Reactions to Ancient Shadows and Suggestions

[chemical_art]

Just did a lvl 4 nebula with the sorrow fangs...

I was not amused to see that we slogged through taking 4 of the 5 smaller bases without losing a single one, losing one as I soloed the 5th, then having the last enemy large starbase blitz ships in a frenzy destroying all of the bases.

I've thought about removing this avatar for a while, but never has the look on my face matched it so much here.

[Cinth]

Just did a lvl 4 nebula with the sorrow fangs...

I was not amused to see that we slogged through taking 4 of the 5 smaller bases without losing a single one, losing one as I soloed the 5th, then having the last enemy large starbase blitz ships in a frenzy destroying all of the bases.

I've thought about removing this avatar for a while, but never has the look on my face matched it so much here.

Have you tried to sneak around back and take out the large base first?

[keith.lamothe]

I've thought about removing this avatar for a while, but never has the look on my face matched it so much here.

I've always thought it was a good avatar, assuming the game did that sort of thing to you regularly.

By lvl4 nebula, do you mean your champ was level 4, or it was the 4th nebula, or what?

Several scenarios use the same basic spawning logic, but this is the second time I've heard of this one doing the last-minute-blitz-ftw, so I'm wondering if something odd is going on.

[chemical_art]

Just did a lvl 4 nebula with the sorrow fangs...

I was not amused to see that we slogged through taking 4 of the 5 smaller bases without losing a single one, losing one as I soloed the 5th, then having the last enemy large starbase blitz ships in a frenzy destroying all of the bases.

I've thought about removing this avatar for a while, but never has the look on my face matched it so much here.

Have you tried to sneak around back and take out the large base first?

That would be my second attempt, but it seems absolutely positively unintiuitve from the goal of almost every other nebula invovling enemy starbases, where you try to work with your allies which are better well suited to do it.

Even with 5 plasma cannons (which I'm lucky enough to have) I do maybe 8% damage to it, and even the extra shields via shadow charge stops less then 2 volleys, so you get 2, maybe 3 volleys off before the ship is toast, meaning it would take 5 or so suicide runs to take out the one large starbase.

[chemical_art]

I've thought about removing this avatar for a while, but never has the look on my face matched it so much here.

I've always thought it was a good avatar, assuming the game did that sort of thing to you regularly.

By lvl4 nebula, do you mean your champ was level 4, or it was the 4th nebula, or what?

Several scenarios use the same basic spawning logic, but this is the second time I've heard of this one doing the last-minute-blitz-ftw, so I'm wondering if something odd is going on.

Checking it over, it was actually my third nebula.

What was annoying was that the enemy just seemed to keep pumping out craft much faster with its lone big starbase then the 5 bases on my side. The enemy starbase would seem to pump out over half a dozen craft , mostly command ones, while my side's each starbase would pump out one craft.

The match ended with there being almost 20 enemy craft gunning toward the final base, while I never have seen 20 friendly craft in all my games.

I went toward the end thinking "my starbase will go strong too!" but its power levels stayed the same.

[Cinth]

Just did a lvl 4 nebula with the sorrow fangs...

I was not amused to see that we slogged through taking 4 of the 5 smaller bases without losing a single one, losing one as I soloed the 5th, then having the last enemy large starbase blitz ships in a frenzy destroying all of the bases.

I've thought about removing this avatar for a while, but never has the look on my face matched it so much here.

Have you tried to sneak around back and take out the large base first?

That would be my second attempt, but it seems absolutely positively unintiuitve from the goal of almost every other nebula invovling enemy starbases, where you try to work with your allies which are better well suited to do it.

Even with 5 plasma cannons (which I'm lucky enough to have) I do maybe 8% damage to it, and even the extra shields via shadow charge stops less then 2 volleys, so you get 2, maybe 3 volleys off before the ship is toast, meaning it would take 5 or so suicide runs to take out the one large starbase.

I'm assuming you're using the Spire DD with Mk III modules (plasma gives part of it away .

