Pilot Archive
Thread: Black Epsilon: Tier 3 mission 4. Impossible
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Uther27
Mon Mar 28, 2005 5:03 pm
#14
Some pretty sound strategies here. I myself have now done it 5 or 6 times successfully (man I don't want to count the failures).
The best plan -
- Bombstrike the gunship.
- Pick off the escorts away from the gunship.
- Take the guns out on the gunship. (I am fond of taking out 0 and working my way up to 2)
- Optional - Dance around the gunship laughing at it's inablilty to kill you anymore.
- Smoke that bad boy and you are done.
If that doesn't work, bring friends. If they get smoked too, bring more. Oh and that spiraling stuff on the way out works nicely too. If you are taking massive hits on the way in for a strafe do not be afraid to pull out and come from a different angle. I find that coming in from behind and below works quite nicely and at least one of the turrets cannot hit from there.
Personally, I have never had any use for the Rebel shield commands. Often times, I have found hanging back and letting the battle develop a little while your shields charge (if you got hit 
) pays off more than forcing the recharge and rushing things. I'm not saying that you shouldn't use them, just that I don't.
VemaGara
Tue Mar 29, 2005 2:03 pm
#15
If you need to break aggro (the thing is chasing you and won't stop chasing), do a hyperspace jump in-system. The gunboat will lose you. You can then set up for another run at your leasure, and it won't open fire until you do.
warpish
Wed Mar 30, 2005 1:43 am
#16
I recall doing that mission a few times, but, my best effort came when my wingman and I called in bomberstrike to occupy the target. It was my mission, so he went in first to draw the heat off me as we wanted to disable the engines first. The bomberstrike worked as he strafed down the shields without gaining the gunboats full attention while I quickly killed the escorts. Unfortunately, before the engines could be damaged my wingman bought it. Killed by the turrets as he tried to get away.
My trick was to keep my target icon locked on the gunboat so I could always know the range and therefore move away from its turret even if it meant letting an escort get in behind me. Given the 30-45 seconds of distraction my wingman gave me and my range awareness of the gunboats distance, I finished off all the escorts first and then went in against the gunboat solo. The plan was for him to keep the gunboat occupied, draw it in a particular direction while I killed all the escorts (to make sure I got credit for the mission) first.
Once it was down to just me and the gunboat, strafing worked well if you moved far enough away to allow your shields to recharge. (This was in the days before capacitor shunt and overloads.) Move far enough away, loop around and start another pass. It took time because of the shield recharging and only strafing one side (knocking down only one shield) before going after the systems. Once it stopped moving it waseasy. I used my first droid commands ever when I did that mission. Up to that point I didn't have to and with them, it was a darn sight easier than previously. Reactor Overload, Engine Overload and Weapon Overload made my solo performance relatively easy, especially against a non moving target.
One tip, don't hurry your first strafe if you've got missiles with improved refire rate and the gunboat isn't fixated on you. Dropping two missile salvoes into the same shield while you close in is worth the risk if you have strong shields and front armor. Fire heavily during this first pass, releasing your second salvo just before you overrun the target and then boost out. With luck your internal systems aren't damaged and you've knocked down one shield entirely and started on an internal system.
I helped a friend do a similar mission while I was in a bomber and by taking a double missile salvo pass initially, the target was basically toast. The internal system was destroyed on a single (albeit slow) pass and the escorts were easily drawn outside of turret range to be picked off at leisure. The near-solo effort was in an Interceptor with Re'd shields and only Front Armor, no Rear Armor at all. Oh, also don't begin firing your blaster until your first missile salvo is away. This gives you time to get lock-on before taking fire if the target hasn't noticed your approach. I try to wait for the missile to impact before starting my guns so I give myself enough time to recycle the missile launcher and finish my attack run.
ViperOSU
Wed Mar 30, 2005 1:52 am
#17
If you can stay behind and below, taret weapon number 2 until it is gone, that's the turret on the back/tail of the Gunboat
after it's gone, just keep pounding away at reactor/engines staying behind and below the tail/back.
Also remember that Bomber Strike helps ENORMOUSLY! Having 4 or 6 extra ships to distract the Gunboat works well in your favor.
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