Questions about combat, capturing, and stealing...

[oddible]

I started humble trader and have a decent enterprise rolling (no factories but several of STs/CLSs/MORTs). I am getting a bit bored with missions and trading for now (will most definitely need more traders and to start my factories soon too). But I want to start doing some combat and have several questions:

- I'm in a Discoverer Hauler kitted out with 4xIREs and my 3x1MJ shields. Can I take on anything?

- I have over $4mil and after some research am considering purchase of an M3, probably a Nova Vanguard. Better options? Recommendations? Was thinking EBCs and PRGs with an IRE in the back.

- Where should an enterprising M3 pilot go hunting? I'm friendly with most everyone except Xenon, and haven't gone awry of the pirates yet.

[ancienthighway]

Add some MDM Mosquitos (probably there already), Wasp, and Hurricane missiles and you can easily handle multiple M5s and most M4s without even pulling the trigger on the IREs. 3MJ of shields don't last long in combat so the further away the reds are the better for you.

As far as an M3, get the Nova Raider (Omicron Lyrae) instead of the Vanguard. As a personal ship, think weapons energy conservation. The bigger the gun, the more energy used, which means more time waiting for them to recharge. EBCs don't use energy, but are expensive to keep in ammunition. I'll just stick PACs on my personal M3 and a couple of bigger guns in the hold just in case I need a bigger bang.

Keep your eye out for the Treasure Hunt. IMO the best M3 in the game as the reward.

[oddible]

Keep your eye out for the Treasure Hunt. IMO the best M3 in the game as the reward.

Thanks, yeah was planning on a stock of missiles. What is the Treasure Hunt? An event? Does it come as an announcement when I arrive in a sector?

How do I know the range of my missiles or what they're shooting at - do they always target my current target when I pull the trigger?

Where to go hunting in my M3? Any pirate sector?

[Jawms]

Personally I have found that with any M5 you can usually take on other M5's without an issue. M4's are slightly more challenging, and M3's require missiles.

For a personal M3 I'm currently using the Susanowa Prototype, but as that is a rare find, I would settle for an Eclipse. Kindof slow at 130m/s, but not much makes up for that 200mj shield. The weapons generator is also moderately adequate for most situations. If your finances allow it, a wingman is also a very valuable asset.

I normally outfit my ships with 4-6 PAC's and 2-4 HEPT's.

As a pirate I tend to stick around the Pirate alley in West, and if I'm fighting the Argon, the Gaian Star area in the East.

[oddible]

As far as an M3, get the Nova Raider (Omicron Lyrae) instead of the Vanguard. As a personal ship, think weapons energy conservation. The bigger the gun, the more energy used, which means more time waiting for them to recharge. EBCs don't use energy, but are expensive to keep in ammunition. I'll just stick PACs on my personal M3 and a couple of bigger guns in the hold just in case I need a bigger bang.

I considered the Nova Raider but it kind of contradicts what you're saying here. The Raider sacrifices both Energy and Regen for a little bit of speed.

[ancienthighway]

Actually that's quite a bit of speed. The weapons energy spread isn't that great when you look at PACs and a moot point with EBCs. Energy conservation is more in terms of 8 HEPTs or 8 PACs. If you are planning on using bigger energy hungry guns, then the Vanguard makes more sense.

[Timsup2nothin]

I would swap the Hauler for a Disco Vanguard...it can handle two IREs on continuous fire for a fairly long time, and four well enough. It also has more of the number one ingredient in M5 fighting...speed. As a beginner you might even want to go with a Raider...a little shorter span on the continuous fire, but you can outrun fighter drones and almost all missiles.

Which brings me to my recommendation for enjoyable combat and skill development...shoot at freighters carrying three or four drones. Once you get comfortable with that, try five or six. Mk2 drones carry PACs, so if they hit you you are in trouble, but their top speed is 200 m/s so you can get away and then sneak up on them, and you will seldom see more than a couple of them.

Learn to use evasion to prevent being target locked; strafes, rolls, throttle shifts. Learn to use cover, as in an asteroid or station very close to you will cause conflict between their collision avoidance algorithm and their targeting algorithm and reduce their numerical advantage...as long as you learn to use it without running into it yourself. Learn to hit what you aim at, because drones are tiny and fast. Learn how to activate your jump drive in combat and survive (a successful jump across the sector turns clouds of enemies around you into a string of enemies flying after you at their varying top speeds, which is critical when fighting Kha'ak clusters). These are all very valuable skills.

If you get to where you feel confident opening fire on a freighter with ten to twelve drones you can literally take on anything. You may not always be able to 'win', because some things recharge their shields faster than a Disco can recharge lasers to keep up, but you will be pretty safe trying.

