The Next Raid

Happy New Year 

I'm very sorry I was unable to cover the last raid, and the recent State of Game. 

However, I will be changing my blog view point from coverage of events and news, to opinion posts and help for players, such as getting points in raids and engaging targets. Starting off this new version of Ouch's Battle Pirates Help, this one is for kixeye and how they can improve low level player relations. 

Low Leveled players and Kixeye 

For this past raid cycle, and the one before certainly, we have had scores of anger players lashing out in the forums, or on Facebook. Complaining about targets being too hard, higher leveled players stealing the tier 3 (C sets) targets for easy completion bonus points from lower levels. 

Now, as this past raid did have around 36,914 players in this who were able to achieve over 4000 points. However, the lowest costing prize was the 1-Hour Ship Build token, at 120,000 points. What can we infer directly from these numbers? Nothing really, except the fact that it would take a combined 30 players, all with 4000 points to earn 1 hour ship build. 

30 times, think about it 

A player would need to increase his play time by 3000% in order to afford the lowest priced prize. 

Now, Kixeye being a for profit gaming company that is desperately trying to grow it's player base and improve the player's perception of the game. How do we know this? 

The new features of VXP weekend, Shard drop weekend, TLC's, and the failed Arena. All we made to increase player play time, and expand the player base, by pulling old players back in with new features and try to introduce new players with ways to catch up quickly, the Foundry. 

But, looking back at Battle Pirates Nexus's photo album, expanding all the way back to May of 2014, Kixeye is losing players each raid cycle. 

Now, since the start of this wonderful campaign, kixeye has lost an estimated 61,280 players. Or rather 61,280 players who didn't earn a low point count of 1,000 points to 4,700 points. 

The most common problem I have seen on forums, and as a player myself? 

Raid targets too hard for the lower levels. 

The last level locked targets were in the January Revenge Raid 3 event. The player count for the month?  62,371  

Check out the dicussion forum for that raid https://www.kixeye.com/forum/discussion/604942/p5

14 pages.

The numbers would stay until May, when they dropped 6,158. May was the first raid in the Civil War cycle. 

Check out the discussion forum for that raid, https://www.kixeye.com/forum/discussion/632978/p1 

144 pages. 

Most of which were complaining about the difficulty level, per norm,  with the specialized targets and general difficulty increase due to power creep. What else was a major topic in those 144 pages? 

People complaining about the lack of C sets, as they were hunted down because of the difficulty of the raid. I very distinctively remember my sector chat being filled with people hunting down C sets, most of whom were level 75+ players autoing. Eventually, they were able to reach the Apollos, and build in time for the next raid. Proof of this? 

Amount of players in May Raid-56,798

Highest points in May Raid-195,060,792

Amount of players in June Raid-54,662

Highest points in June Raid-624,647,756

Lower amount of total players, but a 3.2x increase in points. With the second raid in the cycle, players would have been able to use the critical Apollo hull in the June Raid, at the cost of lower level players not willing to participate because of the mass exodus of C sets from low levels hands to that of high levels. 

What can Kixeye do to increase the lower level's engagement in the raids, but still allow the higher levels to grind low level sets to gain powerful hulls needed for the cycle? 

Level locks 

Wait a second there, this could be good. Give me a chance, okay? 

A hull tier dependent level lock system, levels 50 under only , no co-operative...with a separate raid store with ratio reduced prices to fit the prizes. 

Lets break that down into pieces, starting with 'Hull Tier dependent'. For this, lets look at the December briefing. https://www.kixeye.com/forum/discussion/673464

Pay attention to the last sentence of that snip, 'Should be viable with Nighthawks' 

Nighthawks are tier 3 tech, and this is the lowest level targets. For reference, the highest used researchable ship, the Seawolf, is tier 0.75, and the highest tiered submarine in the Naval lab is the Stalker at 0.75. 

How does one get the Nighthawk anyways? Well, there is the foundry, but to unlock this hull that 'should be viable' with the lowest level raid targets, you need 

Those tier 3 skirmish fragments are found in Level 60 Reaver Armadas, soon to be 57, hitting a minimum of 102 in order to fulfill that need. Then, you need to reach tier 3 in the weekly, 4 times in order to get the tech, then also have the Spectre blueprint. 

Requirements for the Spectre blueprint? 

oh, you need the Barracuda for that. What do you need for it? 

So, in total to craft the Nighthawk, you need to have destroyed a minimum of 230 targets, and  complete the weekly 4 times up to tier 3. Sounds like a tall order, and it is for newer players 

But, once they finish it all, its payed off right? Nope, now you have to deal with high levels stealing the targets, and then again Nighthawks, 'should be viable'. 

Okay, back on target of Hull Tier dependency. If you have a hull, of the class the raid falls under, tiered 3 or higher that is already built, you will not be able to attack the level locked targets. 

For reference, these are the following hulls that are tier 3 or higher, in their respective class. 

List of Assault Class ships 

Harlock's Atlas Carrier-3

Harlock's Triton-3

Warbird Carrier-3

Mastodon-3

Grimshine's Berserker-3.25

Kodiak-3.25

Savage Kodiak-3.5

Interceptor V2-C-3.75

Valkyrie Carrier-3.75

Aegis-3.75

Proto-Mastodon-3.75

Rhino-4

Grimshine's Wrath-4.25

Harlock's Aegis-4.25

Heavy Cruiser-4.25

Zoe's Rhino-4.25

Neptune-4.25

Apollo-5

Zoe's Apollo-5

List of Garrison Class ships 

Novastorm-3

Dante's Novastorm-3.25

Spader's DNX-3.5

Hellstrike-3.75

Goresaber-4

Berserker-4

Monarch-4.25

Borbas' Goresaber-4.5

Draconian Carrier-4.5

Citadel-5

Harlock's Citadel-5

Hellstar-99

List of Siege Class ships 

Greta's Nuclear Cruiser-3

Crusader-3

Avenger-3.25

Vanguard-3.25

Hellhound-3.5

Templar-3.5

Hellblazer-3.75

High-Lander's Nuclear Cruiser-3.75

Unshackled Hellhound-3.75

Fusion Cruiser-4

Centurion-4

Harlock's Centurion-4.5

Punisher-4.5

Vassago's Punisher-5

Cannoneer-5

List of Skirmish Class ships 

Vassago's Interdictor-3

Nighthawk-3

Phantom Nighthawk-3.25

Banshee-3.5

Prototype Hunter-3.75

Frostburn Interceptor-4

Tiger Shark-4

Artemis-4.25

Phantom Tiger Shark-4.5

Vassago's Prototype Hunter-4.5

Tideseeker-4.5

Harlock's Tideseeker-5

Hellwraith-5

Phantom Hellwraith-5

Ghostcrawler-99

Proto-Nemesis-99

Man-O-War-99

The ones with lines dashed through are ships that don't fit into day's game play, either due to lost of use, or outdated weapons/defenses. Comment below a ship if you want the reasoning btw. 

Now, If the player in question, has one of those hulls built, then they will not be able to hit the level locked targets. 

On to the next part... 

"A hull tier dependent level lock system, levels 50 under, no co-operative...with a separate raid store with ratio reduced prices to fit the prizes."

Alright, 'levels 50 under, no op-operative' 

The old level locked targets were restricted to 40 and below, but since bases open up for attacking for anyone at 50, 50 makes more sense as a common goal. With the 40 barrier, it leave 10 levels during which the typical player can't progress in the raids, and is constantly hammered by higher players for easy res, or ally points. 

Non op lets only the player under level hit the target, and with the hull tier restriction, no low levels with strong tech can prep. This directly allows for the player to  build to the best of their hull's potential. 

Next!

"Separate raid store with ratio reduced prices to fit the prizes." 

