Bypass Thermite is a nice trick, but it's mostly just for the Clarion. It's definitely really fun to land though.

Totally works on Spearpoint too.

Totally works on Spearpoint too.

Aha, good point. I gotta switch all them over to thermites. After all, the ion missile nerf has finally abated this swarm of Pikes and Spearpoints.

Aha, good point. I gotta switch all them over to thermites. After all, the ion missile nerf has finally abated this swarm of Pikes and Spearpoints.

I never used ion much on my spearpoint because it was mostly my "dick around and go WHEEEE" ship. I pull it out when there are a lot of bombers in TDM because thermiting bombers fills me with sadistic glee.

I fly the imperium with LLC, Remote Slicing, Themites. I'll get my lock, boost in to slicing range, let the missile go, open up with LLC. Sometimes, when I want to make them wet their pants I'll just hold the lock until the shields are gone from rSlicing and LLC. This will kill a bomber in under 10 seconds. Other things, much much faster.

We have an archer clarion build in this thread. The remote slicing's shield reduction is decent, but IMO not worth waiting for on a bomber, and not worth pushing on a bomber anyway. If the bomber will be in LOS for a thermite, then I just do that and wail with quads. LLCs seem an interesting and powerful take on that, however.

What I use the slicing for is to press it while a lock is almost acquired versus a target with a remaining missile break, then launch missile when it is, OR by pressing it simultaneous with the launch versus a ship with multiple breaks. Disabling the break is just so excellent.

Novadive/Blackbolt

Defensive Components : The Basics : This ship defenses are simple. Do NOT get hit.

Defensive Components I : Passive Evasion : This build use Distortion Field, Lightweight Armor and an Evasion crew for a 33% passive evasion, a second missile break on a 20s CD followed by a 35% evasion boost. Since Distortion Field takes care of giving you a missile break on a relatively long CD, you can use any manoeuver since you will have with the worst choice, Barrel Roll, a break every 10s. Another advantage of having two lock-on break simply comes from firing them in a short window or to simply use your manoeuver for something else while keeping Distortion Field to break an incoming missile or to use Distrtion Field to avoid fire and keep your engine to do it. Using a Running Interferance copilot is good but I prefer running an offensive copilot (normally Wingman).

Shield : Distortion Field (right)

Engine : Doesn't matter. The T3 upgrade is always either 10% more speed or 10% more turning. This choice depends on your skill. If you always think you should turn faster to keep a beat on your target, go with turning. Otherwise, go with speed.

Armor : Lightweight Armor

Thrusters : Regeneration Thrusters

Engineering Crew : C2-N2/Blizz

Defensive Crew : Nadia Grell/Vector

Defensive Components II : Active Evasion : This build relies on actively evading your opponents. You need to stay out of their line of sight, out of their range. This build comes with 45% base shield over the Passive Evasion build and about three or four time as much boosting power depending on the situation while losing a missile break, 9% evasion and a 35% active evasion boost. StE Converter will basicly transfer 18% of your base shield to your engine. This gives you a very good boosting power. Though the lack of lock on break will force you to use Power Dive. Here again using a Running Interferance copilot is good but I prefer running an offensive copilot (normally Wingman).

Shield : Engine Power Converter/StE Converter (left)

Engine : Power Dive (left)

Armor : Lightweight Armor

Thrusters : Regeneration Thrusters (Speed Thrusters can be used if you use Booster Recharge)

Engineering Crew : C2-N2/Blizz

Defensive Crew : Nadia Grell/Vector

Offensive Components : The Basics

The Novadive/Blackbolt has six major offensive components. Rocket Pods. Sabotage Probes. Thermite Torpedoes. Tergeting Telemetry. EMP Field. Booster Recharge (it is more a defensive components but in an offensive slot and will still dictate your playstyle). It also has two primaries. Light Laser Cannons and Laser Cannons. Rapid-Fire Laser Cannons and Sensor Beacon are trap. Sensor does absolutely nothing useful in the small map we actually have (it would take a map about twice as big as Denon for it to be useful). RFL are just trash. Lowest DPS. Low accuracy. High RoF. Laser Cannons is better used because of its range which make it better when time is a factor rather important in your DPS, so when using a cooldown or a debuff as your primary source of damage. Light Laser Cannons higher close range DPS is better when time is a non issue but you want to max out your DPS output because your max DPS is limited in number, like with Rocket Pods.

Offensive Components I : Rocket Pods and Targeting Telemetry : This build is the best offensive build for a Nova. 15% chance of criting on a Rocket and 59% on a laser with TT and CF up is huge. 75% crit multiplier is even better. Targeting Telemetry also has 50% uptime (30s CD, 15s duration) which is the best buff ingame. Basicly this build is made to stay in the fight and kill stuff. So the Pasive Evasion defensive build is slightly better, but the far higher shield of the active evasion is good too, especially against bombers.

