Favorite Combat Tactics

[tgape]

I've only encountered the Thargoids once so far when I got stuck inbetween systems. They weren't too difficult to get rid of, but then I didn't wait around for them to drop their 'babies'. Is there a method of increasing the likelyhood of encounters, as I need more practice with mass battles?

Full pitch while going hyperspace. I find this works best while jumping to a nearby system. Hope that helps.

[rabidvixen]

TGHC wrote:

As far as Rabidvixens's playing dead tactics are concerned, she reminds me more of a blackwidow

I'm looking forward to seeing Oolite multiplayer and do you gentlemen want to know why? Well, its because behind this ever so feminine exterior and behind these ever so devious eyes is concealed a calculating mind full of tactics which could best be described as "unconventional" and it is seldom that I find myself in a position where in I feel the need to "punch out" or make a run for it. I think that the Black Widow observation has some merit. I am more than happy to let my prey come to me. I enjoy playing with it before I move in belly down, or from behind and make the kill in a flash of hot brilliant light against the dark, silent night of the void, and watching my enemy split into spinning debris and rapidly cooling wreckage as I cruise on by, manoeuvering to avoid some of the larger stuff which might do my shields some damage.

Damn, I'm making combat sound sexy.

Yes, I'm definitely awaiting multiplayer Oolite. Gentlemen and Commanders - you can expect far from conventional tactics from me. I learned a long time ago that you don't necessarily need an IRON ASS to get the job done. Just the right woman at the stick and a quick and calculating mind who embraces the words of the ancient Chinese warrior-philosopher, when he said "know thy enemy and know thyself and thou shalt always be victorious." Never a truer word was spoken. I'll NEVER give quarter. Hoo-RAH!

Grab your balls boys and kiss 'em goodnight!

[Mad Dan Eccles]

Damn, I'm making combat sound sexy.

. . .


Grab your balls boys and kiss 'em goodnight!

Damn. Do you eat your partners after one night of wild passion, too?

[goat]

TGHC wrote:

As far as Rabidvixens's playing dead tactics are concerned, she reminds me more of a blackwidow

I'm looking forward to seeing Oolite multiplayer and do you gentlemen want to know why? Well, its because behind this ever so feminine exterior and behind these ever so devious eyes is concealed a calculating mind full of tactics which could best be described as "unconventional" and it is seldom that I find myself in a position where in I feel the need to "punch out" or make a run for it. I think that the Black Widow observation has some merit. I am more than happy to let my prey come to me. I enjoy playing with it before I move in belly down, or from behind and make the kill in a flash of hot brilliant light against the dark, silent night of the void, and watching my enemy split into spinning debris and rapidly cooling wreckage as I cruise on by, manoeuvering to avoid some of the larger stuff which might do my shields some damage.

Damn, I'm making combat sound sexy.

Yes, I'm definitely awaiting multiplayer Oolite. Gentlemen and Commanders - you can expect far from conventional tactics from me. I learned a long time ago that you don't necessarily need an IRON ASS to get the job done. Just the right woman at the stick and a quick and calculating mind who embraces the words of the ancient Chinese warrior-philosopher, when he said "know thy enemy and know thyself and thou shalt always be victorious." Never a truer word was spoken. I'll NEVER give quarter. Hoo-RAH!

Grab your balls boys and kiss 'em goodnight!

I think I may just have fallen in love ...

[Bringer of torture]

Try to avoid shooting from a distance as this just overheats your laser for little effect. With bigger stronger ships its best to use short bursts every few seconds rather than just letting rip and getting an overheat in the heat of battle. Prioritise your targets. Kill Cobby 3s, Asps, and Lances first then the fighters with Sidewinders as a low priority. I always leave Pythons till last as they are slow lumbering beasts and that way you can scoop up their cargo before it disperses without getting harassed by its escort. Learn which ships tend to launch missiles at close range on a head to head and ECM before this happens. Also when you tear into someone bigtime be ready with the ECM as this often results in them launching missiles. Anyone farting around on constant witch injectors should be left till last as you are best reducing the easy targets first and allowing them to waste their fuel. With an iron ass and quick but careful play you can handle almost anything and remember when things get hairy and theres a half dozen enemies on your tail your ENERGY BOMB is there to be used.

Oh yeah and for those little bitches that bob and weave everywhichway when your on their tail, SLOW RIGHT DOWN, once they get some small distance on you they will start flying directly away and be sitting ducks.

[Gareth3377]

I generally employ the Monty Python tatic of 'run away!'

[Commander McLane]

Interesting topic.

I disagree with bringer of torture. My personal tactic employs (a) shooting from the distance and (b) the "Monty Python", which in Oolite as in Elite means running away and using the rear laser.

(a) Most NPC-ships fire only from a relatively close range. "Relatively" means that they usually start firing when they are roughly 10-14 kilometers away. In most cases you are completely safe from the fire of anything further away than 15 kilometers. So the first thing I do when I have been halted from hyperspeed by the gravitational disturbance of a band of pirates is to slow down and turn towards them. By then they usually will be still more than 15 kilometers away. So I can aim at them and take out one or two of them before the others come within their firing range.

(b) Now I turn and run away. My rear laser--which is still cold at this time--comes into play now. Very conveniently a CobraMk3 is quite fast a ship, so I can keep the pirates out of their firing range and take out one after the other, allowing the laser to cool in-between. (The same is of course true for the Imperial Courier I am flying now, which is even faster.) If there is only one or two left, I can just stop, turn around, and use my front laser again, which at that point has completely cooled.

