Mercenary combat, Fighter Club, and working on upgrades
13 Aug 2018Thunktone
3304 August 13, Monday08:00
Guardian ruins
I just parked my Diamondback at a guardian structure. I've been to a few this month, along with a bunch of ruins. Those sentinels aren't so tough. They can't even scratch me if I fully power my shields and they give so much warning that I can power up my weapons between their attacks. The only way they've been able to hurt my SRV is by knocking it over with missiles.
With the shield booster making more difference than I expected on my Viper Mk3, and a class 3 shard cannon fitted to my challenger I thought I was done for now. But I realised that just one more excursion could potentially unlock both the module reinforcement and the class 2 gauss cannon. That'll get my Challenger nicely up to spec for Wednesday, when Fighter Club will be out bug hunting.
Engineers
I've also been visiting the engineers again to tweak my Viper. I have a class 2, grade 3 double shot frag cannon with dazzle shells. Then I have class 1 long range beam lasers, one grade 5 with thermal vents, the other grade 4. All I need to finish upgrading these weapons is firmware. I'll have to raid some settlements I think, maybe some imperial ones. Or do a ton of missions for one or two pieces at a time. The class 2, grade 5 sturdy, super penetrating rail gun is working out well.
I might swap the frag cannon for a gimballed multicannon to make it easier to hit small ships like mine. But for bounty hunting with Fighter Club the frag cannon should make it easier to take down Anacondas and Clippers.
Freelancing
What firmware I have gotten hold of this month has come from mercenary work. Massacre missions to combat zones are a steady, if slow, source. I found out in Muang though, that fighting for a lost cause is much harder than fighting for the winning side. Who'd have thought it? I just couldn't bring myself to fight for an imperial faction though.
In San Tu, Teorge and other systems I've been able to take my fighter into a high intensity combat zone for up to an hour, racking up half a million or more in combat bonds. But in Muang I was struggling to take out a single ship before they all ganged up on me. I did get 3 though.
Workers of Lave
I want to make amends for my small part helping LRN gain power. So I've been running missions for Workers of Lave Liberals. Over the weekend I did a couple of settlement raids for them, +++++ influence. The large settlements they sent me to were swarming with skimmers, but since it was toasted skimmers they wanted that was fine. I used the corners of the base to take on one or two at a time and didn't have too much trouble.
At one settlement I drove my SRV inside only to have the gate slam shut behind me and three skimmers launch. But they go down fast at that range and my mission was soon complete. I should have kept going carefully and stolen some data, maybe even precious, precious firmware. But with the mission done I instead used a ramp to try and jump out. That exposed me to too many turrets at once and I was yanked back to my ship. That still makes me sick.
Fighter Club
That's been how I've spent most of my flight time this month: guardians, engineers, raids and war. But I've also been attending fighter club.
Lockdown in Lave
Two weeks ago we helped battle pirates in Lave to end the lockdown. It pained me to help LRN. After what they paid me to do in Zaonce I swore I'd never work for them again. But a lockdown hurts everyone. Plus, all those Anacondas dropped a whole lot of manufactured materials when we popped them. I've never seen so many grade 4 and 5 gizmos and I was able to scoop up the remains of one ship and, usually, get to the next one just as the shields went down. My contribution was around 15% hull damage and who knows what disruption from my super-penetrator. It's hard to tell. But 15% isn't bad for a small ship vs large, especially with a Clipper, a Corvette and a Krait all blasting away. I clearly wasn't needed but at least I sped things up.
I don't think I could have done it solo though, shield cell banks are very effective against smaller ships like mine. If I wanted to hunt the big hitters on my own I'd probably need to get a Vulture, or even a Python. At a push I could use a Diamondback, but I'd have to stay focussed. Oh, oh. Or I could put feedback cascade on a rail gun. That seemed less useful than super penetrator but now I'm not sure at all, it could make big targets much more manageable.
Feeling unwelcome in San Tu
Last week it was back to fun and games in stock fighters, Eagles this time. But since their last visit to San Tu, the scientific installation has been peppered with turrets that fire on the slightest provocation. I guess the boffins were getting annoyed. Or they were watching the sports outside instead of getting on with their work. We still managed to have some fun, but the games often boiled down to who could evade the missiles the longest instead of a competition between us. I know that ARC has put in a bid to install a combat arena separate from CQC. I hope they get it.
Two days until the bug hunt
As I said, it's pest control this week. I was doing pretty well against scouts with my AX weapons, comfortably taking on four marauders at a time, even if I had to rush back to port with a cracked canopy every time. But this will be my first time seriously trying to take on interceptors. I'm quite excited to try out the guardian weapons. I also put a remote-release flak launcher turret on my Challenger, so I'll have to see if anyone wants to mutli-crew.
I heard that beam lasers work OK against 'goids. I'm taking Lave Radio's word for it but I don't see why they'd lie about that. If I can find a decent source of firmware I might get some thermal vent class 1s on my Challenger. Keep the gauss cannons firing. I suppose I could borrow them from my Viper but that seems a hassle.
Looking further forward
I'm quite sure my Viper will keep me flying for a long time. It's fast, it's tough, it hits hard, at least against hull. But I do still wonder about kitting out a large combat vessel. Maybe specialise in ground support with a belly full of turrets and some big cannons. Or kit out a T10 for anti-thargoid fleet support, keeping wingmate's shields up and removing goo from their hulls while blasting away at swarms and scouts. I want to see what those AX fighters are capable of too, so a tough base to fly them from would be a big help.
There is a big split between flying in wings and taking extra crew though. If the AX fighters are any good, maybe I'll kit out the T10 for multi-crew instead. Me and one other in fighters, someone firing turrets, and a jobsworth to take the helm.
All that might have to wait though. If I decide to go on the Distant Worlds 2 expedition then I may want to buy a larger exploration vessel with fighter bays and plenty of SRVs. Maybe a Krait, maybe an Anaconda. Too early to decide though since the corporations are promising new toys for explorers before the expedition starts. A successful return from such a long expedition should provide plenty of credits to kit out a big ship.