This is the biggest problem with having level locked targets, its way too much work for the player to reach decent prizes. Best way to fix this? 

Ratioed prize prices. 

Lets check some data  

This last raid, Dec 2016, the main prize was the Zelos hull, plus the Squall Launcher and Flechette Feeder. This amounted to a total cost of 30 million points. 

Doing a single Tier 5 gives you 2,690,000 points, 2.69 million.  

It will take you 11.16 completions to get the Zelos, Squall and Feeder. 

5.58 for the Zelos alone 

Doing the Tier 4 gives you 662,000 points, .66 million. 

You would need 45.32 completions to get the Zelos, Squall and Feeder

22.66 for the Zelos alone.  

(For a list of common prizes with ratio done with tier 4 and tier 5, check out my other post here)

Now, an average ratio between tier 4 and tier 5, is 28.24 for Hull and others, and 14.12 for hull alone. Average of those two is 21.18. 

In terms of tier 4, that would be 14 million points. Tier 5 would have 57 million points. A very far difference.  

Mhm, we can't use the ratio of the current set up. What about the first level locked raid of the last cycle that had it? Revenge raid 

Comparing the A Set to Tier 5, there is a .73445936 ratio. Meaning for every point earned in the Revenge raid, you would earn .73445936 point in the Dec raid, Uprising. 

Using this ratio applied to the level locked total point per set completion, which was 66,446, we should get around 48,823 points for every completion. 

Now, taking this 48,823 and multiplying it by the ratio of A sets for the main prizes, in this case the Zelos, Squall and Feeder. 

48,823*5.58=272,432~280,000 points for the Zelos, 

48,823*11.16=544,865~550,000 points for the Zelos, Squall and Feeder. 

This may seem like such a small number for such prizes, but its following the same ratio as the A sets and normal pricing. 

Keep in mind this is for players under level 50, with tech under tier 3. 

Conclusion 

Level locked targets, carefully designed as stated above, will be able to provide lower leveled players a chance to perform at their level to the raid, and start to make headway into becoming stronger. With more players at tech level, more fights, more wars, more enjoyment. After all, the most people miss about Blackwater days was the amount of people playing. This would seriously propel the lower levels into the frey. 

As always, Film at 11 

Ratio for prizes-December raid

Tier 5

5.576-Zelos ratio for A sets
11.15-Zelos, squall, feeder ratio for A sets
10.04-Zelos, squall, emisson

2.788-citadel, ratio for a sets
7.06-Citadel, judgment mortar, incin shells, ratio for A sets

2.788-fury
4.833-Fury, scatter, hydroxide;

2.788-revenge
4.089-revenge, ccg

2.788-vendetta
5.948- vendetta with firestorm, incin shells

2.788-vanquisher
5.76-vanquisher, cyclone, emisson
6.88-vanquisher, cyclone, feeder

4.6468-hellwraith
10.22-hellwraith, ftt, sfc

4.6468-apollo

1.8587-tide
3.15985-tide with ccg,

Tier 4

4.53-punisher ratio for b sets
12.08-Punisher and Arbalest and AP Shells, ratio for B sets
12.86-pun, drac arbalest, AP shells
6.43-pun, drac arb

10.048-cent, reaver cannon
4.26-cent, pac

8.038585-tide
13.66559-tide, ccg

2.8135-zerk
8.44-zerk with firestrom
13.26-zerk with judgement
4.42-zerk with pand
3.46-zerk with SBM
14.48-zerk with firestrom, incin
21.30-zerk with judgement, incin
12.46-zerk with pand, incin
11.5-zerk with SBM, incin

1.20-nova
6.83-nova with firestorm
11.66-nova with judgement
2.81-nova with pand
1.85-nova with SBM
14.87-nova with firestorm, incin
19.7-nova with judgement, incin
10.85-nova with pand, incin
9.89-nova with SBM, incin

1.20-crusader
2.01-crusader with arb
8.44-crusader, arb, AP shells
2.8135-crusader with drac arb
9.2435-crusader, drac arb, AP shells
8.44-crusader with reaver cannon
2.65-crusader with pac

HellBorn 2 days in

Videos 

Some raid videos of me playing through, and playlists of other players have been added/created. Yeah, I know this is late. But think of this post as a precursor to next raid, where you will have 6 days.

General Tips

The Thermal on the Motherships is now less than the scouts. The scout's thermal range is still at a constant 85. Meaning, once you get the change take them out using subs.  Be very careful of the drones though, as there sonar seems to vary in some tiers. Namely tier 4 and tier 5.

The drones are still the most dangerous thing to subs that are using FTT and/or have low cloak. The drones have a sonar ranging from 100 to 150. Now, my subs are very basic, and only have a cloak of 60. How do we find where the drones will find us? Plug it into this equation!

(Submarine Visible Range + Ship Detection Range)*(1 - Cloak Efficiency) = Actual Visible Range

Let us use the very so common Tigershark for these. Assuming the enemy sonar is 100, and the cloak is a starting 60. For refence, the visible range of the TS is 60. For the Cloak Efficiency in the Equation, divide it by 100 first. Thus, 60 becomes  .6.

(60+100)*(1-.6)= 64

Now if you don't know the Submarine Visible Range, you can alternatively use http://frostler.com/bp/ to find the Actual Visible Range. Just scroll down, click on the tab marked "Cloak Vs. Sonar Calculator"

I highly recommend that you either Bookmark or Favorite this site, as it contains numerous assets, many of which are needed. 

Crews to use 

Molotov Maidens-Uncommon 

Steelheads-Common/Uncommon 

Sea Serpents-Common/Uncommon
Dead eye Destroyers-Common/Rare
Silent Hunters-Common/Uncommon
Gearheads-Common
Grease Monkey-Legendary
Midnight Marauders-Uncommon

My experience 

So far in the raid, I have just hit 18 million points. Redeemed the Valiant and now working on the Harlock's Tideseeker or the Calamity and build tokens. Depending on my total pointage at the end of the raid, I choose then. 

I have been using my Sub fleet to prep Tier 4, level 50's, targets. Finishing it off with my Tideseeker fleet. Giving me about 30 minutes repair total; even less with crews. 

How so? 

First, I use the subs to take out the Reaver Enforcers, which have only surface weapons and no thermal. Once I take out as many as I possibly could for no damage, I let the timer run and send in my seekers to finish it off. Alternatively, if you do not have Seeker's, you can still do this method, just use subs both times. This will net you at least half of the targets points. 

Check out the video of me doing a 53 below for a basic guide. 

This method can be applied to Tier 5 as well, however the damage is gonna be more significant. 

Overall Thoughts 

This raid is hard for those who don't have 'good enough' equipment; such as Draconian torps. Lets take my second account for example, and it's main sub build 

https://www.dahippo.com/bp/ship/#!0A2U50000001D1G1S4H4H4H4H4H4H02U50000001D1G1S4H4H4H4H4H4H0ZZA2U50000001D1G1S4H4H4H4H4H4H0ZZdC

Now, this hull is built entirely from the Forsaken Mission, Campaigns, and researchable tech. With a max range of 78, and current dps of 1,135. Lets see how it does in a 31. 

Now, looking past my shitty driving and timing. You might be able to see one very noticeable thing coming from the scouts. Torpedoes. Yes, Torpedoes. As soon as I come into range of the scouts, torps are coming. Now, you could chalk it up to a very small difference and human error. But, lets try hitting scouts again, this time with Havok 4 Torps, a range of 75; a 3 difference between the Drac torps. I'll edit the video to where we are within range of the scout, and slow it down to 1/4th speed to better spot the torps. 

Now, setting the video quality to the highest we can and going frame by frame, we find at what times the torps fire. 

