Type I Scout advice

[Salakast]

Giving GSF a go, chose the Blackbolt over the Imp Strike Fighter (cos that thing is ugly!!).

 

I am finding that the scout (with me flying it at least:p) dies really, really quickly. I get that it's supposed to be the light & squishy ship, but I just wanted some advice on:

 

Does it get a little more sturdy once you've upgraded some components?

If so, are there any components in particular I should save req for?

I've been trying to switch power about, do you switch power to guns in the scout when attacking or are you too vulnerable like that?

In the meantime is there any particular role/activity I can usefully do that would lead me to be less of a drag on my team, as at the mo I'm free points for the 'pubs:o!!

Or would I be better off ignoring the look and going with the strike fighter for the added survivability?

 

Thanks in advance for any advice:cool:

[The_Raven_Lord]

Distortion Field, get it, use it, love it. Get it fully upgraded ASAP! This thing will save your glorious buttocks more than anything else.

 

For armor, use Lightweight Armor, it's the only thing that makes any kind of appreciable difference.

 

After that, regeneration thrusters or power thrusters. A Scout's life is the fast life, speed is life!

 

Then upgrade your engines, be warned that 2.7 will bring a VERY heavy nerf to Barrel Roll, so best get used to something else so you won't know what you're missing, it's just too sad.

 

When you're attacking, put power to your weapons, when you're idle around a satellite, power your shields, when you need to be going fast, hit F3, then hit the space bar, and then yell "GO BABY!" (There's a lot more to this, I'm just trying to keep it simple. Practice and experience will give you instincts for power management.)

 

Weapons, I like Laser Cannons, but Light Laser Cannons are also good. Try both, see what appeals to you. Rapid Fire Laser Cannons suck, get rid of them.

 

For your secondary weapons, Rocket Pods, I love them. Sabotage Probes are also good, but they take a lot of practice, and they're sort of pointless until they're fully upgraded. Thermite Torpedoes... don't waste your time. For me, Rocket Pods have the most versatility, and I love versatility!

 

Your role in Domination is to rush a satellite ahead of your bombers and survive until reinforcements arrive, then your job becomes reinforcing the defenses of whichever satellite is in trouble.

 

Your role in Death Match is to seek and destroy. But choose your targets wisely. Don't get into a thick melee until you really know what you're doing. Ambush a Gunship instead. Even if you can't kill it, just keep it from freely spamming the Ion Rail Gun, that alone is worth a lot to your team.

 

Everyone's primary role in Deathmatch is to kill without being killed. If you're being attacked, GET OUT THERE! You see a missile lock, drop whatever you're doing and RUN AWAY! As a Scout, you have tissue paper for armor, and a good missile hit will make you plenty sour about life. Tab targets until you find whomever is trying to lock you up and evade him until either he gives up, someone kills him, or you find a good place to turn around and engage him. Preferably somewhere where your superior mobility and maneuverability will give you the edge, somewhere you can break line of sight on very short notice to be able to break missile locks before they fire. Then you can save Distortion or Engine abilities for when you might REALLY need them.

 

For your systems... Booster recharge, Targeting telemetry, or EMP. All are valid choices. Sensor Beacon is pointless, don't even look at it.

 

Co-pilot ability, I run hydro-spanner, but bypass, concentrated fire, or lingering effect are all good. Though, you know what they say about opinions, everyone has one, and they all smell.

 

That's all I got off the top of my head.

 

Don't be afraid to experiment and find what works for you. Get a feel for the fighter, get to know your own play style.

[Nemarus]

Giving GSF a go, chose the Blackbolt over the Imp Strike Fighter (cos that thing is ugly!!).

 

I am finding that the scout (with me flying it at least:p) dies really, really quickly. I get that it's supposed to be the light & squishy ship, but I just wanted some advice on:

 

Does it get a little more sturdy once you've upgraded some components?

If so, are there any components in particular I should save req for?

I've been trying to switch power about, do you switch power to guns in the scout when attacking or are you too vulnerable like that?

In the meantime is there any particular role/activity I can usefully do that would lead me to be less of a drag on my team, as at the mo I'm free points for the 'pubs:o!!

Or would I be better off ignoring the look and going with the strike fighter for the added survivability?

 

Thanks in advance for any advice:cool:

 

My biggest piece of advice would be to design your Blackbolt purely for use in Team Deathmatch (TDM).

 

In Domination, the Blackbolt really doesn't have much of a chance when going up against Bombers on nodes. It has the EMP Blast, which is helpful if you've got a good team flying with you, but it really doesn't have the durability or lethality to dislodge a Bomber.

