Surviving in a Destroyer/Frigate

Starshatter: The Gathering Storm extends the classic space sim by combining fighter and starship combat in a single dynamic campaign game.
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Penleeki
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Jul 30, 2005 8:26 pm

Surviving in a Destroyer/Frigate

Post by Penleeki »

So, I finally went ahead and bought the game after playing the demo extensively (great stuff), and i've been promoted to the stage where I can fly destroyers and frigates (still on operation highland). The problem I am having is that when I fly them I seem to be getting everyone killed. They seem to do well as long as I stay a fighter pilot, but when I fly with them they do all sorts of daft things like splitting up and flying into a large group of enemies (while the rest of the group fly on, and I am left with the decision to try to help the outnumbered wanderer or abandon him). radio orders don't seem to have any effect, and I've only had limited success with changing nav points for the group before the mission.

If anyone has any advice at all on how to use either of them in the campaign I would be grateful.

Also when should I be ending the mission when piloting them? When I run out of ammo? Any time I suspect things may go badly?

-- Edit
This is my expanding list of things i've learnt the hard way:
1. Pause key is much more important to lessen the learning curve, map it to something.
2. Select, right click menu in F3 view works better for issuing commands than the radio.
3. Hull repair is exceedingly slow (but does increase when in the red) so every little bit is valuable.
4. Concentrate on killing the destroyers first, and the frigates become easy prey.
5. Highland gets much much nastier after the big fleet arrives, so if you get promoted half way through your first go, transferring to a destroyer group will be a terrifying humiliating experience.
6. If you achieve a victory and there are enemy fighters in the area preventing you from ending the mission, quantum jump as soon as you can to anywhere to escape.
7. If you see a squadron of four fighters flying straight at you, quantum jump all big ships away before one of them dies. You can't outrun them, and you can't stop them without lots of friendly fighters around. You will be lucky to even make the jump in time.
Janster
Posts: 54
Joined: Thu Feb 19, 2004 8:37 pm

RE: Surviving in a Destroyer/Frigate

Post by Janster »

Hmm yeah, the big ships are terribly vulnerable ,and the while the guns do shoot down missiles, we have to MANUALLY target them and since the targeting system is really shoddy, thats not happening :(

Also, whats with the shield, it seems to have NO use whatsoever :(

Janster
Kuokkanen
Posts: 3692
Joined: Fri Apr 02, 2004 1:16 pm

RE: Surviving in a Destroyer/Frigate

Post by Kuokkanen »

ORIGINAL: Janster

Also, whats with the shield, it seems to have NO use whatsoever :(
It don't block damage, it just reduces it. Try it by turning it off and you'll see difference [:'(]
You know what they say, don't you? About how us MechWarriors are the modern knights, how warfare has become civilized now that we have to abide by conventions and rules of war. Don't believe it.

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Burzmali
Posts: 312
Joined: Wed Jul 28, 2004 4:20 pm
Location: Boston

RE: Surviving in a Destroyer/Frigate

Post by Burzmali »

Of beam mostly, torps tear through shields like they were paper.
Janster
Posts: 54
Joined: Thu Feb 19, 2004 8:37 pm

RE: Surviving in a Destroyer/Frigate

Post by Janster »

Ah, well that explains things, I have also learned how to target subsystems to increase my efficiency, its a decent game, being an EVE online player I can also compare a bit :)

I think shields should completly block until drained though..this partial stuff is not flashy enough ;)

Also targeting info like hitpercentages and stuff like that, its fun to have on visual even if reduntant.

Third, fighters will rip me a new one in seconds, and sometimes I land on autopilot into a couple of planes = RIP.
...

Game is fine, just lacks finesse, shield issues and more flashy stuff, like far more targeting info onscreen, and the ability to 'lock' the ship on trajectory with target.

Janster
Adonnay
Posts: 101
Joined: Sun May 08, 2005 4:57 pm

RE: Surviving in a Destroyer/Frigate

Post by Adonnay »

The shield issue you mentionned can be modded. So Milo did indeed think about such an option (like classy old Star Wars games) but decided against it, guess it was personal favor... or he was a Star Trek fan :P
smaff
Posts: 34
Joined: Mon Apr 26, 2004 2:29 pm

RE: Surviving in a Destroyer/Frigate

Post by smaff »

Commanding a Destroyer group is very different to flying in the little fighter wing.

