Having a problem defending 'Dauntless'

nickmitsialis

Rear Admiral
Guys:

I am having major problems with keeping 'Dauntless' alive in Mission 4 'Scramble'; I need to fend off a Nephelim attack against the Carrier but she keeps getting 'scuttled'; WHAT are Nephilim cap ship killers? The Skate, the Moray or the Manta? Also is there a way I can target torps or missiles to destroy them in flight?
and finally: Are there any cheats I can use?

TIA

NM
 
The RED Mantas are bombers and the Skate T are Bombers. A Stingray cluster is a bomber. The Barracuda is a bomber. Not 100% sure about the Devil ray.

The greenish Manta as well as the Moray is not a momber.

Yes, you can down torps, but I am not sure if you can target them (I think you can)- I never had enough time to bother - just locate on the radar and go for the kill.
You cannot lock on missiles, but you can destroy them.
 
The RED Mantas are bombers and the Skate T are Bombers. A Stingray cluster is a bomber. The Barracuda is a bomber. Not 100% sure about the Devil ray.

The greenish Manta as well as the Moray is not a bomber.

Yes, you can down torps, but I am not sure if you can target them (I think you can)- I never had enough time to bother - just locate on the radar and go for the kill.
You cannot lock on missiles, but you can destroy them.

OK thanks...now another silly question: Do the RED Mantas & Skate Ts kill by torps or do they use energy weapons...and to tell the truth I MUST be partially colorblind because I have never seen a 'Red' Manta...they all seem kind of greenish;
Lastly how do I quickly target them; it seems the key to target objects ('T') only seems to work when something is in your field of view & 'smart targeting' isn't so smart! ANY suggestions/solutions?

Also...in case of last ditch efforts: Are there any cheats?;)

TIA

NM
 
There aren't cheats, per se. I think you can turn on invulnerability and unlimited ammo (Maybe?) in the game menu.

Red Manta Bombers use torpedos, you can't target them in flight, you have to manually eyeball them and shoot them down. Barracudas also use torpedos.

Skates use energy (plasma) weapons. They need to be in clusters - groups of three merged together to use this weapon, so blowing up a group and then targeting just one of the skates to kill means they won't be able to goup up anymore. However, if there are more then three skates left, they can. The Skates (IMO) are more dangerous then the others, as their plasma weapon can rip through capships quite quickly.

Lastly, make sure you are using (L) to lock targets. I've found that when you blow up a target the game randomly assigns you another one as long as it is locked - however, often times you can see when an enemy ship is about to explode, if you change targets before it does, it will often (but not always) skip assigning you a new target if you already have one.

I find the best thing to do when targeting bombers is to find a sequence of them (where you can see two or three in a row via the T and Shift-T keys) and start at the top. That way to reach the next one all I have to do is press T.

Additionally, it helps if you check (repeatedly) the distances of the enemy fighters.A Manta roughly 5000 m out is probably more of a threat then one 50,000 m out. Last point of references: Ships about to launch a torpedo fly in a straight line and don't shoot and sometimes don't dodge shots that are incoming (or striking them). This is also a quick visual way to identify bomber targets.
 
For cheats you can turn on invulnerbility in the options menu and type in 'shoehorn' and press Alt+F12 to destroy the targeted ship (itll also destroy locked friendly ships so be careful using it when there arent many enemies around). check the cheat section of the CIC for more cheats.

you cant target torpedos, you just have you shoot at it without the ITTS which is somewhat difficult since its so small, use a rapid firing gun (laser, viper, something like that) as it only takes 1 hit to destroy it.

also, pressing 'u' will target the closest ship to you, so if you're near a bomber cluster it'll usually target another bomber. use the Nav Map (ctrl+N I think it is) to see who is targeting the Dauntless in your area and take them out.

I cant remember, but I think damage to the Dauntless carries over from previous missions (lazy repair crews haha) so if the Dauntless keeps getting destroyed early then replay a previous defend mission and try to keep the Dauntless from taking damage.
 
In the nav map right clicking on a ship will target it.

The Stingrays are also a big threat to the Dauntless. If you can keep them from forming clusters they won’t be able to use their Heavy Plasmas.

& 'smart targeting' isn't so smart!

I’m not sure but I think the only thing smart targeting does is prevent you from targeting friendlies.
 
Skates use energy (plasma) weapons. They need to be in clusters - groups of three merged together to use this weapon, so blowing up a group and then targeting just one of the skates to kill means they won't be able to goup up anymore. However, if there are more then three skates left, they can. The Skates (IMO) are more dangerous then the others, as their plasma weapon can rip through capships quite quickly.

You are confusing Stingrays and Skates...

Skate (or more precisely the Skate T cluster) launches one torpedo.
The union of 3 Stingrays has the plasma gun.
 
Lastly how do I quickly target them; it seems the key to target objects ('T') only seems to work when something is in your field of view & 'smart targeting' isn't so smart! ANY suggestions/solutions?

The Nav-Map is your friend. You can click through all target there and be as slow as you want. Just make sure you RIGHT click on the target you want to have locked in your HUD when leaving the Nav-Map.
 
You are confusing Stingrays and Skates...

Skate (or more precisely the Skate T cluster) launches one torpedo.
The union of 3 Stingrays has the plasma gun.

I remember that now. For some reason I thought they both used plasma guns.
 
Unknown Enemy has no Skates, by the way. There should have been some, but the designers ran into some trouble along the way, and by the time they had it figured out, "everything seemed to work just fine".

Off-topic : I've just beaten the first simulator mission with both the Squid and the Lamprey. It was quite satisfying.

Oh, and the Squid sucks.
 
Unknown Enemy has no Skates, by the way. There should have been some, but the designers ran into some trouble along the way, and by the time they had it figured out, "everything seemed to work just fine".
Wow, good memory! I don't even remember when anybody asked about that... it must have been years ago.
 
You know, it always killed me when you have to strip to Kilrathi ship of its turrets... you're really just making the job harder for yourself later on as you now have to defend that ship twice as well.
 
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