A day in the life of a New Player August 16, 2016

Schism Wrapping It Up

By Jon Irwin

Specialist AKA Specs

With raid wrapping up and I am sure many are wondering what to take for their prizes. The answer is not so simple and will depend on the person in question. However, the following advice can be generic to all individuals that play the game, and I am going to break it up into point plateaus. This article will help players that are new still, do not have a sub fleet already, and need to prepare or September Raid.

1 million points or less

• Spectre – I like it better than Barracuda, as it has good combat speed (16 combat speed), good explosive and concussive resistance (needed for the September raid) and three special slots. You can get stealth attack system 2 in the weekly easy enough, so I would not worry about that.

5 million points

• Spectre –
• Stealth Attack System 4 – This is a great special to use on the Spectre sub. It combines a bonus to concussive damage with 40% submerge time. You can retro it, and it is close to having Battery 3 on the sub with around Six-second difference in dive time.  At 3.5 million points easily one of the best prizes to take if you had limited points.

10 million points –

• Spectre 
• Stealth Attack System 4 –
• Charon -  The second best torpedo in the game, and while this will not always deal with those pesky drones in the Reaver targets. It will give your sub fleet an excellent punch and much better than any other torpedo you can get at this moment.

16 million Points –

• Spectre –
• Stealth Attack System 4 –
• Charon -
• Magnus 2 -  As you only have three slots on your Spectre this engine will allow you to use the Ablative Armor 3 special to boost that explosive damage resistance. If you do not get here, you will need to use Cat 3 and your best speed system to make the fleet work. 

I know what you are saying at this point, But what about Tiger Shark! I agree the Tiger shark is a great hull, but if you happen to be limited to point total it is in my opinion, better to go with trying to flesh out the best sub you are capable of getting everything. The Tiger is not that great of a sub if you cannot get the Charon minimum, Stealth attack 4 and the Magnus 2. So, the next plateau we are jumping a bit.

25 million points –

At this point, if you got this many points then you will want to consider the following to make your September event a success.

• Tiger Shark – Same dive time as the Spectre, four specials, great combat speed, turn speed, better resistance. Just an overall better sub. Built right I think it will help you achieve some great success.
• Stealth Attack system 4
• Charon 
• Magnus 2

Couple those with the Ablative Armor 3 and you have a great sub that has a chance to succeed in the new raid.

49 million –

I know this is a big jump and if you got in between here and 25 million you could think of the Apoc Mortar for your base defense. Or even get all the tokens you can so you can speed up a few blanks for vxp weekend. But, if you reach this point total you will want to consider the new toys.

• HellWraith
• Fire Twister Torpedo
• Sealed Fire Charge

Once you get beyond this point total you will want to go for tokens first, get all you can. This will set you up for the next raid even much easier and have you with a couple blanks to rank next weekend. A blank for the subs would be the hull and havoc 1. This is the lowest build time weapon you can put on a sub (Thud 1 for Tigers or Cuda).

I hope this helps you make up your mind, and please begin to prepare for the next Event. We only have about a month to go, and it will come fast.

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.

A day on the Life of a Battle Pirates Player, August 5, 2016

As promised, I am going to share my mauler build that is getting me to Tier 2 in the Forsaken mission at the moment. It has no armor yet, and barely any rank. Once I have completed those two things, I will try this build in a 60 as I work on getting things together for a strike cruiser build.

The account is level 37, and it took me five weeks of playing a couple of hours a day to get to this point. This time spent means that if you applied yourself a bit more than I did, you could get to this point in about a week of gameplay.

To rehash the targets

The Forsaken Missions require explosive, and missile resistance and they are weak against explosive damage and splash are very helpful. While I have recommended and even built Punisher in other posts, I am advising all new players I coach to go the mortar route to speed up the process of getting through the mission. It takes far less tech to get a decent mortar fleet together, than a decent ballistic or even launcher. Being low level hinders us from those other means at this time, so we will go with what we have.

My Mauler Builds no armor

My Mauler builds with armor

My Mauler builds with refit time if you go no armor

As you can see it is not too bad of a build, and once you are done with ranking and shipyard time, only an extra two days to get it refitted with armor. With any luck this fleet will do the 60s I can make a push to Tier 3.

Video of the build in action with my entry points

Please note that I enter from around 1 o'clock and then exit to reenter from around 9 o'clock. This decision I made, is to make use of the shortest distance to the targets I want, and cut down on the time the missiles are hitting me.

I do hope you find this useful and please share it with any low level player.

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!

Busy Pirate this week, FM strongholds changing soonish!

Summary of a very busy week!

Been a very busy week for me. I have not had a lot of time to really dedicate to the game, let alone the account where I am testing new player game play. So, here is what has happened this week.

