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The Art of (mtrek) War
Purpose
As the name of this article implies, this is an mtrek/jtrek strategy guide. It is assumed that the reader has at least a basic working knowledge of game mechanics and some familiarity with the different terms commonly used in the game. It is important for the reader to keep in mind that the tactics and strategies herein are not the only ones, or even necessarily the best ones. The intent is for you to read, ponder, and apply anything you find useful to your game. (or not..) The general format is similar to that of the round table discussion as seen in Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. This a living document and commenting has been enabled at the bottom of this page, so feel free to “pull up a chair” and share your own thoughts, which will be added to the whole. So far, the bulk of the discussion comes from a post Chimaera made to alt.games.mtrek about 15 years ago. Other sources include the mtrek docs, comments found through the wayback machine, and sometimes, in-game chat.
1.1 The Metagame
According to Chimaera:
Aggressiveness vs. Foolishness: There is a difference between being aggressive and being foolish, and that difference is the risk/reward ratio. Figure out the potential reward of your actions and decide whether it justifies the risk. Waiting until 0 range to phaser/cloak at the risk of being hit is usually worth the risk. You are taking a small risk for the potential to do more damage. Overwarping in an RBOP on a fully powered II-A is not. You are taking a huge risk in a strategy that has little chance of succeeding. Aggressiveness will put you ahead in a fight, foolishness will simply get you damaged(and killed).
The loser is the one who makes the last mistake: Mistakes are extremely common in mtrek. They are the reason you will win and the reason you will lose. A good strategy will make it more likely that your opponent makes mistakes, and make your opponent’s mistakes deadlier. At the same time, it will prevent your mistakes from being fatal. Once you master tactics, the next step is mastering strategy. You MUST develop good strategic skills to enter the mtrek elite.
Tip – Your strategies must be realistic, rather than idealistic.
According to nospam:
“every ship class has someone who says it is the best and someone who says it is the worst.”
1.2 The Tactics:
According to Chimaera:
Staying in range: A very important strategy in mtrek is to stay at a specific range, say 400-700. If you are able to do this, you have the power to decide when to back up to fire torpedoes and when to run at your target and phaser. Now you have the ability to surprise your opponent.
There are two main ways to do this. The first method is to stop at the ideal range and wait. You then either run at the ship or back off, whichever is necessary to keep the range. You can also decide to turn rather than stop. This makes it easier to defend against mines/plasma/etc. I prefer the latter method.
According to nospam:
“Make a drone zapping macro. The macro O.14Ppo. will scan the nearest object, zap it with phasers, and scan the nearest ship.”
1.2.1 Photons/Oblits:
According to Chimaera:
Defense – When defending your ship, you have two choices. Run or fight. Often, running is impossible, and an attempt at it will get you killed. In this case, your only choice is to fight off your opponent. Remember, the best defense is often a good offense.
The best way to defend against a torpedo attack is called the “surprise-attack”. Run from your attacker, and just before he gets into range, intercept him and fire torpedoes. At this point you can either cloak or run at your attacker. Once cloaking, you can either turn and run away from your attacker, or you can decloak near your attacker. Example: if you’re a KEV fighting a Larson, you might want to decloak at about 700 range.
If possible, try counting the ticks(the game updates that occur every 1/4 of a second). If you run at your attacker just before the next tick starts, he will have no time to react. This takes a bit of practice.
Another option is to be purely defensive. Take a photon torpedo hit to your shields(to waste their torpedoes), and cloak/turn/run(to regenerate your shields). Avoid hitting mines and phasers. Example: If you’re fighting a Larson in a KEV, you will be able to eat its torpedoes and end up alive.
Offense – When firing your torpedoes, you often have a choice of either trying to get them off quickly, or carefully making sure you do maximum damage. If you are too slow, the ship may repair as fast as you are doing damage, wasting your torpedoes. It depends on the situation, but when using photons, I usually have the most success when I am careful about when I fire. But if you are not yet unable to do this quickly, you may want to try a different strategy.
You also must counter your opponent’s defensive tactics. Basically, there are two main ways to defeat the surprise-attack.
1) the backup-intercept – Chase your target, and constantly run from him just before you get into his torpedo range. Then you can surprise him when you go in for the kill.
2) stop just outside of your opponent’s torpedo range, giving you time to react to your opponent.
Take advantage of your ship’s torpedo range, while avoiding the torpedo range of your opponent. For example, if you are a KPB fighting an excel, you may want to overwarp past the Excel’s torpedo range to a point where the excel can’t hurt you.
Tip – Put “33t” after your torpedo macros. This will tell you how many torpedoes you have left.
1.2.2 Phasers:
According to Chimaera:
Defense – Use the surprise-attack to defend against phasers. Unexpectedly run at your opponent in an attempt to hit at 0 range. If low on energy, you might want to limit yourself to using only half of your potential phaser power, or you could end up too low on energy to survive.
Offense – Be unpredictable, and try to hit at 0 range. The reward of hitting at 0 is usually worth the risk of getting hit, though it depends on the ship class of you and your opponent, the skill of you and your opponent, and each ship’s damage.
It is important to note that it is sometimes worth forcing your opponent to fire their phasers. If they fire full phasers and are subsequently damaged, they may not even have enough power to even move. In my RBOP, I have gotten CL-13s to under -50 power available(that’s right, minus 50).
Tip – A 5 power wide phaser burst will tell you how close a cloaked ship is to you. The more damage the phaser does, the closer the ship is.
1.2.3 Mines:
According to Chimaera:
Mines are very easy to destroy, just use a “O.14Pp” macro to phaser the nearest object.
One important point about mines is that they don’t fire until the start of the next tick, when your opponent may have already moved. If your opponent is not moving, the macro “@-.2riiM” will hit anywhere between 50-250 range. But this is not the case if he is moving.
If your opponent is running from you, you must mine at a closer range, or the ship will pass your mine before it’s fired. If you are being chased, you must fire the mine at a longer range, or it will miss. For example, if a RBOP fires a mine at a pursuing br5 at around 500 range, the BR will have virtually no chance to react. But if the RBOP tries to fire at 150 range, the br5 will pass the mine before it hits.
Tip – To avoid mines, try using the surprise-attack to pass your attacker’s mine range. Then, if possible, cloak/turn/run.
If you’re the attacker, you might try to go in for the mine at an unexpected time. To do this, you can stop just outside mine range to buy time, fool your opponent with the backup/intercept, or use the turn/intercept. Or, of course, you can use a combination of the three.
