Descent day 3

How I do siege for limited repairs. This run was about an hour and a half of repairs, but can get down to under an hour:

Siege 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch…

Siege 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDCALWt1mFY&hc_location=ufi

Siege 3: https://youtu.be/2zNTA_SaIhE?hc_location=ufi

Siege 4: http://youtu.be/xMxoTbZ1XuU?hc_location=ufi

Siege 5: http://youtu.be/F3N1pqPKh0I

That said, i'm now really only doing elite, as I can do it for 6.5 hours repairs, and that gives me more than enough points if I do three per day for the rest of the raid.

How do I do elite?

I suicide my hellstrikes on as many turrets as possible. (They're quite old and dont get through all of them, but I don't have crusaders built yet).

Then use my enforcers on the fleet, like in the siege 5 video.

Then finish with Frosty and a single mastadon, running round the outside.

The Descent Raid

This is the last reaver raid for a while. Nice of them to give us one with so many targets that are quite vulnerable.

I'm sure after January when I said i'd be building a couple enforcers - 18 days each for the reaver raids, a number of people followed suit right?

That being said, given almost all fleet type targets are seriously vulnerable to subs you don't actually need them. But they do make things quicker.

Hitting 65s for cheap:

Option 1: The fast way

For me i'm down to under 15 minutes repairs off a 65, which I do in two runs for the instant repairs.

My fleet is simply - my two enforcers, a mastadon (although not necessary), a blank HLNC (for the rad resistance) and a zombie barracuda puller/decoy to take some fire.

Option 2: The slower, but still pretty quick way

Sub out everything if you have assault b on any half decent sub (barra / spec / NH / reaper). Just do the thermo ships last, and make sure they don't drive straight over you.

Siege for cheap:

Basically exactly the same strategies work for siege. I've even been using my insta torrent wolf with my subs, and leaving that at a safe distance sniping the thermo ships as they circle my subs.

Once you get to siege 4 and 5 though, I find it useful to use a combination of my sub fleet (specs for me) and my enforcer fleet. Sub as much as you can. I even use an insta seawolf as a puller in siege 4 to bring out the first shrouded ship.

Hot tip: you can sub out the shroud equipped ships ....

Finishing off 4 or 5, I use my Hellstrikes. But you could use almost anything once you've got rid of the fleets (wish i had arbalest built now). Even torrent seawolves take out the turrets fairly quick. I have had trouble with their apocs hitting my mastadons when I use them. But have been told to stop driving like a muppet.

Where am I at?

After 1 day I was as 18 million points. I will get all the prizes (well one Flag only), but I can't see myself building them in a hurry. A second frosty will probably be built before the new ships even.


What am I building now?

I'm finishing my arena fleet. There's nothing better than getting a ton of free uranium from the arena for very little effort. My wrath is getting its last weapons right now, which will be followed by a couple bulkhead pieces. After that i just need to refit a BC (and finish retrofitting it), and add some more speed to my mastadon and protomastadon.

After that I will build an arbalest crusader before the next raid. You just cant beat them for destroying turrets.

So what have I built since January?

I often get asked how I have built what I have. Pretty simple really. I prioritise what I think is important and then wait for it to build.

So since January is about 90 build days. In that time, I've built my 2 enforcers, my wrath, a protomastadon, added a few throwers to my Hellstrike and a few minor finishing touches to a couple other ships. Must have built something else to finish out the 90 days, but can't remember what that was ......

Arena

General raid advice

1. Pre-raid preparation

Useful Fleets

One main fleet built to take on the highest level targets where you incur relatively small damage. This fleet will double up as your pre logging off grind into the ground fleet.

A secondary main fleet – in an ideal world you would have a second main fleet, so that when you are actually playing the raid, one of these fleets is constantly repairing. For the free player time is what you are trying to maximise.

Prep fleet.




Niche fleet






Fleet design

Auto (instant repair fleets)

I define insta fleets as either having a maximum 660 armour OR the right configuration and enough firepower to destroy the target before taking more than 5 minutes repair on any individual ship in the fleet.

For the lower level free player, it’s probably the first option with basic SWs. As you get better hulls though, you can build fleets that can auto higher levels with minimal damage.





2. Immediately before the raid

• Fleets status – fairly obvious but ensure all repaired to 100%.
• Pinch – generally I would have a large pinch ready to go as well.
• Warehouses – ensure all are full for repairs.
• Save up gifts – just in case you need extra res for repairs.
• I generally like to time my latest ship build/refit to finish just a little after the raid starts, just in case I want to do some small refits during the raid

3. Early raid – first couple hours

With the massive demand on the servers/routers etc when the raid starts there will be glitches. With this in mind, either don’t start when the raid starts (easy for me, I’m asleep), or if you do, don’t take on big stuff too early – stick with your auto fleets and with your main fleet drop down a target level or two until you’re confident of your connection and the servers.

Don’t lose all your fleets early (in fact don’t lose them at all). With a change to the raid it’s easy to find your fleets aren’t quite right and they get creamed by targets that they did okay with in the last raid. If a fleet does poorly, don’t just send another similar fleet in. (You often see people on the forums after a few hours complaining of having no fleets and 30 hours of repairs. Don’t be one of them).

Be ready to take advantage of any over generous rewards early (if you are on) – Lets face it, it’s going to be hard for Kixeye to balance the next raid risk versus rewards. One target will often give a better return, so you need to work out which either in comms, through the forums or various FB groups and take advantage of it before it is rebalanced.

