Reading several threads this last week or so, I hear it constantly repeated that SLF NPCs are terrible, chaff, decoy, distraction, etc. I'm really fairly tired of it since they are highly functional, IF you know how to use them. I hate to think that FD may "dumb them down" to make them more like what I hear people saying. I feel like I get my monies worth out of my NPC so I thought I'd share some of my tactics.
First, it goes without saying that you should ONLY ever hire Harmless NPCs and train them up. They train fairly fast. An Elite NPC trained from Harmless takes 10% of your income ALL the time. My NPC is worth close to 1.8Bcr, *gasp* *shock* etc.... But that means that since she's been with me, I'VE made nearly 18Bcr. So it's fine that she has made some cash.
I use the fixed beam fighters. They have the highest DPS and, as you all know, NPCs(including MY NPC) are not affected by heat. Typically I use the GU-97 for its speed, but I have also tried the Taipan and it seems to work well too. You definitely want fixed since your Elite NPC will have nearly perfect aim they can keep on target while your target is chaffing.
Bounty Hunting:
Several different techniques I use here.
Single NPC pirate. I come up nose to nose with my SLF on defend. I scan my target and KWS my target. When I'm done I tell my NPC to attack my target. She will blast off high and to the right and attack. When she hits the target the target will immediately start turning to face her, which puts the target sideways directly in front of me. As soon as they turn as far away from me as I think they will, I unload on the pirate. At that point the pirate sees me as the larger threat and will turn back towards me. I get to land point blank, unanswered hits from the time I start firing until the pirate gets back to pointed at me. At that point it can be a DPS drag race, or I can boost past them and start a more traditional dogfight. My NPC will continue to attack and will most likely not take any fire. Sometimes the pirate will have a turret that will target my SLF, and occasionally I may lose an SLF that way, but the pirate will never focus on my SLF as long as I'm firing on it with the mothership. I'm the bigger threat and this game's mechanics dictate that NPCs will always attack the largest threat first. (hint: you shouldn't do this)
Wing of pirates: 1 large ship, two small ships. I know my Elite NPC can kill Expert ranked ships like 90% of the time. Master ranked smaller ships too. So, if I come across a Dangerous Anaconda with two Expert Eagles on the wing I scan all three, tell my NPC to attack one of the eagles, and then I attack the conda. It helps to initiate this from behind the anaconda after it has scanned me and is flying away. My NPC WILL kill the eagle without my help, the Anaconda WILL focus on me because I am attacking it. The other eagle will probably focus on me too. Once my NPC has killed the eagle she will automatically go back to defend, the next pirate to shoot me will dictate who she attacks next, either the other eagle or the anaconda. If I have a free moment in the battle I may tell her to specifically attack the other eagle, then go back to the Anaconda, or I may just let her do whatever she wants.
When I'm out of ammo. Tell my NPC to attack the target, then I set my ship to 4-2-0 and repeatedly attempt to ram my target. My target will try to dodge my rams which will cause it to be less able to focus on my NPC. My NPC can kill higher ranked (Dangerous+) with my help this way. Most frequently this happens when I get interdicted on my way back to the station when all of my kinetic weapons are empty but I still have my SLF.
Chasing down targets. From time to time I'll find myself bounty hunting in a wing. We may get separated for whatever reason. I see my wingmate has a pirate on the ropes 7KM away. I'm boosting that way in my Anaconda but I may not get there in time. I will send my NPC and she will get there faster than I will and get me credit for the kill.
Speaking of wings. I am astounded at how well 2-4 Elite NPCs can do when working together. I have sat quietly with several other CMDRs while we have all sent our Elite NPCs to attack things like Deadly Anacondas. It seems that the game AI for the Deadly Anaconda has trouble picking which SLF to focus on, as a result it will continually switch from one to another, allowing all of them to live. Since those fighters are like 45DPS each, 3-4 of them together is a lot of damage.
Obviously I micromanage my NPC and I have done bounty hunting for hours without losing a single SLF. I even downgraded hangars on several ships because I didn't feel I needed to carry so many fighters.
Now, Conflict Zones are a whole different ball game.
If I'm solo in a conflict zone I will probably not deploy my SLF. There are several things in CZs that can "one shot" your fighter. Large plasma cannons being one, dual railguns being one, and even missiles. Much like I stated above, I think the game AI has trouble with too many hostiles. Except in a CZ it's working against you, so your SLF has trouble staying alive with too many ships attacking it.
