UgMan's Updated EoCo Pilot Tips

These are some useful tips that should help you get the most out of Edge of Chaos Online.

This documentation was mostly created by UgMan.
Contributions: Fearless, Lone Wolf, inVurt, HardEyes and Kristof
Last edited by: inVurt on 2002/06/24
Version 1.1


Contents
========

1) The Dead Zone
2) Powering Down
3) Power-Down Tactics
4) The Last Step of Fire Control
5) Reading your Messages
6) Reporting your Logs
7) Comms Etiquette
8) T-1 and the Quick Attack
9) Holding your Moves
10) Jumping in Late
11) Living on the Edge - Sleeping at the Front
12) Moving into Hostile Territory
13) Providing Scans via SITREPs
14) Shields
15) Death and Reincarnation
16) Volatile Systems - Enemy HQs
17) Volatile Systems - Firefrost
18) Decoys - The Repairship's Second-Best Friend
19) Repair Ships
20) Repair Ships in Action


1) The Dead Zone
================

Ships cannot capsule jump to another sector in the last 15 minutes of a turn, or in the first 5 minutes of the next turn. This is commonly referred to as the "Dead Zone". No other actions are inhibited during this time period. This simple restriction creates a number of repercussions, which will be explored below.

EoCo is a strategic war simulation, and as such, players are at their most successful when they can organize in such a manner as to co-ordinate their efforts. This necessitates the use of "fire control". In its simplest terms, "fire control" means firing at a specific target, at a specific time. Usually that time is within the last 15 minutes of the turn, or the beginning of the "Dead Zone".

There are several reasons for this:

1) Obviously, your target can't escape by jumping out during this time. If the target is ranked 7 or higher, it is stuck there until the jump window reopens.

2) Targets ranked 6 and under will only be able to power down if they still have all of their own moves remaining.

3) Shooting outside the dead zone has the side-effect that it warns the target, who may choose to retreat or power down before you can kill it.

4) Waiting until the final 15 minutes of a turn gives the maximum amount of time for the pilots drawing up targeting lists to prioritize targets for best effect.

5) You don't know exactly who else may be jumping in until the jump window closes. Many pilots see how close they can get to the Dead Zone before jumping in, in an effort to try and surprise the defenders.

6) By holding your own moves until T-15 minutes, you keep your own options open if suddenly you find that YOU'RE the target and need to perform a hasty "retrograde maneuver" (retreat).

7) A smart enemy will communicate to their faction-mates in that sector who has fired on them that turn. This may make you a sitting duck if you've fired already, since your name will be posted in their logs.


Sometimes it may be advantageous to fire early. For instance, you may find you have enough firepower online to destroy a target who isn't currently logged in. Just be sure to understand that there may be repercussions to your actions. Ships respawing in their HQ can still communicate with the remaining ships in their former sector to point out your actions and your subsequent immobility. Of course, sometimes it's worth it.

Another time that it may be worth it is within the first 5 minutes of a turn. You may wish to guarantee a heavily damaged ship doesn't have the opportunity to escape by retreating when the jump window reopens. In that case, firing within the first 5 minutes of the turn may be worthwhile. Again, realize that such actions always carry risks, and you may lose your own ship because of it. Not only are you stuck for that turn, but you yourself are also stuck for the first 5 minutes of the next. This means that if you are in a ship unable to power down, enemy ships in a neighbouring sector have the opportunity to jump in and blow you away before you can do much about it.

Finally, you will often see pilots using their moves early if they're going to sleep soon, and don't mind sleeping in a dangerous sector.

Using moves usually has the side-effect that it is detectable in some way. For instance, firing on a target may give you points, level you up, or, if you are in a volatile sector such as Firefrost where your own shots give you "environmental damage", lower your own shields. Jump out and you're obviously no longer in the sector. Self-repairing will raise your shields. A savvy opponent may notice this, and make you a target. However, some actions will not result in anything obvious. For instance, if two repairships are online in a sector and one of them picks up the scrap, even the most observant enemy won't be able to tell which one it was to make them a target. But again it is a risk, for you may end up the target anyway, and will be stuck just the same.



2) Powering Down
================

Ships below rank 7 are able to power down. Once you reach rank 7, this ability is lost, and cannot be regained short of dying and starting in a new ship. It costs a pilot 5 moves to power down, but only 1 move to power back up. To power down, with 5 moves available, go to the HUD -> Ship Comp -> Ship panel and click the Power Down button. When powered down with at least one move remaining, a Power Up button should become available.

Once powered down, you do not appear on anyone's enemies or friendlies contact list, and are undetectable to FC scans. You cannot perform your regular attacks or repairs until you power back up. Interestingly enough, the inverse corollary is often valid. That is, if you have moves remaining and you cannot attack or repair a ship, then you are probably powered down!

