Have a great Weekend all!

I just wanted to take a brief moment to wish everyone a Merry Christmas (or whatever you might be celebrating this time of the year)!

I wanted to let you all know that it has been humbling that the response to the blog has gone so well. I also thank you for understanding the comment moderation due to some spammers trying to flood the comments with sport betting websites and casinos. Because I cannot do much with them other than monitor all submissions the comments are sometimes slow to show up. With the holiday weekend fast here I will not be around much the next couple days so I might not get them on the blog until 24 hours after you post them. I do plan to migrate to a different platform next year that will give me more control over blocking the spammers.

With that said I hope you all have a great Weekend that is safe, and full of family. Enjoy yourself and I will see you all Monday!

Forsaken Mission prizes, Uranium and State of the game Winter edition

By Specialist_AKA_Specs

I was going to do a couple of different posts on this update, but with the holiday fast approaching, I do not want to take up any more of your time or mine. So I am going to cover the Forsaken Mission prizes. I will speak briefly on the changes to uranium, and then include the state of the game notes. We have a lot happening this weekend with the VXP and a TLC for the Mega hulls as well. I will try to keep it as brief as possible.

FM Prize first thoughts

Gargoyle 3 – 

The gargoyle got an upgrade in a massive way. It had a bit more range and huge damage increase. The Gargoyle 3 is going to be something that will force many attackers to stop and range it with that concussive damage. Add in the concussive special (expanded concussive charge), and you are looking at 80K concussive damage for a turret.

Here is the breakdown (as my Good friend George pointed out I made an error, that error was not calculating the salvo so sorry about that, That is why you should not do math before you have sufficient coffee :D)

80,000/10 (number of salvo) = 8,000 per projectile.

Kixeye shows us double the damage so we can half this amount to make it 4K per projectile.

Malice has 6,000 Deflection, which we have to cut in half as well so it is 3,000.

Subtract the 4,000 from the 3000 and we get 1K per projectile at 10 projectiles is 10K damage for a frontline turret on a hull that is designed for tanking concussive targets.

If you add in Transformer and siege battery that will change the numbers again. Attack transformer will add more damage or more range (I would go with damage) and the Siege battery 3 can reduce the turret damage up to 50% at R15.

Very nice upgrade defenders front line turret. Or, you could go with placing one or two of these next to your thermal to combat Subs that might try to prep you.

Hammer Cannon

I was excited to learn we had a new cannon then I saw it. I wanted something for my Cannoneer, and this was not it. Now, I know what you are saying “But specs that damage!” Yes. It has nice stats it is a beautiful weapon that will do awesome on my malice and Valiants. In other words, I see this Cannon as more of a PvP cannon than a PvE cannon.

The reason for this is that it has no splash, it has no piercing. Both of those stats are something I love to have to take out the tightly clustered buildings in the mining bases. Without those stats, it will increase the time I have to spend at each group taking out turrets.

That does not say it will not do the job, and it will. But, I wanted something more to upgrade the Arbalest or the PAC. It is a nice upgrade though for our defense and base hitting fleets.

Drum Reloaders –

What is there not to like about this special? It will match up nice with all our Ballistic weapons. I love the 30% extra damage coupled with 75% reload. This special will make all our ballistic fleets shine. It is one special I cannot wait to win.

Velocity Regulator –

Talk about a tune up to our mortar fleets!, Extra splash and a decent weight percentage. The only problem I see personally is that I have my next raid fleet being built right now and no shipyard time. But, I do love this for the potential I see with my Citadels vendetta and any rocket fleet you might have on the water. Maybe we get away from the Scatterguns coming up, and we will get a new rocket. The radioactive damage boost will be nice with the Retribution basers or even your Valiant with Launchers.

Our Uranium is changing –

Say goodbye to the draw Armada and hello to the Reavers! You will need your Hellwraiths, Tigers, and even Tideseekers going forward for Uranium. This change is to help make those fleets we just spent four months building the last longer and not seem like such a waste of time or coin. I have been using my Tides and Hells for the last few months to gather Uranium. They did as well if not better than my other fleets.

The great thing here is that we will still have our old draw armadas for another month. Also bonus of getting small bits of Uranium even outside of Yellow sector threat. That should help alleviate the problems with getting uranium.

State of the Game – 

First lots of information here. I am happy they outlined the changes to the Raid format. There was a problem of misinformation that players got through the rumor mill with the raids going to three weeks instead of four weeks. That was not true, the truth was we would have three months of the same raid type, and four hull stores a year. Also in the state of the game was the rotation (I think) and that we will see the following Skirmish, Assault, Siege, Garrison. We have just finished the assault style raid and before that was a Skirmish. Siege is coming in January, and that means a Garrison style should hit the scene around April.

