test content
What is the Arc Client?
Install Arc

Death of the Alpha Strike!

thisslerthissler Member Posts: 2,055 Arc User
edited March 2013 in PvP Gameplay
Wow now there's a news flash. I mean the Alpha died with the change to TT didn't it? So this isn't news. Or is it? And if it died, how did that really happen anyways?

A friend of mine in game (I'll call him friend, he likely doesn't need the tarnish to his reputation that associating with me can bring but he owes me some cake so he can consider this his comeuppance) was once a bit curious about what certain words in game meant. It seems different people had different definitions. As you can imagine this can cause a bit of confusion. No meaningful dialogue can happen until terms are defined.

Alpha strike wasn't on that list that day. It is today. It's on there because I'm a betting man and what I'm going to bet is that a good chunk of folks are going to have VERY different ideas of what an Alpha is or isn't. I'll start off by saying that engineers and science captains can't make them. Ever. See? I bet I already have a bunch of people ready to explain how wrong I am.

Anyway I bring this up because I see in game a distressingly large number of players sorta pulling up thier ship in the general vicinity of combat, and firing away all willy nilly. Pretty to look at, not very effective. And then I see on the forums complaints about things like just plain not dying like they should. "Healing is to strong" That's a good one. Just saying that may indicate that you don't really know what's going on.

If you're actually doing Alphas, you'd never be saying something like that. If your spamming some sort of cycle gimmick into hardened targets ok you're on your own there.

As the Sooper Svelte Cappy Horizon has mentioned (he's just one, there are others, but NO WAY imma say anything nice about DDIS, he hurt me) it takes teamwork for tacticals to work thier magic. It doesn't just happen.

I have pics. Here they are.

OK. Kidding. It is a video. Shot in dramatic slow motion! Of what I think an Alpha is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMqbpi2rDPg

So what do YOU consider an alpha to be? And once you're done defining it show how it works. Honestly show how it works. You don't have to make a video. Just clearly explain the working parts and how it is effective in gameplay.

For example I might say that a proactive defense is one that I have running BEFORE I even go to red alert. And then I would say that chaining Tact Teams using doffs is such a defense and that it works by redistributing ALL my shield strength to the shield under attack without my intervention, therefore saving my bacon. Bacon saving is effective!

OK now go define alpha. Just do it that way.

GOGOGO!
Post edited by Unknown User on
«13

Comments

  • mancommancom Member Posts: 784 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    For me, alpha strikes died with S2 and the introduction of the field generator.

    Prior to S2, I could prebuff my BO3 and HY3, activate APA and APO (and maybe GDF? not sure anymore), decloak, fire my torpedoes, wait for them to be nearly at the target, fire the BO3 and see my enemy explode.

    After S2, this would occasionally work when using APA, GDF (preferably at low hull) and TacFleet all at the same time, but even then not reliably.


    There have been other kinds of alphastrikes since then. Like QEW's TacBop+SciBop PSW/SNB-supported attacks. But for me, alpha strikes died with S2 and the field generator.
    1042856
  • thisslerthissler Member Posts: 2,055 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    mancom wrote: »
    For me, alpha strikes died with S2 and the introduction of the field generator.

    Prior to S2, I could prebuff my BO3 and HY3, activate APA and APO (and maybe GDF? not sure anymore), decloak, fire my torpedoes, wait for them to be nearly at the target, fire the BO3 and see my enemy explode.

    After S2, this would occasionally work when using APA, GDF (preferably at low hull) and TacFleet all at the same time, but even then not reliably.


    There have been other kinds of alphastrikes since then. Like QEW's TacBop+SciBop PSW/SNB-supported attacks. But for me, alpha strikes died with S2 and the field generator.

    That so wierd. Once in a while that still works for me.

