Special Request: Hellwraith build

I got my Hellwraith now what?

By Jon Irwin

Specialist AKA Specs

This article is going to be quick to cover some questions I am getting about a Hellwraith build. I am enjoying the raid, even if it is a bit of a grind for me. If you have yet to start I suggest you hit the A set targets, try the elites if you wish. Just realize that it is going to take more than a single fleet for most of the player base.

Now on with the Hellwraith

If you have not done so, you should read the article by Dragon Bane (George) about the twister fire torpedo. It will put this build in a brighter light on why I chose what I chose. Also, understand that I did participate in the open preview server and got to see an iteration of the targets we will be facing. This build takes that into account, as well as my need to hit player fleets on the open water.

With that knowledge in mind, I have decided to go with a mixed approach to my Hellwraith. This build will be able to tackle the raid, help me defend alliance mates from attackers, and just be helluva a lot of fun.

My Builds

Raid build

PvP theory crafting

Why these components

You can get by without the Assualt torpedos; they were added to give me a few more speed. They should never fire, but instead of 63 combat speed, it will be a swift 67 combat speed. The charon torpedo is pretty close to damage of the new fire twister torpedos, only a couple hundred difference and no splash. So, I should still hit pretty hard on that initial volley. 

Magnus 2 was enough with the stealth armor to keep me undetected from the Reavers, and the only issue was if I ran into a subcavitor field. The Ion Thruster 3 is there to help me with turn speed. These two components help give me an excellent combat speed, and good turn speed. The Stealth Attack 4 is there for my dive time and added damage boost. Sealed fire charge is there so that I can increase my projectile speed, and give a little more splash. Of course, we have to have Ablative Armor 3 for the death explosions.

All of this will give me a 14 day 9 hour build time, and I have enough weight available that I could go with more D3-S armor if I need more. I will be able to fit five of these in a fleet, as I do plan to get the Phantom Hellwraith when released in the future.

Summary

There are many different builders, and they might have a different take on the Hellwraith. We are not 100% sure what the raid will bring, and if you do not want to hit player fleets with the new hull, then you will be okay with just the fire twister torpedo. Hopefully, this will help you make up a few decisions when you weight what others have said, and what you wish to accomplish with your new submarine!

Ask specs anything August 10, 2016

This week question was from 10 individuals to my email.

This week there was ten questions for me to answer, and they all centered around one thing, and they came in this morning after people saw the prize list and costs for August raid. So, I figured I would discuss the raid that is starting Thursday, August 11, 2016. This raid is called Schism and is the last in the civil war series in the game of Battle Pirates. This raid you will want to use your Apollos if you have them as it is a hull store raid and the prizes have a hefty cost.

As a player of this game, the question that many have is probably on your lips too. 30 million points for the hull that is supposed to be the best in the September Event is a massive hike from the 15 million points for the Apollo this last raid cycle. What is the player supposed to do with such a high amount of points needed for just that one hull? Not to mention the 12 million points for the weapon and 7 million points for the special (which is required to make that gun shine). This large point total means that for the first time in the game of Battle Pirates the top three prizes are 49 million points! That is going to be out of the reach for many in the game. That is 18 sets of A targets, so it is possible for those that followed the right path and built Apollos over the month to achieve that. For those that have not, well there are two things I would recommend.

In case you have not seen the prizes here they are from the Shipyard with build times

HellWraith

With Fire Twister Torpedo

With Sealed Fire Charge

First step for those without the Apollo

The first thing a player that does not have any submarine at this point, they should aim for one of the other submarines in the prize list. They have added all the right ones to the list, and they will help with the September raid. If you have tiger sharks already, then aim for the weapon and special. Do not take the gun if you cannot get the special too. The reason for this is that the twister fire torpedo is a dumb fire weapon, and it acts more like a mortar under the water than a standard torpedo. The special gives it a nice boost to projectile speed to help it get to the target without missing.

If you do not have the tiger, then aim for the best sub that you can get. As well as Charon torpedoes at the minimum. If you follow this advice, you are looking at 6 million to 14 million points for the raid. This many points will help give you something to aid you in the September raid. The Charon will be just as valuable as a good submarine due to the damage it deals. Styx does not have the same punch and relies on specials to boost the DPS of that weapon. So, I would recommend that you take the Charon and then the best sub you can reach.

Second, step for those without Apollo

The second thing that the players can do is to ask for a mercenary to help you with the raid if you pay for the repairs. Often they do this for a set dollar amount. While I prefer to do as much myself, this event the point total to get the top three prizes is going to be out of reach for most players. This type of player can usually get you 10 million to 30 million points for your deposit. It should be viewed as a last resort and only if you are comfortable with doing so. ask around your sector for someone that is trustworthy.

Think of it as renting a fleet and a captain for your raid and that you will get the benefits of an elite fleet to aid in your development. You would only have to do this once to get to the point of being self-sufficient if you follow sound building advice for your fleets.

The preview

I was lucky to get a spot in the preview server for the September raid target and the new hull. You can find the video on the gaming channel. Be kind and forgive me as it is the first time I have used that program or streamed something. Any tips would be welcomed to make that experience better for all involved, me in producing it and yourself as my viewer.

Summary

If you have the Apollo try the elite targets, but worse case my build shared here will help you do the A sets, and you would need about 18 of them. If you cannot get the special and weapon, do not just take the weapon unless you already have the Charon torpedo and submarine like the NH or Tiger. Tiger is the next best choice for the next raid cycle that with the Charon would be 14 million points. Worse case you could hire someone to help you with the raid if you find it out of your range. Many charge a flat rate for so many points and if you are willing to pay for their repairs far more will be ready to help you meet your goal. I would use that as a last resort and only if you want to get somewhere that you otherwise cannot.

Thank you for reading and any questions feel free to ask in the comments below.

Mega Hulls, Gantry, and Mega target farming!

How can you get your Gantry done and get started with your mega hull?

