What can we expect for the new format?
By Specialist_AKA_SPecs
The January Raid format is rumored to be Siege style. This raid format should mimic our Draconian Mining bases. That means that free players should start to think about what they have to take the mining bases. The obvious choice is the Centurion hull. It has all the right resistances, excellent specials, armor slots, and weapon slots. Punisher would be a close second, and with any luck, these two will be able to do at least the Tier 5 targets to get us whatever the new hull and weapon will be for the Siege targets going forward.
What is needed?
Priority is no more than 15 days per ship; you want two of these a month. So balance the build with that in mind. Also if you are making fresh, make the new hulls with a thud 1 and engine so that you can get them out for VXP weekend. Then you will refit them after they are ranked. The build I shared you can see is below ten days for me. I have an officer and R&D level 28 (think, not a priority for me at this time).
Weapons and Armor
I would add in 1 Particle Cannon, for the simple fact that you can time that secondary blast and remove many buildings in a single blast. The next would be Arbalest; the reason is that it can punch through walls very quickly and has good building damage. If you do not have these weapons, then Crossbow is a good alternative to get you started. And that is received in the first few tiers of the Forsaken Mission.
Armor would depend on your taste. I would with D3-R x 2 or D3-C x 3. You could also go with no armor to see how the targets are and how the fleet handles. You want to try to get five in a fleet, so take your total dock weight and divide it by 5 to get an idea of what you can have per ship. The ballistic armor can be found by hitting cargos, do believe level 31 salvages drop them. Level 40 will drop D4 versions (I think unless they changed it). Radiation armor was in the Forsaken Mission, and you can get them in the Ashes to Ashes Campaign.
Specials and Resistance
In the current siege targets, we need ballistic and radiation resistance. You will want to get these as high as possible, so this means CL-3, that is the best for this type of target. You can get the Reflective coating from Ashes to Ashes that gives Radiation resistance and evade. If you go that route, you will want to go with all ballistic resistance armor more than likely to get your resistance up. And maybe auto loader as you cover your evade with that special.
You will want to go with Nuclear Accelerator if you have it, or Harden barrels 3. These specials increase your weapon range to the max level. Honorable mention would be cannon system, while not same range you add reload as the extra benefit.
Siege Battery 3 is the best choice for this slot that gives you almost 50% resistance (R15) to the turrets which will be on the targets and adds to your resistance from the special and armor. If the turret does 20K damage (after kixeye math kicks in) this special will lower that to 10K automatically, and your resistance could reduce that another 8000, granting damage of 2K going to the ship before your deflection.
I chose Speed System 4, but five can be used as the best case here. You just want the best engine you can get, and this one gives turn speed as well as a good combat speed.
Do Not Neglect Retrofit Lab
With all this said you would want to start on the retrofit lab to get these items all to R15 that you can. I would start with my defensive stuff first. Armors, then the resistance special, and then evade specials. From there get your weapons up to R15 and then the other specials after those three things are done.
Flagship
Now you might have Omega Behemoth, and that can be used to give your fleet a boost of 50% reload. If you have a Vassago Punisher, your punisher fleet might be the better choice due to the amount of deflection it has and the fact many of you probably already have this hull. The Vassago gives 50% reload and 40% Radiation resistance and 30% Ballistic resistance putting the Punisher on par with the Centurion/Omega. It also has the right resistances to tackle Siege targets on its own.
Flagship
Now you might have Omega Behemoth, and that can be used to give your fleet a boost of 50% reload. If you have a Vassago Punisher, your punisher fleet might be the better choice due to the amount of deflection it has and the fact many of you probably already have this hull. The Vassago gives 50% reload and 40% Radiation resistance and 30% Ballistic resistance putting the Punisher on par with the Centurion/Omega. It also has the right resistances to tackle Siege targets on its own.
Summary
If you build this fleet now, you can do the current siege targets easily and get base parts. For the raid, worse case this build will only do T4, but it should allow you to get some points in the raid on your own while you wait for your alliance to finish up and offer aid. Best case this build out of the box will handle T5, and you can sit back and relax as you get all your items on your own. The raid format will change in January 2017, so you will want to start this as soon as you finish your Forsaken Mission fleet.
Good article. I would be a bit concerned recommending building punishers, centurions, or the vassago punisher until we learn what the new raid prize will be (I heard its a siege ship).
ReplyDeleteTrue. but my concern is the cost for that hull and those that might not be able to get it :) What if they put the cost for the hull at 50 million points (I know the Hellwraith was 30 million)? They ramped the raid series we are in because of the amount of people that got the hellwraith and built it from August to September. So they know they have a market for releasing a hull early, now it is finding out the break point that a customer is willing to go for to get that advantage.