Read the forums for videos / strategies – generally any easy points or key strategies will be documented or videoed by another player. Coiners will often try different strategies, so you may as well utilise their results.

Fair chance there will be rebalancing – keep it in mind that there is often rebalancing of risk / rewards after hours / a day or so. This may make the raid easier or harder. The forums can give you an idea of the way this may go.

4. Ongoing through the raid

Your options as a free player are generally either

1. spend a LOT of time hitting targets that inflict limited damage to get the top prize /
2. spend a LOT of time hitting targets with zombies
3. spend a reasonable amount of time hitting larger targets that inflict limited damage if you have the fleets to do so or
4. spend less time hitting the big targets if you're fortunate enough to already have built some decent fleets that can hit them for a reasonable amount of damage.

I generally go with a combination of option 2 to 4 these days. I'm no longer prepared to do 8 to 10 hours a day for 4 days straight, so I need a solution that gets me the prize quicker, but still for free.

Work out the best targets for your fleets – your main fleets need to be taking only a limited amount of damage so that they repair quickly while you’re on line. Your zombie / insta fleets need to be hitting the highest level possible whilst always winning.

Prioritise your main fleet - you always want it repairing if you're not using it.

Calculate your hourly rate - I also try to work out my hourly rate to determine which prize I’m going for based on the amount of time I have available for the raid. Last raid I could do 3 million points / hour (with a partially completed main fleet).

Pre log off bonus – Your main fleet should be able to take a number of targets before being completely destroyed. Prior to logging off for an extended period (eg work/sleep/party), you want to run this fleet into the ground.

Use small pinch rockets and constantly build them for your main fleet – it will cut down on repair time.

5. Post raid

Go back through the forums and videos to see what can be improved if a similar raid is to be run in future.

Prioritise your build schedule if you really don’t have the ships required for the raid and want to do well in the next one.

Consider building multipurpose ships that will work in raids.

Zombies

Useful niche ships

Ranking

Starting again from level 1

I created a new account in August 2014 with the view of seeing how difficult it is for new players and what strategies will work well. Building, researching and levelling up is FAST at the very beginning.

So, what should you focus on early?

• After 3 days I was at level 25, with outpost at 3, naval and weapons lab at 7, academy at 5, advanced lab at 5 and warehouses able to hold a bit over 3 million in resources. I then did weapons/naval/academy to 8 asap to allow for OP4, and then naval to 9 to get the all important seawolf). 
• All hulls are researched up to the arbiter Five fleets running around with 1 bb fleet, 3 marauder fleets and a couple longship fleets. Completed tier 2 of the FMs relatively easily in about a day of not playing too much. When you start out you start near lots of others noobs, so there’s plenty of level 5/9/14 targets to spam insta repair fleets into. Scored Torrent 1, which was kind of interesting as my max res was under 1 million when I got it, and you need 4+ million just to build a single missile. My tier 2 prize was Speed System 3 which is also going to be incredibly useful. 
• Given my time again, I would build at least 5 of these fleets, and maybe even 6 or 7. (Remember to upgrade your academy to be able to use multiple fleets. This fleet will auto level 27 outposts in the forsaken missions for instant repair if you enter from the 11 O'clock position. With enough of these fleets you could hit tier 4 of the missions in your second week, just sending them out and hitting on auto. https://www.dahippo.com/bp/ship/#!6004006070Z040404004006070Z040404004006070Z040404004006070Z040404004006070Z040404dB
• My priorities were: Outpost, Naval lab, Weapons lab, and Warehouses to keep upgrades going, Advanced lab and lastly Dock (at least a few levels to allow for larger ship weight) 
• Defences I would only think of building with a day or two to go of protection. Will research decent turret weapons though. 

Early game tips

• You want to be upgrading/constructing buildings and building ships basically 24x7 - Time your upgrades so that when you go to bed you start say an eight hour upgrade so you don’t lose build time. Same with building an eight hour ship. 
• The weekly Forsaken Mission is pretty easy to get to tier two even with marauders and longships when you have many small targets near you which is exactly what you get with a new account and everyone starting in the same sector. Once you have enough marauder fleets you can easily do tier 3 or even 4 if you have enough spare time.
• The early campaigns are extremely easy and pay out tons of resources. I would highly recommend not completing at least one of them (maybe the Leviathan one), and using that campaign just to get res when you really need a quick boost. 
• Closely watch how much res you need for your next upgrades, and ensure you keep upgrading your WHs to be able to do it. 
• People will tell you to not level up too quick. This is true to some extent, but you don't want to stunt your growth. You want to get the best stuff possible as quick as possible. Do it. No matter what you do when you hit 50 you’re going to get smashed. Just click repair and keep on going when that eventually happens, and keep striving to get the best hulls and weapons possible to do some smashing of your own. 
• Salvages from 17 onwards drop blueprints. After a couple days your fleets should be able to do some of these with varying levels of success. You could build subs to make this real easy, but I’d rather concentrate on ships for the weekly FM first. 
• Try to have your three main research buildings (naval, weapons and advanced lab) always researching something useful all of the time. 
• Minimise refitting as much as possible. For example don't build a level 1 weapon when you know you are going to want to eventually put on a level 3 or 4 weapon.

Core concepts

• BP really is a game of stepping stones. Aim for particular hulls/weapons which will then lead you to the next hulls/weapons
• Play to your strengths. I'm pretty lazy so will be designing and building mainly auto fleets. Predators will therefore be unlikely to be built for quite some time, if at all