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Surviving the Trenches: A beginner's guide to fighting the Vaadwaur on Kobali Prime
silverlobes
Member Posts: 1,953 Arc User
This is written to help any new players who are hitting Kobali Prime for the first time, and who may be finding the Vaadwaur trenches a challenge.
I'm writing from the perspective of someone who plays with an engineering character, not tactical or science. If you play either of those careers, you may or may not be able to extrapolate and transpose the following for your own style of gameplay.
"Good evening, do you have a moment so we can discuss the Rules of Acquisition with you?"
"Fail to prepare; Prepare to fail..."
"Remember the six 'P's: Proper Planning Prevents P*ss Poor Performance."
The first time I played the missions on a now defunct character, I didn't know what was going on, and wound up respawning. A Lot. I didn't really have much idea on kits and boff powers, beyond letting the boffs do their default thing (I hadn't even worked out at that point, how to train them in new skills) I forget which weapons I was using, I think a split-beam phaser rifle, but they weren't really up to the task of dealing with how the Vaadwaur act, and how they act in the trenches. But from observing how the Vaadwaur were putting my character down, that showed me how I needed to be thinking and fighting. The old maxim of "Know Your Enemy" really applies here.
Vaadwaur Tactics:
Fighting Klingons on the ground, they tend to charge and attack, but can be fought face to face. Not so with the Vaadwaur.
Vaadwaur move in packs of three or more. They use Polaron weapons which in a pack, hit pretty rapidly. will drain your shields with each hit, they move quickly, and they will try and flank you.
So how do you counter this?
By mirroring their tactics.
You need to employ: Aggression, Defensiveness, and Mobility
How can you be both aggressive and defensive? By using defensive heals and boosts to counter the effects of their weapons, and then using that resistance to allow you to be aggressive towards the attacker. Keep moving. If you stand still, they will try and flank you. So don't give them the chance. Keep moving, and firing on the run.
I've seen players going into the trenches with heavy-weapons like the Boolean cannon, and while I've tried that, and it is survivable, personally, I prefer to equip a weapon which still allows for full sprinting without being slowed down.
The Vaadwaur use polaron weapons, so I consider it only right to return the favor. But by tooling up with dual pistols off the exchange, as that allows for a much faster rate of returning fire, than what they're dishing out. It's a bit like going up against the Fek'lhri with their anti-proton turrets, and the constant barrage which they put out. The only difference, is this time, you're the one putting out the barrage, not being on the receiving end of it
Rate of fire is pretty much the key to overwhelming a Vaadwaur patrol. The piercing plasma rifle, is fast, but not really fast enough. A full auto Federation rifle? Forget about it... Having the right weapons plays a significant part in changing the environment from 'difficult and frustrating' to 'rather fun to run around, blasting on fools' Run into the trenches armed with TR-116Bs, and you're respawning quickly It needs the speed of the dual pistols (of six pistols) to really give the Vaadwaur a taste of their own medicine, and cut through them.
Your boffs are your teammates: Look after them, and they will look after you.
Let them run off doing their own thing, while you try and do your thing, and that's when they can be overwhelmed. If they go down, you then have to revive them, leaving yourself vulnerable to attack. Without them, you can also be overwhelmed. Stick close to them; You benefit from them, they benefit from you
Choice in boffs: Personally, I go for a tactical boff, and an engineering boff. Beam turrets take too long to set up to be effective in this situation, and the fight is over before they can be effective. But mines are good for creating a defensive perimeter for if you're going to be stopping to actually interact with the equipment in the trenches, such as tapping their communications. Medical generators can also be helpful. I won't say 'lifesavers', because they take too long to set up, and heal too slowly, to be considered a 'last ditch' in a fight, but, they're good to use after a fight, to bring everyone back up to full health before moving on to the next objective. I find that having an engineering boff, means one boff taking on the role of 'team medic', which allows the player to focus on their own survival, and any objective at hand, rather than having to think about healing the team too.
Gear: I'm not using anything spectacularly expensive (assuming you have a reasonable exchange budget ) Think survivability. Shield boosts and health heals being a priority. I'm personally using two different shield recharges, Reroute Power to Shields to heal Kek, Shield Pulse to heal the boffs, and Scarab Plating as a backup for if shields fail while still on cooldown (with hypos and shield charges also loaded as emergency backups) to save that damage coming straight out of the health.
Stuff like drones can be fun to use, but their deployment time, like the time taken to call down an Orbital Strike, is time which could simply be used hammering the fire key I left them loaded, but mines really are more useful.