What does that all mean? Well, we can see the Mining base change in March or April. The Forsaken mission targets should change June or July. Just so that you are prepared for this and that you begin work on those mortar fleets as soon as you finish your Siege fleets. We will need them for the Garrison raid format.

With the changes to the format comes changes with allowing Conquerer and Defender hulls in PvE targets. Starting February, we will no longer be able to use our PvP fleets (conqueror and defender class) in the raid targets and then when the targets change for our daily chores. That one change means that you will want to get a proper PvE garrison fleet built by June/July.

That change also leads us to the new Tier 6 Conquerer hulls. Yes. We got the OP 9 upgrade and with that came the massive power to base defense. This new class of Conquerer should have been on your radar. What we will get for the first one? Not sure, but they are coming as soon as the January raid format and with them is the reason why they are going to limit them in the PvE targets starting with the new raid format. That also brings us to the red-headed stepchild of the PVP world.

Megas are not going anywhere. Yes.  You might be way behind because you just do not want to do it. The great news is that you do not have to do this part of the game. It does not look like they are going to put tech for other parts of the game into the TLC for the Mega Hulls. But, with that, they are not going away, and they will be getting more features as we move forward in the game. That means that you can please stop asking for a scrap button, the chance of that happening is on par with getting a dry dock.

Summary –

Lots of great changes, really excited about a couple of FM prizes and looking forward to the Tier 6 conquerer hulls and working with the four hull stores in 2017.

Hope everyone enjoys their family time and Merry Christmas!

Raid wrap up and looking to the future

Centurion is the way forward, Cannoneer is the future and low levels need something to get to Centurion.

By Specialist_AKA_Specs

As promised I would get a build on Vindicator ready to do the current mining platforms. I think I have the build and while it is not new player friendly, it is low-level player friendly. You will need items from Tier 3 of the FM, and if you have been following this blog, you know how to go about doing that no later than level 45 (sooner if you play more than I did the test account). Everything in the Vindicator builds you can find in the Forsaken Mission, Campaigns, level 31+ Cargo, and your research lab. The build is highly specialized to do only one thing, and that is hit the current mining platforms. When we see the targets, I will know if it can do the Tier 3 targets.

Why Crossbow?

The targets for the mining bases are very susceptible to ballistic damage. The Crossbow does decent building damage, has the piercing stat of the arbalest allowing it to hit multiple buildings in a line. It can be fired now while on the move, making it far more useful than before. It is also the best weapon I could see in Tier 3 of the FM. Meaning that it is easy to obtain for those that are following the advise to prioritize the FM.

Other choices – Siege cannons, Earthshaker, Particle accelerator cannon, Arbalest, and Drac Arbalest.

Honorable mention: Squall, or Antipode launcher.

Why the Evade armor?

The ballistic guns in the target do most of the damage; the glacial type turrets only fire once by the time you get into range, and you can target them first. So, by getting evade up, you can have most of that direct damage miss you. I am not sure that I would go with another type of armor as I want to raise the evade, and I only have three special slots. You can get this armor in the shell the shore campaign prize package 2.

Why those specials?

We only have three special slots. The siege battery is the best choice at tier 3 FM, because of the 50% it grants at the R15 retrofit lab. This special will make your Radioactive resistance at around 75% and Ballistic around 50%. It also adds building damage bonus which is a huge benefit.

You need the engine and Speed System 4 is the best choice for those that get to Tier 3 in the FM.

Harden Barrels 3 is chosen mostly because I am not 100% sure you could get the best in class Nuclear Accelerator. You need the range boost to kill the stands as soon as possible.

Honorable mentions: In place of Harden Barrels 3, CL-2/CL-3 will boost your resistance and stack with the Siege battery making it more efficient. Your range will be shorter, but you will survive longer.

This is a theory build I have not tested it yet so it might be that I have to go with a different build after I test them. You will want to make sure you are ranked, and I will be putting it to test by the weekend after I get some rank on the fleet.

Centurion –

If you happened to have been successful in the raid and got the 2.65 million points, you will be able to do the nuts and bolts of this build. This build is the one I have used to get my base parts since the level 97 mining bases were released. Many will try to argue with the use of PAC, but there is a reason for this weapon above the others. It has a special ability that triggers every .3% of the time. This ability will level large sections of the platform and the more PAC you have in the fleet, the greater your chance of triggering this ability. I have witnessed a steady secondary blast almost every 10 to 15 seconds within a level 97 mining base.

Everything else in the build is just an upgrade of the information I provided for the Vindicator. The difference is that I went with more resistance and used D5-C and D5-R armor.