With the Gantry getting more love this week, and the mega hulls making a splash on the scene. Many people are going to want to have a more efficient way to hit the level 91 mega hulls that spawn during orange sector threat. With that in mind, I wanted to share my Apollo build, it is a little different in that it does not use Switchblades, is not heavy on armor, but heavy on resistance. This build is not a new player friendly build, though; you will need some technology that has taken me a few years to gather.

First things that we need to discuss, read this article by George. He goes over much of what I would have, and this will save me some space in this article.

What is in the 91?

The 91 mega hull is similar to the 86 in the Raid format for the current civil war theme we have going on. Which means that the targets deal corrosive and missile damage, those resistances are the key to success. They are also susceptible to missile damage and retargeting true. Evade is useless for the targets, as I have not seen the Rhino missiles miss, and I shoot down most of the Sent V missiles, and I shoot down all the missiles from the mega ship. So, with that said I ignored Evade.

The player will want to hit these targets to get the gantry started, build the Hyperion, and then farm materials to add weapons and engines to their mega hulls. Yes, it is a major undertaking and will take you time to complete all these steps. Couple this with the fact you need level 20 in Research and Development even to get started and level 30 to get the benefit of the mega hull.

Here is my build

First up the CM Tank, this is what I always build first for every fleet I do.

DPS build

As you can see no switchblade or the special that came with the Apollo. This development has not hindered the build at all, and I will show you the fleet auto on the level 91 in this video.

Full build in Huggies

With George's article and build, and my build and videos showing them in action. Hopefully, this helps sort your own fleets out for the upcoming challenge of hitting level 91 Mega Hulls!

Thank you and have great Weekend!

Ask specs anything August 3, 2016

Two Questions this week; collective thoughts shared by many due to the recent announcements

This week we have two questions, and that means this will be longer than normal. I normally do not do this but, as there seems to be a lot of changes coming people are anxious, and I am getting more questions than normal about the same two subjects.

First one is from Greybeard

FM is changing, will the punishers still work?

Hey Greybeard,

No one can say for certain what the changes will mean. We only have brief insight and that is that the 102 will be easier, and the 109 will be harder. What this means for the Punisher build and more importantly my single Punisher build that could take the 107 I am not sure yet. I will work on solving the 109 for the cheapest and quickest possible build once I see the targets. 

What we can be sure of, and if you have shipyard time right now, is that mortars will still work. This change in the FM means that garrison type hulls will be good no matter what, and fitting mortars will be the best damage dealer. Keep with the same concept as the CM/Tank I gave out that could do the whole 107 and I think with some Citadels, Berserkers, Nova and even DNX behind it will help you until we can see what we have. I will attempt to use just Citadels when the change happens in the 109; I will have a minor refit that can be taken care of with tokens from this week and the raid. So, I will be ready to go when the change happens. At that time, I will share my build and video of my success or failure.

For now, if you have something mortar particular around. I choose the Citadel (being the best option for 109 I think), but you will want to refit your best mortar (Judgment or Firestorm coaxial being the best). Use the best engine, 4 to 5 of the Judgment or Seige mortars rest hail B/Gale 2. Then use either siege bat and CM loader 3, or Frontline CM and Siege Targeting, with something that increases splash. That build should help you mitigate most of the change and put you in line for a minor tweak (once we see the targets) on your best mortar hull you have.

The Next question comes from Wardog

I want to do the September raid, what should I look for this hull raid?

Hey Wardog,

We have a hull store coming up, so good idea to think ahead on what to grab to help you in the future. A new sub is available in August raid along with new torpedo and special. So, if you can, I would aim for those three prizes. You could try Proto Hunters if they have them in the prize store, they have great concussive resistance and plenty of weapon slots and hybrid slots to help you build a fleet to take on the Reavers. From what we have seen from the preview videos and the targets we have hit on the live server. You are going to want explosive resistance, concussive resistance and combat speed. You will also want to deal concussive damage. With that in mind, that should help you at least plan for what you need to have based on your technology level in the game. 

For subs, you will want dive time, speed, and explosive resistance. So that is battery 3 (or similar to increase dive time), Magnus 2 (fastest engine we have with enough cloak to keep you undetected) and Ablative 3. From my experience, those three are a must. 

Surface fleets I have not tested a lot of, but you will want concussive based weapons, combat speed, high evade, explosive resistance, and concussive resistance. You need a bit more with them due to not being able to hide and not take damage at times.

When I get a better idea of the targets and see what we have, I will provide a more substantial build and advice to dealing with them.

Thank you all for the questions and feel free to hit the inbox with more if you need to

Have a great week!

Would you like to play a Game?

Wouldn't you prefer a good game of Chess?

By: George Argyropoulos
a/k/a Dragon_Bane

A quick word on the newest Battle Pirates campaign up on offer from Kixeye- Wargames.

I am going to concentrate on just the first three targets, 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3 as I think the special is one that has many applications, but the ideas presented herein can be applied to all three levels in some manner.

On first blush, and from all the screaming, it looks like this campaign is a bust for most all players... but need it be? While I understand the frustration, I think that maybe players should try and break down what we see and attempt to make it manageable to their level and ability. No, not everyone is going to be able to rip through all three levels, in fact, I'm not sure that I will, but I will in fact try.

One thing that seems be repeated everywhere in which players are voicing their frustration, is that players are overlooking the fact that this is a PvE target. Don't mistake me- it is set up for PvP,  as PvP, using mostly PvP rules of engagement... however, the rules of PvE have necessarily bled through, and that can be taken advantage of.

While the campaign is certainly difficult, especially without Revenges or Vendettas, it is not impossible. You have to view it in a different light than traditional base hitting and see what is different that you may be able to take advantage of.

1. The bases never bubble. NEVER. You can engage the target as many times as you want!!!
2. You have MORE than 5 minutes. Timing out at over 25-50% means nothing.
3. You have 20 rockets. Use them!
4. If you have remote targeting hulls, take advantage of this and just use up tanks to soak up damage.