If you are the faster ship, It’s possible to get to 0 range, phaser, and mine, while being too close for your opponent to mine you. Possible defenses against this include
1) overwarping to get into mine range, and
2) firing a mine and running towards it at warp 5-6, in an attempt to hit your attacker as he is intercepting you.
1.2.4 Plasma:
According to Chimaera:
The Fundamental Rule Of Plasma – Keep your plasma unlocked. This way, you can control the direction of the plasma. Use a u instead of 14 in your torpedo macros (such as “uTt]33t” or “uTt[33t”).
Dodging Plasma – There are basically three methods of avoiding plasma, all of which you should use.
The first strategy is to simply turn your ship with a macro such as “}HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHKKKKLL”(if you use only H’s or J’s, you could be caught with the 0’90 rule. The rule is this: if you’re at 0’90, An attempt to turn sideways is ineffective). This strategy is particularly effective when chasing plasma ships.
The second strategy is to dodge the plasma itself. I don’t have a specific macro for this. Instead, I back up from the nearest object with a “{O.ii[” macro, and then turn my ship with the aforementioned turning macro. This is particularly useful when you are very close to plasma.
The third strategy is only useful when a plasma has recently be fired. A plasma takes 4 seconds to initiate(i.e., it won’t detonate before those 4 seconds). If a plasma is fired very close to you, you can run at and pass a plasma before it initiates.
Hitting with plasma – People generally hit plasma by mistake. Your job as the plasma chucker is to make it easy for your opponent to accidentally hit plasma. You will want to try to fire plasma at the right range, try to surround your opponent with plasma, and if possible, try to distract your opponent from the plasma. When I am at 0 range from my opponent, one of the strategies I use is a macro to back up from my own plasma “{O.ii[” . This is an attempt to catch my opponent in a plasma net. Another strategy is to use “turned” plasma to catch your target when he dodges. You need to find your own strategies, but whatever you do, make sure you get your opponent close to initiated plasma.
Note that you may have the chance to mine/phaser while your opponent is focused on avoiding your plasma.
There are two plasma macros I have found quite useful, especially for the CV-97. The first is the plasma-group. Make the macro “@0ruTt33t@9.6r”. This macro will cause your ship to travel at the speed of your plasma, allowing you to build up a wall of plasma around your ship. The second is the reverse-plasma. Make the macro “}ii]@0rHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHuTti[33t” This will fire a plasma running at about warp -10, and then cause you to run at maximum warp. When a ship is chasing you, the plasma is running from them, and thus it can hit at closer range(remember the 4 second initiation for plasma).
1.2.5 Drones:
According to Chimaera:
Like mines, drones are easy to destroy. And like plasma, drones take several seconds to initiate. But if you run back into drones your battle has left behind, there is a good chance they will hit your attacker.
Ship Classes
2.1 Federation Constitution II-A:
According to Chimaera:
Avoid getting hit. If a ship gets too close, you may want to cloak, turn, decloak and run.
Hitting with mines and phasers should be your first priority. If you don’t, you’ll have a hard time killing anything. If I get to 0 range, I often phaser/cloak first, and mine after.
After firing your torpedoes, you may have trouble getting in mine/phaser range without getting hit by your opponent’s torpedoes. So cloak just outside of their torpedo range. If your opponent stops to repair, you may be able to get close enough under cloak to mine/phaser.
From the mtrek player’s guide:
Avoid getting hit, cloaking here is a weapon, use torpedoes well.
According to Rooster:
“Best all around ship”
“Most Fun To Play”
“Easiest To Get Gold In”
“Best Ship when there’s no Lag”
“Best Vulture Ship”
According to nospam:
“every ship class has someone who says it is the best and someone who says it is the worst.”
According to Sobato Sombely:
“CONs are nasty because they have cloak, are fast movers, and can torp you with decent torps tubes at 1800…longer than anything but the BR1k, and the BR1k’s torps suck.”
2.2 Federation Excelsior:
According to Chimaera:
The Excel’s power is limited, especially after it has transwarped. Be wary of firing full phasers when damaged.
To transwarp into an opponent’s ship –
1)Press the macro “@4r33l”
2)Wait until the moment the transwarp countdown hits 1, the second before transwarp is engaged
3)Type the letter designation of the ship you want to transwarp into
From the mtrek player’s guide:
Tracking transwarp is a useful weapon, use torpedoes well.
According to Rooster:
“Most Fun To Play”
“Heaviest Hitter 1 on 1”
“Easiest To Get Gold In”
“Best Ship when there’s no Lag”
“Best Suicide Ship”
According to nospam:
“I don’t think it is all that easy to get gold in an excel.”
2.3 Federation Larson:
According to Chimaera:
Torpedoes are very important. Make sure you only fire when you know you will hit, and only at maximum range. When there is a decent risk/reward ratio, use your overwarp abilities(i.e. go warp 17).
You may want to make a torp/overwarp macro, such as “@0r14TTTTtii@17r33t”
As with any ship without a cloaking device, an excel is always in weapons range.
From the mtrek player’s guide:
Torpedoes are life, do not miss!, learn how to mine and drone.
According to Rooster:
“Best Ship when there’s no Lag”
“Best Suicide Ship”
According to Mike AKA Zip:
Flying the Larson can be the best ship to learn the basics of Mtrek. You will die, but you will also learn to do damage to other ships and in the process learn to survive when you don’t have much going for you.
As in the guide, torpedoes are your life blood for survival and the kill. Like the guide, you want to have a macro for overwarp 17. If you want to survive, your going to have a macro for retreating at warp 17. Firing torps while going at warp 17 is not recommended, unless in a retreat against another ship that is capable of warp 17 such as an Excel, KPB-13 or another Larson. The only time you will use warp 17 and firing torps is when you have the upper hand in combat and you want to go for the kill against another ship that can go as fast. There aree only three ships that can go faster, the BR-5 & br-2000, and the Vorcha (mtrek.com).
When fighting, depending on the type of ships your going to attack, you should choose your style of attack or defense. If going against a ship that is faster than you, you will use torps to defend your ship, meaning when that ship approaches your torpedoe range, 1400, fire your torpedoes.. notice that you will usually key in at 13xx range hardly ever at 1400. Then the tactic is usually to keep your distance at 13xx and fire those torps, meaning you will want a macro for retreating at warp -14 and firing torps. Ships faster than you will try to get inside that range and fire their torps. Beware the CDA-120, keep him at max range. He has greater potential for killing your ship at close range with the ESI phaser. Ships that are faster and have torpedo range outside or at the 1400 like the Br-1k/2k & II-A. Those ships you will have to overwarp to gain the optimum range of 13xx. I will cover more details later.