 

However, in TDM, the Blackbolt can really shine if you capitalize on its mobility. Using either Booster Recharge or Shield-to-Engine Converter, you can boost for long stretches of time. This lets you conduct true hit and fade attacks. Using the Blackbolt's long-range sensors (and ability to equip Dampening sensors), you can skirt the edges of the dogfights and pick out damaged or distracted targets, zoom in, kill, and then zoom out to flee any potential retaliation.

 

You'll also be able to pick up a lot of power-ups, which further increase your survivability, mobility and lethality.

 

On my server, I dominate TDM's in my Blackbolt and routinely get over 20 kills and less than 5 deaths. But to do that you really have to commit to picking targets carefully and knowing how to flee. If you overcommit or overstay your welcome, you'll be easily (and frequently) killed. And in TDM, getting kills doesn't help your team if you're also getting killed often yourself.

 

The biggest danger to a Blackbolt is always a Gunship, though the Blackbolt is probably the biggest danger to Gunships as well. You definitely want to kill Gunships on sight before they kill you. You generally also just want to avoid Bombers, as there's no way to take one out without suffering attrition from its mines or drones.

 

As for build, there are a couple of different combinations:

 

Primary Weapon: Don't take Rapid Laser Cannons, as they are awful. (Medium) Laser Cannons, when combined with a Range Capacitor, can hit targets from 5750m (as opposed to Rapids or Lights, which max out at 4400). They don't hit as hard as Lights up close, but the extra time you spend shooting people from far away makes up for it I think. That being said, it really depends on what your Secondary Weapon choice is...

 

Secondary Weapon: Rocket Pods are great when combined with Laser Cannons. They don't lock on ... but you can use your laser's lead-indicator to hit with them. They're essentially a second Laser, though they can run out of ammo quickly if you aren't careful (note that yellow powerups refill them). That being said, you might also consider Sabotage Probe. It has a shorter range, but if you hit it's pretty much a guaranteed kill. If you take SP, you might want to use Light Laser Cannons instead.

 

Engine: Barrel Roll is the best thing to take currently (since it further adds to your travel speed), though it will be getting nerfed to have double its current cooldown in April, so we'll have to re-evaluate then.

 

Shield: Distortion Field gives you an Evasion boost and an extra missile break. Shield-to-Engine Converter gives you nigh-unlimited boost (though using it frequently will wear your shields down over time). S2E may sound scary, but it really doesn't cost that much shield to use it. Additionally, S2E provides the highest possible shield capacity that the Blackbolt can get. But Distortion Field will make you very hard to hit, and the missile break really is very useful--between it and the Evasion, some opponents will get frustrated trying to kill you and just give up to opt for a different target.

 

System: Booster Recharge or Targeting Telemetry. Targeting Telemetry will give you better burst damage when you go in for the kill, and once upgraded it is great when combined with the Concentrated Fire crew ability. Booster Recharge gives you the potential to boost for a lot longer, though isn't necessary if you take Shield-to-Engine Converter for your shields. In short, I'd go with TT if you take S2E for shields, or BR if you take DF for shields.

 

Armor: Lightweight Armor to further stack Evasion.

 

Capacitor: Range if you take Laser Cannons, Damage if you take Light Laser Cannons.

 

Sensors: Range or Dampening. I'd say Dampening at the moment, to let you flee off the sensors of any pursuers more quickly ... but Dampening is getting nerfed in April. Don't choose Communications.

 

Thrusters: Speed or Regeneration, since you need to be able to outrun and/or out-boost pursuers. Turning Thrusters aren't all that useful, since if you're having to make sharp turns, you're standing around in the same area too long and are leaving yourself vulnerable.

[Zoom_VI]

I would take shielkd to engine coverter over Dfield. It brilliant in that it gives on-demand power with almost no cooldown, which allows you to take EMP field or Telemetry since you won't need booster recharge. It also gives you a base shield arc of 1755 when fully upgraded. Edited March 13, 2014 by Zoom_VI

[Salakast]

Thanks guys, plenty of good advice there for me to try:)

 

Very much appreciated

[wishihadaname]

I'm gonna disagree with you guys on a couple of points here:

 

1) Blackbolt does have a role in domination its job is that of scout and interceptor. First in, first out, be where the enemy doesn't want you. Hunting gunships when defending (assuming you're not alone on the node) as well as intercepting a bomber who has peeled his greesy arse off a sattelite to put along to somewhere else are your primary roles.

 

2) I'm gonna make a case for the quick charge shields. The reason for it is because most gunships run feedback shields and quick charge is the hard counter. Quick charges also recharge very fast. It doesn't lend itself well to jousting since you'll pop on a single turn, but in a dogfight your evasion makes rapid regen more important than a hard slow healing shield.

 

3) Like others have said, use sab probes or rocket pods. Personally I prefer sab probes because i'm a dedicated gunship killer, but thats really up to you.

