Cadet II/Miner escort
A friend go to the aleph and prox it.
Advanced miner d
The best miner defenders don't just sit and watch the miners, they take an active role in controlling the miner to maximise the amount of money coming in while minimising the opportunities the enemy team have to destroy it. At the first sign of danger they will order the miner home without waiting for the comm. They will anaylse the map layout to decide which sector to mine next, they will choose which rocks to mine in which order. They will study the minimap relentlessly to glean any hints of an enemy attack before it has begun. Hell, they'll even tell the team where to bomb next so that they can mine safely!
Of course, as a newbie, you're just as likely to make a mistake and waste the miners' time as you are to save them from doom. But here are 4 tips that should be within your grasp:
- After a miner has unloaded itself make sure it heads to a fresh, full rock if possible. 9 times out of 10 it is better to start a new rock than to travel all the way back to its old rock for the dregs.
- Once a miner has been damaged by the enemy it will want to retreat and repair, regardless of whether all the enemy have been destroyed and it has been nanned all the way back up. Every time you hear the sound effect "I don't get paid enough for this" grab the miner and order it back to the rock to finish. Crack that whip!
- When a large enemy attack approaches don't wait for the comm to react, get that miner out of there! If possible order it to the closest refinery first so that even if it dies you get the money for its current cargo.
- If a miner is coming under attack a fair distance from you (3 or 4k) order it to head towards you. This will help prevent you shooting past it in the opposite direction. On the other hand, once you've met up you will both become sitting ducks.
Miner d
You're on miner D in a scout, so using what you have already learnt from Cadet-I, you should already have a firm grip of the basics needed for miner defence.
This material will overlap with some aspects of Cadet-I, but that will only serve as a refresher
Section 1: Loadout and basics
Your basic loadout:
ER Nanite
Quickfires (If against Tac) or seekers (If against Exp/Sup)
Shields mounted
Prox in dispenser.
Prox in Cargo + extra Countermeasure if against Tac.
Now, youre all tooled up, and ready to go.
So, check your minimap, and find where your miners are. If they are in a sector with a base, launch or rip there, otherwise, work out the shortest route (Within reason), and head off to your miners.
Section 2: Situations
Situation 1: No other miner D
This is the worst situation (Next to having no miner D whatsoever). At this point, feel free to "motivate" your team to get some more miner D, particularly if the enemy have been hitting your miners hard.
So, lets say there are 2 miners in your sector, and you're facing basic expansion (Mini2 ints). Work out where the enemy are most likely to attack from, and position yourself close to the miner that is most at risk. (1k or so) This way, as ints have approximately 400m scanrange, they will see the miner well before they see you.
As soon as the miner comes under attack, or it is ordered (Do this yourself if you are confident with AI), it will begin moving to the nearest base it can dock at. Now by this time, you should be moving in, ready to nan the miner. As soon as you are in range, try and heal it as much as possible, but, if the attacker comes after you, steer well away from the miner.
One of two things will happen:
1) The attacker comes after you, placing themselves 1k+ from the miner. 2) The attacker ignores you, and continues to attack the miner, whereby you come back, and nan it again.
During this, defence should already have been launched, and be on its way to help the miner back to base. Either way, you will have done the best you can, and only those who were not on miner D could have made a difference .
Situation 2: Acceptable miner D
For the purposes of this article, acceptable miner D is a nan for each miner, and roughly the same number of interceptors/fighters as there is miners. So, in this situation you have one miner to protect (for now).
So, if your miner is going to come under attack, your fighting ships should already be boosting to help. For now, focus on slowing and damaging the attackers as much as possible. Try and lay proximity mines so that they will be active for when the enemy is shooting the miner.
Hint: If the miner is between you and the enemy, hit reverse thrust for a second, and drop your mines. The mines will appear in front of you, and most importantly, around the miner.
Once again, if the attacker goes for the nan (You), follow the procedure in section 1.
Situation 2.1
Now, its likely that another nan, for another miner may be podded. In this case, either order the miner to you, ask on TS, or team chat (As a last resort, as this is slower than the others), and head towards the miner that either is, or has been under attack, depending on if the attacker has been killed, and nan the miner as quickly, and accurately as possible, particularly if it is still under attack.