The Scout's torps fire at 9:07 in game, and 0:39 in video. 

The Pred's torps fire at 9:07 in game, and :042 in video. 

Now, what can we learn from this? That the Scouts in tier 3 have thermal which can spot you at, an estimated 78. Now, this is kinda major. 

Going in order of FM tiers, first you get the Assault Torp B, then Z, then Skirmish R, then finally the Charon. 

Their ranges? 78, 78, 80 and 88. 

Mhm, needing to get 7.5 million in the weekly to get a torp that out ranges the thermal in the raid targets. What levels is tier 3 designed for again? 

Oh yeah, its for Nighthawks... 

The easiest targets the raid has to often, is tiered 3. Something many players can't get outside of raids or that one campaign where you needed subs... 

Does anyone see what I am getting at? 

The by design easiest targets, can only be done with tech that the player doesn't have, but s/he needs the tech to get the tech. 

It's kinda like signing up to dig holes with your own shovel, but you need to dig some holes first in order to get your shovel.  

See what I mean now? This is why the last two raids had the lowest turnouts, since Battle Pirates Nexus began recording. Only 38,061 came for the first sub raid, the last one was 32,288. The last raid cycle? It had an average of 55,436 peoples. Damn

Going to the Official Battle Pirate Facebook page, and looking at events we get another type of stat. People who actually cared enough to say that they were interested or going to the 'event'. This raid cycle so far we have an average of 3,700 people who went or going. Compared to last raid cycle's 4,700 people who went. A good 1000 people difference. Lets boil this down.

1000 people were more willing to click on the "going" button, last raid then this raid. What can Kixeye do to boost the player levels, and make it more attractive for lower leveled players?

Carefully designed level locks.

Think to level 30 Armadas, level 30 and 40 Drac mining bases. Were those level locked to players under a certain level, and did they successfully allow the younger players to hit those targets, and get the base parts/uranium they need?  Without constant asking for help in comms? Yes, because those targets were the easiest targets possible, but still presenting a level of difficulty to the player.

Bonus side to this type of level locking also, you can hit higher if you have the right equipment. Allowing the player to branch out, and develop his fleets faster and with an end goal foreseen

Level locked targets gave the player stepping stones to build their fleets out of. The mining bases contained super weak versions of the stronger bases, giving the player some idea of what to expect.

Level 30 Armadas were way too fucking far left field there Kix.

But, these level locked targets. They provide for the lower player, give her/im a chance to advance in the game.

Instead of digging holes to buy a shovel to dig holes. You already have the head part of the shovel, its up to you, the player, how it is applied. Keeping on digging to get what you want, or toss it aside and do it the hard way.

Level locked targets Kixeye, that's how you get the lower leveled players back. That, and...







As Always, Film at 11 

Hellborn Raid

Hellborn and Videos 

The raid is finally here, and the name fits for what America is about to go through. This raid I will be posting videos to my Youtube Channel. Alternately, if you dont have strong enough fleets to reach what you want during this raid, but still want to build your base defense, do the Boiling Seas campaign. I have uploaded a video on it, on my channel. 

Actual Hellborn stuff 

Hellborn begins November 10th in the following worlds at the following times (Time Zone Converter)

World Alpha: 9AM PDT
World Beta: 10AM PDT
World Gamma: 11AM PDT
World Delta: 12PM PDT
World Epsilon: 1PM PDT

Points 

The  points have remained the same for all the tiers, which is a very good thing. Nice to have some consistency. This allows for the player to judge their skills over time per points gained and coin amounts. Or just using the coin/million points formula. 

Tier 3:

31 - 10,000
33 - 20,000
35 - 30,000
Tier bonus - 60,000

Total Points - 120,000


Tier 4:

51 - 40,000
53 - 72,000
55 - 95,000
57 - 130,000
Tier bonus - 325,000

Total Points - 662,000


Tier 5:

71 - 340,000
73 - 450,000
75 - 550,000
Tier bonus - 1,350,000

Total Points - 2,690,000

Blitz Tier 5:

74 - 600,000


Tier 6:

105 - 1,850,000
Tier bonus - 1,850,000

Total Points - 3,700,000

The targets are suppose to be the same, as there is no mention of changing them. Additionally, there is also a new target, the 74 Blitz target. 

Blitz target 

This new target is working under the Blitz feature, of where if you complete it in 1 run, you can do it again for coin. Giving you the exact amount of damage, and points you received each time. There is no completion bonus, as the target comes in at 600,000 points. This target will spawn around Drac bases and Uranium Drac bases. 

If the limit of 3 coin minimum per Blitz is still active, this target won't go off well. Assuming the minimum of 3 coins and 600k points. We get an average of 1 coin per every 200k points, or in easier terms, 5 coins per million points. Now, looking back at older videos from last raid, we find an average of 0 coins per million for good drivers, and 15 coins per million per very bad drivers. 

Giving the bad driving side of the spectrum a 3 times faster way to a million points, people will grab this up. But remember, 5 coins per million points, with the new ship costing 15 million points. You would need 75 coins to get the Valiant, from hitting the blitz target alone. 

Hitting this target is purely based on how much coin you last spend per million points. If it is over the 5 per million, then I would suggest doing it, but only if you want to spend that much. Another bonus is that you get the points within minutes, instead of a couple days. Allowing you get to extra points during those times.  

New Prizes

Valiant 

Wow, this ships looks pretty damn amazing for base defense. Deflection stats in every damage type, and bonuses for every damage type in terms of reload, damage, and range, combined with 100,000 armor points and 3 hour repair.

Looking back at the Raid Preview, the bypass deflection of the ship was very low. Around 10ish maybe.  Against an armor base stats of 100,000? This hull will last a very long time.

The 45 AoE giving the reload bonuses and damage, is affected by Resonance Capacitor, giving an extra 36% damage.

Honestly, there is no perfect build to use. With all weapon types receiving bonuses, this is the Swiss Army Knife of base defense. You can use this hull for anything. For me personally, I'm going to be using this hull as a last defense hull.

Fleet build:
https://www.dahippo.com/bp/ship/#!4PMI029262629340C00092G2G2G2G2G2G2G2GP2O0404040400040000U6A23232323232323LLC500004040406D5Y6C0C252525252525252525252525A6V000000000006D37355Y345454545454545454545400000000000MT00000000000355Y000L00000053535353530000dC

This is my current base setup. Lets go over the ships I have so far, Goliath, Enforcer, Rhino, Proto-Mast and Frosty.

Now, I'm planning on changing the Frosty to Valiant build. Why? It't the best replacement.
The Rhino and Proto are their for their remote targeting, something the Valiant doesnt have, my Enforcer has better DPS and shockwave time. The Goliath I'm saving until I get an Omega. I could replace my Goliath with a Valiant in the mean time, but for the build time and rank time. I can just wait for the Omega.

My frosty would be the best one to replace, as its only use is to catch subs. Which I can do if I switch my Rhino and Proto around. The frosty's main weapon is the Concussive Reciprocator, which the Valiant gives an 5% boost to, along with an inert 50% reload and 25% damage bonus. I can also put the new Calamity Scattergun on it for corrosive damage.

Setting a few guidelines for the build

• Way to increase Splash 
• Damage of Concussive and Corrosive 
• Resonance Capacitor 
• Stun resistance 

Combining these together, we get this build...

*NOTE* Huggy's has a problem with combining Barrel System and Compressed Corrosive Canisters.  Along with the range not being applied. Will change with Huggy's when it has been fixed. *

This build has good splash from the Compressed Corrosive Canisters (CCC), along with Corrosive damage. Concussive damage and reload from ACP. The RC gives the already discussed 36% damage bonus, and the Barrel system gives an extra 2 for the Multi Shot, increasing the damage of the Calamity Scattergun.

