Ranking the Rank Icebreaker

There's some great videos out there on how to do this raid.   My favorite is Forsaken Cove's article on how to do the 107.  On the 100, I do a loop for the long range turrets, a loop for the short range ballistics, a loop for the big launcher, and then pick off the outer launchers.  I'm sure there's some videos out there from the last raid.

All that assumes a ranked Harlock Cannoneer fleet... without that, well-driven Cannoneers can hit lots of targets in the 70s before repairing (I collected nearly 50 million doing that on Thursday night), and many Ironclads can do targets in the 50s with instant repairs.

But I'm going to write this article about the Icebreaker.

First off, you need to understand Kixeye's raid structure for the foreseeable future.  It started with the Reaver Skirmish raid series, continued through this Scourge Siege raid series, and will continue with the upcoming garrison series.  Each of those raids had a Skill hull and a Blitz hull.  The Hellwraith and the Cannoneers are the skill hulls we've seen so far. The Tideseeker, Ironclad.and now the new Icebreaker are the Blitz hulls.  So far, we've seen well driven skill hulls can do high end targets with no damage, and Blitz hulls have had mixed results (although I suspect the damage output of a Tideseekers with Calamity was an unforeseen combo on Kixeye's part).  

So we need to think about the Icebreaker going forward.  Each player should be able to assess their own game.  On my part, I like the skill hulls, and have only built the Blitz hull with tokens.  This raid we've seen the order from last raid flipped, and now we have the Blitz hull available at a high point price, and we can expect the skill hull to come up in a TLC soon after the raid.

Since I like the skill hulls, I'm not really excited about the Icebreaker in general, and at approximately 2 week build times per ship, I'm not going to devote my shipyard to building a full fleet of those (and note they have a stacking bonus).  So I strongly considered not redeeming it this raid.  I did and I started on.  My plan is to build only one Icebreaker in the near term (see it below), and save as many tokens as I can out of this raid to be ready to build the upcoming skill hull ASAP.  



(Important Note: I've heard that the Charged Armors are not currently working.... hold on buying & installing those until we know more)

The only real non-obvious part on this build is the High Velocity Rounds.  Those give me building damage and help my rockets land quickly.  Other choices could be made to increase damage.  Agility 4 could easily be replaced with Guidance Scrambler 3 to save 5 hours of build time.

You also need to be concerned about what we don't know in the upcoming Garrison Raid targets.  I think the biggest question is whether you will want countermeasures.  The way most players are attacking FM Garrison targets right now, we have a tank hull with countermeasures and mortar hulls to deal damage.  But if you are blitzing with Icebreakers, anti-mortar defenses may not be needed, and whether or not anti-missile is useful will really depend on the target.  We might even see a return of countermeasure specialist ships with the Icebreaker (I was always a big fan).  

For that type of build, Frontline Countermeasures would replace the Garrison battery,  Evade Upgrade or Deflection Upgrade SA (limited component I didn't see a need for at the time) could replace the HVR.  Then I'd probably put 4 Gales or Hail D, 3 Phalanx 4, and keep one rocket.

So one more thing - let's talk about ranking these Icebreakers.  The new Siege Rocket has a one second reload, a +100% built in rocket reload bonus, and then a +10% stacking aura reload bonus (per ship).  So a solo Icebreaker gets a 110% reload bonus, and a full 5 ship fleet gets 150%.   The means the reload time for 1 ship is 0.48 seconds, and for 5 ships it is 0.4 seconds.  My long-time readers may remember when I demonstrated that the minimum reload time for any weapon is 0.2 seconds, and also may remember that rank bonuses are applied differently than hull/special/aura bonuses:
reload = base reload * (1 - rank bonus).  
(note that the additional 0.2 seconds per salvo shot isn't affected by this)

So any bonus that puts your reload under 0.2 seconds is wasted.  For the 5 ship fleet the math works out really easily 
0.2 = 0.4 * (1 - rank%) 
Any rank bonus above 50% is wasted on a 5 ship Icebreaker fleet.

For the 1 ship fleet - I broke out the calculator to determine that 
0.2 = 0.48 * (1 - rank%) 
Any rank bonus above 58% is wasted when you only have 1 Icebreaker.

I'll leave the other cases for the reader.  Also remember that if you use Cluster Warheads to increase your reload bonus further, you will just max out your fire rate at a lower rank.  Keep in mind that this applies to Icebreakers using the new Siege Rockets D100S only.  If using other weapons or other hulls, you will max out differently - remember Goresabers with Infernos maxed out at even lower ranks.  

Another case to consider is if you are using countermeasures.  Those will not max out their reload at any rank, so it may pay off to rank ships with CM all the way to legendary (another reason to concentrate those defenses on one ship).

Good luck in the raid - keep grinding!

Navigating Utopia's Big Ole Store

Well, if you buy into the whole consumerism thing and paradise is a huge shopping mall, then this next raid really will be Utopia for you.  

Since Kixeye was kind enough to post the prize list early, I'll try to make sense of this store and break things down. I'm NOT going to go with a full red/yellow/green breakdown... that's crazy.

I'm going to start with looking at it from my own point of view - a player who is pretty much caught up.  For players like that, the major priority will be to get set up for success in the next raid series (which will be Garrison).  Actually, that should be all players' priority.  As the game has moved towards a very predictable rotation of target types, you need to try to jump on to that hamster wheel so set yourself up for continued success.

So the first things to look at are the new equipment.  We don't have full blueprints, but we have some general ideas.

To get the new equipment, you first need to take the Empyrean generalist hull.  A valid question is - why do we need another generalist hull after the Zelos?  The answer is that the Empyrean is a remote targeting hull, so that you can build up the Zelos as a tank, and use Empyreans behind that to rain down fire.  With the new weapon and special being released for that hull (Advanced Imperial Mortar D100-Z and Advanced Trajectory Plotter) - the Empyrean will have remote targeting for mortars.  My hope is that in the spirit of true 'generalism', that hull will ALSO remote target for missiles, but right now only remote targeting stats for mortars are shown in the raid video.  (and a heavy weapon slot...) I also expect that new Imperial Mortar and Trajectory Plotter special will be relatively quick building and Generalist only (just like the previous Quake Cannon and Seismic Rounds released with the Zelos).  Players who are caught up are probably interested in taking the Empyrean only because they have to be.  I'm plenty happy with my Citadels for remote targeting of Mortars, and Rhinos for remote targeting of Missiles, and I don't think I'll be devoting shipyard time to that hull.  I've been quite happy with my decision to build no Zelos hulls so far.