For a different challenge switch to a Buster Raider...only ten MJ of shielding, enough speed to be somewhat evasive but not enough to do anything but stand and fight or jump. Getting to the ten to twelve drone mark with that is pretty rough.

M3 combat is a whole other world. I like the Nova Raider with four PACs, two IREs, and two PBGs in switchable banks, with an IRE set to missile defense in the back. The PAC bank can be used to blast away for a good stretch in a dogfight. The IREs are good for picking off missiles and drones, though regular drones and most missiles can just be ignored. The PBGs take most of the challenge out of things so I don't use them much, but sometimes belching fire is just fun in its own right and they are good back up in a pinch.

[oddible]

Is there a hotkey to open the ship menu? Like P for the personal menu?

[Earth Ultimatum IV.]

Terran Scimitar & Cutlass are absolutely amazing combat ships in player hands.
Almost unlimited laser energy, decent damage, giant shielding, and they are very fast.
Basically, you can destroy ANYTHING in the game with the Cutlass.
From small craft to capships.

[Martinez90]

Those two Terran Ships mentioned above or Argon Nova Raider, Split Mamba Vanguard or Prototype

[Idleking]

Is there a hotkey to open the ship menu? Like P for the personal menu?

It's 'Z' for the ship menu, but you can always change Hotkeys in the Options

OT:
Aaaah, the probably never ending discussion about what ship to pick flying personally for combat...
And I think it truly is a neverending story because there are just way too many possibilities

Here are some of my favourite picks:
For starting off, go for a Discoverer Vanguard or Raider. The difference in laser energy (reload) is 1200 (30) vs 1000 (25) MW, but the Discoverer Raider has significantly higher speed. If you can get your hands on an Advanced Discoverer, it pretty much combines the advantages of the two mentioned above, plus it even has a 4th shield slot!

If you want to stay in the M5 class and manage to push your reputation with the Teladi, switch to a Kestrel as soon as possible.
The Kestrel is better than the Discoverers in every aspect. 5MJ of Shielding, better Shield recharge, more Weaponsenergy and better recharge, more speed, and to top it off, it can mount PACs both as main guns as well as in its turret.
You only have 2 main guns compared to the Discoverer which can mount 4, but since the PAC does close to 4.4 times the damage of an IRE, it's still a win.
Plus you can shoot at enemies while flying away from them
I've even taken down LXs in a Kestrel, it's really fun once you figured out how to fly that thing without getting smeared on enemies' hulls

A word of warning though, the high speed of the Kestrel leaves you very little time to get these shots in when flying head-on towards a target, so make sure you get your Fight Command Software and set the Auto-Aim to on. Otherwise you'll most certainly waste more weaponsenergy than you'd like

The M4 class has nothing to offer in regards of a personal ship for doing some fighting, the only one worth mentioning might be the Solano due to its M3 class shielding of 75MJ but meh, better save that money and buy an M3 later.

Speaking of which:
Recommending an M3 is extremely difficult in my opinion.
I'd say go for a Scimitar or Thor, since you can't beat terran ship designs in terms of speed and shielding. Their Hulls kinda suck in comparison, but 5x25MJ of shielding makes up for the 4k of Hull that's missing I guess.
The issue with Terran ships is Terran weapons of course. But if your reputation is high enough to buy a Scimitar or Thor, you should be able to get your hands on some of those Plasma Cannons as well.

If you don't want to use Terran tech for some odd reason or another, your best pick might be an Advanced Perseus from the Paranid.
Sure, Paranid cargo handling sucks, but the Advanced Perseus is faster and has better shielding (4x25) than a Nova Raider (3x25).
The Perseus can't mount PRGs though, so you have to use PACs to get these pesky little M5s gnawing at your shields. Or, you get some Pulsed Beam Emitters instead!
Range is low, but this weapon hits more or less instantly and eats shields for breakfast.

Might also try the Spitfyre, 452 is pure awesomeness, but well, let's be hones, it's kinda cheaty

That's it for now, looking forward to other recommendations and opinions out there

[fairywhipper]

Choices for M3 combat ships depends on your style of play, some people like good shielding, heavy armour and big guns others like fast speed quick fire guns and missles so it narrows down to try them first to see which line of thought suits your game style best. You cannot go to far wrong with a Nova raider, but a Mamba is quicker especially armed with PBE.
Most missles have trade off firepower to speed and range, you can check up the details in your personal gameplay journel but fire hammerheads in dog fighting at a range of less than 1 km can be bad for your health


PS: With a fully kitted Spitfyre you can take out anything or run away from anything that can hurt you and great for those pesky patrol missions where its just you Vs 97 xenon ships but bring i a supply ship full of those MAM warheads.

