Is the Astraeus viable?

[DirkHardpec]

Was looking through and trying to figure out which m7 to buy and it looks like people are leaning almost completely towards the Tern, Carrack, and/or Tiger.

Can someone help me out on why the Astraeus isnt generally recommended? It has decent speed, a small frontal profile, good shields, and most importantly, it can equip a total of 8 PBCs in the turrets. Do the turrets not fire forward enough to use the PBCs effectively or something?

I'm just trying to figure out why people dont seem to recommend this ship at all.

[-GoldenEye-]

Perhaps not enough fire power vs capitals.

[Midnightknight]

Same issue than most M7 in my opinion, lack of firepower OOS and laser regen IS. But it's a nice fast ship quite versatile for patrolling sectors.
I guess we can say it's viable, it only depends what you use it for and how you set it up.

I remember in AP having it escorte my TL miner, it was doing the job pretty well.

[Klord]

Can someone help me out on why the Astraeus isnt generally recommended? It has decent speed, a small frontal profile, good shields, and most importantly, it can equip a total of 8 PBCs in the turrets. Do the turrets not fire forward enough to use the PBCs effectively or something?

It can only mount 4 PBC (on left and right turrets). Cant mount anymore than that. I would buy a Cerberus instead. Because, it also can mount 4 PBC, but it got better weapon energy and more guns.

Edit: I was wrong, it can mount 8 PBC. Interesting find I would say. Have to try it out.

[DirkHardpec]

Perhaps not enough fire power vs capitals.

I would imagine the PBC accuracy would make up for its raw stats vs IBL/GC at range, but I can see your point.

Same issue than most M7 in my opinion, lack of firepower OOS and laser regen IS. But it's a nice fast ship quite versatile for patrolling sectors.
I guess we can say it's viable, it only depends what you use it for and how you set it up.

I remember in AP having it escorte my TL miner, it was doing the job pretty well.

I was thinking as a player ship, especially with more engine and rudder tuning available.

Sit at 6km, nose in, and let the hitscan PBCs fire away while strafe dodging return fire. Seems this should work even against m2+s

It can only mount 4 PBC (on left and right turrets). Cant mount anymore than that. I would buy a Cerberus instead. Because, it also can mount 4 PBC, but it got better weapon energy and more guns.

Both the in game encyclopedia and Rogueys site state it can mount 2x PBC on the left, right, top, and bottom turrets. Is this not the case?

EDIT: just saw your edit, glad to see the game does actually allow 8 PBCs

[Drone_101]

@OP Yes the Astraeus is very viable, it's up to you to decide how to weaponize her. She's got 1,275 MW of laser energy reload rate which is enough to fire 2.27 PBC's continually or a hypothetical 6.84 Gauss Cannons. I'd suggest side turrets Gauss Cannons and PBCs on the up/down turrets and 8 CIGs in the main guns if you're going for an anti-cap loadout. For more generalist use switch those PBCs for FAA to stiffen your spine vs fighters. Play around with it and see how you like setting it up.

Don't rely on her Out of Sector though, not enough heavy guns for a one shot alpha on a Q I'm afraid despite the speed advantage giving you first shot initiative.

Edit: Above weapon energy numbers incorrect. Did some testing looks like the PBCs it can handle is between 4 and 5 which would line up with encyclopaedia energy drain from guns being in MJ/s rather than MJ/round. Makes the maths easier and the Astaeus better than I expected in in-sector fights. Apologies for the confusion caused, slam those PBCs on if you're fighting capital class ships!

[DirkHardpec]

@OP Yes the Astraeus is very viable, it's up to you to decide how to weaponize her. She's got 1,275 MW of laser energy reload rate which is enough to fire 2.27 PBC's continually or a hypothetical 6.84 Gauss Cannons. I'd suggest side turrets Gauss Cannons and PBCs on the up/down turrets and 8 CIGs in the main guns if you're going for an anti-cap loadout. For more generalist use switch those PBCs for FAA to stiffen your spine vs fighters. Play around with it and see how you like setting it up.

Don't rely on her Out of Sector though, not enough heavy guns for a one shot alpha on a Q I'm afraid despite the speed advantage giving you first shot initiative.

I dont mind too much energy drain on faster ships since you can always kite away and reengage when needed, but still sounds pretty bad. I like your idea to replace 4 with GCs, I'll give that a try.