The only way to attack while powered down, without first powering up, is to risk piracy for a seeker missile or gattling gun pickup. As well, the only way you can be spotted while powered down is for your enemies to get these same piracy pickups, and make note of your presence. You do not need to power up in order to capsule jump to another sector, you can still perform this action normally. Repairships can pick up scrap while powered down, but cannot repair. As well, getting an LDA piracy pickup will instantly power you back up.

There may still be a bug in the game where ranking up from 6 to 7 while powered down does not automatically power you up. However, since a rank 7 ship cannot normally power down, there will be no corresponding button to power back up! The only way to rectify the situation is to jump out to another sector or pickup an LDA via piracy.



3) Power-Down Tactics
=====================

While primarily used to conceal one's presence for a period of time, powering down can be used with great effect in certain combat situations. If a ship powers down and then powers up in the last minutes of the subsequent turn, they will be able to spend their remaining 4 moves attacking or repairing largely without repercussion. Powering back down immediately in the third turn means that your ship will only be visible to conventional sensors for a very brief period of time. By powering up as late as possible in the middle turn, your ship will very likely be safe from attack as most of the enemy will likely have used up their own moves. At the same time, you still want to have enough time to be able to make all your shots, so it is best to power up with 5 minutes remaining in the turn.

This tactic allows a small fleet to survive against great odds and still fight back, as the only way to attack powered down ships is to find piracy pickups. On average, you will receive less damage from piracy attacks than from an enemy's full salvo of shots. However, a powered-down attack should not be used in a prolonged battle, as the enemy will gain levels faster than the powered down fleet. Where this tactic really comes into its own is either at the start of a battle when you need to hold off a superior force while waiting for backup to arrive, or as a way to keep an advancing fleet from penetrating deeper into your space. Forces are loath to move past a powered-down fleet, as this may serve to cut them off from their repairships at a critical moment.



4) The Last Step of Fire Control
================================

Chain of command dictates that someone with some good sense should be running the battle by co-ordinating all the pilots involved in the attack. If all the ships fire at different targets, likely nothing will get killed and moves will be wasted. Killing ships is desirable as it means there are less ships firing back! The last step of fire control is nominating a target and firing at it. Usually a list of targets is drawn up and posted to the ships in sector by the person who has been appointed to command the ships involved in the battle. This may be your squadron commander, or a sector commander, or your FC. Or it may simply be an experienced pilot. If you don't know who is in charge of the situation, ask.

If you are given target orders that you think are bad or insufficient, please do not send conflicting orders to all the ships involved. If you have a problem with the orders, message the person in charge and explain to them your point of view and why you think the orders need to be changed. By sending the message to everyone you may easily compound the problem by confusing everyone, who will be expecting their orders from only one source.

5) Reading your Messages
========================

Always read your messages before using any of your moves. If you have a lot of messages waiting for you when you log on, first read the ones from your FC, Squadron Commander and any Sector or Sub Commanders. Basically, first read anything that has might even remotely have orders in it. Always start from the top of the messages and work your way down, especially if you do not have the time to wade through all of it. Many replies and re-replies contain the text of the inial message, saving you from having to read any number of nested replies.

The best advice is to be log in 30 minutes before the end of the turn, if at all possible. This should give you enough time to scan your messages, check the Jumping In panel for enemies, and possibly capsule jump before the jump window closes. Unless it is urgent, try and reply to any messages after you have done your own moves. More than one author of this document has forgotten to move for the turn while obliviously typing away...



6) Reporting your Logs
======================

If you are fired upon in battle, post the logs of the attacks to those ships in your sector. These logs will indicate those enemy ships that can no longer attack that turn, power down, or run away. As well, the logs may help to indicate the relative combat strength of individual enemy pilots. Enemy ships that do more damage do so at the expense of their defensive piloting skill, which makes them softer targets, giving friendly ships more points with which to rank up quickly. Making these ships priority targets means your side takes less damage over the course of the battle, and levels up quicker.



7) Comms Etiquette
==================

If you play long enough, you will come to discover that one of the most frustrating aspects of this game is wading through the insane volume of messages that manage to find their way to your inbox, especially late in the game. For that reason, various strategies have emerged in an attempt to tame this particular beast. The most successful is to label your message's subject lines with tags indicating who they are for, and what they are. That way a pilot isn't forced to read the body of the message to get an idea of what it's about, especially if it doesn't pertain to them.

The particulars of a faction's comms etiquette is usually laid down by the faction's FC, so variations are common, but the following generally hold true:

[SPAM] - Prefixing your message subject with "spam" indicates that the message is not specific to the game, and can generally be ignored.

e.g. [SPAM] World Cup upset! Germany: 103 USA: -2


[ALL] - A message containing pertinent information that is intended for everyone should be prefixed with this tag.

e.g. [ALL] We just lost our FC in Holst!


[UgMan] - This prefix indicates that the message is intended for UgMan, and is likely a personal message.

e.g. [UgMan] What are our orders for next turn?


