Making the move to Wordpress

Just a quick note that I am making the move to WordPress. I want more control over how I deliver the information to you guys and this seemed the next logical step. While Blogger is great to get started and it helped me learn during the last year, it is time to grow and try something new. All the posts and conversations from blogger have been transported over as of this time.

you can see new posts at

Specsworld.co



Thank you

100% Base parts with the Scoundrel and Irradiate Cutthroat to work again!

Busy year with a rough Raid start

By Specialist_AKA_Specs

Long start to the new year for this pirate. I have been busy, and I am falling behind, and for that, I apologize to my readers. This article will discuss the update today. I will go over my progress on the Vindicator fleet I am putting together. I will also discuss the raid and how the refits are going for my fleets. So let us begin!

Where have I been?

I am going to be busy the next month. I took on a project that is two months long, and it is sucking a lot of my time I had set aside for the blog before this commitment. The project will be finished in about four weeks, and then I can get back to writing at least two articles a week and progressing with the game.

Raid Update:

We got a kick in the teeth from the belief by the powers that be that we would all have the newer gear released shortly after Christmas and a couple of weeks before the raid. So I know that the raid was tough at the start for everyone. Lucky for those that built the Centurions with the PAC they lowered the health in the T4 targets Saturday morning and grinding could be done with good driving. Many of those I help that typically could get 30 million on their own still struggled to get to 15 million due to the start and time frame left after the change was made.  I still think that if you did not get the Mauser, you are better served to go with the Arbalest for T4 and Centurions going forward. You are going to want to try to get the Cannoneer if you did not get te Ironclad they are still the best ships for this format.

My main issue with the raid, it was the first time in a year that the weapon was the most important part of being successful. They got away from that for a time (it used to be that you always took the weapon because it was the way forward) and the hull was most important. The reverting to needing the weapon caught many of us by surprise. So much so that for the second time I was unable to be properly prepared without spending over my budget.

Another option for those ,that have a Zelos built and a blank is to refit the new Forsaken gun and special. That will put you in line with the Ironclad at a minimum for the raid.  Which will help you do T4 for relatively cheap or free, I am not sure if they will do T5 because the increase in health was pretty steep for that set. But, it is an excellent cannon and special for generalist hulls, and if you get, it would not be a bad idea to give your Zelos a boost and make it useful.

The last raid was the most expensive for me since the last Scourge. Overall I loved the idea behind the targets. I did find them stale after Saturday grinding away, but that is to be expected with the time needed and points required to gain the prizes.

Vindicator update.

I have a couple more to refit with crossbow 3. They are ranked finally and at Foundry level 4. I have not gone beyond that as I think that is an easy place for most to get to if they are fresh to the game. The tech on them is what you can find in T3 or lower of the Forsaken mission, Campaigns, and research lab. I am using an Aegis to help with resistance and dealing with the Wendigo in the targets. That one turret is a pain for this fleet.
 With two of them, I can make it half way through the target, so I think with four and the Aegis the target can be done with sub par technology.

I am not putting many coins into this fleet, for the simple fact that we will get a change of these targets in the next two months.

My advice to all of my 0 coining players is to get Centurions at least and make their way to the Cannoneer and the Millenium gun.  I know that this will not be helpful to new players and that is why with the next raid I will test this vindicator build in the T3 targets. That will give us a good indication if they can be a bridge to the foundry when targets change.

This weeks Update

Hellwraith will be available in the foundry! That is a great thing for players that could not get that wonderful sub-prior. Of course, people are complaining the new Reaver Armada are hard, and they are taking more damage. So this might not be a good thing for some, but it is an excellent progression made for this line in the Foundry.

You can get the Hellwraith by hitting the level 102 Reaver Armada, and it will take quite a bit of time to get them.

• 192 Tier 5 Skirmish Fragments
• 4 Hellwraith Fragments
• Pieces can be found in the level 102 Reaver Armada.