Cannoneer – 

I will admit that I am not 100% sure what the new siege targets will bring. But, as usual, I try to put faith in GD Raikan and the telegraphing of what we can expect. They offered the Stun armor and increased the amount we could claim this last raid. That tells me to expect something that can stun our ships in the new targets. That is the reason for the Agility system and the stun armor and the 41% stun resistance.

Why Squall over PAC?

I chose Squall for a bit of flavor, and I want an AOE damage type of weapon, and while I love my Centurion PAC fleet, I wanted to see how this weapon did in the new targets. I think that it might be a benefit to a fleet and help clear buildings out or weaken them. The range is a little short compared to the Arbalest on the ship. But, I can get into range without sacrificing much with the defenses I have.

You will notice I went with a few D33-R, the reason is that it grants a bit more ballistic resistance and I had some weight to spare. I tried to fit a PAC to get that bonus damage so often, but the weight would not allow it.

The rest of the items should make sense and if they do not please ask and I will explain why I chose what I did in this buildout.

Summary

With many questions left to be answered, the cannoneer might need a refit after we see the targets. But, I will build it out as shown and go from there. The Centurion should be ready for Tier 4 targets, and if you can get the Harlock Centurion from the level 97, mining bases might do Tier 5 once we see what we have to work with. I am concerned with the push to offer so many stun resistant armors and I might have to refit that once we get into the new raid format. The vindicator is just a theory build to help low levels move through the foundry that join the game after this last hull raid. If you got the centurion, I would build that, even with the weapons I suggest for the vindicator it will do better and allow you a hull that can be refitted in the future when you get better stuff.

All of this might be mute once we see the Ironclad and how easy that is to get. It is being billed as the tiderseeker for the January raid series. That means for those that do not like to drive, it might be the hull to get as it will auto the Tier 5 targets at least.

Zelos: The Power of Jack

I present Zelos the Mini Cannoneer

By Specialist_AKA_Specs

The December Raid event is going to feature a generalist hull. A new launcher to go with that ship and a special that helps the launcher achieve its full potential. For 30 million points should this hull, weapon and special be a priority with so many other things to take? Players might not want to make a few different ships due to shipyard time being at a premium. This single hull could help ease the stress of the Shipyard and give a player that has little time to play, a fleet that can do the PvE chores. I will present the information about the hull and some of the features of the Squall launcher. Finally, I will share my mini-cannoneer build.

About The Zelos

Countermeasure abilities

Built in Dual countermeasures makes this hull one of the few that can be created without any weapons to start. The fact it has the means to counter mortars and missiles as an ability without using any weapon slots is interesting. This ability is accompanied with four weapon slots dedicated to Countermeasures only. Giving the player a chance to load ten weapons without fear of dropping damage potential to deal with incoming attacks.  Using one slot for your Countermeasure equipment, Frontline Countermeasure, or Countermeasure loader will boost the capability of all countermeasure weapons on the hull, including the built in Counter Measure system. That means that it will be short work to make this ship able to handle various PvE duties with its dedicated ten weapon slots.

10 dedicated Weapon slots

The ten dedicated weapons slots are for surface weapons only. Players will not be able to place UAV or submerged weapons on this hull. Of course, the Game development team is calling the Squall launcher as a perfect match for this hull. Many will look at it and see that it does not have any benefits to lower the reload time or extend the range of the launcher. So why would it be best when it gets a boost to the ballistic range? Well, the Squall grants a boost to resistance for one. That bonus will offset the lower resistance the hull has for the base build. Secondly, it does not need a range-increasing weapon special to get it to 90+ making it a great weapon to spot for remote targeting hulls. The downside is the reload at 11 seconds and the information on how many are needed for a boom. The Squall does have nice damage stats for buildings and ships, so it should fill the need of a Forsaken Mission hull if a player does not want to go the Garrison route. It could also fit the Siege roll if a player does not want to build a second fleet of specialist hulls for that. I guess what I am saying is that if you want just to build a single fleet and then refit for each raid series, this hull would be a good pick up for you. Its special slots make it suitable for any task.

Squall Launcher

I know the questions on the amount of Flechette for the boom is a big issue around the player base. The launcher class of weapon has always been 120 stacks per 10 seconds to get a boom. This feature holds true for the Squall. It also has a 30-second duration on the stacks, meaning that the player will not have to worry about overloading a hull with the launcher. With five salvos on the weapon and all of them hitting 24 of them would be needed at the minimum in the fleet to get a shockwave every time it launches. That is decreased with reloading, of course, at 50% you would need 12 Squall for example. For the article purpose, the build I am suggesting will have 6 per ship.