Sacrifice one of your Plasmas for a shield MK III. That is 15 mil more hp your ship can absorb (on top of it's ability). For light mods try MLRS in all 4 slots.

Suggested plan of attack (what works for me, ymmv) would be to beeline for the small base your allies are attacking and clear the pirate ships there. Kill the Intimidators that are close and most of the other ships. Make your way to the large base, skirting the small bases ranges.  Get in close and drop a FF that covers your ship and the large base (pushes away any spawns). If you run out of SP then beeline straight out back to the allied side and work on clearing the ships until you have the SP to go back. If you can manage to keep your shield module alive that would be great. The missiles the bases shoot at you can be kited indefinitely, allowing you to eat a few at a time and take no damage. Once that large base goes down, the rest follow quickly.

[chemical_art]

Idk what game you are playing, but none of that works for me.

I can't kite first of all. The missiles move faster then my craft.

The large starbase, after its bonuses, does 10 million damage every 3 seconds. That toasts your shadow shield in 10 seconds tops, and a lvl 3 DD shield in 6 seconds. With its superior range, you take a volley that you have to bite before you are in range and can plop your shields, and with the missiles superior range and speed you can't escape.

[KDR_11k]

Did shields get buffed? Last time I checked they had 3.5M*mk HP so a MkIII has 10.5M, not 15M.

[keith.lamothe]

The enemy starbase would seem to pump out over half a dozen craft , mostly command ones, while my side's each starbase would pump out one craft.

Small bases are supposed to do them one at a time, large bases are the ones that spawn the groups.  So your large one should have been spawning groups.

The match ended with there being almost 20 enemy craft gunning toward the final base, while I never have seen 20 friendly craft in all my games.

Right at the beginning you should be seeing 3*(small bases) + 7 for the large base, which I think totals 25, though it's been a while since I've looked at that scenario.

I went toward the end thinking "my starbase will go strong too!" but its power levels stayed the same.

Both sides' large bases scale up as the small bases (of either side) are destroyed, but the side losing the small bases gains more (the alternative is that the scenario snowballs for whoever takes out a couple small bases first).  But the enemy side gets the scaling bonus for you having a destroyer, and a small bonus for you having one a couple scenarios first, and a bonus if you have multiple champions. If you have a save during the part when only the enemy large base is alive and your ally bases are still alive I could inspect the math in action to see if it's off its rocker or something.

[chemical_art]

Did shields get buffed? Last time I checked they had 3.5M*mk HP so a MkIII has 10.5M, not 15M.

The MK IV has the 15 million shields, I think that is where the mix up is.

[Cinth]

Did shields get buffed? Last time I checked they had 3.5M*mk HP so a MkIII has 10.5M, not 15M.

Opps. It's 3.75*MK. 11.25 for MK III 15 for MK IV. Yeah, I went back and looked lol. Apparently, getting information from the unlocks tab without looking at what mark is next can lead to errors

[chemical_art]

Here we go:



Enemy has over 50 ships for what it is worth

[Cinth]

Eeeeshhh. I am going to chalk that up to you use a completely different set of modules than I would ever use. I don't really care for the lance in particular.

[chemical_art]

Eeeeshhh. I am going to chalk that up to you use a completely different set of modules than I would ever use. I don't really care for the lance in particular.

Ok, except the modules have nothing to duo with defense (we both use shields) nor speed, so the tactic wouldn't work even with different modules. Any module aside from missiles would take two enemy volleys to get in range, the missiles move faster then you, and your shadow shields + your craft shields + hull would stop a baker's dozen volleys before you vape, allowing 3 to 4 volleys of your own plasmas max before you get toast too.

[TechSY730]

Something fishy may be going on here, if the main base of the enemy gets some extra "reinforcements" as the enemy minor bases go down, but the same does not happen if the allied main base doesn't get a similar boost when the allied minor bases go down. Can any confirm if this logic is working or is broken for allies? From what Keith said, this sort of "make the main base work more as minor bases are lost" logic is supposed to apply to any side of the fight.