First – I was promoted to moderator on the forum. This was a big change for me and has taken some time to get adjusted to the new powers and trying to remain helpful on the forums. Which has taken away a few hours a day from my playtime. I am settling in now and able to actually juggle both playing and moderating the forum. I am excited about this change as it allows me to help more people than I have been.

Second – My low level base is coming along, it is level 36 and will finally get the 4^th Mauler done. I think that it will allow me to get to Tier 2 in the weekly starting this week as I can hit 47s right now with the 3, the fourth should allow me to do hopefully 2 before repairs. I will have 5^th done in about 3 days 10 hours. I have been upgrading turret stands the last two days, goal is to get them to level 5 as soon as I can.

Third – We Got word tonight that the FM is being changed slightly. We are getting rid of the 107 and spawning a 102 and 109 instead. The 102 is going to be easier and allow you to grind with lower end fleets more easily. Word is probably close to 35 million points per target, but we are awaiting final confirmation on that. The 109 is going to be worth more points and a bit harder than the 107. I would assume that means maybe 4 targets for the 350 mil? Again, all speculation, will need to wait for final confirmation but I would be happy with those target points. I do believe these are being released August 17^th. Again all this could change between now and the time they are released, just keep it in mind :)

Lastly – Raid is confirmed for August 11, 20116. This will be a six-day hull raid and we will have a chance at some really nice hulls. I will have prize redemption list out as soon as the prize list is finalized and we can see what we have to choose from. Many are excited about the hull raid, as they get to claim hulls they missed out on and this month we get a new sub! A reaver sub at that, which many wanted for as long as I can remember.

Not much I know, but I will have more later in the week once we see what is going on. Have a great week!

Ask Specs Anything July 27, 2016

This week’s question comes from Letti and it is about the Apollo

Hey Specs,

I finished my Tank Counter Measure build and I am ready to start another Apollo to go with it can you tell me what you are using from the last raid?

Hello Lettie,

Congrats! Getting that one done will make a big difference with the coming raid and Hull store. Now, you can use it with your rhinos if you have to get through A sets. We have roughly two weeks before the raid, it will start August 11th, 2016 I think. Should be that day or August 18th at the latest I am sure we will get that confirmation soon. We will go with August 11th though as that is the closer date.

Your Apollos will want the same specials as your CM tank. The reason for this is that you will have a couple of phalanx on the DPS hulls to help back up the main tank. You will want the same range and same accuracy as your primary countermeasure hull. Next, you will want the same armor value, mostly to keep repair times down and easy to manage. Lastly, you will have eight blades for your damage dealing.

Here is your link to the build

Just so you can see the real build time once you get into game

You will want to get it hopefully out a few days earlier with tokens if you get them in the weekly and rank it as much as you can before the raid. The two of them should help you do the A set, and you might be able to do the elite targets if you can get rank high enough on the two ships.

Good luck and if you have any questions feel free to send them to me!

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!!!

Ask Specs Anything July 13, 2016

What should I take in the raid Vanquisher or Apollo?

Today the questions are centered on the raid, been getting asked the last few days repeatedly about the raid and those issues heated up yesterday and this morning when the prize list was released.

This choice is a tough one and one that should not take lightly. If you have not had the chance to get the Apollo yet, I can see how you might want it for at least the August raid as that will be the last in this series. But, you might want the newest defense hull as your base is suffering. The Vanquisher has some fascinating potential and should replace the Enforcer in the majority of base settings.

I feel the Apollo is more of a needed hull in the game. I think that if your focus on the game is doing the PvE stuff, then you have to take this hull. Sure, it might only be useful for the assault map targets after August, but those map targets will allow you to get easily and upgrade the Rhino. I do feel that the Apollo is a must have in the game today, it is crucial for getting pieces for the Gantry and Mega Hulls that will be released later on. So, with that, I am led to believe that they might have the hull in August hull raid. There is a precedence for this by the way, and they have done that with other much-needed hulls in the past. Of course, they have refused to put in these hulls in the first hull store too. We cannot be 100% sure what they will do this far out.

With all that said, I would take the Vanquisher this raid and take my chances with the Apollo offered in the August raid. It might come back to bite me, but I think that it the safest choice this time around as I like to develop my base defense the best I can. With five specials, same range as Enforcer with Launchers, very nice accuracy base boost, anti- weapon accuracy boosts, and 500K base armor at 2-hour repair (1 hour in the defense slot) and all at under four days for a bare hull. You could have one ready by VXP weekend and run it with a gunboat to pull things towards it so that it can die or kill.