Five special Slots

The Zelos does not have a boost to reload, but the Flechette special offered does have a 50% reload, and it does have x3 shockwave boost. So with the Squall weapon, you would have one slot dedicated to this special, it is needed for it to function. With the base resistance for everything at 30% and the 3% boost from the weapon, you could get resistance up decent enough for the forsaken mission with little effort. If you had ten of the Squall, two gales 3, two phalanx 4 and the Limited D6-A, you would have 80% missile, 78% explosive, 73% ballistic and then 47% everything else. That is some decent resistance and damage potential for a single hull with no extra armor. From there you can raise resistance based on the target you want to take on. Toss on the Reflective coating 3 and now you have 68% radiation resistance. If the build is this general, you would only spend little time refitting armor based on your needs for the raid series.

Five Armor Slots

Granted the build I am talking about is heavy, it is pushing the max weight limit, and with it, you would only be able to fit four of these in a fleet. But, even the D1 armors can help you push your resistance in a given area to 80% and with the built in siege deflection and assault deflection that would be a strong hull that can take some abuse. The build I am going to share is a theory build and solely based on nothing more than what I can discern right now.

Mini-Cannoneer

With all that explained and I realize that some of the stuff I show in the build was not covered. Feel free to drop me a message if something is not clear. But, this is how I would make the Zelos handle siege targets in the current game and possible next raid. We do not know exactly what that event will hold for the players, but if we go by the stats on the hull being deemed the top of the line for that raid format all of this makes the most sense. I would not expect this hull to do the next raid above Tier 4, maybe Tier 5, but that is highly unlikely. I think the Centurion will be key to Tier 5 with the IronClad and Cannoneer able to do the T5 and T6 for a lower cost.

The Zelos can be created for numerous tasks. It has the weapon slots, the defense capabilities, the special slots and armor slots to make it pliable to anything the game has to offer. It will not be as good as the specialized hulls, it will take more time to repair, but if you do not want to spend all that time developing new fleets you could build a single fleet and then refit it for your needs based on the raid cycle.

Have a great weekend!

4.4 million can change your game forever

Raid Prize list priorities for Non-Coiners

By Specialist_AKA_Specs

The raid is fast approaching about 24 hours for those in world Alpha, and I am positive that everyone is preparing the best way they can for the weeklong event. By now I am sure everyone has seen the prize list and are drooling over many of the fantastic prizes being offered. I am sure there are just as many grumbling at the price point on the Cannoneer. There are a few reasons that I am telling my guys why that price point and conditions is not a bad thing for them. I am also recommending that individual players attempt to get different hulls, specials and weapons based on where they are in the game. Priorities are based on some basic ideas that I have shared for the last seven months on the blog.

The reason the price on the Cannoneer is not so bad is that it helps guide players that are not at end game to grab prizes that will help them now and shortly next month. The Cannoneer will drop in price in January so grabbing something to help with that and getting the Forsaken Mission done easily is the utmost priority.

Below level 60 players

The general advice I am giving to my players below level 60 and unable to do this raid set easily or get to T4 of the FM is to get 4.4 million points.

For 4.4 million points a low level could get the Centurion, Particle Accelerator Cannon, Nova, and Pandemonium Mortar. This path forward would give said player their January raid fleet and a boost in their FM production with the possibility to get to Tier 5 in the weekly mission with some researched components and other items from the Forsaken Mission and campaigns.

But if you can get more than that here is my general advice.

Not able to get to Tier 5 of Forsaken Mission

Points required minimum 6.5 million
Hulls in order of Priority.

Citadel – (7.5 million points) this hull is the king of the Mission, with a proper tank you can do a 109 100% with little effort.

NovaStorm – (750,000)  this hull is second only because it cannot take as much punishment as the Citadel. But, it is a good hull to pick up, and you can hit the outside platforms to reach Tier 5 as many others have done.

Weapons –

Coaxial Firestorm – (3.5 million) I am putting this ahead of the Judgment because of the price and only the price. It will make either of those two hulls that much better at completing Tier 5 in the Forsaken Mission.

Pandemonium Mortars – (1 million) great mortar if you do not have enough points, will get you through the weekly with a bit more effort, but well worth the price.

Specials –

Incendiary Shells – (5 million) – Great stats for explosive weapons and the fire patch can help if you fight the ships in the targets.

January Raid prep

Minimum points needed 8.65 million
Hulls in order of importance

Centurion – (1.75 million) Yes. This is a priority if you cannot get the Cannoneer. It has all we will need for the January raid, can be quick to build and will help you do the mines for base parts. I do not think any other hull should be a priority if you are looking to do the raid in January.

Weapon –

Particle Accelerator Cannon – (900,000) best weapon on offer for the Siege. The blast that happens about every 10 seconds is well worth the cost.

