| Starfighter: Disputed Galaxy, Alien Utilities |  | |
|
Alien Utilities
01 Tractor Beam Tractor Beam The Tractor Beam is a Utility that will immobilize and paralyze the ship that is struck by it. Your ship will be able to move normally, and will be connected by a green line to the tractored ship. If you do not move, or if you move very slowly, the targeted ship will be slowly drawn toward you. If you move quickly, the targeted ship will be slowly dragged in the direction that you are going. The effects of a Tractor Beam last for three seconds, and then the target is released.
The Tractor Beam is useful in any number of situations, but it is most useful for three situations: The first tactic will be most useful in Multiplayer sectors against Starfighter players that prefer high-speed sniping attacks using the Engine Overdrive Utility. Not only will the Tractor Beam immobilize even these very fast ships, but it will give you a near motionless target to shoot at for the full duration of the beam. It is nearly impossible to miss an immobile ship with Plasma Cannons, for instance, and while learning gunnery with this very powerful weapon, the Tractor Beam is a great Utility to equip. The second tactic is most useful against Warships, Medusae, and Hydras, when you first encounter them. Use the Tractor Beam on them as they pass you, and you will limit their firing arcs to the arc away from you. If you happen to catch them while they're pointed at you, feel free to change position and attitude to put their noses facing away from you. This will greatly limit the damage you take from these powerful opponents while you pound at them with your own weapons. This tactic can also be useful against Isises, Minotaurs, and other powerfully-armed, heavily shielded ships. The third tactic is most useful when married to a Damage Bubble or Thunder Bolt Proximity Weapon. Wait for the target to be snared by your Tractor Beam and dragged into range, then fire these very powerful Proximity Weapons to ensure a hit and ensure doing a great deal of damage. Finally, if you have a Tractor Beam, don't be shy about using it repeatedly, particularly in Multiplayer sectors! There are few things more frustrating to another Starfighter player than having his options limited so forcefully. The one area to be wary of using the Tractor Beam is against ships with large numbers of Proximity Weapons themselves, such as Nymphs and Eoses. Back to topNeedle Torpedo The Needle Torpedo is available for purchase by aliens only. Humans cannot purchase the Needle Torpedo. This Utility is not a Utility at all, but a guided weapon, but it does no damage when it hits. Instead, it greatly reduces the enemy's top speed, weighing them down like an anchor on a water-borne ship. One Needle Torpedo will cut an enemy ship's speed by about a quarter, and four of them are effective enough to render the target near-motionless. Once slowed or immobilized in this way, the target becomes very easy to destroy. If you approach closely enough, you will even see the Needle Torpedoes attached to the top of the target. Unlike the human version of this utility (theirs is called the Magnetic Mine), the alien version of this weapon is quite quick, with a good locking range (2500 distance) and decent maneuverability. This makes the Needle Torpedo much easier to use than the human equivalent, and actually quite useful! It is relatively easy to tag a Pegasus running under an EOD with a Needle Torpedo, which makes it more likely that the second and third Needles will also hit. The downside, of course, is that you have to fire several Needles at your target, and this will take time that you could have been using to fire other weapons. That said, the Needle Torpedo is quite a useful utility, and a great balancer on the small size of human ships. It's a lot easier to nail a tiny human Starfighter with a Plasma Cannon blast after you've cut the Starfighter's speed by half... Back to topLBSS Stealth System The LBSS (Light Bending Stealth System) is, honestly, the least useful of the four stealth systems. It causes the ship using it to disappear from radar and from view, becoming a pale blue outline of itself. The red arrow that points at the closest enemy will not point at a nearby ship under a LBSS. However, this stealth system does not prevent enemy guided weapons from locking on. Since the primary purpose to a stealth system is to prevent attack by guided weapons, players looking for this sort of defense should look elsewhere. The secondary purpose to a stealth system is to prevent your enemy from knowing what type of ship you're flying, and this defense is lost as well: the pale blue outline will clearly conform to the shape and type of your ship. The LBSS effect persists