On entering the mission, switch to external view and order all of your ships to follow you. This means they'll ignore the waypoints - you can then follow these yourself. If you're hunting for ships not on the radar, then use your eyes :> They'll show up as odd dots if they're not *too* far away, so you can fire one of the sensory torps their way which will illuminate them for a short while without necessarily reveiling your position (the AI doesn't seem to respond).

Once you decide on combat, but before they've noticed you, possition yourself appropriately - coming from underneath is good, as milo's ship designs are poor on PointDefense on the underside, and you can manage to get a couple of torp hits in (maybe) before they turn to face. This might manage to take out a subsystem for long enough to give you that extra edge. Don't aim at anything you can't actually see a line of sight to. the torps arn't that smart.

Approach with the toughest ship first by ordering it to attack (that's commonly you, but remember the mission ends if you die, so charging in yourself is generally pretty silly). The AI will attack the first thing they see, pretty much.

As to which to attack - I tend to go for the frigates first - Your PDC (on defensive) will deal with the vast majority of torps as long as you keep yourself pointing at the source of them, and the frigates defenses are pretty poor - yet some at least are quite potent in terms of firepower. They dropped within a few laser shots from a destroyer or two, whereas a destroyer is generally pretty robust (and CAs are just evil).

Remember - continue to use positioning at least on your part. If you're not the primary target, using drift & slide techniques so you can point your main arsenal at the belly of the beast without losing way too much - and remember ramming, or being rammed gets you killed... Also, when manoevering, keep your own belly away from the enemy. A couple of torps there can really ruin your day.

What to attack. By any description, torps are the most powerful weapon. Once you start getting hit by them you'll die fast, but this applies just as much to the enemy. So if you get within laser range, you'll want to try picking off his PDC turrets - however, if you make a too-flat of an angle with them (such as with the usual head to head), your beams will miss, so do manoever to compensate (by using your thrusters - pitching up will of course expose your belly).

Defensively, you have your PDC and your shield. The PDCs are your defenses against torps, though they'll not touch fighter missiles. The PDC can be overwhelmed, though the slow firing rate of torp launchers means thats quite hard. They are terribly weak at certain angles (which appart from below, you'll have to learn). Your shield is your general defense - once it goes down, surviving becomes hard indeed. Its also (fortunately) pretty difficult to take out, but remember it doesn't (nor will it) protect you against all damage. As such its not unusual to end up with a destroyer group flying with 50% hull rating by half way through the game.

As for fighters, well, to be honest, assult flights are lethal. The quantum retreat option is generally a good one. They are especially evil against frigates (or used to be, its been a while), owing to frigates apparently being made of paper. This may have been fixed - fighters used to come in at very high speeds (well, I would...), and so the frigs would not be able to launch their anti-fighter missiles, and so commonly would take a face full of anti-ship missiles.

Even if this has been fixed, I'd still be tempted to run-away/restart :>

Fight on. CA groups are much easier to command, as they take such a beating, its unreal :>
--
"I've never met a piece of chocolate I didn't like.."
Burzmali
Posts: 312
Joined: Wed Jul 28, 2004 4:20 pm
Location: Boston

RE: Surviving in a Destroyer/Frigate

Post by Burzmali »

If I remember correctly, the AI pilots have only as many torps as you. Since in an even encounter you are immune from torps if you are far enough away for your PDC to the off on the way in, one strategy I have used is to let the AI exhaust its torp supply, then order my desron in for the kill.
Penleeki
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Jul 30, 2005 8:26 pm

RE: Surviving in a Destroyer/Frigate

Post by Penleeki »

Thanks for the tips from everyone. I'll have to give attacking from underneath a try and see if it helps get more torpedos on target. The method I have been using is to launch them at an enemy ships sides, but you need to get quite close before it is effective, otherwise the torpedoes seem to lead the target and enter the arc or the forward turrets.
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