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Need advice on AX combat

Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2019 7:06 am
by CMDR Dragonporn
Currently I have Master combat rank and I desperately need Dangerous as soon as possible. Most people said best way to rank up fast is killing Thargoid Scouts, so that's what I'm currently digging in. Tried various activities, like NHSS 4 and 5. First spawns too few Scouts, and second is very inconsistent, it gives big number of Scouts pretty rarely on my experience and scanning+flying to signals wastes a lot of time. So I tried AX CZs. It appears a lot better than anything I previously tried. Scouts come in big numbers and waves. So, what I'm doing right now is farming as much Scouts as I can, keeping distance from Interceptors, trying not to piss them off too much in the process, and bailing out when things get too hot.

Few things I'm curious about:
- What kind of Interceptors spawn in AX CZs usually? Once, when I tried to take it out, we fought pretty long time, and after killing it's second or third heart, it launched some kind of massive projectile attack that instantly annihilated me with full shields and about 40% hull. I don't think I could read it and dodge in time.
- Guess best weapon against swarm is still Flak Launcher? But damn it's hard to nail those things... If there are any other means to deal with Swarm, I'd be glad to know. Otherwise, if you could share some tricks on how to aim Flak better, I'd be very grateful.
- Is there any point fighting Interceptors? Is it technically possible to solo 2 or more of them at once? How hard is that?
- Do I lose anything when I leave AX CZ? What do I get for winning? Any point in trying if I only need rank?
- Would it be a good idea to ditch shields entirely and go full hull tank against Goids? Because too many attacks seem to be going through shield thus far...

If there are better ways to find big number of Scouts or other ways to rank up quicker, I'd really like to know.

Re: Need advice on AX combat

Posted: Sat Mar 16, 2019 9:39 pm
by Norwin Palmer
Down to Earth Astronomy published a video Fastest Way to Combat Elite that I think is good.

Doing the community goals where there is CZ combat boosts my rank more than anything else I do but I really dislike CZ combat so I never do any outside a CG event.

I'm not too keen on combat in general so I can't provide any useful info on most of your questions.

Re: Need advice on AX combat

Posted: Sun Mar 17, 2019 1:58 pm
by gordonthree
AX CZ sounds like a good way to make some coin! I've only killed a dozen or so of the smaller goids and they paid well but whew they deal damage too.

Grind away in a CZ, High Res or Haz Res to make rank. If you would like a wing man I'm happy to lend a hand, send me a request in game.

Fly Dangerous Commander!

Re: Need advice on AX combat

Posted: Sun Mar 17, 2019 8:59 pm
by CMDR Dragonporn
Thanks for posts, guys, but already got what I needed. After some experimentation, it looks like AX CZ is one of the best places to grind combat rank. Scouts are coming in waves and rather easy to kill if you have the right build. Also Interceptors can be killed if those are Cyclopses mostly, as a bonus. I don't think they give more combat rank points as a Scout, but they pay 2 mil CR per kill. Scout is only 10k. Got from 0% Master to 20% Dangerous, plus crew NPC from Harmless to Dangerous in two evenings in those AX CZs (having NPC pilot if you want to solo CZ is not recommended btw).

On my personal experience, normal CZ appeared pretty slow even on fully engineered combat ship, because most enemy ships are stacked with strong hull upgrades and reinforcement/module packages, plus not all ships are Elite, and only those give you most points to progress faster, while every Thargoid Scout is considered as Elite. In any RES sites it also went rather slow because it's hard to find many Elite ships and most spawns are trash.

However, didn't know CGs give bonus to combat rank, I'll keep that in mind. Thanks again.