Squall Launcher – (9 million) the love child of a Cyclone and Antipode this weapon should do OK in the Siege raid, my launchers do OK in the current targets. OF course, they could make the targets have some resistance to radioactive that is why I am listing it second.

Specials –

CL-3 (6 million) You could go with the reflective coating 3 as well, either will be beneficial to you. Although, this one is the best in the show due to the two resistance we will need for siege raid targets.

Fletchette Feeder - (6 million) - If you go with the Squall, this will be a much-needed boost.

Thoughts on the Zelos

 You will need 30 million points for this hull.

The Zelos is a generalist hull, and it can be a significant benefit if you can get the points. At 15 million points you could have a single hull that could do all that I offered at the beginning of this article, and you can specialize it a bit for each target. This path wold mean you would have multiple fleets of this hull, but it can be useful if you only want to grab one hull and then grab all the specials, armors, and make sure you grab the Squall Launcher and Fletchette feeder.

What are my Priorities after Outpost 9?

Life after that major upgrade

By Specialist_AkA_Specs

The questions this weekend centered more on what to do after the outpost is upgraded. If you were like many others and just rushed out to upgrade it is understandable why you would have these questions now. I am one of those that started my upgrade as soon as I could, mostly because I do not want to stop after I start upgrading to wait two weeks for it to finish. I was hoping to have my dock upgraded to level 13 for the raid as well. Not that I need it, but because a refit I have an idea for needed it. Some did it because they wanted to get those really cool looking outpost map graphics. Whatever the reason there should be a path forward and a priority on what to build to help get your base back into the non-farm territory. Hopefully, you chose the faction that best works with your current turret layout.

Outpost 9 the massive increase in health

At 3 million health this is a huge upgrade to base health. If we put this into proper perspective, a level 7 stand is 280K health towards total base health. That means that just that single upgrade is equal to 10 level 7 stands (half your stand total for those keeping track). It is similar to all your five warehouses at level 14 with some to spare. It is a massive change in base health, and your bubble pad will be affected soon after it is done.

Warehouse level 15 is 2 million health, so one of these can help balance that Outpost and Two should get you back to even keel. But, those are about 6 days of build time, and we cannot use our base parts for these upgrades. The level eight stands are 12 days, almost 13 days with an officer.  So, what should you do?

First thing head over to BP professor and download his new base damage calculator, or BP Unknown to gather his.

Upgrade two warehouses to level 15 ASAP

I am personally going to upgrade two warehouses to level 15 as soon as possible. I have saved my build tokens from last week and will have one to level 15 right away. If you do not have your warehouses at level 14 now, then that should be your priority as those will get you to a bubble fast. Yes. This means that you will have to put them on the entrance to be hit. But, if you have a good guard you do not want to give the attackers a bunch of opportunities to prep you out. From here you can go one of two ways depending on when you did the OP 9 upgrade.

First way – Upgrade everything that can be upgraded with base parts
 

Everything from Level Eight OP and lower can be done with base parts. Take the time use that Centurion fleet I recommended two weeks ago to go out and fill up on parts daily to get things going. This path will help you get your base up to par fairly quickly leaving you time to deal with the Outpost Nine stuff at your leisure.

Second – Start with Warehouses and then go to Stands

Upgrade all your warehouses as you can do a couple each week. Then, start on the turret stands with your base parts until, you get to the highest level. At that point, you can get three stands done a month if you are caught up on the Forsaken Mission prizes and get the build tokens twice a week.

Cataclysm mortar –

If you were lucky enough to get this mortar you can fit it on a level 7 stand with solar panels and one solar reinforcement armor. If you do not have these specials, you will need to wait for your level eight stands. The benefit of this turret weapon is that it can reach outside your land tiles and target those ships that are setting up with remote targeting. That will force the attacker to reposition the fleet constantly and not be able to stay in one spot long. I would not do more than Four of these turrets though as you would not want to weaken yourself too much when the lead ships come in to trigger that remote targeting.

Summary –

Plan your priorities and then make sure that Warehouses are top of the list at the beginning. After the base is starting well, you might want to consider to upgrade your base defense guard. That is the reason it is wise to try to plan your play out ahead of time and anticipate which way the game developers will take the game. If you started your centurions when I suggested it should be ready for the fourth one by this weekend in time for the new weapon and special. Just in case the new hull is too expensive, and you need a defense hull for your new base. Remember that if they do inflate the costs of the Cannoneer, we will have it at 15 million in January. At least if they keep with the last year worth of raids. And your Centurion fleet should be able to do that easily for zero coins.

I will lay out a new build for them and the Punsiher as soon as I see the new items.

Have a great week and thank ou for reading.

