wishihadaname Posted February 15, 2014 Share Posted February 15, 2014 So I did a bit of playing around with the EMP missile tonight and I can say that it really feels like it doesn't have much of a function. It doesn't pack enough of a punch to knock out drones, its AOE isn't large enough to cover the average drone field (usually scattered across/around a sat) and the lock on range is too short. It would be more useful if it could be used from outside the range of a railgun drone, but as it is, you have to spend so long lined up with the drone that you will eat at least one railgun shot to the windshield while trying to lock a missile that will do about 60% of the dones health in damage and disable it for 15s. I could have done better in that time with a concussion missile and my cannons. For a missile that has very little use against players, I would expect a bit more utility against hardware and drones. Here are a few suggestions for how I think it should be fixed (and it does need to be fixed because currently a pair of bombers can essentially lock down a sat against a pug with no reliable counter for an entire game). 1) Increase range to 10km and increase the AOE to 5km 2) Make the missiles dumb fire. 10 sets of 2 rockets per burst, one in each pod. You can fire 2 but then the move goes on cooldown for 30s. 3) Give them the lock time of clusters 4) Make them drain shields like an ion gun hit Currently the EMP missile is simply not viable, which is a real shame because bombers and minelayers are extremely powerful in domination mode and are in severe need of a reliable counter apart from a maxed out ion cannon gunships. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slivovidze Posted February 15, 2014 Share Posted February 15, 2014 Actually they are useful in games against bombers. I am very very bad with a strike fighter, but I equipped my Pike with an EMP and put it in my loadout just for the situations of camping bomber. You are forgetting that railgun drone can shoot only one player. Often it even isn't you. And if it is you, well, the fighter has enough health and shields to tank that one shot. The target for EMPs aren't the bombers that fly around the map and scatter mines/drones here and there. These can easily be picked out by everyting, even stock scout. But if you see a bomber fortifying an area, that's where you shoot your EMP. You don't need to destroy all drones in the area, you need to disable them. On the other hand, you want to destroy mines, and they will be destroyed by the EMP. The bomber now has a couple of useless drones and you can easily pick him off with your lasers and second missile, effectively destroying his drones in proccess (because they disappear once their bomber dies). If you can't destroy a bomber in 15s (18 if upgraded) when he is mostly defenseless, the problem is elsewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verain Posted February 15, 2014 Share Posted February 15, 2014 The ability to disable engine abilities for 15 seconds also gives this some powerful utility versus many of the ships in the game beyond bombers. It doesn't disable the system ability, however. This means that a minelayer struck can immediately drop another mine, and his right click mine is entirely unaffected. Since mines have a short cooldown and are normally kept OFF cooldown, this means that all the long lockon really does is prevent the initial assault of mines versus a minelayer. But it is rather effective versus a dronecarrier, and it's still far better to clear mines from afar than having some puggyscout body pull them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jandi Posted February 15, 2014 Share Posted February 15, 2014 (edited) An upped proton has a longer range than those railgun drones so why bother using something that gets you hit instead of something that doesn't get you hit and is awesome for more than just one task? Mmm at least I think it does, need to check Yes, yes it does. Upped prpton is 11500m. Though it's the last tier upgrade, so gonna take some doing to get it. Edited February 15, 2014 by Jandi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armonddd Posted February 15, 2014 Share Posted February 15, 2014 An upped proton has a longer range than those railgun drones so why bother using something that gets you hit instead of something that doesn't get you hit and is awesome for more than just one task? I love it when people do this, because either they're a free kill or they panic-dodge my shots and lose their lock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sadishist Posted February 15, 2014 Share Posted February 15, 2014 The ability to disable engine abilities for 15 seconds also gives this some powerful utility versus many of the ships in the game beyond bombers. It doesn't disable the system ability, however. This means that a minelayer struck can immediately drop another mine, and his right click mine is entirely unaffected. Since mines have a short cooldown and are normally kept OFF cooldown, this means that all the long lockon really does is prevent the initial assault of mines versus a minelayer. But it is rather effective versus a dronecarrier, and it's still far better to clear mines from afar than having some puggyscout body pull them. It doesn't effect system? The EMP of the Blackbolt does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OscarDivine Posted February 15, 2014 Share Posted February 15, 2014 I've had a lot of inconsistent success with the EMP Missile on my Pike causing a positive Engine Disable effect. I've hit people with them and watched them barrel roll immediately after being hit. Did this get fixed yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jandi Posted February 15, 2014 Share Posted February 15, 2014 I love it when people do this, because either they're a free kill or they panic-dodge my shots and lose their lock. Real Pike pilots don't dodge shots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luneward Posted February 15, 2014 Share Posted February 15, 2014 It doesn't effect system? The EMP of the Blackbolt does. Yeah, that seems a bit weird. If it is true, should probably be reported as a bug, since the description of the missile says hostile drones and ship auxillary systems are disable for a moderate duration. I've been hit by EMP before and know that I was only able to use my secondary weapon mine and not my primary concussion mine after it happened. Could have been EMP field or missile, not sure which. