Tips for XvT/BoP
Strategy & Tactics
by Scott
(A'Kula) Schimmels
(continued)
Attacking and Defending Capital Ships:
Like the aircraft carriers of WWII, the capital ship is both powerful and fragile. Its power extends from the starfighters it carries, but these fighters are also its main defense since its turbolasers are inadequate to fend off a full starfighter assault. Therefore, defending and attacking a capital ship is a critical skill for all starfighter pilots. For purposes of avoiding confusion, I define a capital ship as anything equal to or larger in size than a corvette. I'll discuss defending capital ships first, then how to take them out.
Defending Capital Ships:
Originally, the standard attack on capital ships was done by Imperials. TIE Bombers would be the ordnance carriers and TIE Fighters and TIE Interceptors would cover them. This type of attack proved to be ineffective against the better Rebel ships. The Rebels had their difficulties as well, using the outdated Y-Wing which proved to be just a tougher, less maneuverable version of the TIE Bomber. In Balance of Power, the strategy in attacking capital ships has changed. With the introduction of better bombers, medium sized assault craft like the ATR's and the more modern interceptors, starfighter defense of capital ships has changed a great deal from the original strategy of "just kill the TIE Bombers." A interceptor pilot should be knowledgeable in the tactics for both situations, the older type of attack with the older starfighters and the new type of attack with the more modern starfighters.
General Strategy:
The general strategy that applies to all capital ship escort missions is to gradually get closer and closer to the launching point of the enemy bombers. The closer you are to the launching point of the bombers, the greater chance you have of destroying them before they launch their ordnance. You can almost measure your success in protecting a capital ship by the distance you are away from it. If you are close to the capital ship, then you are doing poorly because the bombers are having little trouble firing off all of their ordnance. If you are far away, close to the launching point of the enemy bombers, the capital ship will take few missile hits. Take advantage of this by ignoring the bombers you can't get to in time, letting your wingman take care of them, and fly towards the source of the enemy bombers so you can catch new flights before they launch their missiles.
Attack by Older Starfighters:
Every player has seen this situtation since the days of X-Wing. A Star Destroyer is several clicks away, launching TIE Bomber and Interceptors. The Bombers are the ones with the warheads and you must kill them before they launch their missiles. Meanwhile, the Interceptors shoot you in the back.
Here, the strategy has not changed. You need to ignore the TIE Interceptors and Fighters for as long as possible while killing as many Bombers as fast as you can. A critical factor in this type of mission is how you do in the closing situations. Since all of the enemy craft are unshielded, you can kill a large amount of them while you close. Once the TIE Bombers pass you, there should only be a few of them left alive from your initial attack. Now, get behind them and use semi-locked concussion missiles to kill the rest of the Bombers. Otherwise, finish them off with lasers.
TIE Bombers are sitting ducks from behind.
If an Interceptor is doing too much damage to you, then engage it, but make quick work of it. If you take too long to kill it, you will lose the mission.
A useful tactic in these types of missions is to stay around the starfighter bay of the Imperial capital ship. Here, you can rack up kills on launching TIE's since they do not dodge when they are first exiting the bay.
Rack up kills by hanging around the Star Destroyer starfighter bay.
Attack by Modern Starfighters:
On the Imperial side, typical modern attacks on capital ships consist of Assault Gunboats with TIE Advanced covering them. Rebels use the A-Wing to cover groups of B-Wing bombers. Sometimes starfighters aren't used at all. Instead ATR's assault the capital ship while a group of interceptors cover them from starfighter attack.
The first thing you should notice about these situations is that the craft you are flying against are tough. Both Gunboats and B-Wings are heavily shielded, able to shrug off multiple advanced missile hits. Therefore, the ordnance of choice for these missions is not the advanced missiles, but advanced torpedoes. If you think about it, most bombers are concentrating on their capital ship target, which usually means they are flying in a straight line. This gives you ample oppurtunity to fly in behind them and deliver a dumbfire torpedo attack. If the bombers are using countermeasures, then a good tactic is to give them no warning by not locking the torpedo on them. If you do this and fire it very close to the target, the bomber pilot should have no idea what hit him!
Advanced torpedoes make short work of bombers.
When dealing with ATR's, using advanced torpedoes is absolutely necessary. These ships have good turbo laser cover, making them very dangerous to attack with lasers, so you need the heavy warheads. You might even try dumbfiring heavy rockets against ATR's.