I wanted to increase the Multi Shot, because since  it allows for more projectiles more minium damage will be taken. Let me explain.

The Spite has a corrosive deflection of 3000, and the listed damage of the Calamity is 2,700. So, no matter how many projectiles there is, each one will only deal minimum damage. Lets use, as an example, a minimum damage of 50.

Now, with 3 multi shot projectiles, that a total of 150 damage pass through, 5 multi shot projectiles gives you 250 damage. Now, if there is a deflection of 300? Its even more  total damage pass with multi of 5 compared to multi of 3. But, for ships without any deflection? I would still chose 5 multi as it also increases the damage per projectile.

Basically, this ship can fit any role in your base. Its your choice to expand upon it and pick what to use it for.

Calamity Scattergun

                            

This Scattergun is a large improvement over the past ones in terms of Damage and base DPS.
Also with the highest range, boosted by 20% on the Valiant, bringing its total to a range of 102. The lower spread could be a hassle for fast moving fleets. So try and place the edge of the range of the Calamity at a corner, where its sure to hit the ships successfully.

Compressed Corrosive Canisters 

                              

This is a pretty average special. Adds bonus to the Splash and Corrosive Damage. Only other special that adds Corrosive damage is the Hydroxide Injector. Combine the HI with Combustion System 3 or Explosive System 4, to have all both Corrosive damage and splash, and also Projectile speed and multi shot. 

Harlock's Tideseeker 

Lets start with a chart versus a normal Tideseeker 

The only differences is an extra almost 14 days extra build, thermal/sonar, and the Flagship affect. The flagship affect?

Honestly, this would be the only reason to get the Harlock's version. The bonus combat speed, turn speed, stun/slow resistances, and the defense bonuses. Using Huggy's, adding the Harlock's tideseeker to my Tiderseeker fleet increases the explosive defense from 95.4% to 97.5% and concussive defense from 93.2% to 97.6%. Speed increases from 34 to 39, Turn speed from 39.6 to 44.1.

This limited hull could have its uses, if it wasnt for the very bad build time of 15 days and 1 hour. I can build 1.8 of a normal tideseeker hull. Meaning that I can build almost two normal tide seekers in the time to build one Harlock's Tideseeker. And the bonuses to this hull are seeing phantom fleets on the map, and the listed above?

But wait, Ouch! Being able to see Phantom fleets on the map is game breaking, they can attack you!

Yeah, and they could before using adblock. This doesnt really change anything. It just expands the amount of people who already could. Also, never leave a fleet sitting still in a busy sector. Always have your fleet moving. If your fleet is moving, it can not be attacked at all. Also, the ability only allows the person with the Harlock's Tideseeker to see you. They can post your coords to the comms, but they can not attack you unless they  have either Harlock's Tideseeker or are using Adblock (Against ToC last time I checked, send a ticket in) and if your fleet stays still.

Think of Phantom ships of like any normal ship, if you keep on moving, they cant hit you. The same for Phantom fleets and Harlock's Tideseekers.

Prize List 

Top Prizes

Sealed Fire Charge 6,000,000 - Best special to use for FTT, get it if you plan on using the FTT
or
Compressed Corrosion Canisters 6,000,000 - Okay, wouldn't prioritize this

Fire Twister Torpedo 9,000,000 - Currently the best torpedo in the game,
or
Calamity Scattergun 9,000,000 - Best scattergun for fleet v fleet, perfect for the Valiant in many different uses

Hellwraith 15,000,000 - Best sub in the game, last raid of this format is next month though. Think carefully!
or
Valiant 15,000,000 - Get this

Tiger Shark 1,750,000 - Faster than going through the foundry, for some...
or
Enforcer 1,750,000 - Still in use by thousand of players. If you can't get the Valaint, get this and the Antipode Launcher. Very very useful

Charon Torpedo 900,000 - Faster than forsaken missions for some. But its your choice, waste raid points or waste one run through?
or
Antipode Launcher D98-U 900,000 - Best launcher for Shockwaves and DPS

Stealth Attack System IV 350,000 - At this price, make sure you get this if you have trouble getting to Tier 4 in the weekly
or
Fusion Charger 350,000 - Pair it with the Enforcer and Antipode for faster shockwaves and higher DPS.

LIMITED 

Proto Nemesis Shard x5 2,000,000 points  4 times

Hellstar Shard x5 2,000,000 points 4 times

Ghostcrawler Shard x5 2,000,000 points 4 times

Man-O-War Shard x5 2,000,000 points 4 times

Gamma Behemoth Shard x1 4,500,000 points 5 times

I go either ways on these

Limited Components

Zynthonite Armor D5-SL 1,000,000 points 10 times - This armor buffs up the slow resistance, it can only be attached to Conqueror hulls 

*CAN ONLY BE REDEEMED DURING THE FOLLOWING TIMES* 

Thur, 9:00am PST-Sat, 8:59am PST


SA Deflection Upgrade 5,000,000 points 5 times - This increases your Siege and Assault deflection by 20, but can only be attached to Assault, Skirmish, Garrison and Siege hulls. This is worth it, especially for extra specials on tanks if you wanna add some extra deflection.

*CAN ONLY BE REDEEMED DURING THE FOLLOWING TIMES*
Thur, 9:00am PST-Sat, 8:59am PST



Unlocked Store:

Ship build - 1 hour 120,000 points 10 times
Either way on there, free build for raid points and repair time
Ship build - 12 hours 1,400,000 points 4 times
Either way on these, free build for raid points and repair time
Ship build - 24 hours 2,750,000 points 3 times

Harlock’s Tideseeker 20,000,000 points once - Such high hopes, and it sucks 

Styx Torpedo 6,000,000 - Get the Charon instead, and the Tigershark, its cheaper

Concussive Gatling Gun 7,500,000 - Good for hitting bases, for fleet combat I prefer the Garwood

Concussive Upgrade 3,000,000 - Never know when you might need it

Heavy Plating III 2,000,000 - Always useful in tank fleets or base defense fleets

Punisher 12,500,000 - Champion work horse of any Captain's fleet

Arbalest 1,100,000 - You wanna get this as fast as possible, its amazing for lower levels. If you can reach Tier 4 easily, your choice.

Nuclear Accelerators 4,000,000 - Adds Ballistic accuracy, and range. Hardened Barrels 3 does almost the same, minus the accuracy. At 4 million points? I would wait until I get it in the weekly. 

Personal thoughts 

 Limited Prize is sad, the unlocked prizes are pretty good for lower levels playing catch up. Loving the enforcer and Antipode in here, big focus on base defense this month. Best to follow the trend and try to improve your base defense too. I'm refitting my base fleet and improve my turrets, changing Javs to Ballistas, and putting up limited turrets. I'll keep you all updated with raid videos, probably on friday.

As always, Film at 11.

Tideseeker Hull and TLC

New videos!

Hi Guys, I have couple plans for my YouTube channel. First off, i'm starting a new segment of where I go over weekly release notes and campaign run throughs. Now the release notes will have a maximum of only 15 minutes, allowing you to listen allow while play and still receive my analysis of it. I have already done one of these for the TLC weekend. I would normally just do a blog post for it, but I wanted to test the waters for sound and viewer feedback; before I make it a permanent feature. 

 The campaign run throughs will be edited for only the battle portions, repair times, and builds. These campaigns will be one entire video, sped up 2x-4x times for length. I am also planning on raid videos, this time separated into Tier videos. 

Enough of YouTube stuff and videos, on to the Tideseeker hull, the Garwood Gatling Gun, and the Advanced Concussive payload! Oh yeah and the actual TLC. And some Mega Hull event + TLC. 

