Does Flak do anything?

[Kuriousjorj]

Cause I just watched 2 Cylon fighter ships sit right in the middle of the flak field and hack my battlestar.

[USS Midway veteran]

Those are Wardrivers. They will close in and take a position to hack your systems and I have also seen them do that very close to the flak shield. Don't depend on protection from your flak shield with Wardrivers. Make sure to take those things out with your Vipers as soon as they appear.

They will first appear surrounded by a blue "bubble" which is their AOE (Area of Effect). Kill them with your Vipers as soon as they show up. If you don't, the blue "bubble AOE" will disappear as they get closer to their target and they will begin hacking.

Also, do not fire any type of Guided munitions - Nuke, guided missiles or anything else - through that blue "bubble." If you do, those Wardrivers will hack it and send it back to you.

They cannot hack torpedoes, but they can hack just about anything else. Best thing to do is to kill them with VIPERS...as soon as you see the "blue bubble." However, not every "blue bubble" is a Wardriver....you just have to check and see.

[twosnark]

I am going to be a bit contrarian here. . . . . I think in GENERAL flak has little impact on fighters. When I need to swat Wardrivers (or any other Cyclon) I turn flak OFF and focus fire on the fighter group. The point defense canon will make quick work of those buggers.

Yes, always good to have vipers go after wardrivers. . .but frankly I find that it is most efficient to target full strength raider squadron preferentially. I usually have a smaller ship (like an adament) focus fire on Wardrivers close enough to hack. (Battlestars do nicely at knocking down full strength raider groups)

Heavy raiders is a different story. They ALWAYS get priority from the vipers.

Don't get me wrong. . .flak is critical as *missile defense*. Just not fighter defense.

[Sir Wagglepuss III]

Prioritising Heavy Raiders is not necessary if you have decent flak coverage. I humoured myself and tested to see what would happen if 2x Cerberus threw 8x Heavy Raiders at a Jupiter Mk II using nothing but it's flak to protect itself.

At +4 defensive posture, every single Heavy Raider squadron was melted. Like bugs hitting a windshield. The AI is not smart about it's Heavy Raider usage, and will always have them beeline directly towards their intended target. No flanking around the flak.

As for the original post, Wardrivers are an odd one for the AI. They specifically know the very edge of your flak bubble with Wardrivers, and will hover them there. Even if the AI didn't do that, Wardrivers have a hacking range of at least 4km which is more than enough to stay out of flak range even if they didn't taunt you like that.

Flak works great vs Raiders, Heavy Raiders, and Vespids. Depending on how much you shift posture to defensive, squadrons can take up to around 20 hull damage per second if they stick around in flak.

If Wardrivers are giving you hassle, shift your Battlestar's posture to full offensive and focus fire them. You can keep your flak up for munition protection if you need to - Battlestar Artillery has a strangely high hit rate vs squadrons when they wander into it's closest range accuracy bracket. Whilst I have knowledge of nearly all the game's back-end statistics, this is one anomaly that I've never been able to explain through the numbers. I have a few theories on it, but nothing concrete.

[twosnark]

oh thanks for the laugh!!

I am reminded of the story of the Rich guy who has a Wing named after him at the local hospital - - who says with the utmost confidence "We have the best medical care in the WORLD".

So. . . yes. . . A Jupiter II's flak field WILL take out any amount of Heavy Raiders.

How about a Minerva?

I tried a Minerva with the setup you had. After a few turns, I had over 350 cylon boarders and Heavy Raiders were heading back to get more toasters. I saw raiders SIMULTANEOUSLY fly Fore and Aft around the flak field to hit my ship.

I tried an Artemis; and had about 200-250 boarders. Most of the raiders were notably damaged, and none survived the return trip back through the flak field.

The Jupiter I could keep all the heavy raiders out.

I didn't even bother with the Hercules and Valkyrie. My experience is that the flak fields on these ships will let a small (usually manageable) amount of munitions through when I am under intense barrage. Probably wouldn't do much against heavy raiders.

[Sir Wagglepuss III]

Obviously the Minerva and Artemis aren't going to do it, as they have worse flak fields.

At no point did I say that they would cut it, did I?

I said that you don't need to prioritise them if you have decent flak coverage. A Minerva, Heracles and Valkyrie are a far cry from decent flak coverage. An Artemis is eh. It's solid munition protection, but not great anti-squadron. Getting decent flak coverage with those ships involves multiple ships projecting flak and overlapping. Only the Jupiter variants can make a one-ship-claim for providing decent flak.

Said flak fields will still deal considerable damage to Heavy Raiders that fly through them however, and you can still effectively pick them off if you tell your fleet to focus fire them. ♥♥♥♥, you probably don't even need focus fire, just everybody at max offensive posture with no hostile capitals in range and guns pointed in their direction.

Considering the AI vomits the Heavy Raiders directly at you with no thought of tactics or self-preservation, you can easily do this before an enemy fleet gets in range whilst your Vipers task themselves with important things. Like Raiders and Wardrivers.

Prioritising Heavy Raiders is how you get your Viper wing chewed up by Raiders whilst they are shooting at a target they patently do not need to be shooting at.

And honestly, boarding is a minor issue unless they hit you with enough to overwhelm the marine presence on a ship, which is at least 3-4 squadrons parking on board for most Battlestars. Hell, if you're late in the campaigns and have access to the Defender, you can literally ignore boarders thanks to marine reinforcements.

[Jackrabbit_V6/ RSProduxx]

Flak is great at killing your own fighters, that much is for sure :)

[Adler4]

Flak is for defense, against enemy fighters or missiles, but don't your vipers in their fire.

[twosnark]

I don't find flak scrubbing my own squadrons. . .unless they are recalled to a BS using it. In my last two battles, I recalled some assault raptor squadrons and used vipers to defend those battlestars while I lowered the flak wall for deck operations.