cloaking / other tactics

[ralph_hh]

I accepted a random hits 8000Cr mission which gets me killed again and again... 8 or more (?) elite ships with military lases, so it seems, take me apart in no time.

That makes me asking two questions:
Whenever I slowly advance to that group, when I fire the first shot, the whole group turns at once, firing at me from full scanner distance. As the ships (all of them so far) are able to survive a full laser blast from cold to overheat (unlike their standard version) I was not yet able to kill even one. I loose target while fleeing out of range, so a second attack is most probably targeting another ship, so the first can recover. Fleeing and sniping with the rear laser does not help much, either the pirates continue to fire while in range or they turn round and fly away as soon as out of range. So I have to fly towards them again, same story all over. Any suggestions? I do not have a cloaking device yet. Which brings me to question no. 2:

What does the cloaking device do exactly? Does it make you disappear from the radar? Or does it make you invisible to the pirates eye when looked at in the sky? I understood that I give myself away when using a laser, so, do they see me then, or is an evasive manouver perpendicular to the line between us still helpfull? (Problem is that I'd have to give up the RH mission and change galaxies in order to do the Thargoids mission.

Last question: Does my ships size have an influence on the enemies hit rate? My cobby MKIII is fairly lager compared to i.e. the pitviper...

[Smivs]

I accepted a random hits 8000Cr mission which gets me killed again and again... 8 or more (?) elite ships with military lases, so it seems, take me apart in no time.

That makes me asking two questions:
Whenever I slowly advance to that group, when I fire the first shot, the whole group turns at once, firing at me from full scanner distance. As the ships (all of them so far) are able to survive a full laser blast from cold to overheat (unlike their standard version) I was not yet able to kill even one. I loose target while fleeing out of range, so a second attack is most probably targeting another ship, so the first can recover. Fleeing and sniping with the rear laser does not help much, either the pirates continue to fire while in range or they turn round and fly away as soon as out of range. So I have to fly towards them again, same story all over. Any suggestions?

Ha, that sounds like a tough one! You need to be inventive sometimes, and adopt non-sensible-sounding tactics. For instance rather than creeping up on them, have you tried a headlong charge at flank speed? Target one of the cronies and empty your forward laser into it as you do so. As you pass, switch to the aft laser and finish him off. Rinse and repeat. Buck and jink a lot when not firing to spoil the aim of the others.
Another technique might be to load up with a hardhead and a q-bomb. Target the Mark and lob the hardhead at him. He will flee but you can catch him later. As you fire the hardhead, charge the group and drop the q-bomb as you fly through - there is a good chance you will take out most if not all of them, leaving you free to go off in search of the (now rather lonely) Mark.

I do not have a cloaking device yet. Which brings me to question no. 2:
What does the cloaking device do exactly? Does it make you disappear from the radar? Or does it make you invisible to the pirates eye when looked at in the sky? I understood that I give myself away when using a laser, so, do they see me then, or is an evasive manouver perpendicular to the line between us still helpfull? (Problem is that I'd have to give up the RH mission and change galaxies in order to do the Thargoids mission.

The cloak is not awarded for the Thargoid Plans mission - you get something else (and many would say something even better) for that. The cloak makes you invisible on the scanner, and very hard to see with the naked eye. It is useful, but drains energy like it's going out of style, and should only be used sparingly.

Last question: Does my ships size have an influence on the enemies hit rate? My cobby MKIII is fairly lager compared to i.e. the pitviper...

Yes, the bigger the profile of your ship, the easier you are to target. The Cobby III is big, but in a flat sort of way so is not as easy to hit as say a Boa, but is much easier to hit than a Worm.

[Diziet Sma]

Last question: Does my ships size have an influence on the enemies hit rate? My cobby MKIII is fairly lager compared to i.e. the pitviper...

Yes, the bigger the profile of your ship, the easier you are to target. The Cobby III is big, but in a flat sort of way so is not as easy to hit as say a Boa, but is much easier to hit than a Worm.

And as you can see by the following picture comparing a 'Conda, Cobby3 and Pitviper (and a cargo pod and missile), even a Pitviper is actually fairly large.. but where it really wins is when it's facing directly towards or away from the attacking ship. There's a good chance that many of the shots will pass between the engine nacelles, rather than striking the hull.

[Yah-Ta-Hey]

Diziet Sma has a point about charging in and dropping a q bomb but I though that I read somewhere that a pilot did that exact thing and the q bomb kept up with him/her due to momentum and then took the poor pilot out instead of the targets.

don't you have to momentarily stop, drop the bomb, then get the heck out of the area?

With an energy bomb you can charge in full tilt and let it go without being damaged. It may not kill all of the targets but it does put a huge dent in the # that can respond back to you while you continue your charge.

[Falcon777]

Smivs has some pretty good suggestions there. If I'm going to waste a missile on the mark, though, I tend to use missiles with injectors; for whatever reason they tend to cause the enemy to inject much farther away, giving me more room to just race right after him. This tactic will, of course, require you to download an oxp that has such missiles; however, since you're doing random hits you're not playing vanilla game anyways, so I doubt you'd have a problem with that.