High Tide 

Running from the 1st at 12 PM PST to the 8th at 12 PM PST (Time Zone Converter) 

The minimum level to enter is 50

First run through - 5 encounters, 6 hours to complete 

Second run through - 6 encounter, 3 hours to complete 

Third run through - 7 encounters, 1 hour to complete 

This campaign, is almost similar to Dark Reign 3. Except where you would drop a target and add another to compensate; you just add another target each time to it. With Legion Assault forces in this targets. Level 1-6 are very easy and can be done with instant repair with good driving and crews. The Mega Hull at the end however? Different story. Long Story short, it's way too f*cking hard. 

Here is the build I will be using:

https://www.dahippo.com/bp/ship/#!447700I0H0H0H0H3403356E4454542A2A2E2E2E2E2E2E57700I0H0H0H0H3403356E4454542A2A2E2E2E2E2E2E57700I0H0H0H0H3403356E4454542A2A2E2E2E2E2E2E0ZZ0ZZdC

I focused on Penetrating defense on this build and damage output. I chose to use the switchblades over normal blades as a main weapon for when the ship gets overwhelmed with missiles. If the Phalanx 4 can't take them all down, there is 6 extra missiles that could go down. Move away from the enemy during the time to reload the missile portion of the switchblade, and viola! 

Video for High Tide run through 

                                   

*CORRECTION*
The third way to complete the High Tide is by using the Disciples of Skullduggery Crew (DOS); which being an legendary crew is oddly enough easier to roll than a Bull's Eye Brigade (BB) ,a rare crew. I actually rolled two of the DOS's before even getting this close...

Now, lets go over the prizes.

Prize Pack 1

• Tideseeker-Best current hull to use for above water raid fighting, for now...
• Cryo Depth Charge- 3 hour build is now kinda worth it. 18 Splash, 104 damage, and a reload of .75, is awesome. But the range of 74. and on the Tideseeker having a -5% depth charge range? I wouldn't put it on there, maybe on suicide fleets or skirmish for speed boost and low weight.  
• 4-day Tideseeker Build Token-Use it, same as doing tier 4 twice. 

Prize Pack 2

• Concussive Reciprocator-I would chose the Garwood over this on the tide seeker due to the range, but for base defense or base attacking? Go with CR and CGG. 
• 8-day Tideseeker Build Token-8 free days? That's two tier 5 build tokens, granted you get both 1 and 3 day builds. 

Prize Pack 3

• Garwood Gatling Gun-Best for skirmish battles, with the highest base fleet DPS and middle for range, weight and build time. 
• Advanced Concussive Payload-It's Strike Warheads, but with +30% concussive reload and an extra 5% damage. At 17 extra hours, bringing it to 2 days and 12 hours. 
• 12-day Tideseeker Build Token-Only has positives, if you can't tell.  
• 4x 5k VXP tokens for Tideseeker-Read below
• 6x 1k VXP tokens for Tideseeker-That's a total of 26,000 VXP. The max VXP for the Tideseeker is 49,000. Having 26,000 will save you a minimum of 2,600 battles, getting only 10 VXP per battle the basic amount, and will make you reach rank 17, giving you a +64% reload bonus. 
• Badge for completion-Oh So Shiny!

Overall, the prizes are okay. Would have been nice to see the Explosive System 4, or a special that adds both splash and projectile speed. The hulls that have a base projectile speed above 0 are; the Hellwraith, the Punisher, the Crusader, and the Hellblazer. 

Now, of those hulls three of them are Seige hulls and the last one is a submarine; which can't attach surface weapons. And we all know that you can't use any of those hulls in this raid set. 

Garwood Gatling Gun

Now, the Garwood has a better reload, better primary range and DPS than the other depth charges. 

The CGG has a very high DPS when at max stacks, however its at a range of 68, (64 for Tideseeker). 

The secondary range, at 104 (98) has a very low DPS with a max of 275. 

With the longest primary range and DPS of these depth charges, its the best to use. 

Advanced Concussive Payload

This special was made special for Depth Charge Weapons, giving a good replacement for Strike Warheads. 

Tideseeker 

This hulls, is your best option for surface hulls against the current raid targets. Plus, with having 24 days free build for just the tokens from the TLC alone. You should have at least one built before the raid begins, or at least a day or two in.

Now, basic hull needs for the Tideseeker are 

• Explosive and Concussive resistance-for surface weapons 
• Evade-for torpedoes and chain guns 
• High Combat/Turn speed-to outrun the drones, use a kite method 
• High concussive DPS-less time spent in the battle, less repair (hopefully), higher point per hour, more points
• Low build time to help with token usage, create your build then cut off, in order, armors weapons and specials, until you come to around a 12 day build. The tokens come in 4 hours, 8 hours, and 12 hour increments. Make sure you use the most of it; if you have more tokens increase the build time. Remember that this hull is intended for the next raid, and it starts on the 10th. 
• Also, don't build it with armor. The 24,000 Health is hard enough to rank, don't worsen it if you can help it. If you have extra build tokens, add until you run out of time!

Now that we have at least some basic rules to build against, lets build. 

https://www.dahippo.com/bp/ship/#!107E00000000006393448422H2H2H2H2H2H2H2H2H2H2H2H07E000000000060C3448002H2H2H2H2H2H2H2H2H2H2H2H07E000000000060C3448422H2H2H2H2H2H2H2H2H2H2H2H07E000000000060C346E002H2H2H2H2H2H2H2H2H2H2H2H0ZZdC

The link contains all 3 builds 

This is the basic build we come up with, following the rules above. 10 days, 14 hours and 14 minutes, we have a little wiggle room to work with.

In this one we switched out the Strike Warheads for Advanced Concussive Payload, giving an extra 5% boost to damage, and 30% to concussive reload; these bonuses are for an extra 17 hours. Now, if I didn't have the build tokens, I would chose the Strike Warheads, but since the build is free and and weight is a it less, I'm going to go with the ACP.

Now with the ACP, the build time is up to 11 days, 4 hours and 47 minutes. Lets fill in the extra special slot with something for splash and projectile speed.

The final build, for a 12 day built time. The bonus splash brings the GGG splash's up to 15, and the projectile speed to 85%. Helping to catch up to the very fast Reaver fleets, and Hellwraiths for sub hunting. The final build time is 12 days, 1 hour and 14 minutes. Giving you a good amount of time to spend playing the actual game.  

Naughty_Yoda's fleet 

Naughty_Yoda has been kind enough to give us his fleet build, and how they perform in different battles. The fleet is as follows 

https://www.dahippo.com/bp/ship/#!007E0000000006F3948346SAQAQAQAQ2H2H2HAQ2H2H2HAQ0ZZ0ZZ0ZZ0ZZdC

Yoda's build does have room for improvement. Such as switching the FTT for GGG, and the D6-A for AA3. However, his build does have its qualities. The D6-A converts it from a specialized hull, into more of a general hull. The torps help to take down slower ships, and will still hit the ship if out of range.

Now, on to the videos of how well it preforms in two different targets. The level 75 Draconian armada and the level 70 Reaver armada. Turns out the video for the 70 was lagging and the ships never properly loaded, just white spaces. Will record and post when fixed.

The level 75 Drac armada hit 

Golden Nexus 

This feature/event is being delayed for quality reasons. Will talk about it when it comes back out. 

Brief run through, you hold a  Golden Nexus point for a certain amount of time, everyone attached to the Golden Nexus earns gold for it. *ONLY ONE GOLDEN NEXUS POINT PER WORLD* 

Varying  amounts of gold comes out every; hour, 2 hours, 4 hours, 6 hours and 12 hours. Averaged out to 20 gold per 12 hours. 

Gold amount is not final, nor is the time, or amount. 

Tips? 

 

Make a bigass hive. 