Instead, I'll be devoting time to the specialized Garrison hulls - the first of which is the Icebreaker, which is described as the "Auto" hull.  This puts it in the same genre as the Ironclad and Tideseeker, which means it will be sort of a 'charge in and blow stuff up' kind of hull.  Released with the Icebreaker are the Siege Rockets D110-S and the Garrison Battery Mk-X.  These rockets and (likely) explosive-enhancing special should go with the Icebreaker.  Rockets haven't been really effective in this game since players were loading up Leviathans with Hydras and blitzing them into Sentinel missiles... but we will see how these look when we get the full blueprint.  Right now we have some hints from the video:

ICEBREAKER:  
Rocket Range: +30%
Rocket Reload: +100%
Explosive Defense: +80%
Penetrative Defense: +80%
Field Resistance: +90%

Note the last rocket hull we've seen, the Goresaber, had +25% Rocket Range, +160% Rocket Reload, 50% Exp/Pen resist, and +67% Field Resistance.  

SIEGE ROCKET D100-S:
Range: 57
Damage: 6672
Splash: 20

The previous generation of rockets, Dragonfires, Lockdowns, and Coaxial Firestorms (who remembers they fire rockets in primary mode?) all had range of 68.  Old school Siege Rockets have the 57 range.  Dragonfires also have that 20 splash, although they are a low damage, fast firing rocket.  If our targets have any deflection, Dragonfires will be near useless.  

GARRISON BATTERY Mk-X:
Unknown

So to start off with, players who are 'keeping up' will need:
Empyrean: 15M
Icebreaker: 60M 
Siege Rocket D100-S: 20M
Garrison Battery Mk-X: 10M
Total (new stuff): 105M points

That's kind of a bare minimum, unless you want to take a 'high-risk' approach to this raid.  That would be to wait for the Specialist hull, which should be released in an upcoming TLC. Even so, you may also want the Rocket weapon and Explosive special.  You don't know how much time you'll have to do that TLC before VXP weekend (with a 6 day raid). I'll just suggest that the 'high-risk' approach is too high risk for me.

Then I looked down at the rest of the prize list and I saw a bunch of tokens I wanted:

11d 3h ship build tokens: 30.9M
4x Liberator 25k VXP tokens: 24M
4x Oppressor 25k VXP tokens: 24M
8x 2 day Structure build tokens: 32M
Total (tokens): 110.9M

I would prioritize the Ship Build tokens very highly so I can get at least 4 Icebreaker hulls complete before VXP weekend.  I also really want those Liberator VXP tokens... since I already armored those 2 of the 3 I've built (even the Prof makes mistakes sometimes).  The structure ones I could probably do without if the points get tight.

I also saw some limited items:  
First off are the new Charged Zynthonite C1-X and C1-M Armors.  These new armors add no repair time and have some stats released in the video:

Charged Zynth C1-X
Explosive Dmg Reduction: 10,000
Explosive Armor Pool: 170,000

Charged Zynth C1-M
Penetrating Dmg Reduction: 37,725
Penetrating Armor Pool: 700,000

From the scant description we have, these seem to work like some sort of 'pre-deflection' damage reduction, but I'm not going to attempt any detailed description or analysis until we hear more from Kixeye.  But with the reduction of M & X damage, they certainly seem like they will be useful in these Garrison targets (which do primarily M & X damage).  I suspect you'll want one of each of these armors on ships being built for Garrison targets.  This means I'm going to want at least 4 of each ... if not 8 - 10.  I also want to restock my Agility system IV and Hydraulic Resistors.  I'm less concerned about Gales (Hail D is at least... useful) and Cobras.

4x Charged Armor C1-X: 40M
4x Charged Armor C1-M: 40M
5x Agility System IV: 5M
5x Hydro Resistors: 7.5M
Total (Limited): 92.5M

So, even not going for everything... I really want a bit over 300 million points this raid.  and I think a lot of players will be in similar situations.  WOOF! 

So what else is out there?

If you are going the "generalist" route, you will probably want:

Empyrean Hull: 15M
Advanced Imperial Mortar D100-Z: 9M
Trajectory Plotter: 6M
up to 15x Zelos 1 day Build Tokens (refit one to M/X defense): up to 30M
1x Charged Armor C1-X: 10M
1x Charged Armor C1-M: 10M
11d 3h Ship Build Tokens: 30.9M
Total (generalist):  30M - 110.9M

Lower end players who can't go after those big ticket items should make sure they have some sort of Garrison fleet in order.  If you can't get those Generalist hulls, then the Citadel / Punisher combination are the next best thing.  Hopefully you've gotten the hulls from the low end FM tiers, but you should make sure you have the equipment you need for them too.  If you don't have a Punisher tank (WHY NOT???) or Citadel mortar chuckers built, Berzerker build tokens are available.  If you are in this category, I would plan your fleet / refits very carefully so you can take only the tokens you need.  Note that the ship specific build tokens are cheaper than the general build tokens.  Consider:

up to 11d 3h Ship Build Tokens: up to 30.9M
up to 10 Citadel 1 day build tokens: up to 15M
up to 10 Citadel 5000 VXP tokens: up to 10M
Berzerker Hull: 0.75M
up to 10 Berzerker 3 day build tokens: up to 15M
Judgement Mortar: 0.9M
or Pandemonium Mortar: 0.6M
Explosive System IV: 0.6M
or Combustion System 2: 0.6M
No total here - too situation specific

Lower end players who have been having trouble in this raid cycle need to get a Siege fleet in order.  The best plan here is Ironclads with Mausers - Cannoneers and Millenium Guns are too expensive.  If you haven't been able to do the TLCs to win Ironclad/Mauser, get them now.  High Velocity Rounds are worth the splurge (for mortar/garrison fleets too).    Take build & VXP tokens to get them done.

up to 11d 3h Ship Build Tokens: up to 30.9M
Ironclad: 1M
High Velocity Rounds: 5M
up to 20 Ironclad 1 day build tokens: up to 10M
up to 20 Ironclad 5000 VXP tokens: up to 6M
Mauser Cannon: 0.75M
Nuclear Accelerators: 0.5M
No total here - too situation specific

Lower end players who have been having trouble getting Uranium need a Skirmish fleet.  Hellwraiths or Tideseekers are the thing here, but since Hellwraiths are comparatively expensive in the store, I recommend the Tideseekers.  The Conflagration Scattergun that is most effective isn't in the store, and neither are the concussive cannons, so torpedoes are the next best idea.

up to 11d 3h Ship Build Tokens: up to 30.9M
Tideseeker: 0.5M
Fire Twister Torpedo: 2M
Sealed Fire Charge: 1M
No total here - too situation specific

Going after Megas needs an Assault fleet, basically Apollos.  Phalanx 4 are preferred as your anti-missile solution, since switchblades can get overwhelmed, but they aren't available.  If you don't have Phalanx, don't go all Switchblade, make sure to mix in some Blades to maintain offense.

up to 11d 3h Ship Build Tokens: up to 30.9M
Apollo: 3M
Blade: 0.6M
Switchblade Anti-Missile: 0.9M
Interception System: 0.3M
Counter Missile Extender: 0.6M
No total here - too situation specific

If you want to get into Base Hitting and PvP, the tier 5 Conqueror hulls can still smash a lot of bases (just not the best ones).  If you're starting from scratch, I'd recommend taking the Vendetta and at least one other hull type, so you can use 2 tanks and 3 remote targeting Vendettas. If forced to pick one tank, I'd probably go with the Spite, but Malice are decent too (if you equip with Radioactive Plate).  All the "PvP" components are pretty cheap, so make sure you have weapons and specials to complete whatever hull you grab.  