 

4) TURNING THRUSTERS AND ENGINES! I don't know where you guys got the idea that speed/regen thrusters matter that much. If you have the engine reload system you don't need regen thrusters, and the blackbolt starts with the best turning radius in the game without upgrades. With them it allows you to beat anyone in a turning fight, hump very tightly on sattelites, and generally maneuver like a maniac. For speed use your abundant boost and power engines until you have to shoot or you get hit.

 

5) Also, i'll make a case for rapid fire lasers though I don't personally use them. Rapid lasers have the lowest tracking penalty meaning that though their damage is low, they are most accurate in a turning fight or at high angular velocity. They also have a very low power draw making you able to power your engines in dogfights.

 

 

As far as general playstyle goes, here are 3 basic rules for either game mode:

1) KILL. THE. GUNSHIP. That is your role, if you want to know why its critical try playing a strike fighter for a bit. To explain a bit further, approach gunships either from above or behind (two angles they rarely look at). Get close, really close, like <1000m close and come to a stop. Power weapons and unload. You'll usually scratch the paint a bit before they barrel roll. Count to 3, roll after them, and keep humping their tailpipe until they either make pretty fireworks for you or run back to their team with their tail between their legs.

 

2) You are not a strike fighter. You get hit you bugger out, no exceptions, especially in TDM. Don't feed the enemy kills. You can lose most enemies just by outburning them on your basically endless afterburner. If they really have a hardon for you go take them for a stroll through the nearest sat/mine field.

 

3) Know the other ships. This takes a bit of experience on the field, but you'll figure out for example that the comet breaker gunship can actually fight back and has tougher shields, or that flashfires are not to be casually messed with, or that pikes can shred you with long range guns and missiles in a joust, or that bombers are sort of like a morbidly obese man putting along on a scooter in front of you: you can't make em hurt much through all the padding, and if you get to close behind them they can kill you with a few farts.

Edited March 14, 2014 by wishihadaname

[Armonddd]

The Blackbolt is kind of hard mode. Every choice it has for primary and secondary weapons is harder to use than what the Sting gets (specifically, bursts and clusters are very easy to learn to use), and its systems ability is similar (my favorite is booster recharge, which both scouts get, but beyond that, EMP field is hard to use, sensor beacon is of questionable utility, and targeting telemetry is currently inferior to blaster overcharge). The Sting also gets a reactor component (buffing your shields) instead of the nearly worthless sensors component. The general idea behind a glass cannon class is also harder to get dividends out of than, say, a strike fighter.

 

That's not to say you should jump on the type 2 scout bandwagon; you can certainly do very well on a type 1 scout. It just might be easier to learn the basics on a Sting or Ocula.

 

Practice flying evasively. If you're not lined up on a slow-moving target, wriggle and/or boost. If you are lined up on someone and have to fly in a straight line to get your shots off, be prepared to take one on your rear -- and thus be prepared to get the hell out of there. It's (usually) not worth the risk of dying to try to finish that kill.

 

As above, Distortion Field is a great friend. Get it and practice using it when someone targets you or starts shooting at you. Even if you use it after the first shot hits you, the 60% total evasion it'll grant you (when you've upgraded both it and your lightweight armor) can save your life. You should certainly be popping it every time you enter a head-to-head.

 

Two of the biggest survivability-related problems I have on a new ship come from my engine and shield components. I generally upgrade my engines to t2 ASAP, because reduced cost and cooldown makes that ability so much stronger. Even if I'm not using it to evade a missile, my engine abilities let me survive a number of hairy situations and can potentially reset or even turn around a fight that's going badly.

 

The next thing I do is build up my shield component, generally to t3. Distortion field and quick-charge shields in particular get massive gains from their t3 upgrades (with an extra missile break and always-on 60% shield recharge, respectively), but almost every shield component gets something really nice for t3.

 

Of course, both of these components cost 10k for the final tier of upgrades. It's worth upgrading to t2 on both and then saving up for the t3 before getting (almost) anything else, imo. After that, the 5k you'll spend on maxing out lightweight armor will seem like nothing. (If you choose to fly a Sting, it'll be 6k since you need to unlock it, and then another 6k for your large reactor, but again, it's requisition very well spent.)

 

Once you've learned to survive, you'll need to learn to shoot. Hitting with things that aren't burst lasers and cluster missiles is hard, but practice will make perfect. As that one guy wrote in that one Young Jedi Knights book, "turn, aim, think, shoot". You'll learn to count lock-on times in your head (I can land locks over very loud music because I've internalized the timing of the five beeps) and you'll learn to predict where people are going and thus how much of an opening you'll have. You'll learn how long you need to boost after someone before they're in range, and you'll learn to balance boosting long enough to get into close range with cutting off the boost early to get your shots in (but if you stop boosting too early, they might keep boosting away and you'll lose them).