Primary : Laser Cannons (left/right) OR Light Laser Cannons (left/right)

Secondary : Rocket Pods (right/left) : Since you should NEVER need the DoT with how fast you should kill about everything, the increased range is your only option, especially since it raises their accuracy slightly.

Systems : Targeting Telemetry (right/left) : Since Targeting Prediction only works on the activation, it is less efficient than an evasion buff.

Capacitor : Frequency Capacitor

Offensive Crew and Copilot : Qyzen Fess/Lt. Pierce

Offensive Components II : Rocket Pods and Booster Recharge : This build forgo some burst for an even better mobility. With fully maxed LLC and pods, you can waste most opponents before they can react. But bombers, heavily armored gunships and strikes while have time to react before you can down them. This build is a hunter build. You lack the ober burst of Targeting Telemetry, but you have the mobility to keep up with about anything, especially if you are using StE Converter. This build is made to work with Wingman, but Bypass could be good (only on Pubside since Impside cannot get Bypass without losing more important passives).

Primary : Light Laser Cannons (right/right) : Since this build doesn't rely on crits, the tracking penalty reduction overweight the crit chance here. The need for high DPS here forces the use of LLC instead of LC slighty lower DPS but better efficient range.

Secondary : Rocket Pods (right/??) : Both the DoTs and the range buff are valid choices.

Systems : Booster Recharge (left/left)

Capacitor : Frequency Capacitor

Offensive Crew : Kira Carsen/Lt. Pierce

Offensive Components III : Sabotage Probe and Targeting Telemetry : This build focuses on controlling your target then bursting it down. Targeting Telemetry, Concentrated Fire and Light Laser Cannons together give you over 2000 dps. Lock a probe, boost up close, launch the probe and burst down your target. If you can, try to target people who will end up crashing once under Sabo's effect, it'll force them to stop and be easier to kill. TT and LLC can also kill things up pretty fast even without Sabo's control or CF crit chance.

Primary : Laser Cannons (left/right) OR Light Laser Cannons (left/right)

Secondary : Sabotage Probe (left/----) : The speed debuff is the best choice, but T5 upgrade seems to make Sabo bugs. So just don,t take any until this bug is fixed.

Systems : Targeting Telemetry (right/left)

Capacitor : Frequency Capacitor

Offensive Crew and Copilot : Qyzen Fess/Gault

Offensive Components IV : Thermite Torpedoes and Targeting Telemetry : Thermite Torpedoes delivering a nasty debuff, this build focuses on exploiting it. Laser Cannons longer range comes into play here since you basicly want to begin inflicting damage as soon as you can. Note that Impside can't get both Concentrated Fire, Pinpointing and Improved Kill Zone, so you must chose between Pinpointing and Improved Kill Zone.

Primary : Laser Cannons (left/right)

Secondary : Thermite Torpedoes (left/left) : Since the only use of the torpedoes is to enhance your own damage, increasing its duration is the best choice. The speed upgrade is the best choice, but if you can't lock easily in the smaller arc, the firing arc upgrade is a valid choice.

Systems : Targeting Telemetry (right/left)

Capacitor : Range Capacitor

Offensive Crew and Copilot : Qyzen Fess/HK-51 OR Gault

Offensive Components V : Rocket Pods and EMP Field : This build is excellet to counter gunships and bombers. Use EMP Field to disable a sat's defenses than neutralize the bomber swiftly up close. Or keep a gunship form fleeing before you open up on his six. This build is mostly made to use Wingman, but Pubside could also use Bypass even if it's less effective.

Primary : Laser Cannons (left/right) OR Light Laser Cannons (right/right)

Secondary : Rocket Pods (right/??) : Both the DoTs and the range buff are valid choices.

Systems : EMP Field (right/????) : Both T5 upgrades are valid choices, depending on what you which to lock-out on the enemy. The engine lock-out is more useful against everything, but timing correctly an EMP with shield lock-out on a Charged Plating user is awesome.

Capacitor : Frequency Capacitor

Offensive Crew : Kira Carsen/Lt. Pierce

Offensive Components VI : Thermite Torpedoes and EMP Field : Bomber Killer. I have no other way to explain it. Basicly it uses Thermites to weaken the bomber's hull and EMP Field to neuter its defenses. Using Bypass on this build is awesome, but again Impside should never try to get it and instead use Wingman.

Primary : Laser Cannons (left/right)

Secondary : Thermite Torpedoes (right/left) : Since the only use of the torpedoes is to enhance your own damage, increasing its duration is the best choice. The speed upgrade is the best choice, but if you can't lock easily in the smaller arc, the firing arc upgrade is a valid choice.

Systems : EMP Field (right/????) : Both T5 upgrades are valid choices, depending on what you which to lock-out on the enemy. The engine lock-out is more useful against everything, but timing correctly an EMP with shield lock-out on a Charged Plating user is awesome.

