Protect Convoy Missions

[Bill Huntington]

I couldn't protect the convoy when I tried these missions. One pilot said that you used the opportunity to attack the ships attacking the convoy.

Has anyone gotten good results with these missions? If so, what did it take?

Thanks.

[ancienthighway]

All that's needed is one of the convoy to survive.

I'll assigned 1 or 2 fighters to protect each ship in the convoy. Four in the convoy, 8 fighters. Then I'll use a TM with 4 additional fighters and maybe an M6 and aggressively attack the raiders when they spawn rather than allowing them to get close. I've even had small task forces defend both sides of a gate once I knew which gate the convoy was using.

But mostly, I don't accept those missions if I have a choice.

[Monkeyfister]

As stated above, only one of the convoy needs to survive. Protect it with all you've got.

Kill EVERYTHING red coming at the convoy. Simple.

Nothing complicated about the missions, but they are a pain in the behind, as the ships go full stoopid when going through gates, or docking.

[Baratheon79]

I've done a few of these in my current playthrough, and each one was handled a bit differently, based on what I had available at the time. I should note that I play modified, so in a vanilla game, some of these solutions might require some adjustment, due to the increased micromanagement required in vanilla, versus the paticular assortment of scripts/mods I'm running.

Scenario #1: TM with fighters - used this for the first one I took, as that was what I had available to me. In my case, it was a Zephyrus and a pair of Blastclaw Prototypes. I kept the TM close to the single transport, and assigned the fighters to escort duty. I then used drones and missiles to engage anything that got close, along with the mass drivers I had in the TM turrets (set to attack enemies). The transport got a little beat up, but it made it.

Scenario #2: Hyperion Vanguard with fighters - much like the scenario above, but with a whole lot more firepower. In this case, the fighters were Tenjins, as those are pretty much my standard heavy fighter. Again, the fighters were assigned to guard the transports, while I engaged anything red using the Hyperion. Handled this one without needing the Hype's guns, just using drones and missiles once again.

Scenario #3 (Note: MASSIVE overkill, but hilarious to watch): My main battle group, consisting of a Shuri with full fighter complement, 3 Hyperions with 2 Tenjins each, and a Griffon with a full complement of Tenjins. All ships carrying fighters running CODEA. Shuri slightly overtuned, so it could keep up with convoy. I don't think any of the convoy ships took a single hit.

There were probably a few other scenarios I could have summarized as well, if I could remember the details. Like I think I did one in my Kariudo (note: from a mod), which wasn't quite as far into overkill territory as scenario 3 above.

For the record, though, I don't often take these missions, as I find them too tedious to be worth my time.

[riceygringo]

I found the best way was to carry a load up on Wasp/Typhoon missiles. Spam Wasps at fighters and Typhoons at M6s.

[Honved]

It's usually a viable mission near the beginning when your fight rank is low. The enemy spawns are usually one or two M5s, and the freighters have sufficient shields and weapons of their own to give you some time to kill the hostiles before the shields are down. As your fight rank increases, the enemy spawns get more serious, and eventually they pack enough firepower to obliterate the freighters in seconds. That's hardly enough time for you to do something about it. By the time the opposition starts spawning 4-5 M5s or an M4, it's time to stop taking those missions.

[hisazul]

Try taking those at X-Treme... now that's hilarious. Think the few times I did it... was with a massive wall of Pteranodons+Kyotos OOS. Otherwise it's just too annoying.

But like everyone said you just need 1 convoy to survive. Either assign some OOS defenders to the other one or don't bother at all and just concentrate on defending one of them. And just to be clear giving your OOS defenders protect ship isn't going to work at all. Because that will kick in >after< they get hit. So use either follow command with turrets set to attack all enemies or some other creative approach.

On side note... at higher combat ranks doing it OOS is preferable. Less chance someone will shoot a missile or two at convoy, there's also stray shots, stragglers, fast ships that ran past etc. OOS you can eliminate that nuisance fairly easily.

But also... at higher combat rank this is seriously not worth it. To be perfectly honest it is not worth it even at low ranks... unless its so low those convoys can kill enemies on their own. The pay is just bad. I'd rather take a sector defense/patrol mission and get 50 mil a pop and it will take FRACTION of what that escort is going to eat away with AI constantly getting confused and running around in circles.

[DiArmada]

the best results I got when using a wing of fighters.
"protect ship" doesn't work so well, because the target has to be fired upon before the wing reacts.
"defend position" works a lot better. the wing will take down anything within 15 km from the target.

ten Falcon haulers is what I prefer to use, fitted with Phased Repeater Guns (PRG)
on the last escort mission I noticed that they only have duplex scanners.
I had given them the order to "attack all enemies" but they didn't wander far.
which is a good thing, because sometimes enemies spawn right next to you.

while the wing is busy I'll follow in a Panther or fly with them in a Nova.

but like other people already mentioned, it's a hard mission with little reward.

[terryokc2]

I don't know if it works for everyone, but in my current TC game, the Corp mission for convoy protect works OOS. I did it both ways...first time I jumped in and found the convoy, assigned three ships for the convoy, then jumped out and went to get a different Corp mission. That convoy got attacked every sector along the way and was lost 3 sectors later. I reloaded and stayed away completely. Assigned three larger ships for the convoy, but this time no attackers showed on the entire 4 sector trip. And if I recall, the last game of TC I played, I never had to be around for those on the OTAS Corp missions and they never had opposition. Maybe I am remembering incorrectly. I'll see soon enough since I am only 3 missions in for two corps.

[ancienthighway]

Spoiler

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I know for the first missions from Terracorp and OTAS, you just have to stay out of sector from the convoy and it will complete without escort. I can't say about any other corporate escort missions as I rarely do any. Plot convoys do require an active escort.

The only reason I can think of taking an escort mission is if you want to build your fight rank, and no defend station or patrol missions are available.