Mortar hulls seem to do the best, so that is what I will concentrate on, particularly with the popularity of Novas and DNXs lately.

Target 1.1

The WHs circled in red are first opportunity targets and these in particular can be targeted from the outside of the channel. With remote targeting mortars this delivers killing blows to the turrets nearby as well ( with remote targeting missiles it offers plenty of retargeting opportunities to the turrets and ships).
After doing as much damage as you can from the outside, start breaking down the target into way-points for each incursion into the base. In this way you can maximize the potential from each of your pinches and maximize your damage per engagement. I marked what way-points I used with yellow boxes.

The same ideas and theories used in target 1.1 can be used in the next two as well.

Target 1.2

Again, the circled WHs are opportunities for good splash damage and can be had from outside the channel. The next thing that needs to be chipped away at are the 2 Gammas. After this you have a few choices- you can try and get rid of the Aegis or do what I did- I just rushed the base to keep all those morts from hitting my spotter and let my remote targeting do the work for me.

Target 1.3

This one gets tricky as there are a lot of killer missiles coming in to get you at great distances thanks to the DEEs. The 3 circled targets, again, can be had from the outside, however, in this target if you don't have anything that can stand up to DEEs, then go straight to breaking down the target into the way-points. I did in fact do this with 2 Puns and 3 Vens. The 2 green triangles are ships I should have pinched and targeted in separate encounters so should be an option for you to consider.

All told, I ended up doing the first set coin free with just under 9 hours repair. Results vary, but I hope this gives some of you some ideas to try. I particularly recommend trying to get the special and doing this first set. Good luck!!


Update: I did in fact use this methodology successfully in the entirety of the campaign. I did ok overall. I used 3 of the 5 Hr speed-up tokens and about 15 coin altogether. It would have helped had I a better built Revenge or a few more Vendettas. The last set is nerve wracking as the timer is rather tight if you work the targets like this. Hope this helps!!!

Day in the life of a new Battle Pirates Player July 25, 2016

How to find those Blueprints; what salvages you should hit

It was a rough week, and time has been short actually to do much on the new account. But, I have made some progress and close to finishing up my Mauler fleet. My warehouses are enough finally to build a Dreadnought in one go. The build I have settled on is the crossbow, and I will share two possible builds that you can choose what you would like to have. Personally, I am leaning towards the auto loader for now until ranked, then swapping to siege bat.

Dreadnought 1

Dreadnought 2

Pro-Tip to finding where to get the Blueprints from

One tip I learned today from Bort is that you can get help knowing where to find individual blueprints by going to your shipyard, designer and clicking the box that shows you Blueprints you do not own. By hovering over them, you get hints of where to go to get them. This step can help take the frustration out of knowing what to hit to get that blueprint you wanted.

Here is the video showing how to get that information.

Future Goals this week

My goals for this week is to finish getting the warehouses to max level for my OP, starting at least 1 Dreadnought so that I can get moving on the higher strongholds. Begin upgrading turrets to level 5 as well as finish walls to level 4 at least.

I want to hit T2 starting next week at least as I am wrapping up T1 blueprints now in the FM this week.

Hope you are all well and that this information helps you moving forward.

A Different perspective from Bort on how to start the game

One more way to approach the game from a new player starting point

I thought this might be helpful for those that might want a different perspective than I have on starting out. Bort on the forums has given me permission to add his thoughts on this process to the blog, and I will summarize it every Friday. I hope that it provides some insight into a different way to go and help the new player make a choice on how to play the game.

The first thing you need to know is that Bort is making a straight move to the Sea Wolves and not going the campaign route.

From his forum posting, you can find his full write up here

Things that are easier

• Buildings are even quicker
• Many hulls / weapons / specials are even faster
• Researched weapons are stronger
• equipping turrets are independent of the building
• the potential for getting decent hulls early through the foundry
• regular vxp weekends (although my first will be the next one)

Things that are harder

• The FM is much tougher, even to get a foot in the door
• Raids are likely to be tougher to start

Mistakes made and shared experience

Which matches with my experience so far, He also made some critical mistakes that I mentioned earlier with not paying attention to what was needed to meet requirements for certain things. So, he got the shockwave morts but did not upgrade the intelligence lab to level four. Not upgrading the Launchpad so he could not use his rockets he researched right way. And the last early mistake was ignoring the fundamental researches so he could not use the mortars even after getting the intelligence lab upgraded.

We both share in not rolling for our free crews daily

Remember you want to do the basic research stuff in the lab this is.

Naval Lab minimum researches

• Iron 1 thru 4
• Steel 1 thru 4
• Titanium 3 and 4
• Depleted Uranium Armor 4

Weapon Labs minimum researches

• Thud I thru IV
• Rapier 1 thru IV
• Cutlass 4 (3 if you want to use it while looking for other missiles in salvages)
• Ripper IV
• Diplomat IV
• Peacemaker IV
• Hydra rockets IV
• Malestorm Rockets IV

Advance lab best researches for early to mid-game

• Guidance Scrambler
• Solid Fuel Booster
• Ablative armor
• Reactive armor
• Harden barrels
• Autoloader

If you follow, that guide for researching. Keep upgrading your buildings to the max level for the outpost.  Your intelligence lab to around 6. It will help you meet the necessary requirements for most things that you will find you need to succeed in the game.

Any questions feel free to comment below, have a great weekend!

Civil War: Allegiance 36 hours’ in

August raid prep should start today!

This raid has been pretty fun I think for most. I do understand that many are unable to do it because of a lack of technology. Or, at least that is the thought process, and the first excuse is not having the technology. Unfortunately, we are in this place within the game that you have to build specific ships and configurations to have success. Those that follow this path are having a very comfortable and enjoyable raid. Those that choose to ignore this route have problems and frustration.

