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Rom Science ofc vs. Vaadwaur... HELP!

I fly a Caprimul Class Science Destroyer and I've hit a duranium wall called something like a Vaadwaur Heavy Artillery ship. The mission is Enemies in all the Usual Places > Aid the Kobali Captain > Aftermath.

I have attacked this ship repeatedly, only to be pounded into oblivion by his bleeping tricobalt cluster... uhh... mines. My shields might as well not exist. My neutronium armor might as well be wood, and my Transphasic torpedoes, quantum mines and rapid-fire polaron cannons just bounce off him like rubber. I have attempted both modes of attack - tactical and science and there's really not much difference in the results. Oh, and I forgot to mention the assault ships that materialize out of nowhere. He must be loaded with a hangar bay, too (as if he needed it). I bring my photonic fleet, pirate fleet distress call, quantum torpedo platforms - they help increase my survival time, but I've never brought him below 85% hull.

How do I beat this thing?

Best Answers

  • questeriusquesterius Member Posts: 8,301 Arc User
    edited March 2016 Answer ✓
    Stay on his flank and roughly 7Km out.

    If you get targeted by the polaron barrage then use evasive manoeuvres to evade.
    Tyken Rift and Gravity Well are both effective against both the HA and the trico mines/cluster.

    The assault ship materializes when you get very close to the HA (less than 3Km (maybe even less than 5Km) so keep that in mind.

    To summarize: Flank the HA, Stay 5-6Km out, Use space magic and evasive manoeuvres when targeted by the big guns.
    Post edited by questerius on
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  • cuchulainn74cuchulainn74 Member Posts: 831 Arc User
    Answer ✓
    Well the thing I used to find primarily useful against the Vaadwaur was Reverse Shield Polarity. If you trigger that just when you see the "X"s popping up around you, you can ride out the attack with no damage. Otherwise, keep moving at impulse speed and you can stay ahead of it. Since you're a Science toon, you might consider Feedback Pulse as a means to turn that incoming damage back on the Vaadwaur. They're pretty spongy, sure, but as long as you dodge/deal with those Polaron bombardments they're not as hard to kill.
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  • stobg2015stobg2015 Member Posts: 800 Arc User
    Answer ✓
    There are others more qualified than I to talk about build and tactics, but I'll start the ball rolling and people with better suggestions can weigh in after me.

    The artillery ship is one of the toughest fights in the game, so getting smoked in the beginning is normal. Getting smoked later isn't all that uncommon either...

    Vaadwaur ships use polaron weaponry (some have the infamous polaron barrage that will melt your shields -- more on that in a bit). The polaron proc effect will drain power, so you need to put some drain resistance into your build. You can also use a Tetraburnium or Parametallic hull console to resist polaron damage. I'd favor the Tetraburnium as it will also improve your plasma, tetryon, and antiproton resistance.

    The artillery ship has a neat trick that it uses to make you stop targeting it. It will jam your sensors, causing it to disappear. It will also summon a pair of assault vessels which will make your life miserable with polaron barrages.

    The polaron barrage is what happens when those little targets shaped like plus signs start appearing in an area near your ship. You do not want to be in this area, especially not with weakened shields. Immediately buff your shields and turn away from the barrage. I've found that turning away in time often blunts the effectiveness of the barrage.

    The artillery vessel will continue to summon assault vessels to harass you. You can't really ignore them, but you can't focus on them either because for every one you kill another will be coming to take its place. You have to take out that artillery ship to stop it. Area of effect attacks are a good choice. Summoning your own help is also a good choice (Delta Reinforcements, Nimbus Pirates, Scorpion Fighters, Fleet Support, turret devices, etc.) But you seem to be doing that already.

    As far as countering jam sensors goes, you want to run high aux and/or keep Science Team ready to counter. Any ability that improves your resistance to sensors offline is good too.

    All of the Vaadwaur ships also use hard-hitting torpedoes, both quantum and tricobalt. Good kinetic damage resistance is important, as is disable resistance when you get hit with a tricobalt blast. Again, you want to keep your shields up as a matter of survival.

    Torpedo spread, BFAW, and Gravity Well are all good for dealing with multiple enemies, including destructible torpedoes and mines.

    As a Romulan, your ship has some unique abilities that can help you out in this fight. It's easy to forget about your Singularity powers, but these will come in handy. Quantum absorption is a good panic-button ability to help you when the Vaadwaur are about to nuke you. It's not invulnerability, but it's about the next best thing. Singularity Jump can carry you out of range of a polaron barrage. Plasma Shockwave can deal with mines. Warp shadows could let you break target lock and help you set up for a cloaking run, but I don't recommend cloaking with the polaron barrages and tricobalt mines being a factor.