Capacitor : Range Capacitor

Offensive Crew : Qyzen Fess/Jaesa Wilsaam

Not that the other build would be bad here (including myself ), but the Nova Guide by Ryuku-sama surpasses everything in detail and alternative options. I fly my Blackbolt often here but I could still learn a lot. Thank you!

THank you I'll post my future guides too when I'm done writing them then At least if our lovely despicable (yeah Verain I'm talking of you) doesn't destroy my less serious builds

Looks good, but I thought Barrel Roll's break was every 20s and only Power Dive had a break every 10s. I don't think that alters your recommendation of DField for it's missile break but I do think that alters how/when you use breaks since you can't spam either.

In fact you can spam, than hide for 15-20s. Or fire them every 10 sec.. Like you would do with the second defensive style

In fact you can spam, than hide for 15-20s. Or fire them every 10 sec.. Like you would do with the second defensive style

oh I think I get what you're saying, the way it read though sounded like you were saying Barrel Roll had a 10s CD.

Thanks for the comments and discussion! I've gone through it and added each build to their respective sections. I'm glad people are still finding this useful and interesting. If there are any future demos, videos, tutorials of any kind or things you guys find helpful, let me know and I will add them!

I'm glad there's still new players taking advantage of all the stuff our veterans have put together.

Second part of my guide!!!!!!!!! The Boy Bomber!!!!!! If I finish this Stasie, you will have to replace your guide with mine

Rempart Mark Four/M-7 Razorwire

The T1 Bomber (also known as Boy Bomber) was designed to be an assault ship. Mines high AoE burst and control was initially capable to clear a whole sat in a matter of seconds. Now, after that mines' AoE learned to follow LoS, they have lost a lot of punch. Diving in a battle after your team's gunships destroyed the turrets (or even before if you are using Charged Plating) can still turn the sat. But their offensive capacities have been brought in line with T2 Bomber's. Basicly, T1 and T2 Bomber has the same role, with the T1 having a slight edge with Hyperspace Beacon and the T2 having a bigger one with Repair Drone.

Defensive Components : The Basics

The T1 Bomber has two shields. Overcharged Shield and Charged Plating. Shield Projector isn't good enough. As a bomber, you'll be focused. Hard. Often. Higher base shield will always trump regeneration under heavy fire simply because your regeneration will never kick in. Sure Shield Projector's active can regenerate up to 48% of your shield over 10s or 40% over 6s. Overcharged Shield still give 50% more base shield for the worst shield regeneration in-game, problem that can be covered by one EtS Converter. And its active has a rather high uptime (slightly less than 45% if not talented) that basicly boost your shield strenght by 18% (27% if talented). Charged Plating is better than Shield Projector because of its high uptime (slightly under 60%) and huge DR (99%). Sure its bleedthrough make it rather hard to use since you can't negate the armor pen weapons as well as you could without it.

Defensive Components I : Overcharged Shield : This shield strenght is clearly the huge buffer it is. 2925. 3195 with the active. 3330 if talented. The best shield capacity in-game. But it comes at a rather heavy cost. 60% less shield regeneration. It could as well be 100% it wouldn't change anything. Because of this you are forced to use EtS Converter to create a somewhat good shield regen of 300 shield every 6s at a moderate sacrifice of engine power. This defensive build is more general than the next one. Using Hydrospanner is the best option here.

Shield : Overcharged Shield (???) : Both options are viable. The better uptime shines in an attrition war around a sat while the higher buff shines in a joust.

Engine : Shield Power Converter/EtS Converter (left) : This build places all its survivability in the hope its shield will be enough to survive. So chosing more shield is the best bet in this situation.

Armor : Deflection Armor : More DR means more survivability against Seismic Mines, which are one of the biggest threat to a bomber, behind gunships.

Reactor : Large Reactor

Engineering Crew : C2-N2/Blizz

Defensive Crew : M1-4X/Xalek

Defensive Components II : Defensive Charged Plating : This shield is almost OP. If it wasn't for the overly impressive number of armor pen weaponry in the game, it would be. 99% DR. 99% DR. 1% damage. Almost 60% uptime. You're basicly God.. Until a) BLC b) HLC c) slug/plasma railguns d) any torpedo e) concusion missiles talented for armor pen f) rocket pods. This defensive build is powerful against newbie (since none will have armor pen) or when you can identify most weapon at their firing patterns. If you can't do it, don,t use this build. You'll get exploded too fast for you to blink. The bleedthrough is dangerous. Add to that an armor pen, and you will eat 20% of the damage you would normally mitigate with a normal shield. Against weapons fielding armor pen, your only option is to keep your shield up for as long as you can. Hydrospanner is almost mandatory on this build. It's small... But it's something.

