Thargoid questions

[tog]

It seems that hull tanking is better than shield tanking vs goids but I am still to find some kind of answer about armor resistance, caustic seem obvious but other than that which is better ? Or is better to simply have more hull.
Regarding PDs they are usefull vs caustic missiles, are they any good against a swarm ? Other than remote release is there other weapons good vs swarm ?
Does remote release weapons damage the big thargoids ? Will one be enough to get theirs shield down ?

Thanks

[tog]

An honest but shamless bump.

[Turd Ferguson]

thats a loy of questions.

the only resistence that helps with the goids is caustic....and thats onlynif you get hit with the missile or death fart whuch are easily avoidable. since the modules with caustic resistence are unengineerable you lose too much armor so they're not worth it.

hull tanking will only take you so far. Basilisk and Medusas laser attacks are too strong to hull tank so you need shields for that.

Generally for goids rigjt now forget resistnce and go for pure strength in both hull and shields.

for the big goids, only AX and Guardian weapons do damage although I THINK you can kill swarms with regular weapons...not very effectively though. Flak is VERY effective against the swarm. PD is useless.

Scouts can be damaged by normal weapons but they're not as effective as AX/guardian weapons.

for fighting thr big goids nothing beats 4x gauss guns and 1 ir 2 flak guns for the swarm. a couple of efficient beam lasers with thermal vent can also help -wont do any damage but will help with the heat of 4 gauss cannons.

oh! regular weapns CAN be used against the shield that pops up after you destroy a heart....but that shield will drop after a bit anyway so its not really necessary to shoot it....you cam just wait it out.

the goid will snipe your PP distributor and canopy with that laser.

A Cyclops can ne defeated with no shields at all (Ive done it just to see if its possible) but Basilisks and Medusas....your shields need to stay up for at least half the fight....which is not easy as that force lightning attack reboots modules amd if you go in with big shields and lots of boosters they'll never come back up.

[Dolphin Bottlenose]

Originally posted by Turd Ferguson:

if you go in with big shields and lots of boosters they'll never come back up.

Can you run away far enough to reboot/repair them, or the only option is to high-wake, or to die?

[Turd Ferguson]

Originally posted by Dolphin Bottlenose:

Originally posted by Turd Ferguson:

if you go in with big shields and lots of boosters they'll never come back up.

Can you run away far enough to reboot/repair them, or the only option is to high-wake, or to die?

depends on your ship and tactics. If your ship can top 450 m/s or so you might be able to outrun it....but remember that you'll be doing this AFTER your shields have already dropped so you still have to be able to take some damage. Problem is most ships that can tank goid damage are too heavy to go that fast.
Your other options are to distract it with an SLF or go silent running and drop heat sinks while youre running...but when you reboot the goid can catch up pretty fast. The swarm is harder to run from. You have to also be careful because you can run so far away that the goid just drops off your scanner and you lose the instance.

I use size 8 biweaves with fast charge. If they drop I shut off all my shield boosters. If I have time I might turb them back on but usually after they go down the first time Im usually better off with shileds that come back up fast rather than have a lot if strength cause of the reboots from force lighning.

I'm experimenting with SCBs right now but Im not sure if giving up the hull strength for an SCB is worth it yet.

If you distract thr goid you can often low wake....as far as dying goes, losing your shields should NOT be your cue to run. You WILL lose your shields at some point in the fight. you just have to prepare for it. MRPs and HRPs are a must. I repair my MRPs with an AFMU whenever I can to keep them absorbing module damage. Once you lose your MRPs you will take module damage FAST and then you're dead.

I usually do a MRP and canopy health check after every heart.

[Hobo Misanthropus]

The new Guardian Module reinforcement pack stops the Goid from disabling your modules randomly, but does not stop the total disruption wave that you typically use the Shutdown Neutralizer for. However, the Guardian Reinforcement Modules does greatly decrease the shutdown time (Under 1min against a medusa, up from over 3minutes without) if you don't use the Nuetralizer in time.

Don't mean to threadjack, but

@Turd Ferguson is there anywhere you can pick up some anti-scout missions besides Vanguard and Acropolis right now? Scouts are fun to fight, especially now with the complex squadron makeups (Get those Inciters down ASAP) but 10,000CR a kill? hmmm.

[Turd Ferguson]

Originally posted by Hobo Misanthropus:

The new Guardian Module reinforcement pack stops the Goid from disabling your modules randomly, but does not stop the total disruption wave that you typically use the Shutdown Neutralizer for. However, the Guardian Reinforcement Modules does greatly decrease the shutdown time (Under 1min against a medusa, up from over 3minutes without) if you don't use the Nuetralizer in time.

Don't mean to threadjack, but

@Turd Ferguson is there anywhere you can pick up some anti-scout missions besides Vanguard and Acropolis right now? Scouts are fun to fight, especially now with the complex squadron makeups (Get those Inciters down ASAP) but 10,000CR a kill? hmmm.

I dont think so....you can encounter them at USSes without missions but if you want the missions I think those megaships are your only option.

So are you saying the guardian MRPs will prevent modules from rebooting? If so, that might be worth it. same protection...some power draw but keeps your shield up. does it stack or do you only need one?