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wishihadaname Posted February 15, 2014 Author Share Posted February 15, 2014 Ok well i'm still rather new at flying a Quell, I usually fly a blackbolt but with the arrival of bombers, this ship has stopped being useful in Domination mode, though its still very nice for Deathmatch. So the question to you more experienced pilot is this: how do you approach a satellite that a bomber (specifically a drone carrier) has fortified as a solo ship? In a team setting you would of course have you gunship clean up the mess while you cover them, but I fly pug and my guild doesn't have VOIP so thats really not an option for me. It seemed like before this, a single pilot could counteract any other single pilot, but now it seems like you need some serious coordination to peel a bomber of his sattelite with any chance of survival. And may the force save you if that bomber is in a premade, then removing him becomes completely impossible. Any advice on how to do this as either a quell or blackbolt would be very helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jandi Posted February 15, 2014 Share Posted February 15, 2014 As I said earlier in this thread, protons outrange anything a bomber can drop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wishihadaname Posted February 15, 2014 Author Share Posted February 15, 2014 Thats true, but bombers can drop drones faster than you can reload your protorps. Not to mention the lock on time, travel time, and highly limited ammo. Not exactly an ideal method of cleaing up a satellite with 3 AI turrets + 3 drones. I'm almost tempted to get the EMP pulse on my blackbolt and give that a shot instead, at least on the blackbolt I know I can get in and out before the railgun warms up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armonddd Posted February 15, 2014 Share Posted February 15, 2014 So the question to you more experienced pilot is this: how do you approach a satellite that a bomber (specifically a drone carrier) has fortified as a solo ship? You find another satellite. Alternatively, you can try peppering the bomber with protorps and heavy lasers, if you have either of them, and hope you do more damage than his repair drone heals and he never gets smart enough to fly to the other side of the satellite relative to his railgun drone and his buddies never come bother you. It's just easier to find another satellite. (balanced class) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Streven- Posted February 15, 2014 Share Posted February 15, 2014 I find EMPs underwhelming and in need of a buff. I'd like to see their range extended. Single bombers are never an issue but multiple bombers behind a team with any kind of coordination pretty much require another bomber to come in and clear them out. As it is I'm starting to agree that bombers are currently a bit too effective. If I'm wrong someone sort me out but I watched a team of good pilots not able to crack another team of bombers/gunships. It wasn't for lack of coordination or pilot skill. There just seems to be no effective counter apart from using identical tactics and I'd say it that is mainly because EMPs underperform. Like I said I'll be happy to be proven wrong about this but I have tried and can't come up with an effective counter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jandi Posted February 15, 2014 Share Posted February 15, 2014 (edited) Thats true, but bombers can drop drones faster than you can reload your protorps. Not to mention the lock on time, travel time, and highly limited ammo. Not exactly an ideal method of cleaing up a satellite with 3 AI turrets + 3 drones. I'm almost tempted to get the EMP pulse on my blackbolt and give that a shot instead, at least on the blackbolt I know I can get in and out before the railgun warms up. Well, you only asked *how* to deal with them on a Quel/Pike, I didn't claim it was efficient. But here is the thing, if you have clusters and protons, you can switch to cluters immediately after proton launches, the cluster lock on time is 1.3s and you can start locking on immediately after proton fires. What I do is fire proton from max range, switch, quick boost to 5k, cluster. You can take out satellite turrets/rail or missiles droes before they can fire. You then boost away and switch shields to back, if you have directionals, get outside their range and circle around. Again however, it's not the easy way, but on a Pike, it's the only way. Also, if you're up against more than one bomber, you really are SOL. Find another satellite. But really, on a Pike, that's not really your job in the first place hehe. Edited February 15, 2014 by Jandi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wishihadaname Posted February 15, 2014 Author Share Posted February 15, 2014 Not my job? Really? I was under the impression that the Quell was designed specifically for 2 things, flying escort for heavier ships, and taking out fortified positions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luneward Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 (edited) Not my job? Really? I was under the impression that the Quell was designed specifically for 2 things, flying escort for heavier ships, and taking out fortified positions. Yeah, but their loadout tends to be so multi-role they can't specialize in anything. So a non specialized ship trying to take on a specialized ship in their niche is generally a lose-lose situation. If you can take out their drones first, you have a decent chance to neutralize the ship. Though honestly I have a much easier time of it with my Rycer/Starguard. Strip their shields off with ions, then blast/missle them to death while occasionally flipping back to strip shields. Edited February 16, 2014 by Luneward Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armonddd Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 Not my job? Really? I was under the impression that the Quell was designed specifically for 2 things, flying escort for heavier ships, and taking out fortified positions. Gameplay and story separation, or something like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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