Oolite Bulletins

I've been spending all my time trading, but thought I'd try some combat. I have found that I seemed to get blown up very suddenly. I have the Cobra MK III with an extra energy unit.

1. Is it that the enemy have fired a missile?
2. Do you get any warning of incoming missiles?
3. Any advice in general about combat would be appreciated.

Hi mcarans,


incoming missiles are being announced with a message on screen (and the sound oxp I use also announces them by voice).

The thread about dog fight tactics has a lot of helpful information about fighting.

Cheers,
-Maik

There are times when you should expect a missile. If you've been pounding away on any kind of ship bigger than a small fighter, you're liable to get at least one missile sent your way when his shields begin to buckle. There will be an onscreen alert and a warning alarm, too, and you'll see the missile displayed as a pale blue dot on the scanner. If you're charging in on an attack run then you'll need to keep an eye out for enemy missile launches: there's a good chance that, as you close in, hammering away with your laser, that your opponent might fire off a missile at close range, leaving you with little time to react. you'll get a feel for this, though: quite often I find myself firing off the ECM more-or-less simultaneously with an enemy missile launch.

However, some missiles will be hardheads, and at least partially ECM-proof. Watch out for these, especially if you're on a high-speed attack run! If you get a missile on you, and you can't ECM it, run away from it. A missile up the tailpipe can spoil your day, but catching one full in the face will almost certainly have you pressing space, Commander ...

Thanks for your feedback. I will try to see if I am getting these missile warning messages. If I am, they are not obvious.

1. What lasers do ships you'll encounter generally have?

2. How quickly will shields deplete if being directly hit by an enemy using the most common laser assuming a Cobra MK III with extra energy unit?

Most NPC ships, unless you've filled up with some really hard OXPs, will have beam lasers. If it's Vipers that are shooting at you, though, I think they have military lasers ...

A beam laser is still a pretty dangerous weapon. It doesn't have the range of a military laser but it still packs a punch. Your Extra Energy Unit doesn't make your shields any stronger, it just helps them to recharge a bit faster. You certainly should be able to take a hit, though: it shouldn't be a matter of one hit equals instant death. I don't exactly know how much damage you can sustain but without shield boosters it's not going to take too many hits to put you in trouble. Ten or twelve direct hits, maybe?

If someone has you in his sights then a corkscrew manoeuvre is a good way to shake them off. Roll hard and pitch up (or down) at the same time. Changing your speed helps too: if you slam on the brakes you can turn much more tightly, and it's a lot harder for an opponent to follow you around. Don't forget to speed up again though after you make your turn!

If you're interested, here's some countermeasure suggestions.

Native equipment -
- Missile. Firing a missile at your opponent will often trick him into using his ECM. You can also try firing the missile at an incoming missile.
- ECM. Kills standard missiles, may kill hardheads if you're lucky.
- Shield Booster and Military Shield Enhancer. These shield amps work together, and boost your shields to about a 200% overcharge, enough to absorb a missile hit with minimal damage to your ship.
- Fuel Injectors. Running away is a good tactic, and Injectors let you run away hella fast. Those who fight and run away live to tell about it.
- Energy Bomb. One-button elimination of all missiles, and the pirates who shot them at you. It's a dirty, indiscriminate weapon, though, and can make you a Fugitive if you blast it off around police.
- Cloaking Device. Disappearing makes the incoming missile lose it's aspect lock.

OXP countermeasures -
- AMS - Automatic system, fires a small kinetic missile to intercept and destroy the missile chasing you. Isn't always successful.
- Auto Chaff - Automatic system, deploys chaff in the attempt to confuse the incoming missile. Not always successful.
- Chaff Launcher (from Missiles & Bombs pack) - Manual version of Auto Chaff.

Thanks for your detailed reply. I think I will trade a bit more to get the money for the better shield boosters as this looks like it will make a big difference.

Cheers,
Mike

I'd say nab some injectors first, they cost less than half of what shield boosters do and are infinitely more useful. But to each their own.

In my experience, nothing increases your chances of a survival more in a dogfight than the fuel injector and given how cheap it is, is something that should be purchased early.

Providing you've got the fuel to use it, the extra burst of speed enables you greater control of the combat theatre. I use the injector in fights to quickly close on pirates and get behind them, as the computer AI usually struggles to shake you off, and start blasting away.

Or, where the situation requires it, use the injector to get the hell out of dodge. Although against pirates armed with injectors this doesn't guarantee a clean escape, but you can usually improve your adds as not all pirates have injectors.

Sendraks wrote:

Although against pirates armed with injectors this doesn't guarantee a clean escape, but you can usually improve your adds as not all pirates have injectors.

In this case, a back beam laser can do miracles.

Dave McRoss wrote:

Sendraks wrote:

Although against pirates armed with injectors this doesn't guarantee a clean escape, but you can usually improve your adds as not all pirates have injectors.

In this case, a back beam laser can do miracles.

Or a rear military laser, which is my preference.

Or even just lobbing a missile at the pirate, even if they have an ECM, it tends to discourage them for a moment and if that gives you enough time to get out of scanner range you can then hit warp to get away.

Providing their ship using a fuel injector isn't faster than yours warping.

Injectors are the only known countermeasure for the dreaded quirium cascade mine.* You really, really want to get away from it before it blows.

Pirates don't usually carry q-mines, because it destroys what they're really after: Your load. But some bad guys drop them as a coup de grace.
Interesting that those same bad guys tend to ignore a mine, hint hint.

But this thread was about dodging missiles, and injectors help there, too, as long as the missile runs out of fuel before you do.

EDIT: The Navy has tech to remotely disable mines, but that isn't readily available on the civilian market.

Cmdr Wyvern wrote:

EDIT: The Navy has tech to remotely disable mines, but that isn't readily available on the civilian market.

No, but it could be...

It seems I must have been somehow missing the missile warnings before. Having been told to look out for them, I had rather more success last night and used my ECM to good effect. No sudden blowing up and some dead pirates instead of dead me.

I've tooling around in everything-money-can-buy Cobra 3's and Boa 2's and still getting 1-shot-killed by missiles -- but not every time.
Ramming speed may have SOMETHING to do with it, but I fear low framerate may be another -- as the impact point is only checked at the framerate. So at low framerate, the missile may be tunneling inside my ship before detonating...thus maximizing its destructive power.
Other times, (often when it's just the missile left) I have a higher framerate and don't seem to die from such hits as often.