Escape Velocity Battle Tactics

It worked for me...what works for you?

I noticed the AI (at least in the EV Classic port for Nova) tends to allow me to do some cool things.

For instance, I just took on one of those "Surprise! We're being attacked by Confederation warships!" missions. It was only a small bunch of Confederation Patrol Boats, so I wasn't worried.

Right now I fly an Argosy with:

a missile rack, two proton turrets, 4 shield capacitors, a shield booster, a thrust enhancement, an engine upgrade, a RCS upgrade, two external fuel tanks, an afterburner, and a missile jammer (only things affecting combat are listed)

What I do to deal with small packs of fighters like this is:

1.) Keep my distance, making short strafing runs to get them to use up all their missiles. I'm faster than missiles, so I can outrun them if I have to...but it's nice not to have to.

2.) Once they've used up all their ammo, I circle around them at a slight distance (a short bit more than off-screen) to break them up like so: a pack forms, and one takes the lead in the circular pursuit.

3.) Thanks to my circling, I now have one I can pick off, rather than being swarmed. I now adjust my flight so I'm flying straight, but I slow myself down so the lone fighter can catch up to me, judging the speed so as to keep it next to me and in proton range for the longest possible time. This part is why I want them to be completely out of missiles. I present myself as more or less a sitting duck. I do take some hits from their puny cannons, but my shield booster and capacitors handle that for me perfectly.

4.) Blow the bugger up, and repeat.

In working like this, I can save my missiles for any capital ships or unexpected close calls.

Now, tell us, what methods have worked for you in the past? Any style of combat, any ship, any enemy...go ahead and tell us your tales:

This post has been edited by Dash_Merc : 29 July 2008 - 09:04 PM

Well I have one:

Asteroids (Works with most ships in one-one combat): Basically, you take advantage of the invincible asteroids. Find a slow moving asteroid to stay behind. Any long ranged weapons will hit the asteroid without damaging yourself. When the target looms closer go in a Clockwise or Counter Clockwise circle around the asteroid (hopefully they will go the other way) if they shoot they will probably hit the asteroid while you as a human can turn a couple of degrees to shoot around the asteroid. This works well for fighting Pirate Clippers and scoutships.

Monty Python maneuver has always worked for me.:p But only after the enemy wastes all their missiles and stuff.;)

I pretty much do what IT does...

If I have a tractor beam, I'll use to on the enemy ships, and start shooting my proton turrets at them. The tractor beam prevents them from using any secondary weapons. If they only have cannons, what they have to do is turn their ship around to face me before shooting, in which case I will circle around them so they cannot hit me. If they have turrets then it depends on what I'm piloting and what I'm up against.