While killing bombers, you should try to avoid or ignore the covering interceptor pilots, the bombers are your primary target. If they do start to annoy you, try to kill them with your advanced torpedoes. If you are good at dumbfiring advanced torpedoes, it is considerably more time efficient to kill interceptors in this manner than with lasers.
Shooting Down Capital Ship Targeted Missiles:
Shooting down missiles can nullify the effectiveness of a bomber. Bombers do most of their damage with their initial ordnance attack, not their strafing runs, so shooting down missiles can save your capital ship. You still shouldn't go overboard in trying to kill every missile. It is more effective to kill the source of these missiles than trying to shoot the missiles themselves down.
There are two situations where you should think about shooting down missiles. The first is when you respawn from your mother capital ship and see a bunch of missiles coming in. If this happens, then take the time to shoot down some of these missiles before engaging in combat. The second situation is when you can't intercept the bombers in time before they fire their ordnance. In this case, you usually have a good deal of time to shoot down all the missiles since you are closer to their initial launching point.
There is one specific situation where you should not try to shoot down missiles. Most of the time, bombers will manage to launch some of their ordnance. Some players make the mistake of killing the enemy flight of bombers and then going after the missiles they have fired. This is the worst possible thing you can do. Not only is it time consuming to kill the missiles since chances are they went a good distance while you were killing the bombers, but also the NEW enemy flight of bombers will be able to launch their ordnance unhindered because you were not there to intercept them. It is better to let the missiles go and then go after the new enemy flight of bombers, because you will be closer to their initial starting point and have a better chance of destroying them before they launch their ordnance.
One very effective tactic I have developed in shooting down a large number of missiles is getting into the missile "stream." To do this, fly right into the middle of the group of missiles so that you are going in the same direction and at the same angle. Now, destroy the missiles in front of you and wait for the ones behind you to pass you by. Shoot each missile down as it passes into your forward view. For some reason, the missiles never hit you when you are in this position, even though you would think that there is a danger of being inadvertantly hit by one of the missiles. To perform this tactic, you need a considerable amount of time before the missiles hit. You can't use it against missiles that are close to impact.
Using the "stream" technique allows you to shoot down the majority of the missiles.
Attacking Capital Ships:
Destroying capital ships has gotten a lot harder from the previous two games. Capital ships are now more accurate in their laser fire and are capable of firing at multiple targets. The larger capital ships are equipped with warhead launchers. Add in a better starfighter defense and the capital ship has become a far more formidable target than ever before. This section details the techniques involved in killing capital ships.
Let me first begin by clearing up all those confusing rumors on the net and confirm that it is impossible to destroy any component of a capital ship including warhead launchers, turrets and shield towers unless its shields go down. Furthermore, killing the shield tower of a Star Destroyer yields nothing other than general hull damage to the ship. The reason you hear otherwise is that it is possible to do these things in easy mode. Of course, nobody who wants a challenge would play in easy mode.
That said, there are three basic stages to attacking a capital ship. The first stage is avoiding or destroying starfighter defenses. Next is launching your ordnance. Lastly, is the strafing run.
A typical capital ship, the Lorenar Strike Cruiser has a starfighter bay and is amply covered with turbo lasers.
Evasion/Destruction of Starfighter Defenses:
By far, the most formidable defense that a capital ship has is its starfighters. Without a starfighter defense, enemy starfighters could simply repeat strafing runs against the capital ship until it is destroyed. If you want to kill a capital ship, its starfighter protection is often the biggest threat to your goal. There are two strategies you can use to deal with enemy starfighters. These are evading or destroying the enemy starfighters.
Evasion is probably the more popular of the two options. Avoiding enemy starfighters has several advantages. It is much less time consuming than killing enemy starfighters. If you can kill the capital ship quickly, you can eliminate the source of any new enemy starfighters. It also offers more of a chance to get all of your ordnance off before dying. Sometimes, the only option available to a bomber is evasion since it wouldn't stand a chance in a dogfight.
