Cadet I/Nanning II

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How to successfully nanite Repair a Bomb Run

An important element to any bomb run is nanites (henceforth referred to as nans). nans keep the bomber alive by shooting it with the nanite Repair System (previously covered), a scout mounted energy weapon.

Why?

The enemy cannot take out the bomber without taking out the nans first. This gives the bomber valuable time to reach its target and deliver the deadly payload. Therefore, the defense must work through nans while under surviving turret fire and prox fields.

Pre-launch

As soon as bombers come up, the commander will ask someone to bomb a base. 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:

• Nan1/2 loaded with Gatt in cargo.
• A RP/Sanctuary
• Prox (or Minepack) mines

When going up against Tac, you will need extra countermeasures as you'll be peppered by missile fire all along the way. The gatt in cargo is useful to take out probes in the bomber's route as previously covered.

Another important point is that when you are nanning a HTT or bomber 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 (check F4). 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 except their basic interceptors can mount nans. Therefore, you can mount a nan on your fighter and load up with fuel in cargo for some boost-ramming fun. The same goes for Belter SFs and Heavy Ints. Nanning in SFs is not recommended until you are extremely comfortable in that class of ship.

How?

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 dangerous game ending 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, try 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 checking the aleph for proxmines and such on the other side. You can go into the sector at a slow velocity to see whether there are defenders on the aleph camping for your bomber, if there are prox mines on the aleph, towers etc. You need to call out what's on the other side once you do this. "MINES!", "PROX!", "Camped.", "2 figs", "droned/towered", etc. are things that you call out (self explanatory). You might die or make it out with heavy damage, or unscathed depending on the situation at the other side.

Killing the target

Once your bomber pilot decides to go into the sector, you'll need to go a second or two ahead of the bomber so it's not killed instantly by camping ships or prox mines. If you were uneyed, this might be a good time to load your shields as your bomber will no doubt be eyed by the base. 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 fly alongside the bomber and keep it alive till it destroys the base. A good way to fly while nanning is orbiting 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 remember not to drop them all the time as this allows enemy pods to hit them and instantly be transported back to base and come back at you again.

You can drop an RP, if you have one, so your pilots can dock at it when they are podded.

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. This can be a very valuable tactic when bombing or HTTing. To do this, come in from behind the target ship and align yourself and collide with it at max velocity. Then turn away, gather speed and do it again.

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 cost your team the game. Another big no-no is to staying at the rear of the bomber instead of flying away after a ram. This prevents other ships 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" in the minefield on the other side from "newbie" rams!

Take turns ramming. When another nan is about to ram the ship, you should be lining up and start gathering speed. This will allow you to hit the bomber as the previous rammer flies away to the side after his ram. 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 dangerous tactic when used right. Do remember to keep an eye on the bomber so the defenders don't go after it when you are busy nanning each other.

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! 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.

nans and bomber

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