Shield : Charged Plating (right)

Engine : Shield Power Converter/EtS Converter (right) : More engine means more shield. And having enough engine to get away from armor pen weaponry is key to your survivability

Armor : Deflection Armor

Reactor : Large Reactor

Engineering Crew : C2-N2/Blizz

Defensive Crew : M1-4X/Xalek

Defensive Components III : Utility Charged Plating : The engine component in this build, unlike the previous one, doesn't contribute to your survivability. Interdiction effects are nice. Snaring your opponents is awesome. But Interdiction Drive radius is far too small and it is plagued by a really bad probem. It destroys your turning by making you go faster. It also cost far too much engine to be an efficient escape manoeuver. Hyperspace Beacon is awesome. Simple. It's one of the best utility components in game.

Engine I : Interdiction Drive (??) : Both options are valid.

Engine II : Hyperspace beacon (left) : Your Hyper Beacon should be placed far enough from the fight it won't be seen and attacked. The speed buff help your allies to join the fight faster. Remember that people using the Beacon will spawn facing the direction you were facing when you placed it.

Offensive Components : The Basics

This ship can be built for assault or for defense. Sure a more defensive build can be used to attack a sat, or a more offensive build to defend a sat but they will shine much more in their dedicated role than in the other. Defensive build normally try to create a no trespassing area around the sat. You can acchive this mostly by stacking mines in strategical emplacements, away enough of the sat to destroy thing before they get close, and force them to avoid the mine and let you hammer them with your lasers, and some others close enough to the sat to keep everyone from hiding around it for too long. The assault builds normally use mines that have much more punch, but aren't as easily stackable. The goal here is more to pop one mine every 7 sec and put out as much AoE pressure as you possibly can, trying to make them detonate manually if needed. Both of these builds use the same weaponry, the mines being the only changes between them.

Primary : Heavy Laser Cannons (right/left) : Armor pen and shield pen is the standard build for HLC. Using LC could be a good idea, but I always find myself wishing for extra range when i do. While I don,t miss the slightly higher firing arcs of LC when i use HLC.

Magazine : Regeneration Extender

Offensive Crew : Any that give Pinpointing. Pubside, I use B-3G9 for Hydrospanner, but using another one and getting Bypass from M1-4X is also a good idea. Impside, I use any of them since Bypass is impossible to get without losing Pinpointing, and I get Hydrospanner from Blizz.

Seeker Mines : Seeker are nice. Very nice. High damage, huge activation radius, possiblity to poop up to three mines. But they are single target and depends on a instant lock-on. Stacking three of those around a sat ensure that against anything but a T1 triple breaker scout, at least one will hit. The AoE is nice but I find it lackluster. 2000m is too small for a simple 441 damage. The speed increase is better than the radius increase in my opinion simply because the speed increse let less time to the opponent to react. Seeker Mines fit rather well a defensive build. Three Seeker and two or three mines around a sat willkeep about anything but a specialized build or a crazy pilot away.

Seismic Mines : Seismic pack a lot of punch. 593 damage straight to the hull. That's just powerful. But it comes at a rather heavy price. Despite its large detonation radius, its proximity radius is rather small and only one mine can be up at any moment. This led to a special gameplay. The maunual detonation. Requiring some practice, detonating manually a Seismic can make up for its lack of proximity radius. The radius increase is a good choice, but I prefer the snare simply because a snared target is easier to kill. The crit chance is good but the hull DoT is more powerful.

Interdiction Mines : Interdiction. 60% snare. Do I need to say more? This mine is simply powerful. A snared target is a dead target if anyone bother to kill it. Always using the 10% extra snare, your only choice comes if you want to use it offensivly or defensively. On an assault build, you will chose the extra radius while you will chse the extra mine on a defensive build.

Concussion Mines : Concussion are a good damage mine. 950 hull damage, 1113 shield damge, 20% shield pen. They pack a lot of punch. A whole lot of punch. They are good both for an assault build and a defensive build. For the defensive build, you should go with the extra mine while the extra radius is more useful for an assault build.

Ion Mines : These are garbage. They do less damage than a Concussion, and drain almost nothing. The regeneration slow is simply subpar when you look at Ion Railgun or Ion Missiles.

So a strike fighter build update. I switched GSF mains, the game has changed quite a bit since December 2013, and I'm a lot better with blaster accuracy than I was when I first started playing GSF. These builds are what I'm currently using most of the time.

F-T6 RYCER // TZ-24 GLADIATOR // FT-8 STAR GUARD // TZ-24 ENFORCER

The Ion Cannon and Heavy Laser Cannon strike fighter is one of those things that seems like it shouldn't work, but done well turns out to be surprisingly good. Sort of like a Strawberry-Jalapeno smoothie.

:: COMPONENTS

Primary Weapon: Ion Cannon (T4 Drain Engine Power, T5 Drain Shield Power)

This started as a 'silly' experiment, and I found that I really like them. They instantly and utterly destroy shields. In order to be really good though, you need to be able to hit with a strong cannon to finish the kill. Now that I can do that with HLCs at point blank range I really appreciate Ion Cannons. If you aren't an elite GSF marksman they're still an option. Instead of trying to get the kill yourself, just rip the shields off of as many ships as you can and let someone else worry about getting the kill.