for about 40 seconds, making it the most long-lived of the stealth systems. The LBSS will be defeated by EMP; a ship struck by EMP will immediately become fully visible and the LBSS effect will not return when the EMP wears off, even if there is still LBSS duration remaining. The only purpose to the LBSS seems to be to make targeting unguided weapons on the ship using it more difficult, and for spoofing players that rely totally on unguided weapons. As a result, the LBSS should only be used by players who engage in frequent very close combat with other players that use this strategy, if at all. As noted above, the LBSS conforms with the outline of the ship, and as such, the player under an LBSS does not receive the white outline visual guide that users of other stealth systems do. Your ship will appear to enemies exactly as it appears to yourself. Back to topShield Bubble The Shield Bubble, when activated, creates a pair of glowing green discs around your ship at a distance of about 125. Once the discs are in place, they orbit your ship, blocking approximately 90-95% of guided missiles targeted at your ship. They will explode harmlessly against the Shield Bubble instead. Those weapons that do splash damage will do their splash damage normally to any ship that happens to be nearby when the Shield Bubble blocks the shot, but no weapons seem to have a splash radius of more than 100; therefore, the ship inside the Shield Bubble will be unharmed. The Shield Bubble does nothing to stop unguided weapons, not even unguided torpedo weapons like the Javelin. Occasionally, a guided missile will slip through the Shield Bubble, so it is not a perfect defense, and there seems to be very little rhyme or reason associated with these bleed-throughs. In particular, a visual gap in the Shield Bubble doesn't seem to conform with these bleed-throughs. A gap seems just as likely to block a guided missile as the discs themselves. As a result, the fact that missiles still slip through occasionally is probably a glitch. The Shield Bubble will persist for 30 seconds, and Shield Bubbles stack: that is, if more than one is activated, the ship will receive additional green discs. However, unlike other stacking effects, there does not seem to be a tangible benefit to stacking Shield Bubbles, other than perhaps guaranteeing continuous coverage if the player is unsure when the first Shield Bubble duration will end. Back to topEnergy Cell
The Energy Cell (EC), when activated, rapidly recharges your Energy reserves, giving you about 20% Energy per second until one of two conditions happens: Those decent at math will realize that this is about 130% Energy, and can use this fact to their advantage. For instance, if you trigger the EC with about 25% Energy, you can then rapidly switch to an energy-using weapon (like the Plasma Cannon or Laser Beam), get one or two "free" shots with it as the EC works, and still be returned to or near 100% Energy when the EC is done. If you trigger the EC with too close to 100% Energy, though, you'll probably hit 100% before you can take advantage of this quirk. If the EC raises your Energy to 100%, it will stop working, no matter how many seconds are "left." It's possible to use the EC as a discount version of the Rapid Shield Recharger. To do this, with 75% or less Energy, trigger the EC, then immediately hold down the "C" key. This key transfers Energy to Shields, but when used in conjunction with an EC, the full output of the EC will be redirected to Shields instead of Energy for as long as you have the "C" key held down. This only works about a third as fast as the RSR, and requires holding down the "C" key while it works, but it can be a good emergency measure if you're in a defensive battle. Energy Cells stack: that is, if you trigger two of them in quick succession, their effects will stack and you'll receive 40% energy per second until the time limit passes or you reach 100% Energy. This can be useful for simultaneously recharging both Shields and Energy. Trigger two ECs, then hold down the "C" key. One EC will effectively refill Shields, while the other refills Energy. You must do this with 60% or less Energy, though, or your Energy will probably reach 100% before you can take advantage of the stacking. One last note: you must have at least 3% Energy to activate an Energy Cell. Back to topTeleport Disc The Teleport Disc is an unguided projectile. After you fire it, there will be a three second delay. Your ship will then be instantly teleported approximately 2,250 distance in the direction you were facing at the moment you fired the Teleport Disc. You will retain the momentum and direction you had before the teleportation. As a result, the Teleport Disc is primarily a defensive Utility.