    Remember when you could do CRF3 and THY3 from five k out and make it work? TT kicked that in the nuts. Oh well!
  • guriphuguriphu Member Posts: 494 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    Alpha strike (noun, verb). Softbuff pressuring the healer to draw Extends or RSP, simultaneous superbuff, switch to focus target, sensor scan(s) on focus target, Subnuc at the beginning of EPTS, tractor beam, coordinated simultaneous superbuff on focus target. Boopidoopidoopidoop boopboopbadoop.
  • thisslerthissler Member Posts: 2,055 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    guriphu wrote: »
    Alpha strike (noun, verb). Softbuff pressuring the healer to draw Extends or RSP, simultaneous superbuff, switch to focus target, sensor scan(s) on focus target, Subnuc at the beginning of EPTS, tractor beam, coordinated simultaneous superbuff on focus target. Boopidoopidoopidoop boopboopbadoop.



    I'm not sure what ANY of this means, but I love the ending!

    Its got rhythm!
  • guriphuguriphu Member Posts: 494 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    Softbuff: using buffs with short cooldowns to make yourself better than your base rate, without putting your big buffs on cooldown. For example: Tactical team, Attack Pattern Beta, and Rapid Fire 1.

    Pressure: doing enough damage or debuffs to make the other team or members of the other team use their healing or resistance powers, but not enough to try to punch through those healing or resistance powers.

    Healer: usually an engineer, sometimes a sci, usually a cruiser, sometimes a sci ship. The healer role is the one whose job it is to keep people alive with resists and heals, and only contribute a little bit to damage and debuffing the enemy. In particular, the healer's job is to directly counter a...

    Superbuff: Loading up all your biggest dps powers at the same time, in an attempt to burst through an enemy's heal-over-times and resistances and do a bunch of damage all at once. For instance: attack pattern alpha, attack pattern omega 3, rapid fire 2, tactical fleet, tactical team, Fire on my Mark, and possibly Go Down Fighting. One tac doing this is dangerous. Three tacs doing this simultaneously on the same target is devastating.

    Extends: Extend Shields. This power provides a small heal over time and a huge shield resist to one friendly target within range, making it very hard to damage their shields. Once it is put on somebody, you can't move it, so if you can make the healer put Extends on a target, then switch to a different target, the healer can't use Extends on the new target.

    RSP: Reverse Shield Polarity. This power makes you almost invulnerable to damage by making incoming damage heal your shields for 10 seconds. It shares a cooldown with Extends, so if you can force a cruiser to use RSP, he won't be able to put Extends on somebody.

    Focus target: the guy your team is concentrating fire on at the moment.

    Sensor Scan: science captain power that does a big hull damage resistance debuff on a target.

    Subnuc: Subnucleonic Beam. This power strips off all currently applied buffs and doubles all cooldowns on the enemy target.

    EPTS: Emergency Power to Shields. This power provides a big boost to shield damage resistance. Subnucing the target right after they start EPTS means that they won't have another one ready for 30 seconds, which will make them very fragile.

    Tractor Beam: locks the target in place, keeping them from running away, making it easy to keep them in the tactical officers' sights, and decreasing their Defense score, which makes it more likely that attacks will hit them and increases the amount of critical damage you do with critical hits.
  • sonicshowersonicshower Member Posts: 216 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    I always thought of alpha strikes as an analog to the infamous finishing move on Mortal Kombat.
    sh2sxc7.gif
  • aquitaine985aquitaine985 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    When I "Do an Alpha" that generally means I've got an Atk Pat Alpha, a Rap Fire, probably a battery and almost certainly a Delta/Omega to all pop at the same time and run screaming at somebody.

    When Alpha's on cooldown then the rest still happens in what in my mind is a soft alpha or something.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    @Aquitaine985
    Lag Industries STO PvP Fleet - Executive
    A Sad Panda of Industrial calibre.
    2010: This is Cryptic PvP. Please hold the line, your call is very important to us...
  • edited December 2012
    This content has been removed.
  • thisslerthissler Member Posts: 2,055 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    guriphu wrote: »
    Softbuff: using buffs with short cooldowns to make yourself better than your base rate, without putting your big buffs on cooldown. For example: Tactical team, Attack Pattern Beta, and Rapid Fire 1.