[Hobo Misanthropus]

I'm not sure if they stack (Probably not), and it only works against the reboot attack from the laser, not the actual shutdown field, so you'll still need a Neutralizer.

The guardian HRPs are pretty good too if you don't want to engineer Heavy Duty HRPs, mathematically they'll work out around the same for AX ops once you stack 2+ and are obviously much, much better than standard HRPs no engineering, and make Meta-Alloy HRP worthless with (Offering more hull and 5% caustic resistance on all classes, and 25% more HP than standard HRPs based on class)

[Turd Ferguson]

Originally posted by Hobo Misanthropus:

I'm not sure if they stack (Probably not), and it only works against the reboot attack from the laser, not the actual shutdown field, so you'll still need a Neutralizer.

The guardian HRPs are pretty good too if you don't want to engineer Heavy Duty HRPs, mathematically they'll work out around the same for AX ops once you stack 2+ and are obviously much, much better than standard HRPs no engineering, and make Meta-Alloy HRP worthless with (Offering more hull and 5% caustic resistance on all classes, and 25% more HP than standard HRPs based on class)

I already got HD HRPs but I need my shield generator to quit rebooting by force lightning. I can avoid the shutdown pulse...thats not a big deal.

[Hobo Misanthropus]

Originally posted by Turd Ferguson:

Originally posted by Hobo Misanthropus:

I'm not sure if they stack (Probably not), and it only works against the reboot attack from the laser, not the actual shutdown field, so you'll still need a Neutralizer.

The guardian HRPs are pretty good too if you don't want to engineer Heavy Duty HRPs, mathematically they'll work out around the same for AX ops once you stack 2+ and are obviously much, much better than standard HRPs no engineering, and make Meta-Alloy HRP worthless with (Offering more hull and 5% caustic resistance on all classes, and 25% more HP than standard HRPs based on class)

I already got HD HRPs but I need my shield generator to quit rebooting by force lightning. I can avoid the shutdown pulse...thats not a big deal.

I should point out, even when I get hit with the total shutdown, my shields stay up for some reason, I don't know if this is normal, or if the module protection is affecting the shield specifically, but I've never had the shield reboot against a thargoid since installing the MRP. But I hardly have what would be called a scientifically valid sample size.

[Witcher]

@Turd, I know you have kindly offered to go goid hunting with me in the past and let me jump into your ship for an easy kill/CR but I would like to wing up with you one day ... I just need to learn/practise more with fixed weapons. Tried them in FAS but found its shields are too weak and not fast enough but now Krait ought to be fill in some of the gaps?

Also, how important is it to have the AX Scanner and/or Field Neutralizer? I prefer not to have the scanner b/c want all 4 SBs in utility slots if possible.

[Hobo Misanthropus]

FAS is trash against interceptors. Chieftain is too.

You'll want to try in a Dropship or Challenger. Gunship I think is okay. Harder to put shots on target, but you get the AX taipan.

[Witcher]

Never liked the Chieftain or FGS - former b/c of low shields and small HPs whilst latter b/c it turns almost as bad as Cutter but can't jump very far. Haven't really looked into new Challenger much except noticed its fuel tank is same as FAS and still has 3 small HPs.

How's the FDS better than FAS?

I remember @Turd said SLF is not a good idea if you want to use Flaks to take out swarms. So is the AX Taipan just as effective as Flaks in taking out swarms?

[Hobo Misanthropus]

Taipan isn't for swarms, it's to distract and get some DPS on the Interceptor. Only flak is good for the swarm. If you're using a Taipan though, you have to be very good at Micromanaging it, because you don't want it distracting the Interceptor when its hearts are exposed, so I set quick commands to pull the Taipan back (Maintain formation) to line up Heart shots. I also keep an "Attack Target" command at hand too, so when I launch the fighter, I order it to go after the Interceptor while I flak the thargons, if the Swarm goes for the fighter, it won't last very long so that problem does kind of solve itself


Typically a battle starts with

-> Deploy Fighter, Immediately order it to hold fire/maintain formation, Before the fighter is even deployed I put one salvo on the Interceptor to get him nice and angry.

-> Order Fighter to attack Interceptor, while I boost away with the Thargons and FA off flak burst them

-> Once Thargons are down, Gauss the Interceptor til its hearts are exposed, order fighter to return to formation to line up heart shots. Repeat until 1 dead bug.

-> Recieve Commendation from Sky Marshal for Doing My Part(tm)

Dropship is better than FAS because of Hardpoints. 4x Medium, one large. Depending on how good you are with flak, you can go Quad Gauss cannons and one flak which can kill Cyclops extremely fast. But you have to be on point dealing with the thargons.

[Witcher]

Lol, I haven't even tried to use flak let alone shooting straight consistently with fixed weapons.

[Hobo Misanthropus]

Originally posted by Witcher:

Lol, I haven't even tried to use flak let alone shooting straight consistently with fixed weapons.

Flak takes a lot of practice, I suggest (And Turd told me to do this, so give him credit) just jumping into interceptor fights and practicing kililng the thargons, then immediately leaving
Keep doing it until you can kill them without a second thought.