[FC] - This prefix is used to indicate that the message is intended specifically for the FC.

e.g. [FC] Request scan of Dagon, please!


[LAZA] - A prefix containing a sector name indicates that the message is specific to all ships in that sector.

e.g. [LAZA] All ships jump to Dagon ASAP!


[SCAN] - Messages starting with this prefix contain FC scans of the indicated sector.

e.g. [SCAN] Dagon T:55


[SITREP] - The body of this message will contain a situation report of the indicated sector from a pilot performing reconnaissancein that sector.

e.g. [SITREP] Baal T:55


[PM] - This indicates the comms is a personal message to the recipient.

e.g. [PM] What faction should we attack next?


[INTEL] - Indicates the message contains intelligence of some sort.

e.g. [INTEL] I'm pretty sure the Oman FC is ...


(n/t) - Slightly different, this is used at the END of the subject line. If the subject line contains the entire message, then it is customary to indicate that the body of the message contains no text. Usually this is done by appending some variation of [nt], [NT], (n/t), ...n/t to the end of the subject line.

e.g. [UgMan] Are we jumping to Dagon anytime soon? (n/t)


Also, scan messages for the following keywords, usually all in capital letters: ORDERS, TARGETS, REQ:. They are used to indicate that the message contains orders, a target list, or a request, respectively.

Finally, it is often a good idea to put the most important bit of information in the subject line, and to expand on it in the body of the message, especially if the message is intended to be understood quickly. For instance, let's consider the following:

[Firefrost] TARGETS for T:50 -- 1) Lone Wolf 2) HardEyes 3) UgMan (n/t)

A message starting with this subject line is intended for everyone in Firefrost, it contains a targetlist for the turn 50, and it lists the order of ships to target, starting at the first and continuing until he is dead or has jumped out before moving on to the next. It also indicates that the body of the message contains no text. If a pilot were to log in within the last 10 minutes of a turn, scan their messages and read the above subject line among them, they would quickly understand what is expected of them and still have time to act upon the information.



8) T-1 and the Quick-Attack
===========================

Contrary to intuition, you may attack incoming enemy ships in the last minute of the turn they jump in. This is because the ships arrive on the minute before the end of the turn. Since they've necessarily used their moves already that turn to jump, for a full minute, these ships are totally defenceless.

Since incoming ships arrive at T-1, they will appear on the Enemies panel at that time, but you don't need to switch to that panel to attack them. Refreshing the Enemies panel takes precious seconds you'll need to guarantee you land all of your shots. In the last minute, simply click on their ship in the Jumping In panel and the red attack button will appear, provided you have moves remaining. Then execute a quick-attack.

To quick-attack, click the fire button but don't wait for the movie to start. Click again after about a half-second, and each half-second thereafter until you have used up all your moves. Each click interrupts the movie, and restarts the process. Click exactly the number of moves you have. If you click more, you risk the server applying some of those moves in the new turn, which means that you won't be able to jump out or power down if you find things have taken a turn for the worse. It is important to "feel" the beat between clicks. One thing you can do is wait for the amount of time it takes for the tooltip to appear over the attack button after clicking it. You don't want your attacks too close together or the game server won't be able to register them all. And you don't want them spaced too far apart or the movie will start and consume valuable bandwidth that could be put to better use in what precious time you have remaining. A little experimentation to get it just right and this should become second nature.

Note: To stop the movie from playing at any time, click the HUD selection and follow it with the Close button. Your attack results will then be displayed.

An alternate method used to performa quick-attack is to open up 5 windows in which to attack beforehand, and cycle through them during the attack. Try both and use whichever method you are more comfortable with.

You can quick-attack at any time, you don't need to do it within the last minute. However, if your target has picked up an LDA and is invulnerable for that turn, you will waste all of your shots. Under normal circumstances it's best to check the first shot before quick-attacking the rest. To find out how much damage your shots inflicted, simply check your logs.

Please note: Repairships can perform a quick-repair using the same technique. This may be a good idea if a heavily damaged ship is jumping into a sector with hostile ships, or even if an enemy ship is jumping into an otherwise clean sector, as this may provide bonus points for repairs done in that minute.



9) Holding your Moves
=====================

In addition to holding your attacks for the last 15 minutes of a turn, holding all of your actions for the final 15 has a lot of advantages that you should consider, even in non-combat situations. The faster you are able to react to changes in the game, the more successful you will be. A priority target may jump in at the last minute, or ships may be desperately needed elsewhere. If you've used your moves doing something already, you won't be able to react as soon as may have been required. And you can never be certain what ships will be jumping into your sector until the jump window closes and nothing else can get in. If you have moved already, a strong enough force could jump in at the end of one turn, and kill you before the jump window reopens in the next turn. It happens more often than you might expect. Only when you know exactly what you will be facing before the next jump window opens again can you consider yourself safe enough to use your moves. If something dangerous is moving in that you can't handle, you will still have enough moves, and hopefully enough time, to jump out to a safer sector. If you think you can handle it, then you have the opportunity to perform a quick-attack with moves you might otherwise have spent on piracy.