Blueprints:

• Tiger Shark
• Mimicus System
• Sealed Fire Charges 

That list explains why the items were added to the Forsaken mission.

Heavy Metal TLC

Mega owners will get a new campaign. This TLC will give us 75K Titanium, three metal alloy, and four advance systems. That means that if you own a mega, get ready to get hitting others you can get some new alloys and advanced systems.

The targets are not known yet, but from the notes and the target type Assault, I am hoping it is using our Apollo to gain the prizes.

New Rogue Crew

Probably the most exciting for me personally out of this update is the Rogue TLC and the new crew for base parts.

Scavenger Scoundrels will allow the player to gain 100% more base parts! That crew will be a significant help to those still getting their turrets to level 7.

With the Conquerer level 6 hulls coming in February raid event, this crew will be very useful, and I hope we can win it with rolling shortly.

Irradiated Cutthroat to work again

The most critical bug fixed in my opinion was getting the Cutthroat crew to work with the new reavers. That was a thorn in the side of players since the new Reavers were released and having that fixed will help those of us with a dozen of these crews gain our Uranium.

Edit to add: This crew will only be available at this time through the TLC. So, players can get two of them to start. Use them wisely, while not as helpful as being in the roll, it can help get a few turrets up to level 7 at least.

That wraps up this week's updates!

Have a great week everyone!

Awakening 2 days in - A new player joins the field

By Jan

Introduction

Hello everyone, before I start with a little tipps and tricks on the lvl 74 aka blitz target of this years january event I wanted to introduce myself.
My name is Jan and I have been playing Battle Pirates since the black water days when it all started. Apart from a 1 year break I have been playing almost every day and came back a little over a year ago in late december 2015 to pick up from where I had left.
 The idea for writing and sharing ideas outside of my alliance/sector came a few weeks back, when I gave a lenghty reply to one of Specs posts and he encouraged me to write more if I wanted. (Thanks in advance for that Specs).
I consider myself a non coiner, which means apart from sending gifts to other players in order to help them or thank them for helping me I do not spend money. My own account hasnt received gold from me for several years now, so I have to make up for it with using my limited resources as wisely as possible.
With my posts I hope to provide a tactical insight for other non coiners or lower lvl players who do not have all the latest tech equipped/build/ranked during raids, and maybe provide a different view on upcoming releases from a purely players point of view.
Ok without further ado lets start.

The blitz target or "How to get points without lenghty grind/repair"

As specs has covered all viable options for Tier 4 (B-Set) in his earlier post Scourge are back! lets take a look at a target that requires a little higher tech lvl but neither the millenium gun and new special nor the cannoneer.

First of all what you want to have is an ironclad preferably equipped with mauser cannons. In addition to that a generic fleet of punishers/cents equipped with atleast pacs and arbs. Sometime today the B-set was nerfed to make PACs and Arbs sort of usefull and I noticed the damage dealt by the big gun in the 74 has been halfed, so lets make good use of this.
Here is my build idea for the Ironclad, which I used the campaign tokens for, to rank and build it:

(I am currently using GS3 instead of SiegeTargeting 3, changing this might even make it instant repair on the 74)

The idea is the following:  enter at 9 o'clock and hit 5 buildings to maximize bloodthirst. Then move towards the big gun and sit under its fire until it is destroyed. (The down arrow is your friend). Then retreat and use your cents/punishers to clean up the rest. You can avoid all the small range turrets by inching closer carefully (down arrow). In the video I used my cannoneers, but I ran some tests with my punishers, it is possible.

Prepping lvl 74 with ironclad video

Cannoneers in a lvl 74

To step it up a notch here is and idea on how to hit a lvl 74 for instant repair with your cannoneers 

To conclude this post, I thank everyone for reading and hope it helps a little. As this is the first time I am writing in a blog feel free to provide some tipps on how I can improve myself, constructive criticism is always necessary and welcomend. If you have any further questions just comment below and will answer as soon as possible

Scourge are back!

