Defiance - Two days in

First off, a correction.  If you didn't see it, on my previous post I forgot to account for the "half damage".  All weapons do half the damage listed on their blueprints when you are actually comparing to the amount of armor/health lost by a target.  So on the offensive side, when I said that one volley would kill a target, it really would take two.  The hull/weapon combo is still very destructive, just not quite as destructive as I said.

It's too bad the initial evening of this raid was a real mess, but it's been extended a full day to make up for it.  Just remember the alliance points reset on Monday (the raid will seem harder).

So we are two days into this raid, and my overall impression is that it is easier than I thought it would be.  Maybe I was just planning well, as I did spend much of my last month's shipyard time tweaking my Punisher / Neptune fleet for this type of raid target.  I started this raid using the 3 Punishers with Earthshakers (and 1 PAC) and a Neptune with mostly Gales and a couple Phalanx (and refit with the Frontline Countermeasure System).  I experimented a little between using the Highlander Nuke Cruiser and the Omega Behemoth as flagships, and found I took a little less damage with the Omega.  I don't think the exact build is too important, but if you're really interested I've published it in an earlier article.  With that fleet, I could do a full A set for about 7 - 9 coin.  That was a lot less than I could do these types of targets in previous iterations of this raid type, where hitting just the 86 would do more damage than that.

Very important concepts for this raid:

• Hit the flagged building first - the turrets become much easier to kill once it is down.
• You need enough countermeasures (Gales) to hold of the mortar fire.
• Driving is important - you want to be taking fire from just one group of targets at a time (preferably the one you're shooting at).  If you are taking fire from multiple directions, rethink your driving pattern through the target.  Check Youtube/Facebook groups for some videos if you need better patterns & don't want to come up with your own.
• Once you have enough Gales/Hails to ignore the mortars, missiles are your next biggest threat.  Shift-click the Zoe Rhinos and Missile turrets - they are your most important targets.  Phalanx help, but are generally overwhelmed.

But the most useful ship for this raid is the Revenge.  I got 15 million, redeemed the hull, and started the following build:

Huggy's doesn't show the huge deflections against Ballistic, Penetrative, and Explosive damage that the hull gets.  The speed also works out very nicely - just a little bit faster than the rest of my fleet which is perfect for a tank.

After starting this build, I put on a Grease Monkeys crew, hit more targets, and started redeeming tokens until I could finish this ship.

Once finished, I replaced my Omega with the Revenge and continued hitting A set targets, using the Revenge as a tank.  The result is that I can play for a long time & hit lots of targets without repairing my fleet.  Or I can come home after each hit to unload resources, keep upgrading walls, and do some instant repairs on individual ships.  So right now I've spent about 60 coins on this raid, and don't see myself needing to spend any more to get all the points I want.  Again, I was expecting this raid to be much more pricey for me.

Remember - Kixeye has said that we will start seeing Deflection Bypass in PvE targets.  I expect this type of tank will not be effective for long.  But once the PvE targets update, I will continue to refit this ship into a base hitter, which is what I want this hull for anyway.  I'll replace the D2-E with Shockwave Plate, add Siege Targeting (maybe) or Explosive System 4 (maybe) or Combustion System 2 (once we see it), and add on a bunch of Concussive Gatlings.

This article has been targeted at players who can basically do the raid.  If you are having trouble, I bet the primary problem is not having enough anti-mortar.  Having to keep moving makes these targets much more difficult (especially if you have to crack walls with ballistics).  If you just don't have the fleets, you have two options - hit easier targets or find a friend.  Someone who has followed my advice to build a Revenge quickly (whether they read about it here or not) should be feeling pretty generous and able to prep targets.

Quick Edit: Man-o-War targets just started spawning.  DO NOT try them with a fleet optimized for the Raid Strongholds.  My old Harlock Aegis / Rhino / Punisher tank fleet did fine.

Good luck on the raid everyone - keep grinding!