 

and 

The gold is planned to come out on a set timer, try and capture the Golden Nexus 10-20 minutes before the timer. 

Raid Preview 

The next Raid is coming on the tenth; and to prepare for that there is a preview on the fourth from 11:30 am PDT to 1:30 pm PDT (Time Zone Converter) 

Only the prizes can be tested, as the targets will (hopefully) remain the same. The prizes being the Valiant, the Calamity Scattergun, and the Compressed Corrosive Canisters. 

There is a new prize coming out, but will not be tested during this preview. This prize is the Harlock's Tideseeker.  No word on if it will later appear in another TLC, or the Tideseeker in a later raid. 

Limited entry, password and link to server will be posted tomorrow around 11:30 am, on this forum post https://www.kixeye.com/forum/discussion/668095

 

The Valiant is a defender hull, with Scattergun enhancements. 

Guessing this was created to counter the Harlock's Revenge, Revenge normal and  partial the Fury.

 I expect it to have a very high armor stat, and 100% defense handicap. I do like this style of defender hulls. The very high armor is a lot better than having very high defenses. The defenses can be bypassed, or be weak to unconventional types of weapons, like corrosive. A high base armor stat will survive that amount of damage regardless the weapon type. I do sincerely hope the Valiant follows what the Vanquisher has set for it. 

Compressed Corrosive Canisters sounds likely that it will boost the multi-shot, and splash. 

This raid will not be a hull store, the other likely prizes will be the Hellwraith, FTT and Sealed Fire Charge. 

With a defender hull, a hull type everyone uses, and a brand new free to many ship to build coming out a week before the raid. This raid should have higher numbers than the last two. Make sure you check out Battle Pirates Nexus's Facebook page for their after raid roundup of players. Always amazing stuff from those guys. 

As always, Film at 11. 

October Raid - Stormrunner

Raid Time

I choose to not include a what to get post because of the smaller prize line now, and the new hull not bringing any flavor to the conqueror scene, being as each conqueror hull is now typed matched up.
The new special, you should only use on the new Spite hull, as it can only be attached to conqueror hulls, and the Spite being the only missile based. The new missile, it's another copy of the Blade, with better damage but longer reload and less flak evasion.

The Blade puts out more missiles per second to overwhelm countermeasures, while Scoria is pure damage dealing.

The Spite's  unique overload with boosting Ballistic, Explosive, and Penetrating damage types getting 150% reload bonus, every 12,000 points. With no current conqueror hulls being Ballistic, we now know what the next conqueror hull would be. The Spite also pairs well with Vendettas and Citadels.

Strategy? 

The keys to this raid, and hopefully the next two, are good driving and torpedoe range of 88, using either FTT or Scourge.

If you don't have one of these three torps, you have a couple options.

A- Try and get others to prep for you saving massive amount of time

B-Hit the hulks and use very careful driving to avoid thermal range, best to attack level 3 targets for lowest thermal range, and lowest damage taken.

C-Do campaigns for tech until the weekly comes back, then try and get it then. How are you gonna get to tier 4 in the weekly when you are under level 50 not a massive coiner? The answer is found in the foundry and crews. More below.

The Scourge torp is in the store for 900k, and the completion bonus for set 3  is 60K, 120K for doing it all yourself. Taking you around 8-15 completed set 3's to get the torp


Now, for those having torps range of 88, the best advice I can give you is to have amazing driving skills.

With good driving skills, you can take down 105's for over 3 million points.

Just remember the basics for each ship.

•  Scouts, thermal range is ~85, weapon's ranges are out to 110. Has both land and underwater weapons 
• Enforcers, has no thermal range, or sonar. Only land weapons to range of 110 
• Hulks, has thermal to range of 110, but no underwater weapons. Only land weapons to range of 110 
• Drones, has sonar of range ~60, both land and underwater weapons. range to about 110 
• Hellstrikes, has no sonar or thermal, land weapons to range of 110. Weapon is chain gun, with splash damage. 

How to reach tier 4 in weekly while under 50 and non coiner? 

Suicide attacks on 109's with mortars.  Mortars are the best to use on weekly mission, because the anti's are single shot for mortars and flak shot for missile. Requires a couple of things. Now, the most important things to consider in this build are the basic stats, building base damage and speed. 

• Either the Strike Cruiser or the Dreadnought X 
• Engine special, engine 3 is best 
• Siege targeting/battery 
• Either defense special or Splash special 
• Siege mortar V, found in tier 3 blueprints. 

Combining these we get the following builds. 

https://www.dahippo.com/bp/ship/#!00IO5000000002E0I5I3V3V3V3V3V3V0JO5000000002E0I5I2T3V3V3V3V3V3V3V3V0ZZ0ZZ0ZZdC

Now, looking at the building damage per ship, and the speed. We should have a capable ship to take out the corners of a 109. Pulling data from The Dark Alliance, we get that the health of 109's turrets is 200k, with 0% explosive defense. Now, with only 4 of the Strike Cruisers and 3 of the Dreadnoughts X's, you can take out the corner platforms, earning you 25 million. Continuous doing this will greatly help you in your game, from getting you Blade, Arbalest, Magnus drive 2, and 2 day ship tokens at the end.

As always, Film at 11

Bring back the WIP

WIP RIP 

Doom posted today that the WIP is going away, due to people complaining about the date things come out, and last minute changes. No one likes this idea of taking away the WIP. 

Link to post https://www.kixeye.com/forum/discussion/662902

Now, why do people support taking away the WIP? 

• Dates can be changed 
• Information can be changed 
• Features can be taken away

Now, all the info can be changed, but shouldn't Doom warn us about this? Well, yeah, he does. 

Now, Doom has been doing this since April 2015, a full year before I start this blog 

https://www.kixeye.com/forum/discussion/537177

Now if Doom has been telling us that everything can change over a month, because nothing is set in stone, why are people just now complaining about dates and changes? 

Now, the goods from the WIP 

• Allows us to plan out our gaming schuelde 
• Know what is coming 
• Give Kixeye immediate initial feedback for new features, allowing kixeye to make changes
• Allows us to guide builds for events, and raids (VXP, shards, TLC) 
• Lets the bloggers and videoers plan out their posts in advance, and give initial analysis and feedback, allowing kixeye to make changes. 

Now, the positives outweigh the negatives for me; and for almost everyone according to this one thread, with at the time of writing as 135 replies. 

Doom, just bring the WIP back. It does more harm than good 

"WIP it, WIP it good, When the first comes around, you must WIP it!"-DarQknight 

I have a post coming up about plasma damage in weekly. It's long and involves math, will post a TL;DR at the bottom for the busy people. 

Until then as always, Film at 11. 

Plasma in 109's, a problem or not?

FM-Prizes

5 new prizes came into the weekly this ...uh... week. Ranging from tier 3 to tier 5. Starting off with the best new prize... 

The Siege Reloader is the bigger brother to the Siege Targeting, with increased reload to every damage type and weapon type, 2 hours less build time, and the same building/wall damage bonus. All at the cost of an extra 7% weight, totalling to 25%.

If I had enough room to fit this special on, I would. However, if i had to remove or downgrade armor/weapon to fit this? I would keep the Siege Targeting. While the bonus 10% reload does help, it is not enough for me to lower the total health or damage.



The next best prize is Explosive upgrade, giving the ship an extra 10% explosive damage. Joining the ranks of Concussive, Evade, Speed, Splash,  and Ampacity upgrades. This is the type of upgrade I would use to fill special slots on base defense explosive fleets. Like the Vendetta, which people do use, with 5 slots to fill. Being in a defense fleet, there is no need for speed, or building damage/defense. You can't bring up the evade. Whats to fill the extra slots?

