Arena's devices

Mekt-Hakkikt

Mpanty's bane
So, what are people's thoughts on the different devices you get with your fighters?
Here are mine:

Tractor beam: I, personally, don't have the skill to use it yet but I saw during the birthday matches that it was employed very skillfully. And it's a cool idea.

Power cores/fusion batteries: regardless if it's for the engines, shields or guns, I think they are essential since the recharge rates for any of it is painfully slow. The more the better.

Cloak: I am quite disappointed with the cloak, I find it next to useless. It takes so much energy to use that you can't employ it to get out of tricky situations (in which you are certainly running low on at least one of the energies) and using it to sneak up upon somebody rarely works: with the energy drain, your offensive capabilities are reduced and since stray shots (and there are a lot of them!) and every bump will cause the cloak to drop, it's most often wasted energy. Even in the capship missions, where I thought it would shine, I find it seldom useful: since your AB fuel does not recharge, you'll take ages to get to the capship and the reduced shields make you very vulnerable to turret fire. Oh, and it does not break missile lock, at least not for HS missiles, that's really weak.
I didn't try it out in duel maps, maybe it's of more use there.

Sonar: The only device I used less than the cloak.

Bomber turrets: Not too effective but a nice gimmick when flying those cumbersome bombers. I even got one or two kills with them, thanks to their high refire rate.

Deployable turret: I like it. It's of less use in multiplayer since it gets shot down rather fast but without, I wouldn't have gotten the Untouchable achievement. And even in MP, it can get overlooked.

Flares: Initially I thought they would be the most useless but I have to revise that sentiment. My initial reaction to missiles is still to try to outburn them (which works very well) but I hope to discilpine myself to use more the flares, they seem to have a 100% success ratio for me. Especially useful against those Vampire missiles.
 
Tractor beam: I, personally, don't have the skill to use it yet but I saw during the birthday matches that it was employed very skillfully. And it's a cool idea.
Just sneak up to an enemy, tractor him in and let loose. Nothing lets you kill off enemies easier than using a tractor-torpedo combo! :D

Power cores/fusion batteries: regardless if it's for the engines, shields or guns, I think they are essential since the recharge rates for any of it is painfully slow. The more the better.
I'd prefer gun batteries over the others, though. If your shields are low, you can still use your afterburners to get out of dangerous situations. Few things in Arena are more frustrating than having an enemy in your sights, but no energy in your guns. ;)

Cloak: I am quite disappointed with the cloak, I find it next to useless. [...] Oh, and it does not break missile lock, at least not for HS missiles, that's really weak.
I didn't try it out in duel maps, maybe it's of more use there.
Where do I have to sign?
In Armada, I liked the Shok'lar, but in Arena I almost never use cloaking. For the same reasons you depicted... However, HS missiles not losing their lock on cloaked fighters does make sense, don't you think? ;) (You're visibly cloaking your fighter, after all - your engine heat isn't affected.)

Sonar: The only device I used less than the cloak.
...for obvious reasons. ;)

Bomber turrets: Not too effective but a nice gimmick when flying those cumbersome bombers. I even got one or two kills with them, thanks to their high refire rate.
It took me some time to realize that bomber turrets drain gun energy as well. Which wasn't the case in all other WC titles I've played. ;)

Deployable turret: I like it. It's of less use in multiplayer since it gets shot down rather fast but without, I wouldn't have gotten the Untouchable achievement. And even in MP, it can get overlooked.
Used to deploy them regularly, but in MP it's only good against rookies, I guess. If the turret's refire rate was higher, it would at least inflict more damage until someone takes it out of business.

Flares: Initially I thought they would be the most useless but I have to revise that sentiment. My initial reaction to missiles is still to try to outburn them (which works very well) but I hope to discilpine myself to use more the flares, they seem to have a 100% success ratio for me. Especially useful against those Vampire missiles.
I should probably learn to employ them - most of the time, I simply forget about them. Or I don't have the time to switch to flares and release them. :D
 
I often drop a turret behind me if I know someone is about to let loose with a big attack, as the turret will absorb most of the damage and maybe do a little damage to the guy chasing me.
 
Just sneak up to an enemy, tractor him in and let loose. Nothing lets you kill off enemies easier than using a tractor-torpedo combo! :D

I know the theory yet I seem unable to pull it off effectively: it takes me too long to get somebody caught in the beam and somehow even when the enemy is in the beam, it seems he can avoid my torpedoes. And since torpedoes travel so slowly I sometimes get the impression that it would be better to just shoot him to pieces with the regular weapons. But as I wrote, I saw people using it to high effect.

I'd prefer gun batteries over the others, though. If your shields are low, you can still use your afterburners to get out of dangerous situations. Few things in Arena are more frustrating than having an enemy in your sights, but no energy in your guns. ;)

Yes, gun batteries are probably the most important since you're going to do a lot of gunning. But engine ones can come in handy as well...

Where do I have to sign?
However, HS missiles not losing their lock on cloaked fighters does make sense, don't you think? ;) (You're visibly cloaking your fighter, after all - your engine heat isn't affected.)

I don't know - the cloak broke all missiles locks in the other games and I don't think you're only cloaking your ship visually (like the Strakha in WCATV) but you're also hiding from sensors. If a simple infrared camera could spot you, then stealth fighters wouldn't be such a big deal I think.


I often drop a turret behind me if I know someone is about to let loose with a big attack, as the turret will absorb most of the damage and maybe do a little damage to the guy chasing me.

That is indeed a very good use for the deployable turret I forgot about. Especially because you can use it unlimited times, since you get a new turret once the old one is destroyed.
 
I don't know - the cloak broke all missiles locks in the other games and I don't think you're only cloaking your ship visually (like the Strakha in WCATV) but you're also hiding from sensors. If a simple infrared camera could spot you, then stealth fighters wouldn't be such a big deal I think.
Who knows - we never saw any infrared camera action in any space sim. :p Although it might be cool... IIRC, the Alien vs. Predator FPS had a similar effect in it.
 
That is indeed a very good use for the deployable turret I forgot about. Especially because you can use it unlimited times, since you get a new turret once the old one is destroyed.

Yeah that makes it a great missile defense as well, because if you time it right HS missiles will fly right into it instead of your ship and even it gets blown up quickly, you get another one instantly.
 
Who knows - we never saw any infrared camera action in any space sim. :p Although it might be cool... IIRC, the Alien vs. Predator FPS had a similar effect in it.

Sure, we don't have any official statement on that (that I know of), still I can't imagine it does not cloak your heat signature.
But we should meet online to test out whether the cloak does break IR missile lock.

(And yeah, AvP had such an effect, it was the human hunting sight. Ah, AvP was great, especially the second one)

Edit: Seems I was wrong: the Arrow Eclipse description in S*S calls the cloaking device a "full spectrum cloaking device".

Yeah that makes it a great missile defense as well, because if you time it right HS missiles will fly right into it instead of your ship and even it gets blown up quickly, you get another one instantly.

Haven't tried it out but it certainly should work as well. If you don't panic and can select it in time. On the other hand if you haven't flares or a tractor beam, you probably have the deployable turret selected anyway.
 
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