As a player, you do not want to hear this, but the game has moved on from being able to be done with a single fleet and into the era of having to have a fleet for different targets. Kixeye told us this was coming almost two years ago; it just took them that long to get it there.

Now this is not to be a rub your face into the fact the raid is not difficult, and you should have built x. I have seen many struggling with the raid, and I am helping those that are closest to me that did not get the fleet build right, or maybe the player is too new to the game and only got one Apollo finished due to whatever. I just want to point out that we cannot ignore the direction they have taken the game. We are not going to change that direction as it looks like a majority has decided to go with the flow and build the way that Kixeye wanted. This direction the game has gone means that the only choice available to us that wish to keep playing is to build fleets that can do the game for a decent to no cost.

August Raid is a Hull Raid 

We have a hull raid in about 30 days and with that comes the chance to get hulls we missed the previous four months. What a player needs today either Rhino or Apollo. If you have rhinos, and you are not sure on the Vanquisher, get to 15 million and take the Apollo. Even a single Apollo to tank for the rhinos can do the A sets and get you some nice points next month. Instead of giving you an exact build that is working let me tell you what you should be looking at in your fleet.

First the targets deal out Corrosive and Missile damage. The rhinos in the targets seem to miss no matter the evade percentage. So, you want to raise the damage resistance to those two types as much as you can. For the Heavy Cruisers, you want combat speed, as they are short range (about 80) you can kite them with speedy fleets. For the rhinos, you want countermeasures as the missiles can be shot down. For the stands, you will boost your Corrosive resistance with siege battery and frontline countermeasure. Couple either of those with an assault ship that has some natural corrosive resistance and you can get up to 75% resistance.

With that in mind, you will want (in order of best to worst) Apollo, Rhino, Kodiak, V2-H and Missile Cruiser X. These hulls give the most resistance to corrosive and are all missile based which do the best in the targets.

That thought brings up your damage types; missiles work best. They are quick to the target and with retargeting true you can kill or damage other stands and ships close to each other. You could lead a fleet of mortar ships with remote targeting as well, but that is hard to control well due to the difference in combat speed. You will have to remove fleet in the targets and then go back in with the mortars to keep your damage taken on the cheap side.

Summarize your thoughts specs!

So, let us wrap it up Hulls you want are found in the assault tab of the foundry. If you do not have it yet, grab the Rhino at a minimum and if you can get 15 million make sure to take the Apollo. You can get 1 to 2 built and up to 4 Rhino done by next raid if you start today. Keep the builds to no more than 14 days max to make sure you are ready to go.

You want some resistance to corrosive and missile. Corrosive can only be achieved with natural Resistance and siege battery or frontline countermeasure. You will want phalanx to shoot down the missiles as evade pretty useless in these targets. You will want good combat speed and high maneuverability (Turn speed), retarget true is a life savior, and then after that, if you have extra special slots use anything to boost your damage type.

You will want to use missiles mostly, although if you can prep the fleets, it can open you to running a tank and then Mortars to clear the stands and mega ships (if you hit that high up). The targets seem to have a high resistance to ballistics and launchers.

If you follow this advice, you will have some success in the raid in August, and you can get enough points with chair time to not spend money.

If I get time today to capture some videos I will of others doing the raid with various technology. I am using 3 apollo of varying degrees of rank and having great success.

Some Battle Pirate Wisdom from a long time player

BP Priorities 

George Argyropoulos July 9, 2016

And so, with another raid upon us, we should take a moment to reflect and review in-game priorities.

I have a rather strict view of priorities in this game. Some aspects of the game overlap and wash into other areas of Battle Pirates and so I think it is important to make sure that you have a good solid foundation from which to grow and advance your game.

While aspects of the game change, these priorities seem to have held over time.

1. Forsaken Mission

2. Raids/'Chores'

3/4. Baser/Base Defense

1. The basic premise of this list goes like this: The FM prizes and possible tokens that are available in the FM have consistently driven the tech in the grand scheme of designs in the game. If you can't do this aspect of the game, you are compromising yourself, your viability and fun in Battle Pirates. The FM is always the priority when choosing prizes in the raid.

2. Raids are, by their very nature, the events that push the tech envelope forward. The FM prizes sometimes revolve around Raid offerings etc. The raids are second however because of the sheer volume of content in the FM as opposed to the Raids. What we have seen lately is a bleed over from raids to FMs and chores (like the TLC), so this is a very close priority to the FMs.

3./4. Depending on your preference you might go base hitting or base defense. Traditionally, the trend was always base defense first. If you are in the enviable position wherein this is a choice you have, be thankful you are caught up. When you are here, the game is much easier and far more fun.

Your raid choices and precious time in your shipyard should revolve around these priorities fully. Especially when you are in an alliance and you are receiving (or paying) for help, you need to think ahead and ask yourself two things: 1. What will give me a larger boost the most in my day to day gameplay and 2? What is going to help me and the alliance long term? What will reduce our costs and improve our overall game-play the most? If you can answer these two questions and apply those solutions, you will find the game enjoyable.

George Argyropoulos is a freelance writer for specsworld.co 

Specs! Help us stop these Revenge and Vendettas!

There is a new tool in our arsenal that you might have to combat base hitters.

OK, Lots of people are contacting me in the game and wondering how I am stopping the revenge and vendettas hitting my base. After many attempts on my base and many hits by myself on others I can say that I have found a few ways to combat this growing menace to our waters.

I will point you back to my original article on this subject last month, and all that still works. I have found a new trick to stop the growing number of legend ranked baser that combines all of that in that one post and at least one of the follow hulls.

https://www.dahippo.com/bp/ship/#!306E0292929295Y2M0000ALALALALALALALAL05U0292929295Y2M00ALALALALALALALAL05O0292929295Y2M00ALALALALALALALAL060029295Y2M0000ALALALAL00000006O02929295Y2M0000ALALALALALALALALdC

Any one of those will boost your base defense and help against the Vendetta and even the Revenge. They will either have to pause and take them out from a distance, just make sure that you are hitting that area with Executioners, Apoc or other mortars, and explosive/corrosive damage turrets.