Do not get me wrong; I love my Apollo fleet. I think that everyone should have them. But, I feel that it is more relevant to the direction the game is going and that we have a greater chance of having that in the August raid than we do the Vanquisher. As always, keep an eye on official statements from CM Doomrooster and other kixeye employees posting in the forum. Often you can get some inside information on what might come from their postings. They have not stated one way or another on this issue so I am going on what I think is more important in the game and they have a habit of offering things we need in the raids.

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 

Preview of July Raid weapon and Special

New Launcher coming!

They have leaked the new weapon for the coming raid and it is indeed a New launcher! I am excited about this new launcher, why? Well, I am a fan of the launchers they have been some of the biggest force of change in player’s builds since their inceptions. This one is a bit different, and I am not sure if it will alter the game for us as the previous launchers. The reasons for that I will explain.

The Launcher

As you can see it has the typical range of the D98, this means that placed on your enforcers you will be 103.4 range. Too bad that our Fusion Cruisers do not have more oomph! As they would be awesome with this weapon and I will have to take a look at if I can make them useful with it. It also is different in that it is not a salvo weapon, but a multi-shot weapon. Meaning that it will function more like a scatter gun in that all shots fired at once. This multishot is a bit disconcerting for me in that the accuracy is low.  The Antipode has an accuracy of 80 for example.  As a multi-shot that 10,800 damage will be divided by 4, so with no bonuses, the damage done will be 2700 each one. The Vendetta has a 9000 Radioactive deflection stat, meaning that we will get the minimum damage for each one that hits. It should do well against the Revenge though if you can keep them from sniping you.

The reload time is high, so this alone might make it unusable on anything other than launcher dedicated boats. The benefit from older launchers was the fact they had around a 2.5 second reload meaning that you could get by on your vindicator or Mercury fleets and get some benefit from it. While this is the early release, and the numbers could change. I do not see this one changing much, and that will limit the usefulness of this weapon on anything other than Enforcers, Fusion Cruisers, Nuclear cruisers and the new boat. I think Frostburn and V2-C give some bonus to reload on launchers too, so those would be good choices as well.

Now there is some hope for this weapon and that is the fact it is a multi-shot weapon, meaning that we get to use multi-shot boosting specials for it. They are releasing a new special that is designed for this specifically.

The Special

This special is going to help boost that weapons damage potential nicely with the +2 multi-shot. The supercharge effect is not as big of a deal though as the shockwave from this is 1000. However, I might look into putting 5 of the new weapon and 5 Antipode on my ship to get a nice mix of upfront damage and a big shockwave. Of course, we need to see what the new defensive hull will have for stats to make the most efficient build possible. But, I see potential with mixing launchers to get a nice boost to damage up front and then a big shockwave. IT has to be noted this weapon will not work with other multi-shot increasing specials, and it will work with interception system, but not fusion charger. That piece comes directly from CM Doomrooster on the forums, and I will quote him in full.

(It will take the place of Barrel Systems or Fusion Chargers.  You can't stack Fusion Chargers, Interception System, and Emission System.  It will stack with Interception System, similar to Fusion Chargers, however. CM DoomRooster)

So, this will help boost the damage of the new weapon by a total of 5400 (2700 x 2), as we will get two more shots in each one fired. Granted it will still only be minimum damage against the Vendetta, but if you have watched your Enforcers against the Vendetta this last month, you will know that the minimum damage can add up quick with everything else hitting it.

Future for the lower levels

This particular early release means that my predictions of the Antipode coming back this raid are pretty solid. We have gotten a weapon, older hull and special from the same class as the top prizes. So, I suspect that we will see the Fusion Charger, Antipode, and Enforcer this raid for the first three tiers. With the new special, weapon and hull being T4 thru T6. This means that this raid holds a high possibility for alliances to help their lower levels get the Enforcer and Antipode for about 3 million points if things stay from the previous two raids!

More information will come as we get it, and hopefully, I will have a mock build up early next week if I can. Any questions feel free to ask below thank you for reading.

Ask Specs Anything July 6, 2016

This week’s question comes from Warhead, and he asks;

Hey Bro,

After a month now have you updated your Vendetta build? I am about to start, and I want to make sure nothing has changed.

My response is below;

Hey Bud,

I have changed a few things from the initial idea behind the build, not much mostly to help combat some weakness I have seen in those bases I have watched being hit by others. So, if I were you, I would look to try to boost evade and use the Agility System 4. The slow resistance will be handy in dealing with some of the issues I have seen. Evade is useful in reducing the damage from the launchers. They might not boom, but those shots can still hurt from a legend ranked Enforcer.
Here is my new updated build and what I am refitting too as soon as I finish the last Apollo.

https://www.dahippo.com/bp/ship/#!30NI01R1R1R6Q34396M5PC2C2C2C2C2C2C20ZZ0ZZ0ZZ0ZZdC

With full retro you will have 39% evade and while that is not great, it is far better than the negative you start with and will help in keeping the vendetta alive against many different ships you might face when hitting bases.