December Raid Preview Server review

No coin needed for Hellwraiths and Tigersharks
By Specialist_AKA_Specs

Got into the preview server this afternoon to test the new 107 target, the 105 I guess is going to be the same as last raid so what worked with that will work this raid again. The 107 was kind of interesting and had a different setup and path than the 105. This pathing and structure did not make the target more difficult; the extra cost will come from having to hit two targets to get the full bonus. I did not test the hellwraith out, but others did and here is a path from TheHolsh that allowed him to do the target with subs for almost 0 damage (Think he had 10 minutes). The tideseekers I tested came from others, and I used my current fleet makeup. The costs ranged from 7 coins to 10 coins for my testing time. I think I could have gotten that lower with more time to practice, but I ran out of time and had to go.

Hellwraith pathway – 0-coin repair

First here is TheHolsh brilliant pathing with hellwraiths that allowed him to do two coins free. Hopefully, the targets do not change much, and this works come raid time. If you mess up, it can hurt a bit. I am sure he is running a standard Hellwraith build from the last three events. If he reads this. Maybe he will feel generous share his build.

It should be noted that if you have tiger sharks you can do the same thing here just mind your timers and go to town. Much like the 105, the path for the hellwraith will work for TigerSharks allowing more people to do the elite targets for the bonus points and seat time.

Harlock Tideseeker and Tideseeker

If you happen to have the Harlock Tideseeker you can auto the targets. This method will be ideal for those without access to the net from a PC or Laptop, and they only have a phone or Ipad to play. The costs for me to auto was between 7 coins and ten coins, and I think that can come down with some changes to my build, or the builds I used from Dragon_Bane. He sent me three to test, and I wanted to make sure I did that for him as he was unable to get into the preview today.

The best setup was with the Mayhem torpedo. That weapon was as reliable as the Calamity and with the splash it had if the reavers grouped well you could kill more than one at a time. It was a stunning experience. The video has all the builds that I used so; please view it and get an idea of how the Tideseeker performs.

The first video is of my current build, driving and I think it was just over 4.5 hours and I hit like a newbie crashing into everything I could. After that, I got into Dragon_Banes builds and tried to do the targets on auto. I never failed in a single target with any build I tried and all were done in a single hit and about 4 to 5 minutes.

Have a great weekend, and I would not worry so much about refitting your fleets. Everything that had worked last month worked this month in the new elite targets. We just need a prize list now and hopefully we can get something soon.

My build

Three of these normal tide seeker

One of this normal tide seeker

With massive update comes big questions for non-coiners

What is the next Step?

By Specialist_Aka_Specs

We had a monster of an Update on Tuesday, December 6, 2016, and with it lots of questions for players. Upgrading the base is going to be quicker for most of the newer and mid-level players. How to best navigate this change is going to be the largest hurdle to those that are still struggling to finish Forsaken Mission fleets, get their raid fleets going and we are not even discussing when to build that defense fleet or base hitting the fleet. So how should a non-coiner consider the approach to this change?

Do not rush

I know the excitement will be there just to get to OP 9 and while the extras are extremely tempting, you should not rush out and just do it. Take the time and gather base parts so that you can get those turrets and warehouses up to max level. The developers gave us a huge benefit to allowing the use of base parts at every level of play up to the Outpost 9 items just released. So, take that! We can still equip later on when the Outpost is upgrading. Taking this path means you need a fleet to gather base parts.

Base Part fleet

Centurion fleet for a student to show them a different way

After you get a fleet to do the Forsaken mission to at least tier 4, your next fleet should be a base part gathering fleet. The beauty of this priority change is that the next raid series will require said base part gathering fleet. The December raid is about a week away; I made recommendations for non-coiners and mid-level players that might not be able to get the new stuff next week to take the Centurion. I am 90% confident that the Centurion will be offered in the raid for a low cost, like all other raids since they made the change have been. You might be able to get the fleet I recommended last week for about 3 million to 5 million raid points. We will know more of course next week, but keep it in mind that a Centurion fleet will get you base parts. With your forsaken missions bringing you Tier 4 twice a week that will get you six days of ship build tokens each month. With your base part gathering fleet you will be able to get your base up to level 8 Outpost, level 7 stands, level 14 warehouses in no time. Following this path will allow you to make that jump to Outpost 9?

Outpost 9 and beyond

I know what you are saying right now; you are saying “But specs that is going to take me so long that by the time I get to this point we will have Outpost 10”. That's a fair thought, and my explanation is as follows; If you follow the advice to upgrade everything to level 8 outposts and max items for warehouse and turrets.The four Warehouses at level 14 will get you close to 10 days off each upgrade and equip on your base.  With a centurion fleet, you can get 600K each time before repairing while at work, school, or just life in general. You will spend about an hour or so hitting the targets and then walk away for about 6 hours. Take a moment to organize your gameplay vs. life and make sure to take on just enough parts to start your upgrades (do not equip yet we can do that while the Outpost is upgrading) and gather enough for the next one. If you play a couple of hours a day, you could theoretically be doing a turret every day, and in a few weeks, you are done with the 20 turrets, four warehouses and outpost 8. I know the next issue is resources right?