If going against a ship that is relatively the same speed you will have to decide when to fire your torpedoes. Analyse the ship and find out their torpedo range. Use # to find out the current ships in the roster and pick one to target. Use &[shipletter] to look at the targeted ships torpedeo range, unless you know it off hand. If you have the upper range 1400 vs say 1200, your odds of winning are higher. Also pay attention to the ship’s use of emegency warp, if its warp 17 you will need to pay carefull attention when that ship uses its overwarp to get into range. Usually you can get 1 to two volleys of torps before that happens. When you see the overwarp, use your -17warp fire torpedo command and watch carefully when he retreats, so you can keep in 13xx range to fire your torps. (Meaing use your warp 17torp macro here.)
If your range is very close to each other (like Larson vs Larson, Galor and Sphere), your going to play differently. In those cases, you want to use your torps the most efficient ways possible. It becomes a battle of who is most effective at that range. With the Sphere, your gonna fire your torps as fast as possible at max range and then get away, cause the Sphere has more torpedoes and recharges them. Galor has less torpedoes so you can out torp him, just keep him at 13xx and you’ll be fine, but heavily dmged. Going larson vs larson is a risk that only experienced players do at great risk. It is ill advised if you want to keep your ship. Playing suicide larson vs bot larson is a fun way to measure your skills.
Obviously, to start your domination with the Larson use the # to scan current ships and use &[shipletter] to find the optimum ships to battle, that means ships that are slower and have less range. d-10, CV-97, excel, dy600, kev, cl-13, galaxy, valdore, cda-180. You stand an excellent chance of blasting them and getting away unscathed. Of course these ships have other defenses that keep them alive. Of those ships, you want to watch out for overwarp in the CDA-180 and Excel, those ships when in range dole out tremendous damage, moreso the excel, because it has warp 17.
The ships that have greater range II-A, br1k, br-2k, kbop and defiant, you will need different tactics for each. II-A you will overwarp initally to gain the range, but the II-A will cloak if you get into range. You will want to be patient, make him burn his cloak, let him mine you for an exchange of wide phasers and drop a few mines of your own & maybe one will hit. Just getting a few good hits on the II-A and he is hurting. The II-A doesn’t have much leway for taking dmg. The br1k you will overwarp until he’s in range then use your warp14 torp macro to layout all the torps at 13xx range. Hopefully you will have him limping at less than warp 13 then you can mine/phaser him. The br-2k is a harder ship to battle. It is best to avoid battling this ship if you want to survive. You will take dmg but close in as much as possible without overwarp and taking internals. When
close enough, overwarp and you might get him in close range don’t worry if you are at 1100 he will try to overwarp and you’ve got at least 3,4 torp volleys before he is outta range and hopefully you will have more xtals to pursue him back into range, but you will have to wiegh survivability into the equation. For the KBOP it is to hit him as much as possible, when in range..don’t use overwarp and flee when your outta ammo, you can always come back and do more dmg. He is a cloaker so he is going to try and waste your torps. The defiant is a cloaker as well as having warp 17. The best strategy is to let him waste his torps. Take a few shots to the shields, back off and defend the SB, don’t let him refuel those torps. Use overwarp conservatively.
General tip must have. Design and use a turning macro to avoid plasma. Something with a 90 degree angle of turn and it will come in useful against mines as well.
2.4 Federation Freighter DY-600:
According to Chimaera:
This is not a difficult ship to fly. Since you are the only ship who can fire torpedoes at close range, a DY will beat anyone in a close-range battle. Be sure to use your teleporter phasers when necessary.
It is possible to put the “brakes” on transwarp. In transwarp, if you press the [ key, you will slow down to about warp 19.
From the mtrek player’s guide:
Patience, it can take many hits!, use the teleporter, transwarp.
According to Sobato Sombely:
“DYs are surivable, but without tracking transwarp they can be hunted down and killed. They also suck on offense.”
According to nospam:
“> DOn’t dys survive better than most ships (twarp, shield, dmg%)?
Nope. Limited weapons and nontracking transwarp.”
2.5 Federation Defiant:
Nothing!
2.6 Federation Galaxy:
The art of flying the Federation Galaxy!
Want firepower, cloak, good shields and a hull that can withstand the full attack of most ships? You can get it with the Federation Galaxy. This ship comes with a full array of drones, mines, cloak, 80 Obliterator torpedoes, and a solid hull that even if the larson empties all its torps at max distance, it can’t destroy the ship. However, there are some negatives that may prove to be a burden to some players. Some careful planning and game manuevering this ship can be a solid investment in anybodies arsenal.
Lets discuss the first consideration in your tactics; the ship’s average firing range. At a distance of 500-1200 you can fire your torpedoes, but the ship has the Obliterator type, which means you can get the max damage at any point in your range! A Br-5 for example, has to manuver to 1000 range to get max damage with his torps (350 damage) and then close in for a phaser barrage (1000 paser damage for a total of 1350 damage). The Galaxy can fire at 1200 range and maybe get a 2nd shot at 500 by backing up (1600 damage), dropping a mine (900 damage), and then fire 70 phasers (1750 phaser damage for a total of 4250 damage). About 4 to 1 damage ratio, That’s quite nice! On the other hand, a larson (range 500-1400) will try not to manuever into those ranges. Instead it will concentrate on his advantage of the 1400 range. Possibly emptying all his torps on you before you get one in.
The next consideration to pursue is using your cloak. With the cloak, you can try to avoid the larsons torps and close in. You may want go full speed at your target and cloak right before his max range or absorb that first volley with your shields and then cloak. Then you want to let your shields recharge some. The larson options are retreat or close in on last position. If the larson retreats, you should retreat as well (not in a straight line). The larson and most other ships have a major advantage, their speed. The Galaxy only has warp 10. The larson can wait all day for you to appear and then just go back to max range and fire the torps. If you have been retreating, you will have probably gained some of your shields back and can uncloak and let him come at you again, but play keep-away so your shields are near max. Keep continuing this bait and retreat scenario until the larson decides to become aggressive and come in closer.
When the larson is aggressive and decides to pursue your last known position, is when you have to become aggressive as well, and go in on the larson. The trick is to uncloak at a range you can use your torps. You want to uncloak when the larson is at 500 range, and that’ll force him to make a decision to retreat or go to a phaser/mine/drone battle. Either choice is going to work in your favor. If he retreats, he may decide to overwarp and get out to max range again. You maybe lucky if you get one volley in because of the 2 sec firing delay from cloak. In which case you will have to cloak and bait him again, depending on the amount of cloak you have. You should probably retreat cloaked, maybe let him have one volley hit your shields again, if they were maxed out. Play the same bait and retreat scenario, until he decides to come in for the phaser duel. Hopefully, he has lost a lot of energy retreating, when he decides to go for the phaser/mine/drone battle.