However, a few advanced Starfighter players use the Teleport Disc aggressively. There are two common ways to do this: These tactics are less effective than when using the Field Hopper, however, since the Teleport Disc has a three second delay before activation. The Teleport Disc has a couple of added advantages over a Field Hopper, though. First, the direction of travel will be predictable and constant; therefore the Teleport Disc can be used tactically, to immediately jump into a melee a known distance away, for instance. Second, since the distance jumped will always be in a forward direction, Teleport Discs can speed your travel across a sector. Fire a Teleport Disc, wait for the teleport to take effect, then immediately fire another, wait to be teleported, and then fire the third. You will be transported more than one-third of the way across the sector even before the effects of your engines, boosters or an Engine Overdrive are taken into account. It is possible to teleport past the edge of a sector and into a new sector. Finally, the Teleport Disc is a common means of escaping the effects of black holes and Vortex Bombs. However, the three-second delay before they take effect will probably prove fatal if you are already inside the vortex unless your shields are very strong. Back to topHolographic Disguise The Holographic Disguise is probably the most under-rated of the four stealth systems. It causes the ship carrying it to be disguised as an asteroid, appearing as an asteroid both on radar and visually and preventing guided weapon locks. However, the affected ship will still appear as an enemy (with a red arrow pointing toward it) to nearby ships. Even with the red arrow, however, many players disregard or simply do not notice an asteroid moving and firing on them until it is too late. There are few tactics more stunning to an opponent to have Thunder Bolt mines suddenly appear with no apparent source, only to have an asteroid zoom away, if not vanish completely with the help of a Field Hopper. The Holographic Disguise persists for about 30 seconds, making it one of the most short-lived of the stealth systems (with the LASS). However, the Holographic Disguise is not defeated by EMP and will remain in effect after the EMP wears off for its full duration. As a result, the Holographic Disguise tends to run its full duration, unlike the LASS, which is often defeated by EMP before it has run its full course. There is rarely an indication of what type of ship is hiding under a Holographic Disguise, except that bigger ships tend to get bigger rocks. The player under a Holographic Disguise receives a white outline of their ship inside the dark bubble that is helpful for piloting and firing unguided weapons. Back to topRapid Shield Recharger The Rapid Shield Recharger does exactly what the name implies: it rapidly adds power to your Shields, approximately 200 power total over a 10 second period, or about +20 Shields per second while the RSR is operating. It continues operating even if your Shields are fully charged for its full duration and as a result, it is an excellent counter to incoming weapons fire, particularly Thunder Bolt weapons. An RSR will exactly counter the shield loss caused by a single Thunder Bolt weapon. It will also repair the damage caused by other weapons, but there are many Starfighter weapons that can overpower an RSR, notably the Plasma Cannon. The RSR requires 3.5 seconds to repair the damage caused by a single Plasma Cannon blast, plenty of time for the firing ship to land one or more additional Plasma Cannon blasts and destroy the ship using the RSR. The RSR has three interesting additional qualities. First, it is a ranged effect. The RSR "bubble" will surround the ship with a diamater of about 250 distance. Any ship inside this diameter will be affected by the RSR, whether it is an allied or an enemy ship. As a result, care should be taken when using the RSR in close combat: you may heal the ship you are trying to destroy more quickly than you damage it if it is inside your RSR bubble. Second, the effects of multiple RSRs stack. If two RSRs are activated concurrently, or a ship is within the effect of multiple RSR bubbles, the effects of those bubbles will stack. A ship inside two RSR bubbles will receive approximately +40 Shields per second; a ship inside three will receive approximately +60 Shields per second, and so on. Third and finally, the effects of the RSR are lasting, meaning that even if the ship that generates it is destroyed, the bubble will remain in the last position in which it was generated until its duration expires. This will allow the ship that destroyed the RSR-generating ship to benefit from the effects of the RSR itself, if it is close enough to do so. The bonus drop from such a killed ship will likewise be at the center of the RSR bubble until the duration expires. Back to topLASS Stealth System The LASS (Light Absorbing Stealth System) is regarded by many to be the most effective of the four stealth systems. It causes the ship carrying it to turn into a "hole in space", a visual bubble of darkness about 100 distance in diameter. Ships under this system cannot be locked on with guided weapons. However, the red arrow that points at the closest enemy will point at a nearby ship under a LASS, and ships will continue to appear on radar as enemies. If you use this system in an MP sector, you will still appear on the count of "friendlies" or "hostiles" in the sector. Other players and AIs can still spot you visually if you are within visual range of them, if their eyes are sharp enough to spot the dark bubble. As a result, the LASS is most effective in sectors that are already somewhat dark. Particularly insidious players will activate the LASS and then hide under an asteroid to mask even this visual trace. The LASS is therefore the most effective when used in assassinations. The LASS effect persists for about 30 seconds, making it the most short-lived of the stealth systems. The LASS will be defeated by EMP; a ship struck by EMP will immediately become visible and the LASS effect will not return when the EMP wears off, even if there is still LASS duration remaining. Sharp-eyed players will notice a very faint outline of the ship under the effect of a LASS inside the dark bubble which surrounds the ship. This outline is particularly prominent if the ship affected by the LASS is a large one. The player