| Author |
Heavy Cruiser guide for newbies |
Sens [R33]
Admiral
Joined: September 27, 2008
Posts: 1020
From: Edge of th...
|  Posted: 2009-02-25 19:50
**new shield changes render this guide obsolete
With the recent flux of new players, I thought it would be nice to write a guide on one of the first combat worthy vessels an ICC newbie will pilot: The HC.
History: Back in the olden days, the heavy cruiser was the bread and butter of any ICC fleet; both durable and agile, the HC could run circles around enemy fleets, making lightning strikes and providing heavy support for Assault Dreadnaughts. Now, in 1.5; the HC is still a decent ship, but with more limitatations.
Refitting your ship:
The Heavy Cruiser is essentially a fast-moving cannon platform, capable of midrange to long-range support and dogfighting. As a newbie your main concern is gaining prestige, and with that in mind, you will want to pilot an HC as a mid-range support ship, which is both relatively safe and useful.
The HC has the following slots:
1x armor and shield FORE
1x armor and shield LEFT
1x armor and shield RIGHT
1x armor and shield AFT
2x auxillary FULL
1x electronic warfare
1x speciall
1x jumpdrive
3x engine
2x beam FULL
1x beam FORE RIGHT
1x beam FORE LEFT
1x torpedo FORE RIGHT
1x torpedo FORE LEFT
1x missle MKII FORE
1x missle FORE
1x missle AFT LEFT RIGHT
2x cannon FORE RIGHT
2x cannon FORE LEFT
1x cannon FIRE LEFT RIGHT
1x cannon AFT LEFT RIGHT
1x cannon AFT RIGHT
1x cannon AFT LEFT
4x cargo
Suggested modifications:
Shields: Always use Rreactive, Active shields have too little hp and do not recharge fast enough to warrant their use, so stick with reactives.
Armor: You cant really mod it so its just composite.
Auxillary: This is actually quite interesting as there are advantages to both the shield and fusion generator; but since we have no interest in straight up brawling against dreadnaughts, stick with two fusion generators. Piloting a HC safely is more important than dogfighting for new players, remember you are trying to gain combat prestige; not risk your ship ever chance you get.
Electronic Warfare: depending on who you are fighting, ECM for UGTO and ECCM for K'luth. Get a scanner if you are supporting a bomber. There really is no reason to carry an ECCM against so keep the ECM to cover the fleet when regrouping. Against K'luth, ping like you would in any oter ship.
Jumpdrive: again you cant change this so its just your normal JD.
Engines: This is the interesting part: you can choose to either have a constant stream of weapons with shields recharging, ECCM and virtually NO ENERGY LOSS or high maneuverability and relatively low energy drain. I personally suggest either one PFE and two IE drives or three IE drives; reason being you will never need the recharge given by 2 or 3 PFE drives as you simply cant use that much energy.
Beams: These things are kinda useless but nifty with small ships so replace either one or two of the FULL arc beams with pulse beams and set to auto point defense. Leave the two fore/directional arcs as CL's.
Torpedoes: bleh, your good old fusion torps, can't mod them anymore so let them be.
Missiles: I know alot of players recomend SABOT missles but they really arent that great for our purposes since they have a low hit rate at mid-long range. Get two AR missles and either an IT or AR MKII.
Cannons: Both the railgun and gauss gun have their strong points. For more consistent hits add more guass guns. If you are good at tracking just go with all railguns. NEVER go all out guass guns though.
Cargo Hold: nothing special here, hold 4 heavy infantry and thats that.
To surmise:
8x railgun or 4 railguns & guass guns
2x AR missiles
1x IT or AR MKII
2x Fusion torps
2x CL's
2x Pulse beams
2x AUX gens
2x IE drives 1x PFE drive
1x ECCM or ECM
4x Reactive shields
1x Jump drive
4x Composite armor
Piloting:
While the HC is a very good dueling ship and can fend for itself well enough in fleet engagements, the current 5:1 enemy to friendly ratio makes close-range fighting rather... suicidal. With this in mind, we will be using the HC as a mid-range support ship. When engaging the enemy, maintain a distance of roughly 500-800 GU and never stay still. Swerve in long wide arcs to avoid getting ganked and keep an eye out for anyone that gets close. When firing, number your cannons 1-4 with two cannons per key and chain fire them to conserve energy and increase your accuracy. With two auxillary generators and one PFE, you should be able to fly at max speed(18.6 gu) with no energy loss while firing. Your target should preferably be one that an ally is attacking so that your actually have a purpose. One dead ship is better than two at 25% armor. In the case that another ship does engange you in close range combat, stay in front of it and rotate your shields to the rear. As strange as this sounds, it is actually advantageous to be in front of an enemy with an HC as long as you are not in HCL or Disrupter range; the reason being that you have 4(potentially 6) cannon arcs that can fire and hit your relatively easily and you can dodge their fire with ease. However, do not be afraid to run; it is better to lose a kill than it is to die.