A useful idea in some situations, mostly in base defense, I do kinda prefer this special to the Splash upgrade. A 10% bonus to damage seems more useful to me than a bonus 10%, especially when this translates to, in terms of Coaxial Firestorm, an increase of 396 damage to 1.2 splash increase. With the Vendetta, the main mortar ship these days, having an inert 50% splash bonus and -30% spread, the bonus 10% doesnt seem useful. Just remember that a single wall unit, has the width of 4.



This prize needs some retuning. A 5%-10% splash damage deduction is good for almost every turret, good job on kixeye on noticing what helps the player. However, the time for repair ranges from 33 minutes to a full hour. This is the worst part because of what this armor can only be equipped to.

Conqueror hulls, this armor can only be attacked to conqueror hulls. The same hulls where the highest base repair for any ship in that class is 1 hour and 10 minutes, the revenge. The lowest? 30 minutes for the Vendetta, Fury and Spite. The lowest armor doubles the time for these three hulls. Now, the higher Health per ton is amazing, 9.2 health per ton is a lot better than the bulkhead at 6.5 health per ton.

Let's compare this armor to another popular one, the D5-C,M,X,CT,CO, having 2250 health points at 489 tons, and ranging from 22 minutes 30 seconds to 30 minutes. Two of these armors, equals the health point bonus of the War Plating 3. With 15 minutes saved using the D5-C,M,X armors, and equal using D5-CT,CO; at the cost of double the weight and 2 days 20 hours extra.

With 40 assault/siege deflection over 10% splash damage reduction, on a Vendetta? I'm honestly stuck on this one. Almost all of the successful Vendetta base attacks I have seen, have the Vendettas using their remote targeting. And of those attacks, the only damage the Vendettas take are from Executioner missiles or Ballistas. Both non-splash generating weapons. I would prefer the siege deflection over the splash damage deduction.

This really just boils down to your play style. All I have to say is to attach it to tanks, and keep it away from remote targeting.

FM-Plasma 

I have seen people complaining about the plasma damage being so game wrecking, and sinking everything. I agreed for the most part, but to what extent is it doing such? But first, a couple thoughts on the 102's, aka...

107's but with less points, and initially equal damage. Doom later announced that the damage was dropped by 25%, days after their second integration,  however the points issue was the biggest concern. Coming in at around 25 million points. 107's give 73 million points for reference.

Using my old FM week build, Here and a Fearless Blitzer crew I was able to finish each 107 with about 3 hours repair in to finish it off. Letting me do 3 per a full fleet. Giving me 219 Million points for a 9ish hour repair and 1000+ uranium for me to roll the crew.

Doing 102's I am able to do about 4 with a modified build, here, again with the Fearless Blitzer crews for dealing with the Blade-Halo. 4 102's nets me ~100 points, and a 9 hour repair time again, and 1000+ uranium for crew again.

Now, reading back to the September WIP, we find that the 102 was created to be a grind target. Now Kixeye, when I think of grind targets. I don't think equal to the main target, for equal repair but for half the points. How are we gonna find out what Kixeye needs to do to level these targets down to the appropriate difficulty for 25 million points? Off to the Dark Alliance!

And no luck... for the 102's. However, we did find the datamined info for the 97's (107's)

http://i.imgur.com/9TRCXe6.jpg

What should be done to scale these targets down to fit a 25 million point price tag? Lower the armor on the Rhinos, and drop the executioner damage to 7000. That or like bring up the points way past 25 million for what once went for 73 million. 

Now that we know what the damage was in the 107's, before Plasma was added in the game, let's take a look over at the 109's and see how the Plasma is over there. 

http://i.imgur.com/V3WWLWP.jpg

Now that we know the full Plasma damage, let's find it per salvo. 

• 224 for Executioner x 4 salvos 
• 250 for Mortar x 8 salvos 
• 114 for Coldsnap x 10 salvos 

Let's find the damage per salvo for the three weapons in both the 107's and 109's, and find the ratio. 

• 3,103 damage per salvo in 107 / 2,921 damage per salvo in 109 = 1.06, or in other words 6% less damage - Executioner 
• 5,000 damage per salvo in 107 / 3,250 damage per salvo in 109 = 1.53 or in other words 53% less damage - Mortar 
• 396 damage per salvo in 107 / 1,259 damage per salvo in 109 = .314 or in other words 314% more damage per salvo - Coldsnap 
• 1,613 damage per salvo in 107 / 0 damage in 109 - undefined damage markup - Blade-Halo 

What does this tell us? That the 109's should be easier than the 107's but due to Plasma, nah son. Plasma is the true killer of ships in the 109, along with the coldsnaps. Lets use the Punisher as an example. 

*WE WILL BE USING THE UPPER RIGHT AND BOTTOM LEFT LAND PLOTS IN THE 109 FOR DAMAGE CAL, THE ONES THAT EVERYONE SNIPES FOR 25 MILLION POINTS* 

Let's find how well my Pun does under the main  damage types,  only penetrating and explosive. Both with and without anti's/evade. My finished build, here, has the turret resistances of 90% missile, and 88% explosive, 73.6% evade, with 500 siege deflection. Since we already know the damage per salvo for all three weapons, let's do the math. (Ex-executioner, Cs-coldsnaps)

(((Salvo Damage-Pen-Ex)/(Resistance-Pen)*4)*2+(Salvo Damage-Pen-Mortar)/(Resistance-Pen)*8+(Salvo Damage-Exp-Mortar)/(Resistance-Exp)*8+(((Salvo Damage-Exp-Ex)/(Resistance-Exp)*4)*2)+((Salvo Damage-Exp-Cs)/(Resistance-Exp)*10)*2)-(siege deflection*5)=Final Damage/2
Health/Final Damage=number of full salvo hits to sink hull. 

The deflection is multiplied by 5 due to each weapon's damage type being applied to the deflection, and not the finalized number. 

Remember that the listed damage is double that of the whole damage. This is why we are dividing by 2 at the end. Also, that in the area of the 109, of which we are testing, has 2 coldsnaps and 2 executioners.  

Dividing the damage up by salvo helps to account for accuracy and antis later on. I will be doing this formula in with both antis and no antis. The only differences would mortar and executioner damage. Filling in the numbers we get...

(With no antis)
(((2247)/(1.9)*4)*2)+((500)/(1.9)*8)+((2500)/(1.88)*8)+(((449)/(1.88)*4)*2)+(((1272)/(1.88)*10)*2)-(2500)=35147/2

21346/17573=1.2 full salvo hits to sink.

(With antis and evade)
(((2247)/(1.9)*1.6)*2)+(500)/(1.9)*0+(2500)/(1.88)*0+(((449)/(1.88)*1.6)*2)+(((1272)/(1.88)*10)*2)-(2500)=15580/2

21346/7790=2.7 full salvo hits to sink
What can we learn from this? The basic stuff really, you need anti's for mortars and evade for missiles. But what if we were to add some anti missiles on our ship? Let's take off the hailstorm B, and an arbalest to fit one Phalanx 4 on to our Punisher. Our new stats are Penetrating defense of 92%, explosive defense of 87%, and armour of 21214. Everything else is the same. 

Finding the new accuracy of the missiles, counting in the anti accuracy, the CM evade, the ship evade, we get... 

29.9 = 150/1.326 *(1 - .736)

Fitting this number in our equation, in place of the 1.6, and still assuming that all mortars will be shot down. We find that 

(((2247)/(1.92)*1.2)*2)+(500)/(1.92)*0+(2500)/(1.87)*0+(((449)/(1.87)*1.2)*2)+(((1272)/(1.87)*10)*2)-(2500)=14489/2

21214/7244.6= 2.9 full salvo hits to sink. 