    Pressure: doing enough damage or debuffs to make the other team or members of the other team use their healing or resistance powers, but not enough to try to punch through those healing or resistance powers.

    Healer: usually an engineer, sometimes a sci, usually a cruiser, sometimes a sci ship. The healer role is the one whose job it is to keep people alive with resists and heals, and only contribute a little bit to damage and debuffing the enemy. In particular, the healer's job is to directly counter a...

    Superbuff: Loading up all your biggest dps powers at the same time, in an attempt to burst through an enemy's heal-over-times and resistances and do a bunch of damage all at once. For instance: attack pattern alpha, attack pattern omega 3, rapid fire 2, tactical fleet, tactical team, Fire on my Mark, and possibly Go Down Fighting. One tac doing this is dangerous. Three tacs doing this simultaneously on the same target is devastating.

    Extends: Extend Shields. This power provides a small heal over time and a huge shield resist to one friendly target within range, making it very hard to damage their shields. Once it is put on somebody, you can't move it, so if you can make the healer put Extends on a target, then switch to a different target, the healer can't use Extends on the new target.

    RSP: Reverse Shield Polarity. This power makes you almost invulnerable to damage by making incoming damage heal your shields for 10 seconds. It shares a cooldown with Extends, so if you can force a cruiser to use RSP, he won't be able to put Extends on somebody.

    Focus target: the guy your team is concentrating fire on at the moment.

    Sensor Scan: science captain power that does a big hull damage resistance debuff on a target.

    Subnuc: Subnucleonic Beam. This power strips off all currently applied buffs and doubles all cooldowns on the enemy target.

    EPTS: Emergency Power to Shields. This power provides a big boost to shield damage resistance. Subnucing the target right after they start EPTS means that they won't have another one ready for 30 seconds, which will make them very fragile.

    Tractor Beam: locks the target in place, keeping them from running away, making it easy to keep them in the tactical officers' sights, and decreasing their Defense score, which makes it more likely that attacks will hit them and increases the amount of critical damage you do with critical hits.

    Ahhh ok ty for the clearing up. I don't see Alpha Strike in there though. Superbuff looks like it may be a stab at it, but butting heads with a hard target is sorta the opposite of an alpha, and the teaming up well that's focus fire I would guess. And a healer would have a really hard time countering an alpha strike. Remember countering and preventing aren't the same thing. There's not a lot of time AFTER an alpha is initiated to counter it and if you launched an alpha into a situation where it was easily countered that's not an alpha. That's a boo boo.
  • edited December 2012
    This content has been removed.
  • thishorizonthishorizon Member Posts: 1,158
    edited December 2012
    i'll chime in here....

    pugging is different from being part of a team with a coordinated kill cycle, so i wont go in depth there, as your team's kill cycle could involve many different powers and timing that depend on your layouts, and the competency of the opposing team to counter them....

    as for pugging....and mind you i have not been part of a premade team for quite some time now, so i spend 99% of my time in game doing just this....

    the one thing i have found that i am pretty decent at in this game, is finding the opposing pug team's tac team and RSP cycles....i will bounce from target to target, usually only spending about 7-10 seconds on each...taking stock of who is running what, and when...

    if i find a certain target is hitting RSP every time i target him, while running only CRF....i know i have found possible dead guy #1...but i will leave him alone for a second and see if anyone is going to back him up....that guy is usually wasting his heals on the guy who just RSP'd... then i target the would be healer....to see what he's got.....

    and then the fun begins.... because in the back of my head i now have 2/5 of the opposing team pinned down to when and where i will bring the hurt. on to possible target #3...and from there....you kind of just rinse and repeat.

    mind you, that in this game, as a tac captain....you cannot afford in 1 match to waste NOT 1 FOMM, or TAC Fleet, or GDF. these powers, stacked on top of your APA, greatly increase your damage potential. and conversely, some targets may not require all of those stacked for you to turn their hull into a burning pile of rubble. and stacking them at the wrong time, when several targets are in their hull hardening or shield distribution cycles, greatly reduce your damage potential.