I remember why I did not like them the first time around

By Specialist_AKA_Specs

Raid is in full swing now, and I know many of you are struggling. I would be a liar if I said that I was not having issues. This raid has been the most costly for me since the last Scourge raid, and I am starting to remember why I hated them, to begin with. I want to be clear that the issue with the raid is not the difficulty level, layout, or even the damage dealt. It is the fact that the buildings have so much health that you have to take extra time to take them down. Hopefully the tips I will share will help you the next couple days and to move forward with this raid series. I could go with my cannoneer build, but as I want to help my non-coiners out with my thoughts and I have been so busy the last two days that i have not been available the focus of this article is to make the Centurion the best possible fleet going forward.

Edit - I just ran a Tier 4 with my Centurions, I still have 3 PAC in the fleet as I am not done with the refits. The PAC blast was taking out more than one turret and was doing far more damage than the start of the raid. Thank you for listening to the concerns expressed by the Moderator team over the last few days to those that made this decision. It will help those with the PAC Centurions to at least grind tier 4 this raid.

Video will be coming shortly as soon as it uploads!

Centurions -

Basic Centurion build for Tier 4

Arbalest can do the Tier 4 targets. The problem is that it takes a bit longer than with the Mauser and will lead you having more chance to take damage. You will want at least 20 arbalests in the fleet (5 per ship) to make this a reality. The good news is that this weapon will allow you to snipe most of the towers. The bad news is that it might take you extra time to finish the target. Again the targets are not challenging in the sense of what we have had the last year of raids. We were able to just take the hull and slap any weapon on it that was in the same class as the best weapon for the format and do well. This raid that was changed, and we were not properly prepared for that. This raid you need the weapon more than the hull.

My Basic strategy for Tier 4

Entering from the top helps more than the bottom or the sides. There are a few targets that start you at the same spot no matter where you enter. But, I cannot remember them and just enter from around the 11 clock position as you look at your screen. This entrance sets me up for the most comfortable way for me to approach the targets.

Take your time and move only when you need to move. Combat speed is crucial in the targets. The large radioactive turret can reach the whole map just about so you do have to keep moving. But, paying attention to the rising turrets can have you in jeopardy quickly. While learning a pattern has been the norm in previous raids. Getting to a spot is far more important in this one as you can take the turret out before it gets a chance to fire on you.

Damage to buildings is your friend! The more damage that you can deal with the buildings the quicker you take down the massive health these buildings have. So you will want Siege Battery 3, it is the most significant special. Followed with Siege Loader for the extra reload (increases DPS) and building damage. That leaves you Engine, Resistance and Nuclear Accelerator (or one of the newer specials for ballistic range).

Mauser Build for Centurion

Mauser will make short work of Tier 4 targets. You could even do T5 with this weapon, it would be similar to using arbalest in the T4. The best setup is the Millenium Cannon and the High-velocity rounds that go with it. Why? Because the targets are not really grouped together so, the splash is not needed, but building damage is. And the Millenium is the best gun for this raid.

My Cannoneer Build

Summary

You might disagree with me on the difficulty of the targets, but after testing and spending more on this raid than I have in the last 4 combined I can tell you that the difficulty is not the target themselves, but it is the amount of health the buildings have. That is why when you get a blue blast from the PAC it seems like it is not doing much damage. That 100K damage is like 5% health, and that is a shame because it is such a rare thing to go off that it should not have been negated to novelty status in my opinion.

You will want to get a newer weapon, and I hope that the powers that be, those that decide what gets into the Forsaken Mission or TLC, will give us another chance to get the Millenium or Mauser this month. Barring the release of those weapons to salvage this raid format. I hope they reconsider the ridiculous amount of health on the targets so that those that are unable to spend the money to get the millennium and cannoneer this month, can get the pieces needed next month.

