How do you kill alien fighters?

I HATE those little bastards!

The alien cruiser is doable, because his shields don't regenerate, right? But the fighters are freakin indestructable. I'm driving a pimped Kestrel and I take a full escort posse in with me--I've tried 6 corvettes, 6 lightnings, and 6 rapiers. I can knock off the cruiser by myself, patiently, with torpedoes or rockets, so I save the posse for the final battle with those a**hole fighters, but...WE CAN'T BEAT THEM DOWN TO EVEN 80% SHIELDS!

What to do?

Thank you for your help.

This post has been edited by ErrilFracas : 28 June 2005 - 10:53 PM

You dont HAVE to kill the fighters. You only have to kill the cruiser. When you do that, just jump out.

Really? I killed the fighters with this tactic:
1. I had to be out of their range.
2. I had to fly with the same velocity like them.
3. I turned around and shot with all my weapons!!!

You should try this, because if you only kill the Cruiser the battle will be boring.

Get the tractor beam if you don't already have it (and you better not be working for the 'Feds ;)). Then when they come close, grab them with it and use your primaries on them. Make sure they do not turn towards you though, because they can still fire the fusion beam. This is a long and hard process, but I find it most effective.

If you don't get it on the first few tries, don't worry about it. I consider the Alien Fighter to be the hardest ship of the normal EV Universe. Their shields regenerate extremely quickly, so make sure you hold your grip on them with the tractor beam.

Frequency 245, on Jun 29 2005, 09:24 AM, said:

2. I had to fly with the same velocity like them.

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I agree that this would work, but unless you're flying a really fast ship, or if you have the tractor beam, this is really difficult.

Still, unless you're playing a plug-in, unless you can do this, destroying an Alien Fighter is nearly impossible. I don't think the Confederation was ever able to do this with their capital ships; it must've taken a wing of fighters to bring just one of these guys down.

I didn't even use the tractor beam.

Upgrade as much shielding and primaries (even cannons) as you can. A fast ship helps. Also, a faster ship's shields will regen faster than, say, a carrier.

Get rid of your secondary weaps (torpedos, et al) except for Javelin Rockets and pods. Purchase as many jav rockets as you can, then start looting pirate ships. This way you can actually acquire more jav rockets than you can purchase! You will need over 1200, sorry, I can't remember the exact amount.

Yes, Jav Rockets are not as powerful as torps, but they are fast, weigh nothing (you can hold a lot!) and the damage to your own ship is minimal.

Get in real close to the fighter/carrier, I mean, NEXT it, and barrage it with your primaries and the javelin rockets at the same time. This will force them backwards, but that is what you want.

It works. Timing is everything. It might take a few times, but you can do it!

This post has been edited by wondergirl : 30 June 2005 - 11:23 AM

Nice work, wondergirl.

Next challenge: defeating an Alien Attack Fighter (or Alien Devlin, I can't remember if the latest version includes the name change) from EVGE...

Firebird, on Jun 30 2005, 05:15 PM, said:

Next challenge: defeating an Alien Attack Fighter (or Alien Devlin, I can't remember if the latest version includes the name change) from EVGE...View Post

I don't know the game to which you refer... EVGE?

EVGE is a plug-in for EV classic. It's available on the add-ons page.

(Edit) BTW, it stands for EV Game Expander... (/Edit)

This post has been edited by Firebird : 30 June 2005 - 10:12 PM

Firebird, on Jun 30 2005, 08:11 PM, said:

EVGE is a plug-in for EV classic. It's available on the add-ons page.View Post

Thanks! I will DL it as soon as I finish FOTVE for EVO.

Yeah...it's quite good -- it's widely considered to be one of the best expansion plug-ins for EVC, and it blends into the original scenario pretty well.

Destroyer E and Wondergirl are mostly right. I use an all primary weapon loadout. As many proton turrets, proton cannons, then laser cannons as I can fit. Get in close enough to the fighter that your nose overlaps its sprite. Circle it and fire. Tractor beams help.

Fallen Man, on Jul 2 2005, 09:12 PM, said:

Destroyer E and Wondergirl are mostly right.
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Mostly? πŸ˜›

Fallen Man, what works for one person, might not work for the other. I tried with the tractor beam, and preferred using all weaps instead. If you have a fast enough ship, and actually connect with the alien ship, and hold down the acceleration key, you don't need the tractor beam. Now, if you have a sloooooow carrier type... well then, yes, I would use it.

You can beat an alien fighter in a defender with a tractor beam and the rest of the space for laser cannons.

So long as you don't get hit, this is fairly simple. It turns out the effectiveness of the tracker beam is related to the speed/turning of the ship. What happens is the fighter can't turn at all, and you've got a very good lock on it. Then you just hold it in place and fire your laser cannons at it. You have just enough laser cannons to do more damage than it regens every second, so it's possible to kill this way. Took like 10 minutes to knock it down to 80% for me, then I got bored and said "it can be done".

πŸ™‚

-Cham

Fallen Man, on Jul 3 2005, 04:12 AM, said:

Destroyer E and Wondergirl are mostly right. I use an all primary weapon loadout. As many proton turrets, proton cannons, then laser cannons as I can fit. Get in close enough to the fighter that your nose overlaps its sprite. Circle it and fire. Tractor beams help.
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(I)

The Laser Cannon does more damage/sec to shields than a Proton Cannon , and since the alien ships have more armor...Well, you get the picture. Proton Turrets on the other hand deal more damage/sec to shields than Laser Turrets.

I thought you didnt get the Tractor beam before that mission hmm i got it after but anyways another good idea is to have your buddies stay right beside you as you fly they still shoot so whenever the alien ships come close all your ships and yourself shoot like crazy .. that worked for me .. but tractor beam works the best!

Chamrin, on Jul 7 2005, 02:22 AM, said:

You can beat an alien fighter in a defender with a tractor beam and the rest of the space for laser cannons.

So long as you don't get hit, this is fairly simple. It turns out the effectiveness of the tracker beam is related to the speed/turning of the ship. What happens is the fighter can't turn at all, and you've got a very good lock on it. Then you just hold it in place and fire your laser cannons at it. You have just enough laser cannons to do more damage than it regens every second, so it's possible to kill this way. Took like 10 minutes to knock it down to 80% for me, then I got bored and said "it can be done".

πŸ™‚

-Cham
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Unfortunately, the alien fighter can still turn while in the tractor beam, but very slowly. Therefore, every once in a while, you have to move a little to stay out of the way of the fusion beam (which he can still fire while tractored, but he cannot fire his seeker drones).

Some other ships (such as a Confed Gunboat), cannot move or shoot at all while being tractored. It's a pretty funny site.

In conclusion, Chamrin is right in saying that a Defender with a tractor beam can do it. The only problem is the fact that the alien firers the seekers as soon as he spots you, so you'll have to outrun them first (even though he only fires two I believe).

wondergirl, on Jul 4 2005, 01:32 PM, said:

Mostly? πŸ˜›

I agree. πŸ˜„

i remember using some combo of space bombs and the tractor beam/cannon bit. i was really digging the space bombs when i played ev.

antihero, on Jul 9 2005, 10:39 AM, said:

i remember using some combo of space bombs and the tractor beam/cannon bit. i was really diggingthe space bombs when i played ev.View Post

I could never get the timing down to be efficient with the darn things. I usually ended up doing more damage to my own ship. <_<

I seem to remember freezing the alien cruiser in place with the tractor beam. You can indeed get the tractor before you have to vape the cruiser.