Air combat

[Gundos]

Can anyone explain how to shoot down 3 fighters aliens?

[crusherven]

Sure. Send your two condors, have them target two different fighters, and have each dodge as soon as they launch their missiles. Once you're in range, launch 1 missile. Half-way through their dodge, launch the second missile. Make sure you dodge their send launch. Kill the 3rd fighter with cannons.

[Ishantil]

Save the game first, click auto-resolve.

[ViniJones]

Slow down, dodge twice, they only got 2 rockets each(like you), then either shoot your rockets or kill em with cannons, their cannons shoot blanks.

[Gundos]

Thank you all for your advice.

[henri5]

You can also kite them with a Foxtrot or a Condor and hit them from behind with a Condor.

[overmind.]

Hi,

I've played a little bit and can now produce Corsair or something like that. However, I stand no chance against the alien ships, especially when there is a large one. And if I dont intercept, then my funding decreases and I cannot make the necessary missions.

I've researched everything up until this point, have plasma blasters on my ships and alenum missiles - but im not even close.

What to do really?

Furthermore, Why can you only have 3 ships at the same time?

[Dranak]

Some day I'll make a proper air combat tutorial, but until then this should be somewhat helpful.

[video=youtube_share;kbX77G9x2_c]

[Chris]

Overmind - you really need Foxtrots with torpedoes against the big UFOs. Light missiles don't do enough damage against them.

[Dranak]

Overmind - you really need Foxtrots with torpedoes against the big UFOs. Light missiles don't do enough damage against them.

Correction, you need Foxtrots with torpedoes or Condors with upgraded cannons. Either is currently viable against larger craft.

[Chris]

Indeed. However, I think it's been established that you have above average air combat skills, Dranak - the Foxtrots do deal with big ships in the most straightforward manner.

[StellarRat]

... it's been established that you have above average air combat skills, Dranak...

That's Baron Manfred Von Dranak to you!

Edited September 19, 2013 by StellarRat

[Dranak]

Indeed. However, I think it's been established that you have above average air combat skills, Dranak - the Foxtrots do deal with big ships in the most straightforward manner.

Oh yeah, it's a heck of a lot more straighforward to deal with them using Foxtrots.

[maackey]

I was inspired by Dranak's video and decided to make one myself:

[video=youtube;WFk882UPCyo]

Hopefully it helps!

[Xintrosi]

In desperate situations I've found that a single condor can take out a full wing of 3 fighters (but not reliably). The fighters are stupid and launch at the first object to come into their radar without any staggering of their launches at all; this allows you to dodge the missiles at the same time.

1. Fly toward the center fighter.

2. While staying on course select either the left or right fighter to die to your missiles

3. Launch missiles as Dranak stated to destroy the targeted ship.

4. Dodge return fire (At some point your lateral dodging will get both fighters in your cannon cone simultaneously)

5. Fire the cannon. If this works, you'll kill both fighters at about the same time.

Unfortunately, your condor will not come out of the engagement unscathed, and you can easily lose it with bad dodge timing/direction (the latter of which I don't think you can control), so you should only attempt it when you just can't afford to direct another ship to that engagement. Using two is always the choice I'd prefer to make, because then you can win without loss. Before fighters stopped dodging cannon-fire this worked every time without my condor taking any damage because the dodging fighters would invariably bunch up.

Against an escorted ship, I use 1 Foxtrot and 2 condors (with upgraded cannons). The condors use missiles to take out the fighters (or cannons, if you want to make sure to get as much damage on the larger vessel as possible), while the foxtrot launches torps at the large target then kites it around the battlefield. The condors can easily get to the vulnerable backside of a ship while it's chasing the much faster foxtrot.

[Dranak]

Nice video maackey. Only major change I'd suggest is having a Condor fly away from the landing ship instead of straight at it. Two Condors with standard cannons and alenium missiles have enough damage to kill it without risking the third plane.

As critical as I've been of the air combat in this game, it is kind of nice seeing people using slightly different wrinkles on techniques, which suggests that it is in a pretty good place balancewise (although the difficulty is probably still a bit high).

