Kha'ak Cluster strategy

[Mental_Atom]

anyone know a good way to fight your way out of one. im cornered in a sector in a boron barracuda vanguard (M3) I've got some aurora and dragonfly missiles. I could jumpdrive out but i wanna beat em'. any ideas?

[Andaius]

Are they still in cluster or in swarm? The easy way to get them is using Hurricanes of Aurora's when they just break up and hit the center fighter with a few hurricanes or aurora's. That usually kills off all the M5's just leaving the fighter that is easy by it self. Other tactics are Jumping to a far gate and letting them fly to you, this may break up the formations and you can fight them a few M5's at a time.

[Seathal]

You could actually beat them all in a good M3 with some basic fighting skills. If not, use your missiles.

A good tactic with M6 or bigger is to directly ram the cluster and it gets destroyed. Same works with missiles. If you have a single pwoerful missile you can beat it before it breaks out.

[gandy|UKCS|]

i always rammed them with the vidar ( M6 ) and kept doing that as they break apart i was shooting them aswell.. that way it only leaves 4 or 5 scouts to take care of. you do lose some shielding but not enough for what's left to do any real damage.

[Andaius]

Also another tactic that works is heavy spray of fire across the whole swarm just as it breaks up and is still "stunned". The only disadvantage of destroying a cluster before it swarms is the loss of fighting rank and police liesence bounties. You will only get bounty for one M3 (IIRC all clusters are counted as M3 size.) Instead of all the M5's and M3.

[western]

Death by blowtorch!

[pjknibbs]

You could actually beat them all in a good M3

Just a shame he's in a Barracuda, then.

To OP: depends entirely on how many Kha'ak ships you're dealing with. If you have a fighter plus half-a-dozen scouts, concentrate on taking the fighter out first, then take the scouts out as fast as you can--use a weapon with a fast speed of shot (PRG, PBE, PAC, etc) because you'll never hit them using HEPTs. If you have a fighter plus 20 or so scouts (e.g. a larger cluster) just hit the jumpdrive and get out--without some really good luck with missiles there's no way you'll take all those scouts out before they whittle your shields away with their death of a thousand cuts.

[Spaceweed Adict]

Hmm not sure about the barracuda but 1 hornet missile will take out a Khaak cluster in one go if it hasn't split up.
If it has then a hail of wasps to take out the M5's and well if you can't deal with a lone Khaak M3 then you had better hail one of those flying instructors knocking about in the core sectors

[Szakalot]

you can always annoy the cluster (shoot a missile, kill as many) while engaging an in-sector jump to an opposite gate. What will happen is a line of scouts coming at you one by one, depending on their speed, which is extremely easy to kill off, in one pass.
Another tactic is to fire aurora's from distance and a fast missile soon after : if you time it right, the (say mosquito) faster one will hit them just as aurora's are coming into game. After a cluster breaks apart, the scouts are confused for 5 or so seconds, sitting close to each other, a few aurora's should be able to kill them all off quickly.

[FlaviusAetiuspt]

Or get an M3 that can mount PSG and have fun blowing the Khaak to pieces!

[BugMeister]

Or get an M3 that can mount PSG and have fun blowing the Khaak to pieces!

- makes for great combat practice as well, nipping in and out of the Scouts is a breeze..

[NeverSnake]

Or get an M3 that can mount PSG and have fun blowing the Khaak to pieces!

Assuming you're playing Reunion, the smallest thing that can mount PSG in TC is an M7 which makes it kind of redundant for khaak clusters (considering even a modest M6 can take out the largest).

[Seathal]

I met a Cluster when i was begining in my Discoverer Raider time ago. I met it in Nopileos' Memorial in the far distance (27km or so). I had this "Remote Guided Warhead" I picked drifting in space... I checked its stats... grinned wickedly and shot it at 25 km away. After 2 minutes or so I saw a huge explosion through my Video Engancemnt Goggles and there was no Cluster anymore. I felt so warm and fuzzy inside So doesn't really matter what kind of ship are you flying; but what you have on board to stand against it.

[Xander Cade]

I found that flying straight towards the cluster and then letting off a single Aurora just before you come into laser range works very well. The missile tends to hit just as the cluster is breaking apart, destroying the Fighter and 1-2 Scouts and leaving the rest all with varying degrees of damage. Works well enough for me in a Nova or Eclipse.

[Frostynso]

I plow a single torpedo into their face from a safe distance. Expensive but easy.

[TTD]

Not used Baracuda.

I'm in a Vidar and fire directly at the centre. This usually nocks out the fighter and I just pick off the scouts one by one.
It is rare that I resort to using missiles,unless I'm having problems taking out big fry.

[DaveyP]

3 hurricanes in quick succession. Thank you very much and goodnight ladies.