Vendetta: 1.5M
Spite: 2M
Malice: 1.5M

For Base Defense we have the Valiant and Vanquisher.  Pick one and make sure you can equip it. Avoid the Alpha Behemoth and Cesium Scarab - they are really underperforming in most situations.

Valiant: 2M
Vanquisher: 1.5M

Whether to get Turrets is an interesting question.  The latest generation of turrets like Gargoyle 3, Hyena, and Explosive D99-S are not available, and they really are a step up in capability from previous versions.  Cataclysm is available and worth getting. I expect more improved turrets will be available to round out the damage types, so unless you are desperate, I would focus on the 'better' Limited turrets in this store.  

Glacial Launcher: 2M 
Coldsnap Rocket: 2M 
Cataclysm: 4M

Ferox Fury will be a flagship for Fury hulls.  Without seeing it, it's tough to figure out if it will be desirable to build.  Right now, the only people I could see really wanting it at its 40M point price tag are those who have a full fleet of Furys but are missing out on the Tier 6 Conquerors.

Well, although there are a lot of good prizes available at good prices, the massive size of the store and the high prices on new equipment mean that a lot of players will be wanting a lot of points.  Remember it will be a 6 day raid and you should try to use all 6 days if you can.  Also remember Alliance points reset on Monday, and so you'll probably be hit.  Deal with it.

Awakening - what to get

Awakening has started - and it's definitely a have or have-not kind of raid.  Cannoneers are working great. Ironclads were perhaps a bit oversold, and players with neither of those two ships are definitely in for a grind at best.

I'm not going to go into much detail on tips - there are a lot of videos with driving & build tips on YouTube.  

I will share with you my final Cannoneer build.


I refit my 3 Cannoneers with the 8th Millenium Gun and the High Velocity Rounds after getting enough points to grab that special and enough tokens to make the refit cheap.  After that refit, I can put a Creeping Death crew on, and go hit Tier 5 targets for the 40 minutes, earn 10-12 million points, and not have to repair during that time.  This is a case where the high repair time works in our favor.  I can hit a lot of targets, get a lot of points, and walk away to do something else while my fleet repairs for a few hours.  This makes for a very cheap raid (except the LTOs and refits). 

So in terms of what to get for this raid, it's clear that I've chosen the High Velocity Rounds over the UAV Overdrive special.  The fact that players can't get every new prize is a clear sign that Kixeye screwed up in how they released the tech for this raid.

In terms of what else to get... I think the next question on a player's mind would be 

If I don't have the Cannoneer already, should I take it?
Maybe.  Although there are only two raids of this style left, you could probably get two of these built before the next one, although you'll probably have to skimp on armor, and ranking might be an issue (more on that later).  One or two Cannoneers are still effective in Tier 5, although it takes longer.  Also remember this style target will probably be replacing the Draconian Mines after the three raids of this cycle are over, so you'll need to think about your future.

Should I take the Harlock's Cannoneer?
Maybe.  This is the question I've been thinking about for myself - I started a 4th Cannoneer already, and so I'll need to decide if I want to build the Harlock's version after that.  The only real flagship bonus is the +60% Ballistic Damage, and I'm doing pretty good with what I've got already.  I do expect the targets to increase in difficulty as this raid cycle goes on for two more iterations, so the extra firepower may be helpful.  A blank build of the Harlock will not be helpful because it is very difficult to keep a flagship out of trouble with the driving style needed in these targets, so a fully built and ranked ship will be needed.

Is the Millennium Gun good on ships other than the Cannoneer?
Yes.  Don't miss out on this weapon.  The Millennium and the Mauser are significantly more effective (from a DPS perspective) than previous ballistic weapons.  If you missed the Mauser, you really want the Millennium for any ballistic ship you are building.  Even players with Ironclads are liking the Millennium (over the Mauser). The exception is probably base hitting - with neither splash nor penetrating, I wouldn't choose the Millennium to put on the Malice for base hitting... there I'd go Mauser.  Of course with Level 9 walls... I think all Ballistics are pretty useless.

What is Harlock's Ironclad good for?
Meh. One obvious option is to lead Ironclads.  Another option might be is if you missed out on Ironclads and Cannoneers... just take this and build the one.  You could put Earthshakers or PACs on it... or if you get another 6 Million put the Millenium on it  (nope... it's locked behind the Cannoneer.  Everybody loves that).  However, I think I'd rather spend the 30 million on the whole ballistic tree, and build a nice Cannoneer instead of a low tech Harlock's Ironclad.

How about the Alpha Behemoth and the new Cesium Scarab UAV?
Maybe.  Without the UAV Overdrive special, I'm not super sold on this ship as a damage dealer, and the countermeasure capability is not unique to this hull.  If you already have the Millenium Gun, I wouldn't skip the UAV though.  It is clearly better than previous UAVs, and we will see if the rotating wheel of weapon love stays on UAVs for a bit longer to leave us a new UAV hull or other opportunities to use that weapon.

And how about the other stuff?

• I always recommend build tokens if you are halfway decent at the raid.
• Superhulls (Ghostcrawler, ProtoNemesis, Man-of-War, and Hellstar) are pretty much obsolete, and I wouldn't tie up my shipyard building one.
• The Gamma Behemoth can be earned for just 4 million points - if you want an option for countermeasures in your base besides the Alpha Behemoth, here it is.
• Vassago's Punisher got cheap, but probably isn't worth building.
• On the lower tiers, I'd probably go Punisher, PAC, and Nuclear Accelerator if forced to choose.  Punisher is the original generalist hull even though Kixeye calls it a Siege class.

Is the VXP token LTO any good?
I'm kind of sick of the Limited Time Offers (LTOs).  The Millennium Gun ones were good deals, but now I'm looking at the VXP tokens.  I've got one Cannoneer left to build and maybe a Harlock.  (But I do need to keep in mind that the "Cannoneer" tokens won't work on the "Harlock's Cannoneer"

A Cannoneer needs 47,425 VXP to hit legendary.  So the 25000x4 offer for $29.99 will get two Cannoneers to Legendary.  The 5000x10 offer for $19.99 will get one there.