I also intentionally left two slots empty on the special slots so that you could customize the build to fit your personal tastes. You could go with the Cryo battery that will help lower your attackers defense and slow them down a little. You could go with a resonance battery and put in the Vendetta or something else to power it. You could do whatever you desire with those two slots.

I hope this helps some with another tool you might have laying around in your arsenal to aid you in the fight against the rampaging base hitters. Just make sure you take care to protect against subs.They can still sub you out and then all that is for nothing.

Received a question on why this works so well

The reason that this UAV works best over the others is due to the duration it swarms. At max Retro it is close to 15 seconds of damage that happens no matter what happens to the Ship. So, that is a lot of damage being delivered even after the fact. Also we have the minimum damage values and there is a rumor that the minimum damage on the UAV is a bit higher than that of other weapons. This seems to hold true from my tests of hitting bases with this UAV in it.

Day in the life of a new Battle Pirate player

Getting something good; Mauler the workhorse

It is the fourth of July weekend, and I plan to have fun with family, friends and enjoy my holiday. I hope you do too.

So, I am going to set the base on more auto type things. My Outpost is going to level 5 that is over two days to build.

I have finished the mauler campaign prize pack one, I will be building a fleet of those next, I will leave room for the Hail B that I can get from prize pack two and a slot to hold the phalanx when I get that on a few levels.

Death Grip Campaign – 

To do this campaign, I made use of Bunker Buster Small rockets and my 3x Diplomat IV mortar Leviathan fleet with Reactive Armor 2. By using bunker buster to remove the bombard turrets, it allowed my mortars all to make it to target. No armor allows them to be repaired for 5 min before instant repair, meaning at most I am down 25 minutes between deaths. The reactive armor is the best choice as the ships that cause the most damage have assault missiles, so reducing that damage is best.

The higher you go in the campaign, the more advance type turrets you will see. So, you will want to use some bunker busters to take out the halo and javelins to help the slow-moving mortar fleet that I used. It takes 20 minutes per rocket so that you can do one per repair time. You could also use Pinch missiles if you wanted, but honestly why not remove them from the target?

Yes, it is going to take a bit longer than the two-hour window to do the campaign, but I have no choice. If I do not put in the seat time, I will not be able to advance. Two hours a day might be good for most, but I am finding it restrictive on what can get done in a day.

Mauler future build 

My Mauler build will be pretty basic to start, but until I get a better hull, it will be a work horse and will get refitted when I get better stuff. Right now it has technology from the research labs and the campaigns.

https://www.dahippo.com/bp/ship/#!304O00U0U0U0U5J0G0B3O3O3O3O004M04O00U0U0U0U5J0G0B3O3O3O3O004M04O00U0U0U0U5J0G0B3O3O3O3O004M04O00U0U0U0U5J0G0B3O3O3O3O004M04O00U0U0U0U5J0G0B3O3O3O3O004Md8

Have a great Weekend everyone! 

My Rant

This is not meant to be anything other than comfort for myself

The weekly has been a source of frustration for us players for as long as I can remember. It started out as a little thing and then grew each year. I still remember the day it went to 4.5 million and the outcries on the forums about how that was impossible and that none of the average players would be able to obtain it. Of course, at that time I could not get to 4.5 million either. But, being me, I went about analyzing the targets and watching others that had some success and then collected and built what I needed. It took me a good six months to get to 4.5 million, but boy what is worth the trip!

The second major change

Then, Kixeye (in typical fashion) pulled another stunt and raised it 50 million.  This new FM was going to be the death stroke to the game if you believed the forums. Granted, I was in a much better place by this time having resolved myself to the direction they were taking the game and I was ready for this change. It did not solve the issue for others that came behind me, though. They were sorely behind the technological curve and did not have the knowledge that I had. It was at this time I started to pull in those that wanted to learn and struggling to teach them what I knew and how to anticipate changes that might be coming. It was a fun time, now that I look back at that year long endeavor. I made some new friends and helped quite a few find a new love for this game. It was short lived though as not a year later more changes come.

The Last change

Now we arrive at the big day a full year later and low and behold Kixeye does it again. Save this time they did it in stages. First, they introduced the 150 million mark for Tier 5 and tucked some shards and technology that was in a past raid. Then, they decided that people were getting 100’s of millions above that hitting the level 85 that they should go to 350 million! They put more shards in (which who really wants that stuff right?) and they moved our beloved bonus tokens from Tier 4 to Tier 5! Of course, they would throw us a bone and give us a target that was worth 73 million each, making, so we needed to hit five of them to reach that tier.

I was technically ready for this change too. I had the means to hit the higher paying targets. I had ways to keep going and do the 150 million each week while we had a month to prepare for the big change. I chose to take a couple weeks off instead. Why? Well, I was not sure I had it in me to keep teaching new players, and some old, how to handle these changes. This recent change seemed to be a bit too much, and I was not very happy about it. I might not coin as much as the next person, but I do spend a mighty sum on this game, and I believe, they felt they could get even more out of the stone that was running dry. I never spend on the weekly, and I find it counterproductive to pay for a chore that I do not like to do. Especially, as I see it as a reward for decisions, I do not agree were being made. Now, you might be of a different opinion and that is great, but if you are not happy with the changes, and your behavior is tossing money at it to be successful in any amount is the problem.

Wrap up

You are free to spend your money any way you choose. I am a firm believer in free markets and the individual choice to do what makes that person happy. I just wish you would think about how your decision to give a company money affects the decisions they make at changing the game. And I know there are plenty out there that will toss $10 or $20 on the weekly just to get it done. The problem comes when the player base is spending $500 a year on some content and then complaining when the content changes.  Instead of finding a way to do it without spending our hard earned money and forcing  the company to look for other ways to monetize the game, we (as players) are feeding the narrative that this is what we want to spend our money on as consumers.

