually in a FAS and I hardly ever allow them to get behind me for too long. Trueno33's advice about manoeuvring and lateral thrust to stay on target is broadly on the mark.

 

[c00ky1970]

Against NPCs when you are head to head using your lateral or vertical thrusters to jink a bit stops the plasma or rail gun attacks from hitting until they are real close up.

 

[Artois]

Hi All,

Many thanks for all of your updates. Much appreciated. I must be honest and say I do about 95% of what you have all said but probably not in the right order. After Zenith's post just wondering if the random nature of the NPC's are all targetting my thrusters and not something else...

I'll get back in the saddle and try again...

All the best