It was a good first step by letting us have the campaign tower camps, it would have been better if we could have gotten the 30 million points through those camps. It is not like we could get through them in a matter of minutes or even an hour or two. The grind factor would have most cursing by the end of the weekend. But it was a great thing to offer the players, and I am happy it is there. The 6 million points or so from that for tiny damage is a welcomed change to those that I help with the game each day.

Rumors around the water cooler and how they might affect your raid

Vindicator for T3 of the raid, and Rumors of major help to the player base!

By Specialist_AKA_Specs

The January raid event is shaping up to be a major headache for many of us. I can only speculate what might be the final targets for the siege targets. You can only speculate what will be done with the mountains of feedback the players are giving on the forums and in Facebook groups. With all this speculation and chatter there has surfaced a rumor that I hope is true and makes it to the final iteration of the raid this month. Before I get into that, I wanted to share my Vindicator fleet.

Vindicator and Tier 3 of the Raid.

I know that many of you are still waiting for the final video of this fleet in action and I can only say I am close to having a fleet of these able to take a level 60 mining base. While this might not be the best time to release this fleet with the changes to the siege targets coming in a few short months. I still wanted to show how you could take technology that is won through normal gameplay. The fleet features all technology that is gotten through either the campaign system, research labs and no farther than T3 of the Forsaken missions.

The idea behind the build was to maximize building damage and defenses. You will want R4 Vindicators at a minimum, and I hope that most have that by now. This can be done by hitting level 30 and 40 mining platforms. My recommendation is to do so in yellow sector threat at the minimum. The reasoning for R4 is that you get a 4th special slot and that helps the build tremendously with the addition of siege battery.

For the Damage on this hull, I settled for Crossbow 3. The building damage of this weapon is just below the Arbalest and should help in Tier 3 of the raid format. Coupled with Harden barrels 3 your range will be just shy of any other ballistic hull with a 50 range cannon and 40% range boost. Also by taking the hull to R4 you will get some much-needed aid in siege damage boost. The Seige battery three is much needed special due to the resistance against turrets and the boost to damage to buildings.

Armor is D2-R armor. This armor can be retrieved through the campaign system or the Forsaken mission. That will allow you to boost your radiation resistance against the Wendigo turrets in the mining platforms. As well there are radioactive turrets in the new raid format that can hurt a great deal with mini booms that can drop your health fast.

You could easily go with Reflective coating 3 from the campaigns and D2-C or D1-C if you wanted to boost radioactive instead.

Last piece of the puzzle

I know that the Aegis is not easily obtained but the help this can give to your fleet should not be underestimated. You can get the ability to build one of these by reaching R13 of the R&D. My plan will be to show the mining platform without and with this piece. It is not necessary, and I hope you will come to that conclusion as well. It does help with two key areas, though. First, it gives a 40% boost to resistance. Second, it has a field that puts out the ice fields from the Wendigo. An honorable mention would be the Frostburn interceptor. While it does not have the defense boosts it has a larger aura that can let your ships get further ahead.

The video is still coming along, and I needed to finish my raid fleet for this raid, so the final refits to this fleet have taken a back seat. I hope to have them ready to go by next week as I just have to finish adding a few Crossbows to the build.

You could build this to match the speed of the Vindicator and then add in some hails and phalanx with a launcher to help you trigger remote targeting fleets. The key here is to have this hull trailing behind your vindicator to give it that 40% boost to defense.

Rumor for the January Event

As promised there is a rumor I am hearing and was able to share. It is not a sure thing yet, but there is talk that we will have the ability to have two different campaigns at our towers that will grant raid points. Now, these campaigns will be lower tier stuff (think B tier and C-tier) and will be subject to the point reduction that we have in the regular raid. But, the exciting thing about this rumor is that one campaign will be reavers, and one will be legion assault forces. This idea of having older raid formats in the campaign for our younger and less advanced players is an interesting one. It is also one that gives me hope they are listening to feedback and finding a way to help everyone.

That means that if you have fleets that worked the last eight months, you should be able to get some raid points through grinding at your base.