Also plan on using IS only strictly for heavier m7s, 2s, and 1s. Hyperion can cover everything else and with the way OoS combat works, I'm guessing a megalodon or something is what to shoot for

[Drone_101]

She'll fit you just fine, won't be many threats you can't out fly, especially if you overtune the speed/steering a little. Cargo space might feel a little crampt with Gauss Cannon ammo but you should be able to manage, most engagements wont burn through too much in one go.

[Midnightknight]

In my Shrike with 10 creates of gauss i i went in a sector with 3 Q and a K and took them all down without ressuplying ...
Gauss really do not eat ammos really fast and even if the size a few creates takes could look impressive at first, in the end it's not that much, especially if you set them to shoot only on capitals.

[DirkHardpec]

Edit: Above weapon energy numbers incorrect. Did some testing looks like the PBCs it can handle is between 4 and 5 which would line up with encyclopaedia energy drain from guns being in MJ/s rather than MJ/round. Makes the maths easier and the Astaeus better than I expected in in-sector fights. Apologies for the confusion caused, slam those PBCs on if you're fighting capital class ships!

Nice! I'll go with the original idea of an 8 PBC set up then and see how it goes

[DirkHardpec]

Just as an update, I finally managed to pick up and fully equip one with the PBCs, and as far as I can tell this is as bullsh*t overpowered as the Springblossom is in AP.

I'm not sure anything can actually kill you as long as you sit at 6km. The turrets' arcs cover behind the ship so you can just move into max range, turn around and away from your target, match the speed to kite, and strafe around all their PPC/IBL/PSP/etc. while you chunk away with your beams. Throw your favorite anti-missile weapon in the rear turret and enjoy.

[Drone_101]

Yeah, you're fine up until you hit an I! Even that you could probably best given long enough and a pile of Mossies for missile defence.

[DirkHardpec]

Yeah, you're fine up until you hit an I! Even that you could probably best given long enough and a pile of Mossies for missile defence.

That was actually the very first capital I had the chance to try this out on. Never went below 4/5 shields, though it did take 5 minutes or so to kill. FAA and mosquitos kept every missile off.

That said I'm only on warlord combat rank, so maybe things will change once there are a lot more ships attacking at once.

[Klord]

So Astraeus can continue to fire all 8 PBC without running out of energy? I mean in a practical scenario where all turrets may not be active all the time.

[blazenclaw]

Astraeus has 1,275 W of laser generation and 51MJ battery. This is enough to fire 8 PBCs simultaneously for 36s dealing an amount of damage equal to 6.8GJ of shield damage or 3.1 million hull points. Thereafter, it runs out of battery energy, and can only sustain 4 PBCs simultaneously indefinitely from the recharge rate, dealing 5.4GJ of shield damage per minute or 2.5 million hull points per minute.

[Klord]

Nice calculation brother. If this is the case, Astraeus is a viable M7 to kill other M7 and smaller M2s. It will have trouble with ships with high shielding, notably Terrans and of course the Cheating A"I".

[DirkHardpec]

So Astraeus can continue to fire all 8 PBC without running out of energy? I mean in a practical scenario where all turrets may not be active all the time.

Astraeus has 1,275 W of laser generation and 51MJ battery. This is enough to fire 8 PBCs simultaneously for 36s dealing an amount of damage equal to 6.8GJ of shield damage or 3.1 million hull points. Thereafter, it runs out of battery energy, and can only sustain 4 PBCs simultaneously indefinitely from the recharge rate, dealing 5.4GJ of shield damage per minute or 2.5 million hull points per minute.

My experience so far is, in practice, you're not going to be using all 4 turrets at once on a single target. Capitals with a large frontal profile will average 3 (6 PBCs) turrets while strafing, thin m7s and smaller you'll generally only have 2 (4 PBCs) (though most of the time you can easily wipe them with the frontal CIGs before they crack your shields).

Like mentioned earlier, the I took about 5 minutes of kiting to take down but my ship never once ran low on energy even with the FAA intercepting missiles and Ls.

All in all, it's not wiping sectors in a minute like an M7M, but it's easily the safest and most reliable ship I've found so far. Only real issue is the smaller cargo space for energy, but it does house 7 fighters for station docking and additional firepower so that kinda balances it out for me.

[-GoldenEye-]

Astraeus has 1,275 W of laser generation and 51MJ battery. This is enough to fire 8 PBCs simultaneously for 36s dealing an amount of damage equal to 6.8GJ of shield damage or 3.1 million hull points. Thereafter, it runs out of battery energy, and can only sustain 4 PBCs simultaneously indefinitely from the recharge rate, dealing 5.4GJ of shield damage per minute or 2.5 million hull points per minute.

yes, that was my answer. exactly like that but with a smiley at the end