    Thissler is right on with this one, the "true" alpha may have left us long ago....the time when you could stack these powers and run rampant for 30 seconds.... really does not exist any longer. a true STO escort pilot in the current environment evaluates the battlesphere, sets his cadence, and executes at the most opportune time to do so. and will also adjust those windows when needed.

    have fun kill bad guys

    -thrusters on full-
  • edited December 2012
    This content has been removed.
  • rooster75rooster75 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    thissler wrote: »

    OK now go define alpha. Just do it that way.

    GOGOGO!

    The Alpha still lives on in DPB + Tric mines. It actually just takes less skill and timing now.
  • edited December 2012
    This content has been removed.
  • dontdrunkimshootdontdrunkimshoot Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    horizon is spot on, GDF and tac fleet run cold on my ship till i see a ship make a mistake like an early RSP, or other over reaction, also from potential healers. go ahead and fire that HE at the guy with only slight bleed damage, your about to become very acquainted with my plasma, and you will die in it i assure you.

    if you stupidly use RSP as soon as i begin my conventional attack, well to bad for you, that wasn't really a full alpha, ive got my big buffs still and you just made my 'i want you to be plasma'ed most' list. i even named one of my ships 'RSP wont help', as a clue. you have put yourself into the chain plasma dead zone. without significant team support, which will drain said team of all their healing resources and make them all easy picking, they will never leave the cloud. this is why i say correctly applied EWP can single handedly turn a match on its heads, and nearly replace science. i have done hilarious harm to premades, and even over come them with a lucky group of random talented pugs, because i could overoccupy their team healing, and make targets vulnerable enough to take out, with a tactical captain, and quite often a cruiser.

    in an actual premade team setup, if you have a maneuverable ship, as in KDF battle cruiser or above, and your not running EWP1 in your LTC eng station, its border line incompetence. no hold, when it does effectively hold, holds better or longer, and drains surplus heals from your enemy team faster. its incredibly easy to apply tactically from a sci ship or escort with an LTC eng as well . its doff'ed VM tier in terms of control power. apply plasma to the enemies healers at all time, this kills their usefulness. they have to chose to free themselves or keep team mates healthy. if they don't free themselves or simply cant, they really cant not die if any ship with cannons on your team is paying attention. acc mods start being real unneeded in this sort of situation too...



    oh but what is an alpha strike? well that thing in the vid, thats an alpha strike. the dial is turned all the way to 10 on that alpha scale.

    from there you have beam overloadless alpha strikes with 3 cannons and a quantum, this can be effective in a dog fight if you can time it right. thats a 9 on the alpha scale.

    another popular alpha is the 3 cannons, 1 beam overload attack, ether take out a facing with the beam or cannon fire, and hit the hull with the beam or cannon fire. ether way its lots of damage real quick, still fully an alpha. thats an 8 on the alpha scale.

    sci captains in an escort with a scan, nuke, maybe a little MVAM escort VM and any combination of cannon torp and beam attack is most definitely an alpha. a 7 on the alpha scale.

    run 4 DHC? well in 100% of combat situations, you are very dangerous, and you very efficiently buff all your damage dealing with the least amount of skills at once. but now your mostly just dealing hyper pressure when you would otherwise be doing true spike with the above attack combinations. thats only a 6 on the alpha scale, but a 10 on the overwhelming pressure damage scale.

    below that we find the best a fed cruiser can do, a fully tac buffed single cannon assault, also 1 step below hyper pressure. throw in a DBB and BO3 for quite possible a kill if your very lucky. this is a 5 on the alpha scale.

    below that is an 8 beam array, beam overload every 15 seconds tac fed cruiser. this is on the scale not because it can do an alpha that can instantly kill, its here because it can alpha every 15 seconds with a 360 degree fireing arc. carving great big chunks out of your opponent every 15 seconds will have an effect if they arent being covered by lots of cross healing. and the damage from heavily buffed beam arrays that cant effectively be avoided can be extreamly painful. uptime is an extreamly big factor in damage dealing. this is a very low 4 on the alpha scale.