On a VXP weekend, a ship might get about 5000 VXP per hit (with a Salty Dog), and a Cannoneer will take 7 coin to repair, meaning it should take about 63 coin to get a Cannoneer to Legendary over that time.  This means that ranking through the token offer will cost about 2-3x more than ranking through the VXP weekend.  Sure those tokens may be a 90% reduction from coining the rank directly, but I think I'll skip this LTO.

Well, the first raid of a new cycle is generally pretty screwed up.  This one is no exception.  There were lots of problems with point awards in the first hours of the raid (some in players' favor, some not), that once more made it seem like Kixeye is doing ZERO testing.  Like the last raid cycle, this one seems to be sorting players into haves & have nots.  The campaigns are an effort to dull that a bit, but you can't get enough points through those to earn the needed tech.

The Reaver Skirmish cycle went through three iterations before getting it into the current format which players accepted.  I guess the burning question is - How many iterations is this Scourge Siege style going to go through?  After all, we're only getting three shots at it.

And then there was the Ironclad...

We've got another new hull available for the next raid cycle - the Ironclad.

To win it, you need to beat the first round of the Iron Maiden TLC.  The second and third rounds give you equipment that helps you fit out the Ironclad - the Cannon System 4 and the Mauser Cannon.  I'm not going to go in depth on the stats of all of these... you can find that stuff on the Facebook pages and YouTube shows.  If you watch the Battle Pirates Crib show, you can see a chart with the DPS and DPS per ton numbers.

We've also seen the Tips and Tricks post, giving you a raid preview.  If you haven't read it, go here on the Forums and read it now.   I'm not going to summarize it here, but I'm going to assume you've read it.

There is a mechanic with platforms and land rising up out of the water as you approach, but that's not really what I'm going to focus on in this article.  The key point I'm going to focus on is the descriptions of the weapon ranges and of the driving techniques.  They describe Short Range & Long Range Ballistic Turrets and Short Range Radioactive Turrets as your main targets, along with a Very Long Range Tracking Radioactive turret and an EMP building.  The quote "the real test will be skating the razor's edge with your ships's range" is indicative that if you are using Cannoneers, you will need to drive an a way similar to the last raid (if you used subs).  Your weapons on the Cannoneers, with max possible range, will likely just barely outrange the Short Range turrets.  You'll need to drive alongside the turrets (instead of straight at them) to have the best chance of hitting them without being hit back.

Overall, it seems likely that the ranking of hull quality for the next raid (starting from best) will be:
1. Cannoneer
2. Ironclad
3. Centurion (with Harlock Centurion)
4. Centurion (without Harlock Centurion)
5. Punisher
6. Zelos

But there's an exception - if you had subs with 88 range torpedos in the last raid cycle, and you still couldn't do the raid successfully because you couldn't quite get your subs stacked up and in range without getting shot up... then you likely won't be able to use the Cannoneer successfully in this raid cycle either.

I'm not totally sure how effective the Punisher will be compared to the Centurion - it may depend on your Centurion retrofit level and how much splash vs. how much aimed damage we end up with.  For now I think they are in the same neighborhood, and I'll talk about why further down in this article.  For the rest of this article I'm going to talk about build strategies for each of your hull options, starting with the Cannoneer.

Zelos, especially with 94 range launchers, will probably be in big trouble as it will likely end up in range of the "short" range turrets but the launcher flechettes will take a while to land and build up a shockwave.

Cannoneer Build Strategy

UPDATE FROM PREVIEW: THIS IS ALL A WASTE OF TIME.... DO AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE UNTIL YOU GET THE NEW EQUIPMENT FOR CANNONEER.

I've been building up a 3 Cannoneer fleet for the upcoming raid.  My general plan was to build it with a mix of Arbalest and Earthshaker cannons, which is a mix I use successfully in Draconian Mines on my Punishers.  My specials were Nuclear Accelerator, Alloy CL-3, Agility System 4, Siege Battery 3 and Drum Reloader.  I planned to use a mix of D5-C and D5-R armor.

A couple things I learned from the Tips thread.  
1. I wanted all of my weapons (on the Cannoneer) to be 50 base range.  Anything shorter might be useless, or at least be more difficult to bring to bear.
2. I want more speed to keep me ahead of the tracking turret.
3. (not from the Tips thread, but Ren from TFC reminded me...) Siege Targeting will put out more DPS than the Drum Reloader because the building damage bonus compounds multiplicatively.

So after last night's BP Crib show I did a few refits with FM tokens, and changed my build to:
3 Arbalest, 3 PAC, 4 D35-S
Speed 5, Nuclear Accelerator, Alloy CL-3, Siege Battery 3 and Siege Targeting 3
3xD5-C Armor
(still not done yet, but that was the plan)

I ran this through some mines, and found that mixing the Arbalest & PAC wasn't useful - the PAC projectile speed is much slower and thus the PAC wasn't doing much damage because the Arbalest would kill the targets before the PAC landed.  

So I am planning another refit to pull off the PACs, add one more Arbalest, and end up here:


The S cannons are just for speed - I don't have enough weight margin to add another Arbalest or even a D-110.  I could fit a Crossbow 1, but I don't think it will be effective.

The emphasis on Ballistic resistance is for two reasons: one is that I will be using a HLNC to add Radioactive resistance, and two is that the Tips description sounds like the Long Range Ballistic Turret will be the one that will be least likely avoidable through driving.  I also like the bit of deflection and lower repair time of the C armor vs. the R.

I think the biggest risk with this build is the lack of Agility 4.  Adding it back would mean removing either Speed System 5 or Siege Targeting 3...  This choice will just have to wait until we see the raid targets.  We don't know how much aimed weaponry there will be and what the range of the EMP blast will be.  Another option would be to use Layered Armor 3 and Reflective Coat 3 (instead of the Alloy CL and (ST3 or SS5).  That option would better if there is more aimed weaponry, but I can stay outside the stun range.

Ironclad Build Strategy:
The biggest features of the Ironclad are the huge splash bonus (positive), and the low ballistic range bonus (negative).  This hull will have to come into range of the short range turrets and the EMP, but it has the high ballistic/radioactive resistance and 100% stun resistance to offset that a bit.  An Ironclad build should take advantage of the splash with the new special and cannon if possible.

First of all, since I plan to rely on the Cannoneer, but also plan to complete the TLC for 12 days of Ironclad tokens, I'm going to build this:

With the lower ballistic bonus range, Earthshakers at 47 vs. Mausers at 50 won't make much difference, but the lower build time helps me get close to my 12 day build time goal.  Other than Cannon System 4 being used to help my splash a bit more, the specials and armor choices are pretty similar to the Cannoneer.  If finishing this build, I would try to balance the Radioactive and Ballistic resistance, since this ship will be taking both types of damage.  I may play with the armor a bit - using more smaller R & C plates to fill my armor slots.