How to get resources fast

There is a trick to getting resources quickly it requires that you have the snowfall campaign still available. You can take rhinos and a tank into the first target and get 26 million of each resource if your fleet can hold 109 million total at 500%. That means that to go from 0 to 260 million of each resource is ten hits on auto to start anything you need. The same rhino/tank fleet can be used to get the uranium you need for your upgrades. The another option is a bit more likely to get you hit, but you can go to bases that have their warehouses on the outside and get the resources that way. For Uranium. You can sometimes get your alliance (if they are helpful) to prep them down to one ship so that you can kill it and get the Uranium.

Yes. That means that you will have quite a few other things to do than log in and talk with friends. But we are playing a game right?

Summary

Do not rush this stage of the game. Make sure your Forsaken mission fleet is good for Tier 4 at the minimum, then start your base part collecting fleet. That fleet should be at minimum Centurions, and the raid should have it available next week if you do not have it yet. After that take the time to upgrade everything to level 8 outpost and then start your level 9 outpost so that you can equip turrets on level 7 stands while that is upgrading. If you follow those simple steps, you can get the most out of this change and be ready to rock that Faction choice correctly.

Holy Massive Update!

Who is your Faction?

By Specialist_AKA_Specs

Today we saw a massive update to the game in the forum of base upgrades. Outpost increases to level 9, stands to level 8, new conqueror hulls to be researched by small and mid-level players. Malevolence elite and a new turret. To say that this was a massive update is an understatement there is so much to see here that it took up two posts in the forums. I want to concentrate on one aspect, though, that made me jubilant and should provide some flavor to the game. This change is the factions of course, who are you going to pick? Why you might pick them, and what it means going forward. As well as the faction I am choosing to start and the reason for it.

Factions

We finally get to be the Draconian, or maybe you want to be Scourge. The beauty is that we get to choose and that choice brings with it change to the look of our bases inside and on the world map. Before you get to choose you have to upgrade to level 9 outpost. With that upgrade you get the following:

Outpost 9

• Increased Health to 3,000,000
•  Increased Total Base Power to 342,510
•  Increased Outpost Power to 12,030
•  +1 Tactical Installation Slot
•  +5 Land Tiles
•  Factions

Here is the rundown of each

Reaver

• Molten Tileset Change
• Reaver Player Base Map Icon
• +Radioactive Turret Damage 20%

Forsaken

• Earth Tileset Change
• Forsaken Player Base Map Icon
• +Ballistic Turret Damage 20%

Scourge

• Ancient Tech Ruins Tileset Change
• Scourge Player Base Map Icon
• +Corrosive Turret Damage 20%

Legion

• Barrens Tileset Change
• Legion Player Base Map Icon
• +Penetrative Turret Damage 20%

Draconian

• Draconian Tech Tileset Change
• Draconian Player Base Map Icon
• +Explosive Turret Damage 20%

Each faction gets a bonus to a damage type in the game, none got the concussive bonus, and they get unique tile sets and a map icon. I think the graphics team did an excellent job at the new outposts and of these my favorites are Scourge and the Reavers. They just look so good to me, and I like the tiles they get the most. It might be that I have looked at the earth tiles and draconian tiles for over four years, so the change provided by those two is most appealing.

Why would you choose a faction?

Other than the way they look; your choice should be based on the damage you want to boost your base.  A 20% increase to damage is a good enough bonus to help push your turrets over the threshold of minimum damage. I would not focus all my turrets on one damage type of course, but I would make a few more of my chosen turret to take advantage of that bonus.

The obvious choice for many might be the Scourge. The Corrosive is still one of the most useful damage types to the majority of the base hitters. There is a few that can tank it, namely the Retribution, Spite, and Malice. Others get some deflection to it as well, but not enough to actually tank it properly. We do not have long range turrets though for corrosive, Draconian Scatter and Basilisk is the only turrets this will effect.

The Forsaken get a ballistic boost, and that can be fun for those that have a lot of blunderbuss and Ballista in their base. That extra 20% damage will help push your turrets over the top and do some nice damage. Granted low to mid-level players with their javelins and harpoons will see a boost as well as their disruptor turrets.

Reavers are Radioactive, while that might seem to be limited I will note that Apoc and the new Cataclysm turret are radioactive damage as well. Not to mention the fire patches they put down are radioactive as well, and those patches ignore deflection. Other notable mentions are the Pyroclastic turrets and napalm turrets.

