The Unofficial Jumpgate Manual

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135


Fighting with a Wingman

If you have a reliable wingman, you can kill a rather lot of conflux together. Two pilots can jump into a sector containing more than one pilot can deal with and with teamwork, can empty the sector in no time. The technique to use is to ensure that one pilot is leading ("towing") the flux, and the other pilot is not targeted by any flux ("free"). This scenario can be accomplished when both pilots jump into an empty sector and spawn conflux. The towing pilot then runs in the direction opposite from which the flux are coming. The free pilot can jump out and back in so that his flux now target the tow. The free pilot must make certain he did not spawn any new flux when he came back or he will need to jump out/in again until he is truly free from targets.
The tow keeps towing the flux in a straight line and they should eventually pass by the free pilot who is close to the gate. The free pilot should always attack the fastest target first for the safety of the tow. Once the first flux is dead, the free pilot is now free again to try to kill the next flux. Depending on the speed of the tow and flux, he may have to afterburn or flashfire, or the tow may need to turn either gradually or sharply. A gradual turn allows for safety of the tow and lets the free pilot "cut the corner" because he knows where the tow is heading while the flux targeting him constantly update their flight path based on the tows current position. A sharp turn can be successful if the tow has sufficient shields to take whatever punishment the flux trailing can dish out in one pass. Once the free pilot has killed all but a couple of flux, the tow then gets the rest of the kills.

It is always easier to pick off a flux from a tow if the free pilot lets the tow and flux pass him while he matches speed rather than try to joust the flux. The matching speed method can be dangerous as the flux usually score several hits if the free pilot does not really pound the flux. Often extensive afterburner or flashfire is needed to gain a safe distance on flux the free pilot has tagged.
An understanding of the targeting methods of conflux will be helpful at this point. A conflux at 100% shields keep his current target until it leaves the sector (via jumping, disconnection, or death) unless another pilot scores a hit dropping its shields below 100%. A conflux below 100% will retain its current target even if hit by a wingman. So, if a tow can hit ("tag") a conflux, then his wingman can fly up right behind it and get an easy kill as long as the flux's shields remain below 100%. If the flux's shields get to 100%, any new tag will make the flux change targets. This is a useful tactic to allow a weaker craft to kill a conflux it would otherwise be unable to kill. For example, a Scout is towing two kraken with a Fighter wingman. The Fighter should tag one kraken down to 50-70% shields and then fly straight and "tow" it for his Scout to get the easy kraken kill (the Scout can easily turn and take the hits a lone kraken can dish out on a single pass). If both ships in the example were Fighters, one could tag the extra kraken off of the tow Fighter and allow his wingman to solo kill the first kraken while he "holds" the second kraken.

This scenario works extremely well if the tow is a in Scout or Ranger and the free pilot is in a Fighter. You can perform the towed hunt technique with other classes of ships, but Scout(Ranger)/Fighter works best. (The faster Fighters can also serve as the tow rather well.)

It is the tows responsibility to keep track of how many and which types of flux his is towing as sometimes lag can cause some flux to not appear on the wingman's radar. Also, it is the tows responsibility to cycle through the targets looking for new targets. A tourist can be more deadly than any conflux when group hunting. Imagine if a Fighter has just tagged an eel when someone jumps in, spawns another eel, and jumps back out. If the Fighter were closer to the new eel than the tow when this happened, then the Fighter is about to get attacked by an unexpected eel. Unexpected eels more often than not mean a pod ride for the unexpecting Fighter.

This type of hunting works well with more than just a tow and a single wingman. However, if the group gets to be more than a tow and three Fighters, things can get rather confusing especially if the pilots are not used to working together as a team. It is important that the tow pilot go in the direction opposite the flux being towed and that all other pilots jump out/in in unison so that they all will be free.

Fighting Multiple c7-c10

When alone, sometimes it is better to go for the quicker, easier kill than to focus on the most deadly enemy. If you are solo fighting a c7 c8 c10 combo, it would be best to kill the c7 with guns quickly, then use a missile and a flashfire to kill the kraken, then come back and kill the eel with guns. Whereas, it might be more difficult to kill a kraken while an eel and a c7 are shooting at you. Each scenario will be slightly different because different flux spawn in different locations with each hunt.

Once you can kill a kraken in one or two passes regularly, then in a c7 c8 c10 scenario, you should target the closer of either the manta or kraken. The more quickly you can destroy the first flux, the better your chances are of being able to kill the second flux with an eel shooting at you. While the eel is firing on you, you will need to adjust your jousts (vary speed and direction) to minimize the eel's ability to score hits. This will also throw off your own shots, so you need to know your weapon and your own aiming skills before trying it.

Another way to dela with the same c7 c8 c10 combo would be to target the eel first and make very long jousting runs at the eel group as your Fighter is fast enough to keep pace against the smaller flux or extend range using AB. Focusing on one target is F-21
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