This
is a general-purpose guide on how to attack and defend yourself against certain types of
ships in Independence War. Use this information wisely and well as it can help you greatly
for these tactics come from a captain with almost two years of I-War combat experience to
date. By using my scripting ability in I-War, I have piloted each of the ships I describe,
and know them well. Each ship will have a small part describing it's general
characteristics, weaknesses, and strengths.
Puffin
Class Tug
The Puffin class tug is the workhorse of all ships, durable, reliable,
cost-effective, and extremely common in all systems. These ships play a crucial role in
deep space, mining operations, exploration, and serve as towships for cargo pods and
damaged ships. At 75 meters long, a Puffin can hold ten crewmembers plus a two person
bridge crew, totaling to twelve personnel.
Despite all of its uses and advantages the tug lacks in acceleration
producing a meager 5 m/s (meters per second). This is to great advantage to you, as the
players' ship is faster and better armed. A tug has a single LDA, which offers fair
protection against PBC hits. I have found it usually ineffective to shoot at a tug from
far range. However, the tug is vulnerable from the bottom and the rear. A clean shot or
two at these sections will take out the tug, and a few more will destroy it.
Many puffin tugs have nowadays been retrofitted to accommodate a single
PBC cannon. While this does not make it a lethal ship, three or more Puffins can become a
major threat.
Tariq Class Patrol Combatant
(PatCom)
As one of the newest ships in the fleet, it is also the lightest fully
functional ship type used by the Commonwealth. This ship is a very effective warship, and
is one of the most common in the Independent Fleet. You will deal with this ship the most!
The PatCom has a full-fledged PBC cannon mounted on the top of the ship,
right on it's axis. This cannon is comparable to the cannon of a corvette, and is
protected by a single LDA. This LDA also protects the entire upper hemisphere of a Tariq
class. Also, a PatCom has a slightly greater acceleration, at 8 M/S and has the same
strong belly thrusters at a corvette.
However, this ship shares similar weaknesses to the Puffin in that it only
has a single upper LDA, leaving the bottom and rear sections exposed to fire. Note that
this LDA is stronger than that of a tug, and-like the cannon- is comparable to a corvette
LDA. But don't feel too contented! Despite the single cannon and single LDA, the PatCom
can be quite an effective and lethal warship! A single PatCom can be handled, but two or
more gets tricky.
A tactic I have found to be useful in engaging a PatCom is as follows.
Accelerate towards the target and overpass it. As you pass it, fire two seeker missiles
from your rear batteries and then switch back to the PBC and fire with your rear gun (you
have to be in WEP mode to do this). This will usually cripple or even destroy the PatCom.
Whether it does or not, use the quick pitch of the Dreadnaught to turn and face the ship.
You can now attack it head-on, and you will have the advantage.
Dreadnaught Class Corvette
This is your player ship, so know it well! One of the most common ships, it is
the workhorse of the Commonwealth Navy. Each corvette has a 40-member crew plus a
four-person bridge crew, totaling 44 personnel. Being very flexible, it can adapt to many
roles and its accommodation modules can be substituted for scientific equipment or extra
armaments. In the case of corvettes used for transport, cargo can be stored in the modules
this providing a shielded storage area.
The corvette is fast, at an average of 7 M/S with powerful maneuvering
thrusters and good LDS acceleration. It is also very well armed for a ship of its size.
Two PBCs (one facing forward the other to the rear) are a Dreadnaught's primary weapon,
while multi-role missile launchers are put on the end of each pylon. Two powerful LDAs
protect the lower and upper hemispheres, giving much more protection than the previous
warships listed.
Despite its better armor, a Dreadnaught is unprotected at its rear and is
just as venerable there as many other ships. The tactic I explained at the end of the
PatCom section above is another good way to nail these ships, while rapid fire blasts
while passing over the hull works well also, as the LDAs apparently can not track you as
well with that kind of orientation.
Get to know your vessel, and get to love it. It's going to be all you can
rely on at some point…
Bastille Class Destroyer
Probably one of the most dangerous ships in the fleet, the destroyer is a
combination between high firepower and speed that results in a formidable enemy. It also
has a huge crew, with 250 crewmembers plus 8 bridge crew, totaling to a 258 person manned
ship! With five strong LDA units, and three Gattling guns, it can fire continuous shots
that really pack a punch while taking an assault too! It is fast, with about a 4 M/S
acceleration (My official references list it with a 2 M/S thrust, but from my experience I
think it must be faster).
One would think that this is just a case where you have to get behind a
slower ship and pound away. Not so! A destroyer can use its pylon-mounted guns to fire in
the rearward direction. The most useful tools against these ships are aggressor shields
and disrupter missiles. With those, you can easily ram a destroyer a few times to kill it,
or scramble its circuits for a little bit and move in for a good PBC pounding.
Experience tells me that you can take out the pylon guns fairly easily
from a position below them, where their LDA coverage is weakest. From there, you can get
close to the hull and damage it.
