Heads on xenon power station

[viking42]

Hi,

I have been reading a bit about fleet management, tutorials which orders to give the fighters and some more

So i went to attack my first xenon power stations with about 15 destroyers, 30 frigates and more or less 50 fighters

I all put them in one fleet with dedicate wings (see screenshot),
and order them to attack the turrets.

I just got wiped out, twice

So its obvious i'm really missing a point, and dumb.
Can you tell me how i should improve?
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1amCOfV ... sp=sharing

[Ragnos28]

Fighters and M ships must stay away from stations, and in the case of xenon power stations, you must takeout the L turrets with a personal destroyer, only after, you order your destroyers to attack.

[viking42]

I put my M ships to follow, as flak
Indeed my S are doing stupid things, but at least they draw fire

So i need a personal destroy with extra long range, my hyperion wont fit

[Ragnos28]

I put my M ships to follow, as flak
Indeed my S are doing stupid things, but at least they draw fire

No, not follow. M ships get "fly to position" orders, at least 50 km from the station.
S ships do not draw fire, S ships stay docked, or at worst, engage drones, if somehow you personal destroyer is overwhelmed, and even then, with attack multiple targets, while their status is docked, so that they attack ONLY the selected targets.
Takeout L turrets with a destroyer that you fly, after order the rest of your destroyers to attack.
That all it is to station demolition.

This is how it looks like: https://youtu.be/kxLP3aTmFg0?t=102
Preparations:
- carriers, move to position, away from the station, 50 km minimum
- aux ship, with all the M ships asign to it, move to position, away from the station, 50 km minimum

Actions:
- take control of one destroyer, take out L turrets
- order the rest of you destroyers to attack the station, once the L turrets are out, especially the ones on the top of the station

As for the "defanging" destroyer, all will do, except the Ratlesnake, and like you said, the Hyperion, who got their range nerfed a bit too much.

[viking42]

Thanks!

[viking42]

Which destroyer do you suggest as personal one to attack the station turrets
I have about all models, but all seem too sluggish

[Ragnos28]

Terran, if you have them, sturdy, so that drones and fighters don't bother you too much, while you do your stuff, and good cooling rate on the main battery, for better shooting.
Use "Y" key, for binoculars, or what is called, to view and target better, and shift+y, to get out from than mode.
Having L turrets with meson, on attack my target, also help.

I've even done it with a Rattle, using tracking missiles...was a hoot: https://youtu.be/3-RunES4eCU?t=242
deactivate missile turrets, target the station's turrets, reactivate your turrets, missiles are firing, taking their sweet time to get to target, turret destroyed, deactivate turrets...rince and repeat...
To do station demolition with a split fleet, w/o huge losses, is to know micro pain.

[Artess]

Fighters and M ships must stay away from stations, and in the case of xenon power stations, you must takeout the L turrets with a personal destroyer, only after, you order your destroyers to attack.

That's really pretty sad, would be so much better if we could order fighters to attack turrets and see them defang the station so that the destroyers could move in. Even if it meant losing a few fighters, understandably.

[Ragnos28]

Fighters and M ships must stay away from stations, and in the case of xenon power stations, you must takeout the L turrets with a personal destroyer, only after, you order your destroyers to attack.

That's really pretty sad, would be so much better if we could order fighters to attack turrets and see them defang the station so that the destroyers could move in. Even if it meant losing a few fighters, understandably.

Yeah, but with how things are atm, this involves watching fighters wasting time and putting themselfs in unnecessary danger, trying to get M turrets burried in the structure of the station, because we don't have a way to make them prioritize L turrets, the ones that are actually a threat to destroyers, all while being turned to shreds, by the before mentioned M turrets, and the swarm of drones a SPP or a wharf will unleash.

Last time I've tried this, I've lost over 50kk in fighters, that is more than 2 Odysseus...

So I said...screw this...concluded that is better to spend 10 minutes sniping the L turrets myself, also this give something to do for those that want more "action packed" demolition...bonus, you give yourself the ilussion of competent destroyer AI, as you watch them taking down the now turretless station, with fancy manoevers, as they change the targeted modules.

That being said, I believe an "Attack L turrets" command would go a long way, to make this tactic actually viable...

And for Boso Ta sake, allow our AI controled ships to engage build storages, the "whack a mole" game I must play with the xenon builds, in a sector they want, is really tiresome....imagine, you have fleet battles somewhere to enjoy, but no, you must port to take out yourself, the 5-6 build storages of destroyed stations "stumps" the xenon keep popping out, every 10 minutes...

[RainerPrem]

Which destroyer do you suggest as personal one to attack the station turrets
I have about all models, but all seem too sluggish

The "old" destroyers Behemoth and Phoenix (the same you can get for free from SCA) have a range of 10km. This is more than then Xenon L turrets, so they can stay out of range. Sometimes they don't, so you should supervise them.

As far as I know all other destroyers have a shorter range.

Behemoths and Phoenixes should be outfitted with PAR L Plasma turrets set to "Attack Big Ships first". They also have 10km range.

[Blaze1st]

Personally I would never send a fleet to destroy a station (I hate incurring losses, especially pricey ones!), but if I did the destroyers should be focussing on destroying station modules as quickly as possible rather than worrying about turrets. For those I would send nimble ships with Burst Rays.

When I want to destroy a station (or indeed clear an entire sector) there are only two good choices in my view: Asgard or Erlking. I pilot the ship solo, no AI involved, I do it all myself and don't even bother with targetting station turrets (I just stay out of range).