With that tactic it is possible to kill six to eight enemies without any of them firing even a single shot! And as I run away from them also their missiles usually are no problem at all. If a hardhead happens to get too close a short injector-impulse keeps it at distance.

Myself I never use missiles in combat. Why waste 30 cr (or more for hardheads) if my laser does the same for free?

I am employing this tactic since the days of C64-Elite (at that time of course without injectors, but also without ECM-hardened missiles) and it has always earned me an ELITE status.

You only have to learn two things: 1) good accurate aiming, so you can kill your enemies from the distance and 2) fast switching between the use of front and rear laser, which are just the opposite in aiming. Both skills can be trained.

If you are well trained this tactic is (almost) fool-proof for becoming ELITE.

[Charlie]

Hmmm, interesting. My tactics depend on what mood I'm in:
Cool Head: Much as Commander McLane.
Bad Mood: Bringer of torture's approach is nearer the mark.
Bezerk: kill, Kill, KILL!!! Hit hard & fast in whatever order they come.

Also, rear twin plasma cannons are good for those hardened missiles but don't do much to other ships. So if I'm in Cool Head mode I tend to make my retreats long & slow - holding off 'baddies' with the tpc's, then quick burst of speed, slow, then turn for another run when my laser has cooled. This also tends to make attackers bunch together as they chase which helps with target selection.

I don't know why I bother to carry misiles, e-bombs, q-bombs etc as I'm too cheap to ever use one.

In Elite I used to carry mining lasers fore & aft. One hell of a punch & never overheat but you needed to be very accurate. Not a choice that seems to work in Oolite...

[julyy]

my tactic is: fire at will at everything. get the cargo, get the money.

[lolwhites]

I agree with McLane - snipe as many of them as you can from a distance and be ready to use your rear laser while the front one cools down. Also known as the "do unto others before they do unto you" tactic.

Talking of sniping, does anyone else find renegades easier to hit from a distance? Close up, I find they dodge around too much, plus you want to be at a safe distance when the inevitable Q-bomb gets dropped.

I find the best way to deal with lone ships injecting away from you is to keep jumping after them till they run out of fuel. Then dispatch at leisure. Don't waste your own fuel injecting after them.

[Arexack_Heretic]

I find the best way to deal with lone ships injecting away from you is to keep jumping after them till they run out of fuel. Then dispatch at leisure. Don't waste your own fuel injecting after them.

Now that is a good tip.

[Bringer of torture]

(a) Most NPC-ships fire only from a relatively close range. "Relatively" means that they usually start firing when they are roughly 10-14 kilometers away. In most cases you are completely safe from the fire of anything further away than 15 kilometers. So the first thing I do when I have been halted from hyperspeed by the gravitational disturbance of a band of pirates is to slow down and turn towards them. By then they usually will be still more than 15 kilometers away. So I can aim at them and take out one or two of them before the others come within their firing range.

(b) Now I turn and run away. My rear laser--which is still cold at this time--comes into play now. Very conveniently a CobraMk3 is quite fast a ship, so I can keep the pirates out of their firing range and take out one after the other, allowing the laser to cool in-between. (The same is of course true for the Imperial Courier I am flying now, which is even faster.) If there is only one or two left, I can just stop, turn around, and use my front laser again, which at that point has completely cooled.

With that tactic it is possible to kill six to eight enemies without any of them firing even a single shot! And as I run away from them also their missiles usually are no problem at all. If a hardhead happens to get too close a short injector-impulse keeps it at distance.

)

Give me a decent dogfight any day. I much prefer things to be up close and personal. While your clinical approach may work well it sounds incredibly boring to me. I have never used a rear laser but I agree that missiles are a waste of time and money.

[lolwhites]

I never bother with missiles in a common or garden pirate attack. However, when some of the missions set you up against groups of, shall we say, more worthy opponents, a hardhead or two can help keep a couple of 'em on their toes while you slug it out with their mates.

[Arexack_Heretic]

Their price is prohibitive to use as a kill-weapon, specifically with fuelinjected targets.
But they are still usefull to buy time when you are damaged or overwhelmed by the enemy.
Fire a (hardhead) missile and the enemy expends energy on his/her/its ECM or will burn off some of his/her/its excessive amount of quirrium fuel while trying to outrun it.
This takes one ship out of the Barney, leaving you to focus on the remainder.
Another reason why one should not waste a missile on a damaged ship, unless certain it will hit: it will run away (if it can) and may return when repaired. Also the damaged ship will leave instead of a fully charged one and leave you to face its undamaged buddies.

missiles:
A way to get ships faster than thou (and out of laser range) to loop back and attack you.
(Applicable only to those flying spacepigs and assorted thrust-deprived bigrigs in ironass configuration)

[Commander McLane]

Talking of sniping, does anyone else find renegades easier to hit from a distance? Close up, I find they dodge around too much, plus you want to be at a safe distance when the inevitable Q-bomb gets dropped.

Yes, they are definitively better dealt with from a distance. To be precise: Take out one (better still: two) of his lasers as soon as possible, i.e. from the distance (and also i.e. before they have cut you to pieces). Practical advice: Do that with your rear laser. He then will turn around and run away. Now you can pursue him (don't get too close, because then he'll start that annoying dodging exercise) and take him out with your front laser (which is still cold at that point). Practical advice: He'll keep running, so you have all the time in the world to aim at his subentities and get more kills.

The same applies for the stolen military ships: Take out one or two lasers fast, then the rest while pursuing him.