Primary Weapon: Heavy Laser Cannon (T4 Ignore Armor, T5 Shield Piercing)

This is the bread and butter of this build, if you have the option, kill it with heavies.

Shield piercing and Armor ignore for the upgrades.

Secondary Weapon: Concussion Missiles (T4 Increased Ammo, T5 Ignore armor)

Mid range and high power option. If you don't care about hurting bombers and the rare charged plating strike fighter engine targeting is actually a better dogfighting choice.

Engine: Retro Thrusters (T3 Increased Turning Rate)

More time for blaster fire and missile locks and a defensive missile lock break. The clear offensive dogfighting pick.

Shields: Quick Charge Shields (T3 Reduced Cooldown)

Engine boost, rapid recharge, and recharge on cooldown. Together it adds up to a very powerful component choice.

Reactor: Large Reactor

With quick charge shields this is by far the best choice.

Thruster: Regeneration Thrusters

Having become a more skilled pilot, I've dropped Turning for Regeneration. It's a trade of tactical maneuverability for strategic maneuverability. The overall balance of GSF has also shifted substantially, and with scouts less dominant than they used to be I find turning thrusters no longer worth the loss of mobility they impose.

Capacitor: Range Capacitor

Heavy Lasers at 6.9 km are absolutely devastating. The way their accuracy works firing at max range is a good thing and to be exploited as much as possible.

Magazine: Regeneration Extender

The all-around best choice for sustained fire. More regeneration means more laser shots means more damage.

:: CREW ABILITES

Copilot: Bypass (Republic) Wingman or Running Interference (Imperial)

Gearing up new ships I really noticed and really missed shield piercing on HLCs and Concussion Missiles. This was a way to get it back before I had the weapons fully upgraded. On the Imperial side this is impossible due to a critical shortage of annoying Trandoshans. Since you can't sacrifice the pinpointing and accuracy passives, that leaves you with a choice of Wingman for hitting annoying scouts and gunships or Running Interfererence for maybe not getting hit by them.

Offensive: Improved Kill Zone 2 degrees to firing arc & Pinpointing 6% accuracy

These crew members provide the best offensive power to your weaponry. Having an extra 6% accuracy for your primary weapon helps overcome evasion-stacking and allows you to take more glancing shots.

Defensive: Shield Power, Evasion

Standard choices.

Tactical: sensor radius & communication

Strikes need all the detection help they can get. Radius is better than focus as you get to see the gunships to the side and behind you. Imperials might take sensor focus instead in order to get the Wingman active ability.

Engineering: Efficient Maneuvers & Efficient Fire

You want speed and ammo for dogfighting the this give both of those. Efficient maneuvers and Power to Engines is also a decent option.

F-T2 QUELL // FT-6 PIKE

I still run the Pike as a longish medium range missile platform. It centers on getting to a position where it's out of blaster range to lock on with missiles, which means there's a need for speed. I'll spend most of a match with power to engines. At the higher skill levels, you can boost in after getting a missile lock and launch long range missiles from short range. At 500m it doesn't matter if a target has two missile breaks ready to go, they won't have enough time to use them. That's an extremely hard trick to pull off with something like a Proton Torpedo though, boosting in to around 3-5 km greatly reduces missile flight time and the locks are not insanely difficult to maintain on a maneuvering target.

:: COMPONENTS

Primary Weapon: Heavy Laser Cannon (T4 Armor Penetration, T5 Shield Piercing)

I used to run Quads, but now that my aim has improved enough so that I consider trying to take a shot at a maneuvering target at 500m reasonable, I find HLCs to be superior in just about all respects.

Secondary Weapon: Proton Torpedoes (T4 Increased Speed, T5 Increased Range)

I use the first slot so that in default configuration my longest range missile is selected when I start a battle. Silly little quality of life thing. Long range, hard hitting, damage to hulls. Good stuff. If launched at over 5 km you really need to make sure that the target just used a missile lock break or you need to plan on the torpedo being wasted. Once you learn to boost in from a solid lock at 8+ km to release the missile at 3 km or less, the proton torpedo becomes a rather terrifying weapon.

Cluster Missiles could reasonably be substituted into this build based on pilot preference/flying style.

Secondary Weapon: Concussion Missiles (T4 Increased Ammo, T5 varies )

The spammy short range missile. Well for this build. Against a target with missile lock breaks that are on cooldown a proton torpedo + concussion missile combo is fatal to all but the tankiest ships, and even they will be in trouble if you hit them with HLCs afterwards. With a quicker lock on time and a wider firing arc, these are the missile of choice if you loose separation between yourself and your targets. They also hurt a lot. So it's nice to have a lot of them to fire, thus the extra ammo. For T5 against scouts, strikes, and gunships you want engine targeting, against bombers you want ignore armor. If there are ever PvE elements tougher than turrets you might want ignore armor for them, assuming that destroying them isn't a waste of missiles.