Asgard is quicker with the ATF but Erlking is more engaging. Sometimes I'll send in an Asgard or five (doesn't have to be Asgards they're just a high priority boarding target for me so I usually have a few spare lying around) to clean up anything not particularly threatening left over so I can move on to dismantling the next target already.

[Ragnos28]

Behemoths and Phoenixes should be outfitted with PAR L Plasma turrets set to "Attack Big Ships first". They also have 10km range.

The info is a bit outdated, the PAR L plasma have 7.9 km range in 9.0.

[vvvvvvvv]

So i went to attack my first xenon power stations with about 15 destroyers, 30 frigates and more or less 50 fighters

Weapons matters. Station attacker generally should need long range weapons.

[Ragnos28]

When I want to destroy a station (or indeed clear an entire sector) there are only two good choices in my view: Asgard or Erlking. I pilot the ship solo, no AI involved, I do it all myself and don't even bother with targetting station turrets (I just stay out of range).

When I tried to take down a station with an Asgard, this happened: https://youtu.be/E1GcXtyU2hU?t=180 , and that was before xenon S/M 9.0 buffs.

Besides, taking down a station with an Asgard takes a long, looong, long time...you must do it manually, must chase that "orange" zone for cooling...I find it really annoying, I rather let the AI handle that cooling management, even tho its movement to target new modules leave a lot to be desired.

[RainerPrem]

Behemoths and Phoenixes should be outfitted with PAR L Plasma turrets set to "Attack Big Ships first". They also have 10km range.

The info is a bit outdated, the PAR L plasma have 7.9 km range in 9.0.

Really? So that's the reason it took so long ... Is there now any L turret with a bigger Range?

[Ragnos28]

Behemoths and Phoenixes should be outfitted with PAR L Plasma turrets set to "Attack Big Ships first". They also have 10km range.

The info is a bit outdated, the PAR L plasma have 7.9 km range in 9.0.

Really? So that's the reason it took so long ... Is there now any L turret with a bigger Range?

There is L mass driver turret with 16 km, and L tracking turret, that is good at about 12 - 10km...but plasma is prety much done as anti capital/station weapon, since the xenon got their range buffed, at 7.7km, if I recall.

[Blaze1st]

When I want to destroy a station (or indeed clear an entire sector) there are only two good choices in my view: Asgard or Erlking. I pilot the ship solo, no AI involved, I do it all myself and don't even bother with targetting station turrets (I just stay out of range).

When I tried to take down a station with an Asgard, this happened: https://youtu.be/E1GcXtyU2hU?t=180 , and that was before xenon S/M 9.0 buffs.

Besides, taking down a station with an Asgard takes a long, looong, long time...you must do it manually, must chase that "orange" zone for cooling...I find it really annoying, I rather let the AI handle that cooling management, even tho its movement to target new modules leave a lot to be desired.

Quick disclaimer: I remain on 8.0 HF4 for now so no comment on changes in 9.0.

Three immediate things:

1) I would have cleared the entire sectors' Xenon ships at the gate before proceeding to the first station.

2) I would approach the station from the top or bottom, never side on.

3) I single tap the ATF beam and wait for full cooldown, only then tap again. If I'm feeling lazy full tapping discharge to just before red followed by full cooldown (doomscroll while waiting ). Never hold down the beam, always tap for more damage.

[Ragnos28]

When I want to destroy a station (or indeed clear an entire sector) there are only two good choices in my view: Asgard or Erlking. I pilot the ship solo, no AI involved, I do it all myself and don't even bother with targetting station turrets (I just stay out of range).

When I tried to take down a station with an Asgard, this happened: https://youtu.be/E1GcXtyU2hU?t=180 , and that was before xenon S/M 9.0 buffs.

Besides, taking down a station with an Asgard takes a long, looong, long time...you must do it manually, must chase that "orange" zone for cooling...I find it really annoying, I rather let the AI handle that cooling management, even tho its movement to target new modules leave a lot to be desired.

Quick disclaimer: I remain on 8.0 HF4 for now so no comment on changes in 9.0.

Three immediate things:

1) I would have cleared the entire sectors' Xenon ships at the gate before proceeding to the first station.

2) I would approach the station from the top or bottom, never side on.

3) I single tap the ATF beam and wait for full cooldown, only then tap again. If I'm feeling lazy full tapping discharge to just before red followed by full cooldown (doomscroll while waiting ). Never hold down the beam, always tap for more damage.

Ohh, you run away from the nice update, bad X4 player, bad, the devs went through all the trouble to make the update, and you don't appreciate it...

Why clear the xenon ships at the gate? The Asgard is invincible...or so I thought...
Speaking of clearing, I had to bring the other 6 destroyers of the fleet, so that the Asgard survived the "gauntlet", at the reload.

Things have changed in 9.0 with the ATF main battery, no tapping, and stoping before red become really important.

[RainerPrem]

The info is a bit outdated, the PAR L plasma have 7.9 km range in 9.0.

Really? So that's the reason it took so long ... Is there now any L turret with a bigger Range?

There is L mass driver turret with 16 km, and L tracking turret, that is good at about 12 - 10km...but plasma is prety much done as anti capital/station weapon, since the xenon got their range buffed, at 7.7km, if I recall.

Do you know about an updated list, where I can look up those (and find the German name), or can you tell me, which faction sells them?

[Keldy]

Mass driver is Paranid stuff

M version have good 12 km range , i use them at Behemots in first M turret slot