If you want to avoid enemy starfighters, the best tactic is to simply put your engines on full which makes it difficult for interceptors to catch you before you release your ordnance. In the initial closing situation with interceptors, the bomber should shoot down the enemy missiles and do some maneuvers to avoid the laser attack. If you are flying a heavy starfighter, then you might want to force the interceptors into a head-on confrontation, taking advantage of your shields and the relative fragility of the interceptors. Then you should simply fly past the interceptors. If persued, use countermeasures against enemy missiles and put shields fully aft. A-Wings and TIE Advanced are excellent in the evasive/bombing role. These starfighters are so fast that it is impossible for the enemy to catch them before they make their bombing run.
Occasionaly, the situation becomes so lethal that a starfighter can not deliver its ordnance without being destroyed. In this case, you should usually attempt to thin out some of the interceptors so you have an oppurtunity to deliver your ordnance. If you are flying a heavy bomber, you have to make a choice. If you have a chance to deliver all of your ordnance, but will probably be killed by the nearest interceptor soon after, it is usually best to sacrafice yourself. If it is impossible to deliver your ordnance, then you should engage your attackers, but remember that heavy bombers are disadvantaged in this role. For a heavy bomber, launching all of your ordnance against the capital ship should be your top priority, not necessarily survival.
Remember that killing enemy starfighters signals the capital ship to launch more to attack you. Therefore, killing them only buys you some time in which you will not be harassed. You should use this time wisely, launching your ordnance or making a strafing run. Attempting to kill every starfighter in a capital ship is a time consuming and often lethal task. If you do somehow manage this, however, the capital ship is at your mercy.
Launching Ordnance:
The best case scenario for releasing your ordnance is that you are six clicks away, targeting the capital ship, launch all of your missile and afterwards, shoot down the capital ship missile. Of course, in game situations this often does not occur.
The first rule in using ordnance is not to target the capital ship unless you are at least three clicks away. If you need to fire missiles close in, then dumbfire them since no capital ship will outrun them at these distances.
One special case is when using space bombs. Sometimes you can get away with firing this ordnance without getting into turbo laser range. To do this, you need to orient yourself so you are not firing the space bombs at an angle, but rather straight at the capital ship in the direction opposite its movement. In otherwords, you and the capital ship should be moving directly towards eachother. If the capital ship isn't moving or moving very slowly, then you can hit it easily without having to close with it. If you want to be sure, however, then you should deliver the space bombs at point blank.
In the last Imperial mission of Balance of Power, knowing how to use space bombs correctly is very important.
One strategy to use against capital ships is to ditch your ship once your ordnance runs out. Obviously, rockets and torpedoes are much more efficient at destroying capital ships than strafing runs. So, by intentionally ejecting, you get a new load of missiles to fire at the capital ship. This strategy is excellent at eliminating a source for enemy starfighters as quickly as possible, which makes the mission much easier. My main problem with this is that this strategy isn't conductive to maintaining your suspension of disbelief as a starfighter pilot. Again, this is the player's individual call. Unfortunately, the game seems to encourages this practice, particularly with suicide bombers like the Y-Wing and the TIE Bomber. The danger with using this strategy is that you will run out of fighters quicker than you normally would.
An unfortunate problem with your wingman's AI is that it is too stupid to launch all of its missiles at the capital ship. You can increase the effectiveness of your bomber group immenseley by using the J key to jump to the other bombers in your flight and make sure they fire all of their missiles. This can often be the difference between winning and losing a mission. Too bad it is hinged on the stupidity of the AI.
An annoyance you may encounter is capital ships shooting down your ordnance with advanced missiles. This doesn't happen very often, but you should be aware of the problem. If a mission has a capital ship that does this, the best solution is to dumbfire the missiles. A capital ships will not shoot down a missile not specifically targeted at it.
Strafing Run:
This is where most of the strategy comes in for taking out capital ships. Strafing runs appear on the surface to be simple. Strafe the capital ship with lasers and pull out once your shields are to damaged to continue. This is the basic jist, but there are a number of techniques to increase the effectiveness and safety of a strafing run.
The first technique you can use is to approach the ship from an angle where its turbolasers are not concentrated. An example of this is the famous dead spot behind the corvette's engine where its turrets can not hit you. The weakness of most capital ships is behind the engines, beyond engine wash range. The Star Destroyer is weak behind its engines, only able to fire a few turbo lasers at you from behind. A Star Destroyer's underside also has less firepower than its topside. By approaching a capital ship from the correct angle, you can save yourself some damage. The problem with this strategy is that it can be very time consuming to put yourself into a position to attack a capital ship at its weakspot. I recommend that you should attack the weakest part of the ship at a reasonable distance from your angle of approach. For example, with a Star Destroyer, attack its underside rather than its topside.