    the best an eng can do is a temporary, slightly elevated damage dealing plateau, no mater what. it doesn't even rate on the alpha scale.



    basically any time you hold off buffs, to use them all at once when an opportunity of vulnerability presents itself, its an alpha strike.
  • thisslerthissler Member Posts: 2,055 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    i'll chime in here....

    sets his cadence, and executes at the most opportune time to do so.

    have fun kill bad guys

    -thrusters on full-

    I liked the entire bit. Especially where you said I was smexy. And yes, let's avoid premade land. In a way pugging can be more of a challenge. Will the sci make an opening? Will the engineer do the same? And will the Tac be poised to take advantage or will he have already wasted his buffs? I like the way you describe scouting your opponents.

    But this bit about cadence tops it all. It's like knowing where everything is, and where everything is going to be, and just as your make that final turn into the attack, pulling it all off. Well put.


    Back on topic. When you see a lot of damage being done for each kill, you know the tacticals aren't doing their part. An alpha should rarely do more than total hull damage. Tacs should have low overall damage per kill numbers. With the number of beneficial procs running around that you can trigger on a defender, if you can't be reasonably sure you're going to kill it, don't shoot it. Practice some fire control.

    And this.

    "The Alpha still lives on in DPB + Tric mines. It actually just takes less skill and timing now."


    I like this too. It's heartfelt, that's for sure.
  • thisslerthissler Member Posts: 2,055 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    they have to chose to free themselves or keep team mates healthy. if they don't free themselves or simply cant, they really cant not die if any ship with cannons on your team is paying attention. acc mods start being real unneeded in this sort of situation too...

    When DDIS says stuff like this, you know he's sober. The Clarity!

    oh but what is an alpha strike? well that thing in the vid, thats an alpha strike. the dial is turned all the way to 10 on that alpha scale.

    And then he does this and I know he's loaded! :D


    run 4 DHC? well in 100% of combat situations, you are very dangerous, and you very efficiently buff all your damage dealing with the least amount of skills at once. but now your mostly just dealing hyper pressure when you would otherwise be doing true spike with the above attack combinations. thats only a 6 on the alpha scale, but a 10 on the overwhelming pressure damage scale.

    And this build I revile. Not because the build sucks, but because many players use this as a sort of constant fire hose. And that's just not efficient use of a good build.

    And then we get to the STUNNING moment. The moment when my normally verbose pal, the master of the massive missive DDIS himself, forces himself after ALL that fun stuff he typed out for OUR reading pleasure.....

    He freaking bangs it out in ONE little sentence.


    Here it is. Brace yourself!



    "...basically any time you hold off buffs, to use them all at once when an opportunity of vulnerability presents itself, its an alpha strike.:

    That's the essence.


    Cheers happy flying!
  • rudiefix1rudiefix1 Member Posts: 420
    edited December 2012
    The 3 piece omega shield/eng/def set bonus can be an addition (defence debuff), as also the klink knockback/disable console.....
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

    @rudiefix Feds: Rudiefix / Thron / Opa
    @rudiefix KDFs: Lill / Xifeidur / Dehr / Ugly
    @rudiefix Roms (KDF alligned): Chicita
  • dontdrunkimshootdontdrunkimshoot Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    thissler wrote: »
    That's the essence.


    Cheers happy flying!

    but there was so much more to say! and horizon inspired me. any saved up buffs can be an alpha, its just the magnitude of the spike that separates them.
    rudiefix1 wrote: »
    The 3 piece omega shield/eng/def set bonus can be an addition (defence debuff), as also the klink knockback/disable console.....

    grav anchor can be brutal, no ability to turn to protect a shield facing, and knetic resist slashed. you can fly really fast in a strait line though! thats about all you can do.
  • bareelbareel Member Posts: 3 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    In general an alpha strike is where you overwhelm the enemy target offensively before they can appropriately react or counter.

    Burst is the ability to rapidly deal a large amount of damage in a short period of time.

    Sustained is the ability to maximize pressure over a continuous period of time, preferably an unlimited period of time. This can apply to both offensive and defensive approaches.

