So, you want to get into Combat, part 3
01 Nov 2023Mana Takakura
Mana, I want to go kill bugs!There are two types of Thargoids:
Interceptors and Scouts
Interceptors are the big flowers you see in photos.
there's 5 variants: Orthrus, Cyclops, Basilisk, Medusa and Hydra. they have a 99% resistance to normal human weapons, so human AX or guardian AX weapons are required.
Cyclops are the easiest of the standard interceptors, with 4 hearts. payout is 8mil. these are solo'able in a proper ax ship. 450m/s top speed
Basilisk are the next up, and are fast. it's same look as a cyclops, but with darker markings, and is hell to fight in a large ship. it has 5 hearts, and pay 24mil. 530m/s top speed
Medusa are the same speed as a cyclops, and are black and red with spines on the end of its petals. they have 6 hearts, pay 40mil, top speed 450m/s
Hydra are the hardest, as their defining appearance of additional petals behind the primaries block the view/shot of the hearts from nearly anything but a head-on shot. higher armor, 8 hearts, 60mil payout, and 450m/s speed
the Orthus is the newest variant, and are the ones responsible for the expansion efforts of the goids. they are different than the others in that they do not have offensive capabilities and have no hearts to express, but they call in other interceptors when they detect you or are shot. these are being actively researched by the AXI and are atm being recommended to use the human-tech AX MC and AX MR, as they have a pulse that disables guardian tech on top of their normal shutdown fields. 0 hearts, max speed 115m/s, 30mil payout
Scouts are entirely different, being small fast craft. These can be killed with just beams, albeit a bit slowly, or sniped down with a normal heart sniper or human AX loadouts, but only have 77% resistance to normal weapons, so you could use anything if you like to torture yourself a bit. Scouts usually appear in larger groups. They have 4 variants: Marauder, Regenerator, Beserker, and Inciter.
Marauders are the most common scout. they use basic pulse weapons and can fire simple caustic missiles.
Regenerators are Marauders with a regeneration pulse ability, which can heal and buff nearby scouts. they are Green
Beserkers are marauders that can emit a red pulse that buff damage of nearby scouts. they are Orange/Red
Inciters are Marauders with a Speed buff pulse, which makes other scouts maneuver and boost faster. they are pink/red
let's get into some info on ships, and the theory behind why we AX pilots build our odd ships the way we do
First and most common question: why do you all run shieldless?
well, all is a misnomer, as there are different classes of AX pilots. I am a Cold Orbiter, and my role is to use Gauss (guardian rails) to do max damage to an Interceptor's heart. We run engineered ships that are designed to shed heat fast to keep out heat close to 0% so that we are not targeted easily by the goid. You will see at least one long range thermal vent beam turret that is trained on the goid, as well as 4 gauss and either another beam, or a remote release flak to deal with the swarms of drones that the interceptors fire out if we are running in smaller groups or solo. popping heat sinks, outrunning the shutdown field, or using shutdown field neutralizers, to keep us up, and using the beams to lower the shields, once the heart is expressed by doing enough damage, we snipe the heart out, rinse and repeat
We typically run Chieftans or Kraits IIs. they are just the bees knees of bug hunting
but there are plenty who don't run shieldless.
There are Shield Tank builds on bigger ships, who forgoe the cold orbit speeds that snipers use and instead just eat the damage, avvoid the shutdown, and run out of range to reboot if needed.
There are also hybrid builds, typically found on support ships like t10s that run several repair limpets to keep the cold orbiters alive while also dealing with the swarms and expressing hearts with human AX weapons, etc
Is there a right or wrong answer? well, the ever-present answer of that depends shows its weary head here, since it really DOES depend on what you want to do
going to try to solo a clops? take a cold orbiter
going in a wing? already have two or three great FA-OFF Fixed weapons cold orbit pilots? that shield tank or support is completely fine
Going to finance friday with dozens of cmdrs? you can take a sidey with a beam and tag it sometimes for max adrenaline spikes, doesnt matter much!
Mana's Goidhub Maid Cafe cold orbiter chieftan: https://s.orbis.zone/l6fp
Mana's Musa Basjoo orthus hunter krait ii: https://s.orbis.zone/l6fs
Let's get some beginner builds:
AXI's recommended meta chieftan: | https://s.orbis.zone/eu9w
AXI's recommended meta krait ii: | https://s.orbis.zone/jv-6
AXI's recommended meta shield tank cutter: | https://s.orbis.zone/3wbf
Intermediate builds:
AXI Challenger: | https://s.orbis.zone/fnnx
AXI Corvette: | https://s.orbis.zone/fnn_ (shieldless)
AXI Corvette: | https://s.orbis.zone/hvm_ (shielded)
Scout builds:
AXI Conda: | https://s.orbis.zone/l6fq
AXI Krait ii: | https://s.orbis.zone/l6fr
Want to get even more in depth? Join the AXI discord and enjoy the deep dive!