10) Jumping in Late
===================

The earlier you jump into a sector, the more warning the ships in that sector have of your approach. In addition, enemy FC's with scanning ability are more likely to become aware of your actions. For that reason, it is best to jump to new sectors with the last five minutes before the jump window closes, or T-20. Often by this time, only but the most disciplined pilots have already used up their moves and cannot attack you at T-1. And even then, sending communications changing orders and targets can be a real hassle, as not everyone will be able to read them. The later you jump, the less of a target you become. As well, sometimes you can totally surprise an enemy force and power down or jump on through before they can react. This doesn't happen often, but when it does it can be a real coup!

If you are being chased, and want to backtrack on your pursuers, jumping right before the jump window closes won't give them enough time to communicate to change their plans. This takes practice, however, and a good estimation of the amount of lag on the servers. You don't want to find yourself suddenly stuck in a sector because the server registered your jump request just AFTER the jump window closed.



11) Living on the Edge - Sleeping at the Front
==============================================

Every sector bordering an enemy-controlled sector is a front line. It is best not to go offline or sleep in such sectors for more than one turn. While the situation may appear calm and safe, that can change in the space of one turn.

When you are on the offensive, you can almost guarantee that all the friendly ships in that sector are active. Defending on the frontline, however, can be problematic if ships decide to sleep there. You can never be sure of real firepower backing you up. Not only that, retreat becomes a problem, as ships that retreat cannot be there to defend the sleepers, who will very likely be destroyed as a result.

Powering down or jumping off of the front line if you plan on sleeping more than a turn is usually the prefered action. Active defenders have a better idea of the firepower at their disposal and don't need to worry about your ship, and you don't risk spending the next week trying to level your ship back up to where it was before you went to sleep. It only costs you one turn to jump back in, and only one move to power back up.

Your first duty is always to your ship. Keep it safe.



12) Moving into Hostile Territory
=================================

Prior to jumping into a sector that doesn't belong to your faction (isn't your colour on the map) it is customary to request a scan from your FC. If your faction has lost scanning ability, you may also try asking for a situation report (SITREP) from any friendly ships currently in that sector. This may help you from suddenly finding yourself back in your HQ.

Never assume the enemy is sleeping. People play this game from around the world, and there are good odds that someone in the sector you are planning on jumping into will be online. Just because it's past midnight for you doesn't mean that someone else isn't just starting their day with a nice, hot cup of tea and five free shots waiting for a target.



13) Providing Scans via SITREPs
===============================

If your faction has lost its scanning ability, or your FC is asleep or otherwise incapacitated, you may be required to provide intelligence on a sector by jumping in and posting a situation report (SITREP) to the rest of the faction on arrival. Ships ideally suited to such tasks are those rank 6 and below, as they will be able to power down. Ships of higher rank must be careful, as they might just find they've lost their ship in the amount of time required to compose the message. If you're providing a SITREP and haven't powered down, periodically check your shields while writing the message, and have your jump destination pre-selected so that all you have to do is press the jump button.

A good way to provide a SITREP in a sector where no friendlies are present, and get out alive is to do the following: First, open up three browser windows. The first will contain the Enemies contact list, and it should be refreshed immediately upon arrival at T-1 of the turn in which you jump in. The second window should be opened before you jump, and is to display the Ship Panel, with its corresponding Power Down button. The third window will be used to display the Capsule Jump screen (HUD -> Ship Comp -> Caps Jump), and this is the screen you should periodically refresh to keep track of your current shields.

Generally try to jump out, unless it looks like you will be destroyed if you don't power down. You can compose the SITREP from the contents of the first window after you've jumped.

If two or more ships jump to provide the SITREP, there is a much greater chance that at least one of them will be able to accomplish their objective.

A SITREP should list all the pilot names, ranks, and shields of the ships in the sector, sorted by faction. This can easily be done by selecting the enemies in the Enemies panel, copying that information to the clipboard (CTRL-C) and pasting it into the body of the message (CTRL-V). Please make the information more readable by moving pilots from different factions into their own section, and at the end provide another list of any pilots jumping in, noting the factions to which they belong.



14) Shields
===========

Shields in this game are shown on your web browser. One problem with the shield indicator is that it only shows your shields at the time the page was last refreshed. To check your current shield status, either press the refresh button (F5) or go to HUD -> Ship Comp -> Ship or Main Comp. It is slightly faster to use the ship's HUD to check your shields than it is to press the refresh button.

In large battles or when your side is badly outranked, you will need to constantly monitor your shields. Most pilots either power down or jump out if their shields drop below 50%.