    Buffer is the ability to absorb a large amount of damage without requiring much reaction.


    Most things people call Alpha Strikes I would call burst. Burst/Buffer are opposing styles from sustained typically. Aside from a BoP Tric Bomber or to be move complex...

    A pair of attackers one sci one tac. Sci subnukes a single target then TBRs or other cc to insure healer cannot help while tac goes full burst. Or a lucky subnuke doff proc and crit hits while opposing team is distracted with booze/lag/whatever.
  • rooster75rooster75 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    thissler wrote: »

    Back on topic. When you see a lot of damage being done for each kill, you know the tacticals aren't doing their part. An alpha should rarely do more than total hull damage. Tacs should have low overall damage per kill numbers. With the number of beneficial procs running around that you can trigger on a defender, if you can't be reasonably sure you're going to kill it, don't shoot it. Practice some fire control.

    As food for thought, this can somewhat relate directly to what most people now tend to use in their setups. I still have an old school Defiant build that utilizes a Beam Overload 3/Cannon Rapid Fire 3 combo with a Quantum High Yield that tends to produce lower sustained DPS numbers and still maintains a high number of kills. It decloaks to spike and then tends to disappear again till I get my buffs back. My JHAS, on the other hand, which uses an all Cannon setup produces much higher sustained numbers. The ability to stay in a fight longer attributes to this as well. I like and agree with what you say about fire control. I see a lot of new players forget about their surroundings and try to focus on the zombie cruiser running 2 copies of RSP or the Sci using Scattering field and Science fleet with a feedback pulse. Wait till they lose their buffs. Words of wisdom.
  • woodwhitywoodwhity Member Posts: 2,636 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    I find it funny that almost everyone uses something like "a heavy, timed strike with a selected number of BO+captain-Skills active" as an explanation.

    While this is true, you can only label that a heavy -or maybe deadly- strike. A Alpha-Strike, as the name suggest, is a heavy strike dealt when you attack your target for the very first time. Well, if you change targets and deal a heavy, this might also count. But firing upon one target and waiting for your skills to come up... thats not an alpha.

    Putting that aside, normally I deal one alpha-strike. The next are heavies. Well, most of them are omegas. Guess why ;)
  • zorena#3961 zorena Member Posts: 254 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    I just want to point out that Lymuv, is executing that attack pretty flawlessly maybe its after months of timing but I remember TRIBBLE up with the torpedoes fireing too slow/fast and do crappy dmg, but the opponents his playing again doesn't seem to have rsp/tactical team or being able to use evasive to get away.
    Noone.
  • virusdancervirusdancer Member Posts: 18,687 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    Various games define it as various things.

    Alpha Strike - alpha being the first letter, it's the first strike.
    Alpha Strike - being a case of giving her all you've got, all weapons-buffs-debuffs-etc.

    I've always found it curious that in discussions of that kill volley - that it's not called an Omega Strike. An end strike. Target's dead.

    The plink, plink, plink - while watching the target's rotations and defenses - then seeing where that hole's going to appear - Omega Strike.

    Alpha Strike? Meh... that tickled.
    Omega Strike? Damn it, damn it, damn it...
  • thegrimcorsairthegrimcorsair Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    Alpha Strike is Battletech/Mechwarrior's gift to the gaming world. A term which refers to firing ever single weapon on a 'Mech simultaneously with the hope of delivering a single decisive blow. This was often done as an opening gambit, or at least fairly early in a game, to reduce the likelihood of a heat-based death or shutdown caused by the sudden, and often large, influx of heat. Used late, it's something of wing and a prayer gambit, as if you're hot you'll lose the 'mech that's alpha striking (maybe good, maybe bad, depends on the disposition and you and your opponent's remaining 'mechs).

    Put more succintly, an Alpha Strike puts all your eggs in one basket and hopes the payoff is worth the potential cost. In STO, players have quite a bit of agency both in defending against and executing said alpha strike, and playing around that window of certain death by rolling heals, carefully timed debuffs, pure maneuver, and team support is what is, in a nutshell, the "fun" of the game.

