What AI settings to use for gunboats that will protect a siege destroyer?

[deuxhero]

I want my gunboats (all flak) to target defense drones that will retaliate after I bombard a station with long range turrets, but not rush in and get destroyed by the station's defenses. How do I set this up?

[Wraith]

You dock them on the destroyers and add their gun to the defense

Gunboat turrets work while docked

I haven’t fully tested this yet but the thresher with Boron weapon can probably cripple the fighters enough for your destroyer to take it out

[deuxhero]

Too big to dock.

[Wraith]

Originally posted by deuxhero:

Too big to dock.

Rip guess it not the Oddy then

I would put them on follow then with a tight formation

Turret are automatic anyway

[deuxhero]

Turrets are automatic, but they still need to be pointed towards enemy.

[Vali]

What kind of destroyer is it?

Siege with only one destroyer has slow progress, but its your choice of course.

If the station has more than 50 drones, it could be dangerous for a single corvette. The destroyer holds a bit but he will struggle too.

Just bring 100 MK1 Laserturrets with you and throw them out, if you drop 50 they have usually not a chance. The other 50 just in case if you have to flee.

[deuxhero]

It's the Terran one I can actually buy. L turrets are Paranid plasma, M are argon flak with cowboy mod.

Was thinking of laser turrets, but wanted to be sure before I bought them and dragged them over.

[Wraith]

Originally posted by deuxhero:

Turrets are automatic, but they still need to be pointed towards enemy.

Yah but they should still shoot the ship as they are close enough to the destroyers for the turrets to activate when the drones are near

[EvilVictor]

Originally posted by deuxhero:

I want my gunboats (all flak) to target defense drones that will retaliate after I bombard a station with long range turrets, but not rush in and get destroyed by the station's defenses. How do I set this up?

Set them to follow the commander. If they are the first subordinates you attach they'll be right next to it in the formation. Try to pick a formation that puts them on multiple sides of the destroyer.

For defensive gunboats I usually set their turrets to attack all enemies. They won't always shoot exactly what you want them to, but since they just hang out by the commander they'll change targets as they move out of range.

Ideally, you'll have tough gunboats that can take some hits and have decent turret coverage (hopefully not the Jian since you can't order half of them to fly upside down).

[deuxhero]

Yes the Jian.

[Wenzilber]

Interesting tactic! I'm going to try it out. Sounds fun! :)

I typically just leave the fast and agile fighters and drones to my M Turrets and fighter swarms while my destroyers and missile/plasma frigates blow up the capital ships and stations.

What weapons do you equip your gunboats? I find them to be really slow and about as tank-y as an M class trader. I wonder if the Mass Drivers work on them.

I personally like the frigates better than gunboats or even corvettes. Frigates have about the same damage but are far more resilient. They are also capable of launching combat drones and 2 x S fighters on their own.

[deuxhero]

Originally posted by Wenzilber:

What weapons do you equip your gunboats? I find them to be really slow and about as tank-y as an M class trader. I wonder if the Mass Drivers work on them.

I want my gunboats (all flak)

These gunboats were purchased as anti-fighter escorts, because enough xenon will still overwhelm a destroyer's turret's shields (especially in hazardous sectors).

[EvilVictor]

Originally posted by Wenzilber:

What weapons do you equip your gunboats? I find them to be really slow and about as tank-y as an M class trader. I wonder if the Mass Drivers work on them.

The best gunboat for the escort role is the Teladi Peregrine. I think it's the best gunboat in the game with 3 shields and decent turret coverage. It also has respectable hull strength and is just a flat upgrade over the Minotaur and is tougher and cheaper than the Jian with significantly better turret coverage even thought it has fewer turrets.

Their Osprey also works well in that role if you have something in your fleet that it can dock at for travel since it's almost the slowest ship in the game. It's really tough for an M-class ship though (39k hull and 3 shields).

[SirProsik]

I wish Egosoft would fill in weapons like M Blast Mortar and M Burst Ray as well as 'fix' turrets add Mk2's etc

Not a fan of the Peregrine it does look nice on paper though. I just steal Minotaur Raiders and build Kuraokami to defend trading ships. I use Oddy's to protect fleets/steal xenon build resources,

[EvilVictor]

I love the Peregrine, both for the AI and me. 2 M Plasmas and 4 flak turrets are plenty potent and once you get it setup with the polished mod and your choice of engine mods on your favorite combat engines it flies like a heavy fighter. Nowhere near as sloppy feeling as most of the Corvettes.

I'm not sure a burst ray is needed for the M ships unless they did it as a turret. The M class weapons really have no issues dealing with surface elements. I would like a big blast mortar though, that would be a lot of fun if maybe just a little over-the-top on things like the Dragon or Kuraokami.