In the game there is a basic mechanic that says hostile NPCs will favor a player over another hostile NPC. This means EVERY new ship that drops into a CZ near you will attack YOU. This extends to your SLF as well. In fact I suspect NPCs may even prefer your SLF over your main ship, but I'm not 100% sure on that. So for those reasons, my SLFs don't last long when I'm solo in a CZ.
In a wing in a CZ I find we can generally keep the NPCs occupied. I set my fighter to "engage at will" and she will fly around happily shooting any hostile ship. What this means is anything I kill, I get credit for. Anything my NPC kills, I get credit for. And anything my wing kills that either I or my NPC shot even once, I get credit for. I do lose SLFs in CZs even when I'm in a wing. When that new group of hostile NPCs spawn some will invariably focus on the fighter. If it's an Elite ranked rail-eagle, the SLF is dead. But SLFs are fairly cheap at restocking, and my NPC absolutely benefits me as long as I micromanage her.
For all combat... Bind "closest hostile" and "next hostile" to something on your hotas. Also bind "attack my target" and, if you have it, maintain formation(which is used to call off your fighter if you need to). When you're fighting pirates you can hit "next hostile, attack my target, closest hostile" to very quickly tell your SLF to go attack one of the pirates wingmates and then get back to fighting the main ship. When you kill a ship you should just hit "closest hostile" to switch to your next one. More than a few times in the CZs this week I've seen my wingmates try to use "target ahead" to select their next target, they accidentally target a friendly ship and fire, and the next thing we know the entire CZ is hostile to us. "target wingman" and then "target wingman's target" also work well for selecting your next target in the CZ without accidentally targeting the wrong ship.
Anyway, I hope that helps.
EDIT: One more thing, should go without saying, but you pretty much ALWAYS need to be aware of what ship your SLF is engaged with. Your NPC isn't smart enough to say "Well, that's an Elite NPC Anaconda, it has unlimited SCBs and I only have 45DPS, I can never win this fight." So they will do that, get mixed up with ships that there is no way they can ever kill. I know it's hard, it's additional workload on you, and that what makes them challenging and enjoyable to use. You have to fight your fight, AND be mindful of what your SLF is up to. If you leave your SLF on Defend or even Engage at will without keeping an eye on what they're doing, you will lose them.
First, it goes without saying that you should ONLY ever hire Harmless NPCs and train them up. They train fairly fast. An Elite NPC trained from Harmless takes 10% of your income ALL the time. My NPC is worth close to 1.8Bcr, *gasp* *shock* etc.... But that means that since she's been with me, I'VE made nearly 18Bcr. So it's fine that she has made some cash.
I use the fixed beam fighters. They have the highest DPS and, as you all know, NPCs(including MY NPC) are not affected by heat. Typically I use the GU-97 for its speed, but I have also tried the Taipan and it seems to work well too. You definitely want fixed since your Elite NPC will have nearly perfect aim they can keep on target while your target is chaffing.
Bounty Hunting:
Several different techniques I use here.
Single NPC pirate. I come up nose to nose with my SLF on defend. I scan my target and KWS my target. When I'm done I tell my NPC to attack my target. She will blast off high and to the right and attack. When she hits the target the target will immediately start turning to face her, which puts the target sideways directly in front of me. As soon as they turn as far away from me as I think they will, I unload on the pirate. At that point the pirate sees me as the larger threat and will turn back towards me. I get to land point blank, unanswered hits from the time I start firing until the pirate gets back to pointed at me. At that point it can be a DPS drag race, or I can boost past them and start a more traditional dogfight. My NPC will continue to attack and will most likely not take any fire. Sometimes the pirate will have a turret that will target my SLF, and occasionally I may lose an SLF that way, but the pirate will never focus on my SLF as long as I'm firing on it with the mothership. I'm the bigger threat and this game's mechanics dictate that NPCs will always attack the largest threat first. (hint: you shouldn't do this)
Wing of pirates: 1 large ship, two small ships. I know my Elite NPC can kill Expert ranked ships like 90% of the time. Master ranked smaller ships too. So, if I come across a Dangerous Anaconda with two Expert Eagles on the wing I scan all three, tell my NPC to attack one of the eagles, and then I attack the conda. It helps to initiate this from behind the anaconda after it has scanned me and is flying away. My NPC WILL kill the eagle without my help, the Anaconda WILL focus on me because I am attacking it. The other eagle will probably focus on me too. Once my NPC has killed the eagle she will automatically go back to defend, the next pirate to shoot me will dictate who she attacks next, either the other eagle or the anaconda. If I have a free moment in the battle I may tell her to specifically attack the other eagle, then go back to the Anaconda, or I may just let her do whatever she wants.