    JM2c.
    If you feel Keel'el's effect is well designed, please, for your own safety, be very careful around shallow pools of water.
  • erkyss2erkyss2 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    rooster75 wrote: »
    The Alpha still lives on in DPB + Tric mines. It actually just takes less skill and timing now.

    Less skill, thats for sure, less timing hmm maybe not that much, u still need to watch if some1 on enemy`s team have tbr`s on or if there`s some graw well around you. BUT, tricobalt mining is something that all newbs can do and it usually goes like this. buff--->DPBx--->TB--->drop mines.... wait...,ok wait for a bit more, and boom. In other words.. boring as hell.
    Tric mines in the KDF respawn point at Ker'rat!:eek:

    Those are most hilarious moments hahah :)
  • rooster75rooster75 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    erkyss2 wrote: »
    Less skill, thats for sure, less timing hmm maybe not that much,

    I simply meant that it wouldn't necessarily need to be fully buffed by Tac buffs in order to do tremendous damage. All it really needs is a Dispersal pattern. Hence, you wouldn't necessarily need something like an APA to come off cooldown in order to 'time' it like you would a BO3.
  • webdeathwebdeath Member Posts: 1,570 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    The Tactical "Alpha" strike, is one that gets used both solo, and with a team..
    Where (s)he uses Attack Pattern Alpha, Along side Various other weapon buffs such as, but not exclusive to: Beam Overload, Torpedo: High Yield, Torpedo: Spread, Cannon: Rapid Fire, Cannon: Scatter Volley.

    Then the Tac officer pretty much fires away at the target. If he's with a team, he relies on his team mates to be joined in on the attack against a single target, de-buff his target, heal himself and his team mates that come under fire, and move swiftly enough onto the next target while his buffs are still up, if any, or support the remaining tacticals on the team for their alpha strike runs, if any.

    There is another Alpha strike how ever that doesn't rely on Tacticals, but relies on Science Officers..

    The Results are similar to the Tactical, except the Tactical can provide more damage then the Sci.

    A science officer, in a ship that can provide an Alpha Strike, which is typically an Escort, usually uses the same weapon based buffs as a tactical, how ever instead of having Attack Pattern Alpha, Go Down Fighting, Tactical Fleet, and Fire on my Mark, the Sci Alpha Strike can instead rely on a De-buff and Destroy Strategy.

    One where the Sci deploys an Aux Battery, if not already at near max Aux, uses Sensor Scan on the target, uses Sub Nucleonic Beam on the target to strip away their existing defenses, and then Deploy similar attacks that a Tactical officer would use in the same ship. But again, this strategy only works in an Escort more often then other ships since Escorts bring more forward firepower then other ships.

    An example of a Sci Alpha strike in an Escort could look like, from a Bird of Prey for example:
    Aux Battery/Weapon Battery + Exocomp based Doff for Weapon damage buff, Tactical Team (With Doffs for Weapon buffs), HY 3 + Beam Overload 3 + Omega 3 +De-cloak for Weapon damage buff + Tractor Beam 1 + Sensor Scan, (Optional) Sub Nuc, Fire Weapons.

    The above of course is only basic, it does not include things such as Critical hit chance/Severities, Weapon Quality, Consoles or other toys increasing damage, etc.
    You think that your beta test was bad?
    Think about this:
    American Football has been in open beta for 144 years. ~Kotaku
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • paneth48paneth48 Member Posts: 95 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    For me an Alpha strike is when I come out of cloak with cannons blazing, waiting for that moment when some people panic and start hitting shield buffs, then Subnuke and unload.

    Against a good pvp its a bit harder to pull off, but some times it still works.

    Alpha strike for me is that moment in time I can wreck the most damage, and damage does not always mean 'slam face on keyboard firing all weapons KHHHHAAAAAANNNN!' but when I can really TRIBBLE up my opponent and any well thought out plan of defense.

    Did I mention I'm a sci officer in a defiant?

    Did I also mention, I'm not that good at pvp?
Sign In or Register to comment.