NUKLEAR-SLUG wrote: I strongly suspect a lot of X3:R vets remember Dragonfly being a worthless missile and don't realise just how great they are now. Try them out for yourselves.
Will do - they were my favourite X2 missiles due to a rather good yield/size ratio (i.e. biggest bang for a single cargo unit missile) - hated it when they lost their targetting systems in X3R. Thanks for the info.
Congratulations on your new acquisition by the way. Excellent missile tactics - 'nuke the site from orbit - only way to be sure'. LOL - agree completely. Keep it coming - eager to read the next episode, so don't do anything daft like getting killed.
Nicely done. I'll have to try out the Dragonfly... I remember modding them in X3R so they did quadruple their usual damage, which actually gave them a purpose as an interceptor-mounted slow-ship-smasher that was actually pretty scary. Now that they're seekers again, though...
DEFINITELY... but then I've launched a missile barrage at a handful of Xenon Ps and Pxs in a fit of pique before (tomahawk missiles from a captured Hades) - just fly along behind the missiles and watch the carnage. Truly it is a joy to behold
... I'm now going to have to go back to the first post because I can't remember what SLUGs rule on repairing was
So I'm drifting in the pea-soup welding panelling back on my Buzzard. The Buzzard has 15mj of shielding which for an M4 is in the mid to high-end range. Couple that with a 265m/s top speed and decent weapons loadout and rounding it out with M-class cargo opens up a whole new set of opportunities.
It's taken quite a bit of damage tho and this is going to take a few charges of the repair laser so inbetween recharging I bring up the universe map and start plotting my next moves. However fate it turns out can be a X2 sagt Bussi auf Bauch mistress indeed and has her own plans for me. Just in case there's any doubt she illustrates the point quite graphically moments later as my new Buzzard explodes in my face.
I'm probably sat there at that moment with a quite stupefied look on my face as I can quite honestly say I've not the faintest clue what just happened. One second I'm fixing my new M4, the next, without warning, I'm enveloped in a rapidly cooling cloud of vaporised M4 parts. A few seconds later the cause of my misfortune appears, a pointlight crawling lazily across my screen and disappearing off into the fog leaving just a blue wake behind it. It's a Banshee missile.
Comprehension suddenly dawns on me and I realise what's happened. As I caught up to the Buzzard duo and started trailing them they had passed the Atreus Military outpost. It seems while I was busy choosing my targets and making my move we were drifting further inside the missile envelope of the Medium OWP and it responded the only way it knows how. A ship would have stopped firing once the Buzzard had quit but I guess a missile once locked is committed. Had I realised the threat I could have countered it but I hadn't considered the possibility. It seems the RNG gods giveth and the RNG gods taketh away.
Fortunately I hadn't by that point transferred any equipment across so despite a slightly scorched spacesuit and down a few credits in Dragonflies I'm not for all practicality any worse off. It would appear I'm going to need this Octopus just a little longer. Heading back towards the west gate I top off my Dragonfly supply, resume my station and start watching the traffic go by once more. A couple more attempts on Scorpion escorts yield me nothing more than a few percentage points of hull damage when I fail to realise until too late there's a Jaguar attached to one particular flight group but a quick missile kill on the Scorpion and then its one-on-one so no problem in the end.
Now you'ld probably be forgiven for thinking that after the events of earlier I'ld expended my quota of misfortune for the day but you'ld be entirely wrong. Who remembers that Caiman Miner? The one I sent off for an engine upgrade before returning home? Anyone who does, you get a gold star and a pat on the head. I however get no star and a slap round the head. The Argon also now consider me Confirmed Insurgent which is a cheery thought in itself.
By now I'm wondering if possibly I should quit for the day before something even worse happens (tho I'm at a loss for the moment to think what that might be) when I scan a passing Teladi freight M3. It's a Perseus but it's got only 7mj of shielding, a single IRE in front and a single Firefly missile, In fact the only thing that's even giving me pause for thought on this one is the Fragbomb launcher in the rear-turret. Today seems a good day to die, however I'm not keen on that idea and would much prefer today to be a good day to cap a Perseus.
I'ld like to have wasp missile at this point to distract the turret while I make a move but sadly the Octopus can't handle them. Fortunately Fragbombs are slow with low ROF so a bit of deft flying should win the day. I make a couple passes, strip the shields and start nibbling at the hull while dodging turret fire. I get a lag spike for a couple seconds and take a hard hit I never see coming which knocks my hull right down into the red on 13% but when it kicks back into action it's a beautiful sight in front of me. A blue M3 and a spacesuit rapidly jetting off into the distance.
I save and go make a cup of tea.
Total Assets:
1x Octopus
1x Perseus (84%) (Unless some spiteful misfortune occurs to it)
2x 1 Mj shield
4x IRE
1x Maxed Caiman SF 'Tax Deductible'
1x Caiman SF (85%)
300,000cr
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