When the time comes for the duel inside range 500, this is where your going to make up some of the damage ratio. You want to battle the larson as much as you can in this range (or any other ship), you have a slight advantage with your hull and shields. Use your phaser wisely, try phasering at 5-10 energy when he’s at 400-500 so he comes in closer. You should be retreating when the larson approaches you, so you can drop your mine and recharge phasers. Then when he gets close to 100 range, so he can drop his own mine, is when to fire all your phasers. Cloak to avoid his phasers and retreat out to 500-600 range and then uncloak.
The larson, if still aggressive will want to come in again. Cloaking and letting your enemy retreat is ok, but you want to keep the battle going until the larson cannot retreat fast. That means uncloaking right away if he approaches the 500-600 mark. The larson will either continue the fight or move away, fast. Keep a mind on how much internals you get after the first volley, you will have a tough time cloaking if you fire all your phasers the second time around. Hopefully the larson will be cocky and stick around for more phasering. This will be his undoing, if he reaches that threshold of energy where he can’t warp out very fast. Then you let him have it with your oblits. Pay attention to where the torp Stabases (SB) are. The faster ships are going to recharge their torpedoes when they are out. Try staying close to the torp SB and defend it. If your 6k from a torp SB its going to be ruff going for you. Best to dock at the nearest SB and save.
Stategy will vary with other ships depending on their range and the weapons used. Plasma chuckers are real pesky, since their plasma can come close and match the speed of your ship. You would do well to invest time in some good manuevering macros. They will pester you with mines and fire their plasma, but cloaking and careful manuevering you should be able to dodge the attack. Avoid straight lines. With the galaxy, you want to make sure you take off the automatic intercept and manuever at least 500 units left or right and then intercept when cloaked. If you cloak and head in a bee-line to the nearest Star-base, the oppsosition, if veteran, will use that to his advantage and you will be wondering, “how did he get me, I was cloaked!”
Ships with regenerating torps like the KPB will want to duel you outta torps. Play them conservatively and go to the nearest SB, because they can do more damage to you as play goes on.
Have fun with the DY because you will not be able to kill it unless you get help from another ship.
Warp 14 ships will be hard to get a obliterator volley in with the 2 sec cloak firing delay. You probably want to make use of the cloak heavily and depending on other ships around, stay close to a star-base. With CDA-120 you will want to defend the torpedo starbases, you’ll have opportunity to blast them when they come into dock at the SB to refuel the torps, remember the warp 14 is just fast enough on its own to get outta range with out resorting to overwarp, depending where he retreats, if at 500, you may get one volley in.
Bot tip: They like to close in once they are in phaser range. Use your superior fire power, hull and shield strength to dwindle their power so they cannot retreat very fast when you move out to >500 range to blast them with your oblits.
Pro Players: Play this ship without getting the extra crystals for your ship.
3.1 Romulan Bird of Prey:
According to Chimaera:
The RBOP is a very powerful ship. It’s combination of mines and phasers make it a mean close-range fighter, while its plasma gives it the potential to do huge damage. Use the strategies outlined above for plasma and mining.
From the mtrek player’s guide:
Fire plasma at short ranges, use cloak well, learn how to mine.
According to Rooster:
“Best all around ship”
“Most Survivable”
“Best Ship For Teaming”
“Easiest To Get Gold In”
“Best Ship in Lag”
“Best Suicide Ship”
“Best Vulture Ship”
According to nospam:
“every ship class has someone who says it is the best and someone who says it is the worst.”
“RBOP is not the best ship for teaming”
“> Why are rbops so good? how are you supposed to fight larsons with plasma?
Just stay VERY close, mine and phaser UNCLOAKED. If you’re close enough, the larson won’t be able to mine you back. Mines take .25 seconds to fire. Againsed NEWBIE larsons, have a @0ruTt]33t macro. Fire it while intercepting the larson. pass the larson and keep firing. When you fire ahead of the ship, the plasma runs from the larson, giving it time to initiate. If the larson runs from the plasma, it will hit the plasma you fired behind it.”
3.2 Romulan Warbird:
According to Chimaera:
Yet another pathetic ship, an inferior version of the RBOP. Learn how to use your agonizers. I know it’s sad, but the agonizer is a major part of the warbird’s arsenal.
From the mtrek player’s guide:
Same as RBOP + learn variable speed plasma well.
According to Rooster:
“Least Survivable”
“Best Ship in Lag”
According to nospam:
“??? It is easy to survive in a warbird. it is just hard to do damage with them.”
3.3 Romulan Interceptor:
Nothing!
3.4 Romulan Warrior:
Nothing!
3.5 Romulan Valdore:
Nothing!
4.1 Klingon EV-12:
According to Chimaera:
“People attack me, I destroy them.” – Jay Ashworth on KEVs. This basically sums up the KEV. Wait for others to attack you. Then use your impressive firepower to defend yourself.
Unfortunately, you will sometimes have to use the purely defensive strategy I outlined in the photon/obliterator torpedo section. Example: If you are fighting a cloaked RBOP, use up their mines by allowing them to hit you, and immediately regenerate shields by cloaking/turning/running. Or if you are fighting an II-A, try to waste their torpedoes while avoiding mines at all costs.
One strategy I use against RBOPs is to move in a square while dodging plasma. This creates a mass of drones that the RBOP may hit.
Be warned that certain combinations of ships, such as an II-A/Larson team, can kill even the very best KEVs. You have to be very careful in this ship, don’t stray too far from a starbase.
From the mtrek player’s guide:
Destroy anything in torp range, can fire all day, use cloak well.
According to Rooster:
“Best all around ship”
“Heaviest Hitter in a crowd”
“Best Ship in Lag”
According to nospam:
“every ship class has someone who says it is the best and someone who says it is the worst.”
“> How does a kev survive against excels?
When the excel is 1250 from you, run at it and fire a torp/cloak macro.”
According to Sobato Sombely:
KEVs can take on an excel and win in general. A good excel pilot tends to win on ints count but getting a kill is rather hard. The KEV can’t get the kill because the excel will twarp out. But, if the excel doesn’t play it right the KEV will rape the excel over a hard steel barrel and laugh about it.”
4.2 Klingon PB-13:
According to Chimaera:
A just for fun ship, a KPB won’t survive long. Use your oblits to your advantage, that is, stay at a range your opponent can’t hurt you. This takes a LOT of practice.
From the mtrek player’s guide:
Destroy anything in torp range, can fire all day, use drones well.
