Beginner's Guide to Conflict Zones
02 Apr 2016Battlus
1. What is a Conflict Zone?Often referred to as a CZ, a Conflict Zone is the product of two minor factions in a system engaging in Civil War, or War. During a Civil War or War state, turning in combat bonds earned from killing enemy ships within the zone at a station in the system at war will help raise the influence of the faction whose side was fought for. During these states, combat bonds are the only way to affect the influence of the warring factions until the war is over. These occur in 2 varieties: Low and High Intensities. The difference between intensities determines the kinds of ships a player will most frequently encounter within.
2. Basics
A) Choosing your ship: When considering what type of CZ you should fight in, you always need to consider your ship, skill level, and what type of ships you will be facing. If you have a smaller ship like an Eagle, Viper, or Cobra, you should consider going to a lower intensity zone. Ships like a Vulture or larger can often fight ships higher than their weight class, so they are better for the higher intensity zones.
B) Getting in the fight: Once you're in a zone, you need to pick a side. This is achieved by going to your System Panel (right) and going to the functions tab. Once in this tab, the very top option will be to choose a faction to side with. It is recommended you check to see which major faction the minor faction is aligned with (Federation, Empire, Alliance, or Independent) so you know what ships you are expected to fight. Another good idea is wait for all ships in the instance to start fighting each other first, so that when you join a faction there aren't any stragglers free to start shooting you immediately.
C) Redeeming your combat bonds: While fighting in the zone, you will receive bonds that are worth credits based on the size of ship you destroy. The larger the ship, the more credits you will receive. Once you are finished fighting in one of these zones, head to a station in the system in which you fought. Be careful, just because you are no longer in combat doesn't mean you can't effect the war effort. If you die holding combat bonds, it will help the faction you are fighting against. Make sure to stay alive and turn them in as soon as you can. Once you dock at one of the stations, go to the contacts menu and go to the Combat Bond contact. Here you can redeem them for credits and give the faction you aided an influence boost.
D) Rewards:
Imperial Fighter: 4,000
F63 Condor: 4,000
Eagle MkII: 8,000
Cobra MkIII: 16,000
Imperial Courier: 16,000
Viper MkIII / MkIV: 20,000
Asp scout: 24,000
Asp Explorer: 28,000
Vulture: 36,000
Imperial Clipper: 44,000
Federal Dropship: 44,000
Federal Assault Ship: 44,000
Python: 52,000
Anaconda: 72,000
Federal Corvette: 80,000
Imperial Cutter: 80,000
3) My Strategies:
I often find that the best choice of ship is one with moderate firepower, moderate shields, and a lot of speed. Ships that fall under this category for me are ships like the Cobra Mk III, the Viper Mk IV, the Imperial Courier, the Imperial Clipper, and the Fer De Lance. Ships like these can get in a mild amount of engagements and do a good amount of damage while being able to retreat at a moment's notice.
Being able to get away from attackers is VITAL in Conflict Zones, as enemy forces can quickly gang up on an unprepared commander. Retreat until forces disengage or fall out of sensor range. When falling back, DO NOT fire on targets who you are attempting to flee from. This will ensure that they will not lose interest in you until they are either killed, or fall out of sensor range and are then engaged by one of the pilots on your side of the conflict. Make sure to engage one target at a time, as you can quickly be overwhelmed in a CZ if you shoot more than 1 ship at a time. A great way to get yourself killed is having turrets on your ship set to 'Fire At Will'. Often, then will shoot many targets, usually ending with three to four hostile ships shooting you at once.
Ships in Conflict Zones have more armor than most ships you'll find outside, so bring some kinetic weapons! Targeting the power plant of an enemy ship is a very efficient way of getting around this extra armor, disabling and then destroying your target. While targeting through an enemy's subsystems, you will most often find the power plant after the drives. On ships like vultures and anacondas, the power plants are often after other subsystems. Another great way to get through subsystems quickly is to cycle through the subsystems backwards, as the power plant is usually near the end. Rebinding some controls is the best way to go about this.
Most of all, bring friends! Having a wing greatly increases your odds of survival, as they can take out random pilots who engage you or help you tackle larger targets. However, at the cost of extra firepower, you will split the bond with whoever else in your wing fired upon the target.
Give 'em hell, CMDR! o7
CMDR Battlus
EXO Squadron Leader
Navy First
Updated 24/10/3302