Heh.. the player with the (potentially) 20 hardheads was me.. the Pitviper has 9 missile slots, one of which I've fitted with a Missile Machine, which lets me manufacture more missiles in mid-battle, so long as I have the raw materials to do so. Other equipment I have is the Missile Analyser, Auto ECM and Anti-Missile System, all of which helps keep (most, not all) missiles from being more than a nuisance, enabling me to focus on the task at hand.ralph_hh wrote:The reason I came into this thread is the following question I have: Whilst the Wiki states that a beam laser is a minimum equipment to go taking missions, what is really needed for the high class missions? Does this OXP offer any goodies for the player as well? I.e. defensive equipment? I read about one player here who was happy to be able to carry 20 missiles on this OXPed special ship to be ready for the harder random hit missions. Do I stand any chance on my regular Cobby with the Equipment available in Stanard Oolite? (Mil Laser, Mil shields etc.)
All that said of course, yes, you can take on the tougher contract kills with the standard gear.. but you will need a fully Iron Assed ship to do so, and the tactics you use will play a big part in how successful you are.
You'll need to think like a Bounty Hunter. This isn't about a "fair" fight, this is a job you're doing, and you'll need to do everything you can to tip the odds in your favour. Certainly the other side will make full use of every advantage they have, and you, being heavily outnumbered, have to do the same. Fatleaf has already outlined his methodology, and it's fairly similar to my own.
The first thing to do, to improve the odds, is always arrive with a full tank (thanks Cody, for reminding me to add this to the original post!), because having sufficient injector fuel on hand is absolutely priceless. To do this, you'll need a witchspace cloud scanner, and when ready to jump to the target destination, loiter in the station Aegis, scanning witchclouds, until you find one going to your destination, then hitch a free lift with that ship. If you're unlucky, it may take an hour or more to get one going in the right direction.. I've sometimes waited almost 90 minutes for the free ride I needed. But hey, the first tool a hunter needs is patience, right?
Once in the system where my mark is located, I never use the Torus drive.. or even injectors until the dogfighting phase starts. I stalk my prey, and the last thing I want to do is blunder into the entire pack by accident. I constantly visually scan space all around me, hoping to spot the tell-tale signs of ships in formation before they come into scanner range. When I spot them, I try to creep up on them carefully, approaching from the rear, hoping to get just one or two ships on the scanner, so I can pick off the stragglers.
When I do, I'll snipe at them, trying to draw them away from the rest of the pack, chasing after me, so I can dispatch them without the rest even realising there's a problem (from what cim has posted elsewhere, this will be a lot harder to do from 1.82 onwards). After I've dealt with the ones that took the bait, I'll go back and repeat as many times as I can before the pack catches on.. usually you can only hope to do this once or twice, but 3 times is certainly possible as well.
Once the Boss is aware of my presence, it's game on! Inject into the pack and go hell-for-leather for the mark.. the others will try to keep you occupied/distracted so their boss can escape. You need to maintain focus on the job at hand.. you're not being paid to deal with the lackeys, so as much as possible, ignore them, except when you can't. This is where hardheads really come into play. If a lackey is becoming a nuisance, lob a hardhead at them, to keep them off your back while you attend to the Boss. If the Boss jumps out, so much the better.. follow them quickly enough, and you'll have several seconds to a minute or so where you can give them your undivided attention before the rest of the gang catches up.
Situational awareness is always necessary in combat, but doubly important on a RH job.. not only are you up against a whole pack of skilled opponents, but if you're doing well, you need to be alert to dirty tricks. High-value marks are known to sometimes carry Q-Bombs, and use them if necessary.. it's very easy to miss the taunt they give when they deploy one, or miss the marker on the scanner. Which is basically why I wrote the Q-Bomb Detector OXP.. it doesn't actually "detect" them.. the stock scanner already does that. What it does do, is sound an unmistakeable alarm, to let you know it's time to get out of dodge before all hell erupts. It's not foolproof, but it certainly increases your chances. If you play without any OXP equipment, you'll need to keep a close eye on the comms (yet another thing to do in an already hectic environment!), and have the scanner colours of a Q-Bomb burned into your brain. 5 seconds is not much time to react, and get some distance between it and you.
Good luck, and happy hunting, Commander!
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