Read the Pins & New FM Prizes

There's a lot of changes going on in the game right now.

It's been confusing for a lot of players, and those that don't understand what's going on are getting frustrated.  Last night on comms a player said something like "oh great look what Kixeye did.  No more VXP weekend."

Now, those who are paying close attention know that the discounted buying of rank was this weekend, and VXP weekend would be next weekend.  But not everyone can do that.  Here's what I'm going to say about it, and unfortunately, the readers of this blog probably aren't the people who need to hear it.

Read the Kixeye pinned forum posts.

I get that a lot of the posts on the forums are complaining or noob questions.  But every Tuesday we see the weekly release notes (except when they aren't on Tuesday... see the pinned forum post about that).  You should read them, and look for any other info pinned there too.  Read the pinned raid briefings.  I know that Kixeye has neither been the most clear nor the most consistent communicators... I have spent a fair amount of time trying to pick up the pieces.  But they are trying, and if you can only read one thing, the official Kixeye communications are a good place to start.

If you want more in-depth opinion and analysis, there is this blog.  There are three weekly YouTube shows if you prefer the video format (BP Crib, Battle Vortex, and Forsaken Council).  There's a blog starting up that's targeted at newer players.  They all have their place.  But if you can only read one thing... read the pinned posts.

I'm not going to be able to touch the Foundry for a while (and the Crusader is the only relevant change for most players anyway), so go read the pinned post if you don't get it.

OK, on to the new Forsaken Mission Prizes.

Combusion System 2:


This is the new FM item that I was most anticipating, and I left empty spots on my Citadels & Revenge hulls I'm building (in prep for the upcoming VXP weekend) for this special.  Now that it's here, it seems to continue Kixeye's practice of making new items NOT the greatest, but competitive.  

The choice between Combustion System 2 and Explosive System 4 is not obvious, as you can see in this chart:

(If you saw this chart on the BP Crib show, the build times have been corrected)

My opinion on this is that the increased spread and extra splash will really help the new Gatling Gun.  I see a lot of players planning Revenge / Gatling builds with Strike Warheads... but with the high built-in concussive damage bonus on the Revenge, the marginal amount of extra damage might not be worth the weight/slot for that, and the Combustion System would be more helpful instead. For Citadels, where you are often firing at the longer remote targeting range, the higher speed of Explosive System 4 might be more beneficial.  I like having shells land sooner, so my enemies stop firing sooner.

Alloy Armor CL:


This alloy special protects against Ballistics and Radioactive damage at the expense of leaving off Penetrative & Explosive protection.

This one might be good in a few specialized situations:

• If you want to build a ship/fleet specifically for mines, those deal out exclusively Ballistic and Radioactive damage.  (try just a single ship in 60s & 70s by the way)
• The new Revenge hull is weak against Enforcers and Shockwaves - this high radioactive defense may help, but you will set yourself up to be weak against ship's missiles.
• The Citadel hull has high (70%) built-in Explosive & Penetrative Defense but 0% Ballistic and Radioactive.  This special balances out those weaknesses.

Zynthonite Armor D5-C:

This has the same general stats as the D5-M & D5-X we've seen, but with Ballistic protection.  

I was hoping this armor would have reduced build times compared to the other D5 deflection armors we have seen (because C armor got a build time reduction compared to M & X), but D5-C has the same build time as D5-M & D5-X (1d 17h 24m with officer).

Even so, this may be a tool for builds in some situations, just like the rest of the D5 armors.  One caution though - when deflection bypass becomes a thing in PvE targets, the only place we expect deflection to be useful is in player bases.  So the extra 20 deflection compared to the huge damage numbers going around there might just not matter at all.

Until next time... stay Frosty.  Or Revenge-y.  Or Punish-y.

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!