Can someone explain reverse TBR tactics/piloting to me?

nebfab

Ok, I never had either the the EC to actually buy Graga Mal or an occasion to try a reversed-TBR build, but I was always curious about it and finally got the doff yesterday...

First reaction; "Wow! It blows up stuff really fast!" Second reaction; "and then you're an epicentre of multiple warp core breaches..."

So, am I missing something stupidly obvious? How to use them safely?

autumnturning

100% Throttle ...?

gavinruneblade

^^

That. Just keep moving and the explosions happen behind you not on you.

nebfab

OK, I see... My instinct to keep stuff in firing arcs by slowing down if it moves towards me is messing with me.

e30ernest

I generally use TBR like FAW vs immovable objects. When I do use it against stuff I can drag around, I use it along with another ability like Charged Particle Burst to get an AOE radiation proc from my secondary deflector.

Always be mindful on how you use TBR, even when reversed and more so when it isn't reversed. You may be dragging targets away from your team mates and hurting their overall performance. I've been in so many teams where someone just spammed TBR and either pushed or dragged targets far away making them harder to pick-off or to control with crowd control abilities like Gravity Well.

nebfab

e30ernest wrote: »

I generally use TBR like FAW vs immovable objects. When I do use it against stuff I can drag around, I use it along with another ability like Charged Particle Burst to get an AOE radiation proc from my secondary deflector.

Always be mindful on how you use TBR, even when reversed and more so when it isn't reversed. You may be dragging targets away from your team mates and hurting their overall performance. I've been in so many teams where someone just spammed TBR and either pushed or dragged targets far away making them harder to pick-off or to control with crowd control abilities like Gravity Well.

Excellent point. This would require some getting used to, but then I wanted something different to play with.

antonine3258

nebfab wrote: »

OK, I see... My instinct to keep stuff in firing arcs by slowing down if it moves towards me is messing with me.

Remember, cool guys don't look at explosions. Though something like warp plasma works fairly well with TBR reversals, since they're all clustered, and will keep them immobile until you can turn around.

angrytarg

Ah, my specialty Well not really, but my Nebula is a tractor beam tow boat for a long time now and I got quite good at it.

As the others said, as a tow boat you are always moving, and you are a dedicated melee ship which means you need to pack enough survivability skills, armour etc. to survive close quarters combat. Consider concentrating your strongest weapons at the aft of the ship since you will be towing your enemies behind you. EWP and mines work well for that, no torps that have an AoE effect that damages you (tricobalt, heavy plasma). Watch where you tow stuff as you might mess with your teammates by towing a Na'Kuhl ship that's charging it's death ray and you suddenly make it hit your teammates that were safe before, same with Donatra although I guess nobody is playing that old stuff no more ​​

gavinruneblade

Normal tbr works great to push enemies into a gravity well. Act like a shepherd's dog running around the edge broadsiding while hemming them inside the kill zone.

Reversed tbr and the singularity cannon are use to grab ships and pull them into the kill zone from far away.

Always try to group up enemies never scatter them.

Well, OK, not never never. There are sometimes. But almost never.