Please note that a rank 10 ship can take down a rank 1 in an average of 1-2 shots! Rank 1's survive in a sector populated by hostile rank 9's and 10's only at the enemy's mercy.



15) Death and Reincarnation
===========================

Occasionally it happens that a pilot will lose his ship. What happens next depends on whether or not your HQ is still standing. If your faction still possesses it's HQ, you will respawn there in a brand spanking new rank 1 ship. All your skill points will be reset to the initial amount you started the game with. Furthermore, you will be given the choice of whether to pilot a fighter or a repair ship.

If your HQ has been destroyed, you will respawn as above, but in another random faction's HQ sector. Welcome to your new home!

You respawn with 5 moves, even if you've already used all of them prior to your ship's destruction.



16) Volatile Systems - Enemy HQs
================================

All ships not native to the HQ's faction will take damage at T-1 of each turn they are in that sector, including ships jumping in. The amount of damage is typically small, from 0 to 5% of the ship's shields. The damage does not appear to be linked to the HQ, but to the sector itself; that is a ship will still take damage even if the base itself has been destroyed. This damage is applied even if your ship is protected by an LDA! Do not stay in an enemy HQ sector if your shields are low!

If an HQ is still intact, it will appear at the bottom of the contact list. In all respects it is just like another ship, with a shield rating, and it can be repaired. When your faction's HQ drops below 50% shields, you will be limited to Short Range Comms and, unless you are a FC, will not be able to communicate with ships outside of your current sector. FC's must use their FC control panel to message individual squadrons. In addition, the galaxy map loses all colour indicators for members of that faction. All sectors appear white on the map.

When an HQ is fired upon, the attacker will usually take some form of reciprocal damage. In particular, this generally makes attacking an HQ with less than 50 points allocated to your piloting skill a rather painful experience. No matter the damage your particular shot is listed as doing, the damage registered by the HQ's shields is actually tripled. That means that if your shot is reported doing 500 points of damage, the HQ's shields will drop by 1500! The corresponding increase in your score, immaterial of the actual damage done, is 50x your rank. A rank 7 ship's score increases by 350 for each shot.

Repairs on your own HQ are not tripled, and sadly, ships receive no points for doing so.

Enemy HQ's regenerate a small amount each turn. This amount increases slightly for each sector held by the HQ's faction (ie. each sector on the map that is the faction's colour) at the time it is applied.

17) Volatile Systems - Firefrost
================================

Firefrost is another sector in which all ships present, and those jumping into, take damage each turn. In addition, attacking or repairing another ship in Firefrost also results in some amount of reciprocal damage applied to your own ship. Higher ranked ships tend to take more such damage than lower ranked ones, and those ships with high piloting skills fare better than those who pump most of their skill points into their combat skill.

The following tips should help you survive and thrive in this sector:

1) Don't use all of your moves attacking/repairing a target. Save some for piracy and self-repair, unless there is a large number of friendly repairships present.

2) Be wary of enemy repairships as well, as they often tend to do piracy in this sector and will often send a seeker missile or gattling triple-shot in your direction.

3) Jumping out of Firefrost is better than powering down, if possible, as you still take damage even when powered down, and you can almost guarantee a couple enemy repairships will find you with their piracy pickups.

4) Reciprocal damage appears to scale with your attack damage. So if you're a rank 10 ship and you find a gattling triple-shot, try and shoot it at another high ranked ship instead of wasting some poor pilot in a small fighter. I once managed to do 3000 damage to one such fighter, and recieved 4000 damage in return! Ouch!

5) Sometimes you don't have to attack an enemy, as they'll do more damage to themselves than you would have done!

6) If your ship drops below 50% shields, jump out. You remembered to save your moves for just such an eventuality, right?

7) Sleeping in Firefrost is risky for three reasons. First, you take damage each turn you're in it. Second, it is a central corridor for every faction. You can expect a great deal of ships to be present in Firefrost at any given time, with even more just passing through. It is safest to plan your jumps such that you are not forced to sleep in Firefrost. Finally, Firefrost is often considered a neutral zone in which even an allied faction's ships are free to fire on you without political repercussions.



18) Decoys - The Repairship's Second-Best Friend
================================================

An ECM decoy is something that can only be created via a piracy pickup. It produces a duplicate snapshot of the finder's ship at the time it was found. The decoy has the pilot's name, rank, ship, shields and points. It is only visible on an enemy's contact list and on FC scans. The decoy does nothing whatsoever for the finder besides sit there, and potentially confuse the enemy. Its statistics do not change as the decoy finder's own change. It cannot shoot, and it usually only takes 1 shot to destroy. Decoys do provide one other useful function for their faction, however. They count as ships when the game server needs the number of ships in a system to decide what faction it belongs to, and what corresponding colour to fill it in on the map.