A full-up, high end build with all the goodies would look more like this:


Mausers (splash 7) are the weapon of choice here, but if you can't get to Prize Pack 3 of Iron Maiden, then PACs (splash 6) or Earthshakers (splash 7) are also decent choices that will benefit from the splash bonus.  If you need something REALLY fast... maybe even think about the D35-Z (half hour each)?

Centurion (Punisher) Build Strategy
Without the full range of the Cannoneer, and without the huge splash bonus of the Ironclad, I think older hulls may be in trouble.  I think for this hull class, speed is definitely needed, and PACs may be the best best - hope for the big boom.

Nothing else should be too new here if you've read the rest of this article.  I chose Cannon System 4 over Nuclear Accelerator because the lighter weight lets me add more weapons.  I don't think the +35% splash bonus will make much difference when applied to the 6 Splash of the PAC.  Note the Accuracy Bonus of Nuclear Accelerator won't help you at all.

If planning to use Centurions, you definitely want to try to get the retrofits and a Harlock Centurion.  Once you hit R5 on the Centurions in the Foundry, then build out the Harlock to run with your other ships, but until then, just build the Harlock with a single Hellstorm to get the Flagship bonus (differing speeds will be a disaster). 

You will need a fully upgraded dock to build a fleet with 5 of these, but let's talk about... 

Flagships:
The best flagship choice, the Omega Behemoth, will be unusable in the upcoming raid due to the PvE restrictions announced in the State of Game post.  The next best obvious choice is the Highlander Nuclear Cruiser, and it can be built with just a single countermeasure to give the Radioactive Resistance.  If you retrofit that hull to R5, its Flagship resistance bonus goes from 50% to 55%, which will cut your pre-deflection radioactive damage taken by an extra 10% (compared to R0 HLNC... trust me on the Kixeye math here.)

If using Centurions, the Harlock Centurion is an even better choice if you have that available.

But... especially with the Cannoneer, it seems like the Ballistic damage might be the emphasis, so are there other choices?

The only other one that looks potentially usable is... the Avenger.  Remember the Avenger?  It gives an effect like the Midnight Marauders, increasing speed, damage, and resistance as you take damage.  Use some caution though.... if you are using multiple Cannoneers or another ship where you depend on stacking up precisely, your ships will diverge as they take damage and their speed bonus changes.  It might be most effective with the Ironclad, but I probably wouldn't build an Avenger just for this raid cycle.

Crews:
Don't forget to use crews!  Even uncommon crews (or their common versions) will help cut repair time.

For Uncommon crews, consider Steelheads for Radioactive and Ballistic defense, Creeping Death (or the common Wrecking Crew) for Building Damage, or Molotov Maidens for Splash (Ironclads only).  Midnight Marauders might help, but if you're relying on precision driving of Cannoneers... don't do it.  Sea Serpents may be useful if there is significant aimed damage, and especially so if you also skimped on evade (like I plan to).  Cannoneer, Ironclad, and Centurion are all Forsaken hulls, so they will get the 15% reload bonus from a Salty Dogs... but there's no VXP for doing damage in a Siege target, so think about that.

For Rare crews, Dead Eye Destroyers give you +15% critical hits, but the 19% building damage from a Creeping Death will likely be just as effective overall.

For Legendary crews, Demolition Squad will give Resistance and Building Damage.  Disciples of Skullduggery will give you more damage at the edge of splash, but I'm not sure that will be totally useful here (and definitely Ironclad only).

In closing, I know there has been a lot of uncertainty about the next raid's emphasis, and also a lot of frustration about the lack of weapons / specials "for" the Cannoneer.  I'm frustrated too, but if you think about how things used to be 6 months or a year ago... we would have even less advance information about a new raid format, and ZERO opportunity to build ships in advance.  You'd build whatever came out most recently and hope it works.  I'm not trying to be a Kixeye apologist here, but it seems like the dribble of info and equipment that they are letting out just makes us want yet more.  Yes, the communication should be better and a WIP or other roadmap would really have helped us out over the last month.  Kixeye tries (and doesn't always succeed) to tune the raid target damage to the equipment we have, so it might not matter in the end.  As always, I'll do the best I can with the information I have in front of me.

Huggy's link to all the builds in this article: https://www.dahippo.com/bp/ship/#!y3307I01V1V1V342U6A6P2F232323233737373737370ZZ07J01V1V00004D2U346P2FAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAK07J01V1V1V1W4D2U346P2F2M2M2M2M2M2M2M37373707401V1V1V1W1W4D2U346P2F2C2C2C2C2C2C2C2C2C37dC

Well, there's one week until the raid.  Use it wisely.

Uprising - What did we do wrong?

Well, it's Friday night, I have about 60 million points... I feel like I should write an article.

When I looked at the prize list, and the points/structure to get the Cannoneer, I feel like asking Kixeye what we did wrong.  Why are we being punished?  Is the Zoe Vendetta like the vegetables we have to eat before getting dessert?  Players have never liked 'locked' prizes, where you have to get something before being able to get something else.  When the prizes are related and laddered, we kind of understand, but having to get a niche Limited hull before getting the mainline hull before the next raid... well it just isn't right. 

Anyway I'll start off with my process for doing the 107.  I use a 4 Hellwraith fleet, armed mostly with Fire Twisters (and a couple Mayhems).  What I heard / read was that it was easier to do the bottom 'pancake' first and with some practice I found that was correct.  My process for the 107 is:

• Clear the bottom five Scouts on the first two dive cycles.  Do not kill the Hellstrike - the oil slick makes it more difficult to complete the rest of the target.  (I find this also holds for the 105)  Don't kill any drones either.... they will respawn exactly where you don't want them.
• About halfway through the third dive cycle, there seems to be a spot where the drones seem to be clustered at or heading toward the top.  This opens the bottom side of the Southeast pancake. I target it by clicking on it - I don't want to get too close or I'm seen by the drones above the pancake.  (your window is from about 7:25 to 7:15.  Follow the last set of drones on in... but not too close)  Heading towards the right a little bit as you go gives you a little more time.  Once it's dead I head back to the bottom.
• Clean out the ships that are orbiting the (now sunken) lower pancake.  Also kill drones and then go after the four scouts that started between the Pancakes.
• There should only be two groups of drones left.  Wait until they are on top, then hit the remaining pancake from the bottom.
• Clean out the rest.

I can do a 107 for zero damage using this process, but usually end up with 2 - 4 coins repair.  Sometimes I'll take a couple hits from drones when hitting the first pancake, and sometimes I mess up a little with the scouts.  Again, just like last time, the Scouts are best hit by sailing alongside of them so you have more time to stop between your torpedo range and their thermal range.. 