According to Rooster:
“Best Ship in Lag”
4.3 Klingon Bird of Prey:
Nothing!
4.4 Klingon D-10:
Nothing!
4.5 Klingon D-11:
Nothing!
4.6 Klingon Vor’cha:
According to Mike AKA Zip:
Strategy Guide for the Vulture er Vorcha Class starship.
Best Ships to attack with the Vorcha are in no particular order:
II-A, Excel, Larson, Dy-600, Br-1k, Br-5, Cl-13, CDA-120, CDA-180, Warbird, Galor, Br-2k, Defiant, Ferengi, Rwar, Sphere.
That is a pretty big list of ships with which you can attack and get gold relatively easy. The easy part is sticking to the following strategy to attack these ships. For ships with attack range at or greater than 1200, you cloak and close in range to about 700-800 and attack them. There are tricks that you should pay attention to though. First of all, you should never go into combat without first getting all the Xtals your ship can handle. (WarpEnergy of 150). When fully powered (shields 100%), you can cloak and only go warp 13. That means you won’t be able to close in on several of the ships in the above list. However, you can squeeze out that extra warp by lowering your shields for that extra warp 14. How you do that is up to you, but I personally like to use up some of the opponents torps. Becareful of ships using overwarp to stay at max range like the Larson, in which case if you see the overwarp, cloak to avoid taking internals. You can chase him down with your warp 14 again if you back off and let your shields recharge some.
There are some ships with warp 14 and greater attack range that you will need some luck to close in. Those ships are the II-A, CDA-120, Br-1k, & Br-2k. Those ships are special cases, and generally should be avoided, but when battling BOTS its easy. Make sure they are scaning you then get near their max torpedo range, cloak, and then stop and wait for them to close in. (For the ships with ESI make sure to move 500 from your cloaked spot otherwise their phaser will hit you at full damage.) Then reappear at 700-800 range and let them have it with your torps. Remember bots will try to flee at 500 or greater range and will close in if at 400 range. If a bot closes in it will phaser you, this is not much of a problem if you have 50% to near max shields. Remember they have mines and you don’t. Its ok for 1 time around to take a phaser mine combo, you will take ints and you should return the phaser and then cloak and see about getting into 700-800 range again. The Bots will be quicker than you at this time because of the energy used in your phaser and cloak. Keep your eyes on the scanner and when the ship is at 700-800 range decloak, chase it and firing torps until exhausted. All except the II-A you will have a lengthy battle since your torps will only do so much dmg and they have excellent warp capability. You could fly out 100k just firing your torps (they recharge at 1 every 2 secs game time.) In order to avoid that, you need to use your phaser, drones and overwarp. You will probably take damage, but you will have the upper hand at this point, make sure you have damage cntrl on all the time. When they fire their phasers, assuming you’ve lowered their energy to about 50 or 40 they won’t have the energy to flee at max warp any more. Then you keep the torps up and lowering the warp energy to the point that the drones you fired catch up. Did I mention you should fire drones when you fire your torps.
Ships that you should avoid at all cost with the vorcha include the KPB, Scout, CV-97 & D-11. Fight them at your own risk.. they will do heavy dmg unless you know they have used up their quota of torps. An interesting battle is the KBOP and the Vorcha. You have the advantage (3 obits to 1), but can you make it work? You also have the advantage with the D-10′s range of 1000 to your 1200 can u make it work.
You will have no problem taking out Dy-600s, just stay outta its torpedo range and fire yours. You will need to periodically close in and phaser, make sure you hit near 200 min range with yours and keep firing those drones. Of course the Dy will use its teleporter, but you will keep closing in on it until you get close. Once you have fired phasers, cloak and retreat back out to 1200 range and fire more torps and repeat until its dead. If you want to make the drones count, your gonna have to fly past the dy600 and fire torps at it until it moves back from you going back towards the drones.
Use caution when battling br-5s, you will have a torp battle resulting in a loss of xtals, unless you cloak before your shields run out. You have him out gunned, but the job of the br-5 is whittle your defenses down retreat and recharge for more. I usually avoid them since you really can’t kill them. They just like ruining your stats.
The RBOP if it is a human is not worth your time. It can fly just as fast as you and you will have to avoid its plasma and by the time you avoid it, its outta range, unless you over warp, which costs money and it will likely cloak when your in range. Bots however don’t usually cloak and you can take them out. Just remember its plasma isn’t charged right away and you can overwarp and over take the plasma and get into optimum range and fire your torps.
5.1 Orion BR-5:
According to Chimaera:
BR-5: The most survivable ship in the game. Use your speed to surprise your opponents. Don’t let them know what’s coming. Be aggressive, but not foolish.
From the mtrek player’s guide:
Use cloak and speed to avoid enemy torpedo range, use phasers well.
According to Rooster:
“Best all around ship”
“Most Survivable”
“Best Ship For Teaming”
“Best Vulture Ship”
According to nospam:
“every ship class has someone who says it is the best and someone who says it is the worst.”
“> Why are br5s good?
They are just fast. You can use the speed to avoid hits. Say you’re fighting a newbie kev. Run at the kev. Back off at 1250 range. repeat. The kev will start wasting torps. When it knows it won’t hit you, it will stop firing. Run at the kev. Torp/cloak at 950. Run in and phaser sometimes.”
According to Sobato Sombely:
“BR-5: *EXTREMELY* survivable ship. Outruns everything in regular warp by at least 2 warp. Combine with cloak and it can get away from most encounters it doesn’t want to be in. In the hands of all but the very experts, the BR-5 is not going to kill anything single handed that is manned with anyone who has half a clue.
According to Mike AKA Zip:
Strategy guide for the Br-5
If you want to get somewhere in a hurry, why not do it with a Br-5? Warp 16 is the cruising speed for the Br-5. If you want over-warp, you get about 18 seconds of warp 18 without getting the extra crystals. That is amazing! So what can you do with that speed? It’s about trickery and subterfuge. Feigning an attack to diminish your opponent’s torps and then plunging in to deliver a phaser barrage at point blank and cloaking before your opponent can react.
Ducking in and out of your enemy’s torpedo range can be dangerous though. If your opponent reacts quickly enough he can over warp you and fire his torps, but thankfully, you have your 90 seconds of cloak. If you got your extra crystals for max warp energy you’re going to be able to go warp 16 cloaked and you can position yourself in between his phaser and torpedo range. Uncloaking at that spot will trigger an emotion, anger or fear. If he is experienced, it will be anger and he will go in and attack you with his phasers. Depending on the ship type, you may want to engage him. If the ship has mines, you will want to approach carefully to about 250 range and execute a 90 degree turn and then fire phasers at the mine he will likely drop or maybe just avoid the mine. If avoiding the mine, then you can maneuver another couple of 90 degree turns and go around the mine and maybe he will hit his own mine, a dirty tactic to be practiced.