Detecting an enemy's decoys can be a bit of work. Just how much work depends on the situation. The following method works well if the decoy was just recently created and the real ship is still visible in the system:

At the bottom of your Explorer window is its taskbar. When you hover your mouse above a ship on the enemy contact list, in the left panel of the taskbar will display the information used by the game server to identify that ship. The last number in that long string of characters is the ship's ID number. A decoy's ID number will always be larger than the ship that created it. In a system filled with decoys, where you know the ship generating the decoys is present, the real ship is the one with the lowest ID number.

If you are unsure whether the generating ship is still visible in-system, then you will need to find that ship on the Rankings listings, and once again hover your mouse over the pilot's name. In the taskbar will appear another long character string. In that string look for the portion that reads "id=xxx" where xxx is some number. That is the ID number of the real ship, and anything else bearing that pilot's name is a decoy.

Usually, unless the pilot has lost his ship recently, the ship with the highest score is the real one. Also, on an FC's scans, decoys are listed exactly the same as the originating pilot with one important exception. A decoy will have no kills associated with it. That means that a ship listed on an FC's scans with one or more kills is guaranteed to be real. This doesn't mean that a ship with no kills is a decoy, however, and many pilots good pilots will go out of their way to not perform the final kill-shot on enemy ships so as to be a pain to anyone scrubbing FC scans for decoys.

There is one other way to detect a decoy: shoot it. If you kill it in one shot, and get no points for it, then it was probably a decoy (or an extremely unlucky low-ranked pilot). Mind you, that was a shot that likely could have been put to better use elsewhere.

Do not shoot decoys until you are finished with all the real ships in the sector and expect to move on. If you plan on using the sector as a repair-base, then it is best to leave them intact! Since they are considered real ships by the game server, any repairships performing repairs with them present in-system may be able to get a nice repair bonus. The more points your repairships get, the faster they level up, and the better they get at patching up your ship and keeping your faction healthy.



19) Repair Ships
================

Piloting a repairship is almost the opposite of piloting a fighter, but many of the same strategies apply. As the name would imply, a repairship can repair damage to friendly ships, in much the same way as a fighter would attack an enemy ship. The amount of the repair is modified by the repairship pilot's combat skill (it acts as a repair skill), and the target's piloting skill. One would think that if the target had a high piloting skill, a rep should be able to repair them more effectively, but the game does not work that way. Ships with high piloting skill get less damage repaired per move spent repairing them, on average, than those with a lower piloting skill.

What is truly different about piloting a repairship is the theatre of operation. While a fighter needs to be in combat to be effective, a repairship can choose to repair alongside the fighters in a combat sector, or in a safe sector nearby on damaged ships that jump in. Repairship pilots who tend to operate alongside fighters will usually keep their combat and piloting skills close together, whereas rep pilots who don't expect to get into combat often can afford to put most of their skill points into their combat skill, resulting in better repairs and more points. As well, repairships have a stronger shields rating than a fighter of equal rank, and so tend to be slightly "tougher".

Repairships get points for repairing ships of at least 3 ranks below the repairships own rank and higher. That is, a repairship of rank 7 would get points for repairing another ship of rank 4, but not one of rank 3, even though the actual repair itself will be larger. In addition, repairing ships of equal or higher rank while an enemy ship or decoy is present will net the rep pilot some bonus points. No enemy present, however, means no bonus points.

Another important function of the repairship is to collect scrap. When a ship is destroyed, what's left of it is added to the scrap total of that sector. If the ship destroyed was itself a repairship, and carrying it's own cargo of scrap, then that amount is also added to the total. That scrap can only be picked up by repairships, at the cost of 1 move. To see how much scrap is in sector, go to the HUD -> Ship Comp -> Ship screen. If a repairship has at least one move available, a button labeled "Retrieve" will also be visible. Pressing the button transfers all of the scrap in sector directly to the repairship's cargo hold. Repairships get no points for doing this.

If a repairship carrying scrap jumps to its own HQ sector, the pilot will have the opportunity to install the scrap directly to their HQ's shields. To do this, go back to the HUD -> Ship Comp -> Ship screen, and, provided the pilot has at least one move remaining, a button labeled "Install" will become visible. Pressing it installs all of the scrap and costs 1 move. Repairships get no points for doing this either. The scrap is installed to the HQ's total amount. After installing the scrap, it's current amount will remain at the previous level, unless a repairship then repairs the HQ or it is allowed to regenerate over the next few turns.

Picking up and installing scrap is a vital part of a repairship's role for its faction! Neglect it and the faction will very likely quickly whither and die, as enemy factions still possessing scans can see exactly how weak is your HQ.

20) Repair Ships in Action
==========================

The most important aspect of fire control is holding your moves. However, if more than one repairship is active on the front lines, and if the enemy hasn't made note of each individual ship's points score, then from the enemy's perspective it can be difficult to figure out which repairship moved that turn, as they don't have access to the necessary logs. As such, holding one's moves isn't as important for repairships as it is for fighters, unless they can expect to come under fire.

