Cadet I/Nanning II
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How to successfully nan a Bomb Run
As you know from the STFN lesson nans are essential to a bomb runs success. This lessons deals with what you can do to increase both the bbr's and your own chances of survival. In Allegiance you will encounter two kinds of bomb runs:
- The "Loud" ones, normally organised by the commander. These ones demand a lot of nans (usually with CAPITAL LETTERS) and attempt to destroy an enemy base through sheer weight of numbers. These bomb runs are sometimes called "Bomb trains".
- The "Quiet" ones. Think of these as small raiding parties - the bomber pilot may have noticed a base which is easy to bomb, or hopes to bomb while the majority of your team distracts the enemy elsewhere. Often they will only have 1 or zero turret gunners and minimal nans. These bomb runs are sometimes called "Suicide runs".
As a beginner pilot you should focus on the Loud runs.
Pre-launch
The commander will tell the team which base he wants bombed, sometimes even before bbrs have finished researching. The bomber pilot will use the "Need Scouts!" or "Need Repairs!" voice chat to ask for nans. When the call for nans starts, get ready! A good nan loadout is the following:
- Nan loaded.
- Seekers loaded.
- Gatt in cargo (to kill probes).
- A RP/Sanctuary loaded if available.
- Prox (or Minepack) mines.
- Extra countermeasures if your opponent is Tac.
When you are nanning a HTT trying to be stealthy you should also be stealthy and have a sig that's less than your friend's sig. To reduce your sig you'll need to unload your shields and missiles by using the Ctrl-5 and Ctrl-7 keys (bring up your F4 menu to ensure they're unloaded). Remember that you'll need cargo space free to unload mounted items. You can rotate cargo by using the s key and jettison cargo using the Ctrl-s key. Review the previous lessons on Signature and Managing Your Cargo if needed.
If you are flying as Belters you have a few interesting choices at this point. Almost all Belter ships can mount nans so you can mount a nan on your fighter. Not only will you have more hitpoints but you can load up with fuel in cargo for some boost-ramming fun. The same goes for Belter SFs and Heavy Ints.
Note Nanning in SFs is not recommended until you are extremely comfortable in that class of ship.
Getting to the target
When your bomber launches he might be eyed or uneyed. Most bomber pilots will call out very loudly that they are uneyed and they need nans pronto. This is because the uneyed bomb run is one of the most devastating moves in Allegiance. It catches the defenders unaware and can break a stalemate that otherwise requires significantly more firepower.
If your bomber is uneyed you need to keep it uneyed. If it is eyed you need to find what's eying it. A probe nearby? Review the previous lesson on deprobing if needed.
If your bombrun is eyed all the way (a scout following you perhaps), you'll be expected at your target sector. When you reach the aleph to the target sector the bomber pilot will ask for someone to "peek". This is the term for a single scout to fly through and gauge the size of the camp on the other side, amount of mines etc. You, the peeking scout, can go into the sector at a slow velocity so you don't die on mines instantly and then call out what you see: "MINES!", "PROX!", "Camped", "2 figs", "droned/towered", "Clear!" etc. You may die but the information is worth it.
Tip: Deploy your RP before you peek so even if you die you don't have to float far.
Killing the target
The hardest part of the bombrun is clearing the camp. A common mistake nans make is to trail behind the bbr and wait for it to disappear into the aleph before following. Often they get through to find the bbr dead and themselves easy pickings. Instead you want to fly alongside the bbr as it enters so you both enter at the same time, or even enter a second before the bbr. Of course you don't want to enter too early or the campers will kill you!
You can expect a lot of confusion on the other side. Even if you were facing the bbr when you entered chances are that he will no longer be on your screen on the other side. Explosions from minefields will be blocking your view and gunfire will be coming from every direction. The most important thing is to target the bbr before you enter the aleph; that way when you come out the other side you will have a nice big red arrow in the centre of your HUD telling you which way to spin your ship. Get the bbr back in your crosshairs and start giving him some nan-lovin'! You can drop prox mines here so that defenders rushing in will hit them and explode (or be heavily damaged, making easy kills for the turrets).
Once the bomber clears the camp you'll need to keep it alive till it destroys the base. A good way to avoid enemy fire is to orbit the bomber by using your sidethrusters. This allows you to maneuver your ship such that enemy fire will hit the bomber and not you - damage that you instantly repair. When you see defenders boosting at you drop prox mines but don't drop them all the time as enemy pods will use the mines to kill themselves.
Ramming
Allegiance allows you to impart momentum from your ship to another ship when you collide. This allows faster ships to "boost" slower ships by ramming them from directly behind.
Note If friendly fire is on (normally it isn't) then both ships will take damage from the ram - hit the bbr too hard and your scout will explode!
Every ship has a different "sweet spot" for ramming. You'll find these out from experience. One word of warning - if you do not know the sweet spot of the HTT you are about to ram - DON'T. You might throw him off course and make him miss the door of the base he is trying to cap. Another big no-no is staying at the rear of the bomber instead of strafing to the side after a ram because that prevents other nans from ramming the bomber.
Tip: Do NOT ram a bomber through an aleph unless specifically asked by the pilot. Many a bomber has gone -SPLAT- into a minefield from an over-enthusiastic ram!
Take turns ramming. While another nan is about to ram the ship you should be lining up and gathering speed. This will allow you to hit the bomber as the previous rammer flys away to the side. Four or five scouts ramming like this can take bombers to extremely high velocities. Belter heavy bombers have been sent to speeds higher than 200mps by boost ramming interceptors!
Crossnanning
Crossnanning (or xnanning) is the technique by which nans keep each other alive by nanning each other so they are not taken out easily by defenders. This is a very effective tactic when pulled off. Be careful though - bbrs have been known to die because the nans were too busy keeping each other alive!
A nice overhead view (F3) of a nan train and bomb run crossing a sector. Notice the bomber pilot asking NOT to get rammed into the aleph (OMFG)! Also note that the bomber is "eyed" in the upper right corner of the HUD. The screenshot was taken from a turret of the bomber.
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