If fear is experienced, likely in a newbie, he will be retreating and possibility of max over warp for the ship class. This gives you a good opportunity to give him a few of your torps at near 1000 range. As soon as your outta range, cloak and approach him again. If he isn’t still going over warp to the nearest Star Base, use your warp 16 and cloak to get inside that torpedo range again and make him retreat again, using up those precious crystals. Just be wary of mine drops here too, mostly outta panic, but they should be easy targets. Remember to have that 5 energy phaser targeting the nearest object handy and well-practiced. Keep firing your torps near max range and you’ll be pounding some internals pretty soon. When he can no longer over warp, you can start with your phaser barrage. I suggest that you approach, fire about 5-10 energy shot at 300 wait for the return fire and retreat back to 500 and then go in to zero range and full phasers. Use cloaking right away after firing to prevent any further damage to shields. Retreat to 500 and then uncloak and fire torpedoes at 900-1000 range again and he’ll be hurting badly. Depending on where he retreated to, you may want to take this opportunity to cloak and dock at that Star Base and collect whatever resource there is. If its torpedoes, you’re in luck. Don’t wait too long or he will just dock and save before you have a chance to fire. When he approaches at 500, uncloaking will maybe surprise him and he might retreat again, giving you a chance to get more torpedoes in. If he forces his way in to the Star Base, all you can do is phaser and ram him, hopefully that will be enough for a near 200 gold piece earning.
There are certain ships that you will NOT WANT TO ENGAGE, unless you are experienced enough to handle a conflict. Certainly any of the torpedo regenerating ship classes like the Klingons are dangerous. Trying to make them waste torps is futile. You will maybe have better luck with those ships trying to phaser them to death, which kind of negates the speed is good personality, because it will take you awhile to cause any significant damage. If battling a Kpb, you want to keep inside a 300 range and see if you can get phaser shots at close to zero and retreat back to 200-300 or cloak. It’s serious damage if you do go outside of 300 range and you’re not cloaked. The D10 and CV-97 should be avoided; there is no gain, just pain.
Br-5’s are probably the best ship to tackle those pesky Romulans. You can easily steer clear of their plasma and get into torpedo range and blast away. The Romulans will try to fly back into their plasma, cloak and drop mines. All of which the Br-5 can maneuver around. Match cloak for cloak, dodge plasma and fire those torps. The Romulan is not to be feared.
You can try your expertise at tackling an Excelsior class. You won’t kill it, but you can do damage and put him into panic mode, where he may make a critical mistake. I’d advise you to stay at 700-800 range, don’t go to 900 or 1000, his torpedoes will eat you up. The usual feigning for torps and getting him to fire his phasers is going to cause him grief. The Excel will have problems maneuvering if it has only stock Warp Energy and not the full crystals and having fired full phasers.
Certainly the best ships to fight are the long range torpedo ships like the II-a, Br2000-1000, and the Defiant. They won’t do much damage when you’re at 1000 range. It’s like a shooting gallery with those ships. Hopefully, you’re near a Star Base with torpedoes so you can refuel and give them a quick death; the Defiant and II-a, less so, because they have cloak. The other ships will retreat, but hopefully you can track them down after a refuel. Note: Some bot ships will not fire at 1000 range, but if you go over that range it will fire. Ships like the Cardassians, Larson, and Ferengi have that weak spot. It may best to have a macro that will chase them at a warp 13, 14 to keep them in range. Beware of mines.
An interesting battle is with the Vorcha class. Two torps at max range will give 350 damage and the Vorcha fires 3 oblits for a damage of 300 at any of its firing range (1200-500). The trick is to stay at max torpedo range with the Br-5 where it out guns the Vorcha. Of course, the Br-5 can’t match the volume of torps. So it’s being quick with the torps and phasering it right away. Getting all the damage you can put into it as fast as you can. Hopefully it won’t cloak and recharge its shields and instead focus on battling you torp for torp. The Vorcha is vulnerable if it loses its extra crystals. It’ll have a slower retreat when cloaked, but it will move at warp 14 for a while uncloaked. You will have fun targeting it any way you look at it, but once the torps are gone, recharge.
While it may be fun to get experience shooting at ships, you want to get gold. You can’t out right kill any ship with a Br-5, you have to look for damaged ships and attack those. That’s why they are labeled vultures because they are damned good at that. Have a macro handy for uncloaking and picking up gold a necessity for any ship, but especially for the Br-5.
Battling the Br-5 robot ships will be an exercise to see how well you’re doing in one. A helpful tip would be to get the bot to chase you and then let it get to 1500-1200 range and let it try and over warp you. Don’t worry if you take a couple of torpedoes, this is good, as long as you cloak before you reach zero shield energy. Once you cloak, the bot will approach your last seen position. Keep cloaked until you recharge those shields, but don’t let the bot get out of your phaser range. Once your shields are recharged and you’re at 300 or less from the ship, uncloak and chase him to 0 range and fire phasers when the 2 seconds delay expire. Keep firing your phasers until there is some damage to the internals. When you have about 10-20 internals, it’s time to get into torpedo range and get into a torpedo fight, where you have the advantage. Hopefully, when all the torpedoes are gone, he won’t be able to go warp 16 anymore. You can close in and destroy him.
Ramming:
If you used up all your drones and torpedoes and your phaser battles aren’t getting you the damage that you want. It’s time to think about ramming your opponent. Use this tactic as long as your damage is 20 less than the opposing ship’s damage. You can get at least 40 damage points if he rams you back, so watch your damage, don’t let it go over 100 damage. Hopefully this will have pushed your opponent over 100 damage and you just have to wait it out. Don’t forget to keep the phaser battle going, so he has less energy to heal. Note: Some people have fun just ramming. This is a great tactic for ruining a person’s statistics, not to mention yours.
5.2 Orion BR-1000:
According to Chimaera:
This is a mean close range fighter, as long as you don’t miss your mines. Due to your 2200 torpedo range, hitting at maximum range is less important. Be aware that you can’t overwarp, unless you want to take damage.
When fighting a br5, make sure you don’t miss your mines. Destroy with torpedoes as he flees. One strategy to help you avoid a br5’s torpedoes: chase at the br5. When he runs into his torpedo range, back off into your own torpedo range. Then when it runs at you, just as he starts hitting you with torps, intercept the him. He will have a harder time hitting you.
From the mtrek player’s guide:
Use cloak and speed to avoid enemy torpedo range, use phasers well.