    One thing that I tend to do when fighting Vaadwaur is to try to stay away from the artillery ship until I've taken out all of the other Vaadwaur ships in the area. I know I'm in for a slugfest and my odds of survival are better when its just me against the artillery ship and it's escorts. Take out the scouts and interdictors first because they will immobilize you and make you easy prey for polaron barrages. Then take out the assault cruisers and assault vessels. THEN go after the artillery ship.
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  • accordvtec77accordvtec77 Member Posts: 140 Arc User
    Answer ✓
    Don't bother approaching that enemy ship while cloaked either. You'll notice how their tricobalt torpedoes MAGICALLY become "cloak seeking" torpedoes, if you ARE cloaked.
  • kodachikunokodachikuno Member Posts: 6,020 Arc User1
    Answer ✓
    questerius wrote: »
    Stay on his flank and roughly 7Km out.

    If you get targeted by the polaron barrage then use evasive manoeuvres to evade.
    Tyken Rift and Gravity Well are both effective against both the HA and the trico mines/cluster.

    The assault ship materializes when you get very close to the HA (less than 3Km (maybe even less than 5Km) so keep that in mind.

    To summarize: Flank the HA, Stay 5-6Km out, Use space magic and evasive manoeuvres when targeted by the big guns.

    ^replace "flank" with "rear" and this is the best advice. You do not want to be on the SIDES aka FLANKS of the Astika artillery ship but its back side has just one piss ass turret or so to shoot at you
  • fluffymooffluffymoof Member Posts: 430 Arc User
    Answer ✓
    Run full speed at all times. The clusters can't really, you know, cluster that way. Plus you wind up outrunning them. Yes this way will make it a hair longer (not by much, really), but preventing death is more important.

    Keep all of your science damage abilities on cooldown. I like to run against them with a gravity well, constriction anchor, Photonic Fleet, and Tyken's Rift. Get them frozen in place, activate the rift, and giggle while your photonics go for the gold.

    Keep your shields up and your ship healthy. Use both the Science and Engineering officers to keep your ship running. Pre slug your shields if you find yourself in an unavoidable mine field. Always target a subsystem, particularly shields. Getting their shield down for even one second is enough to lay down some damage.

    Your Tactical officer should have the infamous Beams Fire at Will ability and Torpedo Spread. Any other ability is up to you, but those two should constantly be on cooldown.
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Answers

  • antonine3258antonine3258 Member Posts: 2,391 Arc User
    Do you have the 'rock and roll' ability from pilot specialization? It's a 'dodge' button for the barrages. As noted - their firepower is much worse in the rear arc, staying there can help a lot.

    What's your build? That can have an effect too,.
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  • warmaker001bwarmaker001b Member Posts: 9,205 Arc User
    Constantly move, do your AOE. That and a combination of BFAW will negate those mines easily. Kill at your leisure.
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  • norobladnoroblad Member Posts: 2,624 Arc User
    science can destroy mines and things like that with GW and TBR.
  • solitair#4236 solitair Member Posts: 33 Arc User
    What kind of weapons are most effective against the Vaadwaur? What are their weakest resists?
  • warmaker001bwarmaker001b Member Posts: 9,205 Arc User
    edited March 2016
    What kind of weapons are most effective against the Vaadwaur? What are their weakest resists?

    Do not worry about NPC resists because it's negligible. If you were fighting players that's a totally different story.

    "Most effective" weapons varies also, because DHCs, Beam Arrays, DBBs, etc. can be made excellent. It depends on the player and what they can do with the build that uses it.

    For example, a Beam Array beamboat can present the sides and BFAW to their heart's content, constantly moving. The BFAW will likely nab any stupid mines going your way. You constantly moving makes it hard for the Vaadwaur to do their "best" attacks. This style of play, IMO, is the easiest, safest form of combat in the game to maintain some degree of offense yet having mobility and decent Bonus Defense. It's also a bit boring for me, but hey, if it works well, it works well.

    * I used the term "best" attacks when it comes to NPCs very loosely.

    Another example: A DBB+BFAW or DHC+CRF or CSV build doing strafing runs maintains your movement. It may take a little bit longer but by maintaining movement, you're far safer.

    Or you can try to brute it out, i.e. DBB+BFAW or DHC+CSV and just keep hammering. The AOE capability of BFAW and CSV would neuter those cluster mine attacks while still pulverizing the target. However, by being a near-stationary ship, you are more open to Vaadwaur Polaron Barrage. By being stationary, it practically guarantees that every shot going your way connects. Again, this is simple brute force and you're basically stating, "My ship will burn the target down before he can kill me."

    If your ship has LtCmdr SCI BOFF station, as mentioned before, SCI has some AOE abilities to help you out. GW will help greatly if you have it decently specced.
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  • theraven2378theraven2378 Member Posts: 5,985 Arc User
    My tac main flies sci ships quite a lot, best thing from my experience with the heavy arty ship is grav wells and situational awareness
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    • solitair#4236 solitair Member Posts: 33 Arc User
      I'll need to fit some beams, then. Right now, I'm fit primarily for mines. Quantum mines aft and Vaadwaur tricobalt cluster fore, with a fast load transphasic torpedo launcher. I have one polaron beam fore and aft and dual tetryon cannon. My tactics have been hit and run. Pound them hard in a jousting charge and then drop mines while retreating.