It is complete rumor at this point and subject to change. But, it was too good and the possibilities to share something good too substantial to hold.

Review of the January Raid Preview

Mauser will make your life easier

By Specialist_AKA_Specs

As many of you have already learned the preview was a PITA and most of our older weapons were not very effective. I have put my video up of the progression of me attempting to get the Centurions to work in the level 57 target (this would be T4 I think) and it was a mess with PAC. You can find the video at the end of this article.

Centurion –

What I found was that to do the T4 decently you need a bit more Arbalest. I know that I recommended a build that was working on the level 97 mining bases. It the assumption that the targets would be similar to those, not have enough health on the turrets to withstand multiple blasts from the secondary weapon. I know it sucks and that there is not much time left to get some refitting in if all you have is the Centurion. That knowledge had me taking a night to sit and think and collect thoughts so that I did not get all ranty here. The goal was to get my readers a build that could do at least T4 in the raid, and unless the targets change a bit with the lowering of health in T4, you will have a hard time with the PAC, Earthshaker, and D110.

We have roughly 4 days, if you get your tokens from the Forsaken mission, I will refit at least 4 arbalests to your Centurion at a minimum. If you were able to get the Mauser, I would build the build that did the best for me in the preview.

The Best Centurion for the Raid

Centurion for lower tech levels

Centurion for the low tech level I know might still not cover all players. If you do not have the Nuclear Accelerator then use Harden Barrels 3. You can get Reflective Coating 3 in the Sea of Flames Prize pack 1. You can get D2-R in the Ashes to Ashes Prize pack 1. Both are available to level 50 players.

You will need a siege battery, if you only have 2 or lower then stick to Tier 3 targets. 

Cannoneer –

What can I say about this? It did T4 with the Mauser, could do T5 target with the Mauser. After the Centurion failing with the older tech, I did not even bother testing them on this hull. I did not get the video with the Millenium, but I did manage to auto a 75 for almost the whole fleet health due to connection issues.

The tactics that I ended up using that worked best was to go counter-clockwise the whole way around. This strategy allowed the base to fully rise from the depths. That also helped me to avoid the danger of a platform pushing me into the shorter range turrets. The video I got did not show this as I found this path just as my connection became unstable and I lost connection. I think this path will allow me to do the target for 0 Damage with the Millenium cannon.

My combat speed was about 50 the whole time and that allowed me to dodge the big Launcher in the middle and move out of the way when platforms were coming up. I think you could get by with the mid-40s though and might try that at the start of the Raid.

The build presented is the one I used in the preview. I think I have an idea for a better one, but I want to test it before I share it. 

Best theory idea for the Cannoneer

Mauser build for the Cannoneer

IronClad

In the video, you will see that I could auto the T4 targets with the Mauser. It took a little more damage than my Centurions with a similar setup. But that could have been the build. I would think to increase ballistic resistance and use the Reflective Coating 3 for my specials. That would increase your resistance a bit more and give you less weight.

IronClad build

Summary

Overall I liked the idea behind the targets. I was very discouraged by the fact that the older tech was not so useful. The health of the targets seemed over the top and I am hopeful they tune that down when the raid launches next week. It will be a nasty grind for those without the Mauser, and even with that weapon you will be limited to T4 targets for your Centurion and Ironclad to keep repair time down. That is not to say that you cannot do T5, but just know that the health and damage in those targets is much higher and you should reserve that for the cannoneer builds with the Mauser or Millenium cannons.

The good thing is that the splash was not so noticeable so you could go with just the cannon system 4 and not worry about boosting splash much higher on the Ironclad.

Video

IronClad and Mauser Make a Splash!

And a Second Harlock TideSeeker? Yes! Please!

By Specialist_AKA_Specs

I say take the thing home and worship it! It resembles nothing on the earth, or in the seas or in the skies, so you can't be accused of idolatry.