While it's possible to tank a Vaadwaur attack (or is 'turtle' the correct term?) it requires attention and management. Tanking the attack and not fighting back, will just waste the boost by letting it time out, and you'll still be taking fire. So use the heals and boosts, then unleash the fury against the attackers.
Why have I focussed on the trenches? The trenches amplify the Vaadwaur's 'swamp and flank' tactics, with not just one patrol, but several patrols, from multiple approaches. In the trench intersections, where some device interaction is required for a mission, it is very easy to get cornered and swamped, with no option but to fight your way clear. Other maps, such as defending the city bridge, they're coming from one direction, and easy (or easier) to defeat, and more options to evade or take cover.
But not in the trenches...
Master the trenches, and the Vaadwaur become handleable in all other environments
Of course, these are simply my own experiences and thoughts, your findings may vary
I'm writing from the perspective of someone who plays with an engineering character, not tactical or science. If you play either of those careers, you may or may not be able to extrapolate and transpose the following for your own style of gameplay.
"Good evening, do you have a moment so we can discuss the Rules of Acquisition with you?"
"Fail to prepare; Prepare to fail..."
"Remember the six 'P's: Proper Planning Prevents P*ss Poor Performance."
The first time I played the missions on a now defunct character, I didn't know what was going on, and wound up respawning. A Lot. I didn't really have much idea on kits and boff powers, beyond letting the boffs do their default thing (I hadn't even worked out at that point, how to train them in new skills) I forget which weapons I was using, I think a split-beam phaser rifle, but they weren't really up to the task of dealing with how the Vaadwaur act, and how they act in the trenches. But from observing how the Vaadwaur were putting my character down, that showed me how I needed to be thinking and fighting. The old maxim of "Know Your Enemy" really applies here.
Vaadwaur Tactics:
Fighting Klingons on the ground, they tend to charge and attack, but can be fought face to face. Not so with the Vaadwaur.
Vaadwaur move in packs of three or more. They use Polaron weapons which in a pack, hit pretty rapidly. will drain your shields with each hit, they move quickly, and they will try and flank you.
So how do you counter this?
By mirroring their tactics.
You need to employ: Aggression, Defensiveness, and Mobility
How can you be both aggressive and defensive? By using defensive heals and boosts to counter the effects of their weapons, and then using that resistance to allow you to be aggressive towards the attacker. Keep moving. If you stand still, they will try and flank you. So don't give them the chance. Keep moving, and firing on the run.
I've seen players going into the trenches with heavy-weapons like the Boolean cannon, and while I've tried that, and it is survivable, personally, I prefer to equip a weapon which still allows for full sprinting without being slowed down.
The Vaadwaur use polaron weapons, so I consider it only right to return the favor. But by tooling up with dual pistols off the exchange, as that allows for a much faster rate of returning fire, than what they're dishing out. It's a bit like going up against the Fek'lhri with their anti-proton turrets, and the constant barrage which they put out. The only difference, is this time, you're the one putting out the barrage, not being on the receiving end of it
Rate of fire is pretty much the key to overwhelming a Vaadwaur patrol. The piercing plasma rifle, is fast, but not really fast enough. A full auto Federation rifle? Forget about it... Having the right weapons plays a significant part in changing the environment from 'difficult and frustrating' to 'rather fun to run around, blasting on fools'
Run into the trenches armed with TR-116Bs, and you're respawning quickly It needs the speed of the dual pistols (of six pistols) to really give the Vaadwaur a taste of their own medicine, and cut through them.Your boffs are your teammates: Look after them, and they will look after you.
Let them run off doing their own thing, while you try and do your thing, and that's when they can be overwhelmed. If they go down, you then have to revive them, leaving yourself vulnerable to attack. Without them, you can also be overwhelmed. Stick close to them; You benefit from them, they benefit from you
Choice in boffs: Personally, I go for a tactical boff, and an engineering boff. Beam turrets take too long to set up to be effective in this situation, and the fight is over before they can be effective. But mines are good for creating a defensive perimeter for if you're going to be stopping to actually interact with the equipment in the trenches, such as tapping their communications. Medical generators can also be helpful. I won't say 'lifesavers', because they take too long to set up, and heal too slowly, to be considered a 'last ditch' in a fight, but, they're good to use after a fight, to bring everyone back up to full health before moving on to the next objective. I find that having an engineering boff, means one boff taking on the role of 'team medic', which allows the player to focus on their own survival, and any objective at hand, rather than having to think about healing the team too.