 

In short: lots and lots of practice.

Edited March 14, 2014 by Armonddd

[Altheran]

1) Blackbolt does have a role in domination its job is that of scout and interceptor.

 

In my opinion, Novadive/Blackbolt isn't an Interceptor. Flashfire/Sting is. I think Novadive/Blackbolt is a Saboteur. Most of his component choices involve getting an indirect advantage instead of focusing on damage and quick killing.

Edited March 14, 2014 by Altheran

[Ramalina]

Giving GSF a go, chose the Blackbolt over the Imp Strike Fighter (cos that thing is ugly!!).

 

Does it get a little more sturdy once you've upgraded some components?

Yes, it certainly does. Though keep in mind that that's still flimsy compared to a gunship or bomber, you'll still have to fly defensively, but it will be a lot easier and take up a smaller proportion of the time you're in a match.

If so, are there any components in particular I should save req for?

[/Quote]

Engine tier 2, for the reduced cooldown; Booster recharge, the only systems slot with a decent survivability buff in early tiers, though if you never run out of engine power pick something else; any of the shield components at tier 2 or 3; Lightweight or Reinforced armor, long term Lightweight should be better, but if you really hate how low on health a single slug railgun shot leaves you then Reinforced is an option; Speed or Turning thrusters at tier 3, either is a better survivability option than the engine power pool ones.

I've been trying to switch power about, do you switch power to guns in the scout when attacking or are you too vulnerable like that?

[/Quote]

That a tactical situation sort of call. If you're in a good position and not under threat you should have power to blasters as you pour fire on the enemy. If you're in a bad position, you should have power to engines and boost out of there. Power to blasters will help you get kills, power to engines will help keep you from being a kill if you boost out when you should. Power to shields will not save you in a scout, use that to regen after you have boosted away and escaped from the fight and have a few seconds where you know you won't take hits to regen shields. Then power to engines and boost back to the fight.

 

In the meantime is there any particular role/activity I can usefully do that would lead me to be less of a drag on my team, as at the mo I'm free points for the 'pubs:o!!

Or would I be better off ignoring the look and going with the strike fighter for the added survivability?

 

As others have said, going after gunships or other type one scouts can be a profitable use of time. I'd also say, use boost to get out of the fight frequently as a beginner. People may rage at you a bit, but the thing is, a beginner needs some time with a low pilot workload (maneuvering, shooting, energy and cooldown management) so that they can look at the tactical situation and then think about what the best way to respond is. Later on you'll get better at piloting and at situational awareness, so it will take much less time to do that, and eventually you'll do it while you're dogfighting. Until you get to that point though, take the time and space you need to think, so that you can fly well.

 

If there aren't any bombers laying minefields at a sat in domination, a type 1 scout can do a really great job at popping turrets with blasters + rockets. It's also easy practice with rockets as you learn the skill needed to use them in a dogfight against a maneuvering opponent. The key is to LOS two of the turrets, and to boost in to blaster range. It takes the turrets a second or two to see your ship and start firing, and if you get in close and shoot during that pause they won't get more than one or two shots at you. Then boost out and regen shields before taking turrets 2 and 3.

 

A strike fighter isn't that much more survivable until well upgraded, and it'll be much worse at running away or evading. Not that a strike can't compete, but in some ways it takes more piloting skill to get equivalent performance from a strike.

[Mathemagica]

Just one thing that I can add to what has been said already. You can gain a lot of survivability by making erratic maneuvers.

If you can't run away from a hot zone (e.g. because you're the only one of your team left near a satellite), fly maneuvers that make it impossible for your enemies to get a clear shot on you. You can fly out of their firing arc, use LoS to avoid lock-on and just perform maneuvers they can't predict.

With a high turning rate and a lot of practice, this will allow you to avoid a lot of damage, if you happen to be stuck in the thick.

[Ramalina]

Oh, in my gearing section I forgot something.

 

Crew passive abilities. Taken one crew member at a time, they're not impressive.

 

If you pick crew so that every single passive works well with your ship, then together the 8 passives can make a big difference. For some ships you'll wind up sacrificing one or two good passives in order to get a co-pilot active ability that's really good.

 

My advice is to use passives to enhance your strengths, be cause they aren't big enough bonuses to really make up deficiencies.

 

So for example, if you run with light armor, choose a defensive crewmember with a bonus to evasion.

[Salakast]

Thanks to all for your advice, tried putting it into practice tonight and did much better. More time running breaking locks, evading fire and getting back into the fight, much less time boosting back from the spawn point:p

 

Ta