The famous blind spot of the corvette, right behind the engines.
The next technique is in how to perform the strafing run itself. When you start approaching, I recommend you put shield energy into engines and put your lasers one notch above maintenance level. This will give you the speed to dodge lasers and the momentum to pull out when you need to. When you start firing lasers, do it in a broad horizontal right and left motion, turning to the right and firing and then turning back to the left, continuously firing all along the length of the capital ship while still going in generally the same direction. This is the best maneuver I have found to minimize the amount of hits you receive while still being able to fire at the ship. Also, don't forget to use the weapon switching trick if you have ion cannons.
Once you have taken too much damage or have gotten too close to the capital ship, it's time to pull out. Many players make the mistake of attempting to recharge their shields while pulling out. This is a bad idea and usually ends up in you taking more damage than you should. What you should do is immediately dump all of your remaining laser bank energy into shields and put all laser and shield energy into engines. Once you have begun to pull out, start doing a weave by holding down the rotation button while keeping the joystick at a diagonal. This maneuver will cause turbolasers to miss a lot, allowing you to escape outside of turbolaser range without much further damage.
Once a capital ship's shields go down, what you do depends if you have ion cannons or not. If you have ion cannons, disabling a capital ship only takes one strafing run. If you do not have ion cannons, you should concentrate your attacks on the turrets. Remember that you only need to kill the turrets that fire at you from your angle of attack, don't bother with the others. Hitting turrets conveniently does hull damage to the capital ship as well. If you have disabled a capital ship, the question remains whether or not you will take the time to destroy it, considering that for the larger capital ships this can be rather time consuming. The problem here is that disabled capital ships can sometimes launch fighters. I usually order my wingman to finish it off while I go on to other tasks.
Some capital ships are more dangerous than others to strafe. Certain ships are capable of concentrating their turbo lasers to such an extent that they should be considered nearly off limits to strafing runs. Of all the capital ships I have flown against, I consider the platform to be the most lethal. Platforms are so mean, that I would suggest that you use only ordnance on them and abandon any idea of strafing them. If you must attack them with lasers, it is usually a good idea to do it in numbers. If the platform has more targets to fire at, it will be considerably easier to attack. Frigates are another ship that can also be quite nasty. Most of the other larger capital ships have about the same concentration of firepower capability, which is to say significant, but not lethal in a strafing run.
The platform is capable of concentrating its turbo lasers into a lethal barrage.
Other Weapons Used Against Capital Ships:
The mag pulse torpedo is very helpful for a bomber. By disabling the turbo lasers of the capital ship, it basically allows the bomber to just sit there and shoot at the capital ship constantly. Just remember to give the mag pulse to an interceptor with a low warhead load since you don't need that many of them and so you can take advantage of the larger warhead load of the bomber. Also, it is important for the starfighter with the mag pulses to remember to hit the capital ship every once in a while or the bomber will receive a nasty surprise. Imagine this combo: bombers with decoy beams and interceptors with magpulses. This combination effectively nullifies both starfighter and capital ship defenses.
The Jamming weapon is not particularly useful against capital ships. It is only useful against ships with relatively few turrets like corvettes and ATR's. Otherwise use it for engine energy when making strafing runs. Decoy beams, by the way, do not prevent capital ships from firing at you.
Weird Stuff About Star Destroyers:
Kill the warhead launcher of a Star Destroyer and a mysterious hole is left.
This one isn't very useful, but it is interesting and amusing. If you take the shields of a Star Destroyer down and destroy its warhead launcher (at the tip), there will be a hole in the Star Destroyer through which you can fly into its interior, similar to when you turned off clipping in the old X-Wing game. Inside the Star Destroyer, it can't fire at you, making it easier for you to destroy it. But when you consider that a Star Destroyer without shields will probably be disabled anyways by ion cannon or have its turrets destroyed just as fast, this trick doesn't present any significant advantage. It's just to be cool.
For those who don't know, Star Destroyers do have a blind spot. It is the area next to the neck that connects the bridge tower to the rest of the hull. You need to get extremely close to the hull for it to work.
I'll close this article with some thoughts about cooperative flying (my favorite scenario/mission in XvT and BoP).