I do tend to be a bit heavy on the cloaking device myself. More recently, though, I've been moving more and more towards trying to fight without it.

As to the q-bomb suggestion, you have to be careful that your mark doesn't get caught in the blast. That nullifies the contract and you not only will have to foot the bill for the bomb (quite expensive), you also won't get your bounty. This, of course, is why Smivs said to target the mark with a hard head first.

For myself, I've added the oxzs of shield capacitors and the shield equalizer. If you have those items plus the military grade shield boosters and four military lasers you can probably survive a full hail of laser shots while returning enough fire to just take out the mark. The main reason I don't do this too often, though, is that quite a few marks will eject and if they are scooped by one of their guards then the mission is toast; even if you kill the bodyguard ship you won't get a chance to grab your mark. This also requires a decent bit of experience using side lasers, which can be a pain.

[Diziet Sma]

Diziet Sma has a point about charging in and dropping a q bomb

Not guilty, your honour.. it was the pan-dimensional pumpkin, what done it!

I though that I read somewhere that a pilot did that exact thing and the q bomb kept up with him/her due to momentum and then took the poor pilot out instead of the targets.

don't you have to momentarily stop, drop the bomb, then get the heck out of the area?

Yes, deploying a q-bomb whilst in motion can be hazardous to your health.. but you don't necessarily have to stop.. just be sure that immediately after deploying, you make a significant change of course (180° is recommended) and/or speed. There are sometimes tactical advantages to deploying a q-bomb at speed.. the trick is to remember to turn around and get away from the area as fast as possible. For instance, charge a distant group of ships whilst injecting, deploy, and then immediately reverse course. The q-bomb will continue moving at injector speed towards the target. Should you wish to leave one behind as a gift for someone pursuing you, on the other hand, yes, you will need to come to a momentary halt, deploy, then resume running as fast as you can.

[Yah-Ta-Hey]

i stand corrected m'lord. The pan entity did indeed discuss that subject but your further discussion should stand as an extreme right tolorable piece of work. I salute you and the Pan entity.

[ralph_hh]

Thanks for all the input.
I'll give it a try.. or two or three

Ok, no cloaking device yet, no means to abort the mission which means Galaxy 3 and the NEU is out of reach for a while - that's the Thargoid mission reward then, I guess. It's been around 30 years since I played Elite
I'll try to finish this without installing some high-tech new missiles. But the Q-bomb is a nice idea...
It would be a nice game option, to be able to sell just one missile, not all and buy a Q-Bomb for that empty slot. I hate to waste a 350Cr hardhead missile for nothing just to empty a slot.

[ralph_hh]

There's a good chance that many of the shots will pass between the engine nacelles, rather than striking the hull.

Does the game really compute this that precisely??

[Diziet Sma]

There's a good chance that many of the shots will pass between the engine nacelles, rather than striking the hull.

Does the game really compute this that precisely??

Yes, it certainly does.. try shooting at a Pitviper some time, they're damn hard to hit from directly in front or behind, unless you're close enough to aim precisely. Almost as hard as Imperial Couriers, and for the same reason.

[ralph_hh]

Aaaaarrrghh...

I kept failing this mission numerous times (did not try the Q-bomb, as it is not available at that system). I decided to give it one final try. I was very very patient. Sniping the targets from very far away, out of scanner range, just so close, the military laser hits. I was able to put down 4 of the 7 ships. After every kill or series of hits, the group turned round to get me, I turned too, getting away. Out of range, the group turned again and continued on their initial way, so I krept back slowly. Then after kill #4 the group decided to not let me go and kept following me even when I was out of scanner range. Hey, those guys are excellent snipers. As soon as I let them come close enough for a hit, they hit me. And they are fast. A little to much self-confidence, not gone far enough by injector and I was history once again. A loud "FU** you all !!!" and I pressed space...

I decided to cancel that mission and took the next exit to the closest Anarchy planet. Laser fire in the distance. On the way to get there, two groups of innocent trader escorts had to take the heat of my angry pilot. I went in head first, Kamikaze style, what could those poor Sidewinders, Kraits and Morrays do to me, after that group of 9 Elite Pilots? When I arrived at the Con-Store, I jumped into the middle of quite some battle. Scanner was filled with ships. I was asked to join the battle against attacking Pirates. I happily did so. Very nice feature, this! After shooting down 3 fugitives, I followed a fourth. A Cobra, so it seemed. In very close combat with two pirates anda few fellow bounty hunters, I somewhat lost track and.... I managed to accidentially shoot down one of the bounty hunters. Scanner turned red in a second, as everyone turned against me. Reputation gone, me fugitive. I did not intend to run away and patiently wait a dozen hyperspaces before I become clean again, ready for a new random hits job. I was lucky, not to break my keyboard, when I hammerd a few keys to quit this game in frustration and anger. The words that left my mouth were neither suitable for my sleeping kids nor this forum. Going to bed was a bad idea then, you do not sleep with adreanalin rushing trough your body, even if it is well after midnight.

Great game, really. (I feel better this morning) I rarely got that emotioinal when gaming. But you have to know, where your limits are and when to pay more attention who you shot at...


(aborted the mission a day later and found myself being called a "deputy" now... )