So on to the prizes:

The Cannoneer certainly will be the go-to hull for the next raid with its resistances and ballistic weapon output.  I think the real question is whether they will work best singly or grouped.  I'm wondering this because when hitting mines, I find my Punishers are most effective when working alone.  Since they have enough offensive output to clear turrets in two hits, much of the firepower they would have when stacked up is wasted.  The splash weapons in the mines mean that the stacked ships just end up sharing more damage.  When I use Centurions, they have less offensive output, and also have the stacking field for splash resistance.  They work best stacked up so they can kill turrets faster.

The Cannoneer has the (new since preview) stacking field that provides speed and offensive output.  Whether they will work better stacked or not will remain to be seen, and may even depend on the target.  

The Zelos got better since the preview (when I panned it).  They've added resistance across the board, more deflection, combat speed, and more DPS.  I think with the new launchers or with ballistics (and its +45% ballistic range), it could be effective in the new Siege targets. 

One point many have seen on these new hulls is they have increased repair and build times compared to the times of many hulls since Kixeye made some reductions.  The Cannoneer is back to the old one point per second repair time.  I think what is going on is that we are getting back some power creep.  The longer build and repair times are reflective of the higher power level (performance) of these new hulls.  The alternative is to release hulls that are just as powerful as existing hulls, but the problem is that those aren't really very attractive to the players.  Power creep is necessary, let's just hope it doesn't get too bad again.

If you're unsure what to get in this raid, and you won't have the points to get everything, make sure you come out of this raid with the right hulls & equipment to do the following:

Siege Targets:

You need Radioactive and Ballistic resistances along with a weapon that won't get shot down.  After the Cannoneer and Zelos, Centurion, Punisher or Crusader are your choices (in that order).  If you're going with ballistic weaponry, the Arbalest is a great price this raid and still very effective.  CL-3 Alloy is key, or go after Reflective Plate (and pair with Layered Armor).  Also keep in mind that I, like many other players, expect some new Ballistic weapon + special to be released in the next FM or an upcoming TLC... so make sure you have a backup, but don't overcommit to ballistics right now.  Launchers may also be effective, and the new Squall Launcher + Flechette Feeder will be the best of breed there.

Reaver Targets:

The latest raid target style with these Reavers is expected to replace the current Draconian Armadas as the primary way to get Uranium.  Make sure you have the right equipment to build a fleet to go after these targets too.  If you are using subs, the most important thing is to have 88 range torpedos.  Mayhems are not available (coming from the FM Tier 5), but Fire Twisters are.  You could also go with Tideseekers and either Calamity Scatterguns (if you already have them), or the Concussive Gatling Gun (available in this raid).  

Conquerors:

If you want to hit bases and haven't gotten any conquerors yet... the Fury is the best all arounder, but the revenge is probably best against low end bases and the Vendetta will still be effective as a remote target mortar chucker against bases that don't have the new Cataclysm Mortar or Maxim guns.

Base Defense:

A whole lot of base defense weapons are available.  Glacial Launcher and Coldsnap should be top priorities if you don't have them, but the Executioner and Drac Scattergun are still effective.  The Wendigo isn't totally obsolete yet, but I wouldn't spend on it compared to many other turret choices.

Prepping for Siege Part 2 - the preview

There was a raid preview on Friday.  I wasn't able to participate since I have to work during working hours, but I did see some of the outcomes, so I'll share some more thoughts as a follow-up to my last article on getting ready for the next raid cycle.

First of all, I want to follow up on my progress from last time.  I was planning some Punisher refits to specialize those hulls in mines.  Those are complete and I'm pretty pleased with the results.  With an Omega Behemoth flag, I was hitting Level 70 mines with a single ship and taking about 20 minutes damage.  For Level 90 mines, I'm taking about 38 minutes damage when entering from the NE side, and sending one Punisher around in each direction.  I've also been hitting 97s for about 1 hour 15 minutes damage with a similar strategy, but sending my third Punisher through the middle.

I also finished 3 (mostly) blank Centurion hulls - right now they have 2 PACs, 4 D30-R, Hydro Resistors, and Nuclear Accels.  The build worked out to about 4 days 1 hour, so it was real convenient to build with the FM tokens.

Centurions have the splash resist field and lower offensive output than the Punishers - so I tend to use a different strategy with those.  I keep them stacked up to kill turrets more quickly and buff each others' resistance.  The hulls didn't look good in a Level 60 mine (pinged away at a single turret for over a minute) so far, but unranked and unfinished isn't really a fair comparison.  The Arbalests on the Punisher works great - with 4 Arbs per hull, Siege Battery and Siege Targeting, two Arbalest blasts take down a turret and often damage another one behind it.  See the builds from the last article.  (if you do want to use that Centurion build, swap the AP shells for Siege Targeting and drop one PAC... better yet try Arbalests).

I had guessed that this next set of raid prizes would be some new toys to help us in the Siege targets, and from the preview, I wasn't completely wrong.  We saw some new hulls, but no new ballistic gear.  The hull of most interest is the Cannoneer:
   

The best (or most alarming) stat on this hull is its Siege Deflection of 900.  Compared to the 475 from a Centurion, or 500 from a Punisher, that's a lot of deflection for a PvE hull.  It's alarming because that means that the Siege raid targets will be 'tuned' to give damage to a hull with this sort of deflection, so the Centurions and the Punishers are going to be hit HARD.

The other significant stat of note is the built-in ballistic range bonus of +50%.  This is the first 'open water' PvE hull we've seen with that boost, and it means that 50 range ballistic weapons (like Arbalest & PAC) can have their range boosted to 100 instead of 95.

Another new hull we saw in the Preview was the Zelos, which was a called a "generalist" hull, which is a type we haven't seen before.


It has no built in defensive or offensive bonuses besides the 650 (high) deflection and the 300 (low) DPS.  I'm thinking this hull might serve as a tank for PvE Targets, but I'm not sure it would perform better than a more specialized hull with built-in defense bonuses.  With no weapon bonuses, Launchers (see below) might be the best option here if you are determined to build this... but it doesn't seem as desirable as any of the other options we've discussed as a raid hull. 

We also saw the Zoe's Vendetta, which isn't relevant for the raid.  And for base hitting, I'd rather bring in a Harlock's Revenge.  As more bases get Maxim Guns and Cataclysm Mortars, base hits with Vendettas ringing the outside are going to be a lot less successful anyway.

The new equipment we saw is Launcher-related: 

Flechette Feeder


Squall Launcher


This new equipment looks solid for launcher users, but not game breaking.  The utility of Squall Launchers will depend on how quickly they build a shockwave.  Launchers in general may be an alternative to Ballistics for Siege targets, but the slow speed of the flechettes means that you tend to take more damage when using launchers since they won't land on target as quickly as ballistics (similar to why the Harlock Citadel helps so much in the FM).