Cluster Missiles could reasonably be substituted into this build based on pilot preference/flying style.

Engine: Barrel Roll (T3 Increased Turn Rate)

Creates a gap fast, very valuable in a long range missile platform. Now that I'm using HLCs and consequently firing blasters more often (I can start shooting when I start a Concussion Missile lock) I find that having at least a little bit of upgrade to turn rate is nice.

Shields: Quick Charge Shield (T3 Regen During Damage)

This shield gets taken for the engine benefits. You shouldn't be under fire for long periods of time, so the quick recharge ability should be enough to tide you over until you can disengage. The regen makes up a bit for the smaller size and you really shouldn't be sticking around long enough for it to come off of cooldown even with the reduction.

Armor: Lightweight Armor

Having messed around with the Binomial Distribution, and other black arts of mathematical modelling, I can say with confidence that for short encounters evasion beats the heck out of similar quantities of any other option, and it's more likely to make the difference between living and dying when it really matters.

Thruster: Speed Thrusters

To get in a missile launch position you need to be able to get to the right place in space, and boosting is by far the best way to do this quickly enough to take advantage of good tactical situations. Strike fighters are not especially efficient at boosting, and despite a larger size, don't seem to get much in the way of bigger fuel tanks. So getting a build that can always boost to where it wants to be is tricky. I find that the key to success is in the boost mechanic. It multiplies base engine speed by 3.2. The other thruster options give a roughly 20% increase in boost ability, speed thrusters appear to be worse at a mere 10%, but that 10% then gets multiplied by 3.2. It is very, very good.

Capacitor: Ranged capacitor

I love 6.9 km of range on HLCs. So if I have HLCs equipped I refuse to even consider any other type of capacitor.

Magazine: Munitions Capacity Extender

I've left this stock, but may soon shift to Power Pool Extender. If I can get ammo refills from teammates the extra missiles aren't that useful, and with good power management you don't really need the regeneration extender if you're flying a hit and run style of fight. That leaves Power Pool as the option the lets you get off an extra shot or two before you run dry.

:: CREW ABILITES

Copilot: Bypass (Republic) Wingman or Running Interference (Imperial)

Gearing up new ships I really noticed and really missed shield piercing on HLCs and Concussion Missiles. This was a way to get it back before I had the weapons fully upgraded. On the Imperial side this is impossible due to a critical shortage of annoying Trandoshans. Since you can't sacrifice the pinpointing and accuracy passives, that leaves you with a choice of Wingman for hitting annoying scouts and gunships or Running Interfererence for maybe not getting hit by them.

Offensive: Improved Kill zone& Pinpointing

The increased firing arc for proton torpedoes makes a world of difference. Pinpointing buffs laser damage, you could go for rapid reload instead if you'd rather.

Defensive: Power to Shields & Response Tuning(10% shield power pool, 5% evasion)

The ideal defensive options. Republic gets a choice of running interference or bypass if you take co-pilot ability from this category.

Tactical: sensor radius & communication

Strikes need all the detection help they can get. Radius is better than focus as you get to see the gunships to the side and behind you. Imperials might take sensor focus instead in order to get the Wingman active ability.

Engineering: Power to Engines and Efficient Maneuvers

Pikes do love their boost when working off of a speed thrusters based build, so I'm still running with C2-N2 or Blizz here.

Haven't really changed up my Clarion build at all.

@Ramalina:

I'm a pretty big fan of heavy lasers myself. While I do miss the extra damage when I pull to a bead that quads can bring, the extra range, generally constant dps over the long range and versus armor, makes the shots, while less powerful, feel more under control. While I don't think that any strike is bad with quads (it appears to be their iconic choice), I definitely like heavies.

Quick Charge Shield on a Pike is just such a beating. I agree that the advantages of movement are very nice, but without a reactor the shield just feels so insubstantial. You explicitly mention playing the short game multiple times, and I definitely agree it would play into that.

My gripe is that you list a bunch of red ship names but you don't really mean them. You have an Starguard (or Enforcer) build on top, and a Pike build on the bottom.

I would recommend either stating that they are Republic side only, or offer Empire alternatives in the crewman section- no one on Empire, for instance, can get Pinpointing (+6% Accuracy) AND Bypass, so special case the Empire recommendations (ex, recommending Bypass at the cost of Pinpointing, which IMO is terrible, or taking Wingman on Empire side and keeping Pinpointing and Firing Arc, which IMO is the better call). You should also name the crewmembers- saying "Get Bypass and get Pinpointing and get Extra Firing Arc" means "have Qyzen Fess as your offensive and Nadia Grell as your defensive", and it means nothing besides that, so say it!

So just a question for you number crunchers out there: when it comes to Thermites what's the difference in total damage it does the left T5 increased duration and the right T5 Plasma Warheads?