[maackey]

Yeah, you're probably right that its easier for the middle ship to run away, but landing ships IMO are even easier than light scouts as you don't have to even stagger missiles, so I don't really mind playing "dodge the missile" on my one plane.

One thing I think could really improve the air combat is to get rid of all the overlapping line of fire indicators. Perhaps have them only displayed when the ship is selected, and/or maybe display an outline (eg. a V shape only) because the hardest thing right now is dodging shots. Part of the difficulty in that is the fast pace of the air combat when not paused, and the other is that you can't see anything in the occluded mess of aiming areas.

[Elydo]

Air combat can be zoomed, if that helps.

[svidangel]

Unfortunately, your condor will not come out of the engagement unscathed, and you can easily lose it with bad dodge timing/direction (the latter of which I don't think you can control), so you should only attempt it when you just can't afford to direct another ship to that engagement.

Check your keybindings for the ability to roll left or right.

[GlyphGryph]

Yeah, personally the damage output of the condors seem significantly greater than the equivalent foxtrots, and if you have more ships than the enemy it's pretty trivial to lead them, have other guys come up behind, and then take them out from behind. Even if there are several of the enemies, the Condors can either focus fire to quickly even the odds or, if the enemy tries to focus fire, create the same sort of situation where one ship can get behind them and operate in relative safety.

Most importantly, stagger missiles. If you're focusing fire, have one ship fire a missile to trigger the dodge, and then halfway through it have the other ships fire, and boom - you suddenly outnumber them, and then you win.

Personally, the damage output on the Foxtrots just doesn't seem worth it for the cost - they do less damage overall than the Condors, they cost more, their missiles are useless against small dodgy ships (while the Condor missiles are merely less effective) and they can't dodge. The only point they have in their favour is speed, which isn't much of an advantage since there doesn't seem to be a way to get the enemy to prioritize them over the Condors. And that advantage quickly loses out to the Corsairs.

I know they are supposed to be better at taking out the big ships, but I just don't understand how.

The 360 degree arc on Carriers is probably the biggest problem with the smaller ships, but it's range is slightly less than cannon range, so it's still possible to take them out with the same strategy if you use a bit more micromanagement and do attack runs where you launch some bullets and then pull off.

Edited September 23, 2013 by GlyphGryph

[Xintrosi]

The AI currently prioritizes whichever plane you chose first (ends up on top of your ship list during combat). This can allow you to have a foxtrot that merely launches its torps then baits the rest of the enemy ships.

[overmind.]

Well, just tried twice with; one corsair with alenum missiles, one foxtrot with the same missiles and one condoer with plasma cannon.

Wasnt even close as far as i could tell

[maackey]

Foxtrots are only viable vs ships that cannot roll at all. I don't even bring them if there are escorts as they are just a liability.

[Amaror]

Well, just tried twice with; one corsair with alenum missiles, one foxtrot with the same missiles and one condoer with plasma cannon.

Wasnt even close as far as i could tell

You equipped a foxtrot with missiles? The whole point of the ship is to carry torpedos which do much damage against big ships.

Against what alien crafts do you loose? Fighters?

They are a bit more difficult, but not impossible. But they can roll, so don't use foxtrots. Use Condors and/or Corsairs then let them fly towards each other. Deselect the rockets, so that they don't fire. When they come near, zoom in a lot. When your ships are in their rocket range pay close attention! You can pause the game with space: Use it! You will hear a sound and see a small red thingie comming from the fighters towars the condors. Once it's between halfway and 3/4 to your ships pause. Then select each of your ships and click the "dodge" button. Then unpause. Your ships will now evade the the rockets.

Then reselect one of the rockets of each of your fighters. When they fire it you will see small green thingies shooting towars the enemie. They will also evade, but once their about halfway throught the dodge animation reselect the second missile of each of your ships. These missiles should hit and destroy their targets. If they don't destroy them, just keep your course and let your cannons do the rest, but remember to dodge the second enemy missile!

[Dranak]

Well, just tried twice with; one corsair with alenum missiles, one foxtrot with the same missiles and one condoer with plasma cannon.

Wasnt even close as far as i could tell

I would gladly offer some advice if you can tell me what UFO you were up against.