Legion with their penetrative boost will be a big help to bases that have Dead Eye executioners and Executioners. Sent V will also benefit from this choice for small and mid-level players.

The last I want to touch on is the Draconian. The explosive damage boost will let you boost your mortars ( Apoc and Cataclysm primary damage is explosive) and Frostbite/Coldsnap.

When making your choice you will want to take into consideration the damage types you have in your base, and you could go with the majority turrets you have, looking to overwhelm the defenses. You could also go with the one you are weakest in, hoping to boost those few turrets to make you have a secondary damage type that the attacker has to be concerned with.

My choice

For me, I am going to go with the Forsaken at the start. My base is relatively tilted towards the Ballistic damage type, so I want to boost that damage as much as possible. My favorites visually is the Scourge or the Reavers, and if I ever switch damage types I will switch my faction. For now I am Forsaken and will remain so for the foreseeable future.

Which Faction have you chosen?

Change for change sake is bad

Change that is done purposefully and with a plan is good

By Specialist_AKA_Specs

97% of the fun in this game is because it changes. By now many of you have read that change is coming to the map targets this month. I suspect that change will happen after the raid and we will get the current raid targets for our Uranium fleets. Yes. Some have said that this is a bad thing. The new players will not keep up and be left behind. There are even some rumors that the Forsaken Mission targets are changing. I will explain why I never worry when a change is coming and how best to navigate through this if you are a non-coiner and new player to the great game of Battle Pirates.

Changing Map targets

Change in the game has happened since its inception. The game has undergone many changes, and they always happen every few months. Some do not like these changes, even I have not liked some, but for the most part the changes keep the game fresh, and engaging. If the game never changed, I suspect many of you that are reading this would have left already to a different game that was newer, and more of a challenge. So, it is not that change in the game is bad, it is the perception of that change that makes players think it is bad.

Our Uranium targets are going to change. We were told this almost a year ago when the new plan of separating the PvE and PvP hulls came into focus. The reasoning then was to allow our Raid fleets to hav3 a longer shelf life than a couple of months. This change allows new players that are just starting to build these critical fleets still and have them for eight months to a year without fear of falling behind in other aspects of the game. If you can do the current raid the next change to map targets should not scare, you the littlest bit.

We will be seeing our Draconian Armada being changed to the Reaver Armada. So we will need to have our subs or tide seekers ready to go for this change. I know many of you that are reading have your tiger sharks, you have hellwraiths and even at least three to four tideseekers ready to go and possibly ranked. You will be able to keep going with these fleets and get Uranium when you need it.

I understand the fear of change. It is not like when a change happens in the game it has led to issues for players. Sometimes the decision makers decide to push the envelope, and the damage is outrageous and unacceptable. In those times they have rethought and redesigned targets so that they were easier with the technology of the players in mind, not what they felt the players had.

How to cope with these changes

First, you have to understand that every four months something is going to change in the game. That is the way it has been since the beginning of the game. As players we will not be able to stop this, it is going to happen so we might as well accept it. To help with this thought process, remember to build whatever raid fleet is dominating in the current raid series. For this, that would be a sub fleet or Tide Seekers.

Secondly, The Reavers at the change will be susceptible to the same damage they are now. So this is concussive weapons. It also means they should deal the same damage type of Concussive and Explosive (I said ballistic to one when I was tired, sorry about that). That means you will want to defend against those damage types. As a non-coiner or new player you are going to want to attempt to get one of those three hulls I mentioned and then either the Charon torpedo, Mayhem torpedo is a good choice too for these targets. The Tideseekers you will want the Garwood or other concussive type weapons.

Third, if we read CM Doomroosters post and understand it right, the new targets will even wipe the old Reaver targets off the map. This one statement gives me hope that we will see targets more familiar to the last few Raid formats and not the raid setup with the floating mortars and death explosions.

Forsaken Mission change rumors

Beyond what many have tried to push on Facebook and the Forums. The map target changes should not be affecting the Forsaken missions. We are not going to have to battle Reavers for our points and will still have the current targets we have. Yes. We have seen those targets progress since their inception as the game team seemed to tackle with the hulls and weapons they released before the change. Hopefully, they are done tinkering with that target set until we get the new Garrison style raid in the future.

Summary

Remember change for change sake is bad, I will always agree with that sentiment. But, I have not seen the game change for change sake. It is always done along the same general path and if you pay attention to it and have a grasp on the history of the game you can predict which way the game might be going and then plan accordingly. The best pirates never sit tight and hope for the best, they take a gamble and then adjust if that gamble did not pay off.