But given all this new equipment... what is a player to do?  

The big decision I (and possibly some of you) need to make is whether to keep working on Centurions or whether to go for Cannoneers.

Here's how I'm breaking it down.  The build time of the Cannoneer hull is pretty short, and with another 9-10 days per ship needed to finish out my Centurions... and the ranking... I think I'd rather just switch ASAP to building the Cannoneer and only worry about those.  If they aren't ready for the first Siege Raid, then my Punishers will do.  Because of the overall power boost (creep) associated with the Cannoneer, I really think I'll want them eventually, so why not start now?  If you are trying to make a similar decision, I think the key is whether you think you have something that's 'good enough' for now.  If you don't, then maybe you should keep working on Cents.

I'm not going to decide on a Cannoneer build yet, since I still have a lot of time before I need to come up with it... who knows what Kix will release in the interim through the raid, through the FM, or even through a TLC.  I plan to build 4 REALLY blank hulls as close to 10 days total build as possible... with 5 days of tokens (hopefully) from the raid I might be able to finish all 4 before VXP Weekend.

One more note on the Preview... did they REALLY need to change the S targets?  They are supposed to be fast moving, high damage targets.  If they felt the damage players were taking from the previous raid's S target was too low (on average), the answer should have been to revise it... not add a second one where the only players having success seemed to be those with Calamity Tideseekers (a pretty unusual build as far as I know).  

Prepping for the next raid cycle - Siege

It's been a while since I posted... I've been busy, and I haven't been able to find the time to put together articles like I used to.  So I was thinking about this, and whether I should put together a 'goodbye post'.  But I had another idea... I'm not going to be able to do the sort of in-depth articles that I have been doing, but I still have stuff I want to say about this game.  So I'm going to try shorter articles that are less based on math & graphs & more on opinion.  Let's see how it goes.

So a lot of people have been talking about the raid cycle that will be starting up after this final Reaver hull raid we've got upcoming.  So far we've gotten pretty strong signals that it will be a Siege-style raid, with targets that look a lot like the Draconian Mines we've been hitting for a while.  It's even possible that the new 95 & 97 mine targets are Kixeye's first 'trial' targets for the next raid type. 

So we've also seen the Centurion enter the Foundry, and a new Harlock's Centurion be available through collecting shards.  We also had the ballistic-based Malice Conqueror hull show up in a TLC. What we don't know is whether there will be new ballistic gear, or potentially even a hull, show up in the next raid to prep us for the cycle to follow.

So with all that, I think it's still a little early to plan a fleet and say "this is my next raid fleet".  But I think it isn't too early to look at what you have, and the fleets for doing mines are the logical place to start.  I never built a full fleet of Centurions, I only built a single hull and use it as a countermeasure platform with Punishers in a DUB fleet.  In fact, after the Foundry Centurion upgrades, I messed up that fleet because of the increased speed of the retrofitted Centurion.

What I have used for mines is a Crusader fleet that I refit from base hitters (way back when), and also the Punishers from that DUB fleet.  The Crusaders were refit to improve their performance in mines, and they look like this:


The armor wasn't really optimized, but these ships did all right, and since I didn't use them for anything else, I didn't mind if I took a while to repair them after getting shot up.  The Alloy CL-3 was the key refit on these.

The Punishers for the DUB look like this:


And even as-is, they would do better in the Mines than the Crusaders... deflection was the key.  But I'm looking at a 2 day 5 hour refit on the Punishers that would look like this:

Swapping the CL-3 for the MX-3 and adding 2 D5-R armors will really help me optimize this fleet for mine-style targets.  (a D5-C might be even better with its bit of deflection, but would take longer to refit) I got all my Gamma Shards, so I'm not too worried about ruining this fleet's performance in DUBs (and I would have to find a new CM platform anyway).  One week of shipyard time for the three Punishers will help me hit the early mine targets to collect Centurion shards with much less damage.  My existing ships are fully ranked, so that will save me even more time since they will be all set to go.

My first refit will finish tonight, so I may post a quick update comparing a refit Punisher against an old one and see what repair benefit I get.  I'm guessing damage will be cut in half.

I'm still looking at Centurions, and after I finish the Punisher refits I will start building some blank Centurions to rank in the next VXP weekend.  If it turns out that we get new ballistic gear in the next raid I'll take a revised look at my plans, but with no new gear I'd start working towards something like this:


Compared to my Punishers, these have slightly better defense (resistance AND deflection), but lower speed and lower DPS output.  The splash defense field will be nice too.  I used PACs instead of Arbalest on this build mostly for weight... with PACs instead of Arbalest / Railguns, I'm not sure the Armor-Piercing shells is the best choice.. I'm thinking Shielded Tactical System would be nice, but would add a lot of build time.  Anyway, the whole point is not to stress over a optimal build right now, since we still don't know what else is coming.  

One more note - although the mines do  a lot of radioactive damage, the Radioactive Plate will give you deflection in PvP targets only.  That deflection will be bypassed in the mines and upcoming raid targets. Don't use it for your raid fleet.

Here's the Huggy's link for all the ships in the article:
https://www.dahippo.com/bp/ship/#!B06G51R1R401R346A2U6P00232323232323230NH01W130Z342U6A5K2F23232323AKAKAKAKAK2C0NH01W1W1W342U6A6P2F23232323AKAKAKAKAK2C07401W1P1V1P1V382U6A436P2C2C2C2C2C2C2C2C2C2C0ZZdC

Anyway I hope this new article format works for you, I'm also going to spend less time sharing it... probably just in the the 3 'show' groups, so feel free to re-share as you see fit.

(And would you believe this is my 200th post!)

Hellborn - What not to get

No pre-raid post this time, but I'll just combine my "pre" and "one day in" posts here.

Raid thoughts:

Hellborn is here and the raid looks just like the last one.  The one notable change is the addition of the 74 "blitz target".  This target is worth 600,000 points if you kill the Hellstrikes that run away.  If you beat it in one hit, it can be blitzed for a minimum cost of 5 coin, working out to 120,000 points per coin.  For me, I like to be able to do raids for 500k to 1 million points per coin, so using blitz would work out to be a very expensive raid by my standards, but your may vary.  In terms of target diificulty, I tried a couple 74s with the two Tideseekers I built using the build and VXP tokens from the High Tide TLC, and was able to beat it for 4 coin repair.  The keys I found for using Tideseekers there are to avoid drones until ready to hit the mothership, and drive so that you are only engaging only one ship at a time.  Basic stuff.

