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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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