Danube Class Cruiser
If you are offended by course language, don't read this next sentence. This is
a big ass motherfu*ker! At a little under a kilometer long, this is the capitol ship. With
several powerful LDA units, it is hard to penetrate even the shields of a cruiser, let
alone get close to one. It has eight, count 'em, eight either Gattling or normal PBC
cannons, mounted on the ships' pylons, forward sections, upper areas, and tail.
A cruiser is also a slow ship, with only 2 M/S acceleration and poor maneuvering
thrusters. It is usually used as a command or flagship and rarely as an offensive weapon,
although it can be used quite effectively as one. It provides a safe-zone for a fleet, and
can hold off many ships at the same time.
This ship, like a destroyer, isn't an easy kill from the tail. A Danube
has a tail gun, for protection against those who would want to target its weak spot. This
cannon is also hard to take out on an approach to the tail of a cruiser, thus making it
all the more trouble. Just as a destroyer, the useful tools for combat against a cruiser
are the aggressor shield and disrupter missiles.
Just to emphasize the power of a cruiser, I was once flying as a cruiser,
being attacked by a 10-ship fleet I had scripted to have each ship attack me. Three
disabled corvettes ran into my ship in succession, dropping the structural integrity of my
vessel down by only 25%. I was able to finish off the rest of the seven ships, including a
destroyer with relative ease. It's not an impossible ship, but it is pretty hard!
Blitz Class C-Fighter
The C-Fighter (Commonwealth-Fighter) is a pretty lethal ship, and even more
dangerous for its size. It devotes about 42% of it's mass to it's main Gattling gun, which
can take out a large capitol ship if taken by surprise. While lacking in armor, it has
extreme maneuverability (an amazing 35 M/S) that it uses in order to dodge shots upon it.
The C-Fighter also has a missile magazine, which includes a standard
compliment of seeker missiles. It is a single-seat fighter, so you're on your own with
this ship. One direct hit can cripple it, and another can eliminate it. However, an
indirect hit will not do much damage to a C-Fighter. One of them isn't a serious problem,
but you're in trouble if two or more of them start ganging up on you.
S-Fighter
The Independence Movements response to the C-Fighter, it is vastly inferior to
its rival in every way. Like the C-Fighter, it is a single-seat fighter devoting much of
it's mass to its gun. But instead of using a Gattling gun, it has a standard PBC that runs
on a small collider ring. It also has bad acceleration for a fighter, at only 13 M/S.
A single direct hit, just as the C-Fighter can knock it out of commission, but a
nice-sized fleet (and you get to battle such a fleet at some point) is trouble. However,
these aren't much of a problem, usually. And I've flown as an S-Fighter before; it's hell.
Little acceleration and an under-powered gun mark this ship, thus requiring it to travel
in groups of three or more to make a dent.
This was the case of the Mark I S-Fighter. However, the Indies made a few Mk II that were vastly superior to the previous version. Taking the pilot and life-support systems out, room was made for a Gattling gun along with the PBC, a missile rack, and a larger power source.
The Mk II uses an advanced AI system to pilot the plane. the advantage with this is that any Indie ship from a distance can over ride the fighter's AI and take over. This Mk II version is quite functional, and is even superior to a Navy C-Fighter.
COSA
Corvette
The COSA Corvette is one of the most formidable warships of the
COSA fleet. While it lacks in engine power, Heavy PBC cannon and dual high-penetration
Gattling Cannon make it a ship to be reckoned with. Once in weapons range, this thing will
open up with all weapons, and those Gattling cannon rip right through your LDAs. Within a
few shots, your crippled and dead.
Watch out for this thing! The best weapons against this vessel are Sniper cannon because it ensures damage at long ranges, and speed. If you get behind the corvette, it can't fire at you for lack of rear guns, and its limited speed prevents it from turning around in time.
The COSA Fighter is the most lethal fighter in existance. Its revolutionary power-generation methods would revolutionize the Commonwhelth or Indie navies. The fighter has both a Heavy PBC cannon, and a Gattling cannon. However, the Gattling cannon runs off the main power system while the Heavy PBC runs off a separate external power source. This leaves the fighter with an astounding 100 PBC shots, and unlimited Gattling shots.
Besides this impressive weapons compliment, the fighter also has room for a single medium/low grade LDA. This room is thanks to the fact that the fighter has a relativly small computer system, and no cockpit nor inertial systems. The drawback is that the fighters must be computer controlled from a mothership with special systems outfitted. If this ship is destroyed, the fighters will self distruct unless they can find another mothership. After a failed attempt to take out McDuff and his destroyer "UNO", COSA is in the process of outfitting every vessel with such systems so that enemy defense isn't so easy.
The best weapons against the COSA Fighter is the sniper cannon. Normal PBC and Gattling cannon tend to miss or hit the LDA, thus leading to it kicking you ass. Manuvering with lateral thrusters and watching your six are also important. One of these isn't that scary, but two? You're in trouble!
Tariq Class Patrol Combatent (PatCom)-