What business is not going to give the paying customer what they want? And Kixeye paying customers wanted a 350 million point weekly every single week. At least as far as Kixeye is concerned, your purchasing habits told them as much.

Thank you for reading, this felt good.

Day in the life of a new battle pirate player June 25, 2016

Rankin! Ranking! Ranking!

With the weekly not in my reach at this point, I have spent the last two days ranking fleets with the VXP weekend that started Friday - Monday I can finish ranking my Predators, Battle Barge-A, and Leviathan-A. What I did was just suicide into a level 80 assault target that you can find around the Draconian Uranium bases. I was getting 2,000 EXP per ship, so it went fast. Far more quickly than hitting salvages.

Now we still need the blueprints from salvages, but the rank will help in that task so that you are not spending so much of that time you have in a day on them. I am going to finish prize pack one on the level 24 campaign Shell the Shore; I have prize pack one on the run the trench, and I am level 27 at this time.

The Leviathans will get a refit to the shockwave N mortar I will win here shortly, it does better damage than my current mortars and about the same range. So, it will be a step up allowing me to do Prize Pack 2 in that campaign easier to get the D2-E armor. Also, I will hit level 28 soon, and I want to be able to do Death Grip prize pack 1 for the mauler. All of this so that I might be able to make one of these fleets work in the weekly.

When I finish the refitting the Leviathans I will try the 40 again with engine 1, ablative 1 and the new mortars, see if I have any luck.

Here is the video of me hitting salavages with preds, hope it helps. build is shared at end of video

So, lets discuss first blush of September raid targets

Reaver houldout level 123 the good, bad, and ugly

I Tried the Reaver holdout level 123 with my tiger sharks. I will share the build at the end of this as it needs some work, but not sure yet where I will go with it. I have killed four of these targets for the time frame they ran, so my experience with them is not extensive but enough to formulate an opinion, and maybe a means to fix my fleet for the September raid.

This raid is the first one that we got the targets two months before they are due to come live. I love that, and it helps me plan accordingly to make sure I am successful for that raid. As well it can help me talk to others and assist them in developing fleets to do the raid from the start.

My experience –

First, love the idea behind this format. It will reward good driving and skillful play, or it will soak the whales to just power through it. One mistake cost me 11 hours 34 minutes of damage which brings me to the first complaint. Sub repair modifier has to go if they hope to get any average player coining this raid. I understand the rumor is that they want to do away with the zombie part of the game for a reduction in the sub repair modifier. The only way that would be worthwhile and acceptable is if subs went to 50% modifier, even at 100% it would be cheaper to keep zombie subs and just learn to drive better.

Second; the targets are not too bad, and the pattern is quite easy to pick up. The objectives had a decent amount of health but do not seem to have any resistance to concussive and corrosive. Meaning, that my scourge torpedoes are quite lovely with this format.

That brings me to the third point. I do not see any sonar on these things nor thermal. That means that if you can navigate properly and get the timing down to do hit and runs you can use any torpedo and Cobra scatterguns.

The good? Targets are fun, challenging and will reward good play. The bad? The mortars subcavitor stays on the water for the entire battle. Meaning that if you are slow to kill them, the map can fill up fast forcing you to die or retreat. The ugly? One mistake can cause you lots of time to repair or coins.

My build is below

https://www.dahippo.com/bp/ship/#!30NG015151515412R406C29292929C0C0C0C0C0000NA0151515154100406CC0C0C0C0C0C0C1C1C0000NA0151515154100406CC0C0C0C0C0C0C1C1C0000NA0151515154100406CC0C0C0C0C0C0C1C1C0000NA0151515154100406CC0C0C0C0C0C0C1C1C000dC

Helpful tips for the FM changes

Forsaken Mission changes and people lose their collective minds!

Lots of angst with the new FM change on June 22, 2016.  I hope that the following will help you all with some technology get through this troubling time of adjustment. You need a few things to make the FM a success for you a minor refit will more than likely help you get to 50 million in less time than you did with the old FM and even 350 million in about an hour.

First to the weapons that are best for the Strongholds.

• Arbalest 
• D98
• Judgment mortars
• Pando Mortars
• Rockets (somewhat not fully tested yet)

Second you need Good missile and explosive resistance and Countermeasure against mortars. 

So, the best would be MX-3 and retrofit it to R15, but you could go with RA3 and add in enough hailstorm B/C or Gale 2 to keep mortars at bay. You will want a Countermeasure ship with at least 4 Hailstorm C/Gale with Countermeasure equipment or loader 3. Otherwise, you will want about 6 to 7 hail B.

Third and last you want combat speed. In the 107 you need a minimum of 30, and you will still take one shot from the Halo on each end without a pinch. 35 combat speed will get you to the platform damage free from the Halo. Those do hurt a lot, so it is best to either pinch them or make your fleet as fast as possible.

Hulls you should consider in order of best to worst

• Punisher – king of PvE in my opinion
• Centurion – Yes it can be made to do the FM with a minor refit and still do the level 60 mines at minimum
• Citadels – Great when paired with Judgement mortar
• Novastorm – mini Citadel and can be very useful in the FM now
• DNX – Great hull to use to hit these targets especially lower levels
• Dreadnought – Mini Punisher and can be a great ballistic fleet for lower to midlevel’s.

I understand that none of this will be helpful to people that are just starting out. You see you need to get Tier one finished twice to get the pieces to finish the level one foundry ships. You can hit all the level 40 and 51 salvages you want, but you need that Siege Battery one at a minimum to build the dreadnought.

I can only speculate that Kixeye does not think those new to the game need to worry about the Forsaken Missions until around level 30+ and want them to concentrate on the campaigns, salvages, and research? It is their way of slowing down the power creep I guess. I am at a loss, to be honest here and will try to work out a fleet to help the lower levels at least make it to 150K as soon as possible.