I know that, in terms of overall group utility, the left T5 is the way to go. But if you're looking more for which makes a Thermite do the most damage by itself does the T5 right upgrade pull way ahead of T5 left? Or is the difference fairly small?

I'm asking mainly because since the mine nerfs there seems less of a pressing need to weaken their defenses for as long as possible to give my team a chance to bring down a bomber. So I've been thinking that increasing the total damage Thermites do on their own so as to be more lethal to non-bomber targets might be the way to go since it might make a difference between the DoT killing a strike/scout and them having just enough hull to limp away.

So just a question for you number crunchers out there: when it comes to Thermites what's the difference in total damage it does the left T5 increased duration and the right T5 Plasma Warheads?

 

I know that, in terms of overall group utility, the left T5 is the way to go. But if you're looking more for which makes a Thermite do the most damage by itself does the T5 right upgrade pull way ahead of T5 left? Or is the difference fairly small?

 

I'm asking mainly because since the mine nerfs there seems less of a pressing need to weaken their defenses for as long as possible to give my team a chance to bring down a bomber. So I've been thinking that increasing the total damage Thermites do on their own so as to be more lethal to non-bomber targets might be the way to go since it might make a difference between the DoT killing a strike/scout and them having just enough hull to limp away.

Get the duration. More time under the debuff is better.

So just a question for you number crunchers out there: when it comes to Thermites what's the difference in total damage it does the left T5 increased duration and the right T5 Plasma Warheads?

 

If you can carry on using lasers, then left. If not, then right. My Clarion has left, my Spearpoint, which sits below the satellite, right. Without laser does more damage right. With subsequent lasers left. Darn.

Get the duration. More time under the debuff is better.

Generally correct.

The question was SPECIFICALLY about damage, however. And your choice there is between damage and dps.

Baseline, the thermite deals half the damage upfront and half as damage.

The final upgrade gives you a choice- a 6th tick, at second 18, yielding 20% extra dot damage, or 15% extra dot damage?

(it is 5 to 6, right, not 6 to 7? If it were 6 to 7 it wouldn't change anything, it would be 17% more damage)

So, the lower left option is technically better. As a note, however: If the target lives 17 or less seconds after being struck, the lower left option was the same as choosing nothing at all. Each of the 5 ticks you get with the right option is boosted, after all, and at second 15 your dot has dealt 15% extra damage, while the extra duration dot has dealt 0% extra damage.

I strongly and without hesitation recommend the lower left upgrade- extra duration- because of these reasons, none of which are the extra 5% damage.

> If a target was going to die within those 15 seconds, the magnitude of the dot is not even relevant. Your goal is not to maximize YOUR damage, it's to maximize team points, which are largely based on deaths when discussing the merits of weapons, and the extra 15% dot damage will not make a meaningful impact on that for, say, a target whom it ticks thrice on, killing them, instead of the kill happening at tick 4. Again- the scoreboard is not the game. If your ally gets the kill, that's the same for the team as you getting the kill.

> If a target was NOT going to die within those 15 seconds, an extra three seconds of thermite debuff is impactful. Enemies will often run and stay hidden during a thermite debuff, or get splattered. The 20% shield piercing and 100% armor ignore that the debuff grants are frankly absurd, and I've seen several bombers with charged plating up (thermite totally negates CP during its duration, for everyone) die in the last few seconds of a thermite debuff- without that debuff, they could have stayed alive. The extra duration gets kills and controls enemies- it would be the better option even if the right option were 25% extra damage, and a reasonable choice at around 40%.

Generally correct.

 

The question was SPECIFICALLY about damage, however. And your choice there is between damage and dps.

 

Baseline, the thermite deals half the damage upfront and half as damage.

 

The final upgrade gives you a choice- a 6th tick, at second 18, yielding 20% extra dot damage, or 15% extra dot damage?

(it is 5 to 6, right, not 6 to 7? If it were 6 to 7 it wouldn't change anything, it would be 17% more damage)

 

 

So, the lower left option is technically better. As a note, however: If the target lives 17 or less seconds after being struck, the lower left option was the same as choosing nothing at all. Each of the 5 ticks you get with the right option is boosted, after all, and at second 15 your dot has dealt 15% extra damage, while the extra duration dot has dealt 0% extra damage.

 

I strongly and without hesitation recommend the lower left upgrade- extra duration- because of these reasons, none of which are the extra 5% damage.

 

> If a target was going to die within those 15 seconds, the magnitude of the dot is not even relevant. Your goal is not to maximize YOUR damage, it's to maximize team points, which are largely based on deaths when discussing the merits of weapons, and the extra 15% dot damage will not make a meaningful impact on that for, say, a target whom it ticks thrice on, killing them, instead of the kill happening at tick 4. Again- the scoreboard is not the game. If your ally gets the kill, that's the same for the team as you getting the kill.