[DrBullwinkle]

- I'm in a Discoverer Hauler kitted out with 4xIREs and my 3x1MJ shields. Can I take on anything?

It is a "strategy" game, oddible. I have to wonder why you do not already know the answer to your question. Did you really *ask* rather than just *try*?

Save your money for a factory or weapons; steal ships. There is no one "good" M3, and there are many that are "good enough". Steal a few, and try some.

In case you do not already know these, the two most important combat tips for newbies are:

1) Install Fight Command Software (Mk1 or Mk2) and press "k" until auto-aim changes to "Auto" (or "ON") (lower left corner of HUD).

2) Learn to Barrel Roll. It is the single best defensive move in most filight-oriented games (including X). With practice, you will be able to fire on your target while evading some of its fire.

An "X3 Barrel Roll" is: Hold two strafe keys and Roll while moving your stick in small circles. It makes your ship very difficult to target.

[OniGanon]

You can bring up your own ship's command menu with Shift+C.

As a general guideline, a player can take on anything up to one class above the ship they're in (using a class ranking order of M5 < M4 <M3 < M6 < M7 < M1 < M2). So for an M5, that means M5s and M4s. Particularly experienced and skill pilots can take on two classes above them (in this case an M3). Going any higher than that generally requires an impressive surplus of missiles and a worrying deficit of sanity.

I don't want to give too much away, but... The Terran Plot in TC gives you a whole bunch of ships of varying classes. You might want to consider that, before you blow millions of credits on a Heavy Fighter.

But if you are going to spend the money, here's what you really should look for in a fighter:

Speed - You must be able to outrun anything you cannot kill. The Xenon Q moves at 122m/s. The slowest speed you should ever consider in an M3 is 130m/s, and that's ONLY for the Eclipse and Falcon Hauler with 200MJ shielding. For others, you should be around 160+ so you can outrun most Corvettes.

Shields - You want at least 75MJ. With enemies using PBG, PBE and PRG, anything less is suicide.

Rear Turret - You're going to get missiles shot at you. IMO any fighter without a rear turret to shoot them down is just a very expensive wreck waiting to happen. Use PAC in the turret.

Argon Nova Raider is a cheap, all around very solid choice. Paranid Advanced Perseus, if you can get your hands on it. OTAS Venti, ATF Fenrir, Yaki Tenjin, Terran Cutlass, Pirate Blastclaw Prototype, Teladi Falcon Hauler, Argon Eclipse, all very good ships. And of course there's the Aldrin Spitfyre...

[Honved]

If you spot a used Nova Raider or Vanguard for sale at somewhere in the 50-60% condition range, snap it up.

When you enter a sector, you occasionally can find ships with a "cent" symbol, usually for sale. At 100% condition, they often go for more money than a brand new ship, but as they approach 50%, they start getting pretty close to free. Nothing like picking up a 1.5M credit ship for 100K, and spending 5-10 minutes with your suit repair laser to bring it up to 100% condition.

As pointed out, the Nova Raider has a bit less energy recharge than the Vanguard version, but it's got a 190 top speed, as opposed to 165. That's a BIG difference. Other possibilities include the previously mentioned Split Mamba variants and at least one of the Paranid Perseus variants with a rear turret. I won't fly a ship without a rear turret, because without a gun on permanent "Missles Only" duty, enemy missles can convert your ship into an expanding debris field suddenly and with depressing regularity.

My current ride is an Argo Nova Raider with 2xPRGs as the first option and 6xPAC as the second, with an economical and energy-efficient IRE in the rear turret. The third gun setting is "the works". The PRGs have the projectile speed to reliably hit fast M5 fighters and to do "controlled" damage for potential bails, while the PACs deliver a lot of sheer punch for the power they consume, and can take the shields off a typical M3 in one quick pass. I recently killed a "Q" with it, although I had a couple of Teladi freighters and their host of fighter drones serving as an extremely unwilling distraction for much of that incident. I kept dodging into gun range, unleashing the PACs until the guns ran dry, then ran for my life until they were mostly recharged; rinse and repeat over and over, and each pass drained about 2-3% more shields on the Q than it recovered. The PRGs eat too much power for that, so I left them out.

Defend Station missions are very doable as an introduction to combat, just look for the red circle icon for combat missions, and ask. Other combat missions can be a lot tougher (even when they say "easy"). Station defense is really hard to fail at low to medium fight ranks, until at higher ranks the game starts spawning bombers and capital ships that can potentially eat the station faster than you can kill the ships. At low rank, the M5s that spawn can't hurt the stations, and the local police will eventually get rid of the annoyance if you can't manage it for some odd reason.