When I'm out of ammo. Tell my NPC to attack the target, then I set my ship to 4-2-0 and repeatedly attempt to ram my target. My target will try to dodge my rams which will cause it to be less able to focus on my NPC. My NPC can kill higher ranked (Dangerous+) with my help this way. Most frequently this happens when I get interdicted on my way back to the station when all of my kinetic weapons are empty but I still have my SLF.
Chasing down targets. From time to time I'll find myself bounty hunting in a wing. We may get separated for whatever reason. I see my wingmate has a pirate on the ropes 7KM away. I'm boosting that way in my Anaconda but I may not get there in time. I will send my NPC and she will get there faster than I will and get me credit for the kill.
Speaking of wings. I am astounded at how well 2-4 Elite NPCs can do when working together. I have sat quietly with several other CMDRs while we have all sent our Elite NPCs to attack things like Deadly Anacondas. It seems that the game AI for the Deadly Anaconda has trouble picking which SLF to focus on, as a result it will continually switch from one to another, allowing all of them to live. Since those fighters are like 45DPS each, 3-4 of them together is a lot of damage.
Obviously I micromanage my NPC and I have done bounty hunting for hours without losing a single SLF. I even downgraded hangars on several ships because I didn't feel I needed to carry so many fighters.
Now, Conflict Zones are a whole different ball game.
If I'm solo in a conflict zone I will probably not deploy my SLF. There are several things in CZs that can "one shot" your fighter. Large plasma cannons being one, dual railguns being one, and even missiles. Much like I stated above, I think the game AI has trouble with too many hostiles. Except in a CZ it's working against you, so your SLF has trouble staying alive with too many ships attacking it.
In the game there is a basic mechanic that says hostile NPCs will favor a player over another hostile NPC. This means EVERY new ship that drops into a CZ near you will attack YOU. This extends to your SLF as well. In fact I suspect NPCs may even prefer your SLF over your main ship, but I'm not 100% sure on that. So for those reasons, my SLFs don't last long when I'm solo in a CZ.
In a wing in a CZ I find we can generally keep the NPCs occupied. I set my fighter to "engage at will" and she will fly around happily shooting any hostile ship. What this means is anything I kill, I get credit for. Anything my NPC kills, I get credit for. And anything my wing kills that either I or my NPC shot even once, I get credit for. I do lose SLFs in CZs even when I'm in a wing. When that new group of hostile NPCs spawn some will invariably focus on the fighter. If it's an Elite ranked rail-eagle, the SLF is dead. But SLFs are fairly cheap at restocking, and my NPC absolutely benefits me as long as I micromanage her.
For all combat... Bind "closest hostile" and "next hostile" to something on your hotas. Also bind "attack my target" and, if you have it, maintain formation(which is used to call off your fighter if you need to). When you're fighting pirates you can hit "next hostile, attack my target, closest hostile" to very quickly tell your SLF to go attack one of the pirates wingmates and then get back to fighting the main ship. When you kill a ship you should just hit "closest hostile" to switch to your next one. More than a few times in the CZs this week I've seen my wingmates try to use "target ahead" to select their next target, they accidentally target a friendly ship and fire, and the next thing we know the entire CZ is hostile to us. "target wingman" and then "target wingman's target" also work well for selecting your next target in the CZ without accidentally targeting the wrong ship.
Anyway, I hope that helps.
EDIT: One more thing, should go without saying, but you pretty much ALWAYS need to be aware of what ship your SLF is engaged with. Your NPC isn't smart enough to say "Well, that's an Elite NPC Anaconda, it has unlimited SCBs and I only have 45DPS, I can never win this fight." So they will do that, get mixed up with ships that there is no way they can ever kill. I know it's hard, it's additional workload on you, and that what makes them challenging and enjoyable to use. You have to fight your fight, AND be mindful of what your SLF is up to. If you leave your SLF on Defend or even Engage at will without keeping an eye on what they're doing, you will lose them.
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