under the LASS receives a white outline of their ship inside the dark bubble that is helpful for piloting and firing unguided weapons. Back to topPerformance Inhibitor Combo Beam The Performance Inhibitor Combo Beam is available for purchase by aliens only. Humans cannot purchase the Performance Inhibitor Combo Beam. This Utility will, when locked onto a target and fired, drain 20% of the target's Energy and greatly reduce their speed (acting as a sort of low-level tractor beam). As long as the "Z" key is held down, the target will continue to be paralyzed and its energy will rapidly drop to zero. Each time the PICB is fired, it drains 10% Energy from the ship using it. It is most often used to anchor human Starfighter players in Mutiplayer sectors that rely on high-speed sniping or fly-over tactics. The ship using the PICB is also drained of 50-60% of its Energy if it drains the human ship it's fired at, which makes converting this Utility to offense somewhat tricky. Most often, Mines or Proximity Weapons are used to follow up the results of a PICB strike. There are several down-sides to using this Utility. First off, against AI opponents, while the PICB is a good defensive tool, it does rather rapidly drain your own Energy reserves as well as your enemy's. If the enemy you are draining is the first part of a pack, you can very easily find yourself limiting your own offensive options for dealing with the pack. Many players feel that Energy is best used in delivering offensive attacks rather than this sort of defensive response. Against human players in Multiplayer sectors, the response will be even worse; human Starfighter players will most often respond to a PICB attack by using a human Utility called the Energy Extraction Beam. This Utility will drain your remaining Energy and transfer it back to their reserve. If you respond with additional PICB hits while they use the EEB, soon both of you will be left with no Energy, relatively motionless, locked together by the PICB, and helpless to the attacks of other nearby players in the Multiplayer sector. The sight of an alien and human ship, locked together with one light blue and one dark blue beam, is a source of some amusement to expert Starfighter MP players, and many will respond by jumping into the battle and killing the disabled enemy. This gives them your kill with them needing to do very little of the work. As a result, people who use this Utility in Multiplayer sectors are called "disablers" and are looked on with some disdain as noobs. When I am playing as a human, I should tell you my own response to being hit with a PICB will be to respond with an EMP attack, followed by a Vortex Bomb. I will then leave the sector to restock. To me, use of the PICB negates any need for fair play in my response to you. ;-) Many alien players do see a tactical value to this Utility, but in the opinions of many more, its disdavantages outweigh its advantages. Back to topInverse Gravity Field Generator The Inverse Gravity Field Generator causes a purple "bubble" to appear around your ship that will push all other ships (both the enemy race and your own allies) away. The force of the field is equivalent to an engine with a speed factor of approximately -15. In other words, if another ship attempts to approach you directly while the Inverse Gravity Field is operational, their speed will be reduced by 15. Ships that are traveling neither directly toward or away from you will have a vector added to or subtracted from their current velocity relative to their position outside the Field. Slower ships directly approaching you (such as the Defender and Nymph) will be given an effectively negative speed, and thus be actively pushed away from you. Faster ships directly approaching you (such as the Pegasus and Sprinter) will be given a much reduced speed but will still be able to slowly approach you. Once a ship reaches the bubble, no matter their speed, they will not be able to enter it until it collapses. Ships that turn directly away from you will have 15 added to their speed. The effects of the Inverse Gravity Field Generator are far-reaching, and its effects will be felt to at least some degree at distances of 5000 or more. This will affect the movement of even very distant ships per the rules above. The effects of the Field will also be felt on virtually all weapon fire, particularly unguided weapons fire, though these effects will be much less predictable. In particular, space bar laser cannon fire will be essentially unaffected regardless of direction, but Plasma Cannon fire will be affected strongly unless the Plasma Cannon fire is directed either directly toward or directly away from the source of the Field. Guided weapons are also affected, but will generally do a good job of compensating for the Field's effects as they travel. The Inverse Gravity Field Generator is mostly useful to long range snipers, and is particularly useful in holding off the last stage of an ambush so that the ambushee can get in several seconds of weapons fire at relatively motionless targets until the Field collapses. The Field lasts for about ten seconds, then will collapse. The Field is lasting, meaning that even if the ship that generates it is destroyed, the Field will remain in the last position in which it was generated until its duration expires. This can cause a bonus dropped by a killed ship to be unreachable for several seconds as the lasting Field pushes away the ships trying to reach the bonus. One final note: the Inverse Gravity Field Generator uses the same sound effect as the Vortex Bomb and as a result, players that rely on sounds in Starfighter should be both aware of and wary of this duplication. If you hear the particular sound effect associated with the Field, make sure it's an Inverse Gravity Field affecting your ship's movement, and not a Vortex Bomb... Back to topField Hopper The Field Hopper causes your ship to instantly teleport in a random direction, a random distance of about 2000 distance or less, and to end up in a random facing when you arrive there. It uses 20% Energy per "hop." You will retain the momentum you had before the hop. It is mostly useful when you are completely defensive, resetting the tactical situation. However, it can also be used to hop you out of black holes, the effect of Vortex Bombs, or out of the influence of a Tractor Beam. It is therefore primarily a defensive Utility.