[Zaitsev]

I like ships that hit hard and fly fast, so my favourite M3 has to be either the Split Chimera or the Yaki Tenjin. They both have decent shielding, are reasonably fast and carry the best weapons generators among the Commonwealth M3s. The Tenjin also packs a ridiculous punch with its nine forward guns, so anything that fly in front of it will have a really bad day. The only thing that can beat it is the Venti, as it has ten guns, but thanks to the weak weapon generator it needs EBCs to shine.

Depending on whether you play TC or AP, an IRE in the back turret can be a bit on the weak side as missiles in AP have armor. So if you play AP, a PAC will do a better job in most cases.

Footnote: Treasure hunt is a plot, and the reward is a very special M3.

[oddible]

Thanks all. My first attempts at combat with the start that gives you the M4 (forget the name) resulted in a horror show. I see now what was going wrong.

I got the Nova Raider and am loving it. 4 PRGs and 4 EMCGs with an IRE in back. I still don't have a very good of sense of the value in different weapons though I've read all the descriptions and looked at several comparisons. I mostly use my PRGs until my energy starts getting low then swap to EMCGs until the recarge. Unless I have a promising attack in which case I just load up all guns and unload.

One of the problems in my first attempts at fighting were that I didn't have Fight Mk2 - that was a big mistake. The second was due to tactics. I was just flying right into the scrum, now I realize that I have to mostly hit and run. Trying to stay at the edge of combat and pick off those that are closest. Even using a jumpdrive to hop to a gate in my same sector if my enemy is faster than me to spread them out a bit.

Any other tactical tips / tricks?

[Timsup2nothin]

As a general guideline, a player can take on anything up to one class above the ship they're in (using a class ranking order of M5 < M4 <M3 < M6 < M7 < M1 < M2). So for an M5, that means M5s and M4s. Particularly experienced and skill pilots can take on two classes above them (in this case an M3). Going any higher than that generally requires an impressive surplus of missiles and a worrying deficit of sanity.

This is a good general guideline...but there is one common exception. Traders will fairly often underequip their ships. I routinely see high tech traders in M3s that are not much better armed than a freighter...and when they bail they are worth a lot more credits if you sell them and can be useful if you don't.

Another thing...you asked about a hotkey to the control panel...there isn't much (if any) call for the control panel during a fight. The only hotkey of note that I can think of is shift-J to activate the jump drive.

[Idleking]

Any other tactical tips / tricks?

Yes. Missiles.
In my opinion, there are only a few missiles worth using in a fighter.

• The Hurricane to dispatch those M5s. It has 6k damage, which pops most M5s in a single hit. And those that don't blow up (some Harrier variants seem to have decent Hulls) are severely damaged and thus cannot outrun you anymore for easy finishing.
  If you can't get your hands on these, use the Dragonfly instead. Although indicated as dumbfire, actually is an Image Recognition Missile with a 5k warhead. Many M5s might be able to outrun it, because it's only going at 320m/s, but still better than nothing
  (Note: Disruptor Missiles do the job too, but you can't buy them, so I recommend them on a "if you have" basis, but more on those later)
• Thunderbolts or Tempests for the heavier opponents. With 75k / 60k damage they pack quite a punch but you can blow yourself up with those if the missiles get shot while still close to your ship!
  Tempests even re-acquire targets if the previous one is destroyed
• Silkworms if you want to play it safe in terms of blowing up yourself since they only hit for, what, .. something around 20k. They might even be a good choice for hunting M4s with a speed of 260m/s.

Be aware of the occasional Hammerhead you might be able to pick up. Your M3 can launch them, but they have a ~1km area of effect annihilating anything smaller than M6, so.. you've been warned

As a general guideline, a player can take on anything up to one class above the ship they're in (using a class ranking order of M5 < M4 <M3 < M6 < M7 < M1 < M2). So for an M5, that means M5s and M4s. Particularly experienced and skill pilots can take on two classes above them (in this case an M3). Going any higher than that generally requires an impressive surplus of missiles and a worrying deficit of sanity.

How about an impressive deficit of sanity and a worrying surplus of missiles?

[Honved]

Add the Wasp to the list. It's not very powerful, but cheap and adequate for thinning the ranks of M5 swarms before contact (particularly Xenon Ns and Kha'ak Scouts). I can generally target 2-3 M5s before switching to guns, which helps clear the display and frees me to deal with the more dangerous adversaries. Against anything larger than an M5, or even a fast Pirate M5, it's kind of a joke.