Once the threat has passed, the commander will send the miner back to the rock, or to a base, at which point it is no longer your responsiblity, if you deem it safe enough. Remember, you still have a miner of your own to protect. When a nans pod is picked up, they will usually come directly back to the miner.
Situation 3: Last miner, tac defense
You're against Tac, and you have lost all but one miner, and your team are all crowded around, defending it. At this point, toggling your radar to "All" would be helpful, as you can see who is under attack, and nan them (As long as the miner is not being attacked).
Most of the time, you'll only have to deal with the odd one or 2 stealth fighters going straight for the miner. In this case, nans should focus fire on the miner, so that the 4 utility cannons dont outdamage the nans (It is possible, if the stealth fighters are very accurate).
However, you will see a handful of times where 5+ stealth fighters are set up, like a Stealth Bombing run, on your miner. This is a tactical nightmare to defend, and the only thing that you can do is focus nan fire on your miner, and hope the defending ships are good enough to kill them all.
Section 3: A last note on missiles:
You will see in the loadout, missiles are given. Here is the sneaky part, you dont have to:
a) Be in range b) Have a lock
To fire a missile at an enemy. They will still recieve the same audible beep that warns of an incoming missles. Sure, it wont be as high pitched as a locked missile, but its sometimes enough to put them off, even slightly, which can give your defenders a slight edge. Also, if you are confident that the miner is not going to die in the next 5 seconds, there is nothing stopping you firing Seekers at figs/ints, with the chance of them hitting.
If you are confident enough with "lobbing" dumbs (Many vets use this to great effect), you can attempt to land one on an attacker, with the hope of damaging them significantly more than with Seekers.
Con d
Greetings Cadet
Your Mission if you choose to accept it is to deliver the constructor to it's destination asteroid and make sure it builds there... Optionally, try to avoid the enemy detecting it's whereabouts. Sounds simple? Well, it isn't. The enemy team will do whatever they can to destroy the constructor or at least delay your team's expansion by making your commander redirect his constructors.
Defending a constructor in your scout can be the difference between whether it lives or dies. Since a large aspect of winning is based on your economy and your control of sectors, the difference between winning and losing can be decided with that one fateful constructor.
Load out
Let's start with the basics, by now you should know to always have a nan loaded or in your cargo slot. The loadout is completely dependent on the type of pilot after that but most seem to have a similar loadout along the lines of;
-Nanite(Cargo or loaded)
-Gat(Cargo or loaded)
-Seekers(A rack loaded if going high sig)
-Prox(4 in cargo)
-RP if possible(1 in cargo)
Escort
Trail Blazing
When escorting the constructor it is usually best to stay ahead of the it, about 1000-1300m should do. This will allow you to eye any probes or incoming adversaries before they reach your constructor or before it becomes eyed which will decrease the chance of your constructor planting. If you do see incoming hostiles on your constructor forward of your position it is best to drop a prox and head back to your constructor, this will hopefully slow down your opponents or destroy them. This will also allow you to check the forward sector before your constructor enters via the aleph, allowing your team ample time to redirect or bring in reinforcements to help defend.
Aleph Camping
In certain circumstances when you know there will be hostiles in the forward sector camping the aleph, using your prox to stop the hostiles entering and killing the constructor can be a viable tactic, this should really only be employed when there is a medium to large team defending the constructor as you would be leaving the constructor without a nan. The easiest method of aleph camping is sitting with your scout within 200m of the aleph, with a good interceptor or Fighter pilot sitting near you, and dropping prox until you run out or until the constructor reaches the aleph.
Planting Sector
Situational Awareness
As soon as you enter the forward sector that your constructor is going to plant in, take a quick look around to gain a good insight into the situation you and your constructor is in. This can be done by using your HUD or can be done using the F3 sector map, either one will give you a quick overview of your current surroundings.
Take notice of your surroundings: are the numbers in your favor? does the enemy squad see the constructor (yes, sometimes the enemy might forget to bring a scout along with a bunch of interceptors)? from which direction will the assault come? Try to note those things, especially the direction part. This is a good moment to drop your rescue probe, if you have one.