Hope all is well with you and the family and let me know how this goes for you

Feel free to send me a question if you have one, or post below have a great day everyone!

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 July 5, 2016

Outpost five done, advanced lab to level 8 and still need more!

My Outpost level 5 finished over the weekend, and I finished the advanced lab to level 8 upgrade. I had enough resources to start the Ablative armor 2, which should help more in the level 40 strongholds. I tried the 40 with the Reactive armor and the damage from the Frostbite did more damage to me than the missiles. I can research the long short missile in the weapons lab, so I will do that and upgrade the launch pad if needed that might be the only way I can do the 40’s at this time.
I am ten short of the frags from having enough for the Dreadnought, but I want to try to get the 40s at least under control without that hull. Remember, I had done the Weekly for two weeks before the change and since then I have not been able to do the 40s with any success. I might be able to do it if I worked at it for more than 2 hours a day. I will tell you, that it would frustrate me if I had to hit on a target for 2 hours and not even kill a single platform.

The only thing I can do is to take a few days and refit the Shockwave N mortars I have and the D2-E and see if that helps.  I will need the engines at least to help get me by the Guardians in the Death Grip campaign regardless, as the mortars catch me. I also noticed I need to upgrade the intelligence lab to at least level 5 so I can use the strike cruiser and the Dreadnought, those are next on the list.

So that is the plan going forward this week, a refit of the Marauders with the Shockwave N, engine 2, D2-E and then try for the Mauler again, along with attempting a 40 once the fleet finishes. If I still have issues with the explosive damage from the frostbite, I will hold off until I get the maulers built.

For the base I am getting close to needing to put in stands and weapons, so going to research Sentinel Missle 3 at least and hope to get Sent 5 soon and work towards Javelines and Halo.

The one ship to destroy them all!

Specs single ship build, for the 107 Draconian Stronghold

I will start with that this build has some bells and whistles that you might not have. I will also state that I am positive that not everyone will have what is needed. However, I am a firm believer in growing as a person and player and that this might help you decide what to take come Raid time, or maybe realize that you have these parts sitting around your intelligence lab doing nothing.

It is not the most efficient at killing the target, of course, taking 1 hour 30 minute to 1 hour 51 minutes of damage so far in tests I have done. But, in one month you can have it built and ranked and be able to do your five level 107 strongholds as you build others to go with it. I refer you back to this post that I made on tips for the FM to refresh your memory on what I believe works the best.

The build is as follows;

https://www.dahippo.com/bp/ship/#!B0NH01T1T1T5K6D3468372525252A2A574M4M4M000ZZ0ZZ0ZZ0ZZdC

That single ship will do the 107 with no pinches and no coin if you are willing to wait about 2 hours per target. Yes, I do understand that not everyone can hit a target and walk away for two hours to come back later to do another. But, this option is there for those that can make that time and have the technology in their blueprints to pull this off. Also, this should give you an idea of the minimum you need for your CM tank to lead your other ships. There is plenty of videos around now of people using Dreads and DNX to do the 107 with pinches, and that is a very strategic way to approach the targets.

As well a single refit is needed to swap out the Reflective coating 3 with the Siege Battery 3, or even the CM loader 3 for the frontline CM platform. Either would be an improvement and get the repair time down drastically.

Video

Me? I hate having to rely on the Launch pad :D

Day in the life of new battle pirates player June 29, 2016

The struggle lives on!

Still plugging away here, refitting ships with the Reactive Armor 2, to help with missile damage. I finished my last warehouse to level 10 (only three built right now) so I can fill up to start Outpost 5. That is the goal today, to get enough resources to start that upgrade, finish refitting the Leviathans with Reactive armor 2 and prepare to do the Death Grip Campaign for the Mauler and Shockwave L mortar. I will have 15 bunker buster small to use in the campaign to ease my frustration and lower repair time. I figure I should be ready to go in the next day or two.

Once Outpost five is finished I will take the Advance lab up another level so I can research level 2 engine and hopefully have the hellstorm anti-mortar from the research lab finished to be refitted with the engines and make a push into do the new FM. That change has really set me back a lot in the game.

This will be the final build

https://www.dahippo.com/bp/ship/#!303I0111111020H15150C0C0C03I0111111020H15150C0C0C03I0111111020H15150C0C0C03I0111111020H15150C0C0C03I0111111020H15150C0C0Cd8

I figure it should give me a fighting chance in the level 40, time will tell J wish me luck!

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