According to Rooster:
“Least Survivable”
5.3 Orion BR-2000:
Nothing!
5.4 Orion BR-6:
According to Mike aka Zip/:
The BR-6 Strategy guide.
Read the Br-5 guide. You’ll use the same strategy for the most part. There are slight differences in torpedoes, shields, and Scan range. This ship gets 3 tubes with only 21 torpedoes. Use this to go head to head with certain ships like Intercepter, Sphere and even the KPB-13. Shields are slightly better and won’t make much of a difference. You’ll have greater impact using your speed to close- in, phasering, and then cloaking immediately after.
Your main offense will be to RAM. So if you like ramming, this ship is for you. Getting that initial ram damage, then with the torps buzzing around, and then entering into the phaser battle, giving more damage while minimizing yours, ramming at every chance, and then finally, ramming for the coup-de-grâce.
Did I forget to mention this ship gets 2 Mines at 1000 damage a piece. Use them as soon as its convenient. You can always get more if in range of a planet or odd star-base (SB). It’s a boon if your near a torp SB. You can flee cloaked, dock at the SB, load up 21 torps and return to battle before your opponent can. If done right, you can torpedo your opponent to death instead of ramming, depending if he chooses to stay close to the SB. Even if he flees, you have 21 more torps to chase him down and grow the difference in ship damage, giving you a further edge for ram damage.
Some other tips: If taking massive damage, you have a greater chance of survivabilty by getting to that odd SB and recharging your life support if it was decreasing. Moreover, this ship is better suited than the Br-5 to attempt and take down a bolt-plasma ship (not recommended unless the other ship is hurt). Your damage gets magnified when your shields go out. So dump the 21 torps as fast as you can before your shields go out. Then recover shields while picking up more torps. Speaking of Br-5’s, if you have a pesky one you want to take down, the Br-6 is the best Choice. It’ll still take a lot of luck and opportunity to pull it off though.
6.1 Gorn CL-13:
According to Chimaera:
Not a difficult ship to fly. Phasers are your primary weapon, torpedoes are secondary. Avoid mines, they are a powerful defense against you.
Be aware that just after you fire full phasers, you are only able to go warp 3 under cloak. And that is at full power.
From the mtrek player’s guide:
Use extended cloak for phaser delivery, torpedoes are secondary.
According to Rooster:
“Most Survivable”
6.2 Gorn CV-97:
According to Chimaera:
Now THIS is a difficult ship to fly. Be sure to have a macro to switch to plasma-bolt “3324t1” and one to switch to plasma “3324t0”. This ship takes a LOT of power to move. After firing full phasers, you won’t have enough power to go maximum warp. Be careful with your phasers.
You will sometimes need to use defensive strategies similar to those used by the KEV. But the CV is much more powerful than the KEV in these situations. For instance, it can fire a plasma at a cloaked II-A, and then plasma-bolt as the II-A is forced to decloak. Or it can fire a plasma-group to prevent a RBOP from getting too close.
From the mtrek player’s guide:
Mix it up with plasma, plasma-bolt, and phasers, use cloak well.
According to Rooster:
“Heaviest Hitter in a crowd”
“Best Ship in Lag”
According to nospam:
“cv is fun”
6.3 Gorn Scout:
Nothing!
7.1 Cardassian CDA-180:
According to Chimaera:
This ship isn’t good for much either. But it can defend itself pretty well against attacks. I don’t fly this ship, either.
From the mtrek player’s guide:
Destroy anything in torp range, use drones and ESI well.
According to Rooster:
“Heaviest Hitter 1 on 1”
7.2 Cardassian CDA-120:
According to Chimaera:
This ship isn’t good for much at all. Just use it to vulture others. I don’t fly it.
From the mtrek player’s guide:
Avoid getting hit, speed and torps are life, use drones well.
According to nospam:
“Best Vulture Ship”
According to Mike A.K.A. Zip
Strategy tips for the CDA-120
When you have mastered the Larson, this ship can be the next challenge for you to fly. The difference is warp 14, 40 torps at 1300 max range, ESI for the phasers and variable drone speed. This ship can cruise warp 14 with 20 Warp Energy (WE) and no shields, which is extremely useful for avoiding fights after you exhausted all your ammo. The art of mastery comes into play for when you want to kill a ship. It is pretty easy to target ships with the 1300 range, then fire your torps and get away, except those ships with like or greater range like the Larson and other Cardassians.
I would recommend reading the mtrek players guide for the full explanation of ESI. One big note is that ESI will hit all ships with-in range including cloaked ships and damage is halved for each ship. So you don’t want to battle more than one ship at a time in close range. The ESI does max damage closer you get to zero just like phaser, but at zero range, it does no damage. This is important to know when playing close to Star bases (SB) and Planets. You can dock at a SB then fire you phasers without worry, but move off that SB and it’s still in phaser range, you are going to get tagged by the SB. This is the downfall of the ESI since you will undoubtedly hit the SB and lose 1000 gold at some point in your career.
Doing battle in the trenches with your ESI phaser and drones is where it’s all at for the kill. When battling it is best to soften up your enemy with torps first and then go in. Remember to fire your drones at warp 12 or 11 on first attacks, they probably will get shot down but you never know. Depending on the ship, you may want to save a few rounds of torps for later. If battling torp regenerating ships like the Klingons you probably use them all at max range then go in, preferably at warp 16 to avoid their torps as much as possible. Once inside torpedo range it becomes a phaser battle and this is where you must get the other player to fire their phasers away from you as much as possible. With warp 14 you will probably be the one closing in on your enemy. When battling bots, they will fire at 200 range and you can easily close in to get more damage, remember to avoid zero range. I recommend you have a phaser macro for firing just 5 energy and you can use this when closing in from 500 to 200 range. This will help shoot down enemy drones and mines. Not only that, it might cause other players to fire their full phasers first. (Maybe not after reading this.) Just remember to recharge before firing again so you can do max damage at close range with full phasers. After using your phaser see about mining your enemy and release a drone. Once the mine has gone by, back out to 500 range and let your phaser recharge. Then repeat process. Once the battle has weakened the other ship so it can’t move as fast any more, it’s time to put the drone speed at a lower rate like warp 8. Releasing drones at warp 4 can be fun if the ship isn’t moving much or if you can chase the ship back into them. When you have your opponent defeated, the remaining torps, if any, can be used.