Today we got to see the much-anticipated IronClad and Mauser Cannon. These two prizes have been the source of much discussion since it was announced that we would have Siege targets for January Event. The Mauser for the update to the current cannons we have, and the IronClad because it has been billed as the TideSeeker for the Siege Targets. Along with these two much-discussed pieces to our arsenal, we have a chance at a second Harlock Tideseeker and an upgrade to our cannon systems. Overall this update was a very exciting one for me as a player.

The IronClad is the hull that will mimic the TIdeseeker for the current raid set to start January 12, 2017. That means it will be auto Tier 4 targets for a coin cost.  This TLC is one that you are going to want to attempt to do if your goal is to auto the raids. The Mauser cannon is a must pick up and matches perfectly with the Cannoneer and The IronClad. The only question we have is Nuclear Accelerator or the Cannon System IV?

IronClad

I will build the Ironclad for testing purposes, my Tide fleet could do Tier 6 by the end of the event on auto, and I suspect that I can reduplicate that success with this fleet.

If we look at the hull a bit closer, we will see that it has all that we expect from a siege class hull. The biggest positive I see is the splash bonus. That will help with taking out the cluster of buildings. Other than the bonus to resistance at max stack, reload and damage will help with auto hitting the targets. The biggest negative I see is the range boost at 30% it will be below the 100 range of the Cannoneer. We saw how important the max range was in the last raid series where you hit the sweet spot for 0 damage or 30 minutes for just inching too close. I fear this will be the same with this hull compared to the Cannoneer.

That is probably why it has 100% stun resistance, and we should expect something to stun our ships while we are attacking these targets. And why this hull is being billed as our Auto hull. 

Mauser vs. Draconian Arbalest/Arbalest vs. Particle Accelerator Cannon

This Mauser cannon is a thing of beauty. Paired with the 200% splash bonus on the Ironclad this cannon will shine. The Arbalest could out DPS it in some instances on single target I think, and this will require some testing. But, I think on the IronClad you would want most of these and maybe one or two Particle Accelerator Cannons for the special it delivers to knock out clusters fast. My sweet spot seems to be 10 PAC per fleet.

By comparing the cannons, the Mauser is king taking out buildings then in order;

• Arbalest
• Crossbow III
• Railgun D-110
• PAC

PAC if you can get the special to go off is nice, but we cannot count on that reliably. I would go for a mix in this case.

I am not sure I will put this on my Current Cannoneer as I am using arbalest and PAC so while I will not be best in the show, the Cannoneer does not have the bonus to splash to make this cannon shine in my opinion. Therefore I will not be spending time in refitting before the raid.

Cannon System IV vs. Nuclear Accelerator

The Cannon System IV tops the Nuclear Accelerator in every way in my honest opinion for the Mauser. It boosts splash, it matches range and increases damage. It is also lighter by 11%. To bad we cannot match it with drum loaders, that would be an excellent combination.

I enjoy the zooming around the map as much as anyone. But, If you get this special then I would definitely go with this over the Nuclear Accelerator. Mostly because in my current build on even the cannoneer I am at max weight without full armor or weapons.

Grab the Harlock Tideseeker

If you have tideseekers you will want to attempt to get the Harlock Tideseeker this time too. It will boost that fleet of three to four tides to be able to auto the level 75 reaver armadas for hours ( was able to go 2 hours and still not have to repair) allowing you the ability to gain Uranium for a days worth of repairs while at work or sleeping.

Bug Fixes -

I could not finish the article without at least mentioning these as one fix was something that was most aggravating for the last week or so.

• Corrected an issue with the calculations being done to determine the movement speed of fleets on the world map. This should address a problem where fleets would appear to reach their destination, then jump back a certain distance and continue traveling to the target.

• Cleaned up some additional cases where stats were incorrectly showing both a plus and minus sign ahead of the bonus value.

While we do not have a fix to the diagonal land tiles yet, we at least got the map speed fixed and of course the confusing +/- signs on some blueprints.