Rumors of Change to Forsaken Mission prominent over the weekend

How to navigate a Change that is just a rumor?

By Specialist_AKA_Specs

Over the weekend a rumor gained some steam about Kixeye restricting the use of Conqueror hulls from the FM and I would extend that to other PvE targets in the game. I am not going to try to justify this rumor, even if it comes around to being true. I have a few alliances members that are still using their Vendettas for the FM, and they are not even ready to create a fleet of Citadels or other garrison fleets to tackle the FM. The decision to restrict the FM to PvE only hulls will impact their gameplay significantly, and it is with that I had to figure out and share a way to do the FM at least in the short term for those without a mortar hull.

Five points to take into consideration

1. This method of attacking the 109 is not new player friendly. You need to have Punishers or Centurions. 
2. You do need to have built a CM tank
3. Having one of these flagships Omega Behemoth, Savage Kodiak, Vassago Punisher will help make this shine.
4. You will need a steelhead crew or fearless berserker crew (depending on your fleet composition
5. You will have to accept the fact that you are going to take 8+ hours of damage and take a couple of days to do both runs of the FM for T5. 

CM Punisher/Centurion Build

The same rules apply to this build as any other build for the Forsaken Mission. You want to have high explosive resistance (close to 90%), high Missile Resistance (close to 80%), you need at least five Gale 2 (on legend ranked CM ship) or six hail B (Legend ranked ship), and four Phalanx 4 on the CM. If you do not have the phalanx four, you can go with phalanx three on the CM ship.

DPS Punisher/Centurion Build

You will want high explosive and missile resistance, as close to 90% and 80% are good enough. You will want either PAC cannons x 4 or D98 launchers. I run a mixed fleet here with D98 and PAC as I had these built when we could base hit. Your other weapons will be Drac Arbalest due to weight.

Why the Flagships

Omega is there for 50% ballistic reload and that is all. You just need to put a countermeasure weapon on it and nothing else so that it stays put and moves slowly to the targets as you move around the map.

Vassago Punisher gives the 50% reload as well to all punishers you can also add just a countermeasure weapon to this hull and nothing else to help boost DPS. This flagship will not work if you have Centurions.

If you go with D98, you can always choose the Savage Kodiak for the boost to penetrative resistance. This bonus will help you with dealing with the missiles in the target more efficiently.

Your choice of the flagship is completely a personal one. Yes. You can take on the target without them, but your crew of choice will change from Steelheads to Fearless Berserker.

Damage taken

With this fleet and composition as I have described it to you, I have never taken less than 8 hours’ damage to the fleet. I can one hit the 109 as the video below will show you. As a non-coiner, the game limits us to what we might be able to do. I never coin my FM, it just something I have never done. So, it might take me a full day to finish the first run of the FM, it is worth it to me to not have my shipyard tied up doing builds I just do not have the notion to take on.

Fleet in Action

Alternative Punisher build

If you wanted, you could go with Mortars on the Punishers as well. I built this fleet to do Drac U bases at first, so it is not setup properly (the way I describe above) and if you are building new mortars can help you clear the target a bit faster as it is fragile to explosive. So, if you happened to be one of those that build your punishers with  mortars back in the day you would have an easier time making the switch.

Summary

I hope this helps you navigate the changes that might be coming. We still have not gotten confirmation from someone within the company. It 's nice to take these rumors as a warning and prepare for the change so that your game is not interrupted too much.