Gear: I'm not using anything spectacularly expensive (assuming you have a reasonable exchange budget
) Think survivability. Shield boosts and health heals being a priority. I'm personally using two different shield recharges, Reroute Power to Shields to heal Kek, Shield Pulse to heal the boffs, and Scarab Plating as a backup for if shields fail while still on cooldown (with hypos and shield charges also loaded as emergency backups) to save that damage coming straight out of the health.Stuff like drones can be fun to use, but their deployment time, like the time taken to call down an Orbital Strike, is time which could simply be used hammering the fire key
I left them loaded, but mines really are more useful.While it's possible to tank a Vaadwaur attack (or is 'turtle' the correct term?) it requires attention and management. Tanking the attack and not fighting back, will just waste the boost by letting it time out, and you'll still be taking fire. So use the heals and boosts, then unleash the fury against the attackers.
Why have I focussed on the trenches? The trenches amplify the Vaadwaur's 'swamp and flank' tactics, with not just one patrol, but several patrols, from multiple approaches. In the trench intersections, where some device interaction is required for a mission, it is very easy to get cornered and swamped, with no option but to fight your way clear. Other maps, such as defending the city bridge, they're coming from one direction, and easy (or easier) to defeat, and more options to evade or take cover.
But not in the trenches...
Master the trenches, and the Vaadwaur become handleable in all other environments
Of course, these are simply my own experiences and thoughts, your findings may vary
"I fight for the Users!" - Tron
"I was here before you, I will be here after you are gone. I am here, regardless of your acknowledgement or acceptance..." - The Truth
"I was here before you, I will be here after you are gone. I am here, regardless of your acknowledgement or acceptance..." - The Truth
Post edited by silverlobes#2676 on
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Comments
Shouldn't this be under "Player Guides" in the Academy?
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
Yup, same species. Probably easier to handle in Sompek, as it's a more open terrain
"I was here before you, I will be here after you are gone. I am here, regardless of your acknowledgement or acceptance..." - The Truth
And arming your team with TR116 sniper rifles to get extra range can be good too.
For the missions higher up the mountain a team, or at least working with other passing players is pretty useful as the repawn rate of Kobali prime seems to be really fast. Lots of other friendlies helps to keep the Vaadwaur busy.
I assume: Vaadaur in these missions do not have that? If not, no sense in my skipping missions to get to Delta Quad to see it for myself.
UGH....I will have to bite the bullet and do this Sompek thing next time it comes around.
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
Before posting this, I actually tried all characters with TRs. Things didn't go well...
And absolutely, up the mountain, things get easier with more hands
"I was here before you, I will be here after you are gone. I am here, regardless of your acknowledgement or acceptance..." - The Truth
"I was here before you, I will be here after you are gone. I am here, regardless of your acknowledgement or acceptance..." - The Truth
"I was here before you, I will be here after you are gone. I am here, regardless of your acknowledgement or acceptance..." - The Truth
Interesting, thanks for the contribution
"I was here before you, I will be here after you are gone. I am here, regardless of your acknowledgement or acceptance..." - The Truth
"I was here before you, I will be here after you are gone. I am here, regardless of your acknowledgement or acceptance..." - The Truth
When it comes to doing the Voth Ground Battlezone / Kobali Prime which only allows 2 Boffs, I always have 1 science and 1 engineer regardless of the character's career.
Science - Med Tricorder I & II, Cold Fusion Flash III, Hyperonic Radiation II
Engineer - Sabotage I, Minefield II, Explosive Drone III Explosive Drone II, Quantum Mortar II
Standard gear are as follows:
- Ultra Rare Na'khul Armor Mk XIV
- Ultra Rare Na'khul Shield Mk XIV
- Ultra Rare Plasma Wide Beam Rifle Mk XIV
- 40 Large Hypos
- Kelvin Timeline Tribble; except for Klingons since tribbles do not like them.
I also have not bothered to allocate specialization points into the specialization trees for all of my characters which basically means any level 50+ character should not have much of a problem on Kobali Prime when using a good strategy.
But it has never been adjusted so some of the clear camp X and use console Y can hit respawns if a patrol happens along and drags others in as the social aggro does seem to overlap and be quite a big radius.
All calms down once you get to the breaking the wall section where the only real bother is for console players who use trigger aim down sights and somehow cause mortars to aggro stuff miles in the distance. Not so much a zone issue as a bad port issue.
The leapy vaudwaar is from a couple of story missions, thankfully they don't appear on prime at all.
