Rumors around the water cooler and how they might affect your raid

Vindicator for T3 of the raid, and Rumors of major help to the player base!

By Specialist_AKA_Specs

The January raid event is shaping up to be a major headache for many of us. I can only speculate what might be the final targets for the siege targets. You can only speculate what will be done with the mountains of feedback the players are giving on the forums and in Facebook groups. With all this speculation and chatter there has surfaced a rumor that I hope is true and makes it to the final iteration of the raid this month. Before I get into that, I wanted to share my Vindicator fleet.

Vindicator and Tier 3 of the Raid.

I know that many of you are still waiting for the final video of this fleet in action and I can only say I am close to having a fleet of these able to take a level 60 mining base. While this might not be the best time to release this fleet with the changes to the siege targets coming in a few short months. I still wanted to show how you could take technology that is won through normal gameplay. The fleet features all technology that is gotten through either the campaign system, research labs and no farther than T3 of the Forsaken missions.

The idea behind the build was to maximize building damage and defenses. You will want R4 Vindicators at a minimum, and I hope that most have that by now. This can be done by hitting level 30 and 40 mining platforms. My recommendation is to do so in yellow sector threat at the minimum. The reasoning for R4 is that you get a 4th special slot and that helps the build tremendously with the addition of siege battery.

For the Damage on this hull, I settled for Crossbow 3. The building damage of this weapon is just below the Arbalest and should help in Tier 3 of the raid format. Coupled with Harden barrels 3 your range will be just shy of any other ballistic hull with a 50 range cannon and 40% range boost. Also by taking the hull to R4 you will get some much-needed aid in siege damage boost. The Seige battery three is much needed special due to the resistance against turrets and the boost to damage to buildings.

Armor is D2-R armor. This armor can be retrieved through the campaign system or the Forsaken mission. That will allow you to boost your radiation resistance against the Wendigo turrets in the mining platforms. As well there are radioactive turrets in the new raid format that can hurt a great deal with mini booms that can drop your health fast.

You could easily go with Reflective coating 3 from the campaigns and D2-C or D1-C if you wanted to boost radioactive instead.

Last piece of the puzzle

I know that the Aegis is not easily obtained but the help this can give to your fleet should not be underestimated. You can get the ability to build one of these by reaching R13 of the R&D. My plan will be to show the mining platform without and with this piece. It is not necessary, and I hope you will come to that conclusion as well. It does help with two key areas, though. First, it gives a 40% boost to resistance. Second, it has a field that puts out the ice fields from the Wendigo. An honorable mention would be the Frostburn interceptor. While it does not have the defense boosts it has a larger aura that can let your ships get further ahead.

The video is still coming along, and I needed to finish my raid fleet for this raid, so the final refits to this fleet have taken a back seat. I hope to have them ready to go by next week as I just have to finish adding a few Crossbows to the build.

You could build this to match the speed of the Vindicator and then add in some hails and phalanx with a launcher to help you trigger remote targeting fleets. The key here is to have this hull trailing behind your vindicator to give it that 40% boost to defense.

Rumor for the January Event

As promised there is a rumor I am hearing and was able to share. It is not a sure thing yet, but there is talk that we will have the ability to have two different campaigns at our towers that will grant raid points. Now, these campaigns will be lower tier stuff (think B tier and C-tier) and will be subject to the point reduction that we have in the regular raid. But, the exciting thing about this rumor is that one campaign will be reavers, and one will be legion assault forces. This idea of having older raid formats in the campaign for our younger and less advanced players is an interesting one. It is also one that gives me hope they are listening to feedback and finding a way to help everyone.

That means that if you have fleets that worked the last eight months, you should be able to get some raid points through grinding at your base.

It is complete rumor at this point and subject to change. But, it was too good and the possibilities to share something good too substantial to hold.

Raid wrap up and looking to the future

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

By Specialist_AKA_Specs

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

Why Crossbow?

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

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

Honorable mention: Squall, or Antipode launcher.

Why the Evade armor?

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

Why those specials?

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

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

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

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

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

Centurion –

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

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

Cannoneer – 

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

Why Squall over PAC?

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

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

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

Summary

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

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