Surviving spacebattles tactics

[desolator]

Hi, I'm new to this board but I've been playing BC3K ever since the free version was released and I have a question that I want your opinions on. After roaming the net and this messageboard I still can't quite get it how to survive spacebattles efficiently. I usually launch the 4 interceptors and assign two to defend the BC and the rest to SAD, and then order the BC itself to attack some targets. I survive, but with severe damages to some systems. So what are your favourite tactics?

And to Derek: (if you read this. a big THANK YOU for this game! I loved Elite and Frontier but they weren't alive like this game. So now me and my friends gather every weekend to play BC3K together, and its great fun! Albeit no multiplayer function its still the most played game at our LAN's.

[LordDavid]

Keep moving, don't stop or enemy fighters will shread you up. The afterburner/retrorockets help greatly. Also your ship DOES have a cloaking device.... (hint, hint) .

[Eclipse]

I usually never launch fighters, take manual control of the BC, use afterburners and retros to evade PTA, turn on EMD to keep missiles off my back. Pick a target and kill.

[Supreme Cmdr]

quote:

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And to Derek: (if you read this. a big THANK YOU for this game! I loved Elite and Frontier but they weren't alive like this game. So now me and my friends gather every weekend to play BC3K together, and its great fun! Albeit no multiplayer function its still the most played game at our LAN's.

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You're welcome.

MP is coming....soon

[Spuzzum]

Ha, I didn't see that in your signature until now, SC!

Hmm, without further adieu:

Here's one of my strategies. Align yourself perpendicular to the flight path of an inbound enemy ship. Then, hold the afterburner until you reach your normal top speed, then hold the retros until you reach normal maximum reverse speed, and vice versa, going back and forth.

Enemies stand almost no chance of hitting you (it's a space-based variation on the "scissors" maneuver that air force pilots use), all the while two of your PTAs are happily plugging away at the enemy.

The other "strategy" that I love doing is chasing down enemy fighters and ramming them to bits. It causes hull damage, but after discovering a nifty way to get as many spares as I desired in the Dione debris field, my fully-upgraded BC wasn't threatened. And it's good fun, too.

(The nifty way of getting spares, you ask? It's an exploit. So only if you ask really nicely. )

My strategy for taking on enemy cruisers is simple. Set myself up on their six, power weapons to 40%-60% (depending on your mood and how much damage they caused in the initial exchange), and don't let up until you see the whites of their eyes as their corpses get splattered against your viewscreen.

Works for me.

Fighters I reserve for suppressing enemy incursions involving a carrier. While concentrating on "removing" a Stormcarrier I can't deal with its fighters too well. In Mercury, I tangled with three raider carriers at once. Suffice it to say, my fighters were a great aid in keeping away the gnats while I swatted the really big flies.

I can't wait until BCM finally hits the shelves, so that I can have a major focus of something besides utterly decimating extremist factions, enemy troops, and aggressive castes.

(As an aside, I am still proudly violation-free, with an experience of over 5000, in the span of 9 game hours.)

[Ronvatar]

Hello everyone. First of all, I wanted to say that this is truly a great game. I never heard of it until I saw a link in a Gamespy email to download it from Fileplanet. At first it was intimidating because of the depth of the game but I have been playing it for a few days and starting to get the hang of it. I have a voodoo card so I lucked out with that. I have been reading a lot of posts in this forum and have learned a lot from you guys and this has made the game even more enjoyable. I too used to play Elite on the Commodore 64 and thought it was great. This game reminds me of that. (except without vector graphics hehe). I do have a few newbie questions but I won't ask them right now until I have read all the posts and made sure it wasn't already covered. I will be keeping my eye out for BCM. Keep up the great work man!