For most of the raid, I've been using my Hellwraiths to hit 105s and a Grease Monkeys crew to repair, and have just about completed the raid (64M points) using 2 GMs and less than 50 coin.  I've been seeing mixed messages from players in the Facebook groups and such, but I've been having pretty good luck using the 100 Uranium crew rolls lately and I had 3 GMs stocked up.  

The most important tip for this raid when using subs is to come alongside the thermal scouts when firing at them - this way small differences in your ship placement won't cause you to be in thermal range.  Note that the motherships have lower thermal range than the scouts, so you don't have to be as careful when approaching them.  

A couple other notes:

• The yellow thermal rings seem to pop up a little more often than last time, even occasionally when I'm not near a thermal ship.  I think the drones are involved in triggering those, but I'm not too sure.  I generally try to hit areas that are away from drones until I have to.
• When my Hellwraith fleet is full strength, it will kill a scout in one volley, so sometimes I will stop my fleet in front of a scout and let it creep into range... but your fleet may vary.

Prizes:

The new prizes are the Valiant - a new defender hull, a Harlock Tideseeker for finding Phantoms, and a new Scattergun weapon and corrosive special.  In addition there are two limited component prizes that will be available for only the first two days of the raid.

Valiant:


This hull has pretty good armor, but not as good as the Vanquisher (100k vs 500k) - it also has longer repair time (3h vs 2h, cut in half when in base defender fleet slot).  Instead, it has across-the-board deflection, which means that it just might hold up longer than the Vanquisher against a lot of attack types.

On the weapon side, this hull gives range, damage, and reload bonuses across the board, which means there are a lot of choices available to the player on what to use.

The first thing to look at is the range - Jefe put this chart together for the Wednesday night BP Crib show:



These are pretty good options across the board, but the new Calamity Scattergun looks really good here, considering it is a weapon that does area damage.

One more thought is that this ship with 1 speed (instead of zero speed) might be good for base prepping, this was probably more true with the stats from the preview, but the ranges as released are actually a little less than using Cyclone/D98-U launchers on a Retribution (103.4).  And even with a bunch of speed boosts, it's REALLY going to be tedious to use it.

Calamity Scattergun:


This Corrosive Scattergun has more range than any previous scattergun, and it also does a lot of damage with its secondary concussive damage.  Having two damage types is particularly useful against conqueror hulls that have the damage-type specific deflection.  In particular, the Fury and Spite have Corrosive deflection but no Concussive deflection (Fury gets 600 Concussive with Bloodthirst). A DPS comparison (again from Jefe) is shown below:



The DPS improvement from previous scatterguns (both by weapon and by weight) is pretty astounding.  Along with the range improvement, this is clearly the new "must have" scattergun.  Although the focus right now may be on building Valiants, any Furys you build would benefit from this weapon as well.

Compressed Corrosion Canisters:


Again, I'm going back to the Jefe well on this one:


From a pure damage perspective, improving the multishot though Heavy Barrel, or improving the concussive damage through Advanced Concussive will give more benefit than improving the splash damage through Compressed Corrosion Canisters.  But you don't have to choose.  Since each of those three specials affect different statistics, they can be combined for huge damage benefits (as shown in the "stacked" column).  On the Valiant with 5 special slots, and no reason to use an engine or armor special, there is enough room to do it.  But on Offensive ships where you may only have one special to allocate for your weapon boost, consider the other options and even the Hydroxide Injectors, which will give the +1 multishot with the +25% corrosive damage boost.  Adding to multishot is particularly effective with the Calamity Scattergun because it only starts with 3 pellets instead of 6 for the Conflagration Scattergun.  

Harlock's Tideseeker:

This is the anti-sub ship we've been waiting for since the very first phantom sub was released.  It can see phantoms on the world map, and it has the thermal range to see them in combat.  The only defense subs have left to survive against these is speed.. and that really applies only to Hellwraiths.  So when building Tideseekers, remember to emphasize speed if you want to kill the subs you hunt down.

Limited Components: 
I'm putting these together because they aren't worth any more time than that...
 
Using Armor to get 10% Slow Resistance just doesn't seem that great.  Better ways to get Slow Resistance are Agility System and Shielded Tactical System.  For Armor slots on Conquerors, War Plating is a better choice.  1 Million points per piece of armor doesn't seem like that bad a price, but only for armor you'd want to use.


With only 20 points of deflection, I feel like there are more important ways to use your special slots on the (generally) PvE hulls that this special is limited to.  If there were 100 points or so from this special, then it might be worth using.  5 Million points for this just doesn't seem right as-is.

What to get:
The new prizes are good for base defense... you want them.  At 30 million points they seem to be at around the same value point as other recent prizes.  If you're a little short on points, leaving off the new special is probably the best choice out of the three.

Elsewhere in the main prize ladder, the Enforcer (1.75M) and Charon Torpedo (900,000) are good deals if you are missing a defensive hull and a Scourge Torpedo.with 88 range.  D98-U Launcher (900,000) is also a good deal if you are missing a 94 range launcher.  It makes a great spotter weapon if you are building a tank-type ship, or even an alternative to railguns on a Punisher.  Stealth Attack System 4 (350,000) goes well with the lower end sub hulls where you are limited on special slots.  If you have to decide between the Tier 2 weapons, you'll just have to decide where you are weakest in capability and focus there.

And at this point in the raid cycle, I am less positive on the Hellwraith, especially if you were able to pick up the Tideseeker in the first run of High Tide.  If you don't have a good weapon for Tideseekers, the Fire Twister Torpedo (9M) is your best choice from this raid.  The Concussive Gatling Gun (7.5M) is also available but seems a bit overpriced.

The Harlock's Tideseeker, at 20 million points, also seems like a good value considering the brand new unique capability it brings to the table.  

The two new locked limited prizes just don't seem worth it to buy or use (as I mentioned above).  The shards for "super-hulls" may be worth it if you have the commitment to save up... the Gamma Behemoth in particular only takes 10 shards (45M total points over two raids), so only 2 raids are required to complete that hull.  Other than that I don't see too much use for the Hellstar, Protonemesis, or the Man-of-War.  Ghostcrawlers are fun and still useful occasionally... but don't be leaving them sitting around anymore (speaking of which I just docked mine)!

For the other unlocked Prizes, 

Good Deals:
Arbalest (1.1M) 
Heavy Plating 3 (2M)

Pick these up if you don't have them.

Overpriced but maybe useful:
Styx Torpedo (6M)
Concussive Gatling Gun (7.5M)
Concussive Upgrade (3M) 
Nuclear Accelerators (4M)
Punisher (12.5M) 

Only pick these up if you are 'desperate' for the capability, but look for alternatives.  For example, the Punisher is a great tank for the 109s in the FM, but many players are having success with the Tideseeker.  The Styx Torpedo is 6 million points, but the Charon is only 900,000.

OK pirates, play smart and have fun, and start sinking those Phantoms!