Going into the "planting sector" before your constructor does is a must, as stated before. You will need to make sure it is clear for it to enter without being destroyed, if it is camped or there is an overwhelming force inbound, you need to call a warning out to your team and commander immediately.
Trail Blazing
There are not many differences between escort "Trail Blazing" and Planting "Trial Blazing". You should still be moving ahead of the constructor to make sure the path is clear to the rock it will be planting at, but make sure you stay closer to the constructor this time, about 600-800m should suffice. If the enemy has already seen the constructor and is en route to your position, it is a good idea to get 600 or so ahead of the constructor and drop a few prox before flying back towards it. since the incoming hostiles will most likely be boosting to reach the required shooting range on the constructor before it reaches the rock, the prox should force the hostiles to either slow down or will destroy them. This buys your constructor the valuable seconds it may need.
Escorting to the rock
If you have a good aim and someone is already ahead of the constructor dropping prox, you should stay with the constructor to make sure it lives.
If the enemy reaches your constructor still in flight, make sure you keep a constant eye on it's health bar - nan it as soon as its hull starts getting hit. (Remember, a nanite repair gun only repairs hull, not shields) Drop a prox or two, you'll probably kill nothing, but you will force the attackers to avoid your mines.
When under fire, use your sidethrusters to make yourself harder to hit, using the constructor as a "shield" while you do this is a very good tactic to keep yourself alive, since you should be able to outnan the damage the constructor takes as they are trying to hit you, try not to die. Remember to always have your nan fixed on the con. Don't run if you're about to die, nan the con till the bitter end. You are the expendable part here. You can say a little prayer for your buddies in interceptors and fighters aim too.
Enemy Constructor
There will be times when you enter the planting sector to find an enemy constructor already there heading for a rock. Since it will almost always have a sufficient defense you should warn you team about it and give them the target to attack(VC '5 - Attack my target). You should then continue to defend your own constructor in the standard ways described here whilst some of the defense team attempt to destroy the enemy constructor.
If you do however have enough defense on your own constructor, it is a good idea to try and get ahead of the enemy constructor and prox it to try and slow it down, this should only be attempted in very rare situations where you know your own defense team has enough cover on your constructor, in most cases it would not be applicable and should not be attempted.
At the rock
The constructor has made it to the rock. Now it has to align itself to build. For that, it has to stop and rotate to the desired position undisturbed. The enemy will try to buy time by ramming it, making it restart the positioning sequence.
Proxing
This is when your remaining prox comes in handy. Drop your mines around the constructor, preferably to the side you are expecting the rammers to come from, but also in a "net" so to speak since some of the hostiles will dodge the initial prox or overboost and try to come from the opposite side. There is a good chance that desperate enemy pilots will ignore your mines in hopes to reach the constructor before they die. You're quite likely to rack up some kills at this point. Still, remember to keep your nan fixed on the con at all times!
Combat/XNanning
Since your nanite is only useful on hull it can be extremely effective to your survival to nan your friendly scouts and Interceptors or fighters. Since the hostiles will almost always target the nanites first so they cannot repair the con, it is a good idea to keep your eye on your friendlies. The longer they stay alive the longer you will, meaning the constructor has a higher chance of planting. Using your friendly fighters or interceptors as "shields" while you combat nan them or the constructor will ensure you yet again a longer life, simply because of their heavier shield and hull.
Remember - The con is always of the highest priority, as soon as the shields are down on it make sure you have it targeted and are firing for all you are worth.
Ranges & Notes
Ranges
[150-200m] is the utmost minimum distance you should be to the constructor, any closer and you will either slow it down or stop it from planting [400]Nanite 1 standard range [400]Nanite 2 standard range [1300] A good range for dropping prox on an incoming hostile
Notes
-Remember to sidethrust -Use larger objects(Constructor/Interceptors) as "shields" -Always enter an aleph before your constructor -Always have a Nan in your scout -Try to Xnan your friendlies - Do not try to Xnan any piloted Phoenix Faction ships as they cannot be nanned -Only fire your Nanite when the shields have been depleted, you can only repair the hull -Bring Rescue Probes when Available
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