[Ronvatar]

I have a quick question. I just found some illegal leather and totally forgot that it's a violation to enter a Galcom spacestation with it. So now I have one violation. Is there any way to keep this from happening? Do I have to find a spacestation that will buy it from me? Or is there some way I can discard the cargo? TIA

[Papi]

Hi Ronvatar and welcome to our... hmmm.. I'm not going to say it ...daydream

1. You can sell your illegal stuff in spacestation that are in systems with security level that allows illegal items (appendix E)

2. If you visit Galcom HQ or any other station that are in systems that don't deal with illegal stuff, you'd better

a)pack your "i" items in shuttle and launch it with eg. cargosweep order and then dock with the station

b)jettison you "i" items prior docking (you can do it through logistix comp) and collect it after launching with your shuttle, although threre's danger that someone will collect it before you

[ 08-03-2001: Message edited by: Papi ]

[Supreme Cmdr]

....illegal leather huh? What the hell were you planning on doing with it? I take it S&M is alive and kicking in the 29th century, then?

[ 08-03-2001: Message edited by: Supreme Cmdr ]

[desolator]

Thank you all for the tips, now I find it a LOT easier to survive almoset intact.

[Guest]

quote:

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....illegal leather huh? What the hell were you planning on doing with it? I take it S&M is alive and kicking in the 29th century, then?

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It's your universe SC, you created it, you tell us!! LOL

[ 08-03-2001: Message edited by: Jaguar ]

[Ronvatar]

Haha! Maybe I can find some sexy alien chick that would be willing to try it on for me Thanks guys. The more I learn about this game, the better it gets.

/me is hooked

Commander NoName

lol

[LordDavid]

Maybe all the cows are dead or endangered. So that would make hamburger illegal too?

I can see it now....... Emperian Ale and steak smuggler....

[Guest jhnphm]

A strategy to attack a space station is to load your shuttles with Vagrants (Get the money to buy them with the various trade tricks (search the BB)). Destroy all the station's ships. Go within 300 clicks of the station. (1)Designate it with all 8 missiles in the FATAL. Use the autopilot to fly toward the station until the speed reaches 10000, then shut the autopilot off. Coast toward the side of the station, letting the missiles launch. Coast 300 clicks away from the station and repeat starting from (1). You will be moving too fast for the station to hit with it's IODs. When the station's armor reaches 3000, fly over it, point the ship toward the station, and "fine damage" it with the IOD until you can capture it. I've eradicated all enemy stations in the Terran quadrant this way, and I'm about to do the same to the Credian quadrant. To destroy cap ships, cloak and move within 2 clicks of the enemy ship. Unleash 8 or more Vagrants, then cloak and run. Be care about being rammed by cruiser, especially if you are attacking Spectre. Hey, lets send the insurgents back into the stone age

[ 08-19-2001: Message edited by: Borg12 ]

[desolator]

It's interesting to see this post for me, as it was the first I ever posted here. I was a bit afraid that the Supreme Cmdr should ban me for something I wrote that I could have found in the manual or here. (although I read all the manuals as soon as I installed BC3K)

And now when I look back, wow.. what a long trip it has been. (Not in earth time though ) I'm even Staff Chief in Prime Fleet, Epsilon wing.

Anyway, what I wanted to write here was two things:

1. THANK YOU everyone on this forum for the help I got when I was a real newbie and for all the LMAO's messages you post here. You all got my greatest respect. (and what a relief to find you that you were as loony as I am. )

2. I always respected the Supreme Cmdr for two things, One was that he made the BC series. The second was that he ran this forum with an iron hand, yet dropping of nice lines in between and I never saw any, ANY gamedeveloper that really gets in touch with his fans. Guess we all are truly loyal to the Supreme Cmdr. I know I am.

thats my two credits for my first posting.

now you can kill me if you hated what I wrote. *grin*

[Cmdr Nova]

First posts..... Eeek..

Brings me to this. I didn't notice this until around the time I joined Orion Fleet, about 2-3 weeks ago, and when I was researching about the Fleets.....

Attention Admins. and fleet commanders!

Man..... Of course I'm 3 1/2 months too late, but My Bad! I can't even remember what I was thinking back when I registered. I probably was even using a different username, for all I knew.... Which is what probably happened, because I don't see myself banned today.

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And, to reflect on how fast time has gone by, I'll post this quote that Epsilon 5 said:

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Nova? He's a merc. What can you expect from him?

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Oh, boy do times change. Now we're side by side (sorta), because I joined Orion Fleet..