However, a few advanced Starfighter players use the Field Hopper aggressively. There are two common ways to do this: It is possible to teleport past the edge of a sector and into a new sector. Finally, the Field Hopper is a common means of escaping the effects of black holes and Vortex Bombs. However, the random nature of the hop might put you into just as much or more danger when you arrive at your destination as the danger from which you escaped... Back to topReverse Power Thrust The Reverse Power Thrust (RPT) uses about 10% Energy, and in exchange, gives you an immediate and instant reverse speed of about -12, regardless of your current speed. The -12 speed lasts for about three seconds, then bleeds off per the normal Starfighter physics ruling speed. If you hold down the down arrow key after activating an RPT, then your normal reverse speed will stack with the -12 speed granted to you by the RPT. The Engine Overdrive and Reverse Power Thrust have some interesting effects when used together. If an EOD is fired while an RPT is affecting your ship, the EOD will immediately and instantly override the thrust granted by the RPT and the EOD will proceed normally. If an RPT is fired while an EOD is affecting your ship, the RPT will immediately and instantly override the thrust granted by the EOD and the RPT will proceed normally... for the RPT's three-second duration. This can be a fantastic tactic to use against players or AIs that chase you on EOD after you engage an EOD. By firing the RPT, you will immediately rocket behind them, then immediately accelerate to match their speed, putting you in a perfect firing position behind them. "Maverick" would be proud. Back to topEngine Overdrive The Engine Overdrive (EOD) is far and away the most common Utility used. It grants your ship an immediate and instant speed of about 30, which lasts for about 12.5 seconds. The speed granted by the EOD cannot be voluntarily bled off before the duration expires; the EOD will continue affecting your ship until its duration completes. If you attempt to slow down using the down arrow key, the speed of 30 will be reduced by your ship's normal reverse speed once per half-second or so, which will result in a somewhat slower, but jerky movement. If the up arrow is not held down while EOD is firing, a similar but lesser effect will be felt. However, the EOD does not seem to stack with your ship's normal speed if you hold down the up arrow; a Freighter on EOD seems to be just as fast as a Sprinter on EOD. Holding down the up arrow just seems to smooth out the thrust granted by the EOD. Like boosters (your "X" key), the speed granted you by the EOD will be permanent, so long as you hold down the up arrow key. As long as the up arrow key is held down, this effect will last until you dock, leave the sector, or are killed. As a result, the EOD is commonly used in high-speed sniping or fly-over tactics, particularly using mines and zero time of flight guided weapons like the Laser Beam. Once the up arrow is released, if the 12.5 second duration of the EOD has expired, the speed granted by the EOD then bleeds off per the normal Starfighter physics ruling speed. The Engine Overdrive and Reverse Power Thrust have some interesting effects when used together. If an EOD is fired while an RPT is affecting your ship, the EOD will immediately and instantly override the thrust granted by the RPT and the EOD will proceed normally. If an RPT is fired while an EOD is affecting your ship, the RPT will immediately and instantly override the thrust granted by the EOD and the RPT will proceed normally... for the RPT's three-second duration. This can be a fantastic tactic to use against players or AIs that chase you on EOD after you engage an EOD. By firing the RPT, you will immediately rocket behind them, then immediately accelerate to match their speed, putting you in a perfect firing position behind them. "Maverick" would be proud. Back to top
| ||
© Copyright 2008,