Battling Br-5’s you must fire your torps as soon as its in range and back away at warp 16 firing those torps. When the Br-5 is at 1000 range keep firing torps, but remember to save a couple of volleys and try to close in. The br-5 can out maneuver you and use it to his advantage, but use that mine wisely when it comes in. The drones can go to warp 4 (before the battle starts) and you can move back into them when he’s chasing you. If one hits, it’ll do good damage. Remember the Br-5 can’t kill your ship just injure it. To kill it, you’re going to give and take damage and then get it in close range with the ESI and hope fully it will battle you till its below 70 WE (Warp Energy). When it tries to escape, use those saved torps to blast it below 31 WE, then you’ll be able to close in and catch it with your remaining weapons. Note you may only need to get it to 48 WE to close in with bots, you just have to chase until the shields recharge on that ship.
Battling The II-a is a process of getting the II-a to use up his cloak and xtals. You’re going to take damage, but this ship is excellent for taking out the II-a. You will overwarp 16 for a bit to get close in and you’ll probably take damage but you can take it. The II-a will have less maneuverability if it used up some of its overwarp capability, if not, it will have cloaked. Use this to close in at last sight (ESC l shipletter) , and fire the ESI at 5 energy till you get close, then full energy. The II-a will retreat, your job is to stay close as possible while still maintaining that ESI 5 energy shot to detect him. After 10-15 seconds of not finding him, wait until he decloaks and chase him (warp 16) till he cloaks again. The II-a may try to mine you, but this is good, cause he will be near you and you will have the advantage with your ESI. Remember to heal if you took damage. Use up his cloak as much as possible. Hold off on dropping that bouy until most of his cloak is gone and then close in. Hopefully he’s in range and it will be no contest. If the II-a is smart, he will have retreated early on.
The Vorcha is dangerous ship, but can be killed if you stay away from it closing in at 700-800 range. Getting internals on a Vorcha is essential because when it cloaks it will have less speed to maneuver and then you have the advantage. When it approaches 1300 you can fire your torpedoes and it will have to overwarp to catch you, keep firing torps and back away at overwarp 16 until about 1000 range, then quickly overwarp 16 towards the Vorcha and blast it with your ESI and try to hit it with a mine. This should prove to be a fatal shot for the Vorcha or it will be too damaged and will retreat.
7.3 Cardassian Galor:
Nothing!
8.1 Ferengi:
Nothing!
9.1 Borg Sphere:
According to Mike A.K.A. Zip
The SPHERE
I wanna fly a ship that has a bit of everything! Then you want to upgrade your ship to a SPHERE. It has cloak, trans-warp (XWP), regenerating mines, regenerating drones, and regenerating torpedoes. This ship is capable of awesome firepower. Furthermore, the torpedo range is higher than most at 1450, but you will need time to punch holes into your opponent with only three tubes facilitating the hurt. Take care though, you have weaker shields, just average hull and speed, and just enough energy to inflict your damage.
What do do with this ship? You can pretty much do as you please and get away with out detection thanks to the cloak and XWP. It’s more of a question of what not to do with this ship. You don’t want to go head to head with a ship that has a range close to yours like a larson. Not to say that you can’t, but the larson has more firepower and will rack up damage quicker than you can. On the other hand, you can wear down his torps by using that cloak to go in closer, like 1000 range on those ships, and fire torps. You will wear down his shields and force them either to burn energy and back up or to fire torpedoes at less than optimal ranges. Try to Use your torps wisely, only to draw out the opposing torps, and force the larson to burn up his energy. Cloak and heal if you take internals. Ships will try to punch damage as fast as they can before you move away or cloak, but the trick is to keep them with-in range and keep the slicing and dicing going. Since your drones and mines are regenerating, use them once, as soon as possible, to get regenerating benefits going. As long as you have all your energy, you can fire your phasers, but if you use all 50, you won’t have all your manuevering power available (warp 11), especially if you cloak (warp 8). I would try to stay with 30 phasers incase the return fire gets internals on you. To regenerate 30 phasers its going to take 15 secs and you want to stay within target range. If you cloak that’s another 30 energy (warp 10) giving the other player a chance to retreat.
Other ships to excercise some caution with are going to be those with faster warp than you. They will get away. You don’t want to waste too much energy tracking them unless they are already injured or you know they won’t damage you much with their limited supply of torps. Plasma ships will fire their stuff but use your cloak to avoid and close in. Stay clear of the bolt-plasma with your greater torpedo range. The ship that is a bane to Spheres is, of course, the Vorcha. They have a little more cloak, speed, and regenerating oblits. You can do battle, but you won’t win. It’s best to run from that money pit. The other ship that is going to get you little pleasure is the Br-2000. It will be a pest but you can use your cloak wisely and maybe you’ll get into range to inflict some damage, but the outcome will likely be in his favor. The CDA-120 is also troubling, but doesn’t have the fire power to take you down unless you stick around to face the ESI. The KPB-13 can be a pest initially with its overwarping, but get its energy below a certain point, so it can’t evade you, makes you giddy with power.
Picking off ships with less range than yours and don’t have the speed to get away can be very fun and rewarding. Try practicing your skills against the bot DY’s with gold. They’re yours for the taking if you have mastered the XWP, cloak, and regeneration. CL-13s, Kevs, Valdores, CDA-180s, D-10s, CV-97s and even the KBOP should run for their lives if they see you coming.
Avoid getting your Warp Energy below 70. You won’t have enough to cloak and XWP away. The warp 14 ships have a chance to track your last position and find you recharging if you don’t cloak while XWPing. Speaking of XWP, if you have been spoiled by tracking XWP, ala the Excel, you need to adjust to braking your speed with backwards warp. Hopefully you’ve played with this feature in the DY-600. Braking is going to be a little easier in the Sphere with the warp 13 and greater scan range. More over, you can travel further than the Dy-600 with that warp speed. “Watch out!” I dare say, you can’t compete with the Excels XWP range. It will travel further with warp 17 and still will have energy to move at max warp, while you, on the other hand, will have to heal to gain that energy. It’ll take you 100 secs to heal 30 Warp Energy (with shields rising) with everything into damage control. If your avoiding a chasing Excel, it might be wise to use 10-15 energy in damage control and move 90 degrees away from your ending XWP spot. You will need the extra distance to get your energy back up, and once you reach warp 13, the chasing Excel is going to be toast.
Playing coy with this ship can get you the stats, but your going to need to be a little aggressive when its time to kill and collect that gold. Other ships, if they aren’t fully charged, will fear you and run for cover, unless its a bot. Played skillfully, it will become a stats leader in your arsenal very easily. With its wide range of options, it will surely task that macro-key-mapping that you’ll need to master this ship. If you ‘ve got a lot of ships, you’ll likely wind up using its macros as a template for other ships.
feel free to comment below if you have something to add to the discussion!
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