Best way to handle the trenches is really to just open the map and see what paths can be taken to skirt round and hit objectives with the least amount of combat.
As for boffs avoid using a hologram as if they go down trying to find their light bee is a pita.
But the real question, is how much of that gear did you have the first time you put boots to ground on Kobali Prime?
A character and boffs, all equipped with Na'kuhl shields and Fleet polyalloy weave armor, for example, can run around pretty much untouchable. But someone playing the mission for the first time, isn't likely to have those nice bits of kit
This was written as a Beginner's Guide, for someone's very first time at the mission
*extratextbecausespellingerrorsangertheforummonster
"I was here before you, I will be here after you are gone. I am here, regardless of your acknowledgement or acceptance..." - The Truth
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
"I was here before you, I will be here after you are gone. I am here, regardless of your acknowledgement or acceptance..." - The Truth
The benefits of a science Boff is healing everyone. While my characters do carry around large hypos, I generally do not really need to use them, but they are slotted just in case. To me, cold fusion flash is an extremely useful Boff ability because it roots enemies to the ground. That is pretty useful to combo with other abilities like Mass Gravimetric Detonation or Endothermic Induction Field where enemies will run away from. Also good if my science Boff activates Hyperonic Radiation. Lots of damage for everyone.
Most of that gear did not exist the 1st time I did Kobali Prime since they come from missions or lockboxes that were released after the Delta Rising Expansion. However, now most of the gear can be obtained before setting foot on Kobali Prime as long as you skip missions or accept missions later in the story arc.
Players can get the R.I.N. Kit Frame, Armor and Shield from "Uneasy Allies" which is the 1st mission in the Iconian War story arc. However, players need to complete or skip the missions in the Delta Quadrant story arc to play that mission. On the other hand, level 60 characters can simply speak to their superior in the specific faction (like Admiral Quinn) to accept the 1st mission in the Future Proof story arc; "Sunrise". The Na'khul gear can be obtained from the mission "The Temporal Front" in that story arc.
The training manuals for Cold Fusion Flash, Sabotage, and Explosive Drone can be simply purchased from the Exchange.
The Plasma Wide Beam Rifle can be purchased on New Romulus or the Romulan Flotilla. Fed and KDF characters can buy it from the Romulan vendor at Dyson Sphere Command. They are also on the Exchange. Upgrade them to your heart's content. For my Boffs I think [CrtD]x2 [CrtH]x2 is a pretty good mix of mods. With a Nah'khul Armor and Shield that would give Boffs a total of 8.5% chance to land a critical hit. That's pretty decent for a Boff.
With a limitation of no skipping ahead to future missions to get ground gear, or with a strict "fresh" level 50 character rule, then only the weapon and training manuals would be available. The Neutronium-Laced Combat Armor from "The Core of the Matter" mission would be my recommended armor to equip everyone with. It's pretty decent until you can get the R.I.N. armor (only one per character though), or the Na'khul armor.
And I have to echo the bringing in a Science boff as a medic/crowd controller over an Eng, that and a Tac boff with Cryo Grenade or Micro Cryonic Warhead will let you buzzsaw most groups on Kobali. Also you can tie your BOff powers to your clicky tray and order them to use them on your target. I know I've been using that now to set my captains up with Nanite Health Monitors going into heavy combat as a little insurance policy.
My Guide;
Mash Fire button -> Win
I can tell what your problem is though, and this may sound harsh, but your gear kinda stinks tbh. I'm sorry to be blunt.
Have you considered one of the many REP ground sets ? Or even the Nahkul freebie mission set ? You'd be a lot better off suiting up in one of those.
And if you did the AoY slog, Rep sets come out automatically at MkXIII Ultra rare. You may want to start there...
You could also be using a better kit then some random one you found during a pve.
There's many kit varieties to be found on the exchange for relatively cheap. I'd recommend a Delta kit with Kperfx2 (minimum). The Kperfx2 varieties sell for super cheap on the exchange.
Why would you even use small shield charges ?
The large shield charges aren't that expensive.
I mean, just looking at your gear and set up, I gotta wonder, are you trying to make your life more difficult for yourself ? Because you're succeeding at it.
That is indeed, good stuff, and very useful to know
Another excellent suggestion, thank you
"I was here before you, I will be here after you are gone. I am here, regardless of your acknowledgement or acceptance..." - The Truth
"I was here before you, I will be here after you are gone. I am here, regardless of your acknowledgement or acceptance..." - The Truth
Another gem is the Psionic Shield found in Skirmish. It proves effective well into end game and has Shield Regen. This is a must-have for dealing with the Undine as well.