For those that have some of the hulls mentioned, for all fleets, it is best to make a countermeasure ship. Put at least four anti-mortar, two phalanx and a couple of weapons to help rank it. Then, add most of your armor to this ship to keep it alive and allow it to tank for your remote targeting mortars. You will want judgment mortars to make the most efficient way to kill level 87 and 107 targets. The other mortars can work well in targets below the 87 due to the iron curtain being removed in those targets. On your tank for this fleet, you will want to go with something that is not mortar or missile, so it is not shot down. D98, D92, D104, or arbalest is the key. Put 2 to 3 on it and use it to target the iron curtain if you are in the 87+

The best weapon to use in the new FM is the same as the old FM, and that is the Arbalest, be it D110 or the older version. The same concept works here, dedicated CM ship and at least three DPS ships behind it.

The faster you make these fleets the better you will do as well. Here is a video that a player did to show his path in a 107 and he uses combat speed 30.

As always, any questions feel free to post in the comments and have a great weekend.

Ask Specs Anything June 22, 2016

This weeks question comes from someone that does not want me to mention them, so I will not. They just got 3 million points in the raid, and they wanted to know what to take and how to have an easier time in the monthly events.

My advice was as follows:

Hey there,

First, you want to take the Rhino, Trident, and D4-M as you have none of the more up to date missiles. You also need to finish the campaign to get Phalanx 2. The campaign you want is Hunt the nemesis, and you can complete it with maulers and missiles that you have received in previous campaigns. Or you can get two of the rhinos I am going to give you here and do it with them.

https://www.dahippo.com/bp/ship/#!906V00K0K0K0K0K3302170K0P1A1A1A1A1A1A1A1A1A1A1A1A0L1A1A06V00K0K0K0K0K3302170K0P28282828282828282828282828282806V00K0K0K0K0K3302170K0P28282828282828282828282828282806V00K0K0K0K0K3302170K0P2828282828282828282828282828280ZZdC

Reasoning

The fleet has the technology you have now, and it will help you in the raid going forward. You will want to aim for Siege Battery to help with defensive capabilities for the DPS ships, and you will want to swap in a Frontline Countermeasure from the FM when you get there for your CM/Tank.

This fleet should do B set targets next raid for you for some damage. Upgrades to this fleet are harriers, blades, D53-D, and even the Switchblade is useful if you take the special on the Apollo side of the tree if you have nothing else.

Also, this fleet will help you do the Assault Map targets to get fragments for upgrading other Assault hulls through the foundry.

Future thoughts

When the hull store comes around you will want to try for a better tank of course. Prime choices are Punisher and the Apollo if you can get the points.

I hope this is helpful and thank you for the question.

A day in the life of new Battle Pirate Player June 22, 2016

Today the Weekly starts, this is the new weekly, and there were some changes made by the looks of it. According to the update notes we will have the following targets:

Level                       Payout
40                          53,000
47                        130,000
60                        420,000
67                     1,300,000
80                     3,600,000
87                     9,700,000
107                 73,000,000

Spawning 

Base level            Target spawned
1-35                     Stronghold 40
36-47                   Stronghold 47
48-63                   Stronghold 60
64-77                   Stronghold 67
78-83                   Stronghold 80
84-94                   Stronghold 87
90-999               Stronghold 107 and 109

The interesting thing here is the 40, is this going to be the old style 40? Or with the rhinos, citadels, and massive mortars? This change does present me with a problem, as I was gearing my fleet up to handle explosives mostly and some missiles. If it is the old style, then I need to switch to mostly missile and a few anti-mortars to take on the mortars in the target. If it is the old style, this is good news for new players as those are easy to build and plan for. Guess I will have to wait a few hours, and plan to do another write up later today once I see these targets.

For now, today is pretty much getting doing warehouses to level 10, well starting them as they are about 13 hours a piece. When I get all three done, I should be able to start Outpost upgrade 5. My weapons and naval labs are still at eight, though, as they are not that important at this stage of the game. You could take them to their max level before going to Outpost 5, but the advance lab is more important right now to get the second tier of engines and the better resistance.

Today building goals

• 2x Warehouse level 10
• The building last Levi diplomat mortar shell – will be ready in time for XP weekend.

I will spend 1 hour this morning hitting salavages, and an hour tonight hitting salvages once I test the 40 strongholds.

Update on the FM changes:

To date, I do not have a fleet that can do the lowest level stronghold. Each of the level 40 strongholds have 3x Dead Executioners, 1x Draconian Mortar, 1x Citadel with looks to be two mortars and one rhino with 2x blade.

I cannot get close enough to the target my ballistic fleet without it dying to the Dead Eye, I lose three of the five before getting to the platform, and another one as I am about to hit the platform and the last as I fire my poor shots. I tried the mortars I have, and the diplomat mortars did a bit better damage wise, I got 426 points with the ballistic fleet and 524 with my mortar fleet.  I did not take out even one turret, though, I have an idea to do the 40, but I am not ready for it.

It is apparent that they do not want mid-level 20's doing week one of the weekly at this point. Which is sad, because there is no way to do the foundry ships unless you have those FM pieces needed from the first and second prize. I will post here as I develop the strategy and build the fleet, might try to armor the fleets I do have up a bit and see how that goes.

Better build ideas for new players for the next raid in July/August

Builds that are ready in time for the Hull raid in August to help lower and mid level players.

As was pointed out by Ex-Machina in a comment the builds I had listed were not helpful to him, and I am sure many others. So, here are some more ideas that are lower down the list of available tech, You still need phalanx II though from the Hunt the Nemesis campaign.

