Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Avalanche - the Pre-Raid post with Tips and Prize Analysis

Avalanche is coming.  And the video is out almost two full days before the start of the raid.  Watch it now, while it's uhhhhh, funny...  



The Kixeye Briefing is here:  https://www.kixeye.com/forum/discussion/513288

What do we know about the raid?

- This is a 6 day event with a hull store.  Previous Hull stores have had unlimited purchases of all released hulls.  This one does not have every released hull, but most of the limited hulls (not the Frosty Icer) are available.  The regular hulls available are focused on the top-tier hulls, with fewer choices for lower level players.  There will also be a limit of prizes per tier - possibly 9.
- Both Reaver and Draconian ships will be present in the targets.
- Raid format is similar to the last raid, with fleets & the Kraken on the world map, and two campaigns for each player to choose from - Elite and Siege/Strike/Recon.  Points also seem similar.

Robot has posted his tips and tricks advice here: https://www.kixeye.com/forum/discussion/515162/p1
That one focuses on the new Reaver targets - you may want to review last month's as well to refamiliarize yourself with the Draconian targets: https://www.kixeye.com/forum/discussion/508907/p1

General Tips:
  • When Reavers and Draconians are present in the same target, look for opportunities to get them to fight each other.  Sending in a single gunboat or submarine that can hide while the two sides grind each other down has been a successful strategy in previous raids.  Although that won't get you damage points, it will help you to get to a bonus more quickly.
  • Use your half repair time.  Look for opportunities to rotate ships in and out of the fleet you are using so that you can repair the ones you are not using.  Using your repair time effectively during a 4 day raid is almost like having 192 coins to work with.
  • Don't rush (unless you have to).  You don't have to finish on Day 1.  Just remember allliance points (bonuses) will reset on Monday.
  • A high evade tank has worked very well for me in previous raids - I used a Jugg X R5 with all D3E armor, along with Speed System 3 and Guidance Scrambler 3 to get my Evade up around 85%.   Turrets with Priority Targeting in the Elite target were able to negate this strategy, so I stuck to the Siege Campaign.  This ship may be less effective against some of the new Reaver ships as well.
  • If the targets are too hard, try campaigns for half repair.
  • Sea Wolves are instant repair during raids at 600 health.  Battle Barge A are instant repair during raids at 800 health.  (660 / 880 with officer).  The world map fleets might be good targets if you are using instant repair ships, and also give very good resource payout if you need to refill.
Analysis of new items:

Wendigo Turret:
This new limited base defense turret is the first launcher-type base defense weapon. It launches flechettes that stack with the D104-N Cryo turret to cause the same cryo overload.


There are a few things to look at immediately.  
- The power consumption means that you can only mount this on a Level 5 Turret.  Pinch Resist 2 with +2% power consumed for 35% stun resistance will be best special choice.
- Build Time is 17 days 9 hours 28 min 48 sec (with officer). (thanks bp-info) That's a long build, especially if you have to upgrade the turret to Level 5 first.
- With the x16 Supercharge, one salvo of 5 shots will trigger a Cryo field against any target with zero (or less) evade.
- 131 range isn't very good, and there is no special to increase it.  If you want to have this support an Enforcer with Cryo launchers, base layout will be critical.

Lets look at DPS:
WendigoDeadeye ExecutionerExecutioner with Thermo 3Javelin with DUShells 3Harpoon with DUShells 3Sent 5 with Scram 3
Range13130 - 19950 - 14680 - 14960 - 14930 - 135
Damage5,0421,8862,3592,7542,1601,144
Shockwave4,29600000
Damage TypePenetrativePenetrativePenetrativeBallistic/PenetrativeBallisticPenetrative/Ballistic
Salvo532114
Cycle Time7.910.210.11210.05.3
Accuracy100%100%100%140%112%100%
Ship DPS638.2184.9233.6321.3241.9215.8
Power Consumed3,9203,6543,4203,6932,9571,209
DPS (0% Evade)638.2184.9233.6229.5216.0215.8
Shock DPS (0%)543.80.00.00.00.00.0
DPS (40% Evade)382.9110.9140.2192.8145.2129.5
Shock DPS (40%)326.30.00.00.00.00.0

I split the regular DPS from the shockwave DPS to make things a bit clearer.  First of all, even without the shockwave, the DPS is LARGE.  The shockwave DPS is also large, but if the Wendigo is not supported by ships with Cryo launchers, then the shock will have to be triggered by the second salvo if triggered at all, or else the charge will be shed.  against Interceptors, the Shockwave would have to be triggered in the first salvo due to the unreactive capability.  A reload bonus from Fire Support would change this.
So the Wendigo does a huge amount of damage.  Stacking ships when approaching this turret would be a big mistake.  With the long build time, I was ready to dismiss this turret, but the damage it can deal is enough to make that build time worthwhile.  Hey... what else are you gonna build?



Siege Battery:
The ship special gives a bonus to building damage and a defense bonus against turret weapons.  It comes in levels 1 - 3.



This special is tough to compare to other specials - it has both a defensive and offensive effect.  Defensive specials (giving resistance) usually have weight based on armor weight, and offensive specials (dealing damage or range) usually have weight based on weapon weight, but this special is based on total weight, so it may result in a heavy ship.  But the Damage and Resistance increases are quite large, so this special should be worth it against the correct targets.  

Siege Battery compared to Siege Targeting:


Siege Battery 3Siege Battery 2Siege Battery 1Siege Targeting 3Siege Targeting 2Siege Targeting 1
Total Weight19%15%10%---
Turret Defense40%35%30%---
Building Damage60%30%15%---
Weapon Weight---17%12%6%
Building Damage---75%50%25%
Build Time w/Officer2d 6h 34m1d 8h 44m14h 44m1d 3h13h6h 30m

From reading the forums, this special should be stackable with other resistance specials, so the 40% Turret defense could result in high resistance to base weapons (including the new Wendigo).

Kixeye suggested this would be best against bases.  My thought is that this would be effective against dredge fleets, since the dredge turrets have a lot of health and also do a lot of damage while you are trying to hit the ships.  I think this will be a valuable special, particularly on hulls with 4 special slots, and players will find ways to use this quite effectively.

Coming soon - the "what to get" post.  Although the prize list has been posted (see the briefing in the Kixeye Forum), I'd like to know all the points before nailing down recommendations.

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