Enhancements:
As much as I hate these things, I have to say they are pretty useful. If you can; mod your ship with 1-2 engine tuners 1 thruster and any weapon multiplexers and armor upgrades you can get. The engine tuners and thrusters are the most beneficial however because speed is the only thing an enhanced ship lacks.
Notes:
Torpedo detonation: this applied alot more in 1.483 when you had 4 torps to fire but it is still useful nonetheless, simply number your torps to 5 and press shift+5 to detonate them near the enemy if they miss. It isn't quite NECESSARY but efficiency is efficiency and every bit helps.
The Pack: The K'luth aren't the only faction that functions as a team; both ICC and UGTO fleets have to coordinate to be effective. That being said, dont jump in and be a hero, your time will come. As a newbie you should try to support and learn from the vets who are generally more experienced.
Communication: Don't be afriad to alert your teammates to enemy ships or tactical events, although they might already see it, it never hurts to remind them that 4 dreads just cloacked on your flank.
Dread Support: While it may seem lowly, in 1.5 cruisers are support and nothing more. While you don't want to charge head on into the enemy, it is both honourable and helpful to use your ship as a meatshield for friendly dreads on the run. Remeber, you lose a lot less prestige when you die and take a lot less time to repair, so do it for the common good.
Aux Shield Gens: For your purposes, these are more of a burden than help, but if you are fighting other cruisers are destroyers, using two with 3 PFE's and 3 advanced engine tuners can make one crazy tank with good energy control and high speed.
edit: stupid notepad format
[ This Message was edited by: Sensitivity{Sensitivity} on 2009-02-25 19:51 ]
[ This Message was edited by: Sensitivity{Sensitivity} on 2009-02-28 16:50 ]
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Jim Starluck
Marshal
Templar Knights
Joined: October 22, 2001
Posts: 2232
From: Cincinnati, OH
| Posted: 2009-02-25 21:26
You don't even play ICC. 
I use Active Shields over Reactives all the time. Actives have a lower power drain when damaged, which is crucial as ICC are perpetually energy-starved. The lower energy drain lets you fly faster in combat, which can be essentially at dodging enough fire to stay alive.
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Linna Yamazaka {Vice Admiral}
Vice Admiral
Raven Warriors
Joined: May 03, 2003
Posts: 415
From: killer
| Posted: 2009-02-25 23:14
Can i get a Assult cruiser and an assult dread loadouts please. i have a roleplay in yahoo and its based off the REAL ships in darkspace. i still have the older system for both. And possabile a assult dessie or the equivalent.
Thansk
Jessie
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Delando
Marshal
Joined: May 04, 2007
Posts: 260
| Posted: 2009-02-26 10:32
Good guide.
Several suggestions:
1.)The idea with all reactives and 1 PFE isn't bad, if u had a large fleet with u only fighting dreads.
HOWEVER, if by urself, and or facing other cruisers, this is a BAD idea. Normally Dreads fly at 15gu max, and crusiers at 20gu max. Speed is key for crusiers. and for ICC crusiers accelerate and break faster due to low mass (50% armor replaced by shield, 0 mass), agility and speed is ur advantage.
with a PFE, ur speed get cut to 18gu, u just lost that advantage. So if u need to manuver out of range of a dreads heavy weapons, or move to a "red" side on a wounded dread, you CAN'T. Heck, i got a EAD with a +20% max speed that can go 18 gu.
Leave the PFEs for ur Assult dreads and stations, which are slow anyway.
Dont turn ur speedy cruiser into a sitting duck.
If ur worried about energy, just drive at 17.5 gu and shoot.
2.)On tacticts, if u stay out side of 500gu, ur torps wont fire. Each torp = 2.5 cannons (damg/sec), u take away 5 canons from ur HC if u cant get em to work.
ICC have shield rotation, so u can afford to go a little closer. Got 3 tricks for ur.
a.) For EAD and Kluth, approch from Left or Right, then turn toward their Aft to disengage. this way u avoid their Fore, and a good 25% damg.
b.) Put active shields on ur Left and Right. I know they have less HP, but they regenerate faster when not shoot at. B/C u'll notice in battle, Fore and Aft armor gets dmged the most, u come out ''red'' front and back, but green on the sides. Putting actives on Left and Right will act like shield batteries, fast generating more shields for u to rotate to Fore and Aft.
c.) Related to the previous point. You know how u can number ur weapons right? ( right click weapon, Ctrl+Number) you can do the same with Shields. "Link" you Fore (& Aft if needed) shield with a weapon. This way eveytime u fire ur weapons u'll be roating shield to the Fore, where you'll take the most damage. Kool huh?
p.s. Dont link shield with a torp or point def weapon, u may accidently turn it off when ur manual detonate.
[ This Message was edited by: Delando on 2009-02-26 10:44 ]
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Pakhos[+R]
Chief Marshal
Pitch Black
Joined: May 31, 2002
Posts: 1352
From: Clean room lab
| Posted: 2009-02-26 19:01
this will need to be re-write soon...
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