A final piece from a very early mission in the Romulan Mystery arc is the Overcharged Plasma Rifle. You first earn it at Mk 6 or so, but it will out-perform Mk XII weapons at that level, and replaying the mission for Mk XII version rewards you with the best damage inflicting weapon in the game. For free. My sniper version one-shots everything but bosses.
You can get those special Plasma Weapons at the Dyson Joint Command, Delta Quadrant Command, New Romulus Conmand, and Romulan Flotilla Weapons Vendors. They will be Common (White) Rarity. Good luck even with a Mk II getting it up to VR, let alone UR or Epic before it is up in the stratospheric XP point levels at Mk XIII+.
They are:
Plasma Piercing Beam Rifle
Plasma Repeator Pistol
Plasma Charged Burst Assault
Plasma Long Range Assault Minigun
All other Weapons that were in the Dilitium Store can be crafted. These can't.
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
You're not being blunt; you're making assumptions, and being rude.
What 'stinks' about VR Mk XII pa weave armor with [PolAp] [RegSH] [Tet]? +116.3 physical and kinetic resistance, +43.6 Energy resistance, +8.7 Tetryon resistance, +5.8 Polaron resistance, +5.8 Antiproton resistance, and 8.4 shield regen every 4 seconds? So what 'stinks' about that? Oh, it's not UR MkXIV
The shield's Mk XII [Cap] [Rev] 308.7 capacity, with 'Chance to damage the attacker when you take damage. The stronger the attack, the more powerful the retaliation'. Sure, it's on my list of things to upgrade, but it's hardly inadequate
By comparison, to get something with a higher capacity, one has to go up to Ultra Rare. On the exchange, only the VR Mk XII shields with the [Cap] modifier, are the exact same capacity as the one I've currently got loaded: 308.7. All the other VR Mk XIIs are 280.6.
There is a rather nice UR MkXIV [Cap] [Dis] [PBDmg] [Pha] with 402.8 capacity, with 20% reduction in disrupter and phaser damage, and 'chance to deal 15 damage to all nearby foes when you take damage', 18,800,000.
I don't know how deep your space-pockets are, or how much latinum you've got stashed under your bed, but for a new player 19M is not easily affordable, unless they're seriously into Exchange PvP or throw cash-through-keys at their balance
Kek hasn't hit the Na'kuhl arc yet, so doesn't have access to that gear. I did mention above, that someone with Fleet armor and Na'kuhl shield is pretty much untouchable, so I'm not unaware that there is better gear available later in the game, but I think people seem to be missing the point, which is mentioned in the very title, that this was written as a Beginner's Guide, for players hitting the zone for the very first time. Not returning players, with all the cool Endgame gear in their inventories, or existing players levelling a new alt character, who has 'sponsorship' from another character
It's not possible to do AoY Ferengi. Suggesting that people use gear that their character has no access to, isn't really very helpful
Dude, don't be making assumptions. You don't know what that kit is or where I got it. For the record, it's [Regen] [Will] [WpnDmg]. +28.1 weapon proficiency, +28.1 willpower, and +28.1 health regen, and it was purchased off the exchange. So the point which we're not seeing eye to eye on: Is there better available? Sure. But not at 'easy money' prices, nor stuff that a beginning player, may know to look for
I just looked on the exchange, and the first Delta kit with Kperfx2 is 10M, so not what I would call 'super cheap', for a new player
If truth be told, I couldn't be bothered to come off the Kobali Prime map, to get to the Voth ground map to buy them, because my pc likes to crash at almost every map change. And, knowing how much gougers like to overcharge for stuff like ensign and lieutenant manuals on the exchange, I didn't feel like using the Azura call code just to see how much they want for large charges
+5.8 Polaron resistance is pretty handy against a race who exclusively uses polaron hand-cannons, is it not
+28.1 weapon proficiency, +28.1 willpower, and +28.1 health regen, and 'Chance to damage the attacker when you take damage. The stronger the attack, the more powerful the retaliation', are not exactly irrelevant to the task at hand
"I was here before you, I will be here after you are gone. I am here, regardless of your acknowledgement or acceptance..." - The Truth
"I was here before you, I will be here after you are gone. I am here, regardless of your acknowledgement or acceptance..." - The Truth
"I was here before you, I will be here after you are gone. I am here, regardless of your acknowledgement or acceptance..." - The Truth
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
"I was here before you, I will be here after you are gone. I am here, regardless of your acknowledgement or acceptance..." - The Truth