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

Ask Specs Anything June 29, 2016

Can Centurions be built to do a 107 FM stronghold?

Today’s question comes from Merlin as new student of mine that is only about six months into the game. He needs to do the weekly, but does not have the punisher yet and his question was

“Hey Specs, can my Centurions do the 107?”

My reply:

Hey Merlin,

Yes, I think that the centurion can be built to handle the new 107 strongholds. You have to understand that it will not be optimum and that you will more than likely not do all five in one go. But, I do think that you can do probably three with the right tweaks to your current Centurion fleet. Remember the keys to the 107 are; Combat speed, Missile resistance, explosive resistance and plenty of Countermeasure to keep the mortars off you. With that in mind here is the Centurion refit I would do if I was in your shoes.

https://www.dahippo.com/bp/ship/#!B07400I0I0I0I0I5K6A342U2B2323232C1A1A4M4M000007400I0I0I0I0I5K6A342U2B2323232C1A1A4M4M000007400I0I0I0I0I5K6A342U2B2323232C1A1A4M4M000007400I0I0I0I0I5K6A342U2B2323232C1A1A4M4M000007400I0I0I0I0I5K6A342U2B2323232C1A1A4M4M0000dC

This should be enough firepower to take out the stands, be fast enough to get you to the platforms following the approved path I have shared with you and not need a pinch. Of course, a pinch would lower the damage you take significantly. Also, remember to park next to the Citadels to keep within their minimum range at firing their mortars that will save you some damage as well as only facing the mortars from each island.

Let me know how it goes and I would like to video the attempt so others might learn.

Hopefully, that will help some of you that do not have the Punisher, but have the Centurion and the technology shown. Or, at the very least give ideas of what to look out for during raids and what might be useful in the FM if they put the prizes in. If you do not have the old style Arbalest, then you will want at least 6 of the new D110-R and you could use Crossbow as well if needed.

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

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.