> If a target was NOT going to die within those 15 seconds, an extra three seconds of thermite debuff is impactful. Enemies will often run and stay hidden during a thermite debuff, or get splattered. The 20% shield piercing and 100% armor ignore that the debuff grants are frankly absurd, and I've seen several bombers with charged plating up (thermite totally negates CP during its duration, for everyone) die in the last few seconds of a thermite debuff- without that debuff, they could have stayed alive. The extra duration gets kills and controls enemies- it would be the better option even if the right option were 25% extra damage, and a reasonable choice at around 40%.

Thanks! The reason I asked is because lately I've been noticing that, in close matches, I'm sometimes the only one able to make attack runs against bombers hit by thermites. Sometimes that's because my team's scouts have their hands full taking care of the escort fighters (but if the bomber is left alone they inevitably get decimated by mines/drones), other times it's because JC's meta can be very GS heavy so allied fighters are not in range of the bomber because they're engaging enemy GSes 10K+ meters away. Either way I've felt that using an upgrade that would either improve the missiles ability to kill enemy fighters through increased total damage or increase the damage while I set up for another attack run might be more beneficial to my team.

That has gotten me wondering though if protorps might be better since, during reloads, I could focus on helping allied scouts bring down escort fighters and just attempt to kill the bomber with repeated protorp runs (unfortunately in a few matches the escort fighters/GSes were good enough to prevent me from making attack runs during thermite's debuff time so I had to kill a bomber almost solely with thermites; friendly scouts just kept getting blown to pieces because the escort fighters would lure them into the minefield, it seemed at the time that killing the bomber was the only way to give my team's scouts a chance to clear away the escort fighters).

@Ramalina:

 

My gripe is that you list a bunch of red ship names but you don't really mean them. You have an Starguard (or Enforcer) build on top, and a Pike build on the bottom.

 

I would recommend either stating that they are Republic side only, or offer Empire alternatives in the crewman section- no one on Empire, for instance, can get Pinpointing (+6% Accuracy) AND Bypass, so special case the Empire recommendations (ex, recommending Bypass at the cost of Pinpointing, which IMO is terrible, or taking Wingman on Empire side and keeping Pinpointing and Firing Arc, which IMO is the better call). You should also name the crewmembers- saying "Get Bypass and get Pinpointing and get Extra Firing Arc" means "have Qyzen Fess as your offensive and Nadia Grell as your defensive", and it means nothing besides that, so say it!

Correct you are. I was lazy and based this off of an old template I had lying around on the hard drive. Reducing the Copilot options from 2-3 down to one created faction specific crew combos/impossibilities. I'll go fix it.

That has gotten me wondering though if protorps might be better since, during reloads, I could focus on helping allied scouts bring down escort fighters and just attempt to kill the bomber with repeated protorp runs (unfortunately in a few matches the escort fighters/GSes were good enough to prevent me from making attack runs during thermite's debuff time so I had to kill a bomber almost solely with thermites; friendly scouts just kept getting blown to pieces because the escort fighters would lure them into the minefield, it seemed at the time that killing the bomber was the only way to give my team's scouts a chance to clear away the escort fighters).

1- If your target is a charged plating bomber, a thermite will deal more damage than a proton, unless the bomber is killed before the dot ticks (in which case, who cares). Even if the bomber has a full shield and turns on charged plating and nullify (the latter two of which don't matter). The only exception is the proton critting, of course.

The proton deals 916 on average (872 normal, 1308 crit). This is versus any target, of course.

Versus a charged plating bomber, there is a passive shield bleedthrough of 20%. You initially deal 362 to hull (and 362 to shield, but we aren't counting that), then 109 to hull six times in 18 seconds (and like 48 to shield). The net hull damage to the charged plating bomber? 1015.

So, obviously this is a lot of damage, and it's more than the proton on average. Note also that if you can actually remove some shielding and land that versus hull, it's just DUMB amounts of damage, and it also lets the bomber be shot at by nubs for the duration- nubs who will have 40% shield piercing and 100% armor piercing.

2- Versus an overcharged shield bomber:

In this case, the proton is more damage if that's all that happens. But the difference is not large. 794 total damage happens to the bomber's hull, assuming no one bothers him whilst the dot ticks and his shield never falls.

This means that in general, the thermite is very similar to the proton, but lacks:

> The extra range of proton (via talent)

> The ability to crit

> Higher average damage if the shield never falls and is not charged plating.

> The damage can't be healed over by a repair probe unless the target survives the initial hit.

Meanwhile, the thermite gains:

> Higher average hull damage versus charged plating.

> Actually deals some damage to shields, which can be helpful if the hull damage alone won't win.

> Powerful shield debuff

> Complete armor ignore (not just from the torp, all damage done to the target is not reduced)

> Ability to be a LOT of damage if the target doesn't have shields.

> If you play with Anastasie, he is like a shark smelling blood. Put a thermite dot on something, and he'll pop out from behind a satellite and just end that guy.