Abyss - One day in

Well to start with - it's my blog and I'll post some unsubstantiated opinions when I want to.  Like on the Phantom Nighthawk.  That got some pretty significant response, and a few people pointed out "valid" reasons for using the ship.  
Most notably:

• The PNH increases the firepower of your sub fleet by adding a 5th ship
• It can stay on the world map and allow you to keep playing even if your dock is dead.

I'm sticking to my opinion on sniping. Even in a "war" situation, sniping fleets usually tends to escalate things, and the players who end up paying the price are the ones who have the least ability to deal with it.  Anyway, get it if you want, don't if you don't.  I don't mind feedback so keep it coming.

A few more notes about the prizes:

• Explosive Plate 3 might be more necessary than I thought to deal with Dragonfire rockets, especially in base guards.
• I've seen Hellstrike build stats look very similar to a Goresaber, with the only real Goresaber advantages being the range, splash, and repair modifier.  The "get Dragonfires and refit HS R10" option is really not too bad.
• I still think token costs are too high - the players that need them the most won't be getting much.  Since they are limited to 1 week total, Kixeye could have priced them lower without worrying that whales were going to build everything they ever wanted "on sale".  By raising the price (typo or not... it was an increase from the initial value announced in the briefing) just before the raid, I think Kixeye really turned an opportunity to improve player mood about the game into something that just made players more upset.  By pricing tokens dirt cheap, they could have significantly raised player participation in the raid, and "engagement" is supposed to be a metric they care about.

World Map:
These raid targets are very similar if not identical to the previous raid.  World map target points seem to have been tweaked a bit... I got: 

23: 8,526 raid points 10 sector points
25: 12,747 raid points 15 sector points
43: 67,649 raid points 100 sector points
45: 101,600 raid points 150 sector points
61: 329,850 raid points 400 sector points 400 uranium
65: 493,500 raid points 600 sector points 600 uranium
85: 500,000 raid points 2500 sector points

You can look back at my Perdition article for breakdowns on the world map targets.

For players that can do the campaigns, I think you'll generally find a better point/repair ratio on the campaigns, but for players that can't, the 43 or 45 are probably best bets.  It seems like the 23/25 are just too low point payout for the time taken.  I also think the platform-type targets (25/45/61) go much slower than the fleet targets, so it may take more "butt-in-the-seat" time when hitting those targets.  Hitting the 61 & 65 will pay out better, but those will do a lot more damage, and I think most of the players hitting those are more interested in Sector points than Raid points.  I did notice that the Sector bars I've seen seem a lot smaller than last time - I'm not sure if that is just a function of the sectors I'm in this time or if that is true across the board.

Campaigns:
Siege, Strike, and Elite campaigns have no obvious changes, except I did notice that the "Short range Javelins" now have a new image so you can tell them apart from the normal long range Reaver Javelins.  Look back at my Descent article for the Campaign breakdowns.

I've seen more Youtube videos of people doing Elite with Frosty Crusaders for 6 coins or so (with Grease Monkeys).  I'm not so skillful (I guess)... and my Frosty Crusader fleet didn't fare so well (although I wasn't using Grease Monkeys).  I did notice that I could not abort the Elite Campaign... I had to repair & finish it off.

My best plan is still to do the Siege Campaign.  I've improved on technique and can do that campaign for about 7 coins worth of repair.  I use Frosty / Mastodons on the first three targets.  One trick I've been using to reduce damage with that fleet is to bring 2 instant repair Sea Wolves.  I use a SW to trigger the groups and to take the first blast of the throwers.  The 4th campaign I take very little damage with Frosty Crusaders, and then on the 5th campaign I start with Frosty Mast for the mobile ships, then finish with the Frosty Crusaders (or just blast through with the Frosty Crusaders).  For the Shroud Ship on the 5th target, remember to come at it from the inside of the base, so the short range shrouded guns can't hit you.

This Kixeye Forum thread talks about using subs in places to do Siege even more inexpensively:  https://www.kixeye.com/forum/discussion/546937

Assault Platforms:
Sorry - I can't help you guys out here.  I have noticed a LOT of Proto-Nemesis drops as well as a few Hellstars.... so it seems quite a few players have figured these out.

Keep grinding!