      Instead, I should be kiting. If this were Eve Online I would set my orbit range at 8 km. This is not going to be quite as easy to navigate.
    • dalolorndalolorn Member Posts: 3,655 Arc User
      Make the best FBP build you can think of, take a bunch of tanking stuff (EPTS, RSP, TSS), fly into the thick of the polaron barrage (the cluster of blue X symbols) and watch the fireworks as the Vaadwaur vaporize themselves. :)

      Infinite possibilities have implications that could not be completely understood if you turned this entire universe into a giant supercomputer.p3OEBPD6HU3QI.jpg
    • solitair#4236 solitair Member Posts: 33 Arc User
      Sorry, I don't know how to read the alphabet soup yet. I'm still pretty new to the game. FBP? EPTS? RSP? TSS?
    • dalolorndalolorn Member Posts: 3,655 Arc User
      Sorry, I don't know how to read the alphabet soup yet. I'm still pretty new to the game. FBP? EPTS? RSP? TSS?

      Feedback Pulse, Emergency Power to Shields, Reverse Shield Polarity, Transfer Shield Strength.

      Infinite possibilities have implications that could not be completely understood if you turned this entire universe into a giant supercomputer.p3OEBPD6HU3QI.jpg
    • chastity1337chastity1337 Member Posts: 1,606 Arc User
      Sorry, I don't know how to read the alphabet soup yet. I'm still pretty new to the game. FBP? EPTS? RSP? TSS?

      Don't feel bad. I've been playing this game for years and I still don't know all the damned acronyms
    • semalda226semalda226 Member Posts: 1,994 Arc User
      Your best bet is to go the true way of science. Grab a TBR (IF you have Graga Mal) 2 Gravity Wells and a Destabilizing Resonance Beam III. Stay right on that ships impulse engines (make sure you are almost eating them) max your Aux Power and pour the rest into shields and keep your front shields constantly rotating forward while.popping shield heals (Science Team and TSS1) if you need some pew call your pirates and Photonic Fleet and just hammer away with your exotic damage skills (grab some mk12 PartG consoles cheap is fine.just boost your PartG stat a bit to improve the damage by exotics so you don't have to chew away at their shields) When they run and fire off that pulse hit your science team to remove the placate and hit em with a subnuc and repeat the process! Easy win! (IF YOU have singularity abilities Warp Shadow Decoy is your friend)
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    • solitair#4236 solitair Member Posts: 33 Arc User
      Sorry, I don't know how to read the alphabet soup yet. I'm still pretty new to the game. FBP? EPTS? RSP? TSS?

      Don't feel bad. I've been playing this game for years and I still don't know all the damned acronyms

      I think some people do that to feel smart, like Pakleds.
    • dalolorndalolorn Member Posts: 3,655 Arc User
      And I think the acronyms were developed to save time in chat, and subsequently propagated out to almost anyone who was interested, causing them to become a generally accepted way of communication. (So much so that the thought of someone not caring to know about them is obviously insane. :tongue:)

      You would be wise not to make assumptions like that unless you know the people involved.

      Infinite possibilities have implications that could not be completely understood if you turned this entire universe into a giant supercomputer.p3OEBPD6HU3QI.jpg
    • samt1996samt1996 Member Posts: 2,856 Arc User
      Acronyms save enormous amounts of time.
    • solitair#4236 solitair Member Posts: 33 Arc User
      Sorry. Some people, like me, don't always say the socially correct things. (Where is that eat crow pic when you need it?)
    • dalolorndalolorn Member Posts: 3,655 Arc User
      *chuckles* You'd have to ask meimetoo for that one.

      I think I might understand how you feel, though - I think a lot of my recent posts (the ones that aren't me fooling around, anyway) might be coming off as aggressive or condescending/longwinded. Granted, the former's not entirely unintended, but the latter... I'm just trying (possibly a bit too hard) to make sure everyone's on the same page, avoid misunderstandings. :neutral:

      Infinite possibilities have implications that could not be completely understood if you turned this entire universe into a giant supercomputer.p3OEBPD6HU3QI.jpg
    • samt1996samt1996 Member Posts: 2,856 Arc User
      I'm at the point where I just don't give a TRIBBLE about offending people. I tell it like is.
    • dalolorndalolorn Member Posts: 3,655 Arc User
      It does help when the other side isn't too angry about being offended that they can't understand any merits your argument might have, though.

      Infinite possibilities have implications that could not be completely understood if you turned this entire universe into a giant supercomputer.p3OEBPD6HU3QI.jpg
    • samt1996samt1996 Member Posts: 2,856 Arc User
      True, but I can generally tell whether said person is rational before we get to that point. It's not difficult, most people are loyal to their beliefs until death no matter how stupid and wrong they may be.
    • dalolorndalolorn Member Posts: 3,655 Arc User
      Good point, I guess.

      Infinite possibilities have implications that could not be completely understood if you turned this entire universe into a giant supercomputer.p3OEBPD6HU3QI.jpg
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