Capable of doing C sets

This fleet is Mercury and a CM Vindicator, the CM is the most important part and should be built first. You could add a couple of missiles on it to help with ranking before adding armor. Total fleet time to build should be around 15 days, and that would give you around ten days to help rank ships before next raid if you started it today.

https://www.dahippo.com/bp/ship/#!9P4C00I0I0I0H02163E3E3E3E3E3EP4C00I0I0I0H02163E3E3E3E3E3EP4C00I0I0I0H02163E3E3E3E3E3EP4C00I0I0I0H02163E3E3E3E3E3E05C00I0I0I0B02163E1A1A1A1A1A1AdC

Capable of doing B sets

This fleet is the great V2-H fleet, it will handle B sets and can do it for a decent repair or coin option once ranked. You could go with a dedicated CM ship like the Vindicator if you need to. The build time for each V2 is around 16 days (without officer), meaning that you could feasibly get two of these hulls built by the next raid, and the other two before the August raid. The ranking will be a bit harder if you add the armor first, without armor you could have all of them built 56 days total without an officer.

You will want to concentrate on any tokens that you can get your hands on to help speed this build up for August raid.

https://www.dahippo.com/bp/ship/#!9PM600J0J0J0J0I03172T3K3K1A1A3K3K3K3KPM600J0J0J0J0I03172T3K3K1A1A3K3K3K3KPM600J0J0J0J0I03172T3K3K1A1A3K3K3K3KPM600J0J0J0J0I03172T3K3K1A1A3K3K3K3K0ZZdC

Reasoning

I looked at the earlier builds and realized that Ex-Machina was correct for those that might not have the Harriers or Blades at lower levels. So, I wanted to make sure I provided something at basic as possible that could still handle the C sets. You could even get by with phalanx one on the C sets if you do not get to prize pack two in the campaign.

Hopefully, this is more helpful and helps Ex-Machina more than the original builds I posted.

After Raid Report

Specs quick thought on the raid

This raid was well balanced in my opinion. The lag was not too bad most of the weekend and allowed for some smooth sailing on this end. I was able to end up with 69 million points for $10 spent. That included three Grease monkey crews over two days, and that got me to 55 million. The other 14 million was spent just hitting sets a couple of times a day over the last two days. This success means that if I needed too, I could have hit 30 million for zero coins this raid, far better than the last raid where we all had issues getting going and through the challenging targets the first couple days.

For those points I took

• The whole Vendetta Tree – I grabbed the Apollo last raid but did not claim the special or weapon for that hull. 
• All tokens – that were used to finish refits to make my Punisher fleet better for the FM
• All Ghost Shards – I want that hull bad, still need 103 though.
• Fragments for the foundry

The fleet I used was a simple one, it consisted of an Harlock Aegis with one harrier missile (you could use Aegis), Three Rhino with Blades, and the Apollo finished up and was a CM/Tank.
Overall it was a great raid for me and many others. The CM/Tank is critical to this raid format and can be created with any assault class hull that has some corrosive resistance.

Rumors for next raid

The rumor mill is going crazy with the next raid and the September raid. Next raid we get a new defensive hull to help combat the two new Conquer hulls released. This should be interesting to see how they balance the two groups in the new meta game.

September Raid is looking to be a sub raid, meaning that in August you might want to think about grabbing a sub if you have not yet. If you have some, I would aim to put your best torps on them and hopefully they release D2-S again just in case we need the extra stealth.

More information on both these rumors should come out in the next few weeks and months. Many are very excited for the sub raid though.

Any questions feel free to comment below.

Day in the life of a new battle pirate’s player June 21, 2016

Day 9

So, after taking the raid off I am back in the saddle again on the new account. I have three Levi with Diplo IV waiting for me, and my warehouses are going to be going to nine Today.  I am going to try to get to Tier 1 in the FM with what I have and hope it works, we shall see. No engines, no resistances, just the hull and weapon. The reason for this is because I still have to get OP to level five so that I can get my Advance Lab to the level to research the engine 2 and the Ablative armor to make this go. By next raid I should have a good mortar fleet ready to go that can be used to do the campaigns that allow for them, and use the raid to help me move forward with those campaigns.

Today I plan to do the following –

1. Finish Warehouses to level nine
2. Start fourth levi Diplo mort hull

Research is on hold right now as I need to get more resources available so I can research the stuff needed and not just keep it going. If I can keep from research all in the lab my level will not grow as fast as I am not bringing in all that resources, or having things complete that contribute to my experience.

The stuff that I deem important right now in my game is as follows.

Advance Lab

• Solid Fuel booster
• Auto Loader
• Harden barrels
• Reactive armor
• Ablative armor
• Layered Armor
• Engine
• Guidance scrambler
• Caterpillar Drive
• Nautilus Battery

Weapons lab

• Rapier missiles I thru IV
• Thud cannons I thru IV
• Havoc I thru IV
• Diplomat I/IV only
• PeaceMaker 1/IV only
• Hydra Rockets IV
• Ripper IV
• Hailstorm Anti-Mortar IV – Unless I happen to get Hellstorm B from the campaigns first, or raid or whatever.
• Cutlass IV

Naval Lab

• Ships up to Arbiter – With any luck you will get all the better ships from the Campaigns/FM (if offered) and raids.
• Iron I thru IV
• Steel I thru IV
• Titanium III and IV
• Depleted Uranium IV

With these research in place you have everything you need to unlock all Blueprints in the game and build decent enough researched fleets to get better hulls through campaigns, FM, and raids.

You will want to concentrate on four fleets.

• First fleet is an FM/Mining fleet – This is going to be a ballistic/Mortar/Launcher type fleet
• Second fleet will be an Assault style fleet – This will be missiles mostly
• Third will be sub fleet – look for subs in the hull store, you can research predator for the cargo hitting early game until hull store comes around
• Fourth will be baser – This can be any weapon that you like the most on a conquer style hull.

Level 24+ help with resources quick

With your Leviathan Hulls and diplomat mortars you will be able to do the shell the shore campaign targets 1 and 2 for resource and no repair. You should still be hitting level 40 cargos with your subs to get the fragments needed to do the Dreadnought once you get the needed pieces from the Weekly. This week I will provide details of the progress made with the Levi Diplomat mortars, I have Levi A but Levi will work too if you did not get that hull yet.

As always, any questions feel free to comment below.