With even fewer missiles coming in, and better resistance, our ship lasts even longer. But, let's find out how long in seconds this ship would survive; then compare it to the plasma damage. The time will be separated into two parts, one for every 9 seconds (mortars and coldsnaps) and every 5 seconds (executioner). This number will also be rounded to the next full multiple of either 5 or 9, to account for completely finishing off the ship, and only firing every 5-9 seconds. 

Because of this, the damage will only be confined to mortar+coldsnaps, and executioner. Note that this is with anti's and evade. 

21214/6052 damage over 9 seconds = 36 seconds to sink due to mortars and coldsnaps
21214/1192 damage over 5 seconds = 90 seconds to sink due to executioners 

Using a rate over time equation, we find that it takes 26 seconds for our ship to sink. 

Lets find out how long the Punisher will survive now under 4 different crews, in both full salvo hits and time; Steelheads common and uncommon; Sea Serpents common and uncommon. I would have liked to use Midnight marauders, due to their popularity, but since the bonuses come as the health decreases it doesnt provide a straight bonus. 

With the common Steelheads, the penetrating defense rises to 93% and 89% explosive defense. 

(((2247)/(1.93)*1.2)*2)+(500)/(1.93)*0+(2500)/(1.89)*0+(((449)/(1.89)*1.2)*2)+(((1272)/(1.89)*10)*2)-(500)=14324/2

21214/7162= 2.96 full salvo hits to sink. 

With uncommon Steelheads, the penetrating defense rises to... almost same? Hold on, let's check the multiplicative math that Kixeye uses. 

100-92=8              100-88=12

8*.15=1.2             12*.15=1.8

92+1.2+93.2         88+1.8=89.8 

Just a .2-.8 difference, but let's run the numbers anyway. 

(((2247)/(1.932)*1.2)*2)+(500)/(1.932)*0+(2500)/(1.898)*0+(((449)/(1.898)*1.2)*2)+(((1272)/(1.898)*10)*2)-(2500)=14262.6/2 
21214/7131 = 2.97 full salvos hits to sink

With only a .01 difference using common and uncommon Steelhead crews, it doesnt matter to which one you use. The absolute difference is only 31 damage points. 

Lets now try out the Sea Serpents crew, both common and uncommon. Starting with common, leaving our new stats at 76.8% evade, with the rest being the same. We have to find the new accuracy of the executioner missiles, still assuming that we are using this build here. 

26.2 = 150/1.326 *(1 - .768)

This leaves us with the executioner having only 1.05 of its missiles hitting us. Lets plug it in. 

(((2247)/(1.92)*1.05)*2)+(500)/(1.92)*0+(2500)/(1.87)*0+(((449)/(1.87)*1.05)*2)+(((1272)/(1.87)*10)*2)-(2500)=14066/2
21214/7033=3.01 full salvos to hit 

Using the common Sea Serpent crew is better to use than the Steelheads uncommon crew! Let's compare it using the uncommon Sea Serpent crew now. Using the uncommon version, we have an evade of 80% 

22.6 = 150/1.326 *(1 - .8)

This leaves the executioner having only .9 of its missiles hitting us, plugging it in we get that... 

(((2247)/(1.92)*.9)*2)+(500)/(1.92)*0+(2500)/(1.87)*0+(((449)/(1.87)*.9)*2)+(((1272)/(1.87)*10)*2)-(2500)=13643/2

21214/6821=3.11 full salvos to hit 

Now that we know the best crew to use, let's find how long it can survive in seconds. 

21214/6052 damage every 9 seconds = 36 seconds 

21214/769 damage every 5 seconds = 140 seconds 

This comes to an average of 29 seconds to sink this fleet. 

Using the uncommon Sea Serpents is the best way to take the least amount of damage. 
Other crews work, just that for your 1000+800x uranium, I would choose Sea Serpents over Steelheads. It works better, and also provides bonus turn speed. 

As always, film at 11 




Just a moment now; that was the best crew to use for dealing with Penetrating and Explosive damage. What about Plasma damage? How much does it factor into this? 

Checking back to what we have for plasma damage per salvo

• 224 for Executioner x 4 salvos 
• 250 for Mortar x 8 salvos 
• 114 for Coldsnap x 10 salvos 

Now, because of Plasma being affected only by deflection, no current crews will help with this. Since the salvo plasma damage is well under 500, how do we calculate the actual pass through damage? We don't have to, thanks to the wonderful people over at Thedarkalliance. Thanks to a very informative post about the pass through damage on the Punisher and Drac Carrier. This number is found to be 57. 

• 57 for Executioner x 4 salvos = 228
• 57 for Mortar x 8 salvos = 456
• 57 for Coldsnaps x 10 salvos = 570
• Total Plasma damage is 1254

Since this number was found through deflection, we don't have to worry about turret defenses.  Lets plug in the final damage per turret and then into our formula again, counting in for evade and anti's. Here is the formula with names instead of numbers. 

Note, we have broken up the turrets into damage types, because of the plasma damage being nonresistance based, we add it at the end after the deflection has been deduced and cut in half. 

((((Salvo Damage-Pen-Ex)/(Resistance-Pen)*(Accuracy))*2+(Salvo Damage-Pen-Mortar)/(Resistance-Pen)*8+(Salvo Damage-Exp-Mortar)/(Resistance-Exp)*8+(((Salvo Damage-Exp-Ex)/(Resistance-Exp)*(Accuracy)*2)+((Salvo Damage-Exp-Cs)/(Resistance-Exp)*10)*2)-(siege deflection*5)=(Final Damage/2)+Plasma damage=Total damage

Health/Total Damage=number of full salvo hits to sink hull. 

Using this Punisher build, let's find how many salvos it takes to sink it. 

(((2247)/(1.92)*1.05)*2)+(500)/(1.92)*0+(2500)/(1.88)*0+(((449)/(1.88)*1.05)*2)+(((1272)/(1.88)*10)*2)-(2500)=(13991/2)+627=7622

21214/7622= 2.78 number of full salvo hits to sink hull. 

21214/6585 damage every 9 seconds = 36 seconds 

21214/1036 damage every 5 seconds = 105 seconds 

This leaves with an average time of 27 seconds

With plasma damage providing for a 2 second difference in survival, but that is with the Uncommon Sea Serpents crew. What about with no crew? 

(((2247)/(1.92)*1.2)*2)+(500)/(1.92)*0+(2500)/(1.88)*0+(((449)/(1.88)*1.2)*2)+(((1272)/(1.88)*10)*2)-(2500)=(14413/2)+627=

21214/7834 = 2.71 number of full salvo hits to sink hull. 

21214/6585 damage every 9 seconds = 36 seconds 

21214/1249 damage every 5 seconds = 85 seconds 

This gives us an estimated 25 seconds for this ship to sink.

This provides another 2 second difference between having a crew and not. Now, comparing this last test with the first test using antis and no crew, the ship lasts for 26 seconds. 

1 second difference between plasma damage and no plasma damage. What does this all boil down to? The siege deflection. If you can add more, add it, even adding 20 more is a big deal. Back to the equation for proof. 

(((2247)/(1.92)*1.2)*2)+(500)/(1.92)*0+(2500)/(1.88)*0+(((449)/(1.88)*1.2)*2)+(((1272)/(1.88)*10)*2)-(2600)=(14313/2)+627=

21214/7783 = 2.72 number of full salvo hits to sink hull. 

21214/6585 damage every 9 seconds = 36 seconds 

21214/1198 damage every 5 seconds = 90 seconds 

Leaving an average of 26 seconds. If using the Sea Serpents, the best crew to use, gives us an extra 2 seconds, and having an extra just 20 siege deflection gives us an extra 1 second, not counting in the extra resistance? You bet i'm gonna try and fit it on. 

As always, Film at 11