DeleteBut your advice is solid, and I will say that I could see building blanks and at least waiting for the new weapon and special that I think will be coming in December.
Makes sense especially for the smaller bases that can't get the new stuff.
DeleteI have heard you going to need a seige hull , but for those who do not have punisher build he has given will work great
ReplyDeleteThank you
Deleteand it is not like I am going off a rumor from one of the shows ;) I am going by what the CM had said about 10 days ago about being Under Siege at work and having that in highlight and bold letters. I would take that as almost word we are getting a siege style raid in January.
I do understand peoples worry about wasting shipyard time and building the wrong thing. I would recommend that you build a blank then, and the cheapest weapon for refit time is the Thud 1 and then either an engine or the hull streaming 3 special to get you around the map for VXP. You will have to die to rank. But, four salty dogs have always netted me close to 70% by the time the 36 hours are up without spending any coin.
The advantage to this prep work is that you have the hulls ready, you do not waste a lot of time between now and raid. And if all you can get is the new weapon and special, if those are offered, then you are ready to roll as soon as you can claim them.
i love you!
ReplyDeleteGreat piece. Good on you for making this prediction 2 months out, that is gutsy and valuable. This will be tremendously valuable and better strategy than building the first hull they offer us for an insane cost at the start of the cycle.
ReplyDeleteThank you, that was my goal to give free play players a chance to prepare.
DeleteI am having a hard time deciding to build the V.Punisher or not. 16 day built time is huge
ReplyDeleteIt depends on if you have Cent or punishers built. If you are like most and have punishers, then a blank vassago boosts there stats nicely. If you have cents I would farm the Harlock cent and build that.
DeleteI have 3 Punishers with Mortars
Deletethe v punisher would give you a boost to radiation resistance which would help them in the mines and january raid.
DeleteI have 4 ballistic punishers railguns and no PAC using 3x D5U, but these punishers have very good rank.. Skulled or near skulled.
ReplyDeleteI also have 4 centurions with 6 pac each, issue here is that the armor that is 2 d5e, 2 d5m, 1 bulkhead, and also the armor special that is D5X. The Rest of the specials are speed5, autoloader 3 (the centurions haven't been much used so rank is still low, 20%), siege battery 3, nuc accelerator and D5X..
I do have both a Savage Kodiak and a Omega Bohemoth, both empty hulls, but I can use them just to add damage and/or reduce damage taken..
My question is what fleet I should focus on..? And how much I need to refit..
Honestly, if I was in your shoes I would refit the armor on the Centurions for ballistic and radiation. You will want to get those as close to 90% as you can. Then, either swap the D5-X for CL-3 (if you have it) or keep it. Then I personally would hold until raid to see what weapon and special is available.
ReplyDeleteI would build the Omega with 1 CM weapon and either the hull streaming 3 special (gives map speed) or engine (if you do not have the special).
I am almost 100% sure we will see the new ballistic hull and weapon in the raid in December. My only concern is cost to claim the hull, weapon and special might be out of range of the non-coiners. So, if you are looking for something to do while we wait for the raid, the Centurions will probably be the best choice to focus on, followed by the punishers if you do not have the Cents and cannot get them through the foundry.
I do believe the Centurion will be offered in the raid, as it will be one of the key hulls to doing the raid for low and mid level players that do not coin. At least if we follow the guidelines that the developers have been doing the last year with our raids since the change in PvE vs PvP.
I wanted to add I am talking about using the Centurions in January raid, it is my opinion that they will be good for at least Tier 4 and maybe Tier 5 if you have the flagship with the PAC and maybe the new ballistic weapon. We just need to see it so I can be certain which path I will take with my own builds and then I will share.
DeleteWhy do you think there is such a premium on Earth Shaker Cannons? The Ballistic numbers seem to favor other guns, i.e. Arbalest, PAC, etc.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure why they put the cost for that one cannon so high compared to the others. It might be a matter of the view that the majority of players put on the weapon. Most I talk to love the Earthshaker over the others, while I prefer the more direct damage types as I hate having to wait to go through walls. I would prefer to punch through the wall to the building or ship.
DeleteThe earthshaker is a great cannon, but if you do not want to pay that price I could not blame you when the other options (especially PAC) works just as well.
any thoughts. instead of going ballistic going with the new squall lanuncher
ReplyDeleteWithout seeing the new targets I am not sure what to make of the launchers yet. It could work out, but it more than likely will not be as efficient as the PAC/Arb mix. Or, whatever new weapon they give us in the next raid series.
DeleteI am holding out hope we get a new one.