In a heavy combat situation the repairship's role changes slightly. The goal of the repairship becomes that of keeping fighters which come under fire in the Dead Zone alive until the jump window reopens and they can escape to safety. This is especially necessary for ships of rank 7 and above, who cannot power down. In order to fulfill this role, it is imperative that the repairship pilots hang onto their moves just like everyone else. Spending moves early will mean that they will not be available when they are needed the most.

Repairships in sector will often have their own orders for which ships to repair. If no such orders are available, it is best to repair the ship that is coming under attack, but make sure to read your messages before acting. Many pilots post that they will simply jump out to a safe sector if their shields drop below a critical amount, saving the repairships' moves for ships caught in the Dead Zone.

Finally, repairships should keep an eye out for friendly ships listed as being "rogue". A rogue ship is one that does not act in the best interests of the faction, and will often harrass and destroy ships with whom the faction has allied itself, trying to ruin the game for everyone else. In doing so, the rogue list is circulated to the remaining allied factions, giving them the freedom to attack ships on that list without fear of reprisal or intervention. Repairships who repair rogue ships risk becoming labeled as rogue themselves.

Please post any comments, criticisms, additions, and/or submissions in this thread. Thanks!

-- inVurt

[Gandalf_uk]

Is it ok if we post this on the in Game Comm's for the ppl that do not read the BB Of corse Ugman and u inVurt will be credited?

Anyone who is interested in posting these to their faction's comms for those players who don't read the BB, here is a zip containing each individual post. All you need to do is copy the contents of each file and paste it into the message window, add a subject and you're done.

Enjoy!

-- inVurt

[Warspite]

My God!!!

People being constructive, helpful and informative... what the hell is going on?
Is this the EOC forum or some hippy tree-huggers site.. where the hell am I ?

[Taneli]

Originally posted by Warspite
My God!!!

People being constructive, helpful and informative... what the hell is going on?
Is this the EOC forum or some hippy tree-huggers site.. where the hell am I ?

Heh, not all are evil multi's. Some of us try to keep this community up and growing. :

[Warspite]

That's just so beautiful...I'm getting all emotional now...

Anyway, nice to see some civilized Human Beings for a change..good gaming to you all.

Can someone split this Tips into pieces (6000 Charakters)
Then i can post it to EoCO comm sometimes :-))

Already done, RogerRabbit. Please download the attachment in my reply to Gandalf, above.

-- inVurt

[UgMan]

The tips doc is now hosted curtosy of Rhino_Aka at his site.

Tips Doc New Home

In Rhino_Aka's mortal words, dont forget to enter somthing in the guest book.

Caveman Commander
Ug Ug Ug Ug

Eesh. Messy

Good work!

umm about the accout part and for posting a pilot img heh my pilot name is Kiss*Kool ..heh should have made forums this name (Duh!:bigeye: can this be changed by someone?)...back 2 topic....oh yeah...the file name for pilot img shoulnt have 2 be same as pilot name cuz i have a " * " in mine and well wasnt really thinking about that and now i cant post img i want.

thanks.
Pilot: Kiss*Kool

So, you've got a puny rank 1 warship and can barely scratch the paintwork of all those enemy Danube Class cruisers? Keep getting your *** handed to you every time you face off against the big ships? There is an alternative to fighting on the frontlines, but it takes a certain breed of player who can work alone, cut off from friendly support and is prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice for his faction. The good news is that you don't have to be online 24 hours a day to make a big difference for your faction.

The bad news is that you won't level up quickly, and you'll almost certainly end up dead, although it will take them time to get you. Still interested? Read on.

I call this Commerce Raiding, a tactic named after what the Kriegsmarine did with their pocket batleships in WWII. Essentially, they sent powerful and fast attack ships deep behind the enemy sea lanes to wreak havoc with supply lines. The amount of ships required to deal with them was usually WAY out of proportion to the threat they posed. For example, it took over 30 ships working together to finally sink the Bismark. This is how it works...

First, get yourself into a sector behind the enemy frontlines. This is the hardest part. If you're really lucky you'll pick up a Megafreighter ride to a sector that's useful, but don't count on it. Your best defence is that you're rank 1 and not worth the effort to shoot at. You also need to time your trip so that you can be online for the start of EVERY tick it'll take for you to get into position.

Once you arrive at your target sector, immediately power down. Spend the rest of the tick watching your opponents. Make note of the guys who are rarely online, there are always some low level ships in border systems who never seem to be online. These are the guys you're going to target first. At the start of the next tick, start doing piracy. Just about everything you find by piracy is going to be useful. Seeker Missiles and Gatling lasers should be fired at the inactive low-level ships. Because they're inactive, they're not going to be screaming at everyone that they're under attack by powered-down ships. Anyone who is active in that sector might think they just took a hit from a Wing of Marauders. Everything you can do to mislead the enemy at this point is a bonus. Your main objective right now is to level up, just make sure you DON'T actually destroy any ships yet. Every tick a repairship is repairing one of his friends, is a tick he's not jumping into your territory to support an attack, or doing piracy to find Gatling lasers to kill you. Once you level up, stick all your points into piloting. Sooner or later they're going to find you, and it'll probably be sooner. When they do you want to be as hard to kill as possible.

The thing about border sectors is that they're usually only occupied by lower-level inactives or people passing through on the way to the battlefront. Because of this, you can usually spend a few days quietly levelling up through piracy before anyone wakes up and realises there's a threat amongst them. This is actually a Good Thing, because it means active pilots are diverted from somplace they can do some good, to come and deal with you. But even when they realise you're a threat, there's a lot you can do to make it very hrd for them to kill you.

Since you're powered down, there are only two ways you can be hit.
1. The enemy find Gatling Lasers and Seeker Missiles and hit you with them. They're probably going to be higher level than you, so unless you put your upgrade points into piloting, this is going to hurt.
2. You find an LDA shield booster and automatically power up.

Finding an LDA isn't a bad thing, though. You immediately pop onto their scanners and anyone online is proabably just going to shoot at you. Tough luck for them, they just wasted one, two or maybe even three moves finding out the hard way that you're invulnerable. Repairships might waste all their moves trying to find a Gatling Laser to hit you with. Either way, you're wasting their time and preventing them from going anywhere useful. If you do find an LDA, you need to be online at the start of the next tick to power down again, or you WILL die a nasty death.

This process is going to be repeated over and over for days. It's important that you only fire your Gatlings and Seekers at the low level ships, however. You don't want to level up to quickly, because once you reach level 7 you can't power down anymore and it'll be time to run for home. In the meantime you'll be taking some damage from Gatlings and Seekers while you're powered down. You'l find some yourself and cause some damage to the low ranked ships. Enemy ships will waste moves repairing the ships you hit (and get little or no points for doing so) or waste moves autorepairing themselves. You'll find repair drones and undo all the damage they caused you. You'll find LDA Boosters and power up, they'll waste turns shooting at you while you're invulnerable, then you'll power down again as soon as the next tick arrives. This will go on for days, you'll attract more and more attention, and if you play smart, you'll end up tieing down a significant portion of enemy ships while they try to root you out. Even if you that doesn't happen, you'll be damaging other enemy ships passing through on the way to the frontlines so they arrive in a weakened state.

Whichever way you look at it, you're causing far more trouble than is proportionate to your rank and the threat you actually pose. Without giving away any current in-game information, I'm ranked level 6, and there are two R10, four R9, two R8 and numerous lower level ships trying to root me out of the spot I've been hiding in all week. All that effort for a rank 6 ship?

Edit: UgMan's Powered-Down tactics are also a useful tactic to be used as a Commerce Raider, you just attract a lot more attention his way.

[TheHawk]

Anybody here ever heard of Solty's FAQ ?

[Warspite]

No - this has always been the definitive. A lot of it was culled from in-game comms, so maybe Solts info is already incorporated:

[Eisenfaust]

Originally Posted by UgMan

The tips doc is now hosted curtosy of Rhino_Aka at his site.

Tips Doc New Home

In Rhino_Aka's mortal words, dont forget to enter somthing in the guest book.

Caveman Commander
Ug Ug Ug Ug

Hey Uggi

do you still playing? would be fun.

Your page is not existing.

[Krobar]

I'm still searching, so I apologize if this is covered elsewhere, but what does it mean when there's a * at the end of someone's name ingame? I noticed it on me previously but have recently seen it on a lot of other players as well. Thanks in advance.

[twomt]

Originally Posted by Krobar

I'm still searching, so I apologize if this is covered elsewhere, but what does it mean when there's a * at the end of someone's name ingame? I noticed it on me previously but have recently seen it on a lot of other players as well. Thanks in advance.

That means that this particular person is currently online.

[Krobar]

ahh, thanks Twomt

[Krobar]

uhm, is there some way people are able to pick what legion they're part of? I just got a sitrep and noticed a bunch of the people in it (who're in another legion) are all in the same legion as I am over on TVS

[TheBigBear]

players are put in the faction wit least actives automatically to balance the game.

so no.

[Krobar]

ok I thought so, but someone said something in another post about waiting or something, I thought it was kinda odd. I'm quite happy with my current faction, great guys that have taught me alot. :D

[twomt]

Originally Posted by Krobar

ok I thought so, but someone said something in another post about waiting or something, I thought it was kinda odd. I'm quite happy with my current faction, great guys that have taught me alot